Search Results: Authors starting with J from Asher Rare Books

[4], 177, [1], [2 blank] pp.Second copy located of an early edition of a small and inexpensive medical guide intended for the poor and therefore both giving advice for a healthy life style and suggesting herbal and other medicines, including many they could prepare themselves, rather than paying a doctor or apothecary. The main text gives recipes for medicines to treat more than 100 ailments, ranging from bad breath to the plague. It is followed by a list about 100 household medicines one can prepare one's self to administer to sick friends and neighbours for various ailments named, and an alphabetical list of about 150 medicines one can buy from an apothecary for various ailments named. "One of the simplest and most popular ... health manuals" (Simon Schama, Embarassment of riches, p. 517). With the corner of 1 leaf cut off, and some even smaller marginal defects, one restored, but still in very good condition. Binding also very good. A remarkably well-preserved copy of an extremely rare edition of a… Read More

[8], 211, [1]; 48 pp.According to the STCN the author of the Schat der armen is Heyman Jacobs. The impressum gives Hermanus Kentlink as the publisher, even though the "message from the publisher" is signed by J. Nikkel. Spine slightly damaged, covers slightly rubbed, a small label on the front pastedown, some annotations on the first flyleaf, very slight foxing throughout, light water stains in the lower margins of some pages. Overall in good condition.l BNM, 377. Only 2 complete copies of this third edition in STCN.

1591 pp.First edition of an important encyclopedic dictionary of historical and modern nautical terms and concepts, including names for various types of ship, terms used in shipbuilding and navigation, etc. Augustin Jal (1795-1873) based it partly on written accounts in at least 60 languages from antiquity until the author's own time, but also gathered and collected coins, paintings and oral information during many journeys. His very voluminous encyclopedia contains no less than 25,310 entries. Jal was educated at the naval school in Brest, France and became the official historian of the French navy in 1831. In 1852 he was appointed curator of the marine archives. It took him 6 years to complete his Glossaire nautique, which was published in 1848.With an owner’s stamp on the half-title: “Jean [… erased] capitaine au lons cours” and red owner's or library stamps on the front paste-down, first flyleaf, half-title and title-page. Binding very slightly worn, some minor foxing (especially on the first… Read More

“VI” [= VIII], 7, [1 blank], [1], 10-232 pp.First edition, second issue (with a cancel title-page and an added list of about 160 subscribers) of a young man's detailed account of his adventures as a teenage member of the crew of a British transport ship in the years 1780 to 1784. He gives accounts of people, customs, food, animals and events in the places he visits, first the Cape, then up the African coast to the Arabian peninsula and on to Bombay (Mumbai) where he found his father, deserted his ship and lived royally for more than a year before he was captured and returned to his ship. On the return voyage he gives an account of Madagascar. He also gives a lively view of the rough and tumble day to day life on board the ship and of the cruelties of some captains.With an 1801 owner's inscription on a flyleaf. A couple sheets were under-inked on one side, but remain easily legible. With a small puncture hole through the first few leaves and occasional minor browning or foxing, but still in very good… Read More

[2], VIII, [2], IX-XXX, 240 pp.Fourth edition of a cookery book especially devoted to desserts and confectionery, first published in 1820 (2nd edition: 1823, 3rd: 1827, followed by many editions after 1829). The work stands within the English tradition of publishing recipes for food and confectionery, but reveals more about the techniques involved, and about the author, than was usual in the genre. Written when confectionery production was on the point of being industrialized. It represents the high point of artisan skills in the craft, which Jarrin believed could not be improved upon. He devoted several chapters to his own speciality: making ornaments for the dessert table using various edible and non-edible materials. Other chapters cover more traditional ground including recipes for small confections, preserving fruit, and making ices.One hinge cracked.l Bitting, Gastr. bibliogr., p. 245; Simon, Bibl. gastr. 883; not in Vicaire.

[18], 110 pp.Rare first and only edition of Crispin Jernfeld’s doctoral thesis on pygmies, defended on 28 May 1681 under the presidency of prof. Johannes Bildberg (1646-1717), Prof. of Mathematics since 1677 at the University of Uppsala. Crispin Jernfeld (1660-1695) became Professor of Theology at the University of Tartu, the national university of Estonia, in 1690; in 1692 he was Rector of the University.The term pygmy has long been used to refer to what we now know are several different indigenous tribes living in Central Africa, already in classical antiquity subject of widespread speculation and mystification, Jernfeld tries to summarize all that was known of these peoples at the end of the 17th century on the basis of an extensive study of the mainly classical literature. With owner’s entry of “Magr. Krutenius” on the title-page, meaning Magister Johan Krutenius (d. 1694), conrector in Upsala, Magister in 1682. Title-page somewhat soiled.l Hogg, Cat. Scandinavian books, B588; Lidén I, 69.

[8] pp.Contemporary transcripts of two letters of two Jesuit natural scientists and mathematicians concerning the present state of the Jesuit missions in China, India and Japan. The second letter in the present work is probably the most interesting, as the original was written by Johannes Terentius (also known as Johannes Schreck and Deng Yuhan Hanpo, 1576-1630). Terentius was a prominent Jesuit scholar, specialised in natural science and mathematics. Before joining the Jesuits as a novice in 1611, he already enjoyed a great reputation in Germany as a scholar. In 1621, Terentius left for China to join the Jesuit mission. The original letter by Terentius was written in Hangzhou, China on 30 August 1621 to the rector of the Jesuit College in Munich Jakob Keller (1568-1631). He discusses his journey to China, which he started in 1618, his intentions to participate in the planned calendar reform in China, and his impressions of the city of Hangzhou, which he reached in 1621. Johann Chrysostomus Gall… Read More

[2], 318, [10] pp.This particular account on Chinese cults, known as the De cultu sinensis, was authored in 1668 and published posthumously. It was written by Prosper Intorcetta (1625-1696), who embarked on a journey to China in 1656 alongside Father Martini and a group of fifteen other priests who were engaged in missionary work in the province of Jiangxi. Intorcetta, who assumed the Chinese name of In-to-tsé and the nickname of Koi-ssé, was imprisoned in Canton in 1664. After his initial release, he managed to travel to Rome in 1671 to witness the fate of his fellow missionaries, before being arrested again in 1690. Alongside his work on the translation and study of Confucius' classics, for which he proposed a complete translation, the present work played a crucial role in the establishment of the subject of sinology in Europe, as it dates back to the early years of missionary presence in China. Furthermore, it contributed to enhancing understanding of the Chinese language. The De cultu sinensis… Read More

[8], "259" [= 267], [1, 4 blank] pp.First illustrated edition in any language of Jocelin’s famous Legacie, intended for children and adults, with 25 beautiful engravings, mostly made for this edition by Jan Luyken, and the first edition to supplement the Legacie with an earlier related Anabaptist work presented as a children's book - each of the two presents a mother's spiritual legacy to her child(ren) - together with a new children's hymnbook (songs for morning and evening prayer). They were published together as a single edition, each of the three main works with its own title-page (with imprint), but with a single series of page numbers and quire signatures. They are also here for the first time accompanied by additional verses, at least mostly written for this edition by the Mennonite poet Gezine or Geesje Brit (1669?-1747) and Mennonite preacher Adriaan Spinneker (1678-1745), apparently the moving spirits behind the present edition. Brit contributed a laudatory verse to the first work and added… Read More

[93] engraved ll.Very rare early collection of De Jode's portraits, published with his own engraved title-page. A few give dates of engraving or publication from 1638 to 1644. They were originally published in several series and some perhaps first as single prints. De Jode probably assembled the present set, printed on at least five and probably more paper stocks, from the separately printed series and added the title-page. The title-page appears to be printed from an earlier state of the plate used for the better known Theatrum pontificum, imperatorum, regum, ducum, principum, etc. pace et bello illustrium (Antwerp, Pieter de Jode, 1651). Versions with these two titles are known with 78 to 180 portraits, but Kramm says those with 180 include some by various other engravers of lesser quality. The copy auctioned by White in 1787 (and apparently the same copy in White auctions of 1792 and 1793) was described as published at Cologne in 1642.The beautifully engraved portraits themselves vary in plate size… Read More

112, [7, last 3 pages blank] ll.First Latin Egenolff edition of a mediaeval collection of medicinal recipes intended, as the title “Treasury for the Poor” suggests, to provide readily available and inexpensive remedies to common ailments, probably for medical practitioners of modest means, students and (when they were at least able to read Latin) common people who might need to take care of their own ailments. One of the most important sources for medieval pharmacology, it makes much use of animal parts and common plants and gives a very intimate picture of medical practices among the common people from medieval times until far into the Renaissance. Many recipes are said to derive from Hippocrates, Galen and Avicenna, and an appendix presents the Hippocratic oath. It is widely believed that the oath was written by Hippocrates, himself, or by one of his students, to establish certain ethical standards. It was first printed in Salamanca ca. 1485, when it was attached to Juan de Pastrana’s Compendium… Read More

[2], 144, [2] pp.Very rare Swedish edition of a selection of translations and imitations of fables by German authors, by the French writer and linguist Jonchère. Parts of the book were originally published in 1812 as Fables traduites ou imitées de l'allemand in Paris, Lübeck and Hamburg, with a second expanded edition appearing in Paris in 1815, here reprinted in Stockholm.Binding very slightly rubbed along the extremities, and a few specks on the boards, but otherwise in very good condition.l Bihl & Epting, Bibliographie französischer Übersetzungen aus dem Deutschen (1487-1944) I, 1223-1224 (1812 & 1815 editions); Hammar, Manuels de français publiés à l'usage des Suédois de 1808 à 1905, p. 101; WorldCat (2 copies); for the author: Quérard, La france littéraire IV, p. 454.

X, 326 pp.De Jong described his journey aboard the ship Mars, commanded by rear admiral Willem Crul, accompanying merchant ships on their way from Sint Eustatius to the Netherlands. At the time unaware of the outbreak of the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War, they got into a naval engagement and were unexpectedly attacked by an English squadron near the island of Sombrero, some eighty miles to the north of Sint Eustatius from where they had set sail. The Dutch were woefully unprepared for the encounter and lost the naval battle despite their best efforts and vigorous counterattacks. The encounter claimed the lives of many sailors, including that of the commander Willem Crul. De Jong fared better: he was taken as a prisoner of war and transferred to St Kitts, where he was held by the English for several months. He was released following an exchange of prisoners and at the age of nineteen commanded the ship's return and by the end of 1781 he arrived back in the Netherlands. Cornelis de Jong was a master of turning… Read More

[31] ll.A manuscript calligraphic copybook by a student learning penmanship, but with a calligraphic title-page giving his name, the title, place and year. Jacobus de Jong is a fairly common name, but Noordwijk-Binnen (now part of Noordwijk in South Holland, on the coast near Leiden) is fairly small and a boy of that name was baptised there (Dutch Reformed) on 27 August 1747, which would make him 14 if he began work on the present copybook at the beginning of the 1761/62 school year. He was the son of Roelof de Jong and his second wife Elizabeth Verkinderen.Nearly all leaves are written on the rectos only, mostly using Bible quotations (Old Testament, New Testament and Psalms) as sample texts, but the first leaf (before the title-page) serves as a front wrapper and has a verse quotation in 4 lines of large script on the front and a couple practise Gs on the verso (trials for the first letter of the title), while the last leaf has a normal sample text on the recto but has verses illustrated with… Read More

[8], 194; [6], 179, [1]; 56; 181, [3]; [4], "152" [= 154]; [1], [1 blank], 39, [1] pp.The first and only Dutch edition of Jonston's zoological encyclopaedia, exquisitely coloured by a contemporary hand. It was first published three years earlier in Latin as Theatrum universale historiae naturalis (Amsterdam, J.J. Schipper, 1657). The 6 parts cover quadrupeds, fish and aquatic mammals, "bloodless" sea animals (mostly invertebrates), birds (including bats), "grooved or twisted" animals (insects, spiders, worms, snails, crustaceans, etc.), and snakes and dragons. The 250 striking plates, while unsigned, were evidently engraved by Matthäus Merian the elder (1593-1650) and his sons Caspar (1627-1686) and Matthäus the younger (1621-1687) (Anker, Bird books 234, and others). Nearly every plate illustrates several animals (with insects sometimes dozens), including various mythological and fantastic creatures, such as a dragon, phoenix, harpy, griffin and mermaid. The present copy is especially valuable as a… Read More

[9 of 10], 125, [3]; [5 of 6], 164, [2]; [4], 50, [2]; [2], 34, [1], [1 blank] ll.Second edition of David Joris's famous Wonderboeck (Book of miracles), extensively revised and enlarged by the author in 1551 but not printed until almost thirty years after his death. One of the most important and most extensive works of the well-known Dutch Anabaptist David Joris, it was revered like a Bible by his followers. The present second edition was not only extensively revised and expanded but also took on a new graphic form, Dutch textura types rather than the German fraktur, rotunda and schwabacher types of the first edition, and most of the larger woodcuts were replaced by engravings made for this edition. The stunning full-page bride of Christ by Hieronymus Wierix, a nude female figure, winged and crowned with a sword and a heart in her hands and two captive serpants and a skeleton at her feet, is a high point of the engraver's art. Lacking 2 leaves, each containing only an illustration, and with a small… Read More

[63], [1 blank] pp.First German edition, of a rare and important early biography of the famous Dutch heretic and Anabaptist David Joris. Banished from Holland for his overt rejection of the abuses of the Roman Catholic Church, Joris fled to Friesland, where he met the Anabaptists. He joined them in 1533 after his baptism and tried to appease the disputing parties within the sect. Ecstatic and susceptible to flattery, he declared himself a prophet with a divine mission and supernatural powers. Soon he got many followers, but he and his group were also severely persecuted. In 1554, he came to live in Basle after five years on the run from the Dutch authorities. There he lived with his family as a rich and respected citizen under the name of Jan van Brugge, pretending to be a Reformed refugee while he still kept in touch with his followers in the Southern Netherlands. The present biography is especially valuable for Joris's life in Basle (1554-1556). With a small hole in 1 leaf, waterstains in the… Read More

pp. 199-201, [blank 202].Rare royal proclamation, issued 22 August 1766 by King Joseph I of Portugal (1714-1750-1777) and registered and certified by his secretary Joaquim Joseph Borralho, granting August Ludwig Thimne the exclusive privilege and patent for ten years to set up a factory in Porto or Lisbon to produce foil from silver and other metals for setting diamonds and other precious stones. The proclamation forbids the import of contraband foil into Portugal, giving Thimne the sole rights to the production and sale of the foil. Thimne discovered how to manufacture foil to set diamonds and other gems and stones in 18th-century Portugal, where the setting of diamonds and gems and the creation of spectacular jewellery became more and more important.A highly interesting proclamation on the Portuguese diamond and gemstone industry, especially on underlaying with foil as an appearance modification technique used for 18th-century Portuguese jewelry, not only granting Thimne a privilege, but also… Read More

36 pp.Offprint of an interesting article by the drawing-teacher W. Jost with his observations made during a visit to the Art academy, school for drawing teachers, in Amsterdam and Jost's meeting with the director W. Molkenboer, now the Rijksacademie. The article was first published in the periodical Zeitschrift des Vereins Deutscher Zeichenlehrer. One of the lithographs depicts a drawing by Leonie Molkenboer, the daughter of the director.Fine copy.l NCC lists one copy; not in Cat. Rijksmuseum.

[4], XIV, 311; [3]; [4], 24, 323, [3]; VII, [1], 192; [4], 24, 175, [1 blank] pp.First edition of two extensive French manuals on shooting, coursing and animal traps with attractive hunting illustrations, published at the beginning of the 19th century. The first work by François Xavier Félix Jourdain tells everything the hunter needs to know. He gives information about training sporting dogs, and elaborates on when and where guns are needed, which un one should choose in various circumstances and how it should be used. He also describes the habits of wild animals, including the usual periods of their migrations.Kresz presents the second work as a supplement to Jourdain, but it proved popular in its own right and is now a famous work on traps as well as indispensable supplement to the Traité général des chasses. It describes all kinds of traps and how they can be used to catch birds, hares and rabbits alive. The plates show these several kinds of animal traps. The second volume of each work… Read More