Search Results: Authors starting with O from Antiquariaat FORUM BV

[2 blank], [5], [1 blank], 447, [1 blank], [43], [5 blank]; "70" [= 66] pp.First and only edition of Obicini's Arabic, Syriac and Latin glossary, based on the 11th-century Arabic and Syriac glossary compiled by the East Syriac scholar, monk and priest Elija bar Shinaja from Shenna in what is now northern Iraq, metropolitan of Nisibis from 1008. Shinaja's version is also known as "The book of the interpreter". The words are arranged by subject and set in three columns with, from right to left, Arabic, Syriac and Latin. It opens from the right, like an Arabic or Syriac book. The Index alphabeticus has its own title-page, pagination and series of signatures, but forms an appendix to the Thesaurus, providing an alphabetical index to the Latin words and phrases. Binding somewhat worn; minor foxing. Ownership stamp (Germain: Jacobins P.B.S.) and signature of De la Roche (marquis) on title, last page with another owner's inscription. From the library of Swedish antiquarian bookdealer Björn Löwendahl… Read More

[2], 88, [16].First edition of an autobiographical work by Prince Yevgeny Petrovich Obolensky (1796-1865) about his exile to the Siberian labour camps, published (only?) in French translation. The high born Obolensky (son of the Tula governor) was one of the 500 people involved in the December uprising in 1825 and held a prominent position among the Decembrists, being appointed their leader on 25 December. The uprising failed and he was condemned to hard labour and deprived of his princely title. He lived in exile for nearly 40 years until in 1861 he returned to normal life. The present publication appeared soon after. The present translation probably follows Obolensky's original manuscript, for we find no Russian edition in reference works or online. Remarkably a different French translation, by Paul Fuchs, appeared in Leipzig in the same year, with the title Mon exil en Sibérie (see Cat. Russica).In very good condition, with bolts unopened. With a publisher's advertisement on the last 16 pp.l Cat.… Read More

XXIV, [4], 391, [1 blank], [19], [1 blank] pp.First edition of the author's most famous work. The orientalist Simon Ockley (1678-1720) was educated at Queens' College, Cambridge. He became fellow of Jesus College and vicar of Swavesey, and in 1711 was appointed professor of Arabic at the University. His History of the Saracens (as he called the 1718 second edition of the present work and the second volume added at that time) long enjoyed a great reputation; unfortunately Ockley took as his main authority a MS. in the Bodleian of pseudo-Wakidi's Futúh al-Shám, which is more historical romance than history. He also translated from the Arabic the Second Book of Esdras" (Enc. Brit.). For some reason, the present copy an alternative version of the dedication to Henry Aldrich, probably from the second edition of 1718, inserted in the middle of the preface, after p. XX. The 1718 edition was printed for the same four publishers (plus one more) and seems likely to come from the same printing office.With old… Read More

First editions of the official yearly accounts of the trade between British India and other countries, all compiled by the British administrator James Edward O'Conor (d. 1917). Included are the reviews of the years from 1874 to 1884, only lacking the official year 1877-1878. Listed are the amount of trade with foreign countries (including Aden, Turkey and countries surrounding the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea), government transactions, customs revenues, foreign import and export products, listing numerous products and materials together with the amount that has been imported or exported and the costs. "The two most important items from Arabia are dates and pearls. ... Gums, fishmaws and sharkfins, and salt are the most prominent of the other articles imported" (ad 9, p.24). The section on export is divided between foreign products and products of Indian manufacture that are being exported from India. Also included is a brief section on provincial trade.Library stamps. Browned, especially around the… Read More

[216] pp.Second known copy, apparently the only known copy printed on vellum, of a Paris book of hours in Latin, probably published in 1511 (the almanac and calendar for 20 years covers the years 1511 to 1530), the only known book of hours printed by Thomas Kees (or Caseus) from Wesel in the Rhine valley, recorded as a printer in Paris from 1507 to 1516. The illustrations are finely cut, many with criblée backgrounds, and many are thought to have been printed from metal relief blocks, rather than woodcuts. Most of the small illustrations in the text depict saints. The illustrations in the border strips include scenes from the Old and New Testament, dance of death scenes, apostles, saints, scenes from daily life, fantastic beasts and more. The large illustrations may have been cut for Antoine Vérard ca. 1503 to 1507. The work was rebound by Hardy-Mennil in Paris, ca. 1870. Little is known about Hardy himself. "Mennil" is not separately recorded. He used the name Hardy-Mennil by 1864 and was certainly… Read More

[160] ll.A Rouen Book of Hours of outstanding quality and in slightly larger than usual format, commissioned by a female patron who is portrayed in the last miniature awaiting the arrival of the Messiah.The style of illumination is typical of that practised in Rouen during the late 15th century. Characteristic features include the profuse use of gold highlights on draperies and hillsides, often cross-hatched; cross-hatching of grassy areas in landscapes; a palette predominantly based on pink, blue, brown and green, and the use of grey for the modelling of facial features, men having rather swarthy flesh, and women very pale skin; the rather peremptory manner of painting hands; the grey-blue acanthus on flat gold backgrounds for borders. Also the liturgical use points to Rouen as the place of production: the sparse calendar includes St Romanus (23 October) in gold, as well as St Evodius (8 October) and Mellonus (22 October), all three were bishops of Rouen; Romanus and Mellonus also appear in the… Read More

[8], “225”[=215], [1 blank]; “80”[=72] pp.Bilingual edition (Greek & Latin) of two medical hexametric poems by the Hellenistic poet and physician Nicander of Colophon (fl. second century BC), followed by a part with ancient scholia in Greek. The two poems are followed by comments by its translator, the Parisian pharmacist Jean de Gorris (1505-1577). They were first published separately in 1549 and 1556 and here for the first time published together. Nicander wrote at least 20 works, but "only his Theriaca (958 hexameters on poisonous creatures and on antidotes for their bites and stings) and Alexipharmaca (630 hexameters on antidotes to poisons) are extant"."Nicander's influence on later Greek and Latin literature was considerable. Not only did Virgil, Ovid, and Antoninus Liberalis draw on his works, but Lucan, Pliny the Elder, Erotian, Aelian, and Athenaeus of Naucratis also benefited from direct or indirect familiarity with Nicander. In the 1st century BC the enormously learned scholar Didymus… Read More

[20], 332, [12]; [1], [1 blank], 329, [23]; [34], 88, 15 pp.A parallel Greek and Latin edition, edited by Daniel Heinsius, of Simplicius's commentaries on Epictetus's Enchiridion. The commentaries are especially valuable for the light they shed on earlier philosophers, some of whose writings have not survived. The second part provides extensive additional notes on Epictetus and Simplicius by Claudius Salamasius (1588-1653). The third and fourth part provide the parallel Greek, Latin and Arabic Tabula Cebetis and Aurea carmina Pythagoræ by Johan Elichman (ca. 1600-1639), with a preface by Salmasius. Maire's presswork and typography is excellent. With an 18th-century letterpress bookplate of "Robert" and a late 19th-century engraved bookplate of Harold George Messel. In very good condition, with only minor browning and water stains, and a couple of spots in the text. The spine with a small restoration. A very good copy of Heinsius's Simplicius, in a sumptuous binding.l Breugelmans 1640:17; Smitskamp,… Read More

VIII, 152 pp.First French edition of an important study on Smyrna (Izmir) and a rare Smyrna imprint: a greatly enlarged translation of the much smaller Greek edition (48 pp.). Though located on the west coast of today’s Turkey, Izmir may have been the birthplace of Homer and has a long history as a cosmopolitan centre where many cultures mixed. It passed centuries under Persian, Greek, Roman and Turkish (from 1389 to World War I Ottoman) rule and was home to Turks, Greeks, Armenians and Jews, as well as many European merchants. In the 19th century, near the end of its Ottoman period, Smyrna was an important financial and cultural centre of the Greek world. The present book, by a Greek author and an Armenian printer-publisher, describes various aspects of the city, its origins and history, the river Meles, the ancient monuments and ruins, its medals, but also the surroundings, landscape and the many (sometimes destructive) earthquakes in the city.Konstantinos Oikonomos (1780-1857) was a Greek Orthodox… Read More

[2], 22 pp.Unrecorded information guide for (new) employees of the Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) who would be residing in Al Ahmadi, headquarters of the Company. The Kuwait Oil Company was founded in 1934, a joint venture between the British Anglo-Persian Oil Company and the American company Gulf Oil. In the same year, the sheik of Kuwait, Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah (reigned 1921-1950) granted them rights to the oil concession, which they were to retain until 1975. The first oil was discovered in 1938 in Burgan field, followed by discoveries in Magwa in 1951, Al Ahmadi in 1952, and many more regions. In 1946 the first commercial shipment took place. Because the initial development of the KOC coincided with the end of the British Raj in India, many British and Indian people in its service were transferred to Kuwait, in particular to Al Ahmadi. Al Ahmadi was set up to house these workers.This unrecorded guide is quite rare, especially because it seems to be a quite cheaply produced and ephemeral document which… Read More

Extremely rare and classified at the time of release: one of the first maps to depict clearly the Abadan Petroleum Refinery, the first oil refinery in the Middle East. The map of the Khorramshahr-Abadan area of Iran and the lower Shatt al-Arab waterway at the head of the Arabian Gulf was published in the early days of World War I, when protecting the refinery was Britain’s primary objective in the region. Published in Calcutta by the Survey of India, predicated on the best and most recent surveys. Labelled "For official use only".Some creasing, some stains to upper margin, an abrasion to upper neatline with old repair on the back, an old tear with minor loss to upper left blank margin with old repair on the back. Otherwise in good condition.

XIV, 492; XI, [1 blank], 496 pp.First edition of a highly entertaining combination of travel writing and diplomatic history. It describes the diplomatic missions of the Earl of Elgin to China and Japan in 1857-1859, which ended in various treaties opening the countries to the British. In his capacity as private secretary to Lord Elgin, Oliphant was present at all the major events and published his account of the brazen gunboat diplomacy immediately after his return to Great-Britain. Besides witnessing the bombardment of Canton and the siege of Tientsin, Oliphant also gives vivid accounts of life and events in China and Japan, including his delights in eating with chopsticks. With an owner's stamp "Joseph O. Buch" at the back of the first flyleaf in both volumes. Minor foxing in the plates and a tear in the frontispiece of vol. 1 repaired with tape. Binding chafed at the extremities, hinges with some cracks and tops of the spines damaged. Otherwise in good condition. A beautifully bound edition of a… Read More

XII, 382, [6]; [4], 361, [1] pp.Very rare first and only edition of the Dutch translation of an account of Lord Elgin's mission to China and Japan in the years 1857 to 1859, written by the diplomat, traveller and secretary to Lord Elgin during the Washington negotiations of the reciprocity treaty with Canada in 1846, Laurence Oliphant (1829-1888). The plates depict a reception tent of the Royal commissioner at Tahkoo, the signing of the Tientsin treaty, a view of Mount Fuji, tea gardens in the vicinity of Yedo (Tokyo) and a Japanese funeral. The maps show the course of the rivers Yangtze, Pei ho (Hai), Woosung (Suzhou Creek) and Ningpo (Yong).In very good condition, with some foxing. Bindings worn and cracked at the hinges and corners. Dutch translation of Elgin's mission to China and Japan.l Cordier, Japonica, col. 547; Cordier, Sincia, col. 2376; KVK & WorldCat (3 copies); NCC (same 3 copies).

The 12-volume sales catalogue of the bookseller Leo S. Olschki, Florence. The catalogues contain extensive descriptions of numerous interesting books as Olschki was as much a bookseller as a scholar -- he was editor for the renowned journal La bibliofilia.A good set, slightly browned along the extremities and the bindings a bit rubbed.Vol. I & II - Incunabula - Liturgie.Vol. III - Livres figures des XV et XVI siecles.Vol. IV & V - Livres figures des XV et XVI siecles: ITALIE.Vol. VI - Macaronica, Machines, Malte, Mariage, Mariana (vie et culte da la S.V. Marie).Vol. VII - Medicine ancienne, Militaria, Mort (Funrailles, Danse Macabre).VIII - Musique, Thatre, Danse, Nolatins.Vol. IX - Nouvelles italiennes, Numismatique, Occulta, Orient.Vol. X - Arts dcoratifs, Portraits, Religions et culte (Histoire et Philosophie).Vol. XI - Roma.Vol. XII (1940) - Romans de Chevalerie, Scandinavica et slavica, Sciences Naturelles.

[ca. 360], [32 blank] pp.Historically significant manuscript logbook, containing a detailed record of the first attempt to lay a submarine telegraph cable to connect London with British India. The expedition took place from May 1859 (the Red Sea leg from Suez to Aden) to February 1860 (from Aden to the Khuriya-Muriya Islands, Muscat and Karachi). The two specially designed cable ships, the “Imperador” and “Imperatrix”, were supported by HMS “Cyclops”, which surveyed the coastlines and reported on the depth and structure of the ocean floor.The entries from February 1859 to May 1860, documenting the ship's Red Sea and Arabian Sea mission, span over 200 pages. We first find the “Cyclops” near Cape Ras al Hadd on the eastern coast of Oman, at the entrance to the Gulf of Oman: "Cape Ras al Hadd ... terminates in a low sandy spit at the head of which is a village and mud fort. There is an inlet about 4 miles to the northward of the cape, but inaccessible to large vessels. There is a heavy surf on… Read More

[1 blank], [7], 286, [2 blank]; [2 blank], [6], 55, [1 blank] pp.Second, greatly expanded edition of a popular instruction book for the planting and cultivation of flowers and fruit trees and the tending of a greenhouse, especially intended for young people and first published as De nieuwe Nederlandse bloem-hof. The text comprises five treatises, devoted to flowers in general, tulips, carnations, trees & tree fruits and orange & lime trees. Each treatise after the first has its own divisional title-page. All is taught in short chapters in clear and succinct instructions. The grafting of tree branches is illustrated with 4 engraved figures, each on a separate plate. The rarer, separately published Register lists hundreds of varieties of fruits and seeds, with extensive space left blank so that the reader can add other varieties. The preface notes that the book is especially intended for both amateurs and professionals, but especially for the young who will in the future own and care for flower gardens… Read More

Impressive plan of the excavation site of Tell Halaf (now on the Syrian-Turkish border), the location of the great ancient Aramaean town of Guzana, and one of the most important archaeological revelations of the modern era. Then in the Ottoman Empire, it was discovered in 1899 by the German diplomat Max von Oppenheim (1860-1946) while travelling through northern Mesopotamia on behalf of Deutsche Bank, working on establishing a route for the Bagdad Railway. This is a working copy of the official, authoritative plan of the site produced during the 1911-13 excavation led by Oppenheim, printed at Tell Halaf for the use of the senior archaeological team. It was almost certainly never intended for publication and if multiple copies were made, most were probably destroyed.Signed in the upper right-hand corner by Theodor Dombart (1884-1969), a professional architect and one of Oppenheim’s principal associates, later an esteemed professor of ancient Middle Eastern architecture and an authority on Munich… Read More

XV, [1], 334; [1], 434 pp.First edition of an account of travels through the Middle East in 1893, from Beirut and Damascus via Hauran (southwest Syria, then in Ottoman hands) including al-Harra and al-Safa to Palmyra and through the Syrian desert to Bagdad, the Gulf and Muscat, then (described in less detail) on to north India and the German controlled East Africa, by the diplomat, jurist, archaeologist and orientalist Max Oppenheim (1860-1946), a work that made his name as an expert on the orient. He devotes chapters XI and XII to the Bedouin. Given his background in politics and law, his account is especially strong in these areas. With numerous, mainly photographic illustrations, many full-page. The photographs include not only people and views of the sites, but also implements and weapons.Bindings rubbed, lacking the large general map. Some slight browning; one map in vol. 2 loose with frayed edges.l Henze III, 650ff; Bruno Meissner, [review], in: Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des… Read More

[24], 347, [5] pp.Second, expanded Italian edition of De Orta's herbal describing Indian herbs and diseases. The present work is a translation of Aromatum et simplicium aliquot medicamentorum, which was first published by Plantin in 1567, the first Italian edition (1576) was only an abridged translation of the original.Garcia de Orta (ca. 1501-1568) was a Portuguese physician of Jewish descent. In 1634, he joined the fleet of his friend captain Martim Affonso de Sousa, as his personal physician, and sailed to Goa, where he began a medical practice. After cultivating and studying the local plants for many years, he published his most famous work, Colóquias dos simples e drogas he cousas medicinais da India in Goa in 1563, only a few years after the printing press was first introduced there. The famous physician and botanist Carolus Clusius acquired a copy in 1564, translated it to Latin and added annotations and woodcut illustrations. This work was published by Plantin in 1567. It was lauded by… Read More

[8], 376, [16] pp.First edition of an account of two Swedish voyages to China and the East Indies, the first by the Swedish minister, botanist and explorer Peter (Pehr) Osbeck (1723-1805) and the second by the Swedish naturalist Olof Torén (1718-1753). Osbeck's journal contains interesting observations on the languages, cultures and domestic economy of the area's he visited, but the work's main value lies in the sections on foreign plants and fish, depicted in the engravings. The book opens with a preface by Osbeck, dated Stockholm, 25 April 1757, followed by Osbeck's journal of his voyage to Java and China (pp. 1-311). His journal has "definite scientific merit" (Stafleu) and appeared in an English translation in 1771. Included on page 312 is a letter from Linnaeus to Osbeck. Osbeck's journal is followed by Torén's En Ostinsie Resa til Suratte, China &c., narrating in seven letters to Linnaeus his voyage to China, from 1 April 1750 to 26 June 1752.The binding shows very slight signs of wear,… Read More