Search Results: Authors starting with P from Antiquariaat FORUM BV

[4], 90, [2 blank] pp.First and only edition of a description of the Dutch colony of Curaçao, by the first Dutch writer who permanently settled on the island. Although the book was written for an audience in The Netherlands, much of the information is of practical use and seems to aim at new visitors or settlers. After a description of the geography and climate of the island, the author describes the various settlements forming Willemstad. The houses of Willemstad are described as being in Dutch style and plastered white, although the government has started painting the houses yellow and dark grey.The author adresses salvery only when he states that his European reader, "agitated by the growing number of writings by so-called philanthropic authors", should not think that the slaves lead a hard life, especially compared with the common people in Europe. What follows is a description of the so-called easy life of the slaves who, the author believes, have far less needs than a person of European… Read More

An excessively rare counterpart to Lorimer’s simultaneously published Gazetteer of the Gulf: like it, classified at the time of its issuing as a confidential British government document and still well-nigh unobtainable in the original printing, this third and last issue of Paget’s and Mason’s "Frontier and Overseas Expeditions" remains the most important single source on Raj-based military frontier operations carried out up to the First World War. The work was first compiled in 1873 by Colonel W. H. Paget as "A Record of Expeditions against the North-West Frontier Tribes", with the intention of providing a "valuable guide" to such British commanders and policymakers as "might have future dealings with these turbulent neighbours". It was revised in 1884 by A. H. Mason of the Royal Engineers. Three decades later, the frontiers of British influence had vastly expanded: they now reached to the borders of Afghanistan and Persia, and a newly compiled record of expeditions was urgently required. Under the… Read More

[12], 708, [28] pp.Rare fifth(?) edition, published in the year of the author’s death, of a work on pharmaceutical chemistry written by the Spanish apothecary Félix Palacios (1677-1737). When the Palestra pharmaceutica appeared in 1706, it was the first work on the subject written in the Spanish language. Even though it became widely accepted and used in Spain, Palacios met strong resistance from his colleagues because he rejected the galenic, or plant based, medicines in favour of chemical medicines. With this he rejected the ideas of Galen, Mesue and Dioscorides, which were still the standard in most parts of Europe and the Middle East. The work starts with a preliminary text, followed by a chapter on the general principles of pharmacology and chemistry in the form of questions and answers. The other four chapters deal with the ingredients and making of the medicines. It discusses distillation and calcination methods with the engraved plates showing various tools and instruments: pots, furnaces,… Read More

[2], VI, [4], 421, [1] pp.Sixth edition, inscribed by the author to a fellow explorer. This travelogue, recounting a journey across the Arabian Peninsula from Riadh to the Arabian Gulf, was highly esteemed at the time of its publication, though it is now known to contain fictional passages. Disguising himself as a Syrian doctor, Palgrave visited the Rashidi capital Ha'il and Riyadh, capital of the Al Saud. He spent just over fifty days at Riyadh, where he met members of the ruling family and treated a number of Arab patients. Three chapters describe his time there and another provides a history of Wahhabism and the rise of the Al Saud. Palgrave then travelled eastward to the shores of the Arabian Gulf, where he first visited Bahrain, which impressed him with its atmosphere of social and religious tolerance. From Bahrain he sailed for Qatar and importantly gives us probably the best 19th century description of that state. Also of value is the chapter on Oman. - Palgrave was well read in Arabic… Read More

[16], 429, [19] pp.An exceptionally rare first edition of a book focusing on the subjects of witchcraft, sorcery, demonology, and black magic. The author passionately expresses his dissatisfaction with the brutalities inflicted upon individuals accused of being witches, using vivid and disturbing illustrations as evidence. Notably, the book features a captivating woodcut title vignette, depicting a witch's daring escape through a chimney. In the image, her legs hang from the opening inside the house, while she simultaneously rises on her broom outside the chimney, creating a striking visual effect. Abraham Palingh is a somewhat elusive figure in Early Modern Dutch literature and his book provides a fascinating insight into the attitudes of an educated man toward witchcraft. He claims that his 't Afgerukt Mom-aansight Der Tooverye is based on firsthand accounts. Information regarding the occurrence of harmful sorcery and attitudes towards sorcery in Amsterdam and Haarlem has been documented from the… Read More

[5], VIII-XII, 89 pp.Very rare first French-language edition of a description of Tibet, written by the German zoologist and botanist Peter Simon Pallas (1741-1811). The text was translated from German by Baron Jean de Reuilly (1780-1810?), explorer of the Crimea and the Black Sea. "[Pallas] soon attracted the attention of Catharine II of Russia and was invited to St Petersburg, where he was appointed professor of natural history at the Imperial Academy of Sciences in 1767. At the request of Catherine, he was very quickly placed in charge of an academy expedition into Russia and Siberia" (Howgego). The first part of the work is devoted to the description of Tibet according to accounts of Tibetan lamas (Buddhist teachers) established among the Mongols. The second part is dedicated to a report of the celebrations and ceremonies during the period from 22 June to 12 July 1729, in the small village Ourga, to celebrate the rebirth of Koutoukhta, one of the most distinguished priests of Mongolia.With a faint… Read More

[8], 422, [2]; [4], 490; [4], 492; [4], 499; 448; 455; 448; [4], VIII, 463 pp.Second French edition of Pallas's 1768-1774 journeys through Russia. Peter Simon Pallas (Berlin 1741-1811) studied medicine and natural history in Germany, Holland, and England. In 1767 he went to St Petersburg and began to conduct research in Russia. He was an eminent botanist, zoologist and geographer, and "sought to advance from merely describing nature to finding the causal interrelationships and hidden regularities of natural phenomena." Darwin acknowledged his work to have been influential in the development of evolutionary ideas (DSB ).In the years 1768 to 1774 Pallas joined so-called "academic expeditions" which traversed the Russian Empire from west to east. He studied flora and fauna, landscape, geological condition, local population and culture. His findings were published in Reise durch verschiedenen Provinzen des russischen Reichs (3 volumes, St Petersburg 1771-1776). The French translation of the work appeared… Read More

[3], [1 blank], XXXII, 773, [5]; [4], 550, [1], [1 blank]; [3], [1 blank], 492; [3], [1 blank], 722, [2]; [3], [1 blank], 559, [1] pp; atlas volume with 123 plates on 108 leaves.First edition of the French translation of Peter Simon Pallas's (1741-1811) famous account of his first expedition to Russia and Siberia, one of the "academic expeditions" undertaken by the Academy of Sciences in St Petersburg (1768-1774). One of Pallas's chief geological contributions from the expedition was "the recognition of temporal sequence of rocks from the centre to the flanks of a range" (DSB), mainly based on his study of the Ural and Altai Mountains. He describes numerous Russian plants, many depicted in the 123 plates, along with some birds and other animals living in the Russian areas he visited.Pallas also describes his journey through the less-visited regions of the Russian Empire, depicted in 11 maps (including a large folding map of the Russian Empire) and he describes the population (depicted with their… Read More

[2], 241, [3] pp.Original extremely rare edition of the first Siamese grammar (Thai), one of the first works printed in the capital of present-day Thailand. According to Brunet, only twenty-seven copies of this precious grammar reached Europe.Pallegoix opens his book with a comprehensive description of the origin and character of the Thai language: “[…] it may be noted that the Thai language, like the Lao language, derives its origin from the Brahmins coming from the eastern part of India. […] As for the nature of the Thai language, it must be known that it consists mostly of monosyllabic words and not a few polysyllabic words taken from Sanskrit or Balinese. It includes the main parts of speech such as nouns, adjectives, verbs, etc. from which phrases are composed; but the principal character of this language consists in the fact that the monosyllables are joined together” (p. 1). The grammar then delves into a study of the vowels and consonants and the correct pronunciation as well as a detailed… Read More

44, 318, [4] pp.First and only edition of the Dutch translation of a journal of a journey through North America and southern Canada by John Palmer, illustrated with an engraved map of North America, hand-coloured in outline. The extensive introduction gives a short statistical survey of North America. On 28 March 1817 Palmer set sail from Liverpool bound for the United States, together with William Cobbett. He visited New York, Washington, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Tennessee, Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia, Indiana, Missouri, Quebec and more. The journal is of special interest for the contemporary prices of land and provisions, the observations on the country and the people, and the descriptions of the trade and commerce of the principal towns. "Mr. Palmer travelled through ... the greater part of the country he describes; but he confesses that the outlines of his travels were filled up from other books. A plain man of good sense and slow judgment" (Sabin).With a note from the manager of the publishing house… Read More

XLVI, [2], 303, [1 blank]; [8] pp.First edition of a transcript of one of the first accounts of a Spanish Muslim's journey to Mecca and Medina in the 16t hcentury, edited by the prolific and widely-interested scholar Mariano de Paño y Ruata (1847-1948) and with an introduction by the Arabist Eduardo Saavedra (1829-1912). The manuscript was originally written in Aljamiado, a technique for using Arabic script for transcribing European languages and only discovered by the end of the 19th century.It is the narrative of authentic Muslim throughout the Mediterranean in pilgrimage to Mecca, in either the second half of the 16th century or the beginning of the 17th. The narrative often is elevated to poetry, which is combined with a faithful and detailed account of the voyage.He visited Hammamet, Hergla, Sousse, Monastir, Mahdia, Sfax, Mahres and Djerba; from the later he continued through the Gulf of Sirte or Sidra, facing a storm, then proceeded to the Kingdom of Montebarca. From there on to Cairo and… Read More

52 pp.Second copy located, of the second edition of a very rare pamphlet recommending emigration to Kansas, by George de Pardonnet, appointed special agent of immigration in the state of Kansas. The work contains general information on Kansas such as its geography, population and climate, as well as information and numerous tips for future immigrants, especially farmers. Chapters are devoted to the possibilities for the acquisition of land, the average income of farmers, costs of agricultural products and cattle, but also to the commerce and industry in Kansas, its education, religion, and transport systems. At the end of the work, on pp. 45-52, lists can be found of salaries that can be expected in different branches, and of the prices of a wide variety of objects, including furniture, provisions and tobacco. We could only locate one other copy, in the Yale University Library. The first edition is very rare as well, of which we could locate two copies: one in the Bibliothèque National in Paris and… Read More

[16], “122” [=128], [8] pp.Rare second edition of the first official pharmacopoeia of Paris, compiled by Philippe de Hardouin de Saint-Jacques (d. 1659), dean of the faculty of medicine at the University of Paris. The pharmacopoeia is divided into several chapters, each dealing with a different type of medicine, including waters, syrups, pills, oils, plasters, salves etc. For each medicine the healing properties, ingredients and preparation methods are briefly described.With bookplates and several library stamps. Browned, and with mostly marginal worm holes throughout. A fair copy. Binding only slightly rubbed along the extremities, otherwise very good.l Krivatsky 12060; Wellcome III, p. 209; WorldCat (6 copies).

[11], [1 blank] 200 ll.Third edition of a practical handbook for international merchants, giving information for the conversion of monetary units, weights and measures from countries in the Mediterranean and Near East. It covers not only units from cities in the Italian states but also from Constantinople (Istanbul), Aleppo, Tripoli, Damascus, Cyprus, Corfu, Rhodes and Crete. Venice was at this time the centre of European trade with the Near and Middle East and the present work is invaluable as a record of the panoply of commodities traded in the Mediterranean at the beginning of the 16th century, including pearls, silks, wool, saffron, chestnuts, figs, galangal, vegetable oils, gold and silver. On leaves 3, 11, and 12, Pasi records the tariffs on pearls in Damascus, Aleppo, Cairo, Alexandria, Constantinople and Venice.With a few contemporary manuscript annotations. The preliminary matter foxed and the bookblock slightly trimmed, shaving some of the manuscript annotations, otherwise in very good… Read More

[4], 554 pp.First edition of an important and accurate history of Hindustan (meaning more or less the whole of India) as written by a former magistrate of Pondicherry (Puducherry). It describes how Europeans settled in India and established European trading posts here, but it also discusses the development of the Mughal Empire, which occupied most of India in the 16th and 17th centuries. In addition to these developments, Pasquier describes in this work the politics and jurisprudence, the Hindu religion and mythology, feats, customs, habits and other cultural aspects of Hindustani life, such as marriage, death, funerals, the caste system and its rules of politeness. Altogether a very important, comprehensive and interesting history of the Hindustan culture and history.The book was formerly part of the library of Vicomte Eugène de Bourbon-Busset (1799-1863), who was Viscount of Busset and Count of Lignières, with its bookplate on the front paste-down. A small part of the back board a little shaved,… Read More

XV, [1], 303, [1] pp.First edition of an important catalogue of a collection of antiquities formed by the Italian entrepreneur and dealer in ancient artifacts, Giuseppe Passalacqua (1797-1865) at Trieste. While it is neither an auction catalogue nor a priced sale catalogue, Passalacqua produced it with the sale of the collection in mind, and exhibited the artifacts in the Galerie d’Antiquites Égyptiennes in the new Passage Vivienne in Paris, now an historical monument. The spectacular display made it an international attraction, visited by many leading figures, including the future King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia. Passalacqua had hoped to sell the collection en bloc to the French government, but they declined. It had made a great impression on Friedrich Wilhelm, however, who bought the bulk of it in 1828 for Berlin’s new Altes Museum, where it still forms the core of their collection. After buying it, he appointed Passalacqua curator of the museum. The catalogue was innovative in its thematic… Read More

[13], [1 blank] pp.Rare first and only edition, in Russian and French, of a defensive alliance concluded at St Petersburg between Tsar Pavel I of Russia and King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia on 28 July 1800 (16 July by the Julian calendar used in Russia until the Revolution), revising that concluded on 27 July/7 August 1792 following the Polish-Russian War. The 1792 treaty allied was drawn up when the parties were subjugating the once great and powerful Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, dissolved with its third partition in 1795. Nine months after Napoleon seized power in a coup d'état, these allies faced a much more dangerous foe. In spite of the greatly different political and military context, the treaty largely repeated the XIV articles of the 1792 treaty, but added a new article VIII (concerning the governance and provisioning of the army) and revised articles I, VII, XXII-XIV (this last group becoming XXIII-XV). We have found no other copy outside the Russian State Library in Moscow.Slightly… Read More

372 pp.Series of lectures on the function of the cerebral hemispheres by the eminent scientist and Nobel Prize laureate Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (1849-1936). Pavlov proposed a new methodology in experimental physiological research. He directed his attention to the "reciprocal influence and activity within the organism, and the relation of the organism to its environment" (DSB). His research was conducted in three areas, the physiology of digestion, the physiology of the blood circulation and the physiology of the brain and higher nervous activities. In the latter field he gained world fame by studing salivary glands not only in vitrio but in the daily activities of live dogs, demonstrating the working of conditioned reflexes.Very slightly browned, but still in very good condition. Wrappers slightly tattered at the edges and with a couple small stains, but also still good. An extensive treatise on the brain, by a seminal figure in 20th-century science.l DSB X, pp. 431-435; cf. Heirs of Hippocrates 2130.

[2], 82 pp.The first atlas of Peru containing detailed maps, plans and fine views, together with geographical and statistical information on Peru by the Peruvian historian, geographer and statesman Mariano Felipe Paz Soldan (1821-1886). With 3 full-page tinted lithographed portraits of Peruvian Indians. (plates 35, 35 bis, 35 ter). Further with a large magnificent folding lithographed panorama of Paz Soldan's home town of Arequipa (plate 42, 44 x 154 cm), and a large tinted folding lithographed view titled "Cuadro general de alturas comperativas del Peru" (plate 63). The large coloured mineralogical map titled "Mapa mineralogico del Peru" (plate 62) indicates the gold-mining sites with gold circles. Foxed throughout, two small tears in 2 of the folding maps, but still in good condition. Spine restored. A magnificent atlas of Peru.l Catalogue of maps of Hispanic America II, p. 1; Phillips, Maps of America, p. 696; Sabin 59325; M. Layland, "Cartographic serendipity ...", in: The Map Collector 67 (1994),… Read More

[55] ll.An important edition in the original Latin, the first to be edited by Hartman, of the English Franciscan John Peckham's Perspectiva communis, one of the earliest works on perspective, written in the late 1200s and first printed ca. 1482/83. Divided into three parts, the Perspectiva communis presents 162 propositions: 84 on optics (the anatomy and the physiology of the eye), 56 on catoptrics (the reflexion of light) and 22 on dioptrics (the refraction of light). This last part also contains descriptions of a rainbow, the milky way and a camera obscura, the predecessor of photography. The 44 woodcuts illustrating the propositions were designed by Hartmann, and include a fine, large cross-section of the human eye, one of the earliest representations of the eye in print.Very good copy. Extensively revised and well-illustrated Nürnberg edition of a famous work on perspective and optics.l Albert, Norton & Hurtes 1756; Vagnetti Db8 and Cb6, note; this edition not in VD16.