Search Results: Authors starting with S from Antiquariaat FORUM BV

[4], 89, [2] pp.Rare first edition, in the original Italian, of the first book devoted exclusively to stage design, stage architecture, machinery and special effects on stage. It is written in the form of directions to the architect who must transform a hall of state into a theatre. The author takes the reader backstage and reveals the secrets of the elaborate effects so often found in Renaissance theatre. He deals with the general problems of theatre construction, audience arrangement, scene construction and lighting. It is our main source of information on the scenic practice in the Italian Renaissance theatre and helped to spread that practice throughout Europe. From 1610 Sabbattini (1574-1654) had worked in Pesaro as chief architect and engineer in service of Francesco Maria Della Rovere (1549-1631), last Duke of Urbino. With early owners' inscriptions on title-page. With unobtrusive marginal restorations in the first and last leaves, including the blank lower half of the final leaf, and some… Read More

[1], [1 blank], [13], [1 blank], 891, [49] pp.Sixth (?) edition of Michel de Montaigne's (1533-1592) translation of the Book of creatures or Natural theology by the Catalan theologian Raymund of Sabunde (ca. 1385-1436). Written round 1436, "the Book of creatures belongs to the tradition of medieval works that follow the imperative according to which faith must evolve into seeking understanding. It was given the name of Natural theology because, as asserted in the prologue, it sets out to offer every human being the means of reaching the truth of Christian dogma, thanks to his own efforts, just by reading into the book of God's creation". However, although the book tries to guide the reader towards the fundamental truths of Christianity, basing itself on the visible order of creatures, it is halfway stated that since human nature is corrupt, the scriptures are more important and "God's word is to be believed in itself" (Habert).Although the translation was commissioned by the Paris booksellers and… Read More

Five of the earliest and best photographs of Mecca and Medina, beautifully preserved as silver gelatin glass plates, including the first photograph of the Ka'ba in Mecca's Masjid al-Haram (Great Mosque). Two of the photographs were taken by the first person to photograph Mecca and Medina, the Egyptian Colonel Muhammad Sadiq Bey (1832-1902), who made them in 1880 for the Ottoman Sultan Abdülhamid II. The others were taken by the first European to photograph Mecca, Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje, and Al-Sayyid 'Abd al-Ghaffâr, who worked closely with him. Snouck Hurgronje (1857-1936), one of the greatest pioneering Dutch Arabists, converted to Islam and lived in Mecca from January to about July 1885. The photographs by these three men are best known and most often reproduced from the published collotype facsimiles, and the rare surviving early albumin prints are usually faded and often otherwise in bad condition. The present five plates, sold as lantern slides for magic lantern presentations, are… Read More

XLVII, [1], 339; [2], 400, XLVI, [2]; VII, 262, XXXVIII pp.Two works on mineralogy and chemistry by the founder of the Paris École des Mines and the Museum of Mineralogy, the Élémens de minéralogie docimastique in its second, greatly expanded edition (first edition 1772) with a portrait of Sage and 2 plates, and the Mémoires de chimie in its first edition. Sage places "great importance on the combinative functions of acids, particularly the acid of phosphorus" (Sinkansas) and describes experiments he made on several gems.He worked closely on several projects with leading chemists Antoine Baumé and Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier. As a teacher at the Academy and later the École des Mines he was highly regarded and esteemed by his students, who called him "the most distinguished chemist in France". By founding the École des Mines he laid the groundwork of a complete rejuvenation of the French mining industry, which was in a desolate state at the time. The Museum of Minerals housed at the École was… Read More

96 pp.First edition of the Italian translation of a brief work on tobacco, including 14 "lessons" on how to smoke and snuff tobacco. It opens with an introduction, followed by a section on the origin of tobacco, the medical properties attributed to smoking and snuffing tobacco. The lessons deal with different types of tobacco, pipes, cigars, cigarettes, and tobacco boxes, and how to smoke tobacco without offending women. With an early owner's inscription on the title-page. With some faint water stains, half-title pasted onto front wrapper. Paper wrappers damaged, especially along the spine.l Arents 1335; ICCU 000511 (3 copies).

[298] pp.Complete rare series on Brazilian botany with 70 beautiful lithographed plates, published in 14 instalments by the French explorer, botanist and entomologist Auguste de Saint-Hilaire (1779-1853). The work particularly concerns plants which are native to North-East and South-East Brasil, mainly concerning the north-eastern provinces as Bahia, Ceará, Piauí and Maranhão, but also the other east coastal provinces as Minas Gerais, São Paulo, Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul. After a journey of six years through Brazil (1816-1822), he brought home to France a vast collection of plants, mammals, birds and reptiles. There he dedicated himself to the publication of the results of his Brazilian journeys by working on several publications at the same time. The long journey and the pressure of work took their toll, however, and Saint-Hilaire fell ill. He was able to continue his work but not alone. Beginning with part 9 his two co-authors are named on the wrapper as well. Two respected… Read More

[28], 91, [1] pp.Second(?) edition of a rare treatise on the use of bezoar stones (hardened accumulations of matter - often partly hair -¬ taken from the gut of a goat or other animal) as a universal antidote to poisons, by Angelo Sala (1576-1637), an Italian chemist and Paracelsist doctor, who seems to have belonged to the circle of Michael Maier in The Hague. The word “bezoar” derives from the Persian for “antidote” and Islamic medical treatises had discussed them since the 12th century. Around 1610 Sala became personal physician to a cousin of William of Orange, Count Johann Ludwig von Nassau, whom he followed in the Protestant camp in the Upper Palatinate. In 1612 he settled in The Hague, where he worked as a doctor and taught German, French, English and chemistry. Sala's experiments with silver salts, moreover, laid the foundations for the development of the photographic process.The present edition is the first book by Sala that Govert Basson in Leiden published. Bögels states (in error?)… Read More

Lithographed frontispiece, title-page & dedication plus 5, [1 blank] pp. plus plates.The first and only edition of a grand and spectacular visual presentation (there are only five pages of text) of the city of Jalalabad and its fortifications in eastern Afghanistan and related sites as far away as Kabul. The illustrated title-page (image size 45 x 35 cm) shows the tower known as Alexander’s column, with mountains and clouds in the background and several people at its foot (including two on horseback in the foreground: a British officer and turbaned man), the whole framed by palm trees, other plants and military attributes. The first 11 leaves of views (2 half-page and 10 full-page, the latter mostly with image size 26.5 x 37 cm) offer meticulously detailed views of sites in and related to Jalalabad, including four in and around Kabul. These show the architecture (including minarets, fortifications and the building where the British were held prisoner) as well as British and Afghan people engaged in… Read More

[20], 88, [2], 91-200, [4], 203-318, [2], 319-442, [4], 443-554, [8], 555-645, [19], [2 blank] pp.First edition of parts 5-6, with parts 1-4 in the second printing, of the Dutch translation of the first volume of Thomas Salmon's Modern history, or The present state of all nations, covering China, Japan, the Philippines, the Moluccas and Celebes (the present Sulawesi). The original English series appeared in 3 volumes while the enlarged Dutch translation was to appear in 44 volumes, treating the geography, history and culture of nearly every part of the world. The present volume is translated and much enlarged by Matthias van Goch and contains new maps by Isaak Tirion, later used in the German and Italian editions. The present first volume was originally issued in 6 parts, but by the time parts 5 and 6 came out the stocks of parts 1-4 were apparently depleted. Those parts were therefore reprinted for issue in the complete sets of 6 parts.Occasional foxing and browning, but still in very good… Read More

Extremely rare complete set of all 44 volumes (published from 1729 to 1803) of the most extensive Dutch description of the world. The Tegenwoordige staat-series is an elaborately illustrated, historical, geographical and anthropological work. Aside from the volumes on the Low Countries and Europe, the series also contains detailed descriptions of most of the rest of the world. The description of Asia includes smaller kingdoms and regions, the many Southeast Asian islands, India, the mighty empires of Japan and China, and in a broader sense central Asia. A separate volume is dedicated to the description of the Middle East, including the Arabian Peninsula and notably a description and illustration of the Kaaba in the holy city of Makkah (Mecca). Other volumes detail and illustrate the (natural) history and other noteworthy information of the Americas, Africa and Europe.The present series consists of 44 volumes and includes a complete set of 386 maps, plans, views, and other illustrations. The majority… Read More

4 pp.Salm's very rare first listing of succulents printed in 1809.Salm-Reifferscheid-Dyck (1773-1861) started collecting succulents at Schloss Dyck in 1800 after consorting with the leading French botanists in Paris and took lessons in paintings from Redouté after he saw the illustrations Redouté made for Candolle's Plantarum succulentarum historia. The present first listing of succulents was a short pamphlet printed in 1809, the next listing was published in 1816 and was followed by a more regular publication of catalogues printed in very small numbers. They acted as "exchange lists with the botanical gardens and private collectors with whom Salm-Dyck exchanged specimens" (Rowley).After his death in 1861 the collections at Schloss Dyck soon started to break-up. The herbarium was the first to go, but his unrivalled succulent collection survived until the First World War. What was left of his magnificent library was auctioned in 1992-1993. "Only then did the extent of the loss become apparent: in… Read More

35, [1 blank]; [2], 37-73, [1 blank]; 47, [1 blank] pp.A catalogue with additional commentaries and revisions of Salm's regular lists of succulents. Salm-Reifferscheid-Dyck (1773-1861) started collecting succulents at Schloss Dyck in 1800 after consorting with the leading French botanists in Paris and took lessons in paintings from Redouté after he saw the illustrations Redouté made for Candolle's Plantarum succulentarum historia. The first listing of succulents was a short pamphlet printed in 1809, the next listing was published in 1816 and was followed by a more regular publication of catalogues printed in very small numbers. They acted as "exchange lists with the botanical gardens and private collectors with whom Salm-Dyck exchanged specimens" (Rowley).After his death in 1861 the collections at Schloss Dyck soon started to break-up. The herbarium was the first to go, but his unrivalled succulent collection survived until the First World War. What was left of his magnificent library was auctioned… Read More

XXXII, 706, 1, [1 blank]; [8], 900 pp.Facsimile edition from 1963 of the catologue of the library of Vincente Salva y Perez (1780-1849). Salva started to catalogue his famous collection of around 4000 books, ranging from the 16th-century up to the 19th-century, and the project was continued by his son Pedro Salvá y Mallen. The catalogue was first published in 1872 at Valencia, and gives valuable and detailed descriptions of the works. Only slightly browned, otherwise in very good condition, wholly untrimmed and mostly unopened.

[10], 171, [1] pp.Second edition, revised and enlarged: the best edition of this handsome work. The present copy, with an impeccable provenance, is enriched by the inclusion of 3 fine original watercolours by the eminent William Brodrick (1814-88), falconer, taxidermist, physician and artist, whose works of avian portraiture set the standard of his times.The first edition was published in 1855. The author, Francis Henry Salvin (1817-1904), was not satisfied with the first edition, so he made improvements and important additions. The resulting second edition must be preferred to the first, and Salvin wanted to leave no doubt that it would be the best modern book on falconry even written in England. It indeed remains even today an essential standard work. To illustrate the second edition new lithographs had to be made from scratch, because the stones that were used to illustrate the first edition were destroyed. The ornithological artist William Brodrick took up the task once more and apparently made… Read More

VII [1 blank], 147 [1 blank] pp.First edition of a complete and important treatise on the art of falconry by Francis Henry Salvin (1817-1904), in which he describes the various species of birds used in England, both hawks and falcons. ''The best English book on falconry and a very attractive publication'' (Schwerdt). The treatise is illustrated with lithographs by William Brodrick (1814-1888); they show 21 falcons and 5 hawks; plates 22-24 depict equipment used for falconry. The stones for the first edition were destroyed after publication so the plates for the second edition (London, 1873) had to be redrawn. With bookplate. Some pages and plates reinforced, two plates loose, some spotting, but still in good condition. Binding discoloured and slightly worn.l Nissen, IVB 147; Souhart 419; Schwerdt II, p. 145; Wood p. 541; not in Thiebaud.

[44], 829, [19] pp.First and only edition of a very detailed history of the Franciscan mission in Morocco, by Francisco de Jesus Maria de San Juan del Puerto (active ca. 1700-1725). The Franciscans arrived in Marrakesh already in 1220 when Saint Berard of Carbio and four other Franciscans were martyred by Moslems in Marrakesh. The present history presents many biographies of Franciscan martyrs at the hands of Moroccan Moslems through the ages. Along the way it gives a gives a great deal of information about Morocco and the north coast of Africa, the religion, administration and customs of the Moors, the Jewish quarter of Marrakesh and activities in other parts of North Africa. It continues up to the author's own time and for that later period no doubt made use of many sources that have not survived and perhaps even the author's own experiences, making it an essential primary source.The printer Francisco Garay spared no expense in this magnificent production, having the frontispiece engraved in Rome,… Read More

[8], 60 pp.Scarce first and only edition of a work on therapeutical compressed air baths, known as hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Written by the Swedish medical researcher Oskar Theodor Sandahl (1829-1894), who helped erect a hyperbaric chamber in Stockholm on the initiative of professor Anders Retzius. Sandahl gives a detailed description of the chambers in Stockholm and their use, a bibliography with ca. 30 titles on the subject, and discusses the effects of the inhalation and the treatment of various disorders, including emphysema and asthma. Illustrated with empirical tables and a detailed view of a hyperbaric chamber.With a presentation inscription from Jon Fattaren(?) to Doctor Otto Witt on the wrapper. Foxed, primarily in the margins and on the first two pages, but otherwise in good condition. With a few pencil notes in the text. Wrappers with some spots and a few minor tears. Scarce work on 19th-century hyperbaric oxygen therapy in Stockholm.l Waller 8448; WorldCat (5 copies); for Sandahl:… Read More

The first volume of a beautifully illustrated description of the Duchy of Brabant, published in parts from 1658 to 1660, by the Flemish historian Antoine Sanderus (1586-1664), with most of the illustrations by Lucas Vorsterman the Younger (1624-1666/67). "In this detailed and extensive survey, Sanderus developed a Counter-Reformation programme which elevated the part of the Duchy, which had remained under Spanish rule, to a sacred space par excellence, adorned by Catholic institutions, … " (Esser). It contains descriptions of abbeys, churches and royal castles based on information gathered through questionnaires. "The questions that Sanderus wished to be answered concerned the holy places of Brabant, the age and foundation history of churches, abbeys and monasteries, the records of any miracles or other exceptional events, and the list of abbots and other, mainly clerical, dignitaries. He also, however, inquired about the geography of the land, the distances between places, the flora and fauna, and… Read More

VIII, 279, [1 blank] pp.Rare first and only edition of an extensive and well-illustrated pioneering work on ophthalmology and eye surgery, the first ever published in Portugal, with illustrations showing both the instruments and the surgeon and assistant removing a cataract from a patient's eye, half a century before surgeons began using ether as an anaesthetic. Santa Anna notes that parts are largely translated from Louis Florent Deshais-Gendron's Traité des maladies des yeux and Joseph Jacob Plenck's Doctrina de morbis oculorum, but he made additions and corrections based on his own experience. In 1783, Joaquim José de Santa Anna (ca. 1735?-1814) was appointed as the first ocular surgeon in Portugal, at the Hospital de S. José in Lisbon.Santa Anna proved well-versed in the theories of the most distinguished ophthalmologists of Germany, England and France, as well as in the auxiliary sciences that formed an essential background.With an owner's inscription struck through in the foot margin of the… Read More

[24], 157, [1] pp.Very rare first and only edition of a manual for cavalry and dragoons by Major General Francisco Joseph Sarmento, governor of the province of Tras-os-Montes in northeastern Portugal. It includes instructions for various ranks, explanations of weaponry, marches and drills, as well as advice on approaching the enemy in battle formation. The plate shows the proper layout of a military camp with the positions of flags and tents for captains and soldiers, as well as those for the surgeon and priest.No other copy in auction records, only five copies located in libraries worldwide (2 in Portugal, 1 in Spain, 2 in the United States).From the collection of Thomas Fremantle, 3rd Baron Cottesloe (1862-1956), commander of the Territorial Army and president of the Society for Army History Research. Insignificant worming to margin of the first few pages; the plate with a tiny tear (not touching the image), otherwise in fine condition.l Nijhoff, A collection of mostly old books on the history of… Read More