Search Results: Authors starting with U from Asher Rare Books

[4], 476; [4], 482 pp.First and only edition in German of a richly illustrated travelogue of a journey around the Eurasian continent, made by the future Russian Czar Nicholas II. The journey was planned as a Grand Tour through Europe and Asia with the opening ceremony of the Trans-Siberian Railway as the final destination. After visiting Austria, Italy and Greece, Nicholas travelled to Egypt and through the Suez Canal to India. Subsequently Nicholas and his entourage visited the Dutch-East Indies, Siam and China. In Japan the future emperor had a fire breathing dragon tattooed on his arm and received a facial scar due to an assassination attempt. After the opening of the railway in Siberia, the travellers boarded the train back to St. Petersburg.After the return home, Nicholas and his fellow traveller Prince Esper Ukhtomsky began working on an account of their grand tour. After the publication of the Russian edition in 1893-1897, this very popular work was translated into English, French, German and… Read More

[1], [1 blank], [1], [1 blank], 177, [3 blank]; [1], [1 blank], 145, [1 blank], [1], [1 blank] pp.A scarce fascinating and sophisticated work on traditional Hindu astronomy, in both Tamil and English, edited and translated by Reverend Henry R. Hoisington. "The Oriental Astronomer ... is a collection of works in Tamil, with an English translation and numerous explanatory and corrective notes. ... The work has been prepared for the use of the students [at the Batticotta seminary in Ceylon]. ... The purpose of the present volume is not to serve as a text-book, to the supercession[!] of European treatises; but to furnish those who have made good proficiency in the European system, with the means of instituting a comparison between that system and the native one. This we reckon not only a legitimate object, but a highly desirable one." (The Calcutta Review).Henry Richard Hoisington (1801-1858) was an American missionary and principal of the Batticotta Seminary, the first university-level educational… Read More

[14] pp.First(?) edition (one of two dated 1608) of a polemical discourse in Dutch strongly advocating freedom of trade for the Dutch East India Company, sometimes attributed to Willem Usselincx (1567-1647). After 1600 the Dutch met growing successes in their war of independence from Spain, and in 1605 they captured large parts of the East Indies that had belonged to the united Spanish and Portuguese crown. This forced the Spanish to agree to a cease-fire in 1607. Negotiations began, but the Dutch merchants vehemently opposed any concessions to Spain. This set off a pamphlet war, especially on the subject of free trade in the East and West Indies. The present discourse discusses the Dutch trade in both the East and the West Indies and the trade routes to the East, both around the Cape of Good Hope and via the Strait of Magellan, including a brief description of all territories from the Cape via Ceylon to the East Indies and Philippines. It also emphasises the great commercial profits of the trade and… Read More

[36] pp.First and only(?) edition of one of the most important and best argued pamphlets on the Dutch in America, written to promote the establishment of the West India Company and to warn of the dangers and disadvantages of making peace with Spain. Usselincx's writings "are models of precision and of reasoning, clear and concise, the style simple and popular, the plan plainly laid down and well followed out. [They] teem with the most varied information, and possess an historical importance of the first order" (Asher, p. 74). Here he argues that peace with Spain would promote trade in the Spanish-controlled Southern Netherlands at the expense of the Northern, would hinder Dutch trade in the East Indies and prevent them from establishing a West Indian Company.With the number "19" in manuscript on title-page, leaves numbered 46 (title-page) to 63 (last leaf), and with a waterstain at the lower outer corner. Otherwise in very good condition.l Alden & Landis 608/171; Asher 32 (= 26-28/14); JCB II, p. 57;… Read More

Original washed pen and ink drawing showing a view across the Leidschevaart waterway toward the western city gate of Utrecht, the Catharijnepoort, by Cornelis Pronk (1691-1759). This gate was designed by Paulus Moreelse in 1621, and was the most important western city gate, where the road from The Hague entered the city. It was demolished in the 19th century. The viewpoint of this drawing is situated on the tow path along the Leidschevaart near the second Moesgracht. Visible in the background are from left to right: the St. Jobsgasthuis on the Vleutenseweg, the mill "De Meiboom" on the Paardenveld and the tower of the Jacobikerk.Pronk’s drawings were often copied and many prints were engraved after his work, especially by Hendrik Spilman and Caspar Philips. These engraved views were published by Isaak Tirion in Amsterdam, for example in Spilman’s 'T verheerlykt Nederland (Amsterdam, 1745) and the Utrecht volume (XI) of Tegenwoordige staat der Nederlanden. An anonymous copy of the present Pronk… Read More

[2], 12 pp.Utterbom's dissertation on plants native to Sweden, before the introduction of "exotic" plants, focusing especially on the economic uses of Swedish plants. With Engelbert Jörlin (1733-1810) as praeses. Title-page restored on the back, some stains and dog-eared leaves.l Cat. Linnean. Soc., p. 400; Krok, Jörlin 2; WorldCat (2 copies).