Search Results: Titles starting with A from Antiquariaat FORUM BV

[4], VIII, 215, [1 blank], 28, [2] pp.Rare fourth (first Puducherry) edition of the first Tamil dictionary, a ground-breaking linguistic work by the missionary Constanzo Beschi (1680-1747), first published at Tranquebar in 1738 and 1742 and at Madras in 1813. References to an 1845 Puducherry edition merely misread the 3 as a 5.The Italian Costanzo (Constant) Giuseppe Beschi, also known by his Tamil name, Viramamunivar, was a Jesuit missionary in South India. Having acquired a great mastery of the Tamil language, and written popular works in the language, he is sometimes regarded as the father of modern Tamil literature. He published 23 works in Tamil. The present dictionary translates the every-day "low" Tamil language used by the common people. The main work is followed by a 28-page compendium.Small bookplate in Tamil on the front paste-down, stamp on the back of the title-page. Inscription in ink on back paste-down, dated from Rome, 14 December 1947. Some spotting throughout. Top of spine slightly… Read More

70 pp.A rare description of Sparrman's ethnographical collection, assembled during Cook's second voyage into the Pacific and now in the Museum of Ethnography, Sweden. The detailed descriptions of the objects are preceded by a biographical sketch and a résumé of Sparrman's narrative of the expedition. The illustrations show objects from New Zealand, the Tonga Islands, Tahiti, Tanna, New Caledonia and the Marquesas Islands.Anders Sparrman, a brilliant pupil of Linnaeus, sailed for the Cape of Good Hope in 1772. There he joined James Cook's expedition as assistant to the naturalists Johann Reinhold and Georg Forster.With library bookplate, stamps and labels. In very good condition. Binding with minor water damage along the fore-edge but otherwise very good.l Beddie 4711.

[8], 76; [8], 64; [8], 56; 14; 62; [8], 54; 12, [74]; [4], 54; [12], 74; [6], 71; [8], 71; [6], 58; [12], 78; [6], 112; [8], 82, [2]; 35; [4], 88, [2]; 43; [10], 113; [10], 67; [12], 73, [2]; XXVI, 182; [4], 190 pp.Johannes Nomsz (1738-1803) was a very productive Amsterdam author and playwright. He wrote and published no less than 50 plays, essays and historical works. Six of his original plays are present in this collection: Amosis (vol. II, 1); Iemant en niemant (vol. III, 1); Zoroaster (vol. III, 2); Anthonius Hambroek (vol. VII, 2); Marie van Lalain (vol. IX, 1); and Ripperda (vol. IX, 2), which were all performed in the Amsterdamse Schouwburg, the theatre of Amsterdam.An admirer of the predominant French literature at the time - especially of the work of Voltaire - Nomsz translated or adapted many French plays. The collection contains the following examples: Ferdinant Cortez, after Alexis Piron (vol. I, 1); Titus, after De Belloy (vol. I, 2); De Graaf van Warwik, after Jean François de la Harpe… Read More

A remarkable collection of Scandinavian academic theses or dissertations (or in two cases editions that served to promote a scholar’s appointment as a professor) on the Middle East and the Islamic world, mostly printed in the second half of the 18th century. Most are very rare, many known only from three or fewer copies. The praeses (advisor) played a greater role in the production of a thesis than they do today, often choosing the topic and even writing much of the text, so that the praeses and the respondent (the student who defended the thesis to attain a degree) prepared the publication together more-or-less as co-authors. The present collection includes the works of the principal Swedish orientalists of their time, mainly teaching and publishing at the universities of Uppsala and Lund, the great Matthias Norberg (1747-1826) serving as praeses for twenty-two of the theses. The topics covered include medicine in the Middle East, dietetics, history, linguistics and literature, education, and the… Read More

(1) EL-KHATIB, M. Fatallah (foreword). Basic documents of the Arab unifications.New York, Arab Information Center, June 1958. 8vo. 43 pp. includes: the Proclamation of the United Arab republic, the Proclamation of the Arab Union, the Provisional constitution of the United Arab republic, the Charter of the United Arab States and the Constitution of the Arab Union.(2) OMRAN, Abdel-Rahim. Public health & welfare in the Arab states past- present and future.New York, Arab Information Center, November 1959. 8vo. 32 pp. The booklet opens with a history of the Arab contributions to medicine followed by modern statistics.(3) WRIGHT, Esmond. The Arab World. Current affairs number 125.London, Bureau of current affairs, 3 February 1951. 8vo. 19, [1] pp. Short overview of the Arab World.(4) [MENU]. P&O menu. On board the S.S. Arcadia, Sunday 25 March 1962. 8vo. Menu with on front a coloured illustration of a Dhow in the Arabian Sea. Probably offered during a cruise in the Gulf.

43; 32; 19, [1]; [4?] pp.Set of four publications, two of which by the Arab Information Center in New York. Together with other Arab information centers in various cities in the America’s, Europe and Asia, the New York office belonged to the Press and information department of the League of Arab states. As well as the monthly newspaper Arab World, the office published numerous research reports on various aspects of the individual member states and the Arab world at large. Ad 1: The most important documents concerning the unification of Arab states. These documents include: the Proclamation of the United Arab Republic, the Proclamation of the Arab Union, the Provisional Constitution of the United Arab Republic, the Charter of the United Arab States and the Constitution of the Arab Union.Ad 2: An overview of both the history of Arab medicine and the current state (in 1958) of the demographics and healthcare in various states of the League.Ad 3: A short overview of the Arab world.Ad 4: Menu offered… Read More

Magnificent and rare colour-printed print series, the second part of the Admirandorum quadruplex spectaculum, published by Schenk ca. 1695.The prints are the result of an early experiment with multi-colour printing using a technique patented by Jan Teyler in Nijmegen, though it had already been used on rare occasions. With this so called “à la poupée” technique, each printing plate is inked in different colours (dabbed onto the plate with a cloth pad or ball) and then printed in multiple colours in a single print run. Since the colours had to be inked again after each run (like a monotype, but using an engraved or etched image), each print is unique, varying slightly in the composition of the colours. The result was a “printed painting” with deep purples, vivid oranges, cool turquoise blues and lush greens, with up to eight colours per impression to enhance perspective in landscapes, represent the volume of objects and record natural colours of birds, flowers and human figures.Colour printing… Read More

243 ll. plus 2 end-leaves.Splendid pocket-size Qur’an. Marginal section markers in white naskh script on a gold ground within a polychrome flower blossom, opening double-page frontispiece richly illuminated in lapis lazuli blue, green, red, pink and gold, the text within cloud bands in gold.Hinge tender between the first two leaves, some light marginal fingering, otherwise in fine condition. From the library of the scientists and collectors Crawford Fairbanks Failey (1900-81) and Gertrude Van Wagenen (1893-1978), who performed research at Yale and Johns Hopkins in the fields of medical chemistry and biology.

[1] leaf.Propaganda broadside with an allegorical print admonishing the inhabitants of the Dutch Republic to forgive and forget their religious quarrels and disputes, especially those that arose between the Arminians and the Gomarists during the Twelve-Years’ Truce (1609-1621) and to foster concord again. Some copies have four long verses at the foot explaining the text. They are signed with the name and motto of the author “J. Starter” and “gonst baerd nijd”. It’s ironic that Starter, Van de Velde or Amelisz. chose to use an image of book-burning as his primary illustration to invoke and symbolize tolerance and reconciliation! The artist of the engraved plate is the famous Jan van de Velde (II) (1593-1641), painter, draughtsman and engraver. He is the son of the Flemish calligrapher Jan van de Velde and the father of the still life painter Jan van de Velde (III).Without the lower half of the broadside (the explanatory text), but it is lacking in many copies: in the Rijksmuseum copy, the… Read More

[10], 358, [2 blank], 542 [= 540], [32] pp.Rare Dutch edition of Wilhelm Fabry von Hilden's famous Centuriae or collections of surgical case reports, enlarged with three additional cases. The collections, 600 in total, were assembled from Fabry's detailed notes of his own cases, and from information supplied by the physicians and surgeons with whom Fabry corresponded. The case histories were originally printed in Latin and published in Basle, Frankfurt & Lyon form 1606 to1627 in five illustrated volumes of 100 reports each (centuriae); a sixth posthumous volume appeared in 1641. Fabry's reports "cover the entire field of surgery, and reveal him to be a bold and skilful surgeon ingenious in meeting unfamiliar problems, and inventive in designing effective instruments for special needs"(Zimmerman & Veith).l BMN I, p. 72; STCN (7 copies, including 1 incomplete); cf. Norman Library 754 (Latin edition); Zimmerman & Veith, pp. 239-48.

63, [10] ll.A Dutch illustrated manuscript devoted to the Arabian peninsula and neighbouring regions, compiled in 1785 by (and the illustrations drawn by) Johan Louis Gerlagh (1735-1798), a director of the Dutch West India Company and East India Company (WIC and VOC). He takes a special interest in the various and styles of script, including Egyptian hieroglyphs and at least six styles of Arabic script, but he also discusses and illustrates bas-reliefs, buildings (including the Great Mosques at Mecca and Medina), musical instruments, footware, a scarab, etc., and provides tables of data concerning tides, compass corrections and temperatures, and accounts of the Islamic calendar, precious stones, weights and measures and coins. The title describes the manuscript as notes from Carsten Niebuhr's Reize naar Arabië en andere omliggende landen, a Dutch translation (1776-1778) of the German Reisebeschreibung nach Arabien ... (1774-1778), but Gerlagh apparently treats Niebuhr's complementary Beschryving van… Read More

First and only edition, commissioned by the board of the Württemberg stud, the first Arabian stud farm in Europe. This almost unobtainable series of large format plates shows the stud’s full-blooded Arabian horses with decorative oriental backgrounds. The plates constitute extremely early examples of chalk lithographs (listed individually by Winkler, Frühzeit der dt. Lithographie, 180, 57). Kuntz (1797-1848) was known for his "excellent depictions of horses" (Thieme-Becker); throughout his brief career he studied thoroughbreds in England, Hungary and Paris as well as in Germany. In 1832 he became Painter to the Court of Karlsruhe, Baden; he suffered a stroke in 1846 and died in the newly-founded Illenau mental hospital. The present series was issued in three parts, from 1823 to 1824, each with 6 chalk lithographs. Wenceslaus Rzewusky wrote the descriptions of the horses. Of the utmost rarity, no copy of the complete series with all three parts as present here traceable in auction records.l Nissen… Read More

Beautifully hand-coloured proof states, with occasional additions in ink, of the very rare first instalment of a series of prints of the Duke of Braunschweig's (1804-1873) stud horses, plus an additional view of the Harzburg stud farm not included in the list of plates printed on the back wrapper. The first horse depicted is Mirza, a "Silver grey national Arabian with red spots on his left shoulder, presented to the King of England by the Shah of Persia in 1819. As the Persian envoy assured the King, this was the noblest and most excellent Arabian ever to have stood in his master's stables". The other illustrations show mainly descendants of Mirza, who was transferred to the Ducal stables in 1821.The plate of Mirza would finally appear newly lithographed in reverse with a completely different background, two others would have their background changed and the other three would have only minor changes to the background or none at all. Only plate three contains its final plate number. Even the… Read More

[24], 111, [9] pp. plus frontispiece and plates.Rare second edition of a classic, richly illustrated manual of heraldry, one of the principal publications of one of the most important heralds of his time, Claude-François Ménestrier (1631-1705). It explains the principles of heraldry and how they influenced the art of blazoning coats of arms, their origins and the meanings of their ornamentation and designs. To illustrate his theories, he includes many illustrations of coats of arms, showing the designs or serving as examples, particularly of the coats of arms of French noble families, which are also described in the text. It brings together all the fundamental information on the subject for everyone who wants an abridged, clear manual of heraldry and coats of arms. The present 1665 edition uses the plates for the first edition’s engraved title-page (still dated 1661) and coats of arms, while several were replaced in later editions. Claude-François Ménestrier was a French herald and member of the… Read More

XLVIII, [36], 350; [6], 349-830, [10]; [18], 214, [4], 116 pp.Fifth edtion of a French herbal compiled by the French botanist Pierre-Jean-Baptiste Chomel (1671-1740). The first two volumes list numerous plants arranged according to their medicinal abilities. Also included is a list with all the French and Latin names of the plants. The third volume contains the supplement, first published in the fourth volume of 1730, and the Catalogus plantarum officinalium, secumdum earum facultates dispositus, published for the first time in the present edition.First few leaves of volume 1 stained and some (water) stains throughout. Bindings worn along the extremities and slightly damaged at the head and foot on the spines. Otherwise in good condition.l Pritzel 1707.

[37], [3 blank] pp.Rare second or third edition of the German translation of an anti-Alva, anti-Spain pamphlet written by the nobility of Holland and representatives of its cities, addressed to the States (in Dutch “Staten”, the provincial governments) of and all magistrates in the seventeen provinces of the Low Countries, promulgated at Delft on 12 September 1573 (as noted at the end of the text), but not printed even in the original Dutch before 2 October 1573, when William the Silent, Prince of Orange, wrote to his brothers that the pamphlet was being printed (Groen van Prinsteren). That is just before Alva was dismissed on 19 October and left the country on 18 December 1573. The text was first published in Dutch: [Delft, Aelbrecht Hendricksz., October] 1573 (TB 1289, Knuttel 210) and soon after: Dordrecht, [Jan Canin], 1573 (TB 1290, Knuttel 211), both under the title: Copie eens Sendtbriefs der Ridderschap, Edelen ende Steden van Hollandt … aen … die Staten vanden Landen van Herwaerts overe… Read More

IV, 741; IV, 54, 16, 48, 36, 36, 12, 6, 30, 12 pp.First edition of a travelogue through Asia, written by Carl Gustav Mannerheim (1867-1951), future president of Finland, 1944-1946. In 1906, Mannerheim, then a colonel, was sent on an expedition to Asia. "The object of this expedition was to study conditions in the interior of Northern China, collect statistical materials and perform various tasks of a military nature", says Mannerheim in the preface. Russia wanted to know the state of affairs in China due to the reforms and modernization undertaken by the Qing Dynasty. Besides that, Mannerheim wanted to collect items of scientific interest for the National Museum in Helsinki and to study the little-known peoples living in Northern China. This makes the work, with its numerous illustrations by photographs, an interesting anthropological account as well.Number 33 out of limited edition of 100 and signed by the author. With owner's inscription of Ewald Henttu on flyleaf, dated 1940. Very good copy;… Read More

(48) ll.Antwerp edition of Arator's Acts of the Apostles in Latin verses. The Italian poet Arator (490-c. 560), subdeacon in Rome, composed these verses in 544 and presented them to Pope Vigile. They were published by Aldus at Venice in 1502, and later in the Bibliothèque des Pères, Paris, 1575.Good copy, with on verso of the front board, spine damagaed, boards loose, first leaves stained, slightly browned, old owner's manuscript entries.l Nijhoff-Kronenberg 129; Machiels A 831; not in STC Dutch, Adams; NUC lists one copy.

16 pp.One of three issues of an interesting letter written by ‘H.N.v.G.’, dated Amsterdam, 27 January 1680 in answer to a letter by his friend dated 23 January. The writer gives his opinion on the state of affairs in The Netherlands in relation to its neighbors England and France, esp. on the defensive Alliance recently offered to the Dutch Republic by the King of France. A reaction in French appeared the same year: Sentiment d’un particulier, sur l’escrit qui a paru, touchant l’alliancee de la France (Amsterdam, J. Jacques, 1680. 12mo)With the bookplate of the library of the city of Dordrecht on the front wrapper. Wrappers a little worn, edges a little dust-soiled, but overall a beautiful untrimmed copy in good condition.l Knuttel 11720; Tiele 7751.

[16], 516, 40, [4] pp.Extremely rare issue of the first edition of Witsen's incredibly influential work on 17th-century Dutch shipbuilding techniques and styles. The other issue appeared in the same year with the impressum of C. Commelijn and J. Appelaer, instead of C. Cunradus. Both contain the same engraved title-page by Romeyn de Hooghe, but the principle difference can be found in the letterpress title-page, with ours being printed in black and showing a different vignette. Notably, Witsen's work contains more than 110 meticulously detailed engraved plates based on drawings by the author himself. Considered the definitive work on shipbuilding, Aeloude en hedendaegsche Scheepsbouw was the product of Witsen's passion as a wealthy enthusiast and future regent. Only someone connected to regent circles would have had access to the exclusive information contained within its pages. The book, a precious item that required a deposit of twelve guilders, would primarily have graced the libraries of affluent… Read More