Search Results: Titles starting with I from Antiquariaat FORUM BV

[24], 491, [1] pp.Important Latin edition of an Arabic medical compendium (first printed, also in Latin, in 1479), with additions by Gerard de Cremona. It provides a collection of opinions voiced by Greek and Arabic physicians on pathology and therapeutics. "No Arabic printed edition exists so far" (Choulant). The ninth-century Christian physician, perhaps in or near Damascus, Yahya ibn Sarabiyun, son of a Bagarma physician, wrote his great medical work Al-Kunnas in Syriac, but it was soon translated into Arabic by scholars such as Musa Ibrahim al-Haditi and ibn Bahlul. Manuscripts survive in twelve and in seven books. "The seven-book edition was frequently printed in Latin translations as 'Breviarium' and 'Practica therapeuticae methodus' [or here Therapeutice methodi]. Albanus Torinus, the editor of the Basel 1543 edition, called [the author] Janus Damascenus, for which reason he has been confused with the well-known theologian of that name. He is also often mistaken for his younger namesake,… Read More

62, [2 blank] pp.Offprint of an essay on the cultural history written by the Arab historian Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406), written by the German Orientalist Alfred von Kremer (1828-1889). It opens with a brief introduction on Ibn Khaldun's works and life. Other chapters deal with the cultural aspects in Ibn Khaldun's works: basic needs, customs, societies, etc. Included at the end are four brief texts in Arabic type transcribed from manuscripts.With some pencil underscoring, otherwise in very good condition.l S.F. Alatas, Applying Ibn Khaldun (2014), p. 194; W.J. Fischel, Ibn Khaldun in Egypt (1967), p. 192.

XXXI, [1 blank], 827, [4]; 989; 1097.First edition of an extensive work on Ichneumonidae, a family of parasitoid wasps from the order Hymenoptera, compiled by the German entomologist Johann Ludwig Christian Gravenhorst (1777-1857), professor at the University of Göttingen and professor of zoology and director of the Zoological Museum in Wroclaw. He was a specialist on Ichneumonidae and Staphylinidae. The work covers many different species of wasps, with descriptions of their appearance and habitat.With the manuscript owner's inscription of Nils Anders Gadolin (1829-1879) on paste-down. Bindings slightly rubbed along the extremities. A very good copy.l Hagen I, p. 300; Horn & Schenkling 8365.

engr. title-page + [2] pp. plus 80 plates.First and only edition of a very rare collection of 80 engravings and etchings, depicting exotic trees, other plants and animals from the East and West Indies, Africa and China. The species depicted include coffee, tea, balsam, tamarind and sycamore trees, guava fruit, litchi (labeled in Chinese characters), and lions, monkeys, snakes, fish, a manatee, Indians fishing with snakes, Chinese fishing with birds, and fictitious animals such as a unicorn, flying dragon, etc. The plates probably came from several sources, for they appear to be from different hands. Many of the botanical illustrations had appeared earlier in John Ogilby, Africa being an accurate description of the regions of Ægypt (1670) and Olfert Dapper, Description de l’Afrique (1686). Van der Aa may have commissioned other plates himself, since some appear in his atlas La galerie agreable du monde, also from ca. 1720. The text in the plates is in Latin or Dutch, or both, and the engravings have… Read More

[8], 144, [12]; [16], 151 [=152], [8]; [2], 34 pp.Three works from the early 17th century bound together. The first work is a popular illustrated history of Poland with portraits of monarchs, theologians and emperors, each with a short biography added, by Salomon Neugebauer (1611-1654).The second work is the first edition edited by the jurist Sybren Siccama (1571-1622), of a legal work with the laws of Friesland. The first edition, based on a now lost manuscript, was printed in 1557.The third work is a rare anti-Venetian pamphlet in Italian written on the occasion of the Uskok War (1615-1618). This war was waged by Venice against a group of Balkan pirates (Uskoks or Croatian-Habsburg soldiers), which was stationed by the Habsburg ruler Archduke Ferdinand of Styria (1578-1637) (later Ferdinand II) along its frontiers as part of its military borders. The Venetian-Habsburg conflict eventually involved troops from all-over Europe, with Venice, the Dutch United Provinces and England on one side, and the… Read More

Very rare first and only edition of an illustrated description of 13 Jamaican plants (13 illustrated with 1 plate each, but only the first 9 described) by the Swedish botanist Olof Peter Swartz (1760-1818), who had drawn some 200 plants during his travels through the West Indies. 71 of these drawings were destroyed in WWII. J.F. Volkart made 13 engravings after some of these drawings for the present publication (all showing Jamaican plants): in the present copy they are delicately hand-coloured with a subtle gradiation of tones. It was intended as part of the first fascicule of a much larger publication that would have contained engravings after all of Swartz’s drawings, but the rest still remains unpublished today. Swartz studied under Carl Linnaeus the younger and graduated with a doctoral thesis in 1781. From 1784 to 1786 he traveled via North America to Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Haiti and Cuba and made a special study of the flora of parts of Jamaica that western botanists had not yet visited.Spine… Read More

[4], 3, [1 blank] pp.First and only edition of one of the rarest books on Japanese flora. The author Engelbert Kaempfer (1651 - 1716) was a professor from Lemgo, Germany, who joined the Dutch East India Company (VOC) as a medical doctor in 1685. After periods in what are now India and Indonesia he travelled in 1690 to Japan to work as a doctor on Dejima (Deshima), the Dutch trading post or factory in Nagasaki. Sir Hans Sloan acquired his manuscripts, alsong with his drawings and herbarium, and arranged for their translation and publication, the first to appear in translation was The history of Japan in 1727. This English translation established Kaempfer's reputation as the 18th-century authority on Japan and deeply influenced Japan's image in Europe. The renowned botanist and companion of the 1768 Cook expedition Sir Joseph Banks (1743-1820) was responsible for the editing and publication of the present work and dedicated it to the curators of the Library. In most cases no plates had previously been… Read More

XII, 348; [4] pp.Rare first and only edition of a monograph on fossils of coral polyps in France. Coral is made by millions of tiny invertebrate carnivorous animals called polyps. After their death hey leave behind a limestone deposit, which forms the foundation for a next polyp. Fossil reefs are preserved as limestone prominences of many different ages.Michelin's extensive stratigraphical collection on Coelenterata is in the Paris Natural History Museum, and a number of these are figured in the present work. Text leaves slightly browned, some spots to the plates and the binding rubbed along the extremities, otherwise in good condition.l BMC NH, p. 1306; Nissen, ZBI 2812; Ward & Carozzi 1546.

[14], 636, [8] pp.First Dutch edition, newly and extensively illustrated, of a famous encyclopaedia of iconology, the Iconologia of Cesare Ripa (1560-1645). It describes about 650 symbolic human or semi-human figures, illustrates nearly 200, and was intended as a guide for all kinds of artists, writers, orators and amateurs. In the present 1644 edition the Amsterdam publisher, bookseller and poet Dirck Pietersz. Pers (1581-1659) translated and edited Ripa's text and Castellini's additions and made further additions of his own. He also included 196 woodcut illustrations cut for this edition based on a selection of those in the 1630 edition. It was in this form that Ripa's work was best known to artists in the Dutch golden age and it remained in use by painters and designers for the decorative arts far into the 18th century. With water stains throughout, serious in the first few and last few leaves, and marginal tears or restorations in a few leaves, but still in good condition and with large margins.… Read More

[14], 116, 60, [24] pp.Rare first edition of a manual of military strategy and cartography with elegant illustrations colour-printed in crayon-manner by the inventor of this technique, Louis Marin Bonnet. Charles Louis François Fossé (1734-1812) was a military engineer who distinguished himself in active service during the Seven Years’ War and as a military cartographer. The present work is a manual for the defence of and attack on small military positions (like a farmhouse, small forest, bridge etc.). In the second part Fossé explains the rules for charting landscapes and buildings on military maps, including the meaning of the different colours, and how to indicate the shooting range of the positions. The 11 topographic maps follow the main text, each hinged to the head margin of a letterpress caption page (verso blank) with an extensive list of features in the plates, keyed to them by letters and/or numbers. The maps fold up (and the folding ones then open out to form a double page) so that the… Read More

[90]; [16] ll.Extremely rare original edition of a highly influential Japanese medical text book, the Ihan Teiko, (General outline of medical precepts). The work contains the 3 parts summary of the Ensei Ihan (Medical precepts of the West), compiled by the celebrated Japanese physician and successful Rangaku-sha (Scholar of Dutch learning) Udagawa Genshin (1769-1834, or 1824/5?), first published in 30 volumes in the same year and containing translations and excerpts of imported Dutch books on anatomy and physiology.Owing to the vast volume of this book, his pupil Fujii Hohtei summarized it to the present 3 volumes. With these procedures, the book became widely known and read among physicians who had an interest in Dutch style medicine, especially the function of the organs, and tissue. Although this book shows some classical immaturities, it had great influence on Japanese physicians in promoting the level of knowledge from pre-modern to modern medicine, even in the time of the closed-door policy. The… Read More

[20], “400” [= 488] pp.One of the most important and influential redactions of Giovanni Boccaccio's Decameron, the greatest and most popular work of Italian literature. Boccaccio (1313-1375) began writing the Decameron soon after the plague that decimated Florence in 1348 and finished it in 1353. It was immediately recognized as a great work, and has remained a classic ever since. It is a classic example of stories within a frame story, the frame story revolving around the plague in Florence. Ten young noble Florentines (seven women and three men) decide to leave the city to avoid the plague, settling in a villa in the countryside nearby. They entertain each other for ten days by each telling a story each day, making a hundred stories in all. Although Boccaccio has the young man Dioneo tell more naughty stories than the other characters, he also has the women tell some, especially on day seven, when Dioneo sets the theme as stories of women playing tricks on their husbands. Modern scholars often… Read More

“390” [= 380] ll.Second Sansovino edition of Boccaccio's first important work, Il Filocolo (here Filocopo), a prose romance written ca. 1334-1336, about twenty years before the Decameron. Boccaccio reworked the 12th-century French love story of Floire (Florio), muslim Prince of Andalusia, and Blancheflor (Biancifiore), the orphaned daughter of his mother's Roman Christian lady-in-waiting. They grow up together in the royal household, but when they fall in love his parents try to break up the romance by selling her to merchants who will take her to Alexandria to join a harem. Florio, under the pseudonym Filocopo, rescues and marries her. He converts to Christianity and they return home where he ascends the throne and his people embrace Christianity. Boccaccio introduced many new elements into the story and told it with his usual flare for (often risqué) humour. It served as inspiration for writers around the world from Chaucer to Keats, and Boccaccio himself further developed several episodes for… Read More

164 pp.The first substantial study and reproduction of Fra Mauro's famous Mappa mundi, considered the supreme medieval map of the world and the "greatest memorial of medieval cartography" (Almagià). The most detailed representation of the world ever seen when it was produced around 1450, it remains one of the most important works in the history of cartography, marking the new embrace of scientific method that placed accuracy ahead of religious or traditional beliefs. Strikingly, it is oriented with south at the top, recalling the Arab tradition and more specifically al-Idrisi's famous 12th century world map, which Fra Mauro may have known from copies. Europe is shown at the foot, with Arabia (not Jerusalem) at the centre and America still unknown. Placido Zurla's handsome work, the earliest study of the map, was the first to include a reproduction of it in book form. Zurla (1769-1834) had unique insight into Mauro's monumental achievement, as he served as librarian to the same Camaldolese order as… Read More

58, [1], [1 blank] ll.One of the earliest editions of a tragic play in Italian verse by Torquato Tasso (1544-1595), published only a year after the first edition of 1587. Torrismondo follows the classical tradition, influenced by Sophocles and Seneca, and tells the story of Alvida, princess of Norway, who is forced to marry Torrismondo, King of the Goths. Tasso had made his name with his epic poem Gerusalemme liberata, published in 1580, and the present work also proved extremely popular.Although the endleaf facing the title-page is signed "Francisco: Drake" and the title-page initialled "FD", both in a contemporary hand, the signature does not closely resemble the known signatures of Sir Francis Drake (ca. 1540-1596), so the owner may have been a namesake. With an occasional running head shaved and the outer fold of the last quire reinforced and an occasional leaf slightly dirty. Otherwise in very good condition. An early edition of a play very popular in its day.l ICCU CNCE 48032 (8 copies);… Read More

[24], 319 [= 316] pp.Rare and finely produced edition of Giovanni Battista Guarini's (1538-1612) famous pastoral drama Il Pastor Fido, here of special interest for its fine binding by the so-called "Bird's Head Bindery", Amsterdam. The design is exceptionally rich but light for a Dutch binding from the period. The spine compartments show a charming lozenge with the head of a girl carrying a basket of flowers and the outer frame on the sides shows birds among leafy sprays. The four corners on each board show a fine carnation (t. 28). This Amsterdam bindery probably started its activities ca. 1728 with work for the book collector Gosuinus Uilenbroek (1658-1714). Storm van Leeuwen notes that "the Bird's Head Bindery made many presentation bindings that were definitely or probably commissioned by publishers." The "richness of execution and the Amsterdam publisher" of the present work "indicate that it may have been a presentation copy" (Storm van Leeuwen).In very good condition with the binding slightly… Read More

Dedication copy, with a stunning original pen and watercolour drawing in honour of Queen Charlotte of England, of the first edition of a highly esteemed illustrated book on the sexual system of Linnaeus, published in 20 parts from 1775 to 1777, with some plates issued as completed from 1770 onward. Our copy is bound in three volumes, with the volume numbers professionally lettered on the title-pages in ink. Volumes 2 and 3 contain the suite of plates in black and white plus the four hand-coloured plates showing 178 varieties of plant leaves, each plate with an engraved title and imprint. Volume 1 contains a suite of the same 104 plates in proof states with no lettering, all in a fine contemporary hand-colouring. The present copy of this rare and impressive flower book is especially valuable for its beautiful dedicatory watercolour drawing for Queen Charlotte (1744-1818), wife of King George III of England. Probably drawn by Miller himself, it shows Father Time and Britannia seated at the foot of an… Read More

[4], 180, [1], [3 blank] pp.First and only edition of an erudite overview of maritime history from classical antiquity to the early 17th century, with most chapters discussing various (historical) European countries, covering exploration, fishery, trade, law etc. Special attention is given to Dutch maritime history, including the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and the Dutch West India Company (WIC). It is written by the prolific Dutch scholar Martinus Schoock (1614-1669).Very good copy.l STCN (10 copies); not in Cat. NHSM; Goldmsith; Kress; for the author see: NNBW X, cols. 889-891.

[36], “CXXXIII” [= CXXXIV], 106 ll.The first authoritative work of antiquity on the “materia medica”, the branch of science treating remedial substances, based on the author’s first-hand research throughout the Middle East. This is the rare first edition to include the commentary by G. B. Egnatio: the third Latin (altogether the fourth) edition of Dioscorides, the first to contain the translation of Ermolao Barbaro. The appendix contains the first edition ever of "Corollarii", Barbaro’s conclusions, sometimes considered a separate work by bibliographers."Dioscorides’ work is the authoritative source on the materia medica of antiquity. He described over 600 plants and plant principles" (Garrison/M.). "Very little is known about its author ..., except that he was a Cilician Greek who lived in the time of Claudius and Nero, and that he travelled widely in the Middle East, probably as a physician in the Roman army ... It is no exaggeration to say that from its publication until well into the 17th… Read More

[8], 499, [33] pp.Rare first and only edition of a commentary on book I, fen (section) I of Avicenna's Canon, including the Latin version of the text by Andrea Alpago and Jacob Mantino. Like most of Oddi's work it was published posthumously by his son Marco degli Oddi."Although in the body of his work much of the time he treated Avicenna with nominal respect, this was apt to be achieved through a procedure of deducing Avicenna's 'real' opinion by consulting Galen. In addition, Oddo Oddi had a long-standing interest in the problem of securing a better Latin text of the Canon (he was on the academic committee that approved Alpago's work and he encouraged Graziolo many years later); he based his exposition on Alpago's text, which he claimed to be in general use, and rather frequently compared the latter's renderings with those of Gerard of Cremona and Jakob Mantino." (Siraisi).Before practicing Medicine in Venice, Oddo degli Oddi (1478-1558) taught classics (Greek and Latin) at the University of Padua.… Read More