Search Results: Titles starting with L from Asher Rare Books

[32], “353” [= 351], [1 blank]; [2], "292" [= 296], [24] pp.A French translation of Maffei's celebrated Historiarum Indicarum. Divided into 16 books, it describes the Portuguese discoveries and missionary work in India, the East Indies, Persia, Japan, China, Brazil and other parts of America. "Maffei writes extensively about Brazil, describing it very accurately" (Borba de Moraes), in fact devoting three chapters to the subject. Book six is devoted to China and includes a description of tea, to which Maffei ascribed several health benefits, regular consumption resulting in a "long and healthy life" ("Elles les ... fait vivre longues années, presque sans aucune langueur", p. 230). The translation is by Abbé Michel de Pure (1634-1680). Title-page with stamp and owner's inscription. Lower corner of title-page torn off (ca. 10 x 5 cm), stamp on leaf A1 partly cut out, slightly shaving a few letters of the text, slightly browned. Binding worn, spine damaged, hinges cracked, corners damaged. A… Read More

899 [=897], [58], [1 blank] pp.First newly enlarged edition of Arrêts d'Amour ("Rulings of love"), a collection of fictional lawsuits concerning love by the attorney and poet Martial d'Auvergne (ca. 1420-1508). "The … imitate strictly the style and procedures used at the Parlement and employ the compulsory juridical formulas. Each ruling begins with the statement of the case, followed by the oral debate in which the different parties confront one another. Finally the conclusions of the Parlement of Love are given in a ruling" (Van Dixhoorn & Speakman Sutch). As such it's an interesting combination between law and literature, mocking both the absurdities of gallantry and the French juridical system.It was first published ca. 1460/65 containing 51 "arrests", editions with the 52nd arrest by Gilles d'Aurigny appeared from ca. 1540, and the 53rd arrest was here published for the first time and added as supplement after the index. The work stayed popular until the 18th century, and was imitated by La… Read More

[8], 896, 58; [8], 927, [1] pp.Re-issue under a new title of the first edition of this extensive work on India, Southeast Asia and China, which was a originally printed in Rome, by Michele Hercole in 1669. The printer Felice Cesaretti only replaced the title and preliminaries. At the end of vol. 2 there is the original 'Registro' giving the sequence of the quires including the quires of the preliminaries, and with the imprint 'In Roma, per Michele Hercole. 1669', with a slip of paper with the year '1676' pasted over the original year. The Benedictine abbot Clemente Tosi (Tonsus) destined his huge work for the missionaries in India, continental Southeast Asia and China. It is a handbook designed to provide missionaries with background and arguments enough to confute idolatry, superstitions and 'errors' of the gentiles. The first volume treats India proper and is based on the Jesuit letter-books and on Manrique's work. The second volume deals with the continental countries from India eastward to… Read More

258 pp.First and only separately published edition of a detailed account of the geography, history and especially diplomacy of the northwest American region that the United States called Oregon Country, written and published during the negotiations to divide the region between Great Britain and the United States. The British called it the Columbia District. The folding map shows the "ligne proposé par les Etats-Unis" at the 49th parallel, which was the final dividing line in the 1846 treaty except that the whole of Vancouver Island went to Great Britain. In 1848 the United States part officially became the Oregon territory and was later the States of Washington, Oregon, Idaho and parts of two others, while the British part became the southern part of what is now British Columbia in Canada. The map has some irregular folds and several tears, some repaired, but all are marginal. The book is otherwise in very good condition.l Eberstadt 134:563; Howes F70; Sabin 24000; not in the Graff Collection.

[20], 202, [18] pp.Fourth edition, with an extensive new index, of a detailed account of the Ottoman Empire under the infamous Sultan Mehmed III (reigned 1595-1603), first published by Vittorio Baldini in Ferrara in 1598 (he also published one of two 1599 editions, the other appearing at Milan). It concentrates especially on the Empire's administrative structure, resources and organization. Little is known about the author, but what are supposed to be two members of his family were Venetian ambassadors to the Ottoman Empire and the book appears to be based on intimate first-hand knowledge of Ottoman affairs.In very good condition and with ample margins, with a small stain in the first few leaves, occasional, mostly marginal minor foxing, and a small marginal tear. The binding wrinkled and with a few small stains. A contemporary account of the Ottoman government, with much information not found elsewhere.l Göllner, Turcica 2452; ICCU CNCE 53796 (5 copies); WorldCat (3 copies); cf. Adams S1462 (1599… Read More

Third state of the first map of the Netherlands on such a large scale, mostly about 1:105,000, but with some eastern regions squeezed in at about 1:140,000. Fully assembled it has an image area of about 231 x 152 cm. Then as now, foreigners used the name "Holland" to refer to the entire Northern Netherlands, at this time comprising the seven provinces of the Dutch Republic. Zeeland falls almost entirely outside the borders of this map, however, so it covers the provinces of Holland, Utrecht, Friesland, Groningen, Overijssel and Gelderland (Drenthe was admitted as a province independent of Overijssel only in 1796). Originally published by Le Rouge in 1748, the plates were revised for publication in a second state by Jean Crepy ca. 1770, and in a third by Jean A. Dezauche in 1790. 2 sheets with slight glue stain in blank margins. Boxes a bit rubbed and scratched. Fine, well-preserved copy.l De Vries, "Een Franse wandkaart van Nederland uit 1748", in: Caert-Tresoor, 1 (1989), pp. 24-29.

First edition (the only edition in the original French) of Breton de la Martinières picturesque representations of the dress, customs and manners of the inhabitants of the Russian empire. With numerous plates showing views of Moscow and the Kremlin, the Palace of Petrowski, inhabitants of various cities in their characteristic dress (Riga, Ochta, Valday), Cossacks, a settlement of Kalmouks, army officers, etc. A German edition appeared in 1816.Bindings with traces of use. A fine set including the “Avis au relieur” (advice to the binder where to insert the plates) in volume 1.l Brunet 27736 (I, col. 1226, item 1); Colas 436; Hiler 113; Lipperheide Kaa 29.

224; 141, [1 blank] pp.First edition of an incendiary satirical pamphlet ("farce Rabelaisienne" - Pioffet) and one of the earliest editions of the author's defence of it, both attacking the Huguenot ministers of the Languedoc, three years after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Of special interest are some parts are written in Languedoc patois. La cabale raised a storm of protests, especially because it attacked the Huguenot ministers very personally under their full names. The present Apologie, responds to their threats and continues the attacks.Guillaume Reboul (1564-1611), a notorious French pamphleteer, came from a Huguenot family, converted to Catholicism, and was excommunicated almost immediately. As secretary to the Duke of Bouillon he cheated the Duke out of a large amount of money and fled to the Pope's Court at Avignon, where his ban was lifted. He then went to Rome where he became the protégé of Cardinal Baronius. He wrote several violent satirical pamphlets against the French… Read More

[1], IX, 159 ll. plus 8 loose ll. with additions and corrections.Unpublished thesis by a French female student, on the life, educational system and cultural environment of the Irish monasteries during the 5th and 6th centuries. Chapter [B] III is heavily corrected and the author added 8 additional leaves to amend the text.The map shows Ireland and Western Great Britain with the monasteries in the area (Bangor, Lindisfarne, St. Davis Dementae Kildare, Killeany, Skellig, etc.).Aimée Lorcin (born ca. 1922) subsequently turned the thesis in an article, published in the Revue du moyen âge Latin I (1945): “La vie scolaire dans les monastères d'Irlande au ve-viie siècle”.With two stamps of the "Bibl. d'Histoire des Religions, Sorbonne" on the title page and the author's address handwritten below her name. Several pages are heavily amended. First leaves browned but otherwise in very good condition.

Double-page title-page and 39 double-page maps.Second known copy of a pocket-atlas, published at Antwerp but containing a selection of the maps of the Low Countries originally published by Jacob Aertsz. Colom at Amsterdam in 1635 with the title De Vyerighe Colom, the title Colom had first used for his famous pilot guide in 1632, and the name he had given to his Amsterdam printing office, where he worked from 1622 to his death in 1673 as a bookseller, printer and mapmaker. The only other copy known is at the Royal Library in Brussels. The Vyerighe Colom, with 47 maps and 3 plates, and with extensive text in Dutch and French, went through several editions in the 17th century, but it was once thought that all editions before his death in 1673 had been published at Amsterdam by Colom himself. The Royal Library copy, like the present one, contains 39 maps, but each contains one map not in the other, so there are forty in total: the present copy includes “Drentiae”, not in the Royal Library copy, which… Read More

[6], 152 ll.First edition of the Italian translation by Ferrante Guisone of Du Bartas's world-famous La Sepmaine, ou création du monde (1578), an epic poem on the creation of the world, divided into seven parts, for each of the seven days of creation. Guillaume de Salluste du Bartas (1549-1590) was one of the most important French Renaissance poets and a Huguenot soldier under King Henry IV. La Sepmaine is his most celebrated work.Only some minor wormholes to the head of the first few leaves, not touching the text, otherwise in very good condition.l Adams D973; Labarre, Répert. bibliogr. des livres impr. en France (Tours), p.106, no. 166; L.C. de Ris, La typogr. en Touraine, 99; not in Gamba.

[8], 272 pp.Good association copy of the first and only edition of a "work which no student of the history of falconry should neglect" (Harting). The author argues that people in the Middle Ages particularly honoured the falcon as the star of the hunt. He goes into the Medieval style of training falcons and the cures for many diseases that could affect them. He derives his information from multiple Latin sources. These Latin treatises, still largely unpublished, are presented in the first chapter, while the following three critically analyse the information they provide concerning birds, taming and hunting techniques, and medical applications.Signed presentation copy from the author to Florian Pharaon (1827-1887), the first Arab editor at Le Figaro, and the translator of an Arabic hunting work into French. Some spotting, binding rubbed. Otherwise in good condition.l Harting 211; Schwerdt II, pp. 2-3; Thiébaud 621.

176 pp.First edition of an excellent falconry manual that supplements the second volume of Leçons élémentaires sur l’histoire naturelle des oiseaux (1862) by the same author. The book describes the different types of falcons and goshawks and ends with an alphabetical list of falconry terms. It is based largely on Francois Huber’s Observations sur le vol des oiseaux de proie, Geneva, Paul Barde, 1784 (Harting 182) and the falconry chapter in the Encyclopédie d’histoire naturelle, Paris, 1850.Occasional spotting, a little soiled and creased. Otherwise in good condition.l Harting 200; Schwerdt I, 109; Thiébaud 192.

[6], “70” [= 71], [1 blank] ll. including the integral title-page, plus 38 plates.The first and only edition printed in the Netherlands, with a false Paris imprint and not previously recognized, of "the first independent French work on fortification" (Jähns), by Jean Errard, mathematician and official military engineer to King Henri IV. The four "livres" give a general introduction, an account of regular (symmetrical) fortifications, irregular fortifications and fortifications at the edge of a hill, mountain or sea. The emphasis is on design and geometric construction, rather than the mechanics of building. It remained the French standard work on the subject until superseded by Vauban's work beginning in the 1670s, but even Vauban shows Errard's influence very clearly. There appears to be no copy in any Dutch library.With minor and mostly marginal water stains (reaching the corner of the text in the last two quires), occasional marginal tears and an occasional crease, but still in good condition.… Read More

[8], XL, 225, [7]; [6], XVI, 322, [4]; [12], XL, 248, [2]; [4], 397, [3] pp.First edition of a very extensive work on fortification, by the French military engineer Marc-René, marquis de Montalembert (1714-1800). "Viewing fortresses as nothing more than immense permanent batteries designed to pour overwhelming fire on attacking armies, Montalembert simplified the intricate geometric designs of Vauban and relied on simple polygonal structures, often with detached peripheral forts instead of projecting bastions. The fortifications at Anklam, Stralsund, Aix-en-Provence, and Île d'Oléron were among his most prominent creations." (Encyclopaedia Brittanica). The first volume is devoted to the origins and progress of fortification, the others to the usefulness, construction, attack, defence and other aspects of fortresses. A fifth volume with 17 folding plates, added in 1784, is not included in the present set, which was probably issued before it appeared.With several library- and deaccession stamps.… Read More

[57], [1 blank] ll.First 17th-century edition of this important and finely illustrated manual of Euclidean geometry (the geometrical system attributed to Alexandrian Greek mathematician Euclid) and its practical applications for surveyors, architects and others by the military engineer Giovanni Pomodoro. The first edition of the Geometria prattica was published in 1599. The first 44 plates were designed by Pomodoro. Unfortunately he died before 1599 and therefore he could not complete his work. He only left the manuscript of the present work, which then only contained 44 plates. The mathematican Giovanni Scala edited the manuscript and added the last 7 plates. Almost nothing is known about Pomodoro’s life, all we know is derived from the text by Scala and by the foreword by Pomodoro’s brother Piero Pomodoro in the first edition, which is not present in this copy.This work must have been very useful for land meters, geographers, cosmographers, architects and militaries, not only because it is a… Read More

76 pp.18th-century French chapbook edition of one of the most popular picture books in Europe since the Middle Ages. It depicts two Dances of Death: first the Dance of Death of men of all ranks and professions, followed by the Dance of Death of women of various ranks and stations in life. These Dances of Death were meant to remind people that everybody was mortal however powerful in life, and to warn people to be prepared to die at any moment.Browned throughout, some occasional foxing and a small piece torn from the margin of page 19, not affecting text or illustration. Overall a good copy.l Oberlé, La Bibl. Bleue, 1; Nisard II, p. 284: "Le plus beau des livres de la Bibliothèque Bleue".

Certificate for the Dutch steam frigate Evertsen to leave the harbour of Port Mahon, Menorca. In 1860 the majority of the crew of the Evertsen suffered from an epidemic eye disease and sailed from the waters near Toulon to Menorca in order to recover. The certificate mentions the name of the ship, the number of canons (51), the number of men on board (432), the name of the Captain, Martin van Vreeland, and where the ship is heading, in this case to sea. The certificate is signed by three officials and stamped at the foot. Written on the back of the certificate are three statements, one by the French vice-consul Vales, one by the British consul Edmund Peel, and another by the Portuguese consul Joao Flaguer, each with a stamp of the consulate. They state that the ship with its entire crew left in good health and "that good health is enjoyed in this town and the adjacent country, without any suspicion of plague or contagious distemper whatsoever" (Peel). Folded and slightly creased, otherwise in good condition.

[16], 224 pp.First French edition (with the engraved title-page new for this edition) of an instruction manual for designing fortifications, with an emphasis on drawing their plans, profiles, perspective views, etc., first published in Latin (also by the Elzeviers) in 1643 using the same illustration plates. Most of the illustrations show fortification plans, profiles, elevations, etc., including many details, but they also include plain and solid geometrical diagrams, drafting instruments, bridges and military buildings. Many of the plans include a scale. The book, dedicated to the Dutch Stadtholder and Prince of Orange Frederick Hendrick, shows the Leiden Elzeviers at their high point, with stunning woodcut decorations and initials, and good presswork. Nicolaus Goldman (1611-1665) was born in Breslau but studied in Leiden and settled there permanently, teaching military engineering.With the late 19th-century bookplate of Château de Rosny-sur-Seine, near Paris. Part of the Rosny library was sold in… Read More

XXVI, [2], 431, [1 blank]; [2], II, 448 pp.Third edition of an important work in theoretical biology. "Yet Bonnet was less doctrinaire than his colleagues; he supported, for example, a very elastic thesis of the germ cell, which according to him, was not only "an organized body reduced in size ... " but "every kind of original preformation out of which may result an organic whole, as of his immediate principle". This theory, which Bonnet christened "palingenenis," set forth the functional and structural notion of the cell, which was not stated formally until a hundred years later" (DSB).A very good copy, some spots throughout and a small tear in the title-page of volume one.l DSB II, pp. 286-287.