Search Results: Titles starting with S from Asher Rare Books

[20], 769, [9] pp.First and only edition of a beautifully illustrated Roman Catholic emblem book, written by the Spanish Jesuit Pierre de Bivero, Latinized Biverus (1572-1656). The book is divided into three parts, closing with an appendix. The first part is devoted to the emblematic representation of the Holy Virgin, with 16 engraved emblems, several depicting Mary in a cartouche on the breast of an enormous dove. The second part centres on King David, illustrated with 20 plates, and the third part deals with female saints, including 6 emblematic plates, 5 depicting two saints on each plate and the sixth devoted to Maria. The appendix contains 15 heart-shaped devotional emblems, which had been published before in the devotional work Typus praedestinationis, also printed at Antwerp, in 1630. The emblems were designed and engraved by some of the best Antwerp artists. Adriaan Collaert (ca. 1560-1618), a fine Antwerp engraver, was married to the daughter of Philip Galle, whose pupil was Charles de… Read More

22, [2], 14, [2] pp.Rare first separately published edition of a report containing the results of a survey of Japanese waters, providing information and instructions to help mariners recognise landmarks and navigate around the coasts of China, Japan and the surrounding islands. The survey was conducted during a diplomatic and military expedition of the U.S. navy under the command of Commodore M.C. Perry (1794-1858). This expedition, also known as the Perry Expedition, took place in 1853/54. The U.S. president Millard Fillmore ordered Perry to sail to the Tokugawa Shogunate to establish more favourable diplomatic and trade relations with Japan (which restricted its contact with foreign powers) and surrounding nations and thus end the sakoku, Japan's isolationist foreign policy. Two of Perry’s lieutenants wrote the report: William Lewis Maury (1813-1878) and Silas Bent (1820-1887). Bent served aboard Perry's flagship the “Mississippi”, and a note at the beginning of the report (page 3) indicates that… Read More

[126], 37, [3] pp.; plus [3], [1 blank] pp. advertisementsOnly copy located of the 1850 almanac for the island of Saint Helena. Famous for being the prison of Napoleon Bonaparte in his final years, the British island was used as a frequent stop by ships calling in for supplies. The almanac contains 37 pages listing the 930 ships that visited the island between 1 December 1848 and 30 November 1849. The development of steamships as well as the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 would almost completely deprive Saint Helena of its great importance as a supply station. In 1840 a naval station was established for the Royal Navy's campaign to suppress the slave trade. By 1 December 1849, 15,067 slaves had been brought to the island. Roughly a fourth died on the island, with the rest emigrating to Jamaica, British Guiana and Trinidad.Starting with the natural history of the island, the almanac describes the geology of the island and lists the birds and fish that can be found. The rest of the almanac describes… Read More

[1 blank], [54], [1 blank] pp.A 1484 edition of the (mostly hexametric) verse satires by Persius Flaccus (AD 34-62), the sixth known edition with the extensive prose commentary by Bartolomeo Fonzio. Persius satirized Stoic ethics, literary style, their asking the gods for material gain, and their views of life goals and liberty, all in the light of the decadence and corruption of Nero's court at Rome. Though influenced by the satires of Lucilius and Horace, Persius's calm and seriously educational critique gives his work a subtle depth often lacking in his predecessors. He left his satires unfinished at his premature death and they were put into order by his friends Cornutus and Bassus. Ulrich Han in Rome printed the first edition in 1470 and many followed quickly, but the most important were those with Fonzio's commentaries,.Bartolomeo Fonzio (1446/49-1513), born in Etruria, was a Florentine humanist and professor of poetry and rhetoric at the university there. He greatly admired Persius's work but… Read More

51, [1] pp.An anonymous pamphlet passionately urging the Dutch East and West India Companies (VOC and WIC) to join forces and form a single united company and lamenting what the author, in the title, describes as the “damage that the state of the United Netherlands and its people have suffered by the failure of the East and West India Companies to negotiate a single charter and company”. The author presents six detailed numbered arguments (he calls each a “reden”, literally a reason or the grounds) to support his claim, the first with parts numbered I-XX. The proposed merger of the two companies never took place. Arguments one (part X) to four explicitly refer to the trade in or conquest of Brazil in general (it was in Dutch hands from 1630 to 1654) and the first to Pernambuco in particular, and nearly all refer to the West Indies (a term that at this time included Brazil).Curiously, the back paste-down is made from a discarded title-page from Verhaal van drie voorname reizen naar Oostindien… Read More

[8], 211, [1]; 48 pp.According to the STCN the author of the Schat der armen is Heyman Jacobs. The impressum gives Hermanus Kentlink as the publisher, even though the "message from the publisher" is signed by J. Nikkel. Spine slightly damaged, covers slightly rubbed, a small label on the front pastedown, some annotations on the first flyleaf, very slight foxing throughout, light water stains in the lower margins of some pages. Overall in good condition.l BNM, 377. Only 2 complete copies of this third edition in STCN.

[16], 384, [1], [1 blank]; [256] pp.Very rare second edition, with additions and corrections, of a standard practical manual on the art of navigation, by the virtually unknown Klaas de Vries, teacher of mathematics in Amsterdam. Its illustrations are printed from the copper plates and woodblocks of the first edition of 1702, also published by Loots, and it repeats the 1701 dedication of that edition, to the famous Amsterdam burgomaster and one of the directors of the Dutch East India Company (VOC), Nicolaas Witsen, but now dated Amsterdam, 12 June 1706. In the preface De Vries summarises the content of the book, which is profusely illustrated (mostly with diagrams) and includes letterpress tables of the tides, the time lag between the positions of the sun and moon for the years 1707-1716, the declination of the sun, etc., as well as 4 engraved plates of a compass rose, the Jakob's staff and other navigational instruments, the "Platte Paskaart" and the "Wassende graadige paskaart". The work concludes… Read More

[12], 30, [12], [1], 32-272, 271-334, [1], [1 blank]; [3], 44, [1], [12], [90 lacking], [2], [101], [1 blank] pp.Very rare first edition of a standard practical manual on the art of navigation, by the virtually unknown Klaas de Vries, teacher of mathematics in Amsterdam. In the preface De Vries summarises the content of the book, which is profusely illustrated (mostly with diagrams) and includes letterpress tables of the tides, the time lag between the positions of the sun and moon for the years 1701-1710, the declination of the sun, etc., as well as 4 engraved plates of a compass rose, the use of the Jakob's staff, the "Platte Paskaart" and the "Wassende graadige paskaart". The work is concluded by sections on the winds one can encounter on the journey from Holland to the Dutch East Indies; how to sail to the East Indies in autumn, during monsoons, etc. Ad 2: The corrected Loots edition of tables of trigonometric functions and logarithms. The note to the reader explicitly states that the tables are… Read More

[52] ll.One of the several issues of the elegant first edition of a collection of allegorical poetry by the playwright, poet and scholar Giovanni Gherardo de Rossi (1754-1827), containing epigrams, sonnets and other poems dedicated to love, featuring Venus and Cupid. It is one of the few illustrated books printed by Bodoni.The engravings are by the notable Italian artist Francesco Rosaspina after José Teixeira Barreto and appear here in a later state, with much more added detail and uncoloured. Bodoni printed many variants of this book in different formats and with different states and colouring of the plates.The book is splendidly bound by the Parisian binder Rémy Petit who was active from 1855 till at least 1900. He had a binding on exposition on the Exposition Universelle of 1867 and is known to have made bindings for Victor Hugo.Fine copy with only a couple minor specks, some faint thumbing in the lower right corner of the first poem and a minor water stain (14 x 0.5 cm), only visible on the… Read More

[2 blank], [117], [1 blank] pp.Unique course in cloth weaving as taught in a German-language technical school, probably carefully noted down by one of the pupils and beautifully illustrated with nearly 2000 weaving patterns drawn on grid paper (with the various threads colour-coded) and accompanied by hundreds of samples of woven cloth, both the patterns and the cloth samples mounted on the leaves. Most pages contain primarily patterns and samples, with only brief captions, but the occasional longer text sometimes run over a few pages. This German text provides an explanation of the patterns and their colour-coding, the various kinds of cloth and the weaving process. Many of the patterns are shown in red, black and white, but some add yellow and/or blue, a few use brown and a few use only red and white or only black and white. The weaving patterns and cloth samples are numbered as 1214 figures, but many numbers include two patterns or samples and some as many as five, and occasionally a number has… Read More

36 pp.Rare first edition, with fine emblematic plates, illustrating the injustice and cruelty of the war waged by Louis XIV of France against the free and independent Dutch Republic. Romeyn de Hooghe (1645-1708) was unquestionably the most gifted and the most prolific Dutch book illustrator of the second half of the 17th century. His work displays the political grandeur and disasters of war in the Dutch Republic, including the disastrous year 1672, depicted dramatically and with great splendour. The large plates are richly designed and full of intricate emblems and allegories, fully explained in the accompanying text; an emblematic poem is added to each plate.With manuscript annotation in ink on pastedown. Slightly browned throughout with some thumbed margins, edges of frontispiece slightly frayed, otherwise in very good condition. Head of front board restored, binding otherwise good.l Hollstein (Dutch & Flemish) IX, p. 120, 103-108 (lacking frontispiece); Landwehr, De Hooghe Book Illustrator 38; STCN… Read More

43, [5], 20 pp.Joseph Gwilt (1784-1863) studied architecture with his father and at the Royal Academy. In his numerous works he shows himself to be an adherent of the classical style. With regard to the present work, Gwilt states in his preface that at first he only wanted to translate “Etudes d'Ombres” by Stanislas l'Eveillé. He concluded though that the text by l'Eveillé was too complex to have been generally useful and he adapted the text with his own theories, so that it could be more easily understood by the readers.The last 20 pages of the present work comprise a catalogue of books on architecture on sale at J. Taylor's architectural library.First leaf (the half-title) lacking, plates slightly foxed, otherwise in good condition.l BAL 1410. Not in Fowler; Millard.

[16], 204 pp.Rare second (first Venetian) edition of an extensively illustrated practical handbook on the construction and use of mechanical devices including hoists, cranes and other equipment for constructing buildings, monuments, bridges, fountains and monuments, as well as water wheels, clocks, canon carriages etc., and simple machines such as levers, pulleys and screws. It also provides detailed information about the use of artillery, with tables of angles and distances. The text is divided into 3 parts, the first covering mechanics in six chapters, the second statics and the third practical applications. An appendix gives instructions for determining the centre of gravity of an object.In very good condition, with only a small stain in the gutter margin of 1 leaf. The binding has a small chip at the head of the spine, a tear in one paste-down and a few worm holes in the endpapers, but is still very good. A practical handbook of mechanical devices, with hundreds of illustrations.l ICCU (6 copies);… Read More

Rare very early engraved map showing the Indian subcontinent, the Strait of Hormuz, the eastern half of the Gulf, and the Indian Ocean, including the islands of Ceylon (Sri Lanka), the Maldives, Seychelles, the western tip of Sumatra and what must be the eastern tip of Somalia. Many topographic names appear in forms used in early Portuguese accounts of voyages, but most can be identified. In India and Ceylon we find Goa, Mangalor (Mangalore), Cochin (Kochi), Calinapata (Calcutta?), Besinagar (Bangalore), Colmucho (Colombo) and many others; in the Gulf region Cor. Dulfar (Dhofar), the island Macira (Masirah), C. Resalgate (Ras el Had?), Galatia (the ancient site Qalhat), Mazcate (Muscat), the island Quexumo (Qeshm) and Ormus (Hormuz). There is even an unlabelled city close to present-day Abu Dhabi. Two of the ships are labelled with their destinations: Calicut (Kozhikode) on the Malabar Coast and Molucche (the Moluccas) in the East Indies.Gastaldi first published a similar map as one of a set of three… Read More

573, [3] pp.Rare edition of a popular Dutch book of secrets, compiled by the physician Carolus Battus (1540-1617) a Flemish refugee who from 1588 to 1601 was city physician in Dordrecht. As mentioned on the title-page, Battus compiled his work from various Latin, French, German and Dutch sources, mentioning the author at the end of each "secret". The book opens with secrets concerning fire, air, water and earth: how to make a candle that can't be blown out or how to heat water without fire. Next are secrets to cure or reduce human diseases and maladies, followed by numerous secrets concerning plants and animals. Also included are many household secrets: recipes for various kinds of ink, dye, soap, waters, balsams etc. and many recipes for preserves, cakes, cookies, wine, meat dishes and more. In total the book includes over 1500 secrets.Title-page restored at the gutter, some marginal thumbing and staining, small piece torn off at the corner of page 273/274, slightly affecting the text. Binding… Read More

[1], [1 blank], [5], [1 blank], 299, [1 blank] pp.A special issue of the Sedimentary Geology journal concerning the new aspects of sedimentation in small ocean basins, which consists of 15 papers published following the Tenth International Congress on sedimentology, in Jerusalem 1978. The contributing authors are leading scientists in the field of geology, geophysics and oceanography, and are often specialised in studying sedimentation. The (main) editors of this issue are David A. Ross, a scientist (now emeritus) in geology and geophysics at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, in Woods Hole Massachusetts, USA, and G. Gvirtzman, a (former) researcher of the oil research division at the geological survey of Israel.The subject of small ocean basins (also known as marginal seas), as described in the foreword, are "the most fertile areas of study for marine scientists". The studies presented in this journal focus on 5 partially or complete isolated basins: the Eastern Mediterranean Sea (also known… Read More

[12], 158 pp. including integral frontispiece.First and only Dutch edition of an account of the voyages of three English merchant adventurers: John Sanderson in the Levant, Egypt and Constantinople (Istanbul), presented here as 1671-1676 but in fact describing travels in the years 1584-1602; Henry Timberlake in Jerusalem (1601); and the young John Smith in the Ottoman Empire (ca. 1598-1604) before his more famous voyage to America. All three are loosely translated from the relevant accounts in Purchas his pilgrimes, London, 1625, but the accounts of Sanderson and Timberlake are written in the first person. The present publisher added some texts from other sources, and the frontispiece and other illustrations, etched and engraved in a style sometimes reminiscent of Romein de Hooghe, are also new. Timberlake, though Protestant himself, shocked more narrow-minded Protestants by his accounts of the kindness of a Muslim Moor journeying from Fez to Mecca, who had joined his ship at Algiers and secured his… Read More

[10], 94 ll.First edition of a standard introduction to Kabbala, by the Prague rabbi, Shabbethai Sheftel Horowitz (1565-1619). Although the author was in Prague, the book was printed and published in Hanau. It is an impressive piece of book production, 15 years before Menasseh ben Israël set up the first Jewish printing office in Amsterdam. With an eye-like owner's stamp on the title-page. Slightly browned, with an occasional spot, some stains at the head, and an occasional marginal tear, but otherwise in good condition. With the boards somewhat bowed, a large dark stain on the back board, and the supports have broken at the hinges.l Bibliography of the Hebrew book 000137592; Steinschneider, col. 2241.

[36] loose ll.A collection of 36 pencil drawings of famous English thoroughbred race horses by at least three artists, including one signed "Harry Hall" and several others clearly based directly or indirectly on his paintings. Some horses appear in their stables or grounds, sometimes with a stable boy, groom or owner, others are shown carrying a jockey during a race at a track. The earliest horses shown include a beautiful pencil and ink-wash drawing of Camel (1822-1844), who raced from 1825 to 1827 and won the 1826 Port Stakes at Newmarket. He is better known as the sire of Touchstone (1831-1861), also shown, one of the most famous thoroughbreds of all time, who raced from 1833 to 1837. In very good condition, with only some minor wrinkles in one drawing and faint stains in another. Portfolio good. A charming collection of horse drawings, mostly from the early 1850s.

[10], 55 pp.Genealogy of the seven noble houses of Antwerp and chronology of the magistrates of the city. Magistrate offices in Antwerp were traditionally divided between members of the seven patrician families, whose members were supposedly descendants of the companions of the legendary Silvius Brabo. Christyn gives each of these families a short description and genealogy together with an illustration of the family crest. The second part of the book lists the magistrates of the city, with most of the lists starting in the 13th or 14th century.Johannes-Baptista Christyn (1630-1690) was a Flemish lawyer, diplomat and statesman. He wrote several genealogical, historical and judicial treatises, the most famous being the Jurisprudentia heroica (1689), a judicial study on the nobility in the Spanish Netherlands.Decorated paper on the boards slightly damaged and faded, otherwise a very good untrimmed copy.l Anet (7 copies); STCN (2 other copies).