Search Results: Titles starting with V from Asher Rare Books

[12], 218, [22]; [42] pp.Sixth edition of a treatise, in form of a dialogue between Carolus Clusius and Theodorus Clutius, (based on their correspondence) on bees, beeswax and apiculture, edited by Clutius for the first time in 1597, followed by editions in 1619, 1627, 1648, 1653 and 1705.Theodorus Clutius (1546-1598) was a pharmacist in Haarlem, later in Delft where he managed a famous pharmacy and where he was William of Orange’s court pharmacist. In 1593 he was asked by the Leiden University to lay out, in concert with Prof. Carolus Clusius, the first Hortus botanicus (Cruyt-tuin) in the Netherlands. Carolus Clusius (1526-1609), a physician and botanist from the Sothern Netherlands was appointed professor of botany at the Leiden University in 1593 where he also managed the Hortus botanicus together with Clutius.The added ‘Paerde-boecxken’ (Book on horses, cows and other animals and the treatment of and medicines for their diseases) has a separate title-page with a note, stating that the book was… Read More

[12], 400, 99, [6] ll.Rare first and only edition of the Dutch translation of a theological work by the Swiss reformed theologian Rudolf Hospinian (1547-1626). The work is divided into 5 books, the first dealing with the "origin of temples", starting with the tabernacle and Jewist temples, upto christian churches. The second deals with objects that can be found in temples and churches and their function. The other three books deal with objects and buildings outside temples and churches, graveyards for example.Books 3-5 bound before books 1-2. With water stains throughout, first few leaves trimmed at the lower margin. Binding slightly stained, but overall in good condition.l STCN 080151191 (2 copies); WorldCat (4 other copies).

[131], [1 blank] ll.Rare first and only edition (apparently one of two copies known to include the final quire R, with the Imperial privilege noted on the title-page) of the Dutch translation of devotional tracts and sermons by Johannes Chrysostomus (ca. 347-407), Archbischop of Constantinople and an important Greek Church Father and preacher, sometimes known in English as Saint John Chrysostom. After the title-page, table of contents and translator’s prologue follow the main work noted in the title and three additional works: Van die weder rechtinghe eens menschen, die ghevallen was; Hoe dat niement ghequetst en wort, dan van hem selven and Van vyantschap, toornicheyt, ende van niet te sweren. Although some of Chysostomus’s works were published in the original Greek beginning in 1526, they spread earlier and more widely in Latin translation. The printer-publisher Syon Cock appears to have been the first to publish any of Chrysostomus’s work in Dutch/Flemish and Anthonis van der Haeghen published a… Read More

[8], 166, [26] pp.Second enlarged Dutch edition of a chiliastic work on the coming realm of Christ by Daniel van Breen (1594-1664), pupil of the Remonstrant leader Simon Episcopius and later one of the leading “Collegianten” (members of the College of the Prophets, founded in 1646) in Amsterdam. He first published the present work anonymously in 1653, in both a Latin edition under the title Tractatus de regno ecclesiae glorioso, per Christum in terris erigendo and in a Dutch edition.The present copy is printed on good quality, large (Crown) paper, watermarked: AM = horn on a crowned shield above 4 and WR. Even though about 9 mm has been trimmed at the head and something at the foot, the trimmed leaves measure 21.5 x 17.5 cm and have more than a 1 cm margin at the head and 3-4 cm at the gutter, foot and fore-edge. The gutter margin in particular (3 cm on each page) is twice that of normal copies. In very good condition, with only an occasional marginal spot or smudge, and some spots and a small light… Read More

106, [6 blank] pp.First edition of the so-called Oracles of Leo the Wise, with a bilingual (Latin an Italian) text and 16 lovely and rather surreal engravings: an emblematic book of prophecies traditionally attributed to Leo VI (866-911/12), Emperor of Byzantium from 866 to his death and at least here also to Antonius Severus (188-217), sole Emperor of Rome from his murder of his brother in December 211 to his death (the book does not indicate which Severus is intended, but the preface notes that he reigned from 212). The Latin text was circulated, already attributed to Leo the Wise, in the 12th century, but Christians revived it in the 16th century and interpreted it as a prophecy that the Ottoman Empire would fall in 1622. These oracles remained popular in the 17th century, when they were presented as having predicted the setbacks that the Ottomans suffered in Europe in that period.Owner's inscriptions on the title-page, further with a bookplate. With a water stain in the first quire, but otherwise… Read More

XV, [1], 526 pp. (omitting the blank leaf, pp. 447-448).One of the most important French works on hunting, richly illustrated with woodcuts and also containing a complete quire of hunting tones, written by the French hunting specialist Jean-Baptiste-Jacques Le Verrier de la Conterie (1718-1783). In this classic on hunting, Le Verrier describes hunting hares, deers, wild boars, wolves, foxes and otters by using hunting dogs. He also discusses canine health, shows studies of hooves and footprints and provides the reader a dictionary of hunting terms at the end of the work. In addition, the work includes a completely engraved quire with hunting tones, including explanations under which circumstances the different hunting tones should be used.Venerie normande was first published in 1763 under the title L’école de la chasse. The present second edition was considerably enlarged to make the author’s definitive edition, including three new woodcuts (hare, dog and deer). The remaining woodcuts were the same… Read More

[8], 522, [14] pp.First edition of a very popular book on smallpox by Steven Blanckaart (1650-1704), son of a leading Dutch physician and professor, who trained as a pharmacologist, studied medicine at Franeker and promoted recent ideas in medicine. He was the first to introduce Cartesianism into medical science. All of the plates, excellent and interesting work by the artist-engraver Jacob Harrewijn, illustrate Blanckaart’s own work, but following it he added three other treatises on smallpox, by Franciscus de le Boë Sylvius, Johannes Wier and Blankaart’s contemporary, the English physician Thomas Sydenham, this last written in the form of a letter to his London colleague Henri Paman. Blankaart’s book, still accompanied by the contributions by others, went through several editions in the original Dutch and in English and German translations.With the Jugenstil book plate of Dr. Ad. Stordeur, Bruges (Belgium), dated 1910; and a small owner’s label (“GOM” monogram) partly overlapping it. Very… Read More

[8], “300” [= 400]; 112; 20, [4] pp.Ad 1: The rarest of three known (probably simultaneous) issues of the sixth and last edition of an anonymous translation of Boxhorn’s Commentariolus de statu Confœderatarum Provinciarum Belgii. This important and very informative political manual was first published in Latin in 1649 (6th Latin edition 1668). The first Dutch edition was published in 1650 (4th in 1652, 5th in 1660). The other two issues of the 6th edition were published by its printer, Willem van der Hoeve in Gouda, and by Johannes Tongerloo in The Hague. All three include the Militair repartitie-boeckjen and Artikel-brief (scans of the Tongerloo issue at the Royal Library in The Hague omit the Artikel-brief, though the STCN implies that copy contains all three). Although the publisher of the present issue is unknown, all three issues are the same printing and the three parts are sufficiently uniform typographically that Van den Hoeve seems likely to have printed them all.Addressing the main… Read More

19, [1 blank] pp.First Portuguese edition of a detailed description of the Shah of Persia's military campaign against the South Asian Mughal Empire. According to the title, the account was first written in Persian in Delhi, present-day northern India, in 1739 before being sent to Rome by Monsieur de Voulton. The present Portuguese pamphlet provides not only a translation of this original Persian account, but also other letters the events and descriptions of the captured Mughal treasure. A detailed list of this treasure can be found on pages 16-17: it includes elephants, artillery, gold and silver rupees, pearls and precious stones, and even the imperial throne studded with diamonds, which is also known as the Peacock Throne. Nader Shah Afshar, also known as Tahmasp Qoli Khan or Thamas Kouli Khan (1688-1747) was the ruler and emperor of Persia from 1736 to 1747. The present account describes his greatest campaign, against the Mughal Empire. Picking up after the Battle of Karnal in February 1739, the… Read More

[6], XIV, 302; [4], VI, [2], 363 pp.Rare travel account of a voyage to Russia by Jan Ackersdijck (1790-1861), a famous professor at the University of Utrecht who travelled all over Europe to collect data on the geography, population, society, trade, etc., paving the way and laying the foundation for the disciplines that later in the 19th century would be called economics and sociology.Ackersdijck left Utrecht in June 1835 and travelled via Hamburg, Kiel and Lübeck to Saint Petersburg, and from there to Novgorod, Moscow, Nizhniy Novgorod, Kazan and Simbirsk, then back to Moscow, St. Petersburg and Hamburg, returning to Utrecht in October of the same year. The places visited are extensively described, including all important buildings and monuments, as well as many aspects of Russian society: daily life, pubs, restaurants, government, culture, religion, education, etc.In very good condition.l Muller, Bibl. Neerlando-Russe 13; Tiele, Bibl. 24; WorldCat (2 copies).

7, [1 blank] pp.An enthusiastic Orangist’s eye-witness account of the Stadtholder Willem III’s triumphal entry into The Hague, returning from his army’s successful campaigns against France, which had invaded the Dutch Republic in the “rampjaar” (year of disaster) 1672. He entred The Hague on 8 December 1673 and the celebrations continued into 9 December, with artillery salutes, drums, processions and fires (fireworks?). After describing the celebrations, he gives a short historical overview of the role of the Princes of Orange in the liberation of the Dutch Republic from Spain in the 16th and 17th centuries.Most publications by Crispyn Hoeckwater call him only a bookseller, but the STCN records one 1674 imprint (a copy imprint: after the copy at Strasbourg) that says he printed the book, so he may have printed the present pamphlet. It is not clear whether he published both issues of the present edition or only the one that bears his name. We suspect he published both but wished to distribute some… Read More

[10], 244, [8] pp.First and only edition of an important work on spherical sundials by the Dutch mathematician Johann Hermann Knoop (1700-1769). It describes how to measure and construct different types of sundials, including one inside a hollow half sphere, and a "gnomic" armillary sphere. The plates, engraved by Jan Caspar Philips (1690-1775), depict these sundials. They are bound at the end of the text and can be folded out while consulting the text.Knoop was curator of the gardens of Princes Maria Louisa in Leeuwarden, and taught mathematics in the same city.With two small stamps and a shelf label on title-page. Title-page browned and thumbed, with a water stain in the foot margin, margins slightly browned throughout, with a few small spots. Otherwise in good condition, wholly untrimmed and with most bolts unopened. Binding in very good condition.l Bierens de Haan 2521.

[1], [1 blank], [1], [1 blank], [24], 331, [8], [1 blank] pp.Rare Dutch translation of this popular work on sorcery and witchcraft, magic potions, the power of imagination on (imagined) diseases, and more. The first edition was published in 1638 but this edition includes a treatise on invulnerability in war, a magic salve for the treatment of wounds and a refutation of Paracelsus. Another issue appeared in the same year, published in Amsterdam by J.F. Stam. The present work is a selection of theories from the works of Daniel Sennertus (1572-1637), taken from several original Latin editions. Sennertus was one of the leading physicians of his day, respected and honoured all over Europe. He was the first to introduce chemistry at the University of Wittenberg (Germany), where he was professor of medicine from 1602 on. The author of a considerable amount of scientific and medical works, the ideas of Sennertus were never thoroughly treated. In his works a valuable survey is given of scientific and medical… Read More

[18], 181, [1 blank]; [12 (of 16)], 175, [1 blank] pp.Ad 1: Very rare first edition of an extensive treatise on leprosy, also called the Asian illness, by the resident physician of Deshima, Willem ten Rhyne (ca. 1647-1700). Ten Rhyne was "the first Deshima doctor to describe the medicine and culture of Japan to the West” (Bowers).' Besides writing this pioneer work on leprosy, Ten Rhyne was the first scholar to introduce knowledge of acupuncture and moxibustion to Europe in his Dissertatio de arthritide (1683), the earliest important Western report on acupuncture. He also wrote the first detailed study of tea and an account of the Cape of Good Hope and the lives of the Khoikhoi (dubbed Hottentots by the Dutch settlers) during the early days of Dutch settlement in the Cape.Ad 2: First edition of a treatise on tobacco, discussing its virtues, uses and characteristics, by J.I.W. Beintema van Peima (1662-1694), professor of medicine. He calls tobacco one of God's herbs: it induces tranquility of mind in… Read More

[16], 594, [20] pp.First and only edition of a scholarly work on the physiology of the brain as well as the various diseases supposedly originating in the brain, such as melancholy, manias, paralytic seizure, epilepsy, insomnia, spasms, etc. by Bartholomaeus de Moor (1649-1724), a physician in Gouda before he was appointed Professor of Medicine and Chemistry at the Groningen University in 1706. In 1713 he was appointed at the University at Harderwijk.With a library duplicate stamp of the University Library of Dortmund (Borrussia) on the verso of the title-page (“Doubl.”); unreadable owner’s inscripton on paste-down (Goswini …erni Perllich ?). Hinges partly cracked, but still intact, traces of fire damage (not affecting the text), but overall in good condition.l BMN, I, p. 246; Hirsch, Bibl. Lex. hervorr. Aertzte, IV, pp. 275-276.

[1] leaf.Manuscript copy of the printed explanatory text belonging to a historical print commemorating the fortunes and early history of the Remonstrants, engraved by G. Kitzen, Rotterdam, after the design of the publisher J. Jelgerhuis Rz., at Delft, who published the plate in the first quarter of the 19th century, together with the printed explanatory text on a separate leaf.Especially the right hand edge a bit frayed.l cf. Muller, Historieplaten 1414 & 5575; Atlas van Stolk 5526.

[8] ll.Extremely rare third edition, the first with poems by Jan Vos and double the size of the two earlier editions, of a description (intended as souvenir) of the "Oude Doolhof" (literally: old labyrinth) of Amsterdam, a sort of amusement park at the Looiersgracht. It was the first public doolhof, founded by the wine merchant and inn-keeper Vincent Jacobsz. Coster at the beginning of the 17th century. The Doolhof was a sculpture garden with a labyrinth, exhibiting fountains, sculptures and automata, showing historical, mythical and biblical figures and spectacles. The booklet was first published ca. 1645 by Crispyn Passe the younger in 4 leaves, and other versions followed soon after. For the present edition one full-page and one folding engraved plate were added, together with poems by Jan Vos (1612-1667), the most popular Dutch playwright of his time.With the outer corner of the foot of the title-page and the first plate torn off and two minor waterstains on the title-page, otherwise in very good… Read More

[2], 93, [1] pp.Rare first and only edition of a report on the investigation of tea cultivation and production in Assam (India) and Ceylon. The Dutch cultural association “Cultuur Maatschappij” in Palakan-Salak asked H.J.Th. Netscher and Alexander Albert Holle to investigate the Assam and Ceylon tea cultivation and production with regard to the economic position of Java tea in the world market. Netscher and Holle had their investigations on tea cultivation and culture in British India and Ceylon printed but never put them on the market, merely giving some copies to parties concerned with the tea industry. They gave the present copy to Norbert Pieter van den Berg, head agent of the Dutch East Indian commercial bank at Batavia and president of the Javanese bank. The report discusses various aspects of tea and its cultivation, including the geographic dissemination, different kinds of tea seeds, the conservation of tea seeds, the process of drying tea leaves and the arrangement of tea factories. But… Read More

[8], 53, [1], [2 blank]; 32 pp.Two important works on fortification, together forming the complete works of the army captain and from 1651 city military engineer of Amsterdam, Henrick Ruse (1624-1679), the first to attempt to reform and update the tradition of Dutch fortification established during the Eighty Years' War, paving the way for the greatest exponent of the new Dutch fortification, Menno van Coehoorn. Together they contain eight double-page plates with fortification plans (mostly showing details), profiles and perspective views, plus a large folding fortification plan. The title-page illustration, an extremely detailed view of fortifications under construction, not only shows the equipment, directors and workmen, and working methods, but is also a work of art in its own right, reminiscent of Rembrandt or Zeeman.With bookplate. With minor damage to the foot margin of the engraved title-page (it has also left a small stain in the foot margin of the 3 following leaves), but still in very good… Read More

[12], 52 pp.First and only edition of a "short but weighty treatise" (Meyer) on protozoa and spermatozoa by the German natural historian Martinus Frobenius Ledermüller (1719-1769). He wrote the essay as a defence of his earlier publication Physicalische Beobachten derer Saamenthiergens (1756). "Ledermüller's brief as well as his comprehensive treatises were accompanied by numerous good illustrations both of spermatozoa and of the microscopes he used, of which he was a connoisseur" (Meyer). Included at the end is a short description of Leeuwenhoek microscopes.With the library stamp of Oscar Gebhardt, Nürnberg. Some thumbing to title-page and a few occasional spots and minor smudges, otherwise in good condition.l Cole 1694; Dobell, p. 412; A.M. Meyer, The rise of embryology, pp. 151-152; Nissen, ZBI 2412.