Bindings with arms.
Turkey, Syria, Palestine.
First edition printed in Paris in 1518.
MAMEROT, Sébastien. Les passages doultremer faitz par les francoys. Nouvellement imprimé.
[A la fin : Cy finist les passages doultremer faictz par les francoys avecques plusieurs addicions recueillies de plussieurs operations dudict voyage et faictz darmes faictz par les dictz francoys et aultres seigneurs ayans eu la devotion de deffendre ladicte terre Saincte.
Paris, le vingtseptiesme iour de Novembre Lan mil cinq cens et dixhuyt. Par Michel le Noir libraire…]. (Paris, Michel Le Noir, 1518).
Small folio [257 x 186 mm], (6) ff., 227, (1) l. with Michel Le Noir’s mark on the back. A small restoration in the upper margin of the title-page without loss and in one page of tables.
Bound in English 18th Century calf, gilt fillet on covers, crowned arms gilt-stamped in the center, spine ribbed and decorated, red morocco lettering-piece, sprinkled edges.
Rare first edition of this important book about Turkey, Syria and Palestine.
Catalogue des livres rares du Baron Ruble, 377 ; Rahir, La Bibliothèque de l’amateur, 587 ; Brunet, IV, 415 ; Brun, Le livre français illustré de la Renaissance, 243 ; Mortimer, Harvard French, 363 ; Roehricht, 371.
That’s a chronicle of the expeditions to the Holy Land since Charlemagne until the fall of Constantinople to Mahomet II.
Mamerot visited holy places in Jerusalem and on his return in 1488 he wrote his description of the countries he had seen. He describes Venice, Cyprus, Jerusalem, …
The superb illustration consists of an engraved title-page, 6 vignettes of battles in the text and 6 other woodcuts showing Breydenbach’s alphabets.
The last leaf bears Michel Le Noir’s mark on its back.
A precious copy of this rare volume, bound in the 18th century for George John Spencer, the 2nd Earl Spencer, with his crowned coat of arms in the center of covers.
Only five copies are recorded in worldwide institutions: 2 in France, 1 at the NYPL, 1 at the Koninklijke Bibliothek and 1 at the British Library.
Only another complete copy of this work has appeared at auction in the past 30 years.
Harvard’s copy described by Mortimer had the title-page in facsimile.
Provenance: George John Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer (1758-1834) (the copy was bound with his arms), George Horace (1882-1960) and Alison Johnstone, Trewithan (with their ex libris dated 1933).
Price: € 25 000
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An exceptional copy of the Braun & Hogenberg
preserved in its contemporary uniform decorated bindings.
Cologne, 1575-1588.
BRAUN, Georg and HOGENBERG, Franz. Civitates Orbis Terrarum.
Cologne, G. von Kempen, 1575-1588.
4 volumes folio bound in contemporary full calf, spines decorated with gilt fleurons, later arms gilt-stamped in the center of covers. Contemporary uniform bindings.
1 preliminary. leaf of volume 4 bound in volume 3, pl. 43 of volume 1 and 25 of volume 4 come from another copy and were bound in the present copy a long time ago, slight browning and waterstaining, pl. 31 and 1 of volume 4 slightly stained, loss in the margin of pl. 54 of volume 2.
The earliest printed book showing all the Western and Mediterranean towns at the end of the Renaissance.
Koeman, II, B & H 1-4.
Volumes 2 and 4 are from the first edition, volumes 3 and 1 are from the second and the fifth Latin editions respectively.
Two other volumes were published few years later, between 1598 and 1617.
The illustration consists of 4 frontispieces and 236 engravings depicting 374 views of towns and plans.
All the engravings were finely contemporary hand-coloured.
The authors of this work are Georg Braun (1541-1622) from Cologne and the engraver Franz Hogenberg (1540-1590).
The “Civitates” were one of the major works from the last quarter of the 16th Century. The publication of this great work spread over 45 years and most of recorded copies are incomplete.
The present work describes towns of France, Italy, Spain and the Levant (volume 1), from the Netherlands, the Channel Islands, Central Europe and Russia (volume 2).
« The supreme value of this work lies in its survey of European towns and cities jus tat the time when draughtsmen were capable of conveying a wealth of information in a single portrayal ».
The earliest, the most beautiful and the most spectacular book of architecture from the Renaissance, dedicated to the representation of towns of Western and Mediterranean world, coloured at the time.
An exceptional copy, complete with all the engravings, preserved in its contemporary uniform decorated bindings, with the frontispieces and the 236 plates finely contemporary hand-coloured.
Provenance: ex libris and arms of the Tempsford Hall Library (from 19th Century).
Price: € 275 000
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The Tapestries ordered by Louis XIV for his apartments in Versailles,
a precious copy bound in red morocco with the king’s arms and monogram.
Tapisseries du Roi, où sont représentez les quatre éléments et les quatre saisons.
A Paris, de l’Imprimerie Royale, 1670.
Large folio [560 x 405 mm], (4) ff., 43 pp., (1) bl.l., (1) l., 47 pp., (1) p., 8 double-page plates.
Bound in contemporary red morocco, wide gilt border on covers, arms gilt-stamped in the center, spine ribbed and decorated with the crowned monogram, inner gilt border, edges gilt.
First state of this wonderful collection of engravings executed on the order of louis XIV in order to celebrate his glory.
Brunet, II, 727 ; Lipperheide, 3757 ; Catalogue de la Bibliothèque Pichon, 473.
In 1663, the academy recently started by Colbert was made responsible for choosing the emblems that would be represented on the tapestries ordered by the king for his apartments.
The present volume contains 3 frontispieces engraved by Bailly and Sébastien Le Clerc, 8 large plates after Le Brun, engraved by Sébastien Le clerc and Goyton, 10 fleurons and tailpieces by Sébastien Le Clerc and Bailly and 32 figures of emblems with French verses by Perrault, Chapelain, Charpentier, … at the bottom of the plate.
A magnificent copy illustrated with the tapestries ordered by the king Louis XIV for his apartments of Versailles, contemporary bound in red morocco with his arms and monogram.
Price: € 15 000
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First edition of the most beautiful book ever published about butterflies,
illustrated with more than 1650 contemporary hand-coloured specimens.
CRAMER, Pierre. Papillons exotiques des trois parties du monde l’Asie, l’Afrique et l’Amérique.
A Amsterdam, chez S.J. Baalde, à Utrecht, chez Barthelemy Wild, [1775-] 1779-1782 [-1784].
[With:] -STOLL, Caspar. Supplément à l’ouvrage, intitulé les Papillons exotiques, des trois parties du monde l’Asie, l’Afrique et l’Amérique ; par M. Pierre Cramer.
Amsterdam, chez Nic. Th. Gravius, [1787-] 1791.
5 volumes 4to [296 x 228 mm] bound in red straight-grained full morocco, wide foliage border on covers, arms in the centre, spines ribbed lightly faded and decorated with fleurons and gold dots, gilt edges, sea green doublures and endpapers. Bozérian jeune.
First edition of this masterpiece of entomology.
Nissen 985; Graesse, Trésor de livres rares et précieux, 294; Sabin 17382; Cohen, 262; Brunet, II, 404.
It is the first work dealing with tropical butterflies to be arranged in accordance with the Linnaean system. It contains the description of more than 1650 butterflies species, most of them being described here for the first time.
It is a « great work which was highly expensive at the end of the 18th century » emphasizes Cohen.
Pierre Cramer (1721-1776) was a rich wool dealer and a great entomologist collector. He formed a magnificent natural history cabinet abounding with butterflies coming from all around the world, enlarged thanks to his relations with the Dutch traders and settlers established abroad and the sailors of the Compagnie des Indes.
When Cramer undertakes the catalogue of his collection, he calls on the painter G. W. Lambertz to draw the specimens he owns, as well as some from other cabinets.
Cramer dies in 1776, after the publication of the eighth part, and the work is then continued by Stoll.
Caspar Stoll gives the description from nature of caterpillars and chrysalis of Surinam bred by Renaud, an amateur who stayed for a long time in these countries, as well as by Vaillant, collected during his travels to the Cape of Good Hope. He also shows butterflies and phalenes, some of which described for the first time, from Surinam, Guinea Cost, Brazil …
The supplement, published 9 years after the fourth volume of the Papillons exotiques, is rare and is missing from most copies.
The superb and rich illustration contains 2 frontispieces engraved by Th. Koning and C.J. de Huyser, and 442 outstanding plates (including 42 in the supplement) representing 2709 full-size species, drawn from the originals by Lambertz and copperplate engraved. All the illustrations were finely contemporary hand-coloured under the supervision of Cramer himself.
« Pierre Cramer, from Amsterdam, published in Dutch and French 400 plates of exotic butterflies from the three parts of the world. It is a splendid work for the sharpness and elegance of the figures. It is much sought-after by natural history lovers. » (F. Cuvier, Dictionnaire des sciences naturelles, 34)
A very beautiful copy of the most beautiful book ever published about butterflies, complete with the rare supplement and uniformly bound at the time in straight-grained red morocco by Bozérian jeune.
Provenance: arms of Pavée de Vendeuvre stamped towards 1830 on covers. Pavée de Vendeuvre was a deputy under the Restoration and he was peer of France in 1837.
Price: € 45 000
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First edition of the most important work from the 18th century
dedicated to the Ottoman Empire.
Prestigious copy with the first volume contemporary bound with the posthumous arms
of Maria Theresa of Austria, Holy Roman Empress and queen of Hungary and Bohemia.
MOURADJA D’OHSSON, Ignace de. Tableau général de l’empire Othoman, divisé en deux parties, dont l’une comprend la Législation Mahométane ; l’autre, l’Histoire de l’Empire Othoman. Dédié au roi de Suède.
Paris, de l’imprimerie de Monsieur, 1787-1790.
2 parts in 2 volumes large folio (505 x 330 mm) of: I/(4) ll. including the frontispiece, x pp., (1) l., 324 pp., (2) ll., 2 charts on double-page (marked A and AA), 1 folding-pl. (B), 1 pl. of writings (C), and 23 plates out of pagination representing 37 figures including 3 on double-page; II/ (1) l., viii pp., 357, 41 plates including 4 folding plates representing the subjects 41 to 137.
Part 1 bound in contemporary red Russian young goat , triple gilt filet on borders of the covers, arms gilt-stamped in the centre, spine ribbed and decorated, green morocco lettering-pieces, inner gilt border, blue watered silk doublures and endpapers, gilt edges. Part 2 bound in contemporary green quarter-calf, spine ribbed.
First edition of this fundamental work for the understanding of the Ottoman Empire.
Brunet, III, 1932 ; Cohen 763 ; Graesse 618 ; Blackmer 1164 ; Atabey 846.
« The only perfect source of information regarding the laws and constitution of the Turkish Empire ». Burckhardt
The second volume is dedicated to the Muslim religion and its rituals. It comprises details about the two holy cities and the pilgrimages, and shows a superb view of the Mecca.
« A very well executed work. The first two volumes deal with religion and Mahometan legislation. [… »] (Brunet)
« For Turkey, the excellent work of Mouradja d’Ohsson must not be omitted. The plates are beautifully executed in the line manner, and the testimony of Burckhardt to the valuable and interesting information this work contains, should alone secure it a place in every well chosen library. It is a noble work in all respects, and I give it an earnest and hearty recommendation to every collector of spirit and taste” (T. Frognall Dibdin, The Library Companion, p. 436).
Mouradja d’Ohsson, born in Constantinople, was the secretary and first interpreter of the Swedish ambassador in Constantinople. He became a chargé d’affaires in 1782 and was appointed chevalier of the order of Wasa, then plenipotentiary minister and extraordinary envoy.
« He offered to write Selim II’s reign, but soon he conceived the plan of a ‘Tableau général de l’empire ottoman’, from then he devoted himself without reservation to this venture. In 1784, as d’Ohsson had managed to obtain not without difficulty a definite knowledge about uses, habits, customs, internal practices of the seraglio that had always missed to the rest of Europe, about a nation that has always been unable to become familiar with, he went to Paris to implement his rich materials. In 1788 he published the first folio volume of the ‘Tableau général de l’empire ottoman’; he published the second one the following year. The revolution that arose in France suspended his literary enterprise; he went to Constantinople […]. This work was about to be finished when d’Ohsson died in 1807, and this great project was let incomplete. » (Peignot, Dictionnaire biographique et bibliographique, 557)
A third volume, published by courtesy of the author’s son desirous to continue the project of his father, will appear 30 years later, in 1820.
The excellent and abundant illustration comprises 1 frontispiece and 68 plates representing 138 subjects, including 9 on double-page and 2 folding. A large part of the illustrations was engraved after drawings by J. B. Hilaire, the artist who went with Choiseul-Gouffier in 1776. Other plates are engraved after drawings by Moreau le jeune and Cochin.
As plates 13, 19 and 36 of the first volume were printed late, and consequently delivered after the publication of the volume, they are not present in our copy that was bound as soon as the printing of the volume ended.
« As plates 13, 19 and 36 of the first part were executed after the volume, they are missing […]. » (Brunet)
« This work has not been finished. The first volume encloses besides an engraved title and 4 plates marked A, AA, B and C 40 plates numbered 1-40 (pl. 13, 19 and 36 have been executed after the volume and are usually missing), the second one pl. 41-137 ». (Graesse)
« Plates 13, 19 and 36 are missing in many copies » (Cohen).
A prestigious copy of the most important publication from the 18th century dedicated to the Ottoman Empire. The first volume that was published shortly after the death of Maria Theresa of Austria was contemporary bound in red morocco with her posthumous arms.
Maria Theresa of Austria (1717-1780) has been Holy Roman empress, archduchess of Austria, and queen of Hungary and Bohemia. She led the War of the Bavarian Succession (1740-1748) against Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony as well as France and Spain. This war made her lose Silesia. In 1745, she had her husband Francis I elected Holy Roman emperor, because she could not officially have this title. Impressed by her outdoing personality her contemporaries soon named her « the great Maria Theresa ». Then she led the war against Frederick II in the Seven Years’ War (1756-1762), in order to get back Silesia, but she failed. Maria Theresa of Austria is the mother of 16 children, including Marie-Antoinette, who married Louis XVI in 1770.
The second volume which was published at a later date was bound in a simple green quarter-calf binding.
Price: € 19 500
