Travel, Atlases
One of the earliest work about French Guiana
Rare first edition of the account of the mission to Cayenne undertaken by the French in 1652.
An exceptional copy which belonged to one of the survivors of the expedition,
Father Jacques Aléaume, who inserted at the time in his copy
a map of Cayenne richly annotated in his own hand.
BIET, Antoine. Voyage de la France Equinoxiale en l’isle de Cayenne, entrepris par les François en l’année MDCLII. Divisé en trois Livres. Le premier, contient l’établissement de la Colonie, son embarquement, & sa route jusques à son arrivée en l’Isle de Cayenne.
Le Second, ce qui s’est passé pendant quinze mois que l’on a demeuré dans le païs.
Le Troisième, traitte du temperament du païs, de la fertilité de la terre, & des mœurs & façons de faire des Sauvages de cette contrée.
Avec un Dictionnaire de la Langue du mesme Païs.
Paris, François Clouzier, 1664.
4to [230 x 173 mm] (12) ll. (title, dedication, foreword, table, privilege), 432 pp., 1 folding map with a flap.
Bound in contemporary full brown granite-like calf, spine ribbed and decorated, red morocco lettering-piece with little loss, mottled edge. Joints lightly rubbed.
Rare first edition of the account of the attempt of the establishment of a colony in Cayenne undertaken by the French in 1652.
It is one of the earliest works about French Guiana.
Streit 1974 ; Leclerc 2236 ; Brunet, I, 941 ; Chadenat 18 ; Sabin 5269 ; Picot, Catalogue Rothschild, 1993 ; Rahir, La Bibliothèque de l’amateur, 323 ; Bulletin de la librairie Morgand et Fatout, 9094 ; Huth 167 ; Field, An Essay towards an Indian Bibliography, 127 ; Rich 334 ; Arents 287.
« Very rare » (Morgand et Fatout).
« No relation throws as much light as Biet’s one on the natives of Guiana; he described them in their primitive simplicity. The vocabulary of their language is composed with care, and it is preceded with useful remarks concerning the language of Galibis people common to all the inhabitants of the coast from the amazons’ river. » Biblioth. Des Voyages ». (Chadenat).
« An account of the conquest of French Guinea. The country and nations are very accurately described». (Bohn, Catalogue of a very select collection of books, 562).
“The first book contains an account of Cayenne; the second the history of the first fifteen years; and the third of the natives, who are very accurately described. A vocabulary of their language is added.” (Pinkerton).
Antoine Biet, born about 1620 in the diocese of Senlis, is a French missionary who embarked for Cayenne in 1652 with a 600 settlers troop sent to America by a company which owned the colony. The venture had a terrible ending, and Biet had to devote himself to his companions’ relief, as they were the victims of diseases and poverty. He came back to France after a fifteen months stay in America and started to write the relation of his travel.
The first two books give a detailed account of the preparation of the expedition and of the settlement of the colony in Cayenne, which ends in a big failure as hunger and diseases quickly decimate the settlers.
The conflicts with the natives are also described in this second part. The third book is a detailed study of the island and its population.
The Dictionnaire de la Langue des Sauvages Galibis given by Biet, which fills pages 399 to 432, is of the highest interest.
The Galibis Indians live dispersed among Guiana, Surinam, Guyana, Brazil and Venezuela.
« Father de Marivault was appointed director of the colony in the country: the two others were Messrs de Vertaumon and Isambert. In accordance with the colony’s demand, Father de Marivault took care of things spiritual, helped by 4 other clergymen, Messrs Chasteau, Colsonet, Aleaume and Biet. »
A very precious copy which belonged to Father Jacques Aleaume, one of the 4 clergymen who took part in the expedition to Guiana, and the only one who survived the adventure with the book’s author, Antoine Biet.
Biet mentions several times the name of his colleague during his account:
-p.4: « Le sieur Abbé de l’Isle de Marivault associa six Ecclesiastiques avec lui, deux desquels manquèrent de courage après sa mort, les autres quatre ont passé dans le pays, à savoir les sieurs Chasteau, Colsonet, Aleaume et moi ».
-p.26 : « On mit dans chaque vaisseau deux Ecclesiastiques, pour avoir soin du spirituel ; j’étais dans l’Admiral avec Monsieur Chasteau, & dans le saint Pierre étaient Messieurs Colsonet & Aleaume ».
-p.129: « Le sieur de Vertaumon Gouverneur du Fort commence à faire paraître par ses intrigues qu’il voulait se rendre absolu & indépendant des Seigneurs de la Compagnie, qui étaient dans le pays […]. Il ne voulait pas que l’Ecclesiastique que je lui avais laissé, & qu’il m’avait demandé avec instance, fut dépendant de moi, ni de qui que ce fut. La place que je tenais dans la Colonie faisait que tous les Ecclesiastiques dépendaient entièrement de moi. Je lui avais donné le sieur Aleaume, très homme de bien, & très docte, en qualité de Chappelain, pour assister dans le fort la Garnison, & administrer les Sacrements aux malades seulement ».
-p.140: On February 5th 1653, a peace treaty written by Biet is signed by various Lords of the Colony; within appears the following article: « Ledit sieur Vertaumon se charge de fournir des vivres de ceux qu’il a, & qu’il aura des Sauvages & de la Compagnie, au sieur Aleaume Chappelain du fort & à son Clerc, … ».
-p. 191 : In the passage relating the « fuite honteuse du sieur de Vertaumon & de tous ses adherans dans la Barque, après avoir pillé le fort », Biet informs us of the way Jacques Aléaume left Guiana, on April 10th 1953 : « Le 9e jour d’Avril […], le sieur de Vertaumon faisait transporter dans la barque le meilleur qui appartenait à la Compagnie […]. Il débaucha Monsieur Aléaume Chapelain du fort, à qui il fit emporter les ornements nécessaires pour célébrer la Sainte Messe […]. Le plus grand pirate & forban de la mer n’aurait pas agi de la sorte ».
Among the 5 clergymen gone on this expedition to Guiana, Fathers Biet and Aleaume were the only ones to survive the difficult life conditions of the colony.
Father Aléaume was in a way saved from famine, which was decimating the colony, thanks to his fort’s chaplain position because Mr de Vertaumon who was running this fort had taken control of food, and was keeping the main part of it for the men working for him.
Besides, an old document told us that Jacques Aléaume was the priest of the church Saint-Paul of Orleans in 1665.
The present copy is grangerized. Actually Jacques Aléaume, its original owner, inserted at the time a detailed map of the colony in the volume, entitled Carte de l’Isle Cayenne située à 5 degrés de latitude Septentrionale, en la Terre-Ferme de l’Amérique appelée vulgairement Güaiane, Coste sauvage Roïaume du Roy doré, pais des Amazones et aujourd’hui France Equinoctiale. Paris, chez Jacques Lagniet, s.d. (1664-1672).
This rare map is recorded in the Inventaire du fonds français, graveurs du XVIIe siècle. (Bibliothèque nationale, Département des estampes ; [réd.] par Roger-Armand Weigert,… - Paris : Bibliothèque nationale, 1973) sous le n° 421 (p.124).
The present copy is of the highest interest because Jacques Aléaume, who took part in the 1652 expedition, inserted in his copy a map of the colony engraved by Lagniet, and he also added on it many handwritten information.
He indicates with his pen: the « pointe de Mahury », the « Rivière de Mahury », the « tribus difficiles en 1652 », the « Anse de Rémire », « l’Ile aux lézards », the « Montagne de Romata », the « crique », the « Colline de Conabo », the « fontaine », the « Pointe de Ceperou », the « Mont de Ceperou », the « Fort de Saint Michel Ceperou », …
Aléaume also drew various habitations on the map, such as “carbets”, the “Habitations de Mahury”, “l’Habitation du sauvage Appoto”, the one of “Biraumont”…
He gives very precise details concerning some parts of the map: « Grande anse où les barques ou chaloupes peuvent aborder… », « Rivière de Cayenne qui a … à son embouchure » …
This map is especially interesting because Aléaume added to it a 12 x 16 cm paper portion on which he drew a part of Cayenne which is not represented on the printed map, situated on the west side of the fort where he lived. Aléaume represented on this document the boats at the colony’s disposal (boats, pirogues), the rivers of Corou and Macouriague, and the houses of some savages, including the one of Pepora, drawn on the banks of the river of Corou.
An exceptional copy of this account of the terrible mission to Cayenne undertaken in 1652 by the French, which belonged to one of the two clergymen who survived the disaster, and who grangerized it with a map of Cayenne covered with his detailed handwritten notes.
Provenance: handwritten ex libris of Jacques Aliaume and ex libris with arms of Henry Somerset, second duc de Beaufort (1684-1711) on the paste-down.
ABPC lists only one copy of the present work in a contemporary binding without any restoration that appeared on the market since 1975.
Price: €19 000
Account of two expeditions organized by Richelieu to North Africa
« Extremely rare first edition » of the Voyages d’Afrique by Armand (Chadenat).
An attractive copy in contemporary vellum.
ARMAND, Jean dit Mustapha. Voyages d’Afrique faicts par le commandement du Roy. Ou sont contenues les navigations des Fraçois, entreprises en 1629 & 1630 sous la conduite de Monsieur le Commadeur de Razilly des costes Occidentales des Royaumes de Fez & de Marroc… Ensemble la description des susdits Royaumes, Villes, Coustumes, Religion, Mœurs & commoditez de ceux dudit pays… Le tout illustré de curieuses observations par Jean Armand, Turc de Nation…
Paris, Nicolas Traboulliet, 1632.
Small 8vo [161 x 102 mm] of (1) bl.l., (4) ll., 320 pp. and (1) bl.l. Bound in contemporary overlapped vellum, flat spine with beautifully handwritten title and date. Contemporary binding.
Rare first edition with a title renewed of the relation of the expeditions organized by Richelieu in 1629 and 1630 to the coasts of Morocco. This is one of the oldest French books about Morocco.
Brunet, I, 483; Chadenat, 5008.
The privilege has been given on September 5th 1631 and few copies bear the date 1631. « Playfair in his «Bibliography of Morocco » says, concerning this book: ‘This work shows the great interest that Richelieu attached to the maritime preponderance of France and to commercial intercourse with Morocco’». (Chadenat, 5008)
Jean Armand, called Mustapha, born Turkish, came to France at the beginning of the 17th century to teach foreign languages. He became converted to the Christian religion by the Cardinal Richelieu. Richelieu creates a navy in 1626 appointing himself « Great Officer and Superintendant of the Navigation » and gives a great enlargement to the colonial settlements.
The trade situation of French in Africa is extremely precarious at that moment. The corsairs from Salé captured many French ships and sailors and kept them in slavery. In 1629, Richelieu makes his cousin, the knight Isaac de Razilly, founder of the French colonial policy in Acadia, responsible for an expedition to Morocco. Razilly takes Jean Armand as an interpreter. The purpose of the 1629 and 1630 expeditions was the restoration of trade with the coasts of Fez and Morocco, and the negotiations for the repurchase of the French slaves. During the second expedition, the French blockaded in front of Salé until obtaining the peace and freedom for the French. The captives were finally released, the French dealers were allowed to trade freely and the Christians to practice their religion.
These are these expeditions from 1629 and 1630 that Jean Armand reports, making use of the reports and official documents, letters, treatises that Razilly and Richelieu entrusted him. This very interesting work contains peculiar details concerning the manners and the religion of the inhabitants of this land, and observations about geography; it also shows the great interest that Richelieu had in the trade with North Africa.
The work is dedicated to Richelieu. In his foreword, the author pays homage to the Cardinal.
The book contains the story of the expedition as well as a « brief and shorten treatise of the kingdoms of Fez and Morocco », made, he says, by « a Turkish who was an eyewitness of the events, who saw the country, but also used books ».
Bibliographers emphasize the extreme scarceness of this work.
« First edition extremely rare of one of the oldest French works about Morocco. » (Chadenat)
Brunet only quotes one copy, the Langlès’ copy.
No copy is listed on the international market since the beginning of the reports 34 years ago.
A splendid wide-margined copy of this very rare travel relation, preserved in its contemporary overlapped vellum.
Provenance: autograph signature of Jean Juchereau de La Ferté, sieur de Maur (1592-1672) on the first pastedown. He was close to the New France governor, Isaac de Razilly. Once he arrived in Quebec in 1634, he became later general clerk of the shops of the New France.
According to a handwritten note from the 19th century on the first blank leaf, the copy would come from the fine Le Camus de Limare’s collection, scattered in 1786.
Price: € 12 500
The most important book from the 18th century dedicated to the Ottoman Empire
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
A pocket-atlas from the 17th century
Ortelius’ pocket-atlas in Italian, complete with its 108 full-page maps,
preserved in its contemporary binding.
Venice, 1667.
ORTELIUS, Abraham. Theatro del mondo.
Venetia, Per Scipion Banca, 1667.
16mo [133 x 93 mm] of (4) ll., 232 pp., (8) ll. 108 full-page engraved maps.
Bound in contemporary stiff vellum. Handwritten exlibris on the half-title: « Bibliotheca Neorelli ».
Italian pocket-edition of Ortelius’ atlas, illustrated with 108 full-page engraved maps.
Philips 478 ; Tooley 31.
« The commercial success of the pocket-atlas was considerable. It was translated into French and Latin (now in prose) and was reprinted several times, long after Pieter Heyns had moved into the Netherlands together with his son Zacharias in 1588. In the year of Pieter Heyn’s death (1598), his son, Zacharias, then living in Amsterdam, repeated the successful best-seller of his father by publishing another Miroir du Monde, using woodcut”. Koeman.
The illustration contains a world map and the continents’ maps: Europe, Asia, Africa, and America. The 103 other maps represent each country for which a note has been written on the opposite page.
The first edition in Italian was printed in 1608.
A charming copy preserved in its contemporary vellum binding.
Price: € 9 500
The Duke of Orleans’ travel through Algeria
One of the rare dedication copies contemporary bound with the Duke of Orleans’ monogram
of the Journal de l’Expédition des Portes de Fer.
From Henri Beraldi’s collection.
NODIER, Charles. Journal de l’Expédition des Portes de Fer rédigé par Charles Nodier de l’Académie française.
Paris, Imprimerie Royale, 1844.
Large 8vo [270 x 177 mm] of (1) bl. l., (2) ll. for the half-title and the title, XVI pp., 329 pp., (1) bl. l. 40 plates out of pagination and 1 folding map. Slight foxing.
Bound in green shagreen, covers decorated with important gilt corner patterns joined with filets, with two gilt filets and another wide blind-stamped on covers, crowned gilt monogram in the centre of covers, spine ribbed and decorated, inner gilt filets, white paper doublures and fly-leaves, gilt edges. Binding signed Andrieux.
First issue of the historical account written by the writer Charles Nodier on the Duke of Orleans’ demand meant to be offered to his companions in arms.
Sole edition of this remarkable work which was not issued for sale, one of only 1520 copies printed.
Carteret 434-437.
« In 1839, the Duke of Orleans, the elder son of king Louis-Philippe, had accomplished a long, difficult and sometimes dangerous journey through barely conquered and still not pacified Algeria. The young prince had brought back some notes from this expedition; then he asked the master writer Charles Nodier to write this ‘Expédition des Portes de Fer’.
The book’s printing was entrusted to the Imprimerie Royale and the illustration to masters like Raffet, Decamps and Dauzats[…]
The incurred expense was of 91 205 fr. 35 cents, an important sum at the time.
The work, a private book, familiar, written for a few, was meant for the members of the royal family, State dignitaries, dignitaries of the Court, officers, non-commissioned officers and for soldiers who took part in the expedition. […] Time has passed and copies became scarce, mainly dedication copies bearing a name, that you shouldn’t let escape. »Carteret.
The illustration is composed of around 150 vignettes in the text, 40 out of pagination woodcuts after Raffet, Dauzats and Decamps, printed before the letter on China paper and mounted on thick vellum, and of a folding map representing « la route de Philippeville à Alger suivie par la colonne expéditionnaire » in October 1839.
Each out of pagination engraving is protected by a captioned silky paper.
One of the rare copies having a binding decorated with special tools and with a monogram.
« Few copies were contemporary bound in red morocco or shagreen with special tools; they are very scarce and preferable to the copies presented in the original cased binding. » Carteret.
A precious copy contemporary bound by andrieux with the Duke of Orleans’ monogram and offered by him to his friend Scheffer.
In front of the title-page is written this dedication: « Donné au nom de Monseigneur le duc d’Orléans à son ami Monsieur A. Scheffer ».
The present copy comes from the great bibliophile and expert’s collection, Henri Beraldi and figured in the catalogue of his auction in 1934 (Vente III, 1934, n°360).
It was described in it like a « very beautiful copy», preserved in a « fine and rare binding of Andrieux, with the Duke of Orleans’ monogram » that was reproduced in full page.
Price: € 8 500
Spain and Portugal at the beginning of the 19th century
« L’Espagne et le Portugal »,
a copy in contemporary red full morocco binding.
BRETON DE LA MARTINIERE, Jean-Baptiste Joseph. L’Espagne et le Portugal, ou Mœurs, Usages et Costumes des habitans de ces royaumes. Précédé d’un précis historique, par M. Breton. Ouvrage orné de 54 planches représentant douze vues et plus de soixante costumes différens, la plupart d’après des dessins exécutés en 1809 et 1810.
Paris, A. Nepveu, 1815.
6 parts in 6 volumes 12mo [134 x 80 mm]: I/ XIX, (1), 218 pp., 1 plate ; II/ (2) ll., 215 pp., (3) bl. pp., 5 plates ; III/ (2) ll., 219 pp., (3) bl. pp., 5 plates ; IV/ (2) ll., 217 pp. (3) bl. pp., 12 plates ; V/ (2) ll., 253 pp., (3) bl. pp., 22 plates ; and VI/ (2) ff., 231 pp., (3) bl. pp. and 9 plates.
Contemporary red full straight-grained morocco, wide gilt border on covers, flat spines richly decorated, inner gilt border, gilt edges.
First edition of these charming volumes dedicated to history, geography and manners and customs in Spain and Portugal at the very beginning of the 19th century.
The abundant illustration consists of 54 coloured plates, some of them folded, showing views, everyday life scenes, and traditional costumes from the described regions.
A precious copy complete with all its plates, rare in a contemporary red full morocco finely decorated binding.
Price: € 9 500
La Mottraye’s great travels through Europe, Asia and Africa
La Mottraye’s great travel through Europe, Asia and Africa,
illustrated in the first issue with William Hogarth’s engravings.
One of the rare copies printed on large-paper.
The Hague, 1727.
LA MOTTRAYE, Aubry de. Voyages du Sieur A. de La Motraye, en Europe, Asie et Afrique. Où l’on trouve une grande variété de recherches géographiques, historiques et politiques, sur l’Italie, la Grèce, la Turquie, la Tartarie, Crimée, & Nogaye, la Circassie, la Suède, la Laponie, etc… avec des remarques instructives sur les mœurs, coutumes, opinions &c. des peuples & des païs où l’Auteur a voyagé […]
La Haye, T. Johnson & J. Van Duren, 1727.
2 volumes folio [368 x 235 mm] of I/ (7) ll., 1 frontispiece, 472 pp., 23 pp., and 31 plates out of pagination including 6 folding plates and 10 on double-page; II/ 1 frontispiece, (3) ll., 496 pp., 39 pp., 18 plates including 7 on double-page and 2 maps on double page. Title-pages printed in black and red.
Bound in contemporary granite-like calf, double blind-stamped fillets on covers, spine ribbed and decorated with gilt fleurons, red mottled edges.
First French edition of Aubry de la Mottraye’s important travel through Europe, Asia and Africa.
Chadenat 105 ; Blackmer 946.
Aubry de La Mottraye settled in Constantinople in 1698 to practise freely the Protestant religion. He had already visited Italia, Jaffa, Alexandria, Tripoli, Mahn Harbour, and Lisbon and had followed Tallard to England. He met Tekeli in Constantinople and travelled through Anatolia up to the Black Sea. He sailed to Malta and then towards Barcelona. La Mottraye stroke up a friendship with F.E. Fabrice, an agent of Charles XII towards 1711, and followed him to Bendery. Constant travels between Constantinople and Didymoteicho occupied him until 1714.
He left for Sweden with Fabrice and went up to Laponia.
« In his travels, La Mottraye focuses on the habits and customs and reveals many peculiar anecdotes about characters whose names became famous in history. »
Bibliographers emphasize the beauty of the illustrations due to William Hogarth’s talent, one of the most famous English artists from the 18th century.
The present work is illustrated in the first issue with 47 very fine engravings out of pagination drawn by William Hogarth, most of them being folding or double-page engravings, with 2 frontispieces and 4 maps.
Drawn with talent and originality, they represent with elegance and movement customs scenes, characters, costumes, and monuments from the countries visited by La Mottraye.
Hogarth shows here a very particular verve as « the first English painter to have an indisputable personality. »
« A peculiar work, sought-after for its 46 plates, almost all drawn by W. Hogarth, one of the most famous English artists from the 18th century. Besides it contains 4 maps. »
(Chadenat)
An exceptional copy printed on large-paper, especially wide-margined (height: 368 mm). An ordinary copy is approximately 315 mm high, that is to say 53 mm shorter than this one.
Price: € 15 000
The earliest Arabic grammar translated into French
« By a new but simple process I undertake to make eastern languages easier »
The earliest Arabic grammar translated into French.
Paris, 1795.
VOLNEY (Constantin François de Chasseboeuf, comte de). Simplification des langues orientales ou méthode nouvelle et facile d’apprendre les langues arabe, persane et turque, avec des caractères européens.
Paris, Imprimerie de la République, An III (1795),
8vo [216 X 127 mm] of 135 pp. and 4 plates out of pagination including 3 folding plates.
Black half-morocco, flat spine decorated with flat bands, yellow edges, (two rounded corners). Contemporary binding.
First edition of the earliest Arabic grammar written in French.
When he was 20, Volney devoted himself to the study of history and ancient languages. A six thousand books inheritance falling to him, he decided to go and visit Egypt and Syria in 1783.
Once in Egypt, he retreated into a Coptic convent for eight months to learn Arabic.
The « Traité sur la simplification des langues orientales » published in 1795, is the earliest treatise dedicated by Volney to his great works about this theme which will make him famous.
The epigraph, extracted from the Cité de Dieu of St Augustine, gives a sufficient idea of the book’s subject: “the variety of languages, said this Father of the Church, is a dividing wall between men; and the effect of this diversity is that it annuls the perfect similarity of organization that they got from nature.” The preliminary discourse is considered as a model of style, and Volney whose wide mind considered all the questions from an elevated point of view, was predicting from that moment on the complete subversion of the European colonial system, the emancipation of all America and the formation of new States intended to compete with the old ones on the Atlantic.
Considering this truth that the various signs of language have to represent the various sounds, Volney had conceived the project of a single alphabet. The means consisted in adding a few indispensable signs to the Roman alphabet and to apply it to Asian languages. This unity of alphabet was already taking away a difficulty to study them. Besides, Volney wanted to apply to eastern idioms a part of grammatical notions that we got from European languages. Making easier the study of Asian languages, he was planning to improve the business relations. It was already a big political project, but he was also seeking in the analytical study of those languages a new way to go back to the origin of the oldest nations. He claimed, according to the different characters of their idioms, to judge their knowledge of morality, legislation, literature; because the signs admitted by a nation in its language are necessarily the ones of its ideas.
The treatise contains 4 plates out of pagination illustrating the Arabic alphabet in the common order, the Arabic alphabet transposed in European characters for the use of travellers (400 x 310 mm), the conjugations and the way to describe European letters adapted to Arabic language.
An attractive copy of this philology work important for its precocity, in perfect original condition.
It comes from the collection of the count and countess Chappaz de La Prat with ex-libris with arms on paste-down, and two red owners’ stamps.
Price: €2 000
236 towns of the Renaissance finely contemporary hand-coloured
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
Rare first edition of the first French book ever published about Siam
Rare first edition of the first French book ever published about Siam.
Paris, 1666.
BOURGES, Jacques de. Relation du voyage de Monseigneur l’évêque de Beryte Vicaire apostolique du royaume de la Cochinchine, Par la Turquie, la Perse, les Indes, &c. jusqu’au Royaume de Siam & autres lieux. Par M. de Bourges, Prêtre, Missionnaire Apostolique.
Paris, chez Denys Bechet, 1666.
8vo [179 x 113 mm], (1) bl.l., (6) ll., 1 folding map, 245 pp., (3) pp., (1) bl.l. Bound in contemporary brown granite-like calf, spine ribbed and decorated, mottled edges. Contemporary binding.
Rare first edition of the first French book ever published about Siam.
Cordier, Bibliotheca Sinica, 827-828; Brunet, I 1179.
“The first contacts between France of Louis XIV and Siam of Phra Naraï go back to the years 1660s, when some vicar apostolic and some ecclesiastics of the young foreign missions of Paris came to Ayutthaya, the capital of the Kingdom of Siam. Jacques de Bourges belonged to the first group of missionaries which arrived at Ayutthaya in 1662. He is the author of the first French book ever published about Siam, the Relation du voyage de Monseigneur l’évêque de Beryte [...] jusqu’au Royaume de Siam, published in Paris in 1666. It is a traditional travel report that gives an account of the mainly ground journey into Siam (the adventure) and a systematic description of this Kingdom (the inventory).”
“Monseigneur Lambert de La Motte and the apostolic missionaries Jacques de Bourges and François Deydier embarked for Alexandrette in Marseille in November 1660. That’s where they began the journey which would take them through Aleppo, Baghdad, Basrah and Isphahan to Bandar Abbas. They would cross the Indian subcontinent up to Masulipatam on the Coromandel Coast.
After an extremely tiring journey of 21 months they arrived in Ayuthia, the capital of the Kingdom of Siam, in August 1662.
This memorable journey is well-known to us thanks to the Relation du voyage de Monseigneur l’évêque de Beryte Vicaire apostolique du royaume de la Cochinchine, Par la Turquie, la Perse, les Indes, &c. jusqu’au Royaume de Siam & autres lieux, par M. de Bourges (Denys Bechet, Paris 1666, republished in 1668 and 1683). Twenty years before the Siamese style came into vogue (in 1685-1688), the Relation of Jacques de Bourges gives us the first French report and description of Siam at the beginning of the reign of Somdet Phra Naraï, who will seek the friendship of Louis XIV.”
(De branche en branche. Etudes sur le XVIIe et le XVIIIe siècle français. Dirk Van der Cruysse).
THE PRESENT WORK IS ILLUSTRATED WITH A FOLDING MAP engraved by Du Val RETRACING THE ROUTE OF THE FRENCH MISSIONARIES FROM PARIS TO SIAM.
A WIDE-MARGINED COPY PRESERVED IN ITS CONTEMPORARY BINDING OF THIS INTERESTING TRAVEL REPORT OF THE UTMOST IMPORTANCE FOR THE KNOWLEDGE OF SIAM IN THE 17TH CENTURY.
No copy of this rare original edition is recorded in ABPC since 1989.
Price: € 11 500