Incunables around the world.
Very rare first edition
of the first book ever printed by the Catholic press of Bangkok,
one of the earliest records of the expansion of printing in Thailand.
Bangkok, 1838.
AKSON EUROPA CHEEK TAM PHASA THAI SAMRAB DEK PHU’NG HAT RIEN NANGSU
(=European characters derived from prayers, intended for children just starting to learn how to read and write).
Na : Bangkok, Sakkarat P. Christo Chao 1838. (= Bangkok, the Christian year 1838).
12mo [155 x 98 mm], (2) ff. including the title, 56 pp. and (1) l. Engraved vignette on the title. Preserved in its original boards. Modern box.
Extremely rare first edition of the first book ever printed by the Catholic press of Bangkok. That’s one of the earliest records of the expansion of printing in Thailand.
It seems difficult to precisely determine the date of the start of printing in Thailand. Gérald Duverdier, in “La transmission de l’imprimerie en Thaïlande”, an article published in 1980, remarks that the authors who wrote about that subject give varied dates: 1830, 1835, 1836, 1839, …
The present work is the earliest Thai book which is not exclusively religious. It was intended for Catholic priests to teach foreign children in Siam (it contains a basic introduction to the Thai language).
But this work is not only a children’s guide-book : ending chapters are used to teach a Thai Catholic Priest what to do during Mass.
Extremely rare work preserved in its original boards.
Not in OCLC, neither at the B.n.F.
Provenance: Séminaire des missions étrangères (red stamp on title).
Price: € 18 000
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The first edition of the Code de la Martinique,
The oldest known printing made on this island.
[PETIT DE VIEVIGNE, Jacques]. Code de la Martinique.
Saint-Pierre, de l’Imprimerie de Pierre Richard, 1767.
Bound with : Supplément au code de la Martinique.
Saint-Pierre, Pierre Richard, 1772.
2 parts in 1 volume folio [313 x 197 mm], (4) pp., XX, 552, viii, 152.
Preserved in its original blue paperboards, edges red. Some traces of use on the binding.
Very rare first edition of this Martinican “incunable”.
Sabin, 61263 ; Barbier, Dictionnaire des ouvrages anonymes, 623 ; L’Imprimerie hors l’Europe, p. 143 ; Dampierre, p. 198 ; Leclerc, Bibliotheca Americana, 1436.
Official compendium of the utmost importance for the history of Martinique and for the history of law. The present code was written by Jacques Petit de Viévigne. It is divided into 8 parts: the laws of general administration, of the Church, of the army, of the finances, of trade, of the navy, of the justice and of the police.
The supplement published in 1772 is also very rare.
The Code de la Martinique is the oldest known printing made in this island.
An interesting copy preserved in its original blue marbled paperboards, without any restoration. Issued in a limited number of copies, far away from Metropolitan France, in a difficult climate for books preservation, this volume has come down to us in its pure original condition.
Provenance: stamp of the Bibliothèque du Château de Saint-Marcel (B. du R.) on the title.
Price: € 49 000
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First edition of the Nuremberg Chronicle
printed in July 1493, illustrated with 1809 woodcuts.
Schedel, Hartmann. Liber Chronicarum. Chronique de Nuremberg.
A la fin: “Consummatu autem duodecima mensis Iulii. Anno Salutis n’re. 1493. »
Nuremberg, 12 juillet 1493.
Large folio [452 x 305 mm], (20) preliminary leaves, 300 ff. and (5) ff. inserted between ff. 266 and 267 (without final blank). Complete with the 3 blank leaves CCLIX-CCLX-CCLXI; inner margin of the double-page map at the end of the volume reinforced.
Bound in 19th Century brown blind-stamped morocco, decorated ribbed spine.
First edition of the Nuremberg Chronicle, illustrated with 1809 woodcuts.
Fairfax Murray, II, 394 ; Hain 14508 ; Proctor 2084 ; B.M.C. II, 437; Muther 424; Schreiber 5203; Dogson, I, 228; Goff S 307; Leclerc, Bibliotheca Americana, 533.
Most European towns are engraved on double or single pages: Jerusalem, Rome, Venice, Firenze, Augsburg, Vienna, Nuremberg (345 x 520 mm), Constantinople, Strasbourg, Salzburg, Ulm, Munich, Prague, Basel, Cracow, …
These famous woodcuts were produced by Wolgemut, Albrecht Dürer’s master from 1486 to 1490.
That’s one of the most spectacular incunable evidence about Fifteenth-Century Europe.
« The Chronicle and the Schatzbehalter are the two first important books with original illustrations published at Nuremberg and with the exception of Bredenbach, the earliest books printed in Germany of which the woodcuts can be assigned with certainty to a known draughtsman ». Dogson.
A charming wide-margined copy (452 mm high), complete with the 3 blank leaves that are often missing.
Price: € 75 000
