Travels in North America
The rare first edition of the earliest book
relating to the religions of the varied nations of the world,
with a passage mentioning the discoveryof the New World
by Christopher Columbus.
STAMLER, Johannes. Dyalogus Johannis Stamler Augustn. De Diversarum Gencium Sectis et Mundi Religionibus. [au colophon on lit :] Impressum Auguste : per Erhardum oglin. & Ieorgiu Nadler Cura correctone et diligentia venerabilis domini Wolfgangi Aittinger pspiteri Augusten. Ac bonarum Artium zc. Magistri Colloniens Anno nostre salutis 150. & . 8. die. 22. mensis May. Zc. [i.e. 1508].
Augsburg, Oeglin et Nadler, 22 mai 1508.
Folio [308 x 212 mm], (1) bl.l., (3) ff. with the frontispiece and the title, ff. numbered 2 to 32, (2) ff. of index, (1) bl.l.
Pale waterstain in the margin of 5 ff. A tear without loss at the frontispiece. An owner’s stamp in the margin of the frontispiece. Bound in 16th Century limp vellum, handwritten title on spine.
Rare first edition of the earliest work relating to the religions of the varied nations of the world.
Graesse, Trésor de livres, p. 477 ; Sabin 90127 ; Brunet, supp. II, 685; Harrisse 51 ; Historical Nuggets 2603.
The present text is also of the highest interest as it contains a passage mentioning the discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus.
« A dramatic composition relating to the religions of the Tartars, Saracens, Turks, Jews and others, and their confutation. The American interest is found on the verso of the third leaf, in a letter from Stamler to Joseph Lorcher, dated, “13. klas Junii Anno. 6.” which is translated by Harrisse as follows: “I do not make any mention of the newly discovered islands, but of Christopher Colom, the discoverer of a world, and of Albericus Vespucius: On the discovery of the new world (to whom our age is chiefly indebted) behold what treatise I send you.” See Harrisse, B.A.V., n°51. The elaborate woodcut title page was engraved by Hans Burgkmaier, and is repeated on the reverse of the leaf”. (Sabin 90127).
« An extremely rare and curious Drama described on the leaf following the title as ‘Dyalogus in modum comici dramatis formatus a J. Stamler de Tartarorum, Saracenorum, Turcorum, Judeorum et Gentilium Sectis et Religionibus ac eorundem Confutatione, &c.’ The letter from Stamler to Jacob Lorcher, dated 13 Kal. Junii 1506, is of the highest interest to American collectors, as he mentions by name Christopher Columbus and Albericus Vespucius as the discoverers of the New World. The Drama has a marginal Commentary, which is important not only to theologians as pointing out heresies, but also to the astronomer. Stamler seems to have been an enemy to judicial astrology.” (Harrisse).
This work is also the first book to be illustrated by Hans Burgkmair. The superb frontispiece, here in the first state, represents the varied religions, Pope Julian II and the Emperor Maximilian I. This engraving is only present in the first edition.
« The woodcut was used only in the first edition, of which twenty-five copies have been located so far.” (Elizabeth M. Nugent, PMLA, 1938, ‘Johannes Stamler’s Dyalogus’, p. 989).
Only 25 copies of this first edition were known in 1938.
A beautiful copy of this rare work preserved in its 16th century limp vellum.
Price: € 12 000
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A rare relation describing the massacre of the Christians by the Iroquois in Canada.
A genuine copy preserved in its contemporary limp vellum.
RAGUENEAU, Paul. Relation de ce qui s’est passé en la Mission des Pères de la Compagnie de Jesus aux Hurons, pays de la Nouvelle France, és années 1648 & 1649.
Envoyée au R. P. Hierosme Lalemant, Supérieur des Missions de la Compagnie de Jesus, en la Nouvelle France. Par le P. Paul Ragueneau, de la mesme Compagnie.
Paris, Sébastien Cramoisy et Gabriel Cramoisy, 1650.
8vo [169 x 105 mm], (4) pp., 116. Bound in full contemporary limp vellum, handwritten title on spine.
Second enlarged edition of this rare Jesuit relation describing the massacre of the Hurons by the Iroquois.
Streit 2577 ; Sabin 67492 ; Church 506 ; Harrisse 91 ; Brunet, Supp. II, 455.
Ragueneau (1608-1680) is one of the main authors of the “Jesuit Relations” relating the story of the Canadian martyrs. He went to the Huron country in 1637 in order to try to convert the people. Five of the missionaries who worked with him were martyred: Antoine Daniel was killed on the 4th of July 1648, Jean de Brébeuf and Gabriel Lalemant were tortured and killed in March 1649. Ragueneau became the Father Superior of the mission in 1645.
« The ‘Relation’ furnishes an interesting account of the state of the mission in the years 1648, and 1649, and gives a thrilling sketch of the horrors attending the destruction of the Christian villages of St. Joseph and of St. Ingnatius, by incursions of the Iroquois, the most deadly enemies of the Hurons, and of the Christian name”. (The Catholic Cabinet, p. 22).
The present edition is of the utmost interest as it comprises a passage of 13 pages printed at the end of the volume that appears here for the first time. It contains interesting new information about the missions to Canada.
A fresh and crisp copy of this sought after relation, preserved in its contemporary vellum.
ABPC doesn’t list any copy of the first edition of this text.
Only one copy of this edition has appeared at auction since 1975: the Lionel Robinson’s copy, sold by Sotheby’s London on the 26th of June 1986 to Lake. That same copy was sold again by Sotheby’s NY at the Frank T. Siebert sale on the 21st of May 1999 for $ 16 000 (about € 15 000). It was described in those terms in the auction catalogue: “bottom margin on title-page expertly extended, later stiff vellum”.
Price: € 23 000
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First edition of this commercial treatise dedicated to America and the colonies.
MARQUARD, Johanne. Tractatus politico-juridicus de jure mercatorum et commerciorum singulari. Libri IV.
Francfort, Thomae Matthiae Gotzii, 1662.
2 parts in 1 volume folio [316 x 190 mm], (7) ff. with the engraved frontispiece by Daniel Theobald, title, preface, table, …, 572 pp.; (2) ff., 744 pp. and (69) ff. Some slight browning.
Bound in contemporary stiff vellum, flat spine with handwritten title, edges blue.
Rare first edition of this important commercial treatise dedicated to America and the colonies.
Leclerc 948; Sabin 44661; Brunet, Supp. I, 969.
Mainly written in Latin, this treatise also has some passages in French, Spanish and German.
Pages 375 to 540 of the second part contain the exact reprinting of the exceedingly rare first edition of the “Argonautica Gustaviana” by W. Usselinx.
Sabin describes it as follows: « A politico-juridical treatise on commercial law. It is one of those books whose importance is by no means indicated by the title, and is of interest for the history of the Swedish South Company and its settlement in Pennsylvania. The original editions of some documents reprinted in this collection are lost ».
A fine copy bound in contemporary stiff vellum.
None copy of this work has appeared on the public market for the last 30 years.
Price: € 7 500
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The Indian tribes from Canada at the end of the 17th Century.
Paris, 1688.
[SAINT-VALLIER (Jean Baptiste de La Croix de Chevrières de)]. Estat present de l’Eglise et de la colonie françoise dans la Nouvelle France, par m. l’Evêque de Québec.
Paris, chez Robert Pepie, 1688.
8vo [185 x 117 mm], (1) l., title, 267 pp., (1) l. Bound in contemporary granite-like calf, spine ribbed and decorated, with the letter “P” stamped in the lower compartment, mottled edges. Two old manuscript ex libris on title-page.
Rare first edition of this great description of the Indian tribes from Canada and their relationships with French colonists.
Brunet, supp., II, 567; Church 707 ; Harrisse, 159 ; Leclerc, p. 331, 1358 ; Chadenat, 4947.
Jean de Saint-Vallier was appointed bishop of Quebec and decided to visit his diocese from May 1685 to January 1687. The following year, on his return to France, he published the account of his impressions in the form of a long letter addressed to one of his friends.
The trip to Acadia occupies a large part of the work, and then the author describes the Hurons and other people.
This very rare first edition was also published the same year under a different title (Relation des missions de la Nouvelle France), and it was reissued in 1856.
Very fresh and wide-margined copy, preserved in its original binding in brown calf.
Price: € 6 500
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First edition of the « Histoire générale des voyages » printed from 1746 to 1789
and illustrated with more than 590 engravings.
[PREVOST D’EXILES, Antoine François]. Histoire générale des Voyages, ou Nouvelle Collection de toutes les Relations de Voyages par Mer et par Terre, qui ont été publiées […] Avec les mœurs et les usages des habitans, leur Religion, leur Gouvernement, leurs Arts et leurs Sciences, leur Commerce et leurs Manufactures ; pour former un système complet d’histoire et de géographie moderne […].
Paris, chez Didot, 1746-1789.
20 volumes 4to [255 x 185 mm] bound in contemporary marbled calf, spines ribbed and decorated, light brown morocco lettering pieces, edges red. Two corners rubbed. As the publication of this work spread over more than 40 years, the fleurons on the spines of volumes 13 to 20 present a slight difference. Discreet wormholes in the white margin of volume 1.
First edition of this « véritable encyclopédie des voyages, base indispensable de toute bibliothèque américaine ».
(Chadenat, 1188 ; Brunet, IV, 868).
The first edition of the 20th volume, which was published in the first days of the French Revolution, is difficult to find.
The present work is illustrated with a portrait engraved by Schmidt and more than 590 engravings (about 260 maps and plans and 330 figures).
« The first seven volumes are a translation of the four volumes of Green’s Collection, published at London in 1745-7, vol. VII. Vols. VIII-XV were compiled by the Abbé Prevost. Vol. XVI, Paris, 1761, is a general index to the fifteen volumes. Vol. XVII, entitled “Suite de l’Histoire Générale des Voyages”, Amsterdam, 1761, contains accounts of the Dutch East Indies, taken from the edition printed at La Haye. Vols. XVIII, XIX and XX, entitled “Continuation de l’Histoire Générale des Voyages”, and dated respectively Paris, 1768, 1770 and 1789, are a continuation of the work by MM. Querlon and De Surgy. An extensive and important collection, including most of the early American voyages and travels. A list of the contents of this and the following editions is given in the catalogue of the Boston Public Library”. Sabin, 65402.
« An important and scarce collection which includes accounts of all the principal early Australian voyages, as well as an account of the discovery of Australia by the Dutch, early voyages to New Guinea and the Palau Islands, and Roggeveen’s voyage to Terres Australes, African voyages including the early Portuguese and English voyages to West Africa and the Cape of Good Hope, with a general account of the Dutch at the Cape. Pacific voyages include those of Magellan, Schouten, and Le Maire, Drake, Sarmiento, Cavendish, Spilbergen, Narborough, Rogers Cowley, Frazier, and Anson. Particularly full accounts are given of the Dutch and French voyages to the East Indies, voyages to China, and the British East India Company’s voyages to India and Ceylon”. (Hill [2004] 1391).
A fine copy preserved in its almost uniform contemporary bindings, even though it took 43 years to publish it.
Price: € 17 500
