Africa

VASIF EFENDI, Ahmed. Mahasin ül-âsâr ve hakayik ül-ahbar.
Bulaq, Bulak matbaasi, 1246 AH [= 1830 CE]. 2 volumes bound as 1. 4to. Contemporary calf with later paper label; later marbled paper on the spine. In Turkish, with the main text set in a naskh Arabic type, with a woodcut decoration and decorations built up from typographic ornaments at the opening of the main text (incorporating a woodcut heading in Arabic script). 14, 210, [1 blank], 7, 190 pp. Full description

VIANNA, Manoel José. [Manuscript portolan chart of the Atlantic Ocean, including Western Europe, South America, and West Africa].
Porto, 1786. Chart ca. 86 x 68 cm; frame ca. 101 x 83.5 cm. Detailed manuscript portolan chart in ink and paint and/or ink wash in green, yellow, red, and brown on vellum. The chart is drawn within a red washed border and shows the detailed coastlines of the east coast of South America, the west coast of Africa, and the west coast of northwest Europe up to the Netherlands and including Great Britain and Ireland. The coasts are drawn in sections alternatingly in yellow, green, and red ink. Principal regions are added in large decorative script, coastal towns, cities, and capes are added in a small cursive hand. Also depicted are a detailed split graticule indicating longitude and latitude, intricate rhumb lines, islands, dangerous rocky outcrops (marked vegia (= vigia, meaning lookouts)), and inshore shoals. Further decorative elements in the chart are the flags in Brazil (Portuguese coat-of-arms), Algeria (Ottoman Empire?), and West Africa (Dutch flag, upside down); the side view of Elmina Castle in west Africa, two half wind roses, elaborate rococo floral (fleur-de-lis) ornaments at the head of the chart and in South America. The banderole at the bottom of the chart contains the following text: "Manoel Joze Vianna a Fes no Porto" and below the year of production "1786". Framed in a gold-coloured frame and mounted on a cream cloth covered backboard. Full description

VIAUD, Pierre (and Jean Garpard DUBOIS-FONTANELLE). Naufrage et aventures de M. Pierre Viaud; natif de Rochefort, capitaine de navire.
Bordeaux, the Labottiere brothers; Paris, Lejay, 1780.
With: (2) [POIVRE, Pierre]. Voyage d'un philosophe, ou observations sur les moers & les arts des peuples de l'Afrique, de l'Asie et de l'Amerique.
Yverdon, 1768. 2 works in 1 volume. 8vo. Contemporary gold-tooled tree calf, richly gold-tooled spine; very subtly rebacked, preserving original backstrip. XXIV, 307, [4], [1 blank]; 140, [2] pp. Full description

[MAP - AFRICA]. VISSCHER, Nicolaas. Africae accurata tabula.
[Amsterdam], Nicolas Visscher, [ca. 1690?]. Engraved double-page map (image size: 43.5 x 54 cm; leaf size: 51 x 60 cm), coloured by a contemporary hand. With title in a decorated cartouche on the top right flanked by two Africans and two putti and dedication to Gerardus Schaap in a decorated cartouche on the bottom left, with Schaap's coat of arms on top and flanked by mythical figures. Further illustrated with small ships and African animals (including lions, monkeys, rhinoceros and ostriches). In passepartout (56 x 66 cm). Full description

VOSMAER, Arnout. [Natuurkundige beschryving eener uitmuntende verzameling van zeldsaame gedierten, bestaande in Oost- en Westindische viervoetige dieren, vogelen en slangen, weleer leevend voorhanden geweest zynde, buiten Den Haag, op het Kleine Loo van Z.D.H. den prins van Oranje-Nassau].
Amsterdam, P. Meijer (parts 1- 14 and 29-31) and heirs of P. Meijer and G. Warnars (parts 15-20), 1766-1787. 31 parts in 1 volume. 4to (26.5 x 20.5 cm). With 33 hand-coloured engraved plates and 1 uncoloured folding engraved plate. 19th-century black half morocco, gold-tooled spine. 15; 8; 8; 12; 22; 8; 9; 6; 7; 7; 7; 10; 8; 20; 12; 6; 6; 6; 10; 10; 6; 6; 8; 8; 23; 15; 12; 14; 14; 44; 12 pp. Full description

WAD, Gregers. Fossilia Aegyptiaca Musei Borgiani Velitris.
Velletri, 1794. 4to. Contemporary boards. VIII, 32 pp. Full description

[WIC - CHARTER]. Octroy, by de ... Staten Generael, verleent aen de West-Indische Compagnie, in date den twintighsten September sesthien hondert vier en tseventigh.
The Hague, Jacobus Scheltus, printer to the States General, 1674. 4to. With a woodcut on the title-page. Sewn through 4 holes. 36 pp. Full description

WILBERFORCE, William. Lettre a son excellence monseigneur le Prince de Talleyrand Périgord,... au sujet de la traite des negres.
London, Schulze & Dean, 1814. Large 8vo. Contemporary half tanned sheepskin, gold-tooled spine. [1], [1 blank], [1], [1 blank], 98 pp. Full description

WILLIAMS, E.M., R.A. [Portrait of a man in traditional Arab garb].
Tripoli, 1914. Oil on canvas (51 x 40.5 cm), with artist's name, place and date on the back. Full description

WILSON, Charles. Picturesque Palestine, Sinai and Egypt. Edited by Colonel Wilson, R.E, C.B., F.R.S. formerly engineer to the Palestine Exploration Society. Assisted by the most eminent Palestine explorers etc. With numerous engravings on steel and wood.
London, Virtue and Co., [ca. 1870]. 4 volumes. Large 4to (33 x 25 cm). With 4 title-pages in red and black, each with a different large steel-engraved vignette, 38 steel-engraved plates (including 4 different frontispieces), 2 double-page engraved maps of Egypt and Sinai, printed in brown, and 576 wood-engravings on integral leaves, many full-page. Contemporary half sheepskin. [2], X, 240; [2], VI, 240; [2], IV, 240; [2], IV, 236 pp. Full description