Autographs, Documents & Manuscripts / Manuscripts & Documents

[MANUSCRIPT - CALLIGRAPHY - FRENCH]. [Writing masters copy-book].
[Liège?], 1634-1643?. Oblong 4to (17.5 x 21.5 cm). A manuscript writing masters copy-book in French, written on the rectos only, mostly in black ink on paper, each of the first 9 leaves beginning with a very large (9-13 cm) decorated initial drawn in pen and ink, displaying knotwork (sometimes making heart forms) and extensive stylized pictorial elements - both reminiscent of mediaeval Keltic examples - and coloured by a contemporary hand: A-I/J in alphabetical order, and the same letter of the alphabet written below the initial in several styles of gothic capitals and usually also minuscules (A-E in black, F-I/J in red). The two remaining leaves, also in an upright gothic cursive, show an 8-line model text (a letter to a friend, Antoine van Rosendal, dated from Liège, 5 June 1643) with a 2-line minuscule alphabet (beginning with a capital A) below and several other As separately; and a complete capital and minuscule (24-letter) alphabet, including W (6 lines); both with penwork flourishes, including (in the former) a round spiral incorporating 6 faces in profile. Sewn through 3 holes in a contemporary sheepskin parchment wrapper. Kept in a 20th-century French curl-marbled paperboard folder, in a matching marbled slipcase. [11], [10 blank] ll., the 10 blanks including 3 small fragments. Full description

[MANUSCRIPT - CALLIGRAPHY]. WALBEEK, Willem and Frans WALBEEK. [Three calligraphic prize books by Willem and Frans Walbeek].
Warmond (near Leiden), the Netherlands, 1752-1756.
Comprising:
(1) WALBEEK, Willem. Prijs boek. Inhoudende verscheyde geschriften.
Warmond, 1752.
(2) WALBEEK, Willem. Prijs-boek. Inhoudende eenige schriften.
Warmond, 1753.
(3) WALBEEK, Frans. Prijs boek.
Warmond, 1756.
Three oblong albums (ca. 35 x 44 cm). With the same hand drawn illustration of 2 putti holding a laurel wreath on the title-pages of ads 2 and 3, and an ink drawing of a compass (drawing instrument, or other measuring instrument) as part of a calligraphic exercise also in ads 2 and 3. Contemporary marbled paper wrappers. [12]; [1 blank], [13]; [10] ll. Full description

[MANUSCRIPT - CARTOGRAPHY]. Memoire sur la manière de centrer les angles et de calculer les triangles selon la direction de la méridienne et de la perpendiculaire à l 'usage des ingenieurs-géographes.
[France, ca. 1750/99]. Folio. Manuscript in French on thick paper, written in a neat 18th-century cursive hand. With 5 manuscript plates, showing 14 geometrical figures. Sewn in quires and stored loose in a portfolio covered with grey paper, grey cloth ties, paper label on the front board. [2 blank], [1], [1 blank], 61, [3 blank] pp. Full description

[MANUSCRIPT - CEYLON - NATURAL HISTORY]. Schets van eenige zoorten van dieren welke in de bosschen omstreeks Cijlon gevonden worden.
[Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and the Netherlands?], [18th or 19th century?]. 8vo (16.5 x 10.5 cm). Written in a late 18th-century or early 19th-century cursive in French and Dutch.
With: (2) [MANUSCRIPT - FRENCH & DUTCH POEMS AND SONGS]. [Quelques Chansons]. Contemporary decorated paper wrappers. [28] pp. Full description

[MANUSCRIPT - CHINESE MUSLIM PRAYERBOOK]. Al-salaam alaykum. [= Peace be unto you].
Quanzhou, 990 AH [= 1582 CE]. Folio (ca. 20.5 x 30 cm). Arabic manuscript on paper. Black sini script in nine lines with red verse markers, titles in red, glossing in black. With beautifully illuminated full-page 'Unwan with Chinese influence on designs, in gold, blue, red, green, and black. 18th-century cloth and paper wrappers. 46 ll. Full description

[MANUSCRIPT - DECLARATION]. [Declaration signed by five Dutch captains in Sydney Harbour].
(Signed:) Sydney, 24 December 1853. Ca. 32.5 x 20 cm. Housed in a white paper folder. [1] l. Full description

[MANUSCRIPT - SERVICE BOOK - DIVINE OFFICES]. Ordine da osservarsi nell'oratorio di Santa Maria di Passione, circa gli Essercicii Spirituali delle feste cavato dalla Regola maggiore.
[Milan], [18th-century]. Folio (27,5 x 18,5 cm). With 5 full-page and 2 half-page, hand-painted religious illustrations and 9 hand-painted initials on a blue background, heightened with gold and silver. 18th-century gold- and blind-tooled parchment, each board with a blind ornamental centre-piece ornament in a blind-tooled frame, in a larger frame of gold fillets, with a gold flower in each of the 6 spine compartments. [1 blank], [1], 66 pp. Full description

[MANUSCRIPT DOCUMENTS]. BERGH, Johan van den. Eenige stukken concerneerende criminele procedures in cas d'appel voor het hof geventileerd tusschen den bailluw van Rhijnland contra Pieter Oostenryk in materie van manslag met de ms. schriftuuren.
[Leiden], 1726-1729. Folio (33 x 21.5 cm). Manuscript in Dutch on laid paper, with 2 embossed seals (clein segels). Later blue paper wrappers, with a printed title label mounted on the front wrapper. 28, [8 blank] pp. Full description

[MANUSCRIPT]. DODOENS (DODONAEUS), Rembert. [Declaration of financial and other documents received as incoming churchwarden of the Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Mechelen].
[Mechelen], 27 December 1558. Oblong 4to (19 x 21.5 cm). A document written in dark brown ink on paper, with the opening words filled in afterwards in light brown ink and the signature in light brown ink. [1] ll. Full description

[MANUSCRIPT - DUTCH]. TROMP, C.H. [Collection of an illustrated manuscript diary, and travel journals, including some views and photographs of Russia and Germany].
[The Netherlands, 1824-1911]. Manuscript on paper in Dutch. Preserved in a card-board box (27 x 23.5 x 7 cm), covered with marbled paper. Full description