Asher Rare Books

Two signed autograph letters and a note by one of the most famous explorers
of the first half of the 19th century

[MANUSCRIPT LETTERS]. DUMONT D'URVILLE, Jules Sébastien César. [Autograph letter from Dumont D'Urville to Pierre Adolphe Lesson].
Paris, 19 September 1829. 13 x 10.2 cm.
With:
(2) DUMONT D'URVILLE, Jules Sébastien César. [Autograph letter from Dumont D'Urville to Mr. Rousset].
Paris, 14 December 1841. 21 x 13 cm.
(3) [DUMONT D'URVILLE, Jules Sébastien César]. [Autograph note by Dumont D'Urville].
[France?, first half of the 19th century?]. 8 x 10 cm.
Written in French, in a neat early 19th century cursive in brown ink. Folded. Ad 1: [1], [2 blank], [1]; ad 2: [1], [2 blank], [1]; ad 3: [1], [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 6,000

Autographs & Letters Naval History

One of the fullest descriptions of life in Sana'a and Turkish-occupied North Yemen

MANZONI, Renzo. El Yèmen. Tre anni nell'Arabia felice. Escursioni fatte dal Settembre 1877 al Marzo 1880.
Rome, Botta heirs, 1884. 8vo. With a frontispiece portrait, 21 plates (including 7 double-page sized; the last single-page plate included in pagination), 2 folding colour-printed maps of Yemen, folding plate of the game "abdùr", folding coloured plan of Sana'a, folding view of Sana'a, folding view of Aden, as well as numerous woodcut illustrations in the text. Contemporary half calf over marbled boards with blind-stamped spine and gold-stamped spine-title. Marbled endpapers. [8], VI, [2], 446 pp. Full description

€ 2,500

Arabian Peninsula & Gulf States Travel & Voyages Middle East

Fictional account of life in Queensland, with illustrations reproduced photographically

MARCET, Edouard. Australie un voyage a travers le bush.
Geneva, Jules-Guillaume Fick, 1868. 8. Illustrated with 20 original albumen prints of drawings (10 full-page, mounted on inserted leaves of heavy paper as plates, and 10 smaller, mounted on the text leaves in spaces left for that purpose). Contemporary gold-tooled polished green calf, richly gold-tooled spine, gilt edges. Rebacked in green cloth with the original backstrip laid down. 268 pp. Full description

€ 3,750

Australia Faunas & General Zoology Imaginary Voyages & Utopias Photography Travel & Voyages Australia Travel & Voyages Pacific

Key historical text on the Tonga Islands, from the library of the fallen Empress Marie-Louise

MARINER, William and John MARTIN (editor). Histoire des naturels des Iles Tonga ou des Amis, situées dans l'Océan Pacifique depuis leur découverte par le Capitaine Cook; rédigée par John Martin, sur les détails fournis par William Mariner, qui y a passé plusieurs années; ...
Paris, Gide and Nicolle (back of half-title: Imprimerie de J. Smith), 1817. 2 volumes. 8vo. Contemporary red half morocco, gold-tooled spine, paper sides with the crowned monogram of Empress Marie-Louise in gold on both sides of each volume. XXII, [23]-398, [2]; 398 pp. Full description

€ 6,500

Anthropology & Ethnography Bindings Pacific Islands Travel & Voyages Pacific

Italian edition of Martens's important account of a whaling voyage

MARTENS, Friedrich. Viaggio di Spizberga o' Gronlanda fatto da Federico Martens Amburghese l' anno 1671...
Bologna, Giacomo Monti, 1680. 12mo. With 2 folding engraved plates and 3 woodcut illustrations. Contemporary limp parchment. 264 pp. Full description

€ 6,500

Arctic & Antarctic Canada & Greenland Faunas & General Zoology Fishery & Whaling Travel & Voyages Europe Travel & Voyages North America

Important work on China, witnessing the violent overthrow of the ancient Ming dynasty

MARTINI, Martino. Tartaros en China, historia.
Madrid, Joseph Fernadez de Buendia for Lorenço de Ibarra, 1665. Small 8vo (14.5×10 cm). Late 18th-century gold-tooled mottled goatskin. [40], 188 pp. Full description

€ 9,500

China Jesuits Law & Politics Travel & Voyages Asia Travel & Voyages East Asia

Peace in Goa between the Portuguese and Sawantwadi, with transcriptions of treaties

MASCARENHAS, José Freire de Monterroio. Noticia da viagem, que fez segunda vez ao estado da India o ... senhor Marquez do Louriçal, e primeiros progressos do seu governo.
Lisbon, Luiz Jozé Correa Lemos, 1742. Small 4to (20.5 x 15 cm). With a Maltese cross on the title-page, a woodcut headpiece and a woodcut decorated initial. Later marbled stiff paper wrappers, new endpapers. 24 pp. Full description

€ 3,500

India & Sri Lanka Law & Politics Portugal Travel & Voyages Asia Travel & Voyages Europe Travel & Voyages Southern Asia

A Swedish edition of John Meares's voyages to the North Pacific, China and Hawaii

MEARES, John. Tvänne resor från Ostindien till Americas nordvåstra kust, åren 1786, 1788 och 1789.
Stockholm, printed by J.S. Ekmanson for I. Utters, 1797. 8vo. 19th-century half scheepskin, gold-tooled spine with red morocco title label, marbled sides. [12], 404 pp. Full description

€ 1,250

Alaska China Hawaii North America Pacific Islands Travel & Voyages Asia Travel & Voyages East Asia Travel & Voyages North America Travel & Voyages Pacific

Blown off course: a trade mission to Vietnam ends badly

MÉNIOLLE, François Valentin. Journal et Correspondance, Septembre 1817 à Février 1819. [Narrative of a failed trade mission to Vietnam and India].
[India and other places, 1817-1819]. 4to (ca. 18 x 22 cm). French manuscript on laid paper. Contemporary half vellum. 95, [ca. 78 blank] ll. Full description

€ 12,500

Economic History & Trade India & Sri Lanka Logbooks Manuscripts & Documents Southeast Asia Southern Africa Travel & Voyages Africa Travel & Voyages Asia Travel & Voyages Southeast Asia Travel & Voyages Southern Asia

Shipwreck of the Fattysalam off the coast of Coromandel

[MEUSNIER DE QUERLON, Anne-Gabriel]. [Half-title:] Naufrage et retour en Europe de monsieur de Kearny.
[Paris?, the author?, 1764?]. 8vo. With a headpiece built up from Fournier's rococo cast fleurons. Set in Fournier types, including decorated titling capitals. 20th-century decorated paper wrappers in lavendar, green and brown, red sprinkled edges. 48 pp. Full description