Asher Rare Books

Very rare Dutch picaresque novel, with the female protagonist getting caught by pirates
and ending up in the household of an Arabic slave trader

[KERSTEMAN, Petrus Lievens]. De vermakelyke avanturesse, of de dienstmaagd van fortuin. Vervattende hare zonderlinge levensgevallen, ontelbare wederwaardigheden en rampen; zeltzame ontmoetingen, en koddige vryagien; deszelfs driejarige dienst als lakye, gevangenneming op de Moorsche kusten, en hare slavernye in Asia by de Arabieren.
Amsterdam, Steven van Esveldt, 1754. 8vo. With engraved frontispiece. Contemporary mottled half calf, gold-tooled spine, later endpapers. [4], 360 pp Full description

€ 3,500

Arabian Peninsula & Gulf States Dutch Literature Mutiny, Piracy & Shipwrecks North Africa Slavery Travel & Voyages Africa Travel & Voyages Middle East Women History

A valuable account of the Greek islands, with a large folding chart

[KINSBERGEN, Jan Hendrik van]. Beschryvinge van den archipel, tot nut van den krygsman, zeevaarenden en handeldryvenden.
Amsterdam, 1792. 8vo. With a large folding engraved sea chart (57.5 x 68.5 cm). Publisher's original flexible boards covered with blue paper, with the title and decoration printed letterpress on the spine. [8], 190, [2 blank] pp. Full description

€ 1,850

Balkan & Greece Charts & Maps Eastern Mediterranean & Cyprus Naval History Navigation

24 lithographed Dutch city and harbour views

KOSTER, Everhardus. Schetsboek. Nederlandsche stads- en havengezigten.
Amsterdam, F. Buffa & son; Delft, H. Koster; Leiden, P.H. van den Heuvel, 1858. Folio. With letterpress title-page, lithographed portrait of Koster and 24 tinted lithographed views of Dutch cities and harbours by Johannes Hilverdink after Everhardus Koster, printed by Steuerwald. Contemporary half calf. [26] ll. Full description

€ 1,500

City Plans, Topography & Views Geography Netherlands Ships & Shipbuilding

Letter from the VOC's governor of Ceylon

KRAYENHOFF, Cornelis Dionysius. [Letter to Thomas de Saint Laurent].
Colombo, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), 30 December 1783. 4to (21×17 cm). Autograph letter in French, signed, written in dark brown ink on paper in a Latin hand. In a later paper folder. [2] pp. Full description

€ 1,500

Autographs & Letters Ceylon India & Sri Lanka VOC

Account of Napoleon's Russian campaign in a scarce Portuguese edition

LABAUME, Eugene. Relação completa da campanha da Russia em 1812.
Lisbon, widow of Neves and sons, 1818. 2 volumes bound as 1. 4to. With 2 folding engraved plates (ca. 26 x 41 and 24 x 33.5 cm). Contemporary tree calf, gold-tooled spine. [10], IV, 237, [1]; 234 pp. Full description

€ 2,500

Eastern Europe France Military History (19th Century) Russia (incl. Siberia)

First edition of Labillardière's famous voyage in search of La Pérouse, with 44 plates, including 14 after Redouté

LABILLARDIÈRE, Jacques Julien Houton de. Relation du voyage a la recherche de la Pérouse.
Including: Atlas pour servir à la Relation du voyage à la recherche de la Pérouse, ...
Paris, H.J. Jansen, An VIII [= 1799/1800]. 3 volumes. 4to (2 text volumes) and folio (atlas). Atlas with engraved title-page, large folding map (59 x 86.5 cm) and 43 full-page engraved plates (numbered 2-44), including 14 botanical plates drawn or completed by Pierre-Joseph Redouté. Modern mottled half calf. XVI, 442; 332, 113, [1] pp. Full description

€ 12,500

Australia Mutiny, Piracy & Shipwrecks Pacific Islands Southern Africa Travel & Voyages Africa Travel & Voyages Australia Travel & Voyages Pacific

Very rare work about a remarkable invention for the military

[LA CHAPELLE, Jean-Baptiste de and Cornelis van ENGELEN (translator)]. De zee tot land gemaakt, of, alle landing zeker gesteld, bevattende een onfeilbaar middel, om niet alleen alle drenkelingen, en als men 't ongeluk heeft van in 't water te vallen, zich zelven, te redden, maar ook om gehele armeën, door een rivier, ja door een zee heen, tegen een vijandlijk land aan te voeren.
Amsterdam, J. W. Werlingshoff, 1805. 8vo. With 4 engraved plates on 2 folding leaves. Later quarter vellum, blue decorated paper sides. IV, 139, [1] pp. Full description

€ 2,500

Armory, Military Science & Technology Military History (18th Century) Military History (19th Century) Naval History Technology

Autograph of La Pérouse requesting 400 metres of canvas for his schooner

LA PÉROUSE, Jean-François de Galaup de. [Short autograph note signed by La Pérouse].
[At sea, ca. 1781-1785]. Short manuscript note in ink on a small sheet of laid paper (12 x 13.5 cm). Full description

€ 18,500

Autographs & Letters Caribbean Islands Middle America Naval History North America Ships & Shipbuilding Travel & Voyages North America West Indies

First Dutch translation of voyages in search of a Northwest Passage by Munk, Frobisher and Lindenau, illustrated by Van Sichem

[LA PEYRÈRE, Isaac de - VOYAGES OF MUNK, FROBISHER and LINDENAU]. Drie voyagien gedaen na Groenlandt, om te ondersoecken of men door de Naeuwte Hudson soude konnen seylen; om alsoo een doorvaert na Oost-Indien te vinden...
Amsterdam, Gillis Joosten Saeghman, [ca. 1665]. 4to. With woodcut vignette on title-page, 16 further woodcuts on integral leaves and a woodcut ship in a cartouche, woodcut decorated initials, and decorative bands built up from cast fleurons. Set in textura types with incidental roman and italic. Late 19th-century vellum, spine with title stamped in black. 32 pp. Full description

€ 28,500

Arctic & Antarctic Canada & Greenland Fishery & Whaling Travel & Voyages North America

Manuscript table of the provisions on board the French frigate “Amphitrite”

LAPLACE, Cyrille Pière Théodore. La frégate de Roi L'Amphitrite. États des consommations faites pendant le mois de Décembre 1824 et que restent abord le 1e Janvier 1825.
[On board, December 1824-1 January 1825]. Manuscript table in brown ink on a whole sheet of laid paper (40 x 52 cm), with the title at the head and signed at the foot right by Laplace. Folded twice. Full description