Middle East & Islamic World

VARTHEMA, Ludivico di. The Navigation and v[o]yages of Lewes Vertomannus, Gentelman of the citie of Rome, to the regions of Arabia, Egypte, Persia, Syria, Ethiopia, and East India, both within and without the ryver of Ganges, etc. In the yeere of our Lorde 1503. Conteynyng many notable and straunge thinges, both hystoricall and naturall. Translated out of Latine into Engylshe, by Richarde Eden.
London, Richard Jugge, 1577. 4to. With historiated woodcut initials. Splendid modern full navy blue morocco, bands on spine with title showing faded gilt, covers double-ruled gilt. [10], 466, [6] ll. Full description

[VARTHEMA, Ludovico di, Pietro Martire d’ANGHIERA and others]. The history of travayle in the West and East Indies, ...
London, Richard Jugge, 1577. Narrow 4to (19 x 13.5 cm). With a woodcut celestial map of the South Polar sky in the text. With 14 leaves in a 19th-century facsimile. Gold- and blind-tooled maroon morocco (ca. 1860?), in allusive style. In a modern clam-shell box. [10], 466, [6] ll. Full description

VARTHEMA, Ludovico di. [transl. John Winter JONES, ed. Norman Mosley PENZER] The itinerary of Ludovico di Varthema of Bologna from 1502 to 1508 as translated from the original Italian edition of 1510, by John Winter Jones, F.S.A. in 1863 for the Hakluyt Society with a discourse on Varthema and his travels in Southern Asia by Sir Richard Carnac Temple [...].
London, The Argonaut Press, 1928. 4to. With 5 maps, the facsimile text of the title-page and colophon of the original 1510 book of Di Varthema, 1 plate, and a small blue illustration (similar to the blind-tooled image on the front board) on the title-page. Half white and half blue cloth with gold lettering on spine. LXXXV, [1 blank], 121, [3] pp. Full description

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

VERNAY, Charles. Poésies nationales et religieuses Françaises, Italiennes, Turques et Persanes, 195 pièces orientales, leur traductions, et le texte Turc et Persan de 57 pièces ...
Paris, Albert Franck (on back of half-title: printed by Firmin Didot frères), 1860[-1861]. With a lithographed portrait of the author, 5 lithographed facsimiles of the author's autograph manuscripts and 4 of the letterpress pages printed in gold. Extra-illustrated with 3 lithographed and 4 engraved Royal folio illustration plates (including 2 portraits of the Ottoman Sultan Abdulmejid I).
With:
(2) VERNAY, Charles. Poésies Turques et Persanes (cent quarante et une pièces) ...
Paris, Albert Franck (below frame: lithographed by [Mathieu] Masson), "1858-1859" [= AH 1275]. With a letterpress wrapper-title in French, printed in gold, a lithographed Turkish and Persian wrapper-title (dated "1275" and "1858") and text in Turkish and Persian, lithographed from the autograph manuscript in Arabic script, all printed in gold, and a lithographed portrait of the author (the same as in ad 1).
(3) VERNAY, Charles. Nouvelles poésies Persanes et Turques ...
Paris, Albert Frank, July 1860 (colophon: lithographed by [Mathieu] Masson, r. de Valois 48, Paris). A large 4to bifolium, with a lithographic facsimile of a 4-page autograph manuscript in Arabic script, printed on blue paper.
(4-18) VERNAY, Charles. [Miscellaneous publications in various formats, some letterpress, others lithographed facsimiles of the author's autograph manuscripts in French, Turkish and Persian, and including a 1-leaf autograph manuscript in Persian].
Paris, Firmin Didot frères and others, 1851-1858.
18 publications in 1 volume. Royal folio (49.5 x 34.5 cm) with a few items in smaller formats. Contemporary diced, richly gold-tooled calf, each board with a double frame of rolls and stamps, a crescent moon and star inside each corner of the inner frame, blind-tooled turn-ins, green silk brocade endleaves. [2], 4, [1], [1 blank], 142, 4, 143-262, 263-266[bis], 263-266[ter], 263-476, [2], [1 blank], [1]; 112; [4] pp. plus the wrappers and numerous inserted items. Full description

VERNER, Willoughby. Sketches in the Soudan.
London, R.H. Porter (back of title-page: printed by Taylor and Francis), 1885. Oblong large 4to (30 x 40 cm). With a lithographed title-page, a small printer's device on the back of the title-page, 37 tinted lithographed plates by J.G. Keulemans, and one chromolithographed map. Contemporary boards, with a lithographed camel's head on the front board. Full description

VIÈTE, François. Principes de cosmographie, tirez d'un manuscrit de Viette, & traduits en François. Corrigées et augmentées.
Paris, Jean Behourt, 1647. 12mo. With 2 woodcut illustrations in the text (a geocentric universe and a simple geometric figure). Contemporary limp sheepskin parchment. [8], "72" [=172] pp. Full description

VISCONTI, Giammartino Arconati. Diario di un viaggio in Arabia Petrea (1865).Including: Atlante per servire al Diario di un viaggio in Arabia Petrea.
Torino, Vincenzo Bona, 1872. 2 volumes. Royal 4to (31 x 27 cm). With 2 title-pages printed in red and black, each with the author's wood-engraved decorated GAV-monogram and motto; vol. 1 with 2 folding lithographed maps (1 printed in black, brown and blue, with the route coloured by hand in red, of the Sinai Peninsula; the other in black and white, of the city of Petra); 40 mounted albumen prints after paintings by Emile Pierre Metzmacher (mainly 11.5 x 16 cm), individually mounted with letterpress captions on the mount; and 2 engraved plates; vol. 2 with 6 numbered engraved plates of molluscs and insects. The Diario in the original publisher's maroon cloth with the author's crowned monogram gold--blocked on the front board and spine. The Atlante in the original publisher's blue cloth, with the author's crowned monogram and the title gold-blocked on the front board. Both volumes with gilt edges, orange endpapers and with tissue guard leaves tipped in, protecting the albumen prints and engraved plates. 439; 46, [2 blank] pp. (vol. II, pp. 1-2 blank). 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

VOGÜÉ, Melchior de. Syrie centrale. Inscriptions sémitiques publiées avec traduction et commentaire.
Paris, J. Baudry, 1868. Folio With 16 plates reproducing inscriptions, plates 1-4, 6, 7, 12, 14 and 15 are engravings and plates 5, 8-11, 13 and 16 are lithographs. All are after drawings by Melchior de Vogüé and all except no. 12 were engraved or lithographed by E. Roussaux and printed by J. Grandjean in Paris. Plate no. 12 was engraved by L. Dardel and printed by Lamoureux in Paris. With additional illustrations in the text and parts of the text in Hebrew, Arabic, and Greek type. Modern half calf, marbled boards, silver lettering on spine. [4], II, [2], 132 pp. Full description