Asher Rare Books

Exploration of southwest Iran

ABBOTT, Keith E. Notes taken on a journey eastwards from Shiráz to Fessá and Darab, thence westwards by Jehrúm to Kazerún, in 1850.
[London, Wiley, 1857]. 4to. Modern blue wrappers. 149-184 pp. Full description

€ 400

Photographs of Sheikh Zayed's state visits to Pakistan

[ABU DHABI – STATE VISITS TO PAKISTAN]. [Photograph archive and album. Album title]: Visit to Lahore of His Highness Skeikh Zayed bin Sultan Alnahayyani the ruler of Abudhabi (16th to 28th November, 1967).
[Pakistan, 1967-1971]. An archive of 183 photographs: 133 loose black and white photographic prints (ca. 30 x 25 cm), 30 smaller ones (ca. 5 x 6 cm) numbered and mounted together on a single sheet of paper, and 20 additional prints in the album. Further with numerous rolls of original medium format negatives.Original black half morocco album, green cloth sides with title and emblem of the United Bank Limited Pakistan on the front board. Full description

€ 125,000

First edition of a rare work on Syrian grammar, with excerpts from important Syrian authors

ADLER, Jacob Georg Christian. Brevis linguae Syriacae insitutio in usum tironum edita.
Altona, Johann David Adam Eckhardt, 1784. 8vo. With a woodcut vignette on the title-page and typographical ornaments at the head of every page. The text is set in Roman and Syriac type. Early 19th-century blue marbled paper wrappers. 64, [1], [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 2,950

Pope Clement XI's copies of three important works concerning the Armenian language

AGOP, Joannes (Yovhannès KONSTANDNOWPOLSECÍ). Puritas Haygica seu grammatica Armenica ...
Rome, Sacrae Congretationis de Propaganda Fide, 1675.
With:
(2) AGOP, Joannes. Grammatica Latina Armenice' explicata: ...
Rome, Propaganda Fide, 1675.
(3) AGOP, Joannes. Puritas lingue Armenicae ...
Rome, Propaganda Fide, 1674. 3 works in 1 volume. 4to. Contemporary sheepskin parchment. [6], 246, [4]; 215, [1 blank]; 215, [1] pp. Full description

€ 24,000

A defence of Leachman's assassin

'ALWACHI ('Abd al-Hamid). Al-Shaykh Dari qatil al-Kulunl Lichman fi Khan al-Nuqtah. [English title:] Sheik Dhari, assassin of Lieut-Col. G.E. Leachman at Khan el-Nuqta.
Baghdad, Maktab al-Alwaji wa-alHajjiyah, 1968. 8vo. With the English title on the back wrapper and the recto of the final leaf, main text set in Arabic type throughout. With 16 black and white photographic illustrations (on 5 leaves). Original lime green printed wrappers. 158, [2] pp. Full description

€ 1,500

Private photographs of a visit to the oilfields of the APOC, by the founder of Toc H

[ANGLO-PERSIAN OIL COMPANY - PHOTOGRAPHS]. [CHAPPELL, Henry Pegg (photographer)]. A Christmas pilgrimage to the Anglo-Persian Oil Co. in Persia made by P.B.C.. S.C.. H.P.C.
[Greece, Palestine, Iran, Iraq, Egypt, 1931-1932]. Oblong photograph album (20.5 x 32 cm). With 72 sepia photographs (ca. 6 x 8.5 cm). [19], [5 blank] ll. Full description

€ 8,500

French mission to Mount Carmel, with a portrait of the Emir

ARVIEUX, Laurent d'; Gerard KUIPERS (transl.). Reis naar de legerplaats van den grooten Emir, en beschrijving, van de zeeden en gewoonten, der woestyn-bewoonende Arabieren ... Uit het Fransch vertaald en met aanteekeningen vermeerderd door G. Kuipers ...
Utrecht, Henricus van Otterloo, 1780. 8vo. With engraved title-page with a vignette by De Vries (a female figure reading from "H[eilige] Schriftuur" (Holy Scripture) with 4 putti and in the background a desert scene with tents, camels and dozens of mostly dark-skinned people, apparently representing nomads), 3 full-page engraved plates by Izaak de Wit Jansz., an engraved half-page illustration (unsigned), headpieces built up from rococo typographic ornaments and woodcut tailpieces. Contemporary half tree calf, gold-tooled spine with red morocco label, shell-marbled sides. [6], XL, 384, [16] pp. Full description

€ 2,500

A French view on the Arabs in a Dutch translation

ARVIEUX, Laurent d'. Reis naar de legerplaats van den Grooten Emir, en beschrijving van de zeeden en gewoonten der woestijn-bewoonende Arabieren ... Tweede druk.
Dordrecht, A. Blussé & Zoon, 1802. 8vo. With 3 full-page engraved plates and 1 engraved illustration in text. Contemporary gold-tooled half calf, shell-marbled sides. [4], XL, 384, [16] pp. Full description

€ 1,350

A Franciscan discovering the Holy Land. From the library of King Louis-Philippe

[BEAUGRAND, Felix]. Relation fidele du voyage de la Terre Sainte dans laquelle se voit tout ce qu' il y a de remarquable, tant par mer que par terre, depuis le départ de Marseille jusqu' au retour de ce saint voyage.
Paris, Gabriel Valleyre, 1760. 8vo. With a small woodcut vignette on title, several woodcut head- and tailpieces. Contemporary mottled calf, gold-tooled spine, with yellow morocco title label, gold-tooled binding edges, red edges. [4], 248, [10] pp. Full description

€ 5,000

Belon's account of his extensive travels in the Levant, with 44 woodcut illustrations

BELON, Pierre. Les observations de plusieurs singularitez et choses memorables, trouvées en Grece, Asie, Judée, Egypte, Arabie et autres pays estranges.
Paris, Guillaume Cavellat (colophon: printed by Benoist Prévost for Gilles Corozet, Guillaume Cavellat), 1555. 3 parts in 1 volume. 4to. With title in woodcut border with Cavellet's device and initials at the foot, each part-title with Cavellet's woodcut device, 1 folding woodcut map (31.5 x 35 cm) showing Mount Sinai, 44 woodcuts in the text (including a portrait of the author by Geoffroy Tory), and numerous fine decorated initials. Overlapping vellum (ca. 1600?). [12], 212, [1] ll. Full description

€ 12,500

Diplomatic and commercial relations between Venice and Persia

BERCHET, Guglielmo. La repubblica di Venezia e la Persia.
Torino, G.B. Paravia e comp., 1865. 8vo. With 5 photographic plates. Original publisher's printed brown paper wrappers. XVII, [1 blank], [1], [1 blank], 294, [2] pp. Full description

€ 750

The geographical details of two outstanding maps of Arabia

BERGHAUS, Heinrich. Geographisches memoir zur erklärung und erlaüterung der Karte von Syrien. (no. 5. von Berghaus' Atlas von Asia).
Gotha, Justus Perthes, 1835. With an engraved map of Syria.
With: (2) BERGHAUS, Heinrich. Geo-hydrographisches memoir zur erklärung und erlaüterung der General-Karte von Arabia und dem Nil-Lande. (no. 6. von Berghaus' Atlas von Asia).
Gotha, Justus Perthes, 1835. 2 works in 1 volume. 4to. With a supplement to another article by Berghaus bound at the end: Supplement zur historisch-geographischen Beschreibung von Assam etc., with an engraved map. Modern half cloth. [4], 48; [4], 128; 179-182 pp. Full description

€ 2,500

Important travelogue on Persia, with 15 plates and 2 maps

BODE, Clement Augustus de. Travels in Luristan and Arabistan.
Including: BODE, Clement Augustus de. Observations on the march of Timur ... and on the probable course pursued by Alexander the Great, on his expedition from Susa to Persepolis.
London, J. Madden and Co., 1845. 2 volumes. 8vo. With a wood-engraved illustration on the title-page to each volume, 15 plates, 2 folding engraved maps and 3 wood-engraved illustrations in text. The 15 plates (4 tinted lithographs and 11 wood engravings) consists of 2 frontispieces, a folding plate, a double-page plate and 11 single-page plates. Modern half calf, marbled (Period Binders, Bath, England). XX, 404; XII, 398, [1], [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 8,500

Deluxe Palestine souvenir album

[BONFILS, Félix]. Jerusalem.
[Palestine, 1880s]. Oblong album (44.5 x 31.5 cm) With 71 large photographic albumen prints, mostly ca. 22 x 28 cm, signed and captioned in the negative (in French and English), mounted on both sides of the album's leaves. Includes a three-part folding panorama of Jerusalem from Mount Olivet, measuring 82 x 21 cm. Original auburn morocco with gold-stamped front board, gilt edges. Full description

€ 18,000

Five rare publications on the 17th-century French mission in southeast Asia

BOURGES, Jacques de. Relation du voyage de Monseigneur l'evesque de Beryte, vicaire apostolique du royaume de la Cochinchine, par la Turquie, la Perse, les Indes, &c. jusqu'au royaume de Siam, & autres lieux.
Paris, Charles Angot, 1683. 8vo.
With:
(2) PALLU, François. Relation abregée des missions et des voyages des evesques François envoyez aux royaumes de la Chine, Cochinchine, Tonquin, & Siam.
Paris, Charles Angot, 1682.
(3) [FERMANEL DE FAVERY, Luc (editor)]. Relation des missions des evesques François aux royaumes de Siam, de la Cochinchine, de Camboye, & du Tonquin, &c. Divisée en quatre parties.
Paris, Charles Angot, 1684.
(4) Relation des missions et des voyages des evesques vicaires apostoliques, et de leurs ecclesiastiques és années 1672, 1673, 1674 & 1675.
Paris, Charles Angot, 1682.
(5) Relation des missions et des voyages des evesques vicaires apostoliques, et de leurs ecclesiastiques és années 1676 & 1677.
Paris, Charles Angot, 1682. 5 works in 1 volume. 8vo. Contemporary limp sheepskin parchment. [8], 167, [1]; [6], 51, [1 blank]; [16], 248; [16], 389, [1 blank]; [16], 170, [1] pp. Full description

€ 12,500

Cross-cultural mapping of the Red Sea: Bruce's chart in an early Egyptian manuscript copy

[MAP - ARABIAN PENINSULA]. BRUCE, James. Carte de la mer Rouge, relevée sur celle de James Bruce.
[Egypt, probably Cairo], 1827. Folio leaf (46 x 31.5 cm). Manuscript map in pen and ink with watercolour, with a French text on Middle Eastern hand-made paper. Full description

€ 15,000

Magnificent work containing more than 200 highly detailed illustrations of the Levant, Middle East and Asia

BRUYN, Cornelis de. Reizen van Cornelis de Bruyn, door de vermaardste deelen van Klein Asia, de eylanden Scio, Rhodus, Cyprus, Metelino, Stanchio, &c. Mitsgaders de voornaamste steden van Aegypten, Syrien en Palestina.
Delft, Hendrik van Krooneveld, 1698. Large folio (ca. 38.5 x 25 cm). With an engraved frontispiece by J. Mulder, a full-page engraved portrait of the author by G. Valck, and ca. 215 numbered illustrations on 101 full-page and double-page plates (including 17 very large double-page folding plates, 6 illustrations lettered 1, 22A, 22B, 22C, A (again) and B, and 24 smaller illustrations in the text - of which 4 not part of the numbered sequence). Some of the plates are captioned, there does not seem to have been a systematic approach in adding the captions - all plates are as issued and as they appear in other copies. These plates mainly depict views and cityscapes. Contemporary mottled calf. [22], 397, [9] pp. Full description

€ 12,500

Biblical travels in the form of a travel book

BÜNTING, Heinrich and Matthias HASAERT. Itinerarium Sacrae Scripturae. Dat is: het reysboek der Heyligher Schrift.
Including: BÜNTING, Heinrich. Een besonder tractaet ende onderwijsinghe van de munte ende ghewichtre der Heyligher Schrifturen... [BÜNTING, Heinrich]. Itinerarium Novi Testamenti. Dat is: een reysboeck, over het Nieuwe Testament. Het tweede deel...BÜNTING, Heinrich. Harmonia evangelistarum, dat is: eene seer schoone ende eendrachtige over-een-stemminge der heyliger vier evangelisten...Amsterdam, Hendrik Laurentsz., 1635. 4 parts in 1 volume. 4to. With 5 woodcut and 2 engraved folding maps. Contemporary vellum, modern endpapers. [16], 355, [9]; [2], 36; [4], 163, [3]; 24 pp. Full description

€ 1,950

Stunning lithographic illustrations and a detailed route map of a voyage
through Persia, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and India

BURNES, Alexander. Voyages de l'embouchure de l'Indus a Lahor, Caboul, Balkh et a Boukhara; et retour par la Perse, pendant les années 1831, 1832 et 1833 ... Atlas.
Paris, Arthus Bertrand (colophon on back wrapper: Imprimerie et Fonderie de Fain), [1835]. 3 text volumes and 1 atlas volume. 8vo. With 11 numbered lithographed plates (1 folding) showing costumes of the regions, medals and engraved stones, topographic views, archaeological sites, etc., and a large folding engraved map with the routes hand-coloured in red and orange. Contemporary gold-tooled half sheepskin (text volumes), original publisher's letterpress-printed brown paper wrappers (atlas volume). [3], [1 blank] pp. plus plates. Full description

€ 3,500

One of the first maps to clearly depict the Abadan Petroleum Refinery, the first oil refinery in the Middle East

[OIL-PETROLEUM HISTORY]. [ABADAN]. BURRARD, Sidney Gerald (ed.). [Map with the Abadan Petroleum Refinery, the first oil refinery in the Middle East]
Calcutta, Survey of India, 1912-1915. 59 x 46.5 cm. Heliozincograph in colour. Full description

€ 3,500

Misconduct at Basra by VOC resident

[CANTER, Frans (subject)]. Deductie gedaan ... uit den name ende van wegens bewindhebberen van de Oost-Indische Compagnie ter kamer Amsterdam, eerst requiranten van appoinctement van anticipatie, en nu gedaagdens by mandament van revisie, ter eenre, op ende jegens Aaltje Fransse, weduwe van Cornelis Canter, Jan Canter, en Hendrik van Greuningen, als in huwelyk hebbende Anna Canter, zeggende te zyn moeder, broeder, en zwager respective, van Frans Canter, alle wonende te Amsterdam, ...
[Amsterdam, 1752]. Folio (31.5 x 20.5 cm). Side-stitched.
With: (2) Missive van de bewindhebberen van de generale Neederlandsche geoctroyeerde Oostindische Compagnie ter vergadering van Seeventienen.
[Amsterdam, 1758]. Folio (33 x 21 cm). Side-stitched. 28, [1 blank], [1]; 13, [3 blank] pp. Full description

€ 3,500

On Bedouin tribes, with a map and pictures

CARRUTHERS, Alexander Douglas Mitchell. A journey in North-Western Arabia.
[London, W. Clowes], March 1910. 4to. With 12 black and white photographs made during the journey and a folding chromolithographed map of North-West Arabia (27x30.5 cm). Modern blue wrappers. [32] (numbered 225-248) pp. Full description

€ 750

First edition of a rare work about the Orient and the crusades

CENTENO, Amaro. Historia de cosas del oriente primera y segunda parte...
Cordoba, Diego Galván, 1595. 2 parts in 1 volume. 4to. With a woodcut coat of arms on the title-page and the divisional title-page for part 2, an elaborate Jesuit woodcut IHS vignette on the verso of the last leaf above the colophon and woodcut initials throughout, with a few typographical or woodcut tail-pieces, al text is set within a simple woodcut frame. Later tree marbled sheepskin. [8], 138, [4] ll. Full description

€ 28,000

French merchant travels through Persia and becomes personal jeweller to the Shah

CHARDIN, Jean. Voyages de mr. le chevalier Chardin, en Perse, et autres lieux de l'Orient.
Amsterdam, J. L. de Lorme, 1711. 10 volumes. 12mo. With an engraved frontispiece portrait of Johannes Chardin, 1 engraved map, 79 engraved folding plates and 6 letterpress folding tables. Contemporary half morocco, gold-tooled spine. [24], 254; 334; 285, [1 blank]; 280; 312; 328; 448; 255, [1 blank]; 308; 220, [82] pp. Full description

€ 4,000

Very rare and little known collection of Italian Renaissance merchant voyages to India

CIGNANO, Ludovico. Quieta solitudine di varii ragionamenti, discorsi, et concetti, ove si narra quattro navigationi ...
Bologna, Alessandro Benacci, 1587. Small 4to. With the woodcut coat of arms of the dedicatee Giovanni Luigi Scappi, elaborately helmed, crested and mantled, on the title-page, a woodcut tailpiece (plus 1 repeat), woodcut decorated initials (at least 4 series), decorations built up from cast typographic ornaments.
Goatskin morocco (ca. 1870/80?), richly gold-tooled spine and turn-ins, signed in foot of front turn-in by the Paris bookbinders "DARLAUD FRÈRES", gold fillets on sides and board edges, combed curl-marbled endpapers, edges gilt over marbling, headbands worked in white and beige, and a yellow, red and green ribbon marker. 166 pp. Full description

€ 45,000

One of only two 19th-century English colour-plate books mentioning the Gulf

CLIVE, Robert. A series of lithographic drawings from sketches by Robert Clive, comprising the undermentioned subjects, lying principally between the Persian Gulf & the Black Sea ...
London, Dickinson & Co., (1852). Large folio (45.5 x 590 mm). With 9 tinted lithographs on 8 plates (2 on 1 leaf) after Robert Clive. 3 leaves of letterpress text (plus 1 repeat ), printed on rectos only. Modern half morocco , marbled sides, spine title and decorations in gold. With the original publishers printed front wrapper bound in. Full description

€ 18,000

A late call for a crusade

COPPIN, R.P. Jean. Relation des voyages faits dans la Turquie, la Thebaïde, et la Barbarie. Contenant des avis politiques qui peuvent servir de lumières aux Rois & aux Souverains de la Chrétienté, pour garentir leurs etats des incursions des Turcs, & reprendre ceux qu'ils ont usurpé sur eux.
Lyon, les frères Bruyset, 1720. 4to. Vignette on title-page, interesting woodcut head- and tailpieces showing fruits and flowers, and 4 plates visualising the position of soldiers, divisions, army and artillery. Contemporary brown calf, gold-tooled spine in 6 compartments, red morocco label, lettered in gold. [6], 496, [6] pp. Full description

€ 9,500

Classic description of Asia, Persia and Georgia

DAPPER, Olfert. Asia, of naukeurige beschryving van het Rijk des Grooten Mogols, En een groot gedeelte van Indiën ... Beneffens een volkome beschryving van geheel Persie, Georgie, Mengrelie en andere gebuur-gewesten.
Amsterdam, Jacob van Meurs, 1672. 3 parts in 1 volume. Folio. With richly engraved frontispiece, first title printed in red and black, double-page engraved map, 20 engraved plates and views, 4 double-page, and 22 engravings in text in the first part, and 3 double-page engraved maps, 8 double-page engraved views, and 11 engravings in text in the second part. Including: DAPPER, Olfert. Beschrijving des koningryks van Persie ... Contemporary calf with richly gilt spine. "379" [= 401], [3]; [1], [1 blank], "184" [= 192]; 43, [5] pp. Full description

€ 6,850

Major source of information on the Islamic world in the 17th century

DAPPER, Olfert. Naukeurige beschryving van Asie: behelsende de gewesten van Mesopotamie, Babylonie, Assyrie, Anatolie, of Klein Asie: beneffens eene volkome beschrijving van gantsch gelukkigh, woest, en petreesch of steenigh Arabie ...
Amsterdam, Jacob Meurs, 1680. 2 parts in 1 volume. Folio. With engraved frontispiece, 16 engraved views and maps (2 folding, 14 double-page), and 22 engraved illustrations in the text. Contemporary blind-tooled vellum. [8], 357, [3], 324, [4] pp. Full description

€ 8,500

Major source of information on the Muslim world in the 17th century

DAPPER, Olfert. Naukeurige beschryving van Asie: behelsende de gewesten van Mesopotamie, Babylonie, Assyrie, Anatolie, of Klein Asie: beneffens eene volkome beschrijving van gantsch gelukkigh, woest, en petreesch of steenigh Arabie. Vertoont in een bondigh ontwerp van 's lands benamingen, bepalingen, . . . inzonderheit die van d'oude Arabieren, Mahomet en Mahometanen.
Amsterdam, Jacob van Meurs, 1680. Folio. With engraved frontispiece, 3 double-page maps (of Basra and surroundings, Anatolia and the Arabian Peninsula), 12 double-page or folding views (partly drawn by Charles Vasteau). Near contemporary blind-stamped vellum. [8], 357, [3], 324, [4] pp. Full description

€ 9,500

11 articles on the history of the Islamic world, including the autobiography of Ibn Khaldun

DEFRÉMERY, Charles and others. [Collection of 11 French offprints and extracts on the Islamic world].
[Paris (1 Leipzig), 1831-1859]. 11 items in 1 volume. 8vo. With many passages in Arabic. Contemporary half vellum. Full description

€ 6,500

Life and customs in the Ottoman Empire, described by a Christian former slave

DJURDJEVIC, Bartol (Bartholomeus GEORGIEVITZ) Voiage de la saincte cite de Hierusalem. Jointe la description des citez, villes, ports, lieux, & autres passages. Ensemble les ceremonies des Turcs ...
Liège, printed by Leonard Streel for Lambert de la Coste, 1600. 2 parts in 1 volume. 4to. 18th-century calf, gold-tooled spine. [32], [32] lvs. Full description

€ 17,500

First European biography of Timur derived from an Arabic source

DU BEC-CRESPIN, Jean. The historie of the great emperour Tamerlan wherein are expressed, encounters, skirmishes, battels, sieges, assaults, skalings, taking of cities and strong places, defended, and assaulted, with diverse stratagems of warre, the which this great and renowned warriour hath conducted and accomplished, during his raigne of fortie or fiftie yeares: with other instructions for the warre, which should not be unknowen of them that would attaine unto the knowledge of armes. Drawen from the auncient monuments of the Arabians, by messire Jean du Bec, abbot of Mortimer. Newly translated out of French into English, for their benefite which are ignorant in that language. by H.M.
London, R. Field for Willam Ponsonby, 1597. 4to. With a woodcut device on the title-page, woodcut initials, head- and tail-pieces.17th-century calf, 19th century gold-tooled spine. [4], 265, [1] pp. Full description

€ 35,000

Secret correspondence between Tipu Sultan and the French, published by the British

[EAST INDIA COMPANY]. [TIPU SULTAN, Zaman Shah DURRANI, NAPOLEON BONAPARTE and others]. Official documents, relative to the negotiations carried on by Tippoo Sultaun, with the French Nation, and other foreign states, for purposes hostile to the British nation; to which is added, proceedings of a Jacobin club, formed at Seringapatam, by the French soldiers in the corps commanded by M. Dompart, with a translation ... Printed by order of the ... Governor General ...
Calcutta, Honorable Companys Press, 1799. Super Royal 4to (33.5 x 25 cm). Never bound, but side stitched through 3 holes. XX, [2], 195, [1] pp. Full description

€ 6,500

Extremely rare map of Damascus, printed in the field by British and allied troops in 1918

[SYRIA - EGYPTIAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE]. Damascus.
[Damascus?], Field Survey Co[mpan]y. R.E., E.E.F., 7 October 1918. Map of Damascus (73.5 x 51 cm) printed in black and tan, on a scale of 1:10,000. Full description

€ 8,500

Afghanistan and its dependencies in Persia, Tartary and India, with 14 hand-coloured plates, in original wrappers

ELPHINSTONE, Mountstuart. Tableau du royaume de Caboul, et de ses dépendances, dans la Perse, la Tartarie et l'Inde, offrant les moeurs, usages et costumes de cet empire, ... traduit et abrégé de l'anglais, par M. Breton.
Paris, Nepveu, 1817. 3 volumes. 18mo. With 14 engraved plates depicting various costumes, lords on horseback, etc., all beautifully coloured by hand. Original publisher's printed wrappers, each volume with wood engraved illustrations on front, back and spine. Preserved in a modern gold-tooled green morocco box. XLIV, 189 [3]; [4], 222, [2]; [4], 223 [1] pp. Full description

€ 4,950

Politics of the Arab World as seen by the Labour Party in 1959

ENNALS, David & Ian CAMPBELL. Middle East Issues.
London, Fabian International Bureau, February 1961. 8vo. Original printed paper covers. 29 pp. Full description

€ 200

A French adventurer in the Middle East

FERRIER, Jean-Paul. Voyages en Perse dans l'Afghanistan le Béloutchistan et le Turkestan.
Paris, E. Dentu, 1860. 2 parts in 1 volume. 8vo. With portrait for frontispiece, printer's device on both titles, and one large folding map. Contemporary dark purple half morocco. [6], XIV, [2], 463; [4], 463 pp. Full description

€ 1,250

Tolerant comparison of world religions

FRANCK, Sebastian. Werelt-boeck, spieghel ende beeltenisse des gheheelen aerdtbodems, ...
The Hague, Albrecht Heyndricxz., 1595. Folio. 17th-century parchment, new endpapers. CXXXIIII, [4] ll. Full description

€ 8,500

"one of the most renowned nineteenth-century photobooks"

FRITH, Francis. Egypt and Palestine. Photographed and described.
London, James S. Virtue, [1858-1859]. 2 volumes. Folio (44.5 x 32.5 cm). With 76 photographs on plates by Francis Frith (ca. 14.5-16.5 x 21.5-23 cm), each with a separate leaf of text. Contemporary red morocco, gold-tooled spines and boards, marbled endpapers, gilt edges. Full description

€ 40,000

1565/66 pilgrimage to the Middle East, with author's portrait, coat of arms and 6 illustration plates

FÜRER VON HAIMENDORF, Christoph. Itinerarium Aegypti, Arabiae, Palaestinae, Syriae, aliarumque regionum orientalium.
Nuremberg, Abraham Wagenmann, 1621 (colophon: Nuremberg, printed by Abraham Wagenmann, 1620). Small 4to. With finely engraved full-page portrait of the author by Peter Isselberg, full-page engraved Fürer von Haimendorf coat of arms, 6 folding engraved plates. Contemporary limp sheepskin parchment. [16], 118, [114] pp. Full description

€ 12,500

First European description of the Great Timur's court, the precursor of the Mughal Empire

GONZALES DE CLAVIJO, Ruy. Historia del Gran Tamorlan e Itinerario y ennaracion del viage y relacion de la Embaxada que Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo le hizo por mandado del muy poderoso Señor don Henrique el tercero de Castilla y un breve discurso fecho por Gonzalo Argote de Molina para mayor inteligencia deste libro.
Seville, Andrea Pescioni, 1582. Folio in 8s. With a woodcut vignette on the title-page, woodcut initials and a woodcut device at the end. Modern tree calf. 78 ll. Full description

€ 65,000

Important work on the natural history of Palastine

HASSELQUIST, Friedrich and Carl LINNAEUS. Reise nach Palästina in den Jahren von 1749 bis 1752. auf Befehl ihro Majestät der Königinn von Schweden herausgegeben vond Carl Linnäus aus em Schwedischen.
Rostock, Johann Christian Koppe, 1762 (colophon: Leipzig, Johann Gottlob Immanuel Breitkopf, 1761). 8vo. With woodcut tailpieces. Contemporary half vellum. [18], 606 pp. Full description

€ 1,800

Official map of the Hejaz railway, from Damascus to Medina
(with the planned extension to Mecca, never built)

[HEJAZ RAILWAY]. [Map and profile of the Hijaz Railway route].
Constantinople, Matba a-i Bahriye, 1320 Rumi [= 1904 CE]. Colour-lithographed map (76.5 x 49.5 cm), trimmed to neat line. Full description

€ 22,000

From the Bohemian mountains to the Arabic Gulf

HENRY, René. Des monts de Bohême au Golfe Persique ... Deuxième édition.
Paris, Plon-Nourrit et Cie., 1908. 8vo. With 5 folding maps. Publisher's original printed paper wrappers. [2 blank], [4], XIV, 566, [1], [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 750

The Desert of Paran and the 42 stations of the Exodus, with a map

HERMANN, Amand. Desertum Pharan mystice explicatum, cum quadraginta duabus in eo mansionibus filiorum Isràél ad Palaestinam pergentium: . . .
Kalisz, printed by the college of the Society of Jesus, 1685. 4to. With an engraved frontispiece, showing a map of the Holy Land and the route of the Exodus with the 42 stations numbered. Contemporary overlapping vellum. [32], 505, [1 blank], [16] pp. Full description

€ 1,950

"Father of History" in elegant & famous first Greek edition by Aldus Manutius, from the Arenberg library

HERODOTUS. [Historiarum] libri novem. Quibus musarum indita sunt nomina.
(Colophon: Venice), Aldus Manutius, (colophon: September 1502). Folio (29.5 x 20 cm). With Aldus's anchor and dolphin device on title-page and the verso of the last leaf. Late 19th-century blind-tooled, polished tan calf, the central panel with the arms of the Dukes of Arenberg. [140] ll. Full description

€ 69,500

A voyage through the Persian Gulf

HEUDE, William. Reis op de Perzische golf, en verder over land, van Indie naar Engeland, in 1817.
Amsterdam, G.J.A. Beijerinck, 1820. 8vo. With 4 aquatint plates, including a frontispiece by W.H. Hoogkamp. Original publisher's boards. XVI, 426, [6] pp. Full description

€ 1,750

With a folding map situating the Garden of Eden near Al Basrah, Iraq

HUET, Pierre Daniel. Trattato della situazione del Paradiso terrestre ... Tradotta dalla lingua Francese.
Venice, Giambatista Albrizzi, 1737. Small 8vo (15.5 x 10 cm). With an engraved frontispiece incorporating a map, the engraved arms of the dedicatee Marc'Antonio Morosini above the dedication, and a folding engraved map (22.5 x 19 cm). Contemporary sprinkled tanned sheepskin, gold-tooled spine. [48], 234, [2 blank] pp. Full description

€ 1,500

First substantial English translation of Ibn Batuta's travels through the Islamic world and beyond

IBN BATUTA and Samuel LEE (editor). The travels of Ibn Batuta; translated from the abridged Arabic manuscript copies, preserved in the public library of Cambridge. With notes, illustrative of the history, geography, botany, antiquities, &c. occurring throughout the work.
London, printed for the Oriental Translation Committee (colophon: by J.L. Cox). Large 4to (32 x 26). With various passages including the original Arabic text. Later half calf. "XVIII" [=XX], [2], 243, [1] pp. Full description

€ 17,500

First and only edition of one of the earliest works on Persian grammar

IGNATIUS a Jesus (Carlo LEONELLI). Grammatica linguae Persicae. Auctore Patre Fratre Ignatio à Jesu Carmelita Discalceato missionario, & vicario residentiae Tripolis, & Montis Libani.
Rome, Propaganda Fide, 1661. 4to. With a device on the title-page, 1 woodcut decorated initial, decorations built up from arabesque typographic ornaments and a 4-page letterpress table showing the Persian alphabet with the initial, medial, final and stand-alone forms of the letters. Modern ivory vellum in the style of the time, manuscript title on spine. [2], 60 pp. Full description

€ 8,500

"Confidential"

[INDIA – ARMY, GENERAL STAFF BRANCH]. Operations in Waziristan 1919-1920. Confidential. Compiled by the General Staff, Army Headquarters, India, 1921.
Calcutta, Superintendent of Government Printing, 1921. 8vo. With frontispiece, 31 plates, 7 maps (3 in pocket on inside of back board), and 8 panoramas, mostly folding.Contemporary half calf, green cloth sides, gold-stamped red spine labels. X, 187, [1] pp. Full description

€ 2,800

A rare pamphlet incriminating the Shah of Iran

[IRANIAN STUDENT ASSOCIATION NEW YORK]. WANTED. SHAH of IRAN by the Iranian people for the murders committed below (only after 1953).
New York, Iranian Student Association, [ca. 1974]. Folio. With 4 illustrations of the Shah.Pamphlet. Full description

€ 1,250

Map of Iran and Iraq in the 1930s

[MAP - IRAN - IRAQ]. PHILIP & SON. Iran (Persia) and Iraq.
London, George Philip & sons, [1930s]. Colour printed map, 54 x 68 cm, with yellow covers (19.5 x 11 cm). Full description

€ 650

British colour-printed aerial maps of Iraq for use in the Persian war

[MAPS - IRAQ]. [Reconnaissance maps of Iraq].
[UK Government], Survey Directorate HQ Tenth Army / Indian Field Survey Co., 1942 42 chromolithographed topographic maps of parts of Iraq, made from aerial photographs during World War II, on a scale of 1:100,000 and 1:253,440 (a quarter-inch to a mile). 68 x 50.5 cm & 60 x 47 cm. Full description

€ 6,500

Photographic impression of middle class life in England and the military in Iraq

[IRAQ -ENGLAND - PHOTOGRAPHY]. Life in England and Military Snap Shots in Iraq and Turkey, 1912-1920.
4to. Approximately 120 mounted (usually 2-4 to a page) snap shots ranging in size from 60 x 40 mm to 120 x 100 mm. Brief captions in black ink under almost all the photos. 1/4 leather album. Full description

€ 850

Historical narrative of a voyage to India and Persia written by a surgeon of the British Royal Navy

IVES, Edward. Reize naar Oost-Indië en Persië, en de daar omliggende landen. Ondernomen langs een' ongewoonen weg.
Amsterdam, De Compagnie, 1779. 2 volumes bound as 1. 4to. With 2 engraved title-pages, 2 folding engraved maps, one of India (44 x 51 cm), the other tracking Ives's journey from Basra to Latakia (ca. 42 x 56 cm), and 9 engraved plates (including 1 large folding). Early 20th-century boards. [16], 324; [1], [1 blank], [1], [1 blank], 379, [1] pp. Full description

€ 2,950

Historical narrative of a voyage to India and Persia written by a surgeon of the British Royal Navy

IVES, Edward. Reize naar Oost-Indië en Persië, en de daar omliggende landen. Ondernomen langs een' ongewoonen weg.
Amsterdam, De Compagnie, 1779. 2 parts in 1 volume. 4to. With 2 engraved title-pages, 2 folding engraved maps, one of India, the other tracking Ives's journey from Basra to Latakia, and 9 engraved plates (including 1 large folding). Contemporary blind-tooled vellum. [16], 324; [1], [1 blank], [1], [1 blank], 379, [1] pp. Full description

€ 3,950

Well-illustrated report of an archaeological expedition
to the 7th & 8th-century "desert castles" of the Umayyad Caliphate

JAUSSEN, Antonin & Raphael SVAIGNAC Mission archeologique en Arabie III. Les chateaux arabes Qeseir 'Amra, Harâneh et Tûba.
Paris, Paul Geuthner, 1922. 2 volumes (text and atlas). Small folio (21 x 29.5 cm). Text volume with 21 illustrations in the text (mostly photographs). Atlas volume with 58 loose plates (mostly plans and photographic views) as issued. Text volume in modern half cloth, kept with the plates in a modern half cloth portfolio. [6], 134, [2] pp. Full description

€ 1,500

Extremely rare Syrian liturgical work by the Archbishop of Damascus, printed at the Dominican Press at Mosul

[LECTIONARY - SYRIAC]. [JOSEPH DAVID, Clemens]. Lectionarium Syriacum seu collectio orationum et lectionum quae in horis canonicis per totum anni decursum excepto jejunio quadragesimali ab ecclesiae Syriacae clero adhiberi solent.
Mosul, typis Fratrum Praedicatorum (= Dominican printing office), 1879. Folio. With a Latin title-page set in roman type and a Syriac title-page set in Syriac type, both within a red and blue ornamental frame. Preliminary leaves also set within a red ornamental frame. Text set in Syriac type and printed in black and red. With a few religious illustrations throughout the text. Contemporary half blue sheepskin, blue cloth sides, gold-tooled spine lettered (in Syriac) in gold, marbled endpapers. 648 pp. Full description

€ 12,500

Explorations in Arabia and vicinity, with 69 spectacular plates

LABORDE, Léon Emmanuel Simon Joseph de. Voyage de l'Arabie Pétrée.
Paris, Giard (colophon: printed by the Imprimerie Normale/Jules Didot l'ainé), 1830[-1834]. Royal 1mo (42 x 59.5 cm). With lithographic title-page (with a large lithographed title vignette separately printed on "India" paper and mounted on the title-page) and lithographed coat of arms of the dedicatee Wilhelm II of Hesse printed directly on dedication leaf, 69 lithographed plates (3 double-page and 1 larger folding) showing views, maps and plans after Laborde and Linant de Bellefonds, most separately printed on "India" paper and mounted on the leaves. With 1 zoological plate (of a marmot and young: "El Oueber") subtly coloured as published. Period-style half calf with gilt title to spine. Full description

€ 45,000

Linschoten's nautical chart of the Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal and surroundings, engraved in 1596

LANGREN, H. F. van. Deliniantur in hac tabula, orae maritimae Abexiae, freti Mecani: al Maris Rubri-Arabiae ...
Engraved map of Arabia, India and surroundings in 2 sheets (38.5 x 53.5 cm as assembled), engraved for J. Huygen van Linschoten, Itinerario, 1596). Matted. Full description

€ 9,500

T. E. Lawrence's anonymous account of the Arab movement in the Great War

[LAWRENCE, Thomas Edward]. Harry PIRIE-GORDON (editor). A brief record of the advance of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force under the command of General Sir Edmund H.H. Allenby. July 1917 to October 1918. Compiled from official sources and published by the Palestine News.
Cairo, Government Press and Survey of Egypt, 1919. Small folio (22.5 x 29.5 cm). With a frontispiece portrait of Allenby, mounted on cloth, and 56 coloured maps with explanatory texts on the facing pages. Contemporary half linen. [6], 113, [1] pp. Full description

€ 3,000

Journal of a 1674/75 overland voyage through India, Iran, Iraq and Syria to Amsterdam

LEEUWENSON, Joannes (Pieter Arend LEUPE, ed. & intro.). Eene overlandreis uit Indië naar Nederland, in 1674-1675.
[Amsterdam, Frederik Muller, 1863]. 8vo. Offprint, retaining the original pagination and collation, of an article in Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië, 6 (1863). 20th-century stiff paper wrappers, with a printed label on the front. pp. [89], 90-142. Full description

€ 1,250

Wonderful account of the geography and development of Palestine and Syria during the Muslim rule

LE STRANGE, Guy. Palestine under the Moslems. A description of Syria and the Holy Land from A.D. 650 to 1500. Translated from the work of the mediaeval Arab geographers.
Boston and New York, Houghton, Mifflin and Company, The Riverside Press, Cambridge, 1975. Illustrations, maps, plans (some fold-out) throughout. Original cloth binding. XXII, [2], 604 pp. Full description

€ 650

Treatise on a posthumously published map of the Holy Land

L'ISLE (DELISLE), Joseph-Nicolas de. Memoire sur la carte de l'ancienne Palestine ou de la Terre Sainte.
Paris, Chez l'auteur, 1763. 4to. With woodcut vignette on title-page and a large woodcut headpiece. Modern brown half calf, richly gold-tooled spine. 21 pp. Full description

€ 2,500

Detailed observations of life in the Ottoman Empire, Egypt and elsewhere in the Levant and Middle East ca. 1610

LITHGOW, William. Nineteen years travels through the most eminent places in the habitable world.
London, for John Wright & Thomas Passinger, 1682. 8vo. With a folding woodcut frontispiece and 6 folding woodcut plates and 1 woodcut in the text. 19th-century dark brown sheepskin, sewn on 3 recessed cords, brown spine label, Stormont on shell marbled endpapers. [8], 481, [7] pp. Full description

€ 3,500

Exploration of Iran's major river

LYNCH, Henry Blosse. Notes on the present state of the Karun river, between Shushter and the Shat-el-Arab.
[London, Wiley, October 1891]. 4to. With a lithograph illustration in the text. Modern blue wrappers. 592-595 pp. Full description

€ 395

French translation of Maffei's renowned description of the East and West Indies

MAFFEI, Giovanni Pietro. l'Histoire des Indes Orientales et Occidentales ...
Paris, Robert de Ninville, 1665. 2 volumes bound as 1. 4to. Contemporary vellum. [32], “353” [= 351], [1 blank]; [2], "292" [= 296], [24] pp. Full description

€ 2,750

Adventurous travels in the East

MANDELSLO, Johann Albrecht von. Morgenländische Reyse-Beschreibung.
Hamburg, Christian Guth, printed by Johan Holwein, Schleswig, 1658. Folio. With engraved frontispiece by Christian Rothgiesser, engraved author's portrait, double-page engraved map, and 21 large engravings in text, mostly signed by Rothgiesser. Contemporary pigskin, with boards blind-tooled in a panel design. [32], 248, [36] pp. Full description

€ 11,000

14th-century tales of travels in Turkey, the Middle East, Near East, India and the East Indies,
illustrated with about 60 woodblocks

MANDEVILLE, John [= Jehan d'OUTREMEUSE]. The voyages & travels of Sir John Mandevile, Knight, ... to the Holy Land, and to Hierusalem: as also to the lands of the Great Caan, and of Prestor John: to Inde, and divers other countries: ...
London, Richard Chiswell, Benjamin Walford, Matthew Wotton, George Conyers, 1696. 4to. With a woodcut ship on the title-page and about 60 woodcut illustrations in the text (mostly about 5.5 x 8 cm) plus about 10 repeats. Gold-tooled, red goatskin morocco by Robert Riviere in London (ca. 1875/80), one of England's best binders. [4], “139” [= 135], [5] pp. Full description

€ 22,500

An Arabist advocating archaeological research of the Near East

MANGER, Samuel Hendrik. Oratio inauguralis, de incremento philologiae sacrae ab idonea Arabiae atque Palaestinae exploratione sperando.
Franeker, Willem Coulon, 1762. Folio. With the woodcut coat of arms of Friesland on the title-page. Mid-19th-century marbled wrappers. [4], 67, [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 1,250

A collection of Venetian voyages to the Near and Middle East, printed at the Aldine press

[MANUZIO, Antonio (ed.)]. Viaggi fatti da Vinetia, alla Tana, in Persia, in India, et in Costantinopoli: con la descrittione particolare di città, luoghi, siti, costumi, & della porta del Gran Turco: & di tutte le intrate, spese, & modo di governo suo, & della ultima impresa contra Portoghesi.
Venice, sons of Aldus Manutius, 1545. 8vo. With Alduss woodcut anchor device on the title-page. 18th-century English polished calf. 163 ll. Full description

€ 7,500

Ottoman map of Iraq, Kuwait and southwestern Iran, used by its army in World War I

[MAP - OTTOMAN ARMY]. [Iraq, Kuwait and Iran].
Istanbul, [Erkan-i Harbiye-i Umumiye], 1331 Rumi [= 1915 CE]. Colour-lithographed map of Iraq, Kuwait and southwestern Iran (65.5 x 66 cm) in black, brown, blue and green at a scale of 1:1,000,000, dissected into 12 sections and mounted on contemporary cloth. Full description

€ 3,500

Loans by the UK for major infrastructure development in Jordan

MU'AMMAR, Sayid Ya'coub; B.L. STRACHAN. Exchange of notes concerning an interest-free development loan by the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the government of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
London, Her Majestys Stationery Office, 1970. 4to. With the UK coat-of-arms on title-page. Text in English and Arabic in naskh type. Stapled. 8 pp. Full description

€ 450

For official use only: Royal Navy wartime handbook on Iraq and the Persian Gulf

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE DIVISION. [MASON, Kenneth, a.o.]. Iraq and the Persian Gulf. September 1944. B.R. 524 (restricted) geographical handbook series for official use only.
[Oxford,] Naval Intelligence division, 1944. 8vo. With numerous diagrams, reproductions of photographs and (folding) maps, including a loose map in the pocket at the back. Publisher's green cloth. 682 pp. Full description

€ 3,500

Rare handbooks of the British naval intelligence division on Arabia, Palestine, and Syria

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE DIVISION. Syria. April 1943.
With:
(2) IDEM. Palestine and Transjordan. December 1943.
(3) IDEM. Western Arabia and the Red Sea. June 1943.
Stationery Office, University Press Oxford, 1943-1946.
3 volumes. Many plates, tables and photographs. Each volume including separate fold-out maps, one in colour. Contemporary green cloth with the title in gold on the front boards and the spines. [2], XVI, 485, [1]; [2], XV, [1], 621, [1]; [2], XIX, [1], 659, [1] pp. Full description

€ 1,750

Historical work on the Saracens

OCKLEY, Simon. The conquest of Syria, Persia, and Aegypt, by the Saracens: containing the lives of Abubeker, Omar, and Othman, the immediate successors of Mahomet, giving an account of their most remarkable battles, sieges, &c. ...
London, for R. Knaplock, J. Sprint, R. Smith and J. Round, 1708. 8vo. Contemporary panelled calf with gold-stamped red label to gilt spine, leading edges gilt, red sprinkled edges. XXIV, [4], 391, [1 blank], [19], [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 1,800

Rare travel account

OPPENHEIM, Max von. Vom Mittelmeer zum Persischen Golf durch den Hauran, die Syrische Wüste und Mesopotamien.
Berlin, Dietrich Reimer, 1899-1900. 2 volumes. Large 8vo. With 2 (of 3) folding maps in pockets on the inside of the back board and numerous illustrations in the text and on photographic plates. Original illustrated green cloth. XV, [1], 334; [1], 434 pp. Full description

€ 8,500

Impressive plan of the important archaeological excavation site of Tell Halaf, probably unique

[OPPENHEIM, Max von]. Tell-Halâf-Stadt 1913.
[Tell Halaf], 1913. 92 x 126 cm. Whiteprint (diazotype) on thick paper. Title, scale and compass executed in manuscript in blue pen. Full description

€ 4,500

"For Official Use Only."

PAGET, William Henry, MASON, A. H. & others (editors). Frontier and overseas expeditions from India. Compiled in the intelligence branch of the divisions of the chief of the staff army head quarters India. In six volumes. For official use only.
Simla, Government Monotype Press, 1907-1911. 8 volumes (6 plus 2 supplements). 8vo. With 43 maps and 8 plans.
Uniform contemporary half calf, green cloth sides, gold-stamped spine labels. Full description

€ 75,000

Detailed report on British-controlled Palestine and Transjordan

[PALESTINE]. UNITED KINGDOM COLONIAL OFFICE. Report by His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the Council of the League of Nations on the Administration of Palestine and Trans-Jordan for the Year 1932 ... Colonial no. 82, 58-82.
London, His Majesty's Stationary Office, 1933. 4to in 16s. With two folding maps showing parts of the Palestine territory that had been surveyed in detail.Original publisher's printed wrappers. XII, 267 pp. Full description

€ 2,250

Negotiating an alliance between the Prince of the Bezancudos tribe and the Emperor of Persia

[PERSIA - ANONYMOUS]. Relacam da celebre embaixada, que o Principe dos Bezancudos mandou ao Schach da Persia, Tha'mas Kouli-khan, para o conciliar seu Aliado temendo o seu poder; e se fez esta funçao em 8 de Junho deste presente anno de 1744. com huma breve noticia dos Bezancudos, e seu Paiz.
Lisbon, Pedro Ferreira, 1744. 4to (19.5 x 13.5 cm). With a printer's device on the title-page. Modern half red morocco. 8 pp., with 28 additional blank, modern leaves. Full description

€ 2,500

An exceptional series of 50 meticulously executed miniatures

[PERSIAN MINIATURES]. A series of miniatures showing Persian scribes.
Persia, mid-Qajar period, [soon after 1852]. Folio (32 x 21 cm). 50 watercolour miniatures on paper, ca. 9 x 14 cm, pasted on coloured paperboard within multiple-rule frames in gold and black ink, bound as a fan-fold book with cloth hinges. Near-contemporary black leather, stored in a blind-stamped black slipcase with a flap at the head. Full description

€ 75,000

Traversing Qajar Persia with a manuscript guide

[PERSIA - TRAVEL GUIDE]. [Manuscript travel guide].
[Qajar Iran, ca. 1850s]. 8vo (12.5 x 22 cm). Persian manuscript on polished paper. Black nasta'liq script in 15 lines per page, ruled in green and blue, with rubricated chapter headings and marginal medallions. Contemporary limp leather and woven floral-patterned cloth. 26 ll. Full description

€ 8,500

Western tourists in Israel shortly after the Six-Day War in 1967 captured by a Dutch photographer

[PHOTOGRAPHY - THIRD ARAB-ISRAELI WAR - ISRAEL] DONY, Bianca. [Album with photographs showing parts of Israeli captured territories including the Golan Heights, the West Bank, parts of Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula].
Israel, 1967. Oblong album (ca. 20 x 26 cm); photographs in slightly varying sizes (ca. 18.5 x 24 cm). 44 silver gelatin photographs (including 2 duplicates and 1 other loosely inserted). Grey faux-leather photo album with a small white label on the front board: "42 x Israël 1967 23-24-25 Juli". 44 photographs in an album with 30 clear plastic inserts. Full description

€ 4,500

Detailed studies of plague outbreaks in the Middle East

[PLAGUE]. Papers relating to the modern history and recent progress of Levantine plague; prepared from time to time by direction of the president to the local government board, with other papers. Presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of Her Majesty, 1879. C.-2262.
London, George Edward Eyre & William Spottiswoode, 1879. Folio. With two folding lithographed maps, one centered on the Middle East and the other detailing the seats of the plague in Mesopotamia and south-west Persia.Original publishers blue printed paper wrappers. [2], 76 pp. Full description

€ 4,500

Augmented Dutch edition of Pocockes celebrated description of the Near and Middle East,
with 205 engraved plates

POCOCKE, Richard. Beschryving van het Oosten, en van eenige andere landen, ...
Utrecht, Gijsbert Tieme and Abraham van Paddenburg; Rotterdam, Jacobus Bosch and Reinier Arrenberg; Amsterdam, Martinus de Bruyn, 1776-1786. 3 volumes (in 6 parts) bound as 6. 4to. With 205 engraved folding plates (irregularly numbered I-CIII), including maps, plans, views and other illustrations, depicting temples, antiquities, plants, animals, etc. Contemporary half calf. XXXVI, 219, [1 blank], [11], 224-491, [1 blank]; [12], 262, [2 blank], VIII, [3], 268-376, 397-519, [1 blank]; VIII, 262, [2 blank], VIII, [3], 268-403, [1 blank]; [4], 115, [1], 124 pp. Full description

€ 15,000

An important source of knowledge of the Near East

POCOCKE, Richard. Beschryving van het Oosten, en van eenige andere landen. Uit het Engelsch overgezet en met aantekeningen voorzien, door Ernst Willem Cramer.
Utrecht, Rotterdam and Amsterdam, G.T. en A. van Paddenburg, J. Bosch, R. Arrenberg, and M. de Bruyn, 1776-1786. 3 volumes (in 6 parts) bound as 6. 4to. With 205 folding engraved maps, plans, views and plates. Contemporary half calf. Full description

€ 12,000

Pamphlet satirising Portuguese notables associated with the Persian wars

[PORTUGAL - PAMPHLET]. Noticia breve das novidades da Azia mandadas de Ali-Xarife da cidade de Babilonia; para Soliman morador na Corte de Constantinopla, e desta para a cidade de Sevilha a hum contratador de vidros.
(Colophon: Madrid, heirs of Juan Garcia Infanzon, 1742). 4to (20 x 14.5 cm). Disbound. 7, [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 3,500

The First Anglo-Afghan War: an extraordinary snapshot of the North-West Frontier of British India
between 1840 en 1845.

[PUNJAB-BRITISH SECRETARIAT]. Press lists of old records in the Punjab Secretariat - Volume VII. - North-West Frontier Agency. Correspondence with Government, 1840-1845.
Lahore, printed by the superintendent, Government Printing, Punjab, 1915. 1 volume bound as 2. Folio. With an addendum slip facing p. 197. Brown calf, with "Book 1" and "Book 2" in gold on the spines. [2?], 993 pp. Full description

€ 6,500

A kind Muslim, an English mummy snatcher and John Smith before Pocahontas

[PURCHAS, Samuel], John SANDERSON, Henry TIMBERLAKE and others. Seer gedenckwaerdige vojagien, van Johan Sanderson, Hendrick Timberly, en Capt. Johan Smith, door Europa, Asia en America. ...
Amsterdam, Joachim van Dyck, 1678. 4to. With engraved title-page, letterpress title-page with a woodcut floral ornament, 4 folding engraved illustration plates (including 1 with 4 small views). 18th-century half vellum. [12], 158 pp. including integral frontispiece. Full description

€ 4,500

Persian music theory from "The Pearly Crown"

QUTB AL-DIN AL-SHIRAZI. Durrat al-taj wa-khulasat al-nitaj fi ilm al-musiqa.
Shiraz, 1151 AH [= 1738/39 CE]. 4to (ca. 16.5 x 21 cm). Persian manuscript on gold-flecked paper. In tidy black naskh script in 22 lines, with highlights and important words and phrases picked out in red. WIth numerous tables and diagrams. Contemporary leather-backed patterned boards. 57 ll. Full description

€ 35,000

A monumental description of the archaeological expedition to Lebanon and Syria

RENAN, Joseph Ernest. Mission de Phénicie.
Paris, Imprimerie Impériale/Nationale, 1864-1874. 14 volumes bound as 13 (7 of text and 7 of plates, the latter bound as 6). Folio (27,5 x 36,5 and 37 x 55,5 cm). With 70 engraved and lithographed numbered plates (including 1 folding), 1 folding map, and 8 plans(including 3 folding), a few in contemporary hand colouring, and several illustrations in the text.Contemporary wrappers. Plates stored in two half cloth portfolios. [4], 884, [4] pp. Full description

€ 25,000

Lecture on the ancient history of Arabia Petrea (now in Jordan and vicinity) during the Roman conquest by one of the founders of modern geography

RITTER, Carl. Zur Geschichte des Petraïschen Arabiens und seiner Bewohner.
[Berlin, Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences], 8 July 1824. 4to. Never bound. 189-223, [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 1,500

Sedimentation in ocean basins: one of the most fertile areas of study for marine scientists

ROSS, D.A. and G. GVIRTZMAN (editors). Sedimentary geology. Special Issue. New aspects of sedimentation in small ocean basins.
Amsterdam, Oxford and New York, Elsevier scientific publishing company, 1979. 24 x 16.5 cm. With approximately 170 maps, graphs, tables, charts and other illustrations in the text. Original publisher's printed paper wrappers. [1], [1 blank], [5], [1 blank], 299, [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 350

Unique copy in a sumptous Viennese binding

RUDOLF, Archduke of Austria and Hungary. Voyage en Orient. Traduit de lAllemand. Illustrations daprès les dessins originaux de Franz von Pausinger.
Vienna, Imprimerie Imperiale et Royale de la Cour et de lÉtat, 1885. Folio. With 37 etched plates.Contemporary calf, richly gold-tooled front board, spine label, gilt edges. [8], 168, [2] pp. Full description

€ 9,500

First translation into English of stories from Sa'di's famous Gulistan

SA'DI SHIRAZI and Stephen SULIVAN (translator). Select fables from Gulistan, or the bed of roses. Translated from the original Persian of Sadi.
London, J. Ridley, 1774. 8vo. Modern half calf (period style), gold-tooled spine. V, [1 blank], 139, [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 3,950

The antiquities of Persia and on the history of the Arabs before Muhammad

SILVESTRE DE SACY, [Antoine Isaac]. Mémoires sur les antiquités de la Perse et sur lhistoire des Arabes avant Mahomet.
Paris, Eugène Duverger & Jean-Joseph Marcel, Imprimerie Impériale, [1808-1809]. Large 4to (22 x 27.5 cm). With 4 tables. Later red half morocco, marbled sides, title in gold on spine. [6], 47-58, 483-782 pp. Full description

€ 1,800

14 photographic portraits of sheiks & tribesmen, by Lawrence of Arabia's Chief of Staff

STIRLING, Walter Francis. Arab Types.
Syria, [ca. 1918-ca. 1921]. Oblong album (18 x 26 cm). An album containing 14 black and white photographic portraits (mostly about 17 x 12 cm) plus a smaller print of one. Mounted in a ca. 1930 album of black paper leaves (boards covered with black cloth). 16 ll. (album). Full description

€ 45,000

First-hand accounts of Russia ca. 1670 and life in the Mughal army;
from the library of a famous German explorer

STRUYS, Jan Jansz. Drie aanmerkelyke reizen, door Italien, Griekenland, Lyfland, Moscovien, Tartaryen, Meden, Persien, Oostindien, Japan, en verscheiden andere gewesten.
Including: HEIDEN, Frans Jansz. van der. Vervaarlyke schipbreuk van 't Oostindiesch jacht Ter Schelling, onder het land van Bengale, ...
Amsterdam, Steven van Esveldt, 1746. 4to. 2 parts in 1 volume. Part 1 with an engraved title-page, 19 engraved folding plates and 1 engraved folding map; part 2 with an engraved title-page and 12 engraved plates. 19th-century red half sheepskin. [6], 382, 28, [15], [1 blank]; 134 pp. Full description

€ 4,000

Socialist propaganda about the state of the Syria and its people after the March Revolution in 1963

[SYRIA - BA'ATH ARAB SOCIALIST PARTY]. Syria after two years of the March Revolution.
[Syria, Ba'ath Arab Socialist Party], 1965. 24 x 17 cm. With 28 photos on 16 plates and some tables in the text.
With: [MAP - SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC MINISTRY OF ECONOMY DIRECTORATE OF TOURISM]. Syria.
Damascus, Tourist Office, [ca. 1965]. Folded. 70 x 49.5 cm.
A brightly coloured folding map of Syria with some information about the country and its principal cities with a table of distances on the back, all text in the map and on the back is in English and Arabic.
Original publisher's printed wrappers, stapled. 175, [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 850

On General Sir Edmund Allenby's time in Arabia

THOMAS, Lowell and Kenneth Brown COLLINGS. With Allenby in the Holy Land.
London, Toronto, Melbourne and Sydney, Cassell and Company Ltd., [1938]. 8vo. With a half-tone photographed portrait of Allenby (signed F.A. Swaine) as a frontispiece. Original publisher's black cloth, with the title in red on the spine and the head edge red. [6], 202 pp. Full description

€ 400

On General Sir Edmund Allenby's time in Arabia

€ 400

Japanese woodblock geography of the Middle and Near East and Indonesia, with 5 maps and 35 views

UCHIDA Masao. Yochi shiryaku [Compendium of world geography].
[Tokyo], Meiji 4 [= 1871]. (25.5 x 17 cm). With the title and all text in Japanese, printed from woodblocks on rice paper, with 1 double-page, 2 full-page and 2 half-page maps and 12 full-page and 23 half-page illustrations of architecture, people and costumes, topography, plants and animals. Original publisher's heavy paper wrapper. [1 blank], 59, [1] ll. Full description

€ 4,500

Della Valle's travels in Persia and the Near East, "one of the finest works of travel literature" (Howgego)

VALLE, Pietro della. De volkome beschryving der voortreffelijke reizen van de deurluchtige reisiger Pietro della Valle, edelman van Romen, in veel voorname gewesten des werrelts, sedert het jaer 1615, tot in 't jaar 1626 gedaan ...
Amsterdam, Abraham Wolfgang, 1666 (each volume title: Abraham Wolfgang, widow of Jan Hendriks Boom, Jan Rieuwertsz., 1664-1665). 6 volumes bound as 1. 4to. With 25 engraved plates. 19th-century vellum. Full description

€ 12,500

Very early European eyewitness description of India, confirming Marco Polo’s statements

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

€ 265,000

An English edition of the first account of a European travelling through the Middle East,
visiting Mecca and Medina, to Persia, India, and the East Indies

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

€ 500

Vernay's poetry in French, Turkish, Persian and other languages: unrecorded Royal folio issues, planned for presentation to the Ottoman Sultan Abdulmejid I and with extensive additions

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

€ 28,000

"Arabia Petra" explored: account of an expedition (1865) through the Sinai, Petra in Jordan, and surrounding regions, with 48 plates and albumen prints

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

€ 25,000

An overview and translation of Aramaic inscriptions found in Syria,
with commentary: from Palmyra and the Hauran region

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

€ 5,000

Beautifully illustrated description of Palestine, Sinai and Egypt

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

€ 2,500

German translation of an Arabic text on the death of Muhammads companion Musab ibn al-Zubayr and on the Zubayr genealogy, including a family tree

WÜSTENFELD, Ferdinand (transl.); Abu Abdallah AL-DIMASCHKÍ (ed.); Zubair ibn BAKKAR. Die Familie el-Zubeir. Der Tod des Muc'ab ben el-Zubeir aus den Muwaffakîjat des Abu Abdallah el-Dimaschkí. Arabisch und Deutsch.
Göttingen, Dieterich'sche Verlags-Buchhandlung, 1878. Large 4to. With 1 folding genealogical table of the Zubayr family bound at the end of the book. Contemporary half blue cloth, decorated paper sides, grey spine label with title in gold. 112 pp. Full description

€ 2,500

Greek and Arabic physicians on pathology and therapeutics

IBN SARABIYUN, Yahya (SERAPIO the elder). Iani Damasceni Decapolitani summae inter Arabes autoritatis medici, Therapeutice methodi, hoc est, curandi artis Libri VII. partim Albano Torino Vitodurano paraphraste, partim Gerardo iatro Cremonensi metaphraste.
Basel, Heinrich Petri, (colophon: March 1543). Folio (20.5 x 29 cm). 17th century black vellum, made from an earlier liturgical music manuscript. [24], 491, [1] pp. Full description

€ 18,000

First edition of al-Zamakhshari’s collection of Arabic proverbs, in Arabic and Latin

ZAMAKHSHARI, Abu al-Quasim Mahmud ibn Umar (Hendrik Albert SCHULTENS, editor). [Al-Kalim al-nawabigh]. Anthologia sententiarum Arabicarum. Cum scholiis Zamachsjarii.
Leiden, Jean Le Mair (colophon: printed by Daniel van Damme), 1772. 4to. With the large engraved arms of Willem V, Prince of Orange, above the dedication.Vellum, manuscript spine title. [20], 171, [1] pp. Full description

€ 6,500

115 books books found / Show pages


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Middle East & Islamic World / Central & West Asia