Asher Rare Books

Drawings made as models for the plates in the complete works of Flavius Josephus

FOKKE, Simon. [12 drawings of Old Testament scenes].
Amsterdam, 1783. Twelve pen and ink wash drawings (each ca. 8 x 6.5 cm) in subtle shades of grey and sepia. All 12 drawings mounted on a single contemporary stiff paper support (44 x 61 cm), neatly arranged in three rows of four, each with a border of lines drawn around it in ink. A contemporary pencil inscription below the lower right drawing reads "S. Fokke Amsterdam 1712-1784". Another in a later hand in the lower right corner of the support reads "S. Fokke". Full description

€ 2,500

Bibles, Liturgy & Devotional Works Book History, Printing & Typography Drawings & Watercolours

Response to French lawsuits against the Jesuits in the late 16th century

FON, René de la (pseudonym of Louis RICHEOME). Response de Rene de la Fon pour les religieux de la Compagnie de Jesus. Au playdoyé de Simon Marion en l'arrest donné contre iceux le 16. Octobre 1597.
Villefranche, Guillaume Grenier, 1599. 8vo. With a small vignette on the title page built up from typographical ornaments and 2 headpieces built up from typographical ornaments. Later vellum with leather ties. "238" [= 239], [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 3,500

Early Printing - 16th century Jesuits Law & Politics Religion (16th Century)

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

Church History & Missions Early Printing - 16th century Islam & Qurans Protestant Reformation Religion (16th Century)

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

Arabian Peninsula & Gulf States Balkan & Greece Charts & Maps Church History & Missions City Plans, Topography & Views Eastern Mediterranean & Cyprus Egypt North Africa Travel & Voyages Europe Travel & Voyages Middle East

Very rare series of 14 beautiful small engravings of the Apostles by Theodoor Galle,
re-published by his son Joan Galle

GALLE, [Theodoor and] Johannes. Levenschetsen van de twaalf apostelen.
[Antwerp, ca. 1640-1650]. Ca. 12.5 x 9.5 cm. With 14 engravings (ca. 9 x 6.5 cm) printed on fine vellum, in an oval with ornamented corners with subscriptions and number underneath, with protective tissue paper, bound with 17 paper leaves (ca. 11.5 x 8.5 cm) containing short and concise biographies of the apostles written in a neat 19th-century hand. 19th-century vellum over boards with the manuscript title on the spine ("Levens van de XII Apost. MS"). [17] ll. and 14 engravings on vellum. Full description

€ 2,500

Prints & Print Series Religion (17th Century)

Very rare Mallorca imprint

GARCIA, Diego S.J. Sermon funebre en las exequias de la serenissima Señora D. Mariana de Austria Reyna Madre del Rey N. Señor Carlos II. Rey de las Españas. Que celebrò la nobilissima, y fidelissima ciudad de Mallorca en su Iglesia Catadral á 28. de Noviembre de 1696.
Palma de Mallorca, Miguel Capo, 1697. 4to. With the title in an ornamental frame built up from typographic ornaments (a fleur-de-lis and Vervliet vine leaf 207), three woodcut initials and a woodcut tailpiece. Modern marbled boards. [12], 26 pp. Full description

€ 1,950

Book of Hours, Missals & Prayerbooks Jesuits Spain

Influential work on the Islam in India

GARCIN DE TASSY, Joseph Héliodore. Memoire sur les particularites de la religion Musulmane dans l'Inde, d'après les ouvrages Hindoustanis.
Paris, Adolphe Labitte, 1869. 8vo. Late 20th-century half black morocco. [4], 108 pp. Full description

€ 1,250

India & Sri Lanka Islam & Qurans

Description and illustrations of a sundial with a rotating magnetic needle,
bound in a fragment of an early Acta sanctorum manuscript

GEORGES, Pierre. Horologe magnetique elliptique ou ovale nouveau, de facile usage, et tres-commode, pour trouver les heures du jour & de la nuict, . . .
Toul (Lorraine), Simon Belgrand, G. Perin and I. Laurent, 1660. 8vo. With 8 engraved plates (1-7 numbered) with 46 numbered figures, and a letterpress folding table after page 196. Contemporary parchment made from the lower part of a leaf from a Jesuit manuscript (Acta sanctorum, for 25 July, this part not published until 1729). [12], ''296'' [= 298], [2 blank] pp. Full description

€ 11,500

Instruments & Microscopy Jesuits Technology

The first Chinese grammar book in Portuguese, printed by and for missionaries in Macao

GONÇALVES, Joaquim Affonso. Arte China constante de alphabeto e grammatica comprehendo modelos das differentes composiçoens.
Macao, Real collegio de S. José, 1892. 4to. The text is set in roman type and Chinese characters. Half blue cloth, marbled paper sides and pink paste paper endpapers. [1], [3 blank], VIII, "502" [=503], [1 blank], 46, [2] pp. Full description

€ 7,500

China Church History & Missions Language & Linguistics Literature

Illustrated travel account of the "sights" and sacred places in the Holy Land

GOUJON, Jacques. Histoire et voyage de la Terre-Sainte, où tout ce qu'il y a de plus remarquable dans les saints lieux, est tres exactement descrit.
Lyon, Pierre Compagnon & Robert Taillandier, 1671. 4to. With a woodcut vignette on the title-page and 17 folding engraved plates showing maps, views, and plans of regions, mountains and buildings in the Holy Land, further with woodcut decorated initials, and woodcut head- and tailpieces. Contemporary calf. [1], [1 blank], [10], 358, [9], [1 blank] pp. Full description