Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - May - 2012 Issue

Twenty-Five Books and Other Important Works on Paper from Antiquariaat Forum and Asher Rare Books

Aforum111

Twenty-five special items.

The Antiquariat Forum and Asher Rare Books have issued their Catalogue 111, Twenty-Five Autographs, Drawings, Manuscripts, Printed Books, and Views. It is always a tip off that the items will be special when you receive a large, finely printed catalogue that contains just 25 items. The catalogue itself is a statement about what’s inside. Inside, as the title implies, is a variety of material, ranging from old to very old, and primarily European, though China and Japan each make their appearances with very early material. Here, now, are a few of these items.

Item 5 is Journal de la Navigation autour de Globe… by Hyacinthe de Bougainville. Hyacinthe is not quite as well-known as his father, explorer Louis de Bougainville, who also made a circumnavigation of the world. However, they were certainly the first father and son to undertake such journeys at different times. Hyacinthe was sent out to reestablish relations between France and Cochin China, as well as visiting many other places. During the years he was at sea, from 1824-1826, de Bougainville picked up much information concerning the natural history of the places he visited, and that is the feature of his account published in 1837. It consists of two text volumes and a folio atlas. Priced at €29,000 (euros, or approximately $38,020 in U.S. dollars).

Guilio Aleni was one of those remarkably dedicated missionaries. An Italian, he was accepted to the Jesuits in 1600, and ten years later headed off to China as a missionary. He was still there when he died in 1649. Along the way, he built several churches, and adopted many of the ways and cultures of the Chinese people, all the while remaining totally loyal to his Christian faith. Item 1 is one of several books he wrote, T’ien-chu sheng-chiao ssu-tzu ching-wen, published in Beijing in 1660. This is a first edition of a work about the omnipotence of God. It was printed using large woodcut Chinese characters, perhaps to make it easier for the old or young to read. €45,000 (US $59,000).

Athanasius Kircher has been described as the “last Renaissance man.” We aren’t sure whether he was the last, but definitely he was one. Kircher was a Jesuit, a contemporary of Aleni, and he wrote an encyclopedia about China. However, he also wrote about almost everything else. He was a great scholar, writing about many branches of science, medicine, Egyptology, fossils, various branches of technology and mechanics, and many other topics. His works tend to combine brilliant insights with at times wild speculation. For example, he translated many ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, but his translations for the main part were inaccurate. However, through his use of the microscope, he theorized (quite correctly) that the plague was caused by tiny microorganisms. Item 14 is D’onder-aardse weereld… a first Dutch edition (1682) that covered many branches of science, the Andes Mountains, Iroquois Indians in Canada, the sun, the moon, beasts and demons, subterranean waters, fossils, poisons, minerals, and various other topics. €13,500 (US $17,700).

Rare Book Monthly

  • <center><b>Dominic Winter Auctioneers<br>April 5<br>Printed Books, Maps, Atlases & Caricatures</b>
    <b>Dominic Winter, Apr. 5:</b> Speed (John). <i>The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine...</i> bound with <i>The Prospect of the most Famous parts of the World,</i> Thomas Bassett & Richard Chiswell, 1676. £20,000 to £30,000.
    <b>Dominic Winter, Apr. 5:</b> China. De Jode (Cornelis), <i>China Regnum,</i> Antwerp [1593]. £7,000 to £10,000.
    <b>Dominic Winter, Apr. 5:</b> World. Hondius (Henricus), <i>Nova totius Terrarum Orbis Geographica ac Hydrographica Tabula.</i> Auct: Henr. Hondio. Amsterdam, circa 1630. £5,000 to £8,000.
    <center><b>Dominic Winter Auctioneers<br>April 5<br>Printed Books, Maps, Atlases & Caricatures</b>
    <b>Dominic Winter, Apr. 5:</b> World. Blaeu (Willem Janszoon), <i>Nova Totius Terrarum Orbis Geographica ac Hydrographica Tabula</i> auct: Guilelmo Blaeuw, Amsterdam [1635 - 58]. £5,000 to £8,000.
    <b>Dominic Winter, Apr. 5:</b> Acosta (Emanuel). <i>Rerum a Societate Iesu in Oriente gestarum ad annum usque à Deipara Virgine…,</i> 1st edition, Dillingen: Sebald Mayer, 1571. £3,000 to £5,000.
    <b>Dominic Winter, Apr. 5:</b> Ruggieri (Francesco). <i>Scelta di Architetture Antiche e Moderne della Citta di Firenze…,</i> 4 volumes bound in two, Florence, Appresso l'Editore, 1755. £3,000 to £4,000.
    <center><b>Dominic Winter Auctioneers<br>April 5<br>Printed Books, Maps, Atlases & Caricatures</b>
    <b>Dominic Winter, Apr. 5:</b> Parry (William). <i>Journal of a Voyage for the Discovery of a North-West Passage,</i> 6 vols in 5, 1st editions, 1821-27. £2,000 to £3,000.
    <b>Dominic Winter, Apr. 5:</b> Hunter (John). <i>A Treatise on the Blood, Inflammation, and Gun-Shot Wounds,</i> 1st edition, 1794. £1,000 to £1,500.
    <b>Dominic Winter, Apr. 5:</b> Furber (Robert). <i>The Flower-Garden Display'd, in above Four Hundred Curious Representations of the most Beautiful Flowers…,</i> 1st quarto edition, London, 1732. £1,000 to £1,500.
    <center><b>Dominic Winter Auctioneers<br>April 5<br>Printed Books, Maps, Atlases & Caricatures</b>
    <b>Dominic Winter, Apr. 5:</b> Friedman (Milton). <i>A Theory of the Consumption Function,</i> 1st edition, 1957. £500 to £800.
    <b>Dominic Winter, Apr. 5:</b> Clarkson (Thomas). <i>The history of the ... abolition of the African slave-trade,</i> 2 vols., 1808. £800 to £1,200.
    <b>Dominic Winter, Apr. 5:</b> Civil War Pamphlets. A sammelband of 19 pamphlets relating to events of the English Civil War, 1640-1661. £2,000 to £3,000.
  • <b><center>Swann Auction Galleries<br>Printed & Manuscript African Americana:<br>March 30, 2023</b>
    <b>Swann March 30:</b> Victor H. Green, <i>The Negro Motorist Green Book,</i> New York, 1949. $10,000 to $15,000.
    <b>Swann March 30:</b> Papers of pianist-composer Lawrence Brown relating to Paul Robeson & more, various places, 1925-54. $5,000 to $7,500.
    <b>Swann March 30:</b> Freedom Summer archive of civil rights activist Karen Haberman Trusty, Atlanta & elsewhere, 1963-64. $5,000 to $7,500.
    <b>Swann March 30:</b> E. Simms Campbell, <i>A Night-Club Map of Harlem,</i> New York, 1933. $8,000 to $12,000.
    <b>Swann March 30:</b> Archive of letters from the sculptor Richmond Barthé to a close Jamaican friend, various places, 1966-85. $25,000 to $35,000.
  • <b>ALDE, Apr. 18:</b> CASAS (BARTOLOMÉ DE LAS). <i>La Découverte des Indes occidentales par les Espagnols,</i> Paris, 1697. €1,500 to €2,000.
    <b>ALDE, Apr. 18:</b> GARCILASO DE LA VEGA. <i>Primera parte de los commentarios reales, que tratan del orígen de los Yncas…,</i> Lisbonne, 1609 [1608 au colophon]. €8,000 to €10,000.
    <b>ALDE, Apr. 18:</b> GARCILASO DE LA VEGA. <i>Histoire des Yncas rois du Pérou. On a joint à cette édition l'Histoire de la conquête de la Floride,</i> Amsterdam, 1737. €800 to €1,000.
    <b>ALDE, Apr. 18:</b> LAET (JOHANNES DE). <i>L'Histoire du nouveau monde, ou description des Indes occidentales,</i> Leyde, 1640. €8,000 to €10,000.
    <b>ALDE, Apr. 18:</b> LAFITAU (JOSEPH-FRANÇOIS). <i>Mœurs des sauvages amériquains, comparées aux mœurs des premiers temps,</i> Paris, 1724. €1,200 to €1,500.
    <b>ALDE, Apr. 18:</b> ORRIO (FRANCISCO XAVIER ALEXO DE). <i>Solución del gran problema acerca de la población de las Americas,</i> Mexico, 1763. €1,500 to €2,000.
    <b>ALDE, Apr. 18:</b> [ROCHEFORT (CHARLES DE)]. <i>Histoire naturelle et morale des Îles Antilles de l'Amérique,</i> Amsterdam, 1716. €800 to €1,000.
    <b>ALDE, Apr. 18:</b> TURGOT (ANNE-ROBERT-JACQUES). <i>Mémoire sur les colonies américaines, sur leurs relations politiques avec leurs métropoles…,</i> Paris, 1791. €1,000 to €1,200.

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