• Dominic Winter Auctioneers
    May 14
    Printed Books & Maps, Travel, Atlases & Exploration
    Dominic Winter, May 14: (Choiseul-Gouffier, Marie). Voyage Pittoresque de la Grece, 2 vols, 1st edition, 1782-1822. £2,000-3,000
    Dominic Winter, May 14: Gentlemen's Magazine and Historical Chronicle, by Sylvanus Urban, 11 volumes. £700-1,000
    Dominic Winter, May 14: Shackleton (Ernest). The Heart of the Antarctic, 2 vols, 1st ed, presentation copy, 1909. £2,000-3,000
    Dominic Winter Auctioneers
    May 14
    Printed Books & Maps, Travel, Atlases & Exploration
    Dominic Winter, May 14: Drayton (Michael). Poly Olbion..., London: 1622. £2,000-3,000
    Dominic Winter, May 14: Scheuchzer (Johann Jacob). Ouresiphoites Helveticus, 4 parts in 1, 2nd ed, 1723. £3,000-4,000
    Dominic Winter, May 14: Roberts (Henry, after). Chart of the NW Coast of America and NE Coast of Asia ..., [1784]. £500-800
    Dominic Winter Auctioneers
    May 14
    Printed Books & Maps, Travel, Atlases & Exploration
    Dominic Winter, May 14: World. Maffei (Giovanni), Indiarum orientalium Occidentaliumque Descriptio..., 1589. £1,200-1,500
    Dominic Winter, May 14: World. Ortelius (Abraham), Typus Orbis Terrarum, [1598]. £2,000-3,000
    Dominic Winter, May 14: Bible [English]. [The Holy Bible, Conteyning the Old Testament, and the New..., 1613]. £2,000-3,000
    Dominic Winter Auctioneers
    May 14
    Printed Books & Maps, Travel, Atlases & Exploration
    Dominic Winter, May 14: Taylor (John). All the Workes of John Taylor the Water-Poet..., 1630. £1,000-1,500
    Dominic Winter, May 14: Pierpont Morgan Collection. Catalogue of the Morgan Collection of Chinese Porcelains, 1904 & 1906. £2,000-3,000
  • Swann, May 15: Lot 4: Helena Bochoráková-Dittrichová, Z Mého Detství Drevoryty, Prague: Obzina, 1929. First trade edition, signed by the artist. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 10: Nancy Cunard, Negro Anthology, with a tipped-in A.L.S. to Karl Marx's niece, 1934. First edition. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 14: Margaret Fuller, Woman in the Nineteenth Century, 1845. First edition. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 17: Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun, inscribed first edition, 1959. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 28: Margaret Hill Morris, Private Journal Kept during a Portion of the Revolutionary War, for the Amusement of a Sister, 1836. First edition. $3,000 to $4,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 38: Anna Sewell, Black Beauty: The Autobiography of a Horse, 1877. First edition. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 43: Gertrude Stein, Portrait of Mabel Dodge at the Villa Curonia, signed presentation copy with photograph of Stein, 1912. First edition. $8,000 to $12,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 48: Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse, first edition in the scarce dust jacket, 1927. $6,000 to $8,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 54: Katherine Dunham, large archive of material from her attorney, 1951-53. $20,000 to $30,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 55: Margaret Fuller Signed Autograph Letter, New York City, 1846. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 92: Sonia Delaunay, illus. & Tristan Tzara, Juste Present, deluxe edition with original gouache, 1961. $20,000 to $25,000.
    Swann, May 15: Lot 93: Flor Garduño, The Sonnets of Shakespeare, 2006. Limited edition. $6,000 to $8,000.
  • Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer, May 26: Th. McKenney & J. Hall, History of the Indian tribes of North America, 1836-1844. Est: €50,000
    Ketterer, May 26: Biblia latina vulgata, manuscript on thin parchment, around 1250. Est: €70,000
    Ketterer, May 26: M. Beckmann, Fanferlieschen Schönefüßchen, 1924. Est: €10,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer, May 26: A. Ortelius, Theatrum orbis terrarum, 1574. Est: €50,000
    Ketterer, May 26: M. S. Merian, Eurcarum ortus, alimentum et paradoxa metamorphosis, 1717-18. Est: €6,000
    Ketterer, May 26: PAN, 9 volumes, 1895-1900. Est: €12,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer, May 26: Breviarium Romanum, Latin manuscript, 1474. Est: €15,000
    Ketterer, May 26: Quran manuscript from the Saadian period, Maghreb, 16th century. Est: €10,000
    Ketterer, May 26: E. Hemingway, The old man and the sea, 1952. First edition in first issue jacket. Presentation copy. Est: €3,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer, May 26: Flavius Vegetius Renatus, De re militari libri quatuor, 1553. Est: €3,000
    Ketterer, May 26: K. Marx, Das Kapital, 1867. Est: €30,000
    Ketterer, May 26: Brassaï, Transmutations, 1967. Est: €6,000
  • Leland Little, May 21: Signed Artist Proof of the Monumental G.O.A.T.: A Tribute to Muhammad Ali.
    Leland Little, May 21: Assorted Rare Publications Related to H.P. Lovecraft, Including The Recluse Signed by Vincent Starrett.
    Leland Little, May 21: Two Issues of The Vagrant, Including the First Appearance of H.P. Lovecraft's "Dagon" in Number Eleven.
    Leland Little, May 21: Rare First Printing of Anne of Green Gables, With ALS from the Author.
    Leland Little, May 21: First Edition of Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, In First Issue Jacket.
    Leland Little, May 21: The Limited Paumanok Edition of The Complete Writings of Walt Whitman.
    Leland Little, May 21: Beautifully Bound Limited Flaubert Edition of The Works of Guy de Maupassant.
    Leland Little, May 21: First Edition of Bonaparte's Celebrated American Ornithology, With Spectacular Hand-Colored Plates.
    Leland Little, May 21: A Rare Complete Set of Jardine's The Naturalist's Library, With Hand-Colored Plates.
    Leland Little, May 21: Invitation to the Lincoln-Johnson National Inaugural Ball, March 4th, 1865.
    Leland Little, May 21: A Scarce Inscribed First Edition of James Baldwin's Nobody Knows My Name.
    Leland Little, May 21: Picasso's Le Goût du Bonheur, Limited Edition.

Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - June - 2017 Issue

The Islamic World from Antiquariaat Forum and Antiquariat Inlibris

The Islamic World.

The Islamic World.

The Antiquariaat Forum, together with Antiquariat Inlibris, has issued a catalogue entitled The Islamic World 6. The "6" refers to the number of catalogues about the Islamic world they have produced. The subtitle notes that there is also a selection of Chinese interest, and that the material has been selected for the Abu Dhabi Book Fair. That explains the concentration of Islamic world material, which is primarily from the centers of that world – the Middle East and North Africa. However, there are also some items that I cannot really connect with the Islamic world – a rare inscribed copy of Marx's Das Kapital, or manuscripts in the hand of Beethoven and Schubert. My guess is they are here as they are of universal interest, even in Abu Dhabi. So be prepared for a few surprises when you open the pages of this catalogue. Now, here are a few samples.

 

Much of our oldest history emanates from Egypt and the Holy Land, and yet it was mostly a mystery to those in the West. Francis Frith was an early photographer, opening a studio in Liverpool in 1850. He recognized a desire for images more precise than paintings existed among people who never visited far off sights, so in 1856, he set out for Egypt to begin capturing the land on film. He had to use a large, bulky camera and primitive developing methods by today's standards, and yet he was able to capture the land as few had done before. He took three trips to these places and in 1858-59 published two volumes entitled Egypt and Palestine. Photographed and Described. It contains 76 photographs with a separate leaf of text for each. These are some of the earliest photographs of Aswan, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Damascus, Luxor, Nazareth, Giza, Hebron, and many other locations. Item 55. Priced at €40,000 (euros, or approximately $43,471 in U.S. dollars).

 

Next is a volume containing the first two books on Arabic ever printed, Arte para ligeramente saber la lengua araviga... and Vocabulista aravigo en letra castellana. The two books are bound together, as they are usually found. These are the first published grammar and the first published vocabulary of the Arabic language. They were written by Pedro de Alacala, a Spanish monk, at the request of the Archbishop of Granada. They were published in 1505. It had only been a little over a decade earlier that Granada, the last Moorish outpost on the Iberian peninsula, had fallen to the Christians. Many of the Moors stayed on, so the Archbishop needed a means of learning their language so they could be converted. Item 128. €250,000 (US $271,815).

 

Everyone knows the meaning of the word "assassin," but it is unlikely most know where the word originated. The Assassins were an Islamic sect in Persia that formed in the 11th century. They were never powerful enough to form a standing army, but they had a warrior class who would provide sneak attacks on leaders of their enemies, assassinations, if you will. They came to be feared for their tactics. The Assassins' reputation reached the West when they were encountered by the Crusaders, and they were described by Marco Polo. They were eventually wiped out during the 13th century Mongol invasion, though some persisted and acted as mercenaries for some years thereafter. However, the sect's name has lived on as a descriptive word for their type of behavior. Item 66 is Die Geschichte der Assassinen aus morgenlandischen Quellen, by Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall, published in 1818. It is a history of the Assassins. Hammer-Purgstall compares them to fanatics of his own day, something which could be done in our day as well. He writes (translated) his plan is to give "a vivid account of the pernicious influence of secret societies under weak governments, and of the hideous abuse of religion for purposes of committing atrocities of unscrupulous ambition and unfettered despotism." Yes, that does sound familiar. €3,500 (US $3,805).

 

This next one might be out of your price range, but we will mention it anyway. It is a book of French Renaissance original watercolor drawings of birds, held in a modern box with the spine title Recueil de dessins d'oiseaux (collection of bird drawings). They predate Audubon by roughly three centuries, circa 1550-1560. They are attributed to Pierre Gourdelle. There are 50 leaves, most of which contain a drawing of one bird. A few have multiple drawings, resulting in a total of 58. There are falcons, hawks, eagles, owls, a vulture, numerous water and song birds, a parrot, parakeet and peacock among others. There is even a bat – perhaps he didn't know it was a mammal. A pelican is shown feeding its young with its own blood, a myth believed at the time. There is even a phoenix rising from the flames, one drawing we will assume he did not make from life. Little is known of Gourdelle, particularly at this point in his life. Later on, in the 1570's and 1580's, he was painting portraits and became a printer, along with working for Catherine de Medici. He married in 1583 and died in 1590. He did receive a mention in the book L'histoire de la nature des oyseaux by Pierre Belon, published in 1555. Belon acknowledges an indebtedness or contribution by Gourdelle, and several of these watercolors are close enough to drawings in that book that there is an evident connection. Others are quite different, and there are drawings in this collection and Belon's book not found in the other. Item 57. €2,800,000 (US $3,042,540).

 

Item 24 is a historic book. It was, appropriately enough, published in that most historic of cities for printing, Gutenberg's Mainz. The title is Peregrinatio in terram sanctum, the author Bernhard von Breydenbach, the publication date 1486 (first edition). This book is notable as the first illustrated travel account ever printed, and the first authentic Western source for the Near and Middle East based on someone who actually visited the area. Breydenbach traveled to Venice to embark upon a trip to the Holy Land with other pilgrims. He brought along two friends, one an interpreter and the other artist Erhard Reuwich. It is Reuwich's artwork that provides the visual documentation of the trip. He has illustrated people, animals, costumes, architecture, and other things he saw. Breydenbach was also able to bring back information from lands he did not visit because they met distant travelers who had also come to the Holy Land. The three set out in 1483 and returned via Egypt in 1484. This copy is not quite complete in its plates, which is why it is much less expensive than complete copies. €45,000 (US $48,904).

 

You may reach the Antiquariaat Forum at +31 (0)30 6011955 or info@forumrarebooks.com. Their website is www.forumrarebooks.com.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: The Shem Tov Bible, 1312 | A Masterpiece from the Golden Age of Spain. Sold: 6,960,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Ten Commandments Tablet, 300-800 CE | One of humanity's earliest and most enduring moral codes. Sold: 5,040,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: William Blake | Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Sold: 4,320,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: The Declaration of Independence | The Holt printing, the only copy in private hands. Sold: 3,360,000 USD
    Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: Thomas Taylor | The original cover art for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Sold: 1,920,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Machiavelli | Il Principe, a previously unrecorded copy of the book where modern political thought began. Sold: 576,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura, ca. 1639, a very fine pre-publication manuscript. Sold: 381,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Henri Matisse | Jazz, Paris 1947, the complete portfolio. Sold: 312,000 EUR
  • Gonnelli
    Auction 59
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 20th 2025
    Gonnelli: Pietro Aquila, Psyche and Proserpina,1690. Starting price 140€
    Gonnelli: Jacques Gamelin, Memento homo quia pulvis es et in pulverem reverteris, 1779. Starting price 300€
    Gonnelli: Giorgio Ghisi, The final Judgement, 1680. Starting price 480€
    Gonnelli
    Auction 59
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 20th 2025
    Gonnelli Goya y Lucientes Francisco, Los Proverbios.1877. Starting price 1000 €
    Gonnelli: Domenico Peruzzini, Long bearded old man, 1660. Starting price 2200€
    Gonnelli: Enea Vico, Leda and the Swan,1542. Starting price 140€
    Gonnelli
    Auction 59
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 20th 2025
    Gonnelli: Andrea Del Sarto [school of], San Giovanni Battista, 1570. Starting price 25000€
    Gonnelli: Carlo Maratta, Virgin Mary and Jesus, 1660. Starting Price 1200€
    Gonnelli: Louis Brion de La Tour, Sphére de Copernic Sphere de Ptolemée / Le Systême de Ptolemée. Le Systême de Ticho-Brahe…, 1766. Starting price 180€
    Gonnelli
    Auction 59
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 20th 2025
    Gonnelli: Marc’Antonio Dal Re, Ville di Delizia o Siano Palaggi Camparecci nello Stato di Milano Divise in Sei Tomi Con espressevi le Piante…, Tomo Primo, 1726. Starting price 7000€
    Gonnelli: Katsushika Hokusai, Bird on a branch, 1843. Starting price 100€

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