17 painted scenes, using brush and colors, on 63 pages. 34; 25; 22 folding leaves. Three vols. 8vo (270 x 187 mm.), orig. wrappers, modern stitching. [Japan]: late Edo.

This handsomely illustrated manuscript, written by Tsuki Shirai, describes and illustrates the famous hot springs of Atami (“hot ocean”), which have been known and appreciated since the 8th century. Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616), believed the springs of Atami were so beneficial to his health that he had quantities of the water transported to Edo.

These volumes are really a travel guide to Atami and the surrounding area. The first volume begins with an index to all three volumes... More about Manuscript on paper, manuscript labels on upper covers entitled “Atami Onsen zuko” [“The...

Woodcut arms on title. xvi, 352 pp. 8vo, attractive antique half-calf & boards. Paris: Nyon, 1782.

This scarce sale catalogue describes the notable collection of voyages formed by Courtanvaux; it was one of the largest collections on the subject ever formed and practically amounts to a bibliography of the subject. The sections on natural history and the sciences are also very rich.

Courtanvaux (1718-81), a member of the Académie des Sciences, performed research in chemistry, geography, natural history, physics, and mechanics. A man of considerable wealth, he sponsored the voyage made in 1767 by Pingré and Messier during which Pierre Le Roy’s marine... More about Catalogue des Livres de la Bibliotheque de feu François-César Le Tellier, Marquis de...

Four engraved plates (one folding). 4 p.l., 296 pp., 3 leaves of ads for the author’s other works; 2 p.l., 514, [8] pp. Two vols. Small 8vo, cont. orange-brown speckled boards (spines a little rubbed), orange leather lettering pieces on spines. Düsseldorf: J.H.C. Schreiner, 1811-12.

First edition of a scarce and appealing work. Benzenberg (1777-1846), professor of mathematics at the Lyceum in Düsseldorf, performed many original scientific investigations in the fields of astronomy, physics, and geodetics. He was the first to demonstrate that the earth revolves, a problem which had perplexed scientists since Copernicus (see D.S.B., I, pp. 615-16)... More about Briefe geschrieben auf einer Reise durch die Schweiz im Jahr 1810

Folding frontis. lithographed map of India. 1 p.l., 332 pp. 8vo, cont. green sheep-backed green boards maroquiné, single gilt fillet round sides, flat spine gilt. Paris: H. Fournier jeune, 1833.

Second edition; the first edition appeared a year earlier, in French as well. Buckingham (1786-1855), was an author, traveller, and M.P., who took special interest in social reforms. He lived in India from 1818 where he established a newspaper called the Calcutta Journal. His criticisms of the East India Company and the Bengal government led to his expulsion from India in 1823.

The present work, translated from an unpublished manuscript, provides a complete account of India. More about Tableau pittoresque de l'Inde, ou, Description géographique, statistique, commerciale, morale et...

Many black & gray ink drawings and maps (mostly double-page). 16 leaves. 8vo (250 x 170 mm.), orig. wrappers (slightly soiled), later stitching. Japan: from the text: “1853.”

An extensively illustrated contemporary manuscript recording Japan’s immediate responses to the recent foreign incursions, following Perry’s first mission to Japan. This document contains plans for Japan’s defense, presented with elaborate maps of Uraga Channel and the area around the capital, Edo. It also includes sections where the anonymous author has compiled information on potential invaders: China, Korea, Russia, and the United States. A map displays the limited scope of Japanese understanding of the outside world in 1853... More about Illustrated manuscript on paper, containing an internal review of Japanese national defense in...

3 p.l. (lacking the first leaf, a blank; title a little soiled), 143, 152-66 pp. Small 4to, cont. English limp vellum. London: N. Okes for N. Bourne, 1623.

First edition of one of the great early English accounts of the exploration of the interior of Africa and the first to be published separately (others appear in collections); it is a classic account of the search for gold.

Ghana, the earliest known empire of the western Sudan, first entered the historical consciousness of North Africa near the end of the eighth century but probably originated long before. Famous to North Africans as the... More about The Golden Trade: or, A Discovery of the River Gambra, and the Golden Trade of the Aethiopians. ...

12 p.l., 271 pp. 8vo, 18th-cent. French mottled calf (joints a little rubbed), flat spine gilt, red morocco lettering piece on spine. Cambridge: C. Crownfield, 1721.

First edition. “A work of great rarity. It is divided into two parts, the first of which contains an account of the rise and progress of the King’s Library, and of nine other public libraries, at Paris. In the second part, the author discusses the use of public libraries, and the knowledge of literary history…Some notices are also introduced relative to the librarians and other literati then at Paris.”–Horne, p. 561.

Very good copy. Note on free front endpaper: “Coll. & perf. FCB. Octr. 1849.” This was Francis Capper Brooke (1810-86). Stamp of W.B. Chorley, editor of The Winter’s Wreath, on title. Bookplate of A.R.A. Hobson. More about Introductio ad Historiam Literariam de praecipuis Bibliothecis Parisiensibus, locupletata...

Woodcut port. of the author on verso of title & several woodcuts in the text. Title within typographical border. 12 p.l. (last leaf a blank), 348, [4] pp. Small thick 8vo, cont. vellum over boards, stamped in blind on upper cover “M N H L” & “1613.” Wittenberg: W. Meisner at the expense of C. Berger, [date of Foreword “1612“].

[bound with]:

MATENESIUS, Johann Friedrich. Critices Christianae Libri Duo de Ritu Bibendi super Sanitate, Pontificum, Caesarum, Principum, Ducum, Magnatum Amicorum, Amicarum, &c.… Woodcut printer’s vignette on title. 8 p.l., 189 pp., one blank leaf. Small 8vo (tear to first leaf of text in blank portion of... More about Itinera Sex a diversis Saxoniæ Ducibus et Electoribus, diversis temporibus in Italiam omnia,...

Six folding engraved plates. 1 p.l., xvi, 322 pp.; 1 p.l., 238 pp. Two vols. 8vo, cont. marbled boards, orange & pale blue lettering pieces on spines. Lausanne: J. Mourer, 1789.

First edition. Razoumovsky (1759-1837), a wealthy Russian aristocrat, spent most of his life in Switzerland, Austria, and Italy and wrote many noteworthy works on geological and mineralogical subjects (see Zittel, pp. 91 & 119).

“Very scarce…First and only edition of an illustrated account of the fauna and geology of the Swiss Jura, in the vicinity of Neuchâtel, Murten and Biel, northwest of Bern…The first volume describes the fauna according to the Linnean system. The second includes... More about Histoire naturelle du Jorat et de ses Environs; et celle des trois lacs de Neufchatel, Morat et...

More than 1800 woodcuts in the text including a Ptolemaic world map, & one folding woodcut map of northern & central Europe. CCCXXXVIII leaves, 25 unnumbered leaves (without the two blanks). Small folio (300 x 204 mm.), fine smooth 18th-cent. vellum over boards (title with a few very light stains & a very faint old stamp, first & final two leaves with tiny marginal wormholes). Augsburg: J. Schoensperger, 1 Feb. 1497.

A very lovely copy, complete with a fine example of the often-missing folding map of northern and central Europe, of the first edition of the “Small Schedel,” a reduced version of the large folio of 1493, entirely reset and... More about Liber Chronicarum

“Hishu” [today Saga Prefecture]: 1841-45.

A very rare Japanese manuscript sea chart of the sea routes from Saga Prefecture, a major trading area in the west, to Osaka through the Inland Sea, which is more than 400 km. long and includes in excess of 3000 islands. The Inland Sea, one of the main trade routes for the Japanese in the Edo period, has numerous areas of turbulence and navigating through the numerous islands and rocky outcroppings presented enormous problems in the era before modern navigation systems. In the early 1840s, the central government in Edo ordered each fiefdom to prepare... More about A fine and handsomely illustrated cartographic manuscript (“Kaiji zu” or “Kairo zu”...

28 engraved plates (many are folding) & six folding printed tables. Four vols. 8vo, cont. polished calf (each lower joint with a slight crack, head of one spine with the slightest chip), spines finely & richly gilt, red & green morocco lettering pieces on spines. London: W. Strahan et al., 1770.

First edition, and a lovely set in attractive contemporary bindings. “On this tour Young travelled 2,500 miles from Bradfield to the northern boundary of England, across country westward, and so in a wide sweep back home, and he collected statistical data from some 250 farms of all sizes and descriptions. These data he attempted... More about A Six Months Tour through the North of England. Containing, an Account of the present State of...