99 pp. 8vo, attractive antique calf-backed paste-paper boards, spine gilt, red morocco lettering-piece on spine. Paris: Joullain, 1778.

The uncommon sale catalogue, fully priced throughout and with buyers’ names, of a noteworthy collection devoted primarily to Italian art and sculpture. Bourlat de Montredon (d. 1777), was an influential amateur and collector who resided in Constantinople for forty years.

The catalogue thoroughly describes 695 lots, many of which are composed of numerous items. Lots 579-671 are Bourlat de Montredon’s impressive group of books of prints, mostly focused on the architecture and decorative arts of Italy, including a number of works by Piranesi. The descriptions... More

Woodcut royal coat-of-arms on title. 16 pp. 8vo, early 19th-century brown morocco (signed “Bousquet sucr de Thompson”), with arms of Fréteau de Pény on lower cover, covers with fleurs-de-lys stamped in gilt & blind, title in gilt on upper cover. Paris: Veuve Chardon, 1713.

A very rare guide to the royal church of Saint Denis, considerably augmented from earlier versions. It describes the interior of the royal basilica at St. Denis, just north of Paris. A place of pilgrimage, it holds the remains of most of the French kings who reigned between the 10th and 18th centuries. Listed are the kings... More

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

29 mounted Woodburytype photographic plates (mostly 238 x 188 mm.), each with printed captions. viii, 92 pages. Large folio, orig. green half-morocco & green pebbled cloth (extremities a bit scuffed, occasional minor foxing), upper cover with a large gilt vignette & lettered in gilt, spine gilt. Leith: “Printed for Private Circulation by Reid & Son, Timber Bush, Leith, 1879.”

A large, beautiful, and little-known photography book, privately printed, with 29 splendid images of trees made by the photographer Andrew Young of Burntisland, and printed according to the Woodbury process of Lock & Whitfield of London. “The following pages are the result of numerous wanderings through the counties of... More

Folding hand-colored lithographed frontis. & one colored plate. 1 p.l., xi, 418 pp. 8vo, 19th-cent. vellum over boards (minor foxing to first few leaves), spine lettered in gilt, dentelles gilt, t.e.g., arms in gilt of the Prince of Wales on upper cover. London: J. Ollivier, 1844.

First edition. “In August 1834, Kinglake set out on an eighteen-month odyssey through Europe and the Ottoman empire. After encountering plague in Constantinople, he travelled to Smyrna, Cyprus, Beirut, the Holy Land, and Jerusalem, before crossing the Sinai Desert to Cairo. Following three weeks in Egypt, he returned north through Damascus and Asia Minor then... More

Double-page frontis. map. 1 p.l., xxxiv, 332 pp.; xxiv, 358, [3] pp. Two vols. 8vo, cont. mottled calf, floral fillet round sides, flat spines gilt, red & green morocco lettering pieces on spines. London: G. Nicol et al., 1796.

First edition and a lovely set of the penultimate survey undertaken by Marshall of the farming practices of six different regions of England.

“Modern agricultural historians have generally held that Marshall’s works on English farming are superior to those of his rival, Arthur Young, as they are more systematically arranged and based on a more thorough knowledge of a district by personal residence there. Unlike Young... More

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

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

“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

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