One very large folding lithographed map. 87 pp. 8vo, disbound. [Washington]: 1858.

First edition of this fundamental western report, describing Beale’s journey from San Antonio to Fort Tejon on the Colorado. The trip is famous in the annals of travel, since Beale’s task was to deliver the camels the Army had imported as a desert transport corps to their station in the Arizona desert. The trip took them across Texas to El Paso, up to Albuquerque, then over to the Colorado.

The very large (640 x 1220 mm.) map, “Preliminary Map of the Western Portion of the Reconnaissance and Survey... More

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The present work, translated from an unpublished manuscript, provides a complete account of India.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

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

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

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