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...

Large woodcut on title of an astronomer studying an armillary sphere in front of a starry sky by Hans Burgkmair & nine woodcuts in the text. 40 unnumbered leaves. Small 4to, cont. limp vellum, title written in a contemporary hand on upper cover, with the orig. nine-link chain attached to the lower cover with the orig. chain swivel & ring at other end, orig. deerskin ties. Augsburg: V. Otmar, 1548.

A fine copy of the “first German encyclopedia” of general knowledge, here bound in a very remarkable chained binding. Most surviving chained bindings are substantial folios; our example is a smaller format book with... More about M. Elucidarius von allerhand geschöpffen Gottes, den Engeln, den Himeln, Gestirns, Planeten, und...

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