Forum Rare Books

In search of a northeast passage

VEER, Gerrit de (et al.). Verhael van de eerste schip-vaert der Hollandische ende Zeeusche schepen door 't Way-gat, by Noorden Noorwegen, Moscovien ende Tartarien, na de coninckrijcken Cathay ende China. Met drie schepen, uyt Texel gezeylt in den jare 1594. Hier achter is by-ghevoeght de beschrijvinghe van de landen Siberien, Samoyeda, ende Tingoesa. Seer vreemt en vermaackelijck om lesen.
Amsterdam, for Joost Hartgers, 1648. 4to. With woodcut illustration on title-page and a double-page engraved plate with 6 illustrations. Old marbled wrappers. [2], 57, [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 3,950

Eastern Europe Russia (incl. Siberia) Scandinavia Travel & Voyages Asia Travel & Voyages Europe

Beautifully illustrated work on Indonesia, with lithographed plates

VELDE, Charles William Meredith van de. Gezigten uit Neêrlands Indië, naar de natuur geteekend en beschreven.
Amsterdam, Frans Buffa en Zonen (printed by C.A. Spin), [1844-45]. Large folio (52 x 35 cm). With woodengraved view of the Palace at Buitenzorg on title, signed by P. Lauters and W. Brown, and 50 full-page lithographed views and plates (ca. 22 x 31 cm) by P. Lauters after the designs by the author. Contemporary green half morocco. [8], 87, [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 14,000

Art & Art History City Plans, Topography & Views Indonesia / Dutch East Indies Southeast Asia

One of 300 copies ever published, from the collection of Baron James de Rothschild

VELDE, Charles William Meredith van de. Le Pays d'Israël. Collection de cent vues prises d'après nature dans la Syrie et la Palestine pendant son voyage d'exploration géographique en 1851 et 1852.
Paris, Veuve Jules Renouard, 1857. Elephant folio (44 x 57 cm). With 99 lithographed plates and 1 engraved map. Contemporary half red morocco and brown marbled paper, with the title lettered in gold on the gold-tooled spine, marbled endpapers. [1], 88 pp. Full description

€ 28,000

Art & Art History Eastern Mediterranean & Cyprus Mediterranean Regions Prints & Print Series Travel & Voyages Middle East West Asia

One of the earliest works on California

VÉNEGAS, Miguél and Andrés Marcos BURRIEL. Histoire naturelle et civile de la Californie, contenant une description exacte de ce pays, de son sol, de ses montagnes, lacs, rivières & mers, de ses animaux, végétaux, minéraux, & de sa fameuse pêcherie des perles; les moeurs de ses habitans, leur religion, leur gouvernement, & leur façon de vivre avant leur conversion au Christianisme; un detail des différens voyages, & tentatives qu'on a faites pour s'y établir, & reconnoître son Golfe & la côte de la Mer du Sud.
Paris, Durand, 1767. 3 volumes. 8vo. With a folding engraved map of California. Contemporary mottled calf, richly gold-tooled spines, gold-tooled binding edges. [2], XXIV, 360; VIII, 375; VIII, 354, [2] pp. Full description

€ 1,400

Faunas & General Zoology North America Travel & Voyages North America

Pioneering work on Indian languages and society by an "unjustly forgotten" Indologist

VESDIN (VEZDIN), Filip (PAULINUS A SANCTO BARTHOLOMAEO). Viaggio alle Indie Orientali umiliato alla Santita di N. S. Papa Pio Sesto pontefice massimo ...
Rome, Antonio Fulgoni, 1796. 4to. With 12 engraved illustration plates (6 with 2 illustrations each to make 18 in total), engraved roundel portraits of Pope Pius VI (on the title-page) and the author (above the opening of the main text) and some small woodcut illustrations of "Indian hieroglyphs". Set in roman and italic types with occasional words in Greek, Arabic, East Syriac, Devanagari and more extensive texts in Malayalam, plus a Malabar song with a double staff made with built-up round-head music notes. 19th-century maroon half sheepskin. XX, 404 pp. Full description

€ 4,500

Arabic Printing & Calligraphy Church History & Missions India & Sri Lanka Language & Linguistics Literature

Early photographic facsimile of Amerigo Vespucci's report, one of 10 copies printed on vellum

VESPUCCI, Amerigo. Be [! = De] ora Antarctica per regem Portugallie pridem inventa.
[Paris, Tross, 1872]. Facsimile of the 1505 edition with 1 diagram constructed from rules and type. Printed on vellum. Wrapper made from 18th-century French marbled paper backed with (and the book interleaved with) 19th-century wove paper. [11], [1 blank] pp. plus interleaving. Full description

€ 4,500

Arctic & Antarctic Brazil Latin America Pacific Islands Portugal South America Travel & Voyages Europe Travel & Voyages Pacific Travel & Voyages South America

Spectacular views of Nieuwburg castle at Rijswijk in 1697, with an extra plate

[VIANEN, Jan van (illustrator)]. Le château Roial de Ryswick appellée de Neubourg avec les differens apartemens ou se tiennent les conferences de la paix generale.- Het koninklyke kasteel tot Ryswyck. Genaamt Nieuwburg, met alles des selfs kamers en gezigten, in 't bysonder, daar de conferentien der algemeene vreede gehouden werden, &c.
The Hague, Anna Beek, [1697]. Folio (33 x 20.5 cm). With a double-page title in red and black, 13 double-page engraved views (ca. 22 x 27 cm) on guards of Nieuwburg castle, 12 of which signed by Jan van Vianen. Contemporary quarter red sheepskin, marbled paper sides. [14] double-page ll. Full description

€ 5,950

Castles, Gardens & Mansions City Plans, Topography & Views Netherlands

A rare and magnificent 18th-century portolan chart of the Portuguese Empire,
produced at the time of the Atlantic slave trade

VIANNA, Manoel José. [Manuscript portolan chart of the Atlantic Ocean, including Western Europe, South America, and West Africa].
Porto, 1786. Chart ca. 86 x 68 cm; frame ca. 101 x 83.5 cm. Detailed manuscript portolan chart in ink and paint and/or ink wash in green, yellow, red, and brown on vellum. The chart is drawn within a red washed border and shows the detailed coastlines of the east coast of South America, the west coast of Africa, and the west coast of northwest Europe up to the Netherlands and including Great Britain and Ireland. The coasts are drawn in sections alternatingly in yellow, green, and red ink. Principal regions are added in large decorative script, coastal towns, cities, and capes are added in a small cursive hand. Also depicted are a detailed split graticule indicating longitude and latitude, intricate rhumb lines, islands, dangerous rocky outcrops (marked vegia (= vigia, meaning lookouts)), and inshore shoals. Further decorative elements in the chart are the flags in Brazil (Portuguese coat-of-arms), Algeria (Ottoman Empire?), and West Africa (Dutch flag, upside down); the side view of Elmina Castle in west Africa, two half wind roses, elaborate rococo floral (fleur-de-lis) ornaments at the head of the chart and in South America. The banderole at the bottom of the chart contains the following text: "Manoel Joze Vianna a Fes no Porto" and below the year of production "1786". Framed in a gold-coloured frame and mounted on a cream cloth covered backboard. Full description

€ 135,000

Charts & Maps Portugal Slavery South America West Africa

Horrifying account of a shipwreck, bound together with the travels of Pierre Poivre

VIAUD, Pierre (and Jean Garpard DUBOIS-FONTANELLE). Naufrage et aventures de M. Pierre Viaud; natif de Rochefort, capitaine de navire.
Bordeaux, the Labottiere brothers; Paris, Lejay, 1780.
With: (2) [POIVRE, Pierre]. Voyage d'un philosophe, ou observations sur les moers & les arts des peuples de l'Afrique, de l'Asie et de l'Amerique.
Yverdon, 1768. 2 works in 1 volume. 8vo. Contemporary gold-tooled tree calf, richly gold-tooled spine; very subtly rebacked, preserving original backstrip. XXIV, 307, [4], [1 blank]; 140, [2] pp. Full description

€ 1,950

China Mutiny, Piracy & Shipwrecks North America Southeast Asia Travel & Voyages Africa Travel & Voyages Asia Travel & Voyages East Asia Travel & Voyages North America Travel & Voyages Southeast Asia

The other way around: North America and Europe seen through the eyes of a Chilean historian

VICUÑA MACKENNA, Benjamin. Pájinas de mi diario durante tres años de viajes. 1853. - 1854. - 1855. ... California. - Mejiico. - Estados-Unídos. - Canada. - Islas Britanicas. - Francia. - Italia. - Alemania. - Paises-Bajos. - Costas del Brasil. - Provincias del Plata.
Santiago, Imprenta del Ferrocarril, 1856. 4to. Contemporary half green sheepskin, marbled edges. [8], 454 pp. Full description

€ 4,950

Brazil Canada & Greenland Chile France Italy Latin America Mexico Middle America New York North America Scotland South America Travel & Voyages Europe Travel & Voyages North America Travel & Voyages South America UK - United Kingdom USA - United States of America

690 books found / Show all

Advanced Search

Cartography & Exploration