Forum Rare Books

Very accurate drawing by Cornelis Pronk of a lost part of Utrecht

[UTRECHT]. PRONK, Cornelis. Gezigt op de Leidschevaart & Catrijnepoort te Utrecht.
[Utrecht, ca. 1730]. 23 x 29 cm. Washed pen and ink drawing on paper. Full description

€ 13,500

City Plans, Topography & Views Drawings & Watercolours Netherlands

One of the earliest maps of Arabia, with unique contemporary illumination

[MAP - ARABIAN PENINSULA]. PTOLEMAEUS, Claudius. [Jacobus ANGELUS, trans.; Nicolaus GERMANUS, ed.]. Sexta Asie Tabula.
Ulm, Lienhart Holle, 1482. Oblong 1mo (whole sheet: 41.5 by 57 cm). With a double-page woodcut map. Finely coloured by a contemporary hand, with near-contemporary manuscript vignette illustrations of an Ababeel bird, Makkah (Mecca) and the Kaaba in pen and wash highlighted in gold. Full description

€ 150,000

Arabian Peninsula & Gulf States Charts & Maps Early Printing - 15th century Qatar

Second map of the Arabian peninsula ever published

[MAP - ARABIAN PENINSULA]. PTOLEMAEUS, Claudius. Sexta Asiae tabula.
[Rome, Petrus de Turre, 1490 (engraved Rome, ca. 1478)]. Engraved map of the Arabian peninsula (topographic image 25.5 x 46 cm) printed, as usual, on two joined folio leaves (together 39.5 x 56 cm). Mounted on paper board, in a modern gilt frame (50.5 x 67 cm). Full description

€ 50,000

Arabian Peninsula & Gulf States Charts & Maps Early Printing - 15th century

Panoramic landscape of the Siege of Besançon, a refined drawing attributed to Pierre Puget

[PUGET, Pierre Paul]. The Siege of Besançon.
[France, late 17th century]. 46 x 58 cm. Brown and black ink and grey wash on vellum mounted on a wooden panel, heightened with gold. In a passepartout behind glass in a modern black wooden frame. Full description

€ 8,500

Art & Art History City Plans, Topography & Views Drawings & Watercolours France Military History (17th Century)

A kind Muslim, an English mummy snatcher and John Smith before Pocahontas

[PURCHAS, Samuel], John SANDERSON, Henry TIMBERLAKE and others. Seer gedenckwaerdige vojagien, van Johan Sanderson, Hendrick Timberly, en Capt. Johan Smith, door Europa, Asia en America. ...
Amsterdam, Joachim van Dyck, 1678. 4to. With engraved title-page, letterpress title-page with a woodcut floral ornament, 4 folding engraved illustration plates (including 1 with 4 small views). 18th-century half vellum. [12], 158 pp. including integral frontispiece. Full description

€ 4,500

Eastern Mediterranean & Cyprus Egypt North Africa Travel & Voyages Africa Travel & Voyages Europe Travel & Voyages Middle East Turkey & Ottoman Empire

Splendid ink and colour wash view of Valetta in Malta

[MALTA]. RADEMAKER, [Gerard?]. Malta. [View of the castle, fortifications and harbour of Valetta].
[Malta(?), ca. 1700?]. 14 x 44 cm. Ink and colour wash drawing, signed in the lower right corner: "Rademaker". Mounted in a rice-paper window kept under passe-partout. Full description

€ 12,500

City Plans, Topography & Views Drawings & Watercolours Fortification & Military Architecture Malta Mediterranean Regions Military History (18th Century)

Dutch edition of the voyage of Walter Raleigh and Laurence Keymis to Guiana,
describing the city El Dorado

RALEIGH, Walter and Lawrence KEYMIS. Grondige ende waerachtige beschryvinge van het groot end gout-rijck koninckrijck van Guiana, geleghen in America, by- noorden de groote rivier Orelliana, vanden vyfden graet by Zuyden totten vyfden graet by- noorden de middel-linie; in welcke beschrijvinge de rechte gelegentheyt vande groote ende rijcke hooft-stadt Manca, Macureguarai ende andere steden derselvigen koninckrijcks ende van het groot Souten Meyr Parime (zynde omtrent 200 Spaensche mijlen lang) verclaert wort: insgelijcks wat voor rijcke waaren daer te lande ende daer omtrent vallen.
Mitsgaders vande omlegghende rijcke landschappen Emeria, Arromaja ende Topago: in welck laetste krijgs-vrouwen (Amzones genoemt) hare wooninge hebben: as oock van 53 groote rivieren onder welcken Oronoque de voornaemste is, welcke spruyt omtrent 500 Duystche mijlen landwaerts in, niet verre van Quitio een vermaerde hooft-stadt in Peru. Alles ontdeckt beschreven in de jaren 1595-1596.
[Amsterdam, Johannes Janssonius], 1644. Oblong 4to. With a vignette built up from typographical ornaments on the title page, and a decorated woodcut initial. Later half mottled calf. [49] ll. Full description

€ 7,500

Brazil Latin America South America Travel & Voyages South America

16th-century travel account of a journey from Venice to the Ottoman Empire

RAMBERTI, Benedetto. Delle cose de Turchi. Libri tre. ...
(Colophon:) Venice, Bernardino Bindoni, 1541. 8vo. With a small typographical ornament on the title-page. Modern vellum, sewn on 4 tapes, laced through the joints. 37, [1], [2 blank] ll. Full description

€ 4,500

Balkan & Greece Islamic Art, Culture & Science Italy Travel & Voyages Europe Travel & Voyages Middle East Turkey & Ottoman Empire

A Danish traveller in Kuwait, Saudi-Arabia and Bahrain, meets Mubarak al-Sabah and Ibn Saud, presentation copy

RAUNKIAER, Barclay. Gennem Wahhabiternes land paa kamelryg. Beretning om den af det Kongelige Danske Geografiske Selskab planlagte og bekosterde forskningsrejse i Ost- og Centralarabien 1912.
Copenhagen, Gyldendalske boghandel, Nordisk forlag, 1913. 8vo. With a frontispiece showing the author in Arab garb, 88 illustrations in text, most of them reproductions of drawings and photographs by the author, and a folding map loosely inserted in a pocket at the end. Publisher's green cloth. [1], [1 blank], [2], 304 pp. Full description

€ 5,000

Arabian Peninsula & Gulf States Kuwait Scandinavia Travel & Voyages Europe Travel & Voyages Middle East Turkey & Ottoman Empire

Radical critique of European overseas expansion in 10 volumes. Extremely rare second Dutch edition

RAYNAL, Guillaume Thomas François. Wysgeerige en staatkundige geschiedenis van de bezittingen en den koophandel der Europeaanen, in de beide Indiën.
Amsterdam, Matthijs Schalekamp, 1792-1803. 10 volumes bound as 9. 8vo. With 2 different engraved author's portraits, 8 engraved plates (5 as frontispieces), 12 engraved folding maps and 23 letterpress folding tables. Contemporary half calf, gold-tooled spine. VI, [4], 469, [19]; [8], 533, [1 blank], 11, [1 blank]; [8], 508, [11], [1 blank]; [8], 427, [9], [2 blank]; [8], 365, [9]; [8], 426, [10]; [10], 501, [7]; [8], 458, [11], [1 blank]; [8], 339, [10], [1 blank]; [4], 432, [13], [1 blank] pp. Full description