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Early Printing & Manuscripts / Asia & Middle East

Medical secrets plus a largely imaginary Medieval European view of India

[ACHILLINI, Alessandro]. Secreta secretorum Aristotelis.
Including:
ARISTOTLE [pseudo]. Maximi philosophi ... de signis aquarum: & tempestatum.
ARISTOTLE [pseudo]. Maximi philosophurum ... de mineralibus.
ALEXANDER OF APHRODISIAS. De intellectu.
AVERROES. De beatitudine anime.
ACHILLINI, Alexander. De universalibus.
ALEXANDER THE GREAT [pseudo]. De mirabilibus Indie.
(Colophon: Lyon, Antoine Blanchard, 1528. Small 8vo. With a title-page with a 4-piece decorated woodcut border with flowers, birds and snails, woodcut printer's device on last page, 6 woodcut initials and a leaf ornament. Set in 3 sizes of rotunda gothic types, with the title in roman capitals. Contemporary blind-tooled sheepskin(?) parchment over wooden boards, in a panel design with quadruple fillets and 2 decorative rolls, brass catch-plates and anchor-plates (straps and clasps lost). LXXXIII ll. Full description
€ 11,500
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Belon's account of his extensive travels in the Levant, with 44 woodcut illustrations

BELON, Pierre. Les observations de plusieurs singularitez et choses memorables, trouvées en Grece, Asie, Judée, Egypte, Arabie et autres pays estranges.
Paris, Guillaume Cavellat (colophon: printed by Benoist Prévost for Gilles Corozet, Guillaume Cavellat), 1555. 3 parts in 1 volume. 4to. With title in woodcut border with Cavellet's device and initials at the foot, each part-title with Cavellet's woodcut device, 1 folding woodcut map (31.5 x 35 cm) showing Mount Sinai, 44 woodcuts in the text (including a portrait of the author by Geoffroy Tory), and numerous fine decorated initials. Overlapping vellum (ca. 1600?). [12], 212, [1] ll. Full description
€ 12,500
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First Latin edition, printed by Plantin, of Belon's illutrated oriental travel account, with 43 woodcuts

BELON, Pierre. Plurimarum singularium & memorabilium rerum in Graecia, Asia, Aegypto, Judaea, Arabia, aliisq. exteris provinciis ab ipso conspectarum observationes, tribus libris expressae.
(2) BELON, Pierre. De neglecta stirpium cultura, atque earum cognitione libellus: edocens qua ratione silvestres arbores cicurari & mitescere queant. Antwerp, Christoffel Plantin, 1589. 2 works in 1 volume. 8vo. With Plantins woodcut compasses device on each title-page, 43 woodcuts in text (6 full-page), woodcut decorated initials. With an unrecorded 2-page corrigenda leaf. Contemporary overlapping limp vellum. [16], 495, [1 blank]; "78" [= 87], [1 blank], [2] pp. Full description
€ 4,750
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First edition of a rare work about the Orient and the crusades

CENTENO, Amaro. Historia de cosas del oriente primera y segunda parte...
Cordoba, Diego Galván, 1595. 2 parts in 1 volume. 4to. With a woodcut coat of arms on the title-page and the divisional title-page for part 2, an elaborate Jesuit woodcut IHS vignette on the verso of the last leaf above the colophon and woodcut initials throughout, with a few typographical or woodcut tail-pieces, al text is set within a simple woodcut frame. Later tree marbled sheepskin. [8], 138, [4] ll. Full description
€ 28,000
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Very rare and little known collection of Italian Renaissance merchant voyages to India

CIGNANO, Ludovico. Quieta solitudine di varii ragionamenti, discorsi, et concetti, ove si narra quattro navigationi ...
Bologna, Alessandro Benacci, 1587. Small 4to. With the woodcut coat of arms of the dedicatee Giovanni Luigi Scappi, elaborately helmed, crested and mantled, on the title-page, a woodcut tailpiece (plus 1 repeat), woodcut decorated initials (at least 4 series), decorations built up from cast typographic ornaments.
Goatskin morocco (ca. 1870/80?), richly gold-tooled spine and turn-ins, signed in foot of front turn-in by the Paris bookbinders "DARLAUD FRÈRES", gold fillets on sides and board edges, combed curl-marbled endpapers, edges gilt over marbling, headbands worked in white and beige, and a yellow, red and green ribbon marker. 166 pp. Full description
€ 45,000
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Beautiful Plantin edition of the letters of Cleynaerts, seeking to bring together Islam and Christian faith

CLENARDUS, Nicolaus. Nic. Clenardi Epistolarum libri duo. Quorum posterior iam primum in lucem prodit.
Antwerp, Christopher Plantin, 1566. 2 parts in 1 volume. 8to. Both title-pages with Plantin's woodcut printer's mark, Arabic type interspersed. Contemporary vellum with 4 raised bands and a manuscript title on the spine. 112, 258 [= 241], [4] pp. Full description
€ 3,500
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Incunable edition of an influential second century description of the antique world,
including early mentions of China and Arabia

DIONYSIUS Periegetes. [incipit :] ... de situ orbis habitabilis ...
[Colophon:] Venice, Franz Renner, 1478. Small 4to (19 x 14 cm). With the first four lines printed in red and 9 white on black decorated woodcut initials (1 series), plus 1 repeat. Set in roman type, 26 lines to a page, with two words in Greek. Modern blind-tooled calf. [36] ll. Full description
€ 35,000
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The most accurate map of India and the Gulf region to its time

[GASTALDI, Giacomo]. Seconda tavola.
[Venice], Ferrando Bertelli, 1565 [printed ca. 1570]. Engraved map of the Indian Ocean, Indian subcontinent and most of the Gulf region (28 x 39 cm; margins extended to 50 x 66.5 cm), at a scale of about 1:13,500,000 with north at the foot, with 3 sea monsters, a spouting whale and 3 ships in the ocean; and on the land elephants, lions and 2 people on horseback carrying spears. Although printed from a single copper plate, the present map image is divided into two parts, with a 7 mm gap between the right and left halves, so that nothing would be lost if the map were bound as a double-page plate. Full description
€ 18,000
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Marking the brief golden age of Christianity in the Arabian peninsula

GREGENTIUS, Saint. [Title in Greek followed by:] Disputatio cum Herbano Iudaeo: nunc primùm Graecè edita, cum interpretatione Nic. Gulonii, Carnutis, literarum Graecarum professoris regii, notis illustrata. Hoc dialogo sides Christiana tum divinorum oraculorum exposition, tum miraculorum effectu confirmatur.
Paris, Fédéric Morel, 1586. 8vo. With text in Latin and Greek on facing pages. Contemporary sheepskin parchment. [8], 204 ll. Full description
€ 6,500
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Revived Mediaeval prophesies supposedly predicting the fall of the Ottoman Empire

LEO VI (the Wise) of Byzantium and Antonius SEVERUS of Rome (attributed). Vaticinium Severi, et Leonis Imperatorum, in quo videtur finis Turcarum in praesenti eorum imperatore, una cum aliis nonnullis in hac re Vaticiniis ...
Brescia, Pietro Maria Marchetti, 1596. Small 8vo (14.5 x 10 cm). With 16 numbered engraved emblematic illustrations. Contemporary limp sheepskin parchment. 106, [6 blank] pp. Full description
€ 4,500
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A rare Czech translation of a Turkish chronicle

LEUNCLAVIUS, Joannes. Kronyka Nowa O Narodu Tureckem, na dwa Djili rozdelena.
Prague, Daniel Adam, 1594. 2 volumes bound as 1. Small 4to (19.5 x 15.5 cm). With the title-page of volume 1 printed in red and black, and the colophon with large woodcut printer's device; the 2nd volume with woodcut ornament on the title-page, and the colophon with a woodcut vignette. Contemporary blind-tooled vellum, with 2 leather straps with brass clasps (later). [12], 28, [1], [3 blank]; [16], 385, [18], [1 blank] pp. Full description
€ 6,500
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The wisdom of Ibn Sina, Ibn Rushd, and Abu Ma'shar al-Balkhi, received in an early incunable

MAGNI, Jacobus [Jacques Legrand]. Sophologium.
[Strasbourg, R-printer (Adolf Rusch), ca. 1468]. Folio (21 × 28.2 cm). With the text set in 35 lines, spaces for initials show tiny guide letters, rubricated throughout, with 3- and 5-line blue or red Lombardic initials. 18th-century gold-tooled red morocco, gilt edges, marbled endpapers. 217 (of 218) ff. (lacking the final blank).Roman type, Full description
€ 75,000
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A collection of Venetian voyages to the Near and Middle East, printed at the Aldine press

[MANUZIO, Antonio (ed.)]. Viaggi fatti da Vinetia, alla Tana, in Persia, in India, et in Costantinopoli: con la descrittione particolare di città, luoghi, siti, costumi, & della porta del Gran Turco: & di tutte le intrate, spese, & modo di governo suo, & della ultima impresa contra Portoghesi.
Venice, sons of Aldus Manutius, 1545. 8vo. With Alduss woodcut anchor device on the title-page. 18th-century English polished calf. 163 ll. Full description
€ 7,500
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Jesuit eye-witness account of a 1585 shipwreck near the Cape of Good Hope

MARTÍNEZ, Pedro Luis. Raguaglio d'un notabilissimo naufragio, cavato da una lettera del P. Pietro Martinez, scritta da Goa. Al Molto Rever. P. Generale della Compania di giesu, Alli 9. di Decembre M.D. LXXVI.
Venice, Giovanni II & Giovanni Paolo Giolito, 1588. Small 8vo (15 x 9.5 cm). With a woodcut Jesuit IHS device on the title-page. Contemporary(?) sheepskin parchment. 62 pp. Full description
€ 18,500
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The Ottoman-Mamluk war and the conquest of Mecca and Medina

[OTTOMAN-MAMLUK WAR]. Omnia que gesta sunt in Orie[n]te inter Sophi & Maximum Turcarum & Suldanum, & que[m]admodum dux Turcaru[m] caepit Alepum & Damascum & Hierusalem cum om[n]ibus circumiace[n]tibus oppidis, & quo[rum] maximus Turcaru[m] voluit audire una[m] missam apud sanctu[m] sepulchru[m] Iesu Christi.
[Basel, Pamphilus Gengenbach, 1518]. 4to. With woodcut illustration on title-page. 19th-century pink wrappers. [6], [2 blank] pp. Full description
€ 35,000
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One of the earliest sources on the Congo and central Africa, complete with all plates and maps

PIGAFETTA, Filippo and Duarte LOPEZ. Relatione del reame di Congo et delle circonvicine contrade tratta dalli scritti & ragionamenti di Odoardo Lopez.
Rome, Bartolomeo Grassi, [1591]. 4to. With an integral engraved architectural title-page (with the coat of arms of the dedicatee Antonio Migliore, Bishop of San Marco), large folding engraved general map of Africa (64×44 cm), large folding engraved map of the Congo (43.5×51.5 cm) and 8 numbered folding engraved plates of plants, animals and inhabitants of the country, by Natalis Bonifazio. Contemporary limp sheepskin parchment. [8], 82, [1], [1 blank] pp. Full description
€ 60,000
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Unusually favourable introduction to Islam and the Ottoman Empire

POSTEL, Guilliaume. De la republique des Turcs: & là ou l'occasion s'offrera, des meurs & loy de tous Muhamedistes, ...
Including:
-Histoire et consideration de l'origine, loy, et coustume des Tartares, Persiens, Arabes, Turcs, & tous autres Ismaelites ou Muhamediques, dits par nous Mahometains, ou Sarrazins.
-La tierce partie des orientales histoires, ou est exposee la condition, ... de l'empire Turquesque: ...
Poitiers, Enguilbert de Marnef, 1560. 3 parts in 1 volume. 4to. With Marnef's printer's device on title-page (repeated on the 2 part-titles). Contemporary blind- and gold-tooled calf, restored and rebacked with a large part of the original backstrip laid-down, modern endpapers. [8], 127, [1 blank]; 57, [3 blank]; [8], 90 pp. Full description
€ 22,500
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First edition of Vadianus’ important description of the world, including the very rare map

VADIANUS, Joachim (Joachim von WATT). Epitome trium terrae partium, Asiae, Africae et Europae compendiariam locorum descriptionem continens, praecipue autem quorum in actis Lucas, passim autem evangelistae & apostoli meminere. Cum addito in fronte libri elencho regionum, urbium, amnium, insularu[m], quorum Novo Testamento fit mentio, quo expeditius pius lector quae velit, invenire queat.
Zurich, Christoph Froschauer, 1534. Folio. With woodcut printer's device on title-page, numerous decorated woodcut initials and a double page woodcut world map "Typus cosmographus universalis" after Sebastian Münster. Modern calf. [44], 273, [1] pp. Full description
€ 38,500
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Reports from Japan by two famous Jesuits (1589 & 1590)

VALIGNANO, Alessandro and Luís FRÓIS. Copia di due lettere annue scritte dal Giapone del 1589. & 1590. L'una dal P. Viceprovinciale al P. Alessandro Valignano, l'altra dal P. Luigi Frois al P. Generale della Compagnia di Giesu. Et dalla Spagnuola nella Italiana lingua tradotte dal P. Gasparo Spitilli della Compagnia medesima. ... Con licentia de' superiori.
Rome, Luigi Zanetti, 1593. Small 8vo (15 x 10.5 cm). Limp sheepskin parchment (ca. 1700?). 125, [3 blank] pp. Full description
€ 12,500
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First English edition of Varthema’s travels in the Middle East and beyond

[VARTHEMA, Ludovico di, Pietro Martire d’ANGHIERA and others]. The history of travayle in the West and East Indies, ...
London, Richard Jugge, 1577. Narrow 4to (19 x 13.5 cm). With a woodcut celestial map of the South Polar sky in the text. With 14 leaves in a 19th-century facsimile. Gold- and blind-tooled maroon morocco (ca. 1860?), in allusive style. In a modern clam-shell box. [10], 466, [6] ll. Full description
€ 120,000
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Swedish account of a journey through Arabia

WALLIN, Georg August (Yrjö Aukusti). Första Resa fran Cairo till Arabiska Öknen i April 1845. Fragment. ... Med en karta.
Helsinki, (S. Baranovskij for) J. Simelius, 1853. 8vo. With lithographed map at the end; printed music for a Bedouin melody in the text. Green half calf, contemporary marbled boards, title in gold on rebacked spine. VII, [1], 126, [2 blank] pp. Full description
€ 8,500
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