Europe / Autographs, Documents & Manuscripts

AFFAITATI, Giovan Carlo (Johannes Carolus de AFFAYTADI). Ratificatio facta p[er] m[agnifi]cu[m] d[ominum] Jo[hannes] Carolu[s] de Affaytalis, in favorem m[agnifi]ci et r[everen]di d[omino]. Guidi d[e] Crema et Rafaelis Krumani p[e]r Castro S[anc]ti Laurentii et terris.
Antwerp, 20 January 1546. Manuscript notarial document in Latin, written in a Latin hand on one side of a single piece of sheepskin parchment (31 x 54.5 cm), opening with a large capital and closing with the notary's decorative signature, with the title and "M. Johan Carlo" on the back. Folded and loosely inserted in a paper folder (ca. 1690s?). [1] leaf. Full description

[ALGIERS & SPAIN]. J. M. (artist?). [Views and people along the Mediterranean coasts of France, Spain and Algeria].
[London sketchbook used in the Mediterranean], 1881. Small oblong 8vo (8,5 x 13 cm). Album (sketchbook) containing 28 pencil drawings (1 double-page), 2 colored drawings and 4 watercolors (1 double-page ) with handwritten captions in English. Half checkered black morocco. With advertising label of "Lechertier, Barbe & Co. Artists colourmen and Stationers, Regent Street, London" with prices of the various sketchbooks for sale; at the head the artists(?) initials and date: "J.M. 1881". 70 pp. Full description

ALMEDO [= Fr. José de CORAÇÃO DE JESUS]. No dia dos felices anos dos ilustrissimos. e excellentimos. senhores a senhora D. Mariana Victoria de Menezes e o Senhor Ascenso de Siqueira Freire.
[Lisbon?, ca. 1790?]. 4to. Manuscript. Sewing removed. [6], [2 blank] pp. Full description

ALVAREZ DE TOLEDO, Pedro and Maria OSORIO Y PIMENTEL. [Three letters to Ferrante Gonzaga, Viceroy of Sicily, two from Pedro Alvarez de Toledo and one from his wife Maria Osorio y Pimentel].
Andria (in the Kingdom of Naples), 13 August to 10 September 1539.
Comprising:
(1) Letter in Italian, signed, from Pedro Alvarez de Toledo in Andria to Ferrante Gonzaga, 13 August 1539, with a 2.3 cm seal bearing Alvarez de Toledos coat of arms (with a chain of flags) stamped on a slip of paper attached with red wax.
(2) Letter in Spanish, signed, from Pedro Alvarez de Toledo in Andria to Ferrante Gonzaga, 3 September 1539, with the 4.5 cm imperial armorial seal stamped on a slip of paper attached with red wax.
(3) Letter in Italian, signed, from Maria Osorio y Pimentel [in Andria] to Ferrante Gonzaga, 10 September 1539, with the remains of what appears to be her husbands 2.3 cm red wax seal.
Folio (21.5 x 30 cm). Each letter, in brown ink, occupies one page, with the last page containing the address and the senders seal. The two inside pages of the second and third letter are blank. Each formerly folded for posting, so that the address would have appeared on one side and the seal on the other. [4]; [4]; [2] pp. including blanks. Full description

[AUTOGRAPH MANUSCRIPT - FRANCE, ENGLAND & INDIA]. [French manuscript on the negotiation strategy of the French with the British on India.]
ca. 1778. Folio. Sewn with two small chords in the left upper and bottom corner. [7], [1 blank] pp. Full description

[AUTOGRAPH]. BANKS, Joseph. [Autograph letter to Johann Gottlieb Frederic Schmidt].
London, 30 April [ca. 1800]. 8vo (19 x 11 cm). Autograph letter in ink on laid paper, written on the first page of a bifolium, with the address on the last page. Folded twice more for posting with the address on the outside. Full description

[AUTOGRAPH]. BAUDIN, Charles. [Collection of 14 signed, mostly autograph letters].
Toulon, 1842-1849. 8vo and 4to. Letters in black and brown ink on paper (11 with the "prefecture maritime" letterhead), 1 with its original envelope and 3 originally folded, addressed and sealed for posting without an envelope. Full description

BEAUMARCHAIS, Pierre Augustin CARON DE Vers de M. de Beaumarchais sur Ameliswert pres d'Utrecht au Marquis de Saint Simon.
[Amsterdam, ca. 1793]. Folio. Poem written on paper in brown ink in a regular cursive hand in two columns of 46 lines each on recto and finished on one column on verso with another 8 lines, followed by an "Envoi" of 22 lines. Folded. [2] pp. Full description

[BENTINCK, Volkier Rudolph]. [Wrapper-title:] Journael zedert 1771.
[Maastricht, Bois-le-Duc, Bergen op Zoom, Namur, etc., 7 July - 3 September 1771 & The Mediterranean and Portugal, 23 May - 18 August 1774]. 2 matching journals. Folio (32.5 x 20.5 cm). Two manuscript journals in French, written in brown ink on laid paper. Contemporary coarse brown paper wrappers, with the 1771 journal in loose bifolia (never sewn) inserted. [2], [2 blank], [11], [1 blank]; 18, [6 blank] pp. Full description

BLANCO, Pedro Luis. Noticia de las antiguas y genuinas colecciones canónicas inéditas de la Iglesia Espanola, que de órden del rey nuestro señor se publicarán por su Real Bibliotheca de Madrid, ...
Madrid, Imprenta Real, 1798. 8vo. With some lines printed in Arabic type. Later brown half morocco, gold-tooled spine. XLI [=XXXVIII], [1], 168, [2], [2 blank] pp. Full description

BONAPARTE, Joseph. [Letter to Count Pierre François Réal].
Pointe Breeze, New Jersey, 27 September, 1830. 4to (25 x 20 cm). Manuscript letter in French, in brown ink on wove paper (3 sides of folded leaf), signed and dated. [3] pp. Full description

BOUGAINVILLE, Hyacinthe-Yves-Philippe Potentien, Baron de. [Autograph letter, signed, to Baroness Hyde de Neuville (Anne Marguerite Henriette de Marigny Hyde de Neuville)].
[Brest?, ca. 1820/22]. Folded leaf (20.6 x 16.5 cm). In French. 2 1/2 pp. text. 2 1/2 pp. text. Full description

[BRITISH ARMOUR - TOWER OF LONDON - DUTCH MANUSCRIPT]. Beschrijving van de paarden wapenzaal in de Tower te London.
[The Netherlands, second quarter of the 19th century]. Ca. 21.5 x 17 cm. With 12 large, colourful ink drawings of knights on horseback, depicting various British kings and nobles, and a smaller ink drawing of knights in battle on the title-page. Contemporary green paper, over brown cloth, with a calligraphed title on the front in a baroque style floral frame, and a drawing of a knight on horseback on the back board within the same floral frame, blue speckled edges. [1], [1 blank], 105 pp. Full description

CAVALLI. [Letter to an unknown person].
Paris, 18 August 1726. 4to. [1] leaf. Full description

CHAPSAL, Jean-Antoine. [Autograph letter concerning the guard of his woods].
Riom, 9 July 1803. 4to (21 x 33.5 cm). 2 pp. text, 1 blank and the final page with the recipient's address. Formerly folded three times for posting and with traces of a seal. Full description

CLEMENTS, Joseph and J. GOLDING. (title-page:) Heraldry.
[England (Kent?), ca. 1775-1795]. Large 4to (ca. 27 x 21 cm). Manuscript in English on paper, mostly containing coats of arms with captions and a hand-written index. Completely written in brown ink in a neat 18th-century hand. With a hand-drawn and contemporary hand-coloured title-page, 108 contemporary hand-coloured smaller coats of arms showing motives on the crest and 1050 contemporary hand-coloured larger coats of arms of English noble families. Contemporary sheepskin, blind-tooled boards and spine, marbled endpapers. [2], 183 ll. Full description

CUNHA BROCHADO, José da. Memorias particulares, ou anecdotes dal'orte de França apontadas por Joze da Cunha Brochádo, notempo em que foi Enviado quela mesma Córte.
[Madrid, ca. 1725]. Folio. Contemporary gold-tooled marbled calf, with the title lettered in gold on the spine, marbled endpapers, red edges with brown speckles. [1], [1 blank], 396, [4 blank] pp. Full description

[DAMASCUS – VENETIAN TAXES]. [Promissory note for Venetian customs taxes on goods from Damascus].
Venice, 22 Feb. / 5 March 1488. Italian notarial document on vellum (44.5 x 16 cm; text block ca. 27 x 14 cm). Written in two fine cursive hands. Full description

[FALCONRY - JAUME III OF MALLORCA]. [Invoice document (albarán) for falconry expenses].
[Mallorca?], Saturday, 12 June [1330s?]. 4to (ca. 165 × 230). Catalan manuscript on cotton paper. 2 written pp. on a bifolium and a single leaf. Full description

[FALCONRY - JAUME III OF MALLORCA]. [Invoice document (albarán) for falconry expenses].
[1337?]. Small folio (21.8 x 30.2 cm). The leaf is folded lenghtwise into two columns. Stored in a custom-made half purple morocco case. [1] ll. Full description

[FALCONRY - SANCHO I OF MALLORCA]. [Invoice document (albarán) for falconry expenses].
1320. Folio (folded lengthwise, 11.2 x 32 cm). Catalan manuscript on cotton paper. Stored in custom-made purple half morocco case. 9 written pp. on 8 tall sewn leaves. Full description

[MANUSCRIPT - FRANCE]. Colloquio su'gli affari presenti del 1683 fatto nell'Inferno, tra Maometto, e monsieur Colbert, già ministro di Francia.
[Italy, ca. 1684?]. Small folio (29 x 20.5 cm). Manuscript in brown ink on laid paper in a legible hand. Sewn. [54], [2 blank] pp. Full description

[FRENCH ROYAL NAVY]. [Binding title:] Abregé de la marine du Roy 1732.
[Paris?, 1732]. 13.5 x 19 cm. Manuscript in brown-black, red and blue ink on vellum, some of the lettering and borders gilt. With a beautiful frontispiece painting in coloured gouaches (14 x 9.5 cm) pasted on the page facing the opening of the text Contemporary gold-tooled red goatskin morocco, gold-tooled blue-black goatskin morocco pastedowns, gilt edges. Frontispiece plus [2], 26 ll., including 2 double and 1 larger folding. Full description

[MANUSCRIPT - GARDENING]. Introduction à la théorie de l'art des jardins.
Ca. 1775-1800. 2 volumes. 4to. Written in several, slightly different neat 18th-century hands. Later red decorated paper over stiff paperboards, spines covered with brown paper, black morocco spine labels with titles and volume numbers in gold. [2], 2, 46 pp., 47-76 ll., 60 pp.; 129, [3], 83, 96, 20 pp. plus 2 ll.with the table of contents. Full description

GOES, Robert. [4 confidential letters by Robert Goes to the registrars of the Dutch States General on the Baltic Sea trade].
[The Netherlands, written 1689-1690 and copied then or soon after]. 4 manuscript letters. Folio. Written in one column in three different 17th-century hands (each letter written, signed and dated in a single hand) on 5 bifolia (2 bifolia for the letter dated 5 December 1689). Folded. [3], [1 blank]; [2]; [2]; [2] ll. Full description

[HERALDRY - FLANDERS - NETHERLANDS - FRANCE]. [Album containing coats of arms of Flemish, Dutch and French noble families].
[France, Flanders and the Netherlands, 17th and 18th century]. Folio. With 390 coats of arms (plus another 49 blank shields) of which 13 on vellum, all but 25 contemporary hand-coloured of which 17 painted with gold and 1 with silver and all but 3 drawn by hand. Mostly all coat of arms are captioned in brown ink in contemporary 17th- or 18th-century cursive hands, in which also the sometimes added manuscript text (on the same or another leaf) is written. Coats of arms on paper and vellum in various sizes, mounted on later folio-sized paper leaves. 18th-century half red roan (sheepskin), brown sprinkled paper sides over boards, manuscript title label on the front board. All loose leaves and quires mounted/stored on [29] ll, the quires loosely stored in a paper slip mounted on a leaf. Full description

[HORSES - MILITARY]. Anecdoten van paarde kenners, paarde liefhebbers, ruijters en ross-kammers. Naar waarheid en eijge ondervinding opgesteld. Door een gepensioneerd cavallerie officier.
[The Netherlands, ca. 1815]. Folio (38 x 24 cm). Manuscript on paper written in brown ink in a readable Latin hand, with the title on p. 72, illustrated with 30 small watercolour drawings of horses mounted on the leaves (mostly about 8.5 x 11 cm), and a washed pen drawing with 5 caricature figures before a monument (9.5 x 16 cm), mounted above the dedication. Half vellum (1930s?), gold-tooled spine. [4 blank], 248, 251-254, 257-267, [9 blank] pp. Full description

[JOMARD, Edmé François]. Arithmétique élémentaire ou tableaux d'arithmétique composés selon les principes et assujetis aux procédés de l'enseignement mutuel; par M. Jomard, secrétaire de la Societé pour l'enseignement élémentaire.
[France?, ca. 1822]. Small folio (ca. 29.5 x 19 cm). With 6 folding text leaves. Contemporary quarter vellum. [1], 88, [1 blank] ll. Full description

JOSÉ I, King of Portugal. Instrucçõens com que el Rey meu senhor manda passar ao Estado da India o reverendo Arcebispo de Goa primaz do Oriente.
[Lisbon?, dated 10 February 1774 at the foot of each of the six Instrucçõens]. Folio. Manuscript on paper, written in a neat secretarial hand. Contemporary gold-tooled brown calf. [2 blank], [4], [68], [2], [4 blank] ll. Full description

LEEUWEN, Engelhard August Baron van. Plans des neu herrauss gegebene Exercittii nach den dermahligen Kayserl: Königl: kriegs Fuss Volck eingerichtet. Herausgegeben im Jahr 1765. Zugehörig Titl. Herrn Obrist Wacht M[ei]st[er] Baron v[on]: Engelhard.
Austria, 1769[?]. Oblong 4to (18.5 x 23 cm). With title and the explanation of the key letters used in the plans written in red, the key to the colour coding in the troop formations in 8 colours, and 49 (of 55) numbered colour-coded plans of infantry exercises. Each text leaf and each plan (except no. 26) in a frame of rules, nos. 2-35 in red, the rest in black. Plans 1, 24, 32, 33, 42, and 46 have been torn out, in 2 cases leaving a small piece of the drawing. Contemporary mottled tanned sheepskin, gold-tooled spine. [3], 16 ll. plus 49 (of 55) numbered plans. Full description

LEFEBVRE, François-Joseph. Mémoire pour retraitte.
[Valnheim], 26 November 1793. Signed manuscript letter, in French, written in brown ink in two columns on one side of a folio leaf (32 x 20.5 cm). Full description

LLOYD, Rodney Maclaine. Reporting proceedings on detached boat service.
Zanzibar, 9 July 1886. Folio (ca. 20 x 32 cm), with the Britannia watermark. Signed manuscript letter. Loose single sheet. [1] pp. Full description

LORCIN, Aimée. La civilisation monastique irlandaise aux Ve et VIe siècles.
Lyon, [unpublished typescript], 1944-1945. Folio (27 x 20.5 cm). With 1 duplicated manuscript map. Stiff brown paper wrappers, black cloth spine. [1], IX, 159 ll. plus 8 loose ll. with additions and corrections. Full description

LUIGIOS, Maria [= MARIA KAROLINE LUISE CHRISTINE OF AUSTRIA?]. [Signed letter to Ferdinand II, king of Two Sicilies].
Innsbruck, 13th August 1838. 25 x 20 cm. Signed manuscript letter in brown ink on paper in Italian, with signature 'Maria Luigios'. [1], [3 blank] pp. Full description

[MANUSCRIPT - ARABIC - DICTIONARY]. [Vocabularium Italico-Arabicum]. Arabic-Italian dictionary.
[Probably Egypt, ca. 1770]. 4to (ca. 17 x 22 cm). Arabic and Italian manuscript on paper, 19 lines per extensum, paginated throughout from right to left. Near-contemporary brown leather with a blind-stamped oriental rosette as a center piece and similar style corner pieces on both boards, a (partial) manuscript title label on the spine. 494 pp. Full description

[MANUSCRIPT - SERVICE BOOK - DIVINE OFFICES]. Ordine da osservarsi nell'oratorio di Santa Maria di Passione, circa gli Essercicii Spirituali delle feste cavato dalla Regola maggiore.
[Milan], [18th-century]. Folio (27,5 x 18,5 cm). With 5 full-page and 2 half-page, hand-painted religious illustrations and 9 hand-painted initials on a blue background, heightened with gold and silver. 18th-century gold- and blind-tooled parchment, each board with a blind ornamental centre-piece ornament in a blind-tooled frame, in a larger frame of gold fillets, with a gold flower in each of the 6 spine compartments. [1 blank], [1], 66 pp. Full description

[MANUSCRIPT - DUTCH]. TROMP, C.H. [Collection of an illustrated manuscript diary, and travel journals, including some views and photographs of Russia and Germany].
[The Netherlands, 1824-1911]. Manuscript on paper in Dutch. Preserved in a card-board box (27 x 23.5 x 7 cm), covered with marbled paper. Full description

[MANUSCRIPT - GERMAN - SWEDISH POLICIES]. Relation. Von dem gegenwartigen Zustande des Konigreichs Schweden.
With: [MANUSCRIPT - FRENCH]. Journal de LAmbassade envoyée de la part de S. M.té le Roy de Suède vers le Grand Duc de Moscovie lan 1684, dressé par un des Gentils-hommes de la Suite.
1684-1688. Folio (ca. 30 x 20 cm). The German part is neatly written in a Kurrent script, and the French part in a cursive hand. Contemporary gold-tooled calf, sewn on 7 supports with the corresponding raised bands on the spine, the initials "M.F.K" in the centre of the front board, red and black sprinkled edges, green closing ties. 167 ll. Full description

[MANUSCRIPT - MORLOT DE WENGI, Alcibiade]. Etude de diverses parties de l'art de la Guerre
[France], January 1820. Small 4to (ca. 20.5 x 16 cm). With 6 hand-coloured folding illustrations, 3 full-page plates (on pp. 36, 57, and 83), 1 half-page plate (on p. 79), and numerous smaller mathematical figures, tables, and other illustrations in the text, most with grey washes and some in colour. The work is written in French in a very neat cursive hand. Contemporary half green painted sheepskin, red sprinkled paper sides. 151, [152-155 blank] pp. Full description

[MANUSCRIPT - PRAYERBOOK]. [1st rubric:] Form zu betten unser liebe[n] frawen mantel, Gebet. [incipit:] Cegrüest seiestu o süesse aller heiligste junckfraw maria ...
[Ravensburg?], [ca. 1670]. Small 16mo in 8s (10 x 8.5 x 4 cm; leaf: 9 x 7.5 cm). German manuscript in red and black ink on paper, written in an upright, semi-cursive gothic hand, with so-called lombardic initials in red, rubricated throughout. With 11 lines per page, text block 7 x 5.5 cm. Contemporary blind-tooled pigskin over bevelled wooden (beechwood?) boards, sewn on 3 double supports, In total more than 100 impressions of about 9 stamps. Further with 2 strap fastenings with brass clasps (each with an owners(?) stamp: 1.5 mm roman capital initials "LH" above a 3 mm head in profile, facing right), catchplates and anchor plates, plain headbands, blue edges. With 27 mm roman capital initials "BR" in brown ink on the foot edge. [423], [3 blank] pp. plus 3 endleaves at the front and 5 at the back. Full description

[MANUSCRIPT - PRAYER BOOK - GERMAN]. Geistlicher Seelen-Wecker. Allen in Gott Christlich glaubenden Seelen zu Nurz[!] und grösserem Eyfer zusam[m]en getragen. Darin[n]en Schöne auserlösene Morgen- Abend- Mess- Beicht und Communion Gebetter.
[Germany, Franconia, diocese Würzburg?, ca. 1780]. 8vo (17.5 x 11.3 cm). Written in a clear German cursive in brown ink with chapter titles and captions in Fraktur script in gold, blue, black, and red with red pen flourishes; the text is written within a manuscript double-lined frame in brown ink. With two mezzotint engravings of Christ carrying the cross and Christ's Vera effigies with a crown of thorns, mounted on p. [6] and p. 7; both engravings show Christ's wounds and blood painted red. The engravings are by Johann Martin Will (1727-1806), engraver and art dealer in Augsburg. Contemporary gold-tooled dark brown leather. [1], [3], 307, [9], [4 blank except for the text frames] pp. Full description

[MANUSCRIPT - PRAYER BOOK - GERMAN]. Andachts Eyfer Worinnen enthalten Fruh- Abend- Meess Beicht und Kommunion dann andere heilige Gebether. Geschrieben in Jaht Christi 1791 von Johann Karl Erbes.
[Germany], 1791. 8vo (18.5 x 11 cm). Written in a clear Roman script by Johann Karl Erbes, title in a structured floral frame, all text is written in 15 to 18 lines per page, all within a manuscript floral frame. Contemporary gold-tooled black morocco. The work is kept in a mottled leather and floral paste paper slipcase. [1 blank], [2], [1 blank], 206, [2], [6] pp. Full description

[MANUSCRIPT - RELIGION - DUTCH - KLAUBER, Joseph Sebastian and Johann Baptist KLAUBER (engravers)]. [Stigtelyke uytbreiding der Litanie van O.L. Vrouwe van Loretten. Op rym gestelt tot geestelyk vermaak en vermeerdering der devotie tot de selve alder-heyligste Maget en Moeder Godts Maria. In 't ligt gegeven door M.V.D.L.].
[Flanders?, 1792]. 8vo. With 56 tipped in numbered engraved plates, and a hand-drawn frame in brown ink on every page, in which the text is written. Contemporary gold-tooled mottled calf in a clear plastic protective sleeve. [8], [1 blank], "55" [= 90] pp. Full description

[MANUSCRIPT - SPANISH - Vincent MORALES]. Compendio de la exemplar vida, y santa muerte, [d]el p[adre] Juan de S[an]tiago...
[Córdoba?], ca. 1770. 8vo. With a large engraving of Juan de Santiago on the second leaf and a pen drawing on page 102. Contemporary limp parchment. [4], "159" [= 162] pp. Full description

[LETTER - SIGNED]. MEDICI, Catherine de'. [Letter to Jacques de Germigny in Constantinople (Istanbul)].
Chenonceaux, 2 September 1584. Folio (34 x 24 cm). Signed letter in French, in brown ink on paper, written in a clear gothic hand. Folded for sending and addressed on the outside, with a slot for a ribbon and traces of a red wax seal. [1], [3 blank (except for address)] pp. Full description

[MONTE CARLO AUTOMOBILE RALLY]. [A collection of manuscript documents, photographs, magazines and newspaper clippings concerning the 1937 Monte Carlo Automobile Rally].
[The Netherlands, Monte Carlo, etc.], 1937. Full description

[MANUSCRIPT]. PHILIP (FELIPE) II, King of Spain. [Mortgage agreement, granting Jan Hanneman, Steward General of North Holland, the rights to the tithes of the King's lands of Voorburg and Voorschoten].
The Hague and Brussels, 1557 (with additions to 1565). Folio (36 x 25.5 cm). Manuscript mortgage agreement, signed by King Philip's representatives, written in brown ink on parchment in a nearly upright cursive gothic hand. With a typescript transcription of the main text and an interlinear translation in Spanish. [2 blank], 9, [1 blank] pp. Full description

WILLEM FREDERIK of Orange. [Autograph letter, signed, to Frederica Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt].
Berlin, 2 October 1791. 4to (23 x 18.5 cm). Autograph letter in French, in ink on laid paper, signed and dated. [1], [1 blank] pp. Full description