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Literature & Linguistics / Literature & Linguistics

First edition of one of the earliest grammars featuring a Romanisation of Chinese characters

MARSHMAN, Joshua. Elements of Chinese grammar, with a preliminary dissertation on the characters, and the colloquial medium of the Chinese, and an appendix containing the Ta-Hyoh of Confucius with a translation.
Serampore, printed at the mission press, 1814. Large 4to. With one woodcut illustration of a suanpan (abacus of Chinese origin) on p. 318. Text is set in roman type (Latin alphabet) and Chinese characters and occasionally in Bengali characters. Contemporary half red calf and black cloth sides with the title in gold on the spine. [1], [1 blank], [1], [1 blank], XVI, VII, [1 blank], 2, 566, 56 pp. Full description
€ 5,500
China Language & Linguistics
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First Aldine edition of Martial: one of the first books set in the world’s first italic type

MARTIALIS, Marcus Valerius. [Epigrammata].
(Colophon: Venice, Aldus Manutius, December 1501). 8vo (16 x 10 cm). With 15 (mostly 6-line) spaces with printed guide letters left for manuscript initials. Except for an occasional word in Greek, the book is set entirely in the world's first italic printing type (with small upright capitals, which are also used, usually letterspaced, for running heads, headings, the opening line of each liber, etc.). Francesco Griffo cut it for Aldus, who uses it here 8 months after he introduced it in his Virgil. Tanned sheepskin (ca. 1700?), gold-tooled spine and board edges. [381], [3 blank] pp. Full description
€ 4,750
Aldine Press Book History, Printing & Typography Classical Antiquity Early Printing - 16th century Greek & Roman Classics Literature
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Instructions for Carsten Niebuhr's expedition to Arabia

MICHAELIS, Johann David. Recueil de questions, proposées à une société de savants, qui par ordre de Sa Majesté Danoise font le voyage de l'Arabie.
Amsterdam, S.J. Baalde; Utrecht, J. van Schoonhoven & comp., 1774. 4to. Set in roman type with incidental Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, Syriac and 1 word in Coptic. Near-contemporary tanned sheepskin, gold-tooled spine. [4], XLIV, 256, [16], 38, [2 blank] pp. Full description
€ 3,500
Arabian Peninsula & Gulf States Egypt Literature North Africa Travel & Voyages Middle East
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First edition of a play recounting the discovery of Brazil by the Portuguese

MIMOSO, João Sardina. Relacion de la real tragicomedia ...
Lisbon, Jorge Rodriguez, 1620. 4to. With the elaborate woodcut coat-of-arms of the dedicatee, the Duke of Braganza, on the title-page, and the woodcut coat of arms of Portugal and/or King Philip II of Portugal at the head of his dedication on leaf [6]r, all text is set within a double fillet frame, and with woodcut decorated initials. Contemporary parchment binding with manuscript title on spine. [10], 163, [1] ll. Full description
€ 9,500
Brazil Latin America Literature South America
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Rare "oriental" pastiche

MORELL, Charles (pseudonym of James Kenneth RIDLEY). The tales of the Genii; or the delightful lessons of Horam, the son of Asmar.
London, printed for G. and T. Wilkie, 1786. 2 volumes. 12mo. With 2 letterpress title-pages and 14 engraved plates (including the 2 frontispieces) illustrating the various tales. Near contemporary, uniform calf (ca. 1800?), gold-tooled smooth spines in 6 fields, with a green (title) and red (volume) label in the 2nd and 4th fields, gold-tooled board edges, blind-tooled turn-ins. xxxvi, 285, [3 blank]; [1], [1 blank], 338 pp. plus 2 frontispieces and 12 other plates. Full description
€ 1,500
India & Sri Lanka Iran / Persia Literature
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One of the most important dictionaries on the Tamil language published today
from the French mission press in Pondicherry

[MOUSSET, Louis-Marie and Louis-Savinien DUPUIS]. Vocabulaire Français-Tamoul.
Pondicherry, Imprimerie des Missionnaires Apostoliques de la Dite Congrégation, 1850. 8vo. With the text printed in two columns in roman and Tamil type. Contemporary speckled sheepskin, gold-tooled title label on spine, gold-tooled spine, blue sprinkled edges. [10], 420 pp. Full description
€ 3,800
Church History & Missions Dictionaries & Encyclopedias France India & Sri Lanka Language & Linguistics Religion (19th Century) VOC
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Interesting early work on Latin abbreviations: an early 'Capelli'

NICOLAI, Johannes. Tractatus de siglis veterum omnibus elegantioris literaturae amatoribus utilissimus, in quo continentur, quae ad interpretationem numismatum, inscriptionum, juris et fere omnium artium requiruntur, cujus subsidio facile literae explicari possunt.
Leiden, Abraham de Swart, 1703. 4to. With title-page printed in red and black with engraved vignette, 8 engravings in text (1 full-page). Contemporary vellum. [22], 314 pp. Full description
€ 400
Classical Antiquity Literature
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Early Western printing in Aden: Arab dictionary

NORBURY, Paul Fitzgerald. An abridged Arabic grammar with one hundred and fifty simple conversational scentences and a vocabulary of two thousand five hundred words.
Aden, printed at the Aden Special Prison Press, [1917]. Square 8vo. Printed in English and Arabic type. With a tipped-in paper slip on the title-page: "Since the issue of the first edition it has been possible to test this grammar in regard to its utility in Mesopotamia. The result has been to confirm the correctness of the claim made in para four of the preface". Original publisher's printed hard board covers with red cloth spine. IV, 68 pp. Full description
€ 850
Arabic Printing & Calligraphy Dictionaries & Encyclopedias Language & Linguistics Literature
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