London: Daldy Isbister and Co. circa 1844.
The Holy Land Illustrated
Octavo; engraved frontis and title-page, 23 engraved plates and 29 line drawings; original blind stamped blue cloth boards, rebacked, corners slightly worn, highly decorated in gilt front and spine, all edges gilt. William Henry Bartlett was a prolific 19th... More
London: Harris, 1821. Octavo with a folding frontispice map, 84 hand-coloured engravings on 28 plates (three on each); original printed boards. Second edition of this children's study of Asian lands. Each engraving is numbered and complimented by a corresponding description. The pictures and text cover a number of Asian countries... More
London: T. Cadell, 1771.
Teasing Banks from the stage
Octavo, [viii], 80 pp., [iv]; original stitch-holes visible in the gutter, disbound. First edition of this orientalist fantasy (based on Voltaire's unfinished Les Scythes). Since it provides an odd insight into the fame of Banks and Solander on their still very... More
London: George and William Nicol, 1802. Nine volumes, small quarto, contemporary polished calf, spines banded in gilt with double black labels. An attractive edition of the Bible. A note to the binder printed at the start explains that the Notes may be bound at the end of each volume, or... More
London: T.Cadell and W.Davies, 1814.
Valuable work on Bibliography
Two volumes, octavo, half calf, marbled edges and endpapers; illustrated with engravings. First edition, a valuable work that covers history and techniques of printing, paper, bookbinding, the nature of rarity, classification systems, bibliographies, catalogues and reference books, etc. Horne relied largely... More
London: Printed for the author; and sold by J. Walter, 1791. Octavo, folding map; contemporary half calf and marbled boards. A very good, clean copy. First edition. "Lempriere, a surgeon at Gibraltar, was sent for by the favourite son of the Emperor of Morocco for medical attendance, in the belief... More
Wittenberg: Andrea Hartmann, 1660.
Finding the fabled land of Ophir
Thick duodecimo, with an engraved title; contemporary vellum binding. Intriguing study of Ophir, the mythical land of gold and riches described in the Old Testament. This book draws upon a wide range of sources, from classical geographers to contemporary voyage... More
London: Jacques-Francois Quillau, 1765. Duodecimo, contemporary sprinkled calf, flat spine banded in gilt. First edition: a strange Orientalist tale of Talemik and Zinera, royalty of the cosmopolitan Abbasid caliphate which ruled from Baghdad until the city was sacked in 1258.Although the novel itself is a fairly traditional oriental tale, its... More
Rotterdam: Jean Hofhoudt, 1729. Octavo, woodcut vignettes; in contemporary sprinkled calf. First edition of this Oriental romance and utopian allegory by the economist Melon (d. 1738), an influential French intellectual, who, amongst other things, helped found a literary society under the protection of the Duc de la Force. His best... More
London: Thomas Osborne, 1745.
Travel: "the very excellency of man"
Two volumes, folio, with 37 maps and 16 plates (many folding), and a letterpress folding table; a handsome set in the original panelled calf, decorated in gilt, rebacked by Aquarius. A fine set, with excellent early provenance, of one of... More
London: W. Bulmer, 1800.
Hanno the Navigator and the ancient naval empire of Carthage
Thick quarto, portrait frontispiece and eleven maps (ten folding), an excellent copy in contemporary polished calf, spine in panels with large crimson morocco labels. Handsome copy of the scarce first edition of Major James Rennell's magisterial... More
London: Macmillan and Co. 1940. Two volumes, octavo, frontispieces, 18 plates and seven folding maps, large folding map in endpocket in second volume; original blue cloth with dustjackets. A particularly fine copy, complete with perfect dustjackets, of the very scarce first edition.Following his lengthy and highly distinguished military and diplomatic... More
Auburn (New York): J.M. Alden, 1850.
The US Exploring Expedition
Large octavo, engraved title and eight steel-engraved plates; original full calf. A condensation for the general reader of the Wilkes expedition and several earlier and important voyages. Part one, on expeditions in the Pacific and the South Seas, contains eighteen... More