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Notable Sales

Notable Sales

    • Austen, Jane Pride and Prejudice, 1813. London. T. Egerton. "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." First edition, the most popular of Jane Austen's novels, enduringly popular. Pride and Prejudice, began in 1796 as First impressions, which Jane Austen completed in 1797 and was subsequently rejected by publisher Cadell without asking to see it. The work underwent major revisions in 1811-12 and, following the publication in 1800 of a novel by Margaret Holford entitled First impressions​​​​​​, the title was changed into the title it is known under.
      Austen, Jane
      Pride and Prejudice, 1813. London. T. Egerton.
      "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."

      First edition, the most popular of Jane Austen's novels, enduringly popular. Pride and Prejudice, began in 1796 as First impressions, which Jane Austen completed in 1797 and was subsequently rejected by publisher Cadell without asking to see it. The work underwent major revisions in 1811-12 and, following the publication in 1800 of a novel by Margaret Holford entitled First impressions​​​​​​, the title was changed into the title it is known under.

      Sold
    • [Bible] The Holy Bible containing the Old Testament and the New, newly translated out of the original Tongues, 1660. London. Henry Hills and John Field. Remarkable copy with 178 original hand-coloured and illuminated plates and an original manuscript. An extraordinary extra-illustrated Bible in a Restoration binding, ‘adorned with historicall Pictures’ and embellished with original additions and ornamentation in the year of the Restoration as a tribute to God and King by a royalist London merchant, Thomas Batt.
      [Bible]
      The Holy Bible containing the Old Testament and the New, newly translated out of the original Tongues, 1660. London. Henry Hills and John Field.
      Remarkable copy with 178 original hand-coloured and illuminated plates and an original manuscript.

      An extraordinary extra-illustrated Bible in a Restoration binding, ‘adorned with historicall Pictures’ and embellished with original additions and ornamentation in the year of the Restoration as a tribute to God and King by a royalist London merchant, Thomas Batt.
      Sold
    • Gaubil, Antoine Histoire abrégée de l'Astronomie Chinoise. Autograph manuscript, 1727-1731. Beijing. The original manuscript written by the "father superior of Chinese Astronomy" (Needham). Autograph manuscript of the first European history of Chinese astronomy, in the hand of its author as written in China, used and extensively annotated by its editor Étienne Souciet SJ (1671-1744), librarian in the Collège Louis-le-Grand in Paris.
      Gaubil, Antoine
      Histoire abrégée de l'Astronomie Chinoise. Autograph manuscript, 1727-1731. Beijing.
      The original manuscript written by the "father superior of Chinese Astronomy" (Needham).

      Autograph manuscript of the first European history of Chinese astronomy, in the hand of its author as written in China, used and extensively annotated by its editor Étienne Souciet SJ (1671-1744), librarian in the Collège Louis-le-Grand in Paris.
      Sold
    • Tavares de Vellez Guerreiro, Joao Jornada, Que O Senhor Antonio de Albuquerque Coelho, Governador, e Capitan Geral Da Cidade do Nome de Deos de Macao na China, Fes de Goa athe chegas a ditta Cidade. Divida em duas partes. Offerece esta obra a sua Senhoria, [ca. 1718]. [Macao]. Privately Printed. One of the great accounts of travel in Asia printed in today´s China, the only Sino-European secular book to have been printed in Macao in the 18th century. Very rare first edition of this account of Antonio de Albuquerque Coelho’s (1682-1745) eventful journey from Goa to Macao in 1717-1718, in many ways the first of its kind, and the only Sino-European secular book to have been printed in Macao in the 18th century. The Jornada is one of the mere 11 books printed in Macao between 1662 and 1718, and as aforementioned, the only one of a secular nature.
      Tavares de Vellez Guerreiro, Joao
      Jornada, Que O Senhor Antonio de Albuquerque Coelho, Governador, e Capitan Geral Da Cidade do Nome de Deos de Macao na China, Fes de Goa athe chegas a ditta Cidade. Divida em duas partes. Offerece esta obra a sua Senhoria, [ca. 1718]. [Macao]. Privately Printed.
      One of the great accounts of travel in Asia printed in today´s China, the only Sino-European secular book to have been printed in Macao in the 18th century.

      Very rare first edition of this account of Antonio de Albuquerque Coelho’s (1682-1745) eventful journey from Goa to Macao in 1717-1718, in many ways the first of its kind, and the only Sino-European secular book to have been printed in Macao in the 18th century. The Jornada is one of the mere 11 books printed in Macao between 1662 and 1718, and as aforementioned, the only one of a secular nature.
      Sold
    • Fonseca, Luis; Cabral, Francisco (1529-1609); Portillo, Jerónimo Ruiz del Lettres du Iappon, Peru, et Brasil, envoyees au R.P. general de la Societé de Iesus, 1578. Paris, thomas Brumen. First edition of the first published account of Fonseca’s letter from Bahia with Salema’s expedition to Cabo Frio against the Tamoios Indians Exceedingly rare first edition of this collection of missionary letters from mostly Portuguese missionaries, here published for the first time, with early and firsthand news from Brazil and the rebellion of the Tamoios Indians, a pivotal moment in the settlement and conquest of Brazil, as well as reports from Japan.
      Fonseca, Luis; Cabral, Francisco (1529-1609); Portillo, Jerónimo Ruiz del
      Lettres du Iappon, Peru, et Brasil, envoyees au R.P. general de la Societé de Iesus, 1578. Paris, thomas Brumen.
      First edition of the first published account of Fonseca’s letter from Bahia with Salema’s expedition to Cabo Frio against the Tamoios Indians

      Exceedingly rare first edition of this collection of missionary letters from mostly Portuguese missionaries, here published for the first time, with early and firsthand news from Brazil and the rebellion of the Tamoios Indians, a pivotal moment in the settlement and conquest of Brazil, as well as reports from Japan.
      Sold
    • {Devotional Image} [Bearing of the Cross] , [Upper Germany, ca. 1440]. Devotional images originated in women's convents in the first half of the 14th century from the need to own such images personally, for example as a decorative insert in a prayer book. They were also distributed outside the monastery by itinerant preachers to support their sermons. Demand was soon so great that a lively trade developed. The images were initially painted by hand in small formats on parchment, paper or fabric. Typical motifs included the infant Jesus, the Passion of Christ, the Virgin Mary and Saints. They became widespread by the 15th century as simple rubbing prints or bread dough prints. Although produced in relatively large numbers, early devotional images are usually exceedingly rare today, as they were often very worn out and used up.
      {Devotional Image}
      [Bearing of the Cross] , [Upper Germany, ca. 1440].
      Devotional images originated in women's convents in the first half of the 14th century from the need to own such images personally, for example as a decorative insert in a prayer book. They were also distributed outside the monastery by itinerant preachers to support their sermons. Demand was soon so great that a lively trade developed. The images were initially painted by hand in small formats on parchment, paper or fabric. Typical motifs included the infant Jesus, the Passion of Christ, the Virgin Mary and Saints. They became widespread by the 15th century as simple rubbing prints or bread dough prints. Although produced in relatively large numbers, early devotional images are usually exceedingly rare today, as they were often very worn out and used up.
      Sold
    • [Binding for Wotton] Maffei, Raffaele Commentariorum Urbanorum Raphaelis Volaterrani, octo & triginta libri... Item Oeconomicus Xenophontis, ab eodem Latio donatus., 1544. Basel. H. Froben & N. Episcopius. A wonderful copy bound for the greatest English book collector of the Renaissance, Thomas Wotton, often called "the English Grolier”, housing a fine edition of this important geographical and historical compilation.
      [Binding for Wotton] Maffei, Raffaele
      Commentariorum Urbanorum Raphaelis Volaterrani, octo & triginta libri... Item Oeconomicus Xenophontis, ab eodem Latio donatus., 1544. Basel. H. Froben & N. Episcopius.
      A wonderful copy bound for the greatest English book collector of the Renaissance, Thomas Wotton, often called "the English Grolier”, housing a fine edition of this important geographical and historical compilation.
      Sold
    • Bonaventura, Sanctus De instructione novitiorus. de quattuor virtutibus cardinalibus, Monasterio betissime virginis Marie de Monte Serrato [Monastery of Montserrat, Barcelona]. Joannes Luschner. Printed in the Mountains of Barcelona, at the Monastery of Montserrat, with the woodcut of the appearance of the Virgin that made it a pilgrimage site. One of the earliest books printed in the Monastery of Montserrat in the mountains of Barcelona, from the press of Johann Luschner; a rare Spanish incunable, illustrated with a lovely woodcut showing the appearance of the Virgin, which made the monastery a pilgrimage site.
      Bonaventura, Sanctus
      De instructione novitiorus. de quattuor virtutibus cardinalibus, Monasterio betissime virginis Marie de Monte Serrato [Monastery of Montserrat, Barcelona]. Joannes Luschner.
      Printed in the Mountains of Barcelona, at the Monastery of Montserrat, with the woodcut of the appearance of the Virgin that made it a pilgrimage site.

      One of the earliest books printed in the Monastery of Montserrat in the mountains of Barcelona, from the press of Johann Luschner; a rare Spanish incunable, illustrated with a lovely woodcut showing the appearance of the Virgin, which made the monastery a pilgrimage site.
      Sold
    • [Fonteneau of Saintonge, Jean] Alfonce, Jean Les Voyages avantureux, N.d. [1559]. Poitiers. Jean de Marnef. The exceptionally rare first edition of the first sailing guide to North America, one of the earliest books on North American exploration, and a remarkable relation of the voyages undertaken by Alfonce across the World in the Century of Discoveries. It’s nigh on impossible to over-estimate the importance of this work on America: it is second only to the Brief recit & succinte narration of Cartier´s second voyage to French Canada. It is “the earliest known announcement of the St. Lawrence basin” (Ganong, p. 276), and contains “important descriptions of the coast of Brazil, the Amazon delta, Newport Harbor, New York Harbor, and the Hudson River (over a half century before Hudson's voyage)” (Nebenzahl).
      [Fonteneau of Saintonge, Jean] Alfonce, Jean
      Les Voyages avantureux, N.d. [1559]. Poitiers. Jean de Marnef.
      The exceptionally rare first edition of the first sailing guide to North America, one of the earliest books on North American exploration, and a remarkable relation of the voyages undertaken by Alfonce across the World in the Century of Discoveries.

      It’s nigh on impossible to over-estimate the importance of this work on America: it is second only to the Brief recit & succinte narration of Cartier´s second voyage to French Canada. It is “the earliest known announcement of the St. Lawrence basin” (Ganong, p. 276), and contains “important descriptions of the coast of Brazil, the Amazon delta, Newport Harbor, New York Harbor, and the Hudson River (over a half century before Hudson's voyage)” (Nebenzahl).
      Sold
    • Forgeot, André-Nicolas French Jesuit missionary in China (1716-1761). Autograph document signed. Co-signed by Jean-Sylvain de Neuvialle, superior of the French Jesuit China mission, Macau, 2. X. 1751. By the writer of one of the earliest and most reliable accounts of Father Attimis and Henriques’ martyrdom. An oath renouncing the practice of the Chinese rites, taken by the Jesuit missionary as required by the Papal Bull "Ex Quo Singulari" (1742). The oath was sworn on the Bible, and a signed autograph ("manu propria") of the formula had to be produced as evidence. Most of these documents are co-signed by church officials or superior friars as witnesses to an oath sworn in their presence ("in manibus meis"), in this case the superior of the French mission, Jean-Sylvain de Neuvialle (1696-1764).
      Forgeot, André-Nicolas
      French Jesuit missionary in China (1716-1761). Autograph document signed. Co-signed by Jean-Sylvain de Neuvialle, superior of the French Jesuit China mission, Macau, 2. X. 1751.
      By the writer of one of the earliest and most reliable accounts of Father Attimis and Henriques’ martyrdom.

      An oath renouncing the practice of the Chinese rites, taken by the Jesuit missionary as required by the Papal Bull "Ex Quo Singulari" (1742). The oath was sworn on the Bible, and a signed autograph ("manu propria") of the formula had to be produced as evidence. Most of these documents are co-signed by church officials or superior friars as witnesses to an oath sworn in their presence ("in manibus meis"), in this case the superior of the French mission, Jean-Sylvain de Neuvialle (1696-1764).
      Sold
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