Lopes de Castanheda, Fernão. The First Booke of the Historie of the Discoverie and Conquest of the East …London, 1582.

First English edition of one of the most important historical works of the first great age of discovery, "very rare" (Hill). The author mentions several journeys to the "Moores of Arabia" (27r), such as one in 1487 "to Toro, which is a place that hath his harbour in the Straights of the red Sea in the Coast of Arabia", and other places "in the selfe same Straightes of the Redde Sea" (2v), the ships also passing by "Ormuse" (Hormuz, 3r) on their return journey from India to Cairo.

Most of the "Historie" is devoted to the great Portuguese thrust into Asia in the early 16th century, chronicling their epic expansion to India, the East Indies, and China between 1497 and 1505. Castanheda himself spent some two decades in the Portuguese colonies in the East, and so was well equipped to write this account. It is one of the primary sources for the early Portuguese trading empire, a model that the British were beginning to emulate at the time of publication. This work is equally important, however, for its American content, being the first to describe in detail the voyage of Cabral and his discovery of Brazil in 1500, while on his way out to the East Indies. Cabral's landing is the first recorded there, recounted in Chapters 29-31 of the present work. "A most interesting and rare book" (Sabin).

Originally published at Coimbra in 1551, the book was translated by "Nicholas Lichefield" (probably Thomas Nicholas, the well-known translator of the Tudor era). This edition is appropriately dedicated to Sir Francis Drake.

Binding lightly rubbed in places, but still very presentable. A few near-contemporary annotations and manicules. Upper corner of title-page professionally repaired. Front pastedown shows engraved armorial bookplate (ca. 1700) of the barrister-at-law Herbert Jacob of St Stephen's (Hackington) in Canterbury, who bequeathed his books to the Inner Temple, London. Subsequently removed from the Inner Temple Library, now bearing their winged-horse crest in gilt on upper cover, engraved bookplate on pastedown and two different ink stamps to title-page and variously throughout. Offered by Hordern House, Sydney, in 1998 and sold to the San Francisco collector Bruce McKinney; the lower pastedown shows the bookplate of his 2009 sale. A scarce title with good provenance, in an appealing modern binding.

[Royal Geographical Society]. The Journal of the Royal Geographical Society.London, 1831-1880-1881.

Complete set of all periodical publications of the Royal Geographical Society 1831 through 1948, comprising 203 volumes with thousands of plates and maps, many folding.

Founded in 1830, the Royal Geographical Society spearheaded efforts to accurately map and describe every corner of the known world. As lesser-known regions of the globe such as Africa and the Middle East began to emerge as major centres of global trade in the 19th century, the Society funded thousands of European expeditions to these areas in an effort to promote British commercial and scientific interests. Explorers of the Arabian Peninsula such as Henry St. John Philby (aka "Sheikh Abdullah"), Percy Cox, Theodore Bent, Gertrude Bell, Wilfred Thesiger (aka "Mubarak bin London"), and Bertram Thomas all reported directly to the Royal Geographical Society, and their accounts, often with accompanying maps, contributed enormously to the western interest in the economy and geography of these regions. Macro's "Bibliography of the Arabian Peninsula" - the only major attempt to date to itemize the most important publications on the Arab World - draws heavily on the papers published in the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, especially for 19th century descriptions of the Arabian Gulf and its inhabitants.

Collected here is the entire run of publications issued by the Royal Geographical Society up to the mid-20th century - a full 203 volumes containing thousands of seminal articles, plates, and maps chronicling the modern mapping of the world. Its importance for the Arabian Peninsula is well-reflected in Macro's bibliography. Wilson's 1833 "Memorandum Respecting the Pearl Fisheries in the Persian Gulf", James Wellsted's "Observations on the Coast of Arabia between Rás Mohammed and Jiddah" (1836), and Felix Haig's "Memoirs of the Southeast Coast of Arabia" (1839) are among the earliest reports on those regions. Georg Wallin delivered a valuable report on the Hajj to the Society in 1854 in his "Narrative of a Journey from Cairo to Medina and Mecca"; William Palgrave is today regarded as one of the most important European explorers of the Peninsula, and his "Observations made in Central, Eastern and Southern Arabia, 1862-3" is found in the 1864 volume of the Journal. A lesser-known figure is Lewis Pelly, who in the Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society (1863) delivered a remarkably prescient lecture, "On the Geographical Capabilities of the Persian Gulf as an Area of Trade" - highlighting the future importance of the tribes and territories of the Gulf as global commercial centres, from Kuwait down to the coasts mainly controlled by "Arab pirates". He also contributed "A Visit to the Wahabee Capital, Central Arabia" (1865) - a fascinating, early account of Riyadh.

The 1890s saw a spurt of accounts of the Gulf in the Journal by Theodore Bent including "The Bahrein Islands, in the Persian Gulf" (1890), "Expedition to the Hadhramaut" (1894), and "Exploration of the Frankincense Country, Southern Arabia" (1895). Also of note was an important study of the historical importance of Gulf ports such as Bahrain, discussed in Arthur Stiffe's 1897 article "Ancient Trading Centres of the Persian Gulf". From this point on contributions on the Peninsula become too numerous to list: among them are Frank Clemow's "A Visit to the Rock-Tombs of Medain Salih and the Southern Section of the Hejaz Railway" (1913); Sir Percy Cox's "Overland Journey to Maskat from the Persian Gulf" (1902) and his fascinating account of Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud, "The Wahabi King" (1928); Gertrude Bell's "A Journey in Northern Arabia" (1914); Lees's "The Physical Geography of Southeastern Arabia" (1928); Holt's "The Future of the North Arabian Desert" (1923); Harry St. John Philby's "Account of Explorations in the Great South Desert of Arabia" (1933); Cheesman's description of the Arabian coastline between Qatar and Bahrain, "From Oqair [Al Uqair] to the ruins of Salwa" (1923); Bertram Thomas's "A Journey into the Rub' al-Khali" (1931) and "The Southeastern Borderlands of the Rub' al-Khali" (1929); Lees's "The Physical Geography of Southeastern Arabia" (1928); and Cochrane's early aerial surveys of Southern Arabia ("Air Reconaissance of the Hadhramaut", 1931). We also find several papers by R. E. Leachman - "the second Lawrence", murdered in Iraq in 1920 - including his "Journey Across Arabia" (1913) and "A Journey through Central Arabia" (1914). Wilfred Thesiger, who drew attention to the borderlands between present day UAE and Oman, contributed "A New Journey in Southern Arabia" (1946); "Journey through the Tihama, the Asir and the Hijaz Mountains" (1948); and "Across the Empty Quarter" (1948) to the Journal, and we also find K. C. Jordan's "adjustments" to Thesiger's map of Southeastern Arabia in Vol. 111 (1948).

Fremont, John Charles. Map of an exploring expedition to the Rocky Mountains in the year 1842 …Baltimore, 1845.

Interesting and beautifully lithographed map of previously almost entirely uncharted parts of America still inhabited by the Utah, Sioux and Pawnee Indians, considered one of the most important maps of the western United States issued in the first half of the 19th century. Wheat noted that "John Fremont's map of 1845 represented as important a step forward from the earlier western maps of the period as did those of Pike, Long, and Lewis and Clark in their day".

At the top is an inset of a "Profile of the route from the Mouth of the Kansas to the Pacific by Capt. J. C. Fremont in 1843" (horizontal scale: 1:3,000,000).

The map includes parts of the States of Oregon and California in the West, via parts of Nevada, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming and Colorado, to parts of Nebraska and Kansas in the East; from the west coast the mouth of the Columbia River, Fort Vancouver (Portland) in the Northwest, via San Francisco to St. Barbara, Ventura and the outskirts of today's Los Angeles in the Southwest, through the Rocky Mountains, the areas of the Utah, Sioux and Pawnee Indians, in a kind of triangle to the Missouri River and Fort Leaverwood near today's Kansas city and Westpoint in the East (an area of approximately 1,300 x 2,600 km).

The map is from Fremont's "Report of the Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Mountains", which includes the first accurate depiction of the Great Salt Lake. "Though the Oregon Trail and the Spanish Trail had been regularly used for a few years there were no dependable maps. For other parts of Fremont's route, much of the recording of his map was new, including the whole extent of the Sierra Nevada Range, the California rivers from the American River south, and the three Colorado rivers" (Streeter). It is therefore hard to overestimate the influence of this map, which left only minor areas unmapped or unexplored with the exception of the Great Basin. Wheat states that it "radically and permanently altered western cartography".

John Charles Fremont (1813-90) was a young and ambitious lieutenant in the Corps of Topographical Engineers. Together with the Frenchman Joseph N. Nicollet he completed the first truly scientific survey of the interior during 1838-39. He was the son-in-law of the powerful Senator Thomas Hart Benson from Missouri and under his influence he undertook three further expeditions to the west. Arriving in the United States in 1834, Fremont hired Charles Preuss as a cartographer and draughtsman. Preuss would go on to draw both of Fremont's other highly important maps of the west.

Some soiling and spotting, otherwise in good condition.

Breydenbach, Bernhard von. Peregrinatio in terram sanctam.Mainz, 11 Feb 1486.

Editio princeps of the first modern travelogue of a journey from Venice to the Holy Land, and "the first illustrated book of travel ever printed [...] [T]he folding panoramic views [...] are the first authentic representations of the famous places depicted, i. e., the ports usually visited by every pilgrim of the period [... The] artist was Erhard Reuwich [..., who] graphically record[ed] the impressions of the voyage" (Davies). The splendid panoramic folding views show Venice (ca. 160 cms long!), Porec and Corfu (both ca. 40 cms), Methoni, Crete and Rhodes (all ca. 80 cms) as well as Jerusalem (ca. 130 cms).

This work is considered the first authentic Western source for the Near and Middle East, as the illustrations were prepared from actual observation of the lands and people described. Breydenbach travelled to the Holy Land in 1483/84 with a large party including the artist Reuwich from Utrecht. Following the traditional route, they travelled from Venice to Corfu, Modon, Crete, Rhodes and Jaffa before arriving in Jerusalem, and then through the Sinai desert to Mt. Sinai, Cairo, and Alexandria on the return journey. The book quickly became extremely popular and was translated into French, Dutch and Spanish before 1500. It includes illustrations of Middle Eastern and Bedouin costume, a glossary of common Arabic words, and pictures of animals encountered on the journey (including a crocodile, a camel, and even a unicorn), as well as an Arabic alphabet - the latter of especial importance for being the first of its kind ever to see print: "The first representation of Arabic letters in a printed book was done in Germany; this was the woodcut of the Arabic alphabet in Bernhard von Breydenbach's 'Peregrinatio'" (Toomer).

Title-page trimmed to the neatline, remargined on all sides, a narrow strip along the left edge as well as a tiny ornament at the bottom supplied in meticulous ink. A témoin to upper corner of a single leaf (not touching text), another leaf showing a short tear near the gutter and traces of old glue; lower corner of final leaf remargined. Dry-cleaned throughout very carefully, the paper retaining light browning and occasional fingerstains. The views are very well preserved throughout and present as entirely complete, although some have small portions supplied from other copies of the same edition or are professionally retouched: some 22 cms in the middle section of the view of Venice are barely noticeably supplied in ink, and three segments are from another copy; tiny flaws in the folds. One fold in the view of Methoni is rebacked with a tiny gap. One half of Crete and Rhodes each supplied from another copy, seguing into each other in professionally drawn ink retouchings measuring ca. 2 cms. Right half of the view of Rhodes trimmed to neatline and remargined; a few professionally restored edge tears. The spectacular view of Jerusalem, frequently lacking, is complete and uncommonly well preserved, showing only are few well-restored edge tears. Altogether an outstanding copy on strong, unusually wide-margined paper, splendidly bound in the early 19th century.

The present first edition is extremely rare in the trade, usually appearing only in severely mutilated copies or even in fragments comprising no more than a few leaves. The only similarly complete copy in auction records since 1900 was the Perrins-Wardington copy (complete), sold at Sotheby's in 2005 for £265,600 (today, ca. EUR 500,000), while the Consul Smith copy sold at Christie's in 2018 lacked one quire consisting of the Jerusalem view and 2 woodcut scenes, as well as about half of Venice and Rhodes views.

From the library of the great English bibliophile Thomas Edward Watson, 1st Bart. (1851-1921) with his engraved bookplate ("St. Mary's Lodge, Newport Monmouthshire") on the front pastedown; old bookseller's catalogue clipping mounted to flyleaf and pencil annotation: "This is a far finer copy than the B[ritish] M[useum] Copy ..., that being badly coloured & much wormed". Last in a noted German private collection and acquired directly.

[Medieval timekeeping]. Calculus temporum ecclesiasticus.Possibly England, ca. 1360.

With no other known textual witnesses, this extremely interesting Latin calendrical manuscript must be considered a unique work, possibly of English origin. It was formerly the property of the bibliophile Sir Thomas Phillipps (1792-1872), who lends the work its title (and short catalogue description) on its wrappers.

It appears likely that the manuscript had not been entirely completed by its scribe when it was bound, as there are a number of spaces left open in the text for diagrams which were never drawn in, as well as spaces for catchwords in the left margin of the pages (a later owner has completed a few of these). Throughout the manuscript, the text makes reference to these non-existent diagrams; these were perhaps intended to contain computational tables or similar, although the incipit does indicate significant astronomical content when it describes the "motus planetarum". The three final leaves, which are penned in a slightly different, but likewise contemporary hand, may be an attempt to complete the work textually.

The paper itself is heavy, rather crude in manufacture, showing two watermarks: the first, three flowers on stems growing from a single bulb; the second, apparently two circles, one crossed diagonally. That the manuscript was written on paper at such an early date as the mid-14th century is striking: this early example of a European manuscript on paper, rather than vellum, would indeed be exceptionally early if it is in fact English, where paper manuscripts appear later than on the continent.

Altogether, a fascinating example of a unique 14th century manuscript in progress, and one with a rather unique construction, as well as no other surviving copies. The most notable previous owner of the manuscript was Sir Thomas Phillipps, who amassed one of the greatest private manuscript collections in English history. Phillipps's description is pasted to the inside front cover, and the first leaf shows "Phillipps Ms. 23256" inked in Phillipps's own hand in the lower margin.

(Ebendorfer, Thomas, von Haselbach, theologian and historiographer [1388-1464]). Sermones de poenitentia et restitutione (Poenitentiale). Sermones de confessione.Probably Vienna, after 1460.

Extensive collection of mostly late sermons by the versatile Austrian theologian Thomas Ebendorfer from Haselbach near Korneuburg, who is best remembered for his "Cronica Austrie" and who long served as professor as well as variously as dean and rector of the University of Vienna. All writings here present are also to be found (in a slightly different order) in the Vienna manuscript Cod. 4041, in the author's own hand. They comprise on the one hand the fairy widely copied "Sermones de confessione" (a series of eight sermons) in Ebendorfer's revised version from 1447, and on the other a set of 25 treatises collected under the title "Poenitentiale", which focuses on penitence and repentance, reparation, debt, usury, pledges, testaments, and related subjects (1456-1461). According to Lhotsky this latter collection does not appear to have been widely disseminated beyond the author's original manuscript: although we have been able to trace individual parts in other codices (Eichstätt University Library, Cod. st 761: Lhotsky 134, 110, 102, 111, 112, 132, 133; Vienna, Schottenstift, Cod. 387: Lhotsky 110, 102, 111), this series was obviously copied very rarely, and the only other known similarly complete transmission remains the autograph in the Austrian National Library. Contains individually:

1r: Collationes de ieiunio (Lhotsky 134), nine sermons; followed by a poem (36vb) "Gloria, laus et honor ... Apicum hic scriptor quem Haselpach vexit ad ortum ut prece placatus sit deus ipse pius" (Lhotsky 136); the remainder of the column as well as the entire leaf 37 are left blank.

38r: Tractatus de contritione (Lhotsky 110, inc. "Ait dominus per prophetam", but the painted initial "S" corrupts this to "Sit ..."); interrupted on 42va (with a marginal note "hic non est defectus") and continued on 43ra; an oblong 8vo leaf written on both sides in a different hand, bound before 72r, contains inserted text; expl. 82va "... suo pondere ad aliud trahit. Sic est finis huius primae partis".

82rb: Collationes de confessione (Lhotsky 102), inc. "Ecce nunc tempus"; expl. 135va "Expliciunt collationes Mgri Thomae d'Haslpach De confessione".

135vb: De satisfactione (Lhotsky 111), ten sermons; inc. "Reddite ergo omnes debita. Ita hortatur".

180rb: Tractatus specialis de restitutione que est pars satisfactionis (Lhotsky 112), inc. "Reddite omnibus debita. Ita praecipit".

185ra: Sermo secundus de restitutione (Lhotsky 113).

190ra: De restitutione rapine (Lhotsky 114).

196ra: De contractibus emptionis (Lhotsky 115).

207rb: De mutuo faciendo (Lhotsky 116).

212vb: De usura et iudeis (Lhotsky 117).

218vb: De usura (Lhotsky 118).

224rb: Collatio tertia de usuris (Lhotsky 119).

232rb: Collatio de restitutione usuarum (Lhotsky 120).

238ra: Collatio secunda de restitutione usure (Lhotsky 121).

243rb: Collatio de restitutio pignorum (Lhotsky 122).

247rb: Sermo de solutionibus debitorum (Lhotsky 123).

251va: De restitutione vinctorum (Lhotsky 124).

255va: De testamentis (Lhotsky 125).

260va: De locatione et conductione (Lhotsky 126).

264rb: De comodato (Lhotsky 127).

266va: De custodiendo et servando deposito (Lhotsky 128).

271ra: De restitutione dampnificancium in corpore proximum (Lhotsky 129).

276rb: De restitutione dampnificatorum in bonis anime (Lhotsky 130).

281va: Collatio de restitutione fame ablate (Lhotsky 131).

286ra: Collationes de elemosina (Lhotsky 132), seven sermons.

315ra: Collationes de oratione (Lhotsky 133), eleven sermons; dated "1460" in the margin of 329v; expl. 365rb: "Et sic est finis illarum collationum".

Of the 26 individual chapters, no fewer than 16 are decorated with small, but quite meticulous initials in colours and gilt, while the others have lombardic initials. Bound in an attractive, immediately contemporary Gothic pigskin binding by the Viennese bookbinder Mathias, exhibiting the typical features of his mature work. "Mathias is foremost among Vienna's bookbinders of the Gothic period; his name is known from the scroll stamp he used. He was active from about 1450 to 1474. It was he who created the classic Viennese binding style that was to be much imitated but never replicated [...] Several books bearing Mathias's stamps were bound for Emperor Frederick III [...] His craft reached its first peak around the year 1460" (cf. H. Kühnel, Ausstellung Gotik in Österreich, Krems 1967, p. 265).

Of the original five brass bosses to each of the covers, the present volume wants three on the upper and four on the lower cover, as well as the brass clasps. Insignificant worming to lower and tiny chafe marks to upper cover. Front hinge starting at top. Several additions and insertions in the margins and on extra leaf in a different contemporary hand; numerous manicules. Small traces of worming to the upper corner of fols. 217-229, occasionally just touching foliation.

Provenance: from the library of the Servite Order in Vienna's Rossau suburb with their 18th century engraved bookplate on the front pastedown and a smaller version thereof, as well as a faded stamp, on the first page; handwritten shelfmark "MS 73" (olim: 30); traces of an additional stamp on the front pastedown. A splendid Viennese codex containing writings by one of the great Viennese scholars of the late Middle Ages, in an original binding by the leading Viennese bookbinder of the Gothic period.

Megiser, Hieronymus. Institutionum linguae Turcicae, libri quatuor [...].Leipzig and Breslau, 1612.

First edition of "the first full-fledged Turkish grammar to be published in Europe" (Smitskamp), "a landmark in Turkish studies" (Navari), one of the most important works produced by the versatile scholar Megiser (1554-1619) from Stuttgart. This copy contains not only the rare additional printed dedication to the Carinthian nobleman Hector von Ernau, but also the extensive handwritten notes of the contemporary Arabist Johann Melchior Mader. In fact, this unique volume constitutes the fullest document extant about an only vaguely known and unresearched triangle of early 17th century enthusiasts of Arabic: Megiser, Ernau, and Mader, only the first of whom achieved fame.

The most obvious asset of the present copy lies in Mader's generous scholarly annotations both in the text as well as on the interleaved pages which expand the book, usually encompassing a mere 167 leaves, to two and a half times its normal size. While the additions in the interleaving are mostly slight, those on the blanks inserted between the individual parts are often quite extensive. Part one (concerned with the Arabic alphabet and spelling, printed by the physician and orientalist Kirsten in Breslau and the only part to contain letterpress Arabic) is followed by 5½ densely handwritten pages of "Sententiae et proverbia Arabica", with 63 numbered sayings (both in Arabic script as well as in transliteration and Latin - and occasionally German - translation). Part two discusses grammar proper; part three contains specimen Turkish versions of the Lord's Prayer, the Apostles' Creed, the Decalogue, and Psalm 51, as well as two centuries of Turkish proverbs transliterated in Roman italics (including Latin, Italian, and German translations). Here, Mader has in several cases provided the Turkish in carefully pointed Ottoman script, and has sometimes corrected the printed text. In the blanks following this section, Mader has added a little over 26 closely written pages of "Proverbia et Sententiae Turcica" (he stops numbering them at 179, with a good ten pages to go). The fourth and final part offers a Latin-Turkish as well as a Turkish-Latin dictionary; this latter section in particular is replete with Mader's handwritten additions, which expand on the printed word list by a generous third. At the end are another three pages of handwritten "Proverbia et Sententiae Persicae", underlining Mader's specific interest in paroemiography - a focus shared by many scholars of the time, including Erpenius. The study of proverbs was thought to offer a window into the culture and mentality behind a language, and the literally hundreds of additional examples here given by Mader not only significantly extend the known corpus of oriental adages, but with their transliterations also tell us more about the pronunciation of early 17th century Turkish.

The other merit of this volume lies in Mader's notes about the editorial genesis and authorship of Megiser's work. At the end of the extra dedication to Ernau (two printed leaves in which Megiser calls Ernau "autor", inserted between A1 and A2 and not present in any other known copy), Mader asserts that Ernau is indeed the real author of this Introduction to Turkish. Megiser, writes Mader, inserted the extra dedication only in the presentation copies he sent to Ernau but deliberately omitted them from the general press run, so as that he himself might appear the author: "The lord of Ernau wrote and disposed the work during his stay at Constantinople, and Megiser published it as its author, though it was not so". In reinforcement of this statement, Mader has stricken out the word "Authore" referring to Megiser on the title page and corrected this to "Descriptore".

Mader's handwritten ownership of this volume ("Joannes Melchior Maderus e Quabilinis", with an Arabic inscription and quotes from Ovid) is on the front pastedown, dated 1620. Remarkably, Mader made a similar claim in print at almost the same time. In 1621 he published at Nuremberg, under a false imprint, an obscure 64-page book on horses and riding ("Equestria sive de arte equitandi") best remembered for providing a definition of a horse that would have satisfied Mr. Gradgrind: "A horse is a non-rational animal that whinnies" (E2r). More than half of this vanity production is taken up with dedications to Mader's noble Carinthian friends, and in this introduction he mentions not only Hector von Ernau and his labour undertaken while at the Ottoman court, but also how Megiser (somewhat unfairly called "ignorant of the Turkish language") appropriated his work and published it eight years previously. Strikingly, he goes on to discuss the very annotated copy here under consideration: "but we shall revise that book, and put it forth with other Turkish, Persian, and Arabic daintinesses, as well as with brief corrections" (D2v).

Unfortunately, this planned revision, the draft of which has here survived, did not materialize. Far too little is known about Mader: ironically, although in the "Equestria" he signs his name as a "doctor of philosophy", that pamphlet cast him as a veterinarian in bibliographic history, and as such he is cited by Jöcher and Schrader (where it is also stated in error that he hailed "from Carniola"). In fact, Mader even then had two Arabist publications to his name: in 1617 he produced not only a ten-page "Grammatica Arabica", but also a long "Oratio pro lingua Arabica" (both printed by David Franck in Augsburg). While the former includes among the dedicatees Johann Ulrich von Ernau (curiously disguised as "Ioan. Ulricus Österreicherus"), the latter contains a long list enumerating the "illustres & clarissimi eruditione viri" to whose work in Arabic he is indebted, among them not only "Petrus Kirstenius M.D., amicus meus singularis", but also "Hieronymus Megiserus, polyglottus ille Archiducum Austriae".

Mader was born in Waiblingen near Stuttgart, likely in the early 1590s; he matriculated at Tübingen in 1611, took a Master's degree in 1613 and left the university two years later (cf. Hermelink II, p. 65). His years as a travelling scholar from 1615 to 1620, which took him as far as Prague, Leipzig, Weimar, Leiden, Paris, Louvain, Basel, Strasbourg, Augsburg, Linz, Vienna, Seisenberg in Carniola, and Padua, can be traced in his friendship album (Frommann collection, Württembergische Landesbibliothek Stuttgart, StB-Nr. 138), which includes entries by Andreas Osiander the Younger, Thomas Erpenius, Gabriel Sionita, Johannes Hesronita, and Johann Buxtorf, as well as by many dedicatees of his works. His numerous friendships among Carinthian and Carniolan noblemen can best be explained by reference to his fellow Württembergian Megiser, who signed the album in Linz on June 14, 1618, while serving as historiographer to the Upper Austrian estates: the scholar sported a theory that the Dukes of Carinthia were descended from the Counts of Waiblingen, Mader's birthplace (cf. his Annales Carinthiae [1612], p. 12, likewise mainly the work of a different, uncredited writer), and so it was probably Megiser (whom Mader would soon come to view so critically) who first suggested that Carinthia was the place whence a full-blooded Swabian ought to turn. Mader's later fate is uncertain, but it is likely he died soon after producing the "Equestria", in the early years of the Thirty Years' War that claimed so many lives by famine and disease.

Hector von Ernau, born the son of the Carinthian mint-master in 1562, went on to serve his native country in high offices; he died in Basel in 1649 without having achieved notoriety as a linguist. His sojourn in Constantinople, likely as the member of an embassy, and the extent of his studies in oriental languages, so highly praised by Mader, must remain the subject of further investigation.

Provenance: 1) Mader; 2) 18th century ownership "L. V. Pantaleon" on title-page; 3) ownership of Francis Watts, Geneva 1823, on flyleaf; 4) Sefik E. Atabey (his bookplate on the pastedown). In fine condition throughout.

Lawrence, T[homas] E[dward]. Seven Pillars of Wisdom. A Triumph. [Together with:] An archive of memorabilia …London, 1926.

An outstanding exemplar of one of the few purposely incomplete copies of the subscribers' edition, presented by Lawrence to his brother-in-arms Lieutenant Samuel H. Brodie. Accompanied by an immersive archive of material that draws us into the world of a serving soldier during the Arab Revolt, in particular the famed assault on the Hejaz Railway, of singular importance in prising open the Ottoman grip on the region.

This copy of "Seven Pillars" is inscribed on a preliminary blank in the hand of Brodie's mother: "Samuel H. Brodie from Colonel T. E. Lawrence, December 1926", and is one of 32 incomplete subscribers' copies, from a total edition of 211, intentionally issued in this way under Lawrence's instructions. These copies were to be reserved and "presented to the men who had served with him in Arabia and who were not able to pay the high price asked for the complete issue" (O'Brien, p. 32); the intentional omission of a number of plates served to prevent these copies from devaluing those that were issued complete. In a letter to H. W. Bailey, a private with the Hejaz Armoured Car Company, Lawrence wrote, "I'm sending free copies of my Arabian yarn to the fellows who helped in the business". Inscribed by Lawrence at the foot of p. XIX: "Incomplete copy I.XII.26 TES", and although lacking the majority of the plates called for in the list of illustrations, this copy does include the "Prickly Pear" plate, most often lacking; page XV is mispaginated as VIII.

In Lawrence's words, Lieutenant Samuel Henry Brodie MC, an indefatigable Scottish artilleryman who rose through the ranks, "seemed able to pick up his unit, and carry it forward with him over every obstacle. On every occasion and in every crisis they were always in place at the right moment". During the Arab Revolt Brodie served as a lieutenant in the Royal Field Artillery (RFA), his unit based at Azrak, an oasis near Aqaba, the jumping off point for Lawrence's famous raids on the Hejaz Railway. Brodie commanded the Ten-Pounder Talbot Battery attached to the Hejaz Armoured Car Company (see Nominal Roll: Hejaz Armoured Car Company, "Seven Pillars of Wisdom", Appendix I). Brodie notes in his record of service (present here) that in March 1917 the Talbot cars and guns were combined at Matruh to form 10th Motor Section RFA and that he was "with Hedjaz Forces" between 11 November 1917 and 17 November 1918, when he transferred to 19th Brigade Royal Horse Artillery.

Lawrence gives a vivid description of Brodie and his mountain gun unit, which was carried on Talbot light trucks: "This section was an oddment which General Clayton [chief of intelligence, Egypt] had seen in Egypt, and had sent down to us in an inspired moment. Its six Talbots, specially geared for heavy work, carried two ten-pounders with British gunners. It was wicked to give good men such rotten tools; yet their spirit seemed hardly affected by the inferior weapons. Their commander, Brodie, was a silent Scotsman, never very buoyant and never too anxious, a man who found difficulties shameful to notice, and who stamped himself on his fellows. However hard the duty given them, they always attacked it with such untroubled determination that their will prevailed. On every occasion and in every crisis they would be surely in place at their moment, perspiring but imperturbable, with never a word in explanation or complaint" ("Seven Pillars", present ed., p. 440). Brodie also clearly had a keen eye when it came to range finding (that essential string to a gunner's bow), and Lawrence describes admiringly his accurate shelling of the Turkish-held station at Tell Shahm in April 1918 as being conducted "with his usual nicety" (ibid., p. 507).

The core of the accompanying archive is the collection of over 150 original photographs, loose and in albums, mostly in smaller "snapshot" formats, but of great immediacy, the majority of them relating directly to the Arab Revolt and with telling annotation relating to location, personnel, and the specifics of action. The majority of these are sepia-toned bromide prints on matte paper. Highlights include a quantity of wonderfully evocative images of Brodie's unit in the field, including Brodie himself, his second-in-command George Pascoe, and attacks on strategically important stations along the Hejaz railway. One key moment from the campaign pictured here is the successful attack in April 1918 at Tell Shahm, led by Colonel Alan Dawnay and Captain H. S. Hornby; an episode referred to by Brodie in his contribution to "T. E. Lawrence by His Friends" (1937): "Colonel A. Dawnay took us out to break the railway at Tel-el-Sham". Images show Brodie and his unit encamped at Tooth Hill, a regular jumping off point for attacks on the railway; the war diary for Brodie's unit recording that Lawrence visited the camp there. Another image shows the view from an Ottoman strongpoint defending the railway, captured during the attack, showing the railway and Tooth Hill in the background. Other images illustrate the 8 August 1918 attack at Mudawwara, a key strategic station south of the heavily fortified Ottoman stronghold at Ma'an. Brodie's snapshots show the destroyed station from different positions, including images of shattered buildings and a shot of the explosion that destroyed the well. Some four striking and hugely evocative images were taken on the beach at Aqaba in November 1917, a number including "Sherefian Troops" landing and their flag being raised; these presumably the troops of Sherif Hussein bin Ali of Mecca.

One outstanding photograph appears at the opening to a dilapidated album: a superbly atmospheric image captioned by Brodie, "10 pdrs Mountain Guns. Firing in Arabia. 40 odd miles north east of Akaba"; this was not taken by Brodie and has been attributed to Lowell Thomas's photographer Harry Chase; interestingly, it clearly shows the British gunners wearing the traditional Arab "agal" and "keffiyeh" (head circlet and head covering). A group of six large photographs (160 x 205 mm) feature aircraft, mainly British, four of these showing some 100 machines assembled for inspection in the desert, part of which may be X Flight of the Royal Flying Corps which was put together at Lawrence's request in order to support Feisal's Northern Arab Army; some images show urban scenes at Akaba, Ma'an, and Wedj. Another album contains similarly larger format images that were clearly spoils of war, as they show German and Austrian materiel, including a German camp in Palestine, and three images of a downed British plane (identified by us as an RE8 of 142 Squadron, shot down over Nablus in April 1918). Among the ephemera are two tickets for the Hejaz Railway, both annotated by Brodie: one of which is dated 23 September 1918 at Ma'an station, which coincides with the action known as the Third Transjordan attack (19-25 September).

Accompanying the photographs is an Arab "agal" worn by Brodie during the campaign (among the images he is pictured wearing one), formed of a double circlet of light grey silk threads bound at intervals with blue-green silk threads and copper wire, terminating in two loops connected by a cord with a tassel of grey silk threads (approx. 990 mm long without cord, some light soiling and staining, a few threads loose and fraying). In Lawrence's famed "Twenty-Seven Articles", jotted down in August 1917 and intended for the guidance of British officers working alongside their Arab allies, and now close-to axiomatic in the doctrine of asymmetric warfare, he advised: "wear an Arab headcloth when with a tribe. Bedu have a malignant prejudice against the hat, and believe that our persistence in wearing it (due probably to British obstinacy of dictation) is founded on some immoral or irreligious principle. A thick headcloth forms a good protection against the sun, and if you wear a hat your best Arab friends will be ashamed of you in public" (cited in Wilson, "Lawrence of Arabia", p. 963).

Rounding off the collection is a small group of memorabilia pertaining to Brodie's post-war and posthumous relationship with Lawrence and his legend, including a card from Lawrence's mother thanking Brodie for his condolences; his invitation to the funeral together with a photograph of him in the cortege; invitations to the service of dedication of the Lawrence memorial at St Paul's Cathedral, and to the premier of the David Lean film. Also present is the form letter soliciting contributions to "T. E. Lawrence by his Friends" (1937) and Brodie's retained copy of his piece for publication, sent to the editor A. W. Lawrence, T. E.'s brother. Brodie recounts Lawrence's arrival at his encampment the night before the attack at Tell Shahm: "In the small hours of the morning my sentry challenged, not someone advancing from the plain in front, [but] someone dressed in white advancing from our rear. This was Colonel Lawrence. He greeted me with his usual 'How do Brodie', and asked for Colonel [Dawnay]. I told him where to go and with thanks he left us". This was reprinted by A. W. Lawrence in a slightly altered form.

Extremities lightly rubbed, 2 maps creased at fore and bottom edges, maps reinforced verso with some light finger-soiling confined to margins; the chemise worn, with front lower flap torn and defective, spine slightly soiled. A handsome copy.

Provenance: by descent from the family. This enthralling archive of exceptional vérité images offers a fascinating insight into operations on the Hejaz Railway and the broader theatre, which will forever be associated with the near-mythical enterprise of "Lawrence of Arabia".