Firsts 2021. London's Rare Book Fair
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21 October 2021 - 24 October 2021
The Saatchi Gallery, London SW3
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1Owned by the Austrian theologian Johann Hofmüllner of Weitra
Homilies by Augustine, Bede and others. (With:) (Pseudo-)Petrus de Pilichdorf …Probably Lower Austria, before 1447.
€ 45,000.00Fine late medieval sermon manuscript owned by the Viennese theologian Johann Hofmüllner of Weitra (d. 1475), with an anti-Waldensian treatise at the end. The first part contains mainly homilies for various feast days and Bible passages drawn from St Augustine and the Venerable Bede:
1r: In vigilia ascensionis. S. Johan. In illo tempore sublevatis …
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3St Augustine's "City of God"
De civitate dei.Venice, 1475.
InquireBeautifully printed incunabular edition of St Augustine's "City of God", the seventh printing altogether and the third printed in Venice (after those of Vindelinus de Spira from 1470 and of Nicolaus Jenson, dated 2 October 1475). It comes from the presses of the Treviso-born printer Gabriele di Pietro, whose first productions date back to 1472, and …
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4
[The gathering of Manna and a Dominican friar reading mass].Swabia, 1475-1500.
€ 6,500.00Circular miniature initial separated into two parts by a curved S-shape in gilt. The upper section represents three Jewish figures gathering manna falling from the heavens during the Exodus. To the right a horned Moses is seen. The lower section shows a Dominican friar celebrating mass before a monstrance and an altar. The manna scene serves as a …
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6Splendid imitation Grolier binding by Hagué
Institutiones. (Comm. Franciscus Accursius).Nuremberg, 27 Dec. 1486.
€ 35,000.00Fine Koberger edition of the Institutes of Justinian, the students' textbook that forms part of the sixth-century codification of Roman law known as the Corpus Juris Civilis. Printed in red and black Gothic typeface with the gloss of Accursius, this rare edition from the press of Dürer's godfather is sought after for the high quality of its printing.
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7Splendid vellum manuscript by Jean Coene, replete with illuminations of female saints, probably commissioned by a Paris nunnery
Latin manuscript on vellum.Northern France, ca. 1500.
€ 185,000.00An uncommonly painstakingly prepared liturgical manuscript with remarkable illumination by the Parisian artist Jean Coene IV, known as the "Master of the Paris Entrances", probably commissioned for a nuns' order. Apart from the hundreds of initials, painted on gilt background and mostly decorated with flowers, berries, and leaves, the manuscript …
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9The first systematic study to address exclusively the education of women
Von underweysung ayner Christlichen Frauwen, Drey Bücher.Augsburg, 1 March 1544.
€ 18,000.00First German edition of "the first systematic study to address explicitly and exclusively the universal education of women", at the same time a fine and rare woodcut book. Commissioned by the wife of Henry VIII, Catherine of Aragon, who was at the time rearing her own daughter, Mary Tudor, Vives' treatise was translated and adapted by numerous followers …
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10Alhazen’s optics, this copy gifted by Wilhelm Xylander: the exceedingly rare first edition of a milestone in Arabic science
[Kitab al-Manazir, latine]. Opticae thesaurus. Alhazeni Arabis libri septem, …Basel, August 1572.
€ 95,000.00First edition of "the most important work of its kind in Arabic literature" (cf. Poggendorf), this copy inscribed by the German humanist Wilhelm Xylander (1532-76), sometime rector of Heidelberg University.
Ibn al-Haytham (965-c. 1040), known as Alhazen in the Western tradition, has been hailed as "the greatest Muslim physicist and one of …
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11One of the first works in English on the exploration of the world
The First Booke of the Historie of the Discoverie and Conquest of the East …London, 1582.
€ 85,000.00First 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 …
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12Treatise on drawing horary lines on horizontal, vertical, and oblique sundials
Irshad al-ha'ir ila takhtit fadl al-da'ir [Guide to the Right Path for …No place, late 16th century CE ca. 1000 H.
InquireAn astronomical work on drawing horary lines on sundials, by the Egyptian mathematician and astronomer Shihab al-Din ibn al-Majdi, arranged in three parts: horizontal sundials; vertical sundials; and oblique sundials. Other copies can be found in Berlin, Cairo, Istanbul, Leiden, Rabat and Tunis; there appears to be no copy of this work in the British …
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13"Masterpiece of design"
Alphabetum arabicum.Rome, 1592.
€ 28,000.00Only edition of this early milestone of Arabic typography from the Roman Medici Press, including a Latin treatise on Arabic script. The Medici Oriental Press, the first printing press in Europe dedicated to printing books in an Arabic typeface, was founded in Rome under the direction of Giovanni Battista Raimondi and the patronage of Pope Gregory …
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14The Medicea's last production: dedication copy for Pope Paul V
[Kitab al-tasrif ta'lif al-shaykh al-Imami]. Liber Tasriphi compositio …Rome, 1610.
InquireFirst edition of this grammatical treatise of Arabic known as the "Tasrif al-Zanjani", not printed again until 1817 (in Istanbul): the final work to leave Raimondi's famous Medicea press, and the only one produced there after a hiatus of 15 years. The long hibernation phase into which the Medicea entered after printing her last book in 1595 for Pope …
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15
Origine, e fondatione di tutte le religioni, e militie di cavallieri, con …Vicenza, 1614.
€ 6,500.00First edition. Rare treatise on the history of the orders of knighthood, by the Reverend Andrea Guarini, discussing the origin and foundation of all religious and military orders established since the early Middle Ages. The work includes descriptions of the Constantinian Order ("the noblest and oldest", p. 5), the Knights Templar, the Knights of …
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16The greatest of star catalogues between those of Ptolemy and Brahe
[Jadawel mavadeh thavabet dar tool wa ard keh be rasad yaft-e Oloq Bayk …Oxford, 1665.
InquireEditio princeps of Ulugh Beg’s "Zij-i Jadid-i Sultani", in the words of the Encyclopedia Britannica “the greatest of star catalogues between those of Ptolemy and Brahe”. Ulugh Beg (1394-1449) was the grandson of Timur, known in Europe as Tamerlane. In 1409, his father, Shah Rukh, appointed him governor of Samarkand, and he quickly set about …
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17A cross-cultural milestone, unpublished for more than 150 years: a Polish-born Turk's Osmanli Bible, produced under the auspices of a Dutch project for universal peace
Turkish translation of the New Testament. Secretarial manuscript with Ali …Constantinople, 1665.
€ 75,000.00Considered lost: a volume of Ali Ufki Bey's famous Bible translation, "the lineal ancestor of today’s Turkish Bible" (Privratsky), the last manuscript in private hands.
A project born of Protestant disappointment with the outcome of the 30 Years' War, the 17th century enterprise to translate the Bible into Turkish was informed by Christian …
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25Splendid neoclassical binding by G. F. Krauss for Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen
Opera.Paris, 1799.
€ 18,000.00Didot's "Louvre" edition of Horace, limited to 250 copies, of which this is no. 46 (and one of 100 copies containing the engravings "avant la lettre), signed by the publisher Pierre Didot the Elder ("No. 46 quarante-sixieme sur deux cents cinquante. P. Didot, l'aine"). The elegant unsigned binding is to be attributed to the Viennese artist bookbinder …
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29Two short piano works inspired by Polish folk music
Autograph musical manuscript of two short works for piano: "All[egre]tto" …No place, ca. 1832-1833.
€ 240,000.00Two short piano works inspired by Polish folk music. Kobylanska considers that whilst both works are signed by Chopin, they are too unsophisticated to be his own compositions, and are perhaps transcriptions of Polish folk tunes: "Beide Stücke sind zwar mit Ch signiert, in ihrer ganzen Art jedoch zu primitiv, als daß man sie für eigene Kompositionen …
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31
A Description of the Chinese Junk "Keying".London, 1848.
€ 7,500.00Exhibition catalogue for the Chinese trade junk "Keying", at anchor for visitors against admission in the London Docklands in 1848. Personalised copy of the Swedish visitor Carl Peter Freidenfeldt, with autograph of and stamped by the Mandarin on board, He Sing.
The "Keying", an impressive 3-masted 800-ton sailing ship, was the first Chinese …
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33
13 original colour drawings in an album.No place Germany or Britain?, 1857.
€ 9,500.00A splendid album of ethnographic portraits, possibly intended as templates for the nine-year-old Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll (1848-1939), the sixth daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and like her mother a highly accomplished artist at an early age. The meticulous and detailed drawings show representatives …
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34Early Turkish voyage and expedition
Seyâhatnâme-i Bahr-i Muhit.Istanbul, 1868 CE = 1285 H.
€ 9,500.00First and only early edition.
An exceedingly rare travelogue of the first ever voyage of the Ottoman navy to the American continent, albeit accidental. Thrown off their course to Basra by a storm on the Atlantic near Cape Verde, the two Ottoman warships Bursa and Izmir were dragged in the opposite direction, to Rio de Janeiro. This lively …
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36Inscribed by the author
Über den Bau der Nervenfasern und Nervenzellen beim Flusskrebs.Vienna, 1882.
€ 15,000.00First edition of this very rare pamphlet: Freud's only fifth own publication, offprint from vol. LXXXV, 3rd Dept., January issue. Inscribed and signed on the upper wrapper cover to his schoolfriend, the chemist Josef Herzig: "Seinem lieben Freunde Dr. Jozef Herzig | dVerf.".
"In this paper on the nerve cells of river crayfish, Freud was the …
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38Inscribed by the author to Sultan Abdul Hamid II
Ueber den Rückzug der Zehntausend. Eine Studie.Berlin, 1886.
€ 8,500.00First and sole edition of this historical study of the "March of the Ten Thousand", the retreat of Greek mercenaries immortalized in Xenophon's "Anabasis". The author retraces the soldiers' marching route, drawing on his own experience after having spent several years in Armenia. The map shows a portion of Higher Armenia with the author's own route, …
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42Photographs taken by the author between 1905 and 1915
Bilder aus Palästina, Nord-Arabien und dem Sinai.Berlin, 1916.
€ 48,000.00A rare photographic record of the major sites and geographic features in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, Egypt and Palestine. The images - taken for the most part by Moritz but some by Turkish friends in areas where he was prohibited from going - depict pilgrims on the Hajj to Mecca, Bedouins, the building of the Hejaz railway between Damascus and the …
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43Perfect numbered copy of the deluxe issue, signed by the sitters throughout
Köpfe 1920. Eine Sammlung von Bildnis-Radierungen bekannter Persönlichkeiten.Leipzig, 1920.
€ 35,000.00Number 33 of 50 copies of the deluxe issue (entire press run: 150), each portrait bearing the additional signature of the sitter. The sitters are Lovis Corinth, Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, Gerhart Hauptmann, Wolfgang Heine, Ludwig von Hofmann, Arno Holz, Arthur Nikisch, Wilhelm Ostwald, Max Reinhardt, Richard Strauss, and August von Wassermann; …
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44The book that brought Beethoven to China: one of 40 deluxe copies of the original edition
Beethoven. Les grandes époques créatrices.Paris, 1928.
InquireSigned first edition of Rolland's biography of Beethoven, a work that contributed much to shaping the 20th century's image of the great composer - notably in China, where the version prepared from 1931 onwards by Fu Lei (1908-66) and published in 1942 (as "Beiduofen de zuo pin ji qi jing shen") enjoyed widespread popularity. Beethoven's philosophy, …
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49Alfred Hitchcock's storyboard for "Stage Fright" in 340 pencil drawings
Sketches with autograph annotations: storyboard for "Stage Fright".No place, circa 1949.
€ 150,000.00Extraordinary autograph pre-production storyboard for Hitchcock's 1950 film "Stage Fright", comprising preparatory sketches for some three quarters of the film, including the infamous "false flashback" initial sequence, the rest of the first half of the film, the garden party scene and the finale. A rare collection of sketches and comments detailing …