Firsts 2022
London's Rare Book Fair
15-18 September 2022
Stand A5, The Saatchi Gallery, London SW3
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1Technological advances in Saudi ArabiaThe Industrious Saudi Arabs.New York, February 1959.
InquireThird edition. Scarce Aramco poster celebrating technological advances in Saudi Arabia triggered by their cooperation with America. Featuring pictures taken by Aramco employees, it presents the Saudi Arabians' industrial achievements and their growing infrastructure, including railways, loading cranes, accurate scales, gas stations, and machines …
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218th century Russian prognostication manualIllustrated Russian manuscript.Probably Russian Empire, 18th century.
€ 28,500.00A fully handwritten 18th century prognostication manual containing astrological tables and zodiacal charts, Sator squares and other magical tables, as well as ample matter on palmistry. Throughout the volume there are 14 working handcut volvelles with as many as four moveable discs, some with carefully cut windows. An appendix at the end contains …
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3The Father of EmpiricismLetter signed and subscribed ("assured/ fr. verulam Canc[ellarius]").Gorhambury, 3 Aug 1619.
InquireLetter signed and subscribed ("assured/ fr. verulam Canc[ellarius]"), as Baron Verulam and Lord Chancellor, to Lord Zouch, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, notifying him of a forthcoming legal case affecting his prerogative: "There are protest gone out at Mr Attorney Generalls prayer against Hugh Hugginson and Josias Ente concerning the busines against …
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4Compiled by a member of the US Air ForceMy Time in Saudi Arabia and Bahrein I [and] II.Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, 1950s.
InquireStriking photographs compiled by a member of the US Air Force involved with aerial photography and the production of military maps, stationed in the Middle East. With three rare images of Sheikh Isa bin Salman Al-Khalifa, the Emir of Bahrain, and King Saud, the latter surrounded by high-ranking officials.
Features unique images of the photo …
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5Invitation to dance for Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, and Marcel BreuerCollective letter with the signatures of 68 teachers and students of the …Weimar, 1923.
InquireTo the ballet dancers and choreographers Albert Burger and Elsa Hötzel in Stuttgart, who had, together with Oskar Schlemmer, conceived the famous "Triadisches Ballett" (Triadic Ballet), cordially inviting them to perform the piece on the occasion of the 1923 Bauhaus Week in Weimar: "Wir Bauhäusler möchten Sie so von ganzem Herzen bitten kommen …
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6Beethovens Benefizkonzert als Hürdenlauf: "und so wird Ihnen geholfen, jedoch mit der äußersten Anstrengung"Eigenh. Brief mit U. ("Beethoven").Wien, 23 Mar 1812.
€ 90,000.00Eiliges Schreiben an den Wiener Beamten Franz Rettich, der Beethoven dabei unterstützte, für ein Benefizkonzert am 29. März - nur sechs Tage später - dringend benötigte Notenhandschriften nach Graz zu senden: "Es dürften bis Morgen abend wohl sicher noch die 2 overturen folgen, und so wird Ihnen geholfen, jedoch mit der äußersten Anstrengung. …
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7English Bible ManuscriptLatin manuscript on vellum.Northern France or England?, ca 1300 CE.
€ 145,000.00A beautiful, complete medieval Bible written in a miniscule bookhand on extremely delicate vellum, probably copied in England or commissioned from there. As is common, the Bible is prefaced with the epistle of St Jerome to Paulinus (53: "Frater Ambrosius [...] moriturum", fols. 1r-3r), followed by Jerome's prologue to the Pentateuch ("Desiderii mei …
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8Early 12th century Latin Bible manuscript from LimogesPauline Epistles, Catholic Epistles and the Apocalypse, glossed.Limoges, ca. 1100.
€ 125,000.00A superb example of Limoges Romanesque manuscript production of the first half of the 12th century, written by Petrus del Casta for the Augustinian Abbey of St-Jean-de-Côle, containing one of the earliest surviving texts of the Glossa Ordinaria.
Petrus del Casta is known from the colophon in a Homilies on Ezechiel (ex Phillipps no. 934/2708, …
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9Commentary on At-Tusi's TadhkiraSharh al-tadhkirah.No place, ca. 1585/1591 CE = 999 or 994 H.
€ 45,000.00A rare, complete, and well-preserved late 16th century Arabic manuscript of Al-Birjandi's "Sharh al-Tadhkirah", a commentary (originally in Persian) on the "Tadhkira", the astronomical memoir of the Persian polymath at-Tusi (1201-74). As consistent with the Islamic tradition of commentary, Al-Birjandi provides explanations for the reader and provides …
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10The first land purchased by the City of New York in BrooklynDeed from William Morris and wife to the Corporation of New York. Signed …Breuckelen Brooklyn, Long Island, 12 Oct 1694.
€ 35,000.00Original deed of the first substantial purchase of land on the Brooklyn side of the East River ever made by the New York municipality, a purchase that was called by Henry E. Pierrepont (1808-88), director and historian of the Union Ferry Co., "the foundation of the claim of the City of New York to their land in Brooklyn" (23). After the capture of …
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11''Indeed I care very little whether I miss or not": cramming for his finals, with possibly the earliest manuscript of "To the great Metropolis", hitherto unknownAutograph letter signed ("A. H. Clough"), with the draft of a poem.Oxford, "Sunday Morning 'Tis the Second Morn of May", 2 May 1841.
€ 8,500.00A very early, unknown letter to his friend Thomas Burbidge (1816-92) at Rugby, written while Clough was preparing for his final exams at Balliol:
"My dear Burbidge, You must not let another washing-day go by without writing to me. I am not very hard at work, for I am very tired &, since Yesterday Morning, not over well; perhaps in part …
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12"So far no European has yet obtained the freedom to settle in Muscat [...] The Arabs are the only ones so far occupied in this trade"Mémoire sur le commerce de la côte orientale d’affrique et du Golfe …"Au Port" de Saint-Louis Isle de France, 30 Aug 1788.
InquireOne of the earliest primary source documents for the opening of Omani-French trade relations and for the history of Muscat and Oman in the 18th century, hitherto unpublished.
With Muscat becoming an increasingly important port for trade in the Indian Ocean under the rule of the Al Bu-Sa'id dynasty from 1749 onwards, the location quickly caught …
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13Fine Ottoman costume watercolours, with distinguished provenanceAn album of eight fine watercolour drawings depicting the costumes of Constantinople …Constantinople, ca. 1575 / later 16th century.
€ 65,000.00An album of eight splendid costume paintings, by a talented, unidentified artist who may have been a member of the entourage of a German ambassador to the Porte. The subjects in this collection are captioned: "Der Kriechen Patriarch" (the Greek Patriarch); "Der Türckisch Keiser" (the Turkish Sultan); "Der Türckisch Babst" (the Grand Mufti); "Türckische …
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14Immersed in his studies of fossil CirripediaAutograph letter signed.Down Farnborough Kent, 8. VIII. 1850.
€ 25,000.00An important letter which underscores Darwin's belief in the scientific significance of the study of Cirripedia (barnacles). To Nathaniel Thomas Wetherell: "I fear that you will think me a sad trespasser on your kindness & forbearance, when I tell you that I have not actually completed my description of Loricula; but I shall do it directly & write …
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15Presentation in Darwin's own handOn the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation …London, 1859.
InquireFirst edition, first issue, of "the most important single work in science" (Dibner), and "a turning point, not only in the history of science, but in the history of ideas in general" (DSB). "No work of science has ever been so fully vindicated by subsequent investigation, or has so profoundly altered humanity's view of itself and how the living world …
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16Unrecorded variant of the 'rara avis' of Darwin bibliography: a proto-first issue of the second editionOn the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation …London, 1859 but: Jan. 1860.
€ 65,000.00Almost unobtainly rare revised issue of the first edition, or rather the intermediary stage to the first issue of the second edition, called by Darwin himself "only a reprint [with] a few important corrections". Published in January 1860, this is the only known copy to retain the year "1859" on the title-page, the original two quotations opposite …
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17"I deeply feel what a difficult time you are having"Typed letter signed (“A. Einstein”).Princeton, 25 Jul 1946.
€ 9,500.00To Helene Katzenstein, the widow of Einstein's close friend and sometime sailing companion, the Berlin surgeon Moritz Katzenstein (1872-1932): "I deeply feel what a difficult time you are having under the present circumstances. And I shall gladly do anything to rescue you from this unsatisfactory and depressing situation. I myself have experienced …
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18Inscribed by the authorIn Sachen Brentano contra Marx wegen angeblicher Citatfälschung.Hamburg, 1891.
€ 58,000.00Inscribed by the author: "Prof. Antonio Labriola / Ld 9.4.91 omaggio dell'autore". First edition of Engels' defence against charges which the German economist and social reformer Lujo Brentano had levelled against Marx for supposedly having misquoted Gladstone in an 1863 speech.
Title-page slightly browned, margins somewhat brownstained. From …
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19Arabic manuscript of Euclid's ElementsKitab tahrir usul li-Uqlidus [Elements].Central Asia, 1653 CE = 1063 H.
€ 22,000.00A fine mid-17th century Arabic manuscript of Euclid's famous "Elements of Geometry", the "oldest mathematical textbook in the world still in common use today" (PMM). The translation is by the great Persian polymath Nasir ad-Din at-Tusi (1201-74), after whom the lunar crater "Nasireddin" is named. Written in Central Asia, this manuscript comprises …
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20Gandhi and the Governor of BengalPhotograph of Mahatma Gandhi seated with Sir Richard Casey, Governor of …Calcutta, December 1945.
€ 28,000.00Richard Casey (1890-1976) was made Governor of Bengal by Winston Churchill in January 1944, in the immediate aftermath of the great famine, and against a background of increased nationalist agitation. He "was shocked by British racial snobbery, and he tried to break down walls between Government House in Calcutta and the local community" (Australian …
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21The first photographs from Al-'UlaCollection of 5 photographs from Al-'Ula and 3 photographs from Mada'in …Al'Ula and Hegra, 1907.
InquireThe only known photographs from the earliest photographic documentation of the Arabic old town of Al-'Ula, including some of the earliest photographs showing the important archaeological site of Hegra at Mada'in Salih, and Gaudin's hand-drawn map of the Hejaz railway.
The historically significant photographs from Al-'Ula show ancient Dadanitic …
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22The Asia Minor collection of Paul Gaudin95 photographs of Paul Gaudin's collection of antiquities.N. p. o. d.
€ 18,500.00Highly interesting photographic documentation of the vast collection that was later dispersed among such important museums as the Louvre, the British Museum, and the Istanbul Museum through donations and sales. The collection was primarily assembled between 1894 and 1905, when Paul Gaudin served as director of the Smyrna-Cassaba railway. During this …
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23"Physicists have no interest in elaborations of formulas they don't use"Two autograph letters signed.Torquay, 1909 and 1915.
€ 22,500.00Two densely scientific letters on "operational calculus", vector notation and the laws of dynamics by the pioneering physicist and electrical engineer Oliver Heaviside, from the archive of the Polish-American physicist and opponent of Einstein, Ludwik Silberstein (1872-1948).
The first letter responding to Silberstein's request for copies …
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24Arabic manuscript compilation on astronomy, chronology, mathematics, and the brainKitab Minhaj al-talib li-ta'dil al-kawakib.Northern Africa, ca. 1490 / 15th century CE.
€ 35,000.00A collection of three different Arabic treatises bound in one volume, dealing with astronomy, keeping time and mathematics, as well as psychology, written in Northern Africa and Near East.
Bound first is the "Kitab Minhaj al-talib li-ta'dil al-kawakib" by the Marrakesh-born mathematician, astronomer, and Sufi scholar Ibn al-Banna' (also known …
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25Abrahe Avenaris Judei Astrologi peritissimi in re iudiciali opera [...].Venice, 31 May 1507.
€ 25,000.00First collected Latin edition of the astrological works of Abraham Ibn Ezra. "A versatile genius with a charming Hebrew style, Ibn Ezra disseminated rationalistic and scientific Arabic learning in France, England and Italy [... He] wrote a number of astrological works (Steinschneider lists more than fifty) that were very popular and were translated …
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26Illustrated manuscript of the Qanunceh, or "small canon": a summary of Ibn Sina's famous Canon of Medicine[Qanunceh] (= Small Canon).No place, 1862 CE = 1279 H.
€ 28,000.00Arabic manuscript containing the Arabic translation of Ibn Sina's "Qanunsah" ("Small canon"), originally written in Persian: a brief medical compendium compiled by the Khwarazmian polymath Mahmud ibn Muhammad ibn Umar al-Jaghmini based on Ibn Sina's famous "Qanun". This abridged manual of medicine is arranged in ten parts ("maqalat", or "discourses"), …
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27Kafka's gift to Hugo BergmannGeist und Körper, Seele und Leib.Leipzig, 1903.
€ 35,000.00First edition. The title-page has a presentation inscription to the 21-year-old Hugo Bergmann on the day of his doctorate in philosophy: "Zur Erinnerung an unser gemeinschaftliches Streben" ("In memory of our common endeavours"). Written in the hand of the Prague intellectual Berta Fanta, the presentation is signed by her and six other members of …
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28Theological arguments for the Hejaz RailwayRisalat al-yawaqit al-taminat fi al-ahadit al-qadiyat bi-zuhur sikkat al-hadid …Al-Ghaza'ir Algiers, 1911 CE = 1329 H.
€ 8,500.00Only edition. Entitled "Precious Stones on the Hadiths that lead to the emergence of the railway and its arrival to Medina", this curious and rare Algerian-published treatise seeks to reconcile the building of the Hejaz Railway with the Islamic faith. In a section entitled "Clear evidence of indications of modern inventions in the Qur'an", e.g., …
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29"You brought freedom to Korea"Autograph letter on silk signed ("Kim Il-sung").Pyongyang, 13 Aug 1947.
€ 250,000.00Formal valedictory address to General Prokofy Logvinovich Romanenko (1897-1949): "Together with the Soviet heroic army, with your blood and your lives, you brought freedom to Korea. You made the Japanese invaders flee, made the enemies run and breathed happy, free, and new life into our nation. In the shortest time North Korea has destroyed the remains …
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30"William First, Or Second, Or Third? / Ask Not, Critics, Great's The Word"Autograph letter signed ("Leibniz").Hannover, 18 Apr 1698.
€ 48,000.00A long, wide-ranging letter to the Scottish lawyer Thomas Burnett (1656-1729) in which Leibniz explains that he intends to write about books received from Burnett and mentions the controversy between John Locke and the Bishop of Worcester, but has no time to do so at present. He encloses some verses from Paris by M. Cresset ("God save the King of …
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31Extremely rare signed Lenin portraitPhotograph signed and dated.No place, 26 May 1920.
€ 250,000.00A very rare example of a signed Lenin portrait. Dated in his own hand "26/V 1920" and signed in French as "Vladimir Oulianoff". Additional signature of the photographer, Moses Solomonovitch Nappelbaum (1869-1958), in pencil in the lower right corner of the cardboard matte. Nappelbaum shot the famous portrait at the Smolny Institute in St Petersburg …
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32Manet's fashion accessoriesAutograph letter signed ("E. Manet") and illustrated with original watercolours.Bellevue, "jeudi" July 1880.
InquireTo the wife of his friend Jules Guillemet: an exceptional, unpublished letter illustrated with five watercolours showing little bags (which Manet called "pochettes") of various shapes and sizes, asking her to choose a model which he will then bring her from Paris: "Très bien choisie, la brioche. Je ne l’ai [pas] réussi [!] hier je la recommencerai …
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33The first visit to China by a Pakistani Prime Minister: signed by Mao, Zhou Enlai, Huang Yanpei, Peng Zhen, Chen Yun and othersPrinted menu card for a state banquet signed.Beijing, 19 Oct. 1956.
InquireMenu card for the state banquet in honour of the Pakistani statesman Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy (1892-1963), who only a month earlier had become Prime Minister. The card is signed by Mao and Suhrawardy, as well as by five Chinese statesmen: Zhou Enlai (1898-1976, the official host and Premier of the PRC), Huang Yanpei (1878-1965, Vice Premier of the …
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34One of the few known works of Marx inscribed by the author to a womanMisère de la philosophie. Réponse à la Philosophie de la misère de …Paris & Brussels, 1847.
€ 400,000.00Very rare first edition of Marx's famous text, directed against Pierre Joseph Proudhon and the utopian socialists, which led to a long and bitter feud between the authoritarian and the libertarian-anarchist wing. The half title bears Marx's autograph inscription to Anna Vivanti, née Lindau: "Madame Vivanti / Hommage de l'auteur. / Londres, 2 Marx …
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35First authorized English translationManifesto of the Communist Party.London, 1888.
€ 45,000.00First authorized English translation of the Communist Manifesto. Originally published in German in 1848, the "Manifesto of the Communist Party" was in 1850 subjected to a flawed English translation (by Helen Macfarlane) which rendered the famous opening line, "A spectre is haunting Europe", as "A frightful hobgoblin stalks throughout Europe". The …
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36Four works from the Medicea Oriental PressAlphabetum Arabicum [and three other publications from the Medici Oriental …Rome, 1592.
InquireA fine sammelband containing no fewer than four extremely rare publications from the Medicea Oriental Press, the first printing press in Europe dedicated to printing Arabic typeface. It was founded in Rome in 1584 under the direction of Giabattista Raimondi (1536-1614) and the patronage of Pope Gregory XIII. For the Arabic types, Raimondi commissioned …
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37Daybook for the Ottoman Empire's oriental administration: Jeddah, Basra, Beirut, Jericho, and Yerevan in 1731[Mehmed Sâlim Efendi Rûznamçesi]. Rûznâmçe-i Hazret-i Sâlim Mehmed …Constantinople, 1731 CE = 1143 H.
€ 28,000.00A rare document of Ottoman state administration during the early Modern period: the official chronological record-book kept by the Kazasker (chief judge) of Anatolia, Mehmed Sâlim, during the year 1731.
Within the Ottoman administrational structure, the Kazasker (or Qadi'asker) had jurisdiction over all judicial and educational officials …
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38Autograph letter signed ("J. S. Mill").Blackheath Park, London, 25 May 1867.
InquireTo an unnamed addressee: "Dear Sir | The specimen page does very well and I enclose the title page. I regret that my having left for the House before your letter arrived prevented an earlier answer [...]".
Traces of folds.
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39First illustrated edition of the first dedicated anatomy bookAnathomia Mundini emendata per doctorem melerstat.Leipzig, 1493.
€ 125,000.00First edition of the first dedicated anatomy book. "The first modern book devoted solely to anatomy [...] Mundinus re-introduced human dissection, which had been neglected for 1500 years before him; he was the most noted dissector of his period. The medieval anatomical vocabulary, well set forth by Mundinus, was derived mainly from Arabic" (Garrison/M.). …
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4011 autograph letters signed, 1 autograph letter, autograph correspondence …Claydon House and 10 South Street, Park Lane, W. London, 1883-1896.
InquireAmicable correspondence with her good friend Jessie Lennox (1830-1933), one of the original "Nightingale Nurses" who trained at the Florence Nightingale School at St. Thomas's Hospital in London in the 1860s. Written in the fondest terms and taking great interest in her work, Florence Nightingale rejoices at the progress already made in the nursing …
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41Author's presentation copy: "for services rendered to good sanitary construction"Notes on Hospitals.London, 1863.
InquireAuthor's presentation copy of the third edition, inscribed on the day of publication to the influential London architect and journalist George Godwin (1813-88) on the title-page: "Geo. Godwin Esq. / in gratitude for the services he has / rendered to the cause of good / sanitary construction / Florence Nightingale / London, Dec. 14 1863".
When …
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42Unpublished source on Oman navigation: illustrated logbook recording the laying of the telegraph sea cable off the Omani coast in 1859Log of the proceedings. HMS "Cyclops". W. J. S. Pullen Esq. Captain. Commencing …HMS Cyclops: Oman, Khuriya Muriya Islands, Yemen, Egypt, Red Sea, Arabian Sea, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and other places, 1857-1861.
€ 45,000.00Historically significant manuscript logbook, containing a detailed record of the first attempt at laying a submarine telegraph cable to connect London with British India. The expedition took place from May 1859 (the Red Sea leg from Suez to Aden) to February 1860 (from Aden to the Khuriya-Muriya Islands, Muscat and Karachi). The two specially designed …
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43Hand-painted portraits of 17th century Ottoman societyHand-painted muraqqa' Ottoman costume album.Probably Constantinople, ca. 1660.
€ 80,000.00A beautifully crafted album comprising seventy portraits painted by a Turkish artist in colours, gold and silver, illustrating the various offices at the Ottoman court, people of various occupations, different ethnic groups, and their traditional costumes. Most of the portraits are accompanied by captions inscribed in Osmanli at the bottom of the …
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44Picasso's wartime Buffon: a very fine copy, embellished with two original drawings for his friend, the painter André Marchand2 full-page pen and brush drawings in Indian ink. In: Eaux-fortes originales …Paris, 1942.
€ 450,000.00Two unique and wholly original brush drawings, adorning a signed and inscribed first edition of this famous suite by Picasso, in perfect condition.
Limited edition of 226 copies: this is number 155, one of 135 on Vidalon vélin. This copy was presented by Picasso to his friend, the painter André Marchand (1907-98), with an autograph inscription …
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45Autograph letter signed ("votre Picasso").Villa "La Californie", Cannes, 2 Feb 1960.
€ 9,500.00In blue ballpoint to his chambermaid and confidante Inès Sassier, announcing a cheque (not enclosed) to be taken to the lawyer Bernard de Sarriac, who was in charge of controlling the alimony that Picasso owed his children Claude and Paloma: "Ma chère Inès, voici le cheque pour les enfants à porter à Sarriac. Merci, je vous embrasse tous [...]".
…
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46Red Sea AlgaeAlgae from the Red Sea.Red Sea, ca. 1844-1845.
€ 18,500.00A rare and early ensemble of algae specimens collected from the Red Sea, from different areas between Suez and Yemen, including one specimen from Alexandria. All items identified with the Latin name and details of the location around the Red Sea and date of collection written in French on the mounts, e.g., "Caulerpa prolifera: très commune dans …
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47The Mahd Al Thahab gold mine in HejazMahd ahd Dhahab Gold Mine Saudi-Arabia.Mahd adh Dhahab, ca. 1940s-1950s.
€ 9,500.00Notable collection of historic images of the Mahd Al Thahab gold mine in the province of Al-Madinah, in the Hejaz region of Saudi Arabia. Photographs show the mining complex including the crushing plants, mills and storage tanks, as well as the camp with warehouses, shops, schools, hospital buildings, a mosque, and the living quarters of the Emir …
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48Autograph letter signed.No place, 7 May 1914.
€ 15,000.00Unpublished letter to the Viennese lawyer Jakob Scheu concerning the payment of a debt to the tailor Rudolf Holub: "It is quite impossible for me at the moment to pay the whole debt of 247 K to Mr. Holub; however, the week after next I will be able to pay a part, and I hope to pay the balance in the course of the month" (transl.).
Although …
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49Three treatises on astronomy and mathematicsA manuscript collection of three treatises on astronomy and mathematics.Safavid Persia; copied in al-Jauhariyya School, Isfahan, each treatise dated 1619/20 CE = 1029 H.
€ 35,000.00The three works comprise:
1. "Al-Durr al-manthur fi'l-'amal bi-rub' al-dustur". A treatise on calculating time with the aid of the sine quadrant, for any region (GAL II, p. 218, 1, attributed by Brockelmann to Sibt al-Maridini's grandfather, the astronomer Abdallah ibn Khalil ibn Yusuf Jamaladdin al-Maridini al-Qahiri, d. 1406).
2. …
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50Autograph letter signed.Glasgow, 12 Mar 1760.
€ 65,000.00To the 1st Earl of Shelburne, regarding the health of his son Thomas, at the time Smith's student and lodger: "My Lord / It gives me as much pleasure to write to your Lordship today as it gave me pain to write to you by last post. The Doctors Predictions have upon this occasion been literally and exactly fulfilled. Mr. Fitzmaurice had the night before …
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51Stalin to his daughterAutograph letter signed.No place, 4 Mar 1937.
€ 65,000.00A humorous correspondence with his daughter Svetlana, giving her the desired permission to invite two classmates for the weekend: "For Secretary Number 1 Mr Stalin / Decree Number 2 / I order you to permit me to invite two boys and a girl from my class this weekend (12/3/37). / Insurgent - Svetlanka Stalina [stamp] / Signed / I submit myself / Secretary …
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52"The people in China are getting ready for something": Sun Yat-Sen recommends Ma Su, alias "Mr Fraser", to Mabel Cantlie, and prepares for the future Republic of ChinaAutograph letter signed ("Yours very sincerely / Sun Yat Sen").Reinanzaka Tokyo, 17 Mar 1914.
€ 180,000.00To "my Dear Mrs. Cantlie", expressing his thanks for the many letters which "brought me much comfort and happiness", and giving news that his former Private Secretary and later editor of the China Republican, "Mr. Fraser", who had previously "abandoned the idea of working for the cause", considering it a lost one, had after all left for England from …
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53Three weeks before the premiere of "The Queen of Spades"Autograph letter signed, in Cyrillic ("P. Tchaikovsky").St. Petersburg, 17 Nov. 1890 29 Nov. 1890, Gregorian style.
€ 28,000.00Unpublished letter in Russian to Aleksandr Glazunov (1865-1936) in which Tchaikovsky expresses his fatigue and anxieties three weeks before the premiere of "The Queen of Spades" and asks a favour: "I am deadly tired from the opera's rehearsals; tomorrow awaits another one, demanding again great attention and all kinds of anxieties of an author. I …
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54Compliments from Nikola TeslaPortrait photograph inscribed, dated and signed.No place, 25 Apr 1921.
InquireStunning, large-format portrait photograph, inscribed by the sitter to an unidentified recipient with "Compliments from Nikola Tesla".
The great inventor is seen at half-length in a thoughtful pose, starkly illuminated and sitting slightly inclined to his right, his left hand in his lap, his right elbow poised on an armrest, his forefinger …
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55Caricature of a gentleman wearing a tricorne.Italy, second half of the 18th century.
€ 12,500.00Charming caricature by the Venetian master depicting a liveried gentleman with épée and tricorne in profile, accentuating the figure's implausibly hollow back, grotesquely hooked nose, and impressive prognathism. The drawing can be attributed to Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo, the oldest son and student of Giovanni Battista Tiepolo.
The drawing …
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56Tolstoy and his granddaughter in the year of his deathPortrait photograph signed ("Leo Tolstoy").No place, April 1910.
€ 15,000.00The well-known image by Vladimir Grigorievich Chertkov shows Tolstoy with his granddaughter Tatiana Sukhotina at Yasnaya Polyana. Together with a cabinet photograph signed by Tolstoy's eldest daughter Tatiana in 1897, and a portrait photograph signed by Tolstoy's youngest daughter Alexandra (undated, but after 1931).
Tatiana Mikhailovna Sukhotina …
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57Early Arabic mathematical manuscriptKitab ad-darb wa'l-qisma fi 'ilm al-jabr wa al-hisab [On multiplication …Probably Persia, 14th/15th century CE.
€ 35,000.00A late 14th or early 15th century mathematical manuscript, probably written in Iran or possibly the Eastern Mediterranean. The Persian scholar Nasir al-Din Muhamad ibn Muhamad ibn al-Hasan at-Tusi (1201-74) was known for his extensive work on science, physics, mathematics and theology. He is often credited with the invention and identification of …
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58The first printed eyewitness account of any place in today's UAE: the first illustrated editionDie Ritterlich und lobwürdig reiß [...] Sagend von den landen, Egypto, …Strasbourg, 1516.
€ 250,000.00The first illustrated edition (in its second issue) of one of the most famous early travel reports and the first western encounter with the Arab world. Of the utmost rarity; not a single copy could be traced on the market for the past sixty years; not a single copy in the USA (cf. OCLC). Lodovico de Varthema’s “Itinerario” contains the first …
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59Masterpiece from the Wiener WerkstättePresentation box containing 127 congratulatory cards by notable writers …Vienna, 1910/1911.
€ 45,000.00Unique, splendidly presented collection of 127 birthday cards, personally inscribed by notable Austrian and German writers and artists including Thomas Mann, Hermann Hesse, Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, and Arthur Schnitzler.
The elaborate red morocco casket, a masterpiece from the Wiener Werkstätte in the shape of a little house with a curved …
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60A highlight in architectural history: extremely rare and important plate collection by the master architect Frank Lloyd WrightAusgeführte Bauten und Entwürfe von Frank Lloyd Wright.Berlin, 1910.
€ 65,000.00Extremely rare first edition, of the complete collection of plates prepared from drawings made by master architect Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) at his Oak Park Studio, illustrating seventy buildings and projects completed between 1893 and 1909. It is the first major publication by one of the true innovators of modern architecture. The work boosted …