Firsts. London's Rare Book Fair 2025
15-18 May 2025
The Saatchi Gallery, London SW3
Stand A6
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1In Old South Arabian monumental scriptSouth Arabian alabaster plaque with Sabaean inscription.South Arabia, ca. 220 BCE.
€ 28,000.00A fragmentary alabaster plaque bearing a four-line Sabean inscription in al-Musnad or Old South Arabian monumental script. The content concerns the construction of overflow channels for embanked, irrigated fields, at the command of a tribe known as the Bani Mamzafuf.
The highly quadrangular script suggests a provincial origin, rather than a …
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2"As you hear any news you quickly send me a messenger"Letter addressed to Têtuk from the town of Sart.Northern Afghanistan Bactrian kingdom of southern Transoxiana, near modern Kabul, perhaps the city of 'Rob' in the valley of Khulm in northern Hindu kush,, ca. 485 CE.
€ 25,000.00A Bactrian letter addressed to Têtuk of Sart, elsewhere given the title "Scribe of the Hephtalite Lords" and "Judge of Tokaristan and Gharchistan", with a complaint that the writer has not been kept abreast of events. The document reads, in full: "To Tetuk, many greetings from Sart Kharan the prince. When you went away from here, I ordered you thus: …
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3Learning hadith in Al AndalusSahih Muslim, part XVI.Valencia, Andalusia, 12th century.
€ 25,000.00From Muslim Spain: the sixteenth section of "Sahih Muslim", one of the most important hadith collections in the history of Islam. Uncommonly for medieval Islamic manuscripts, which were largely penned on paper, this manuscript is written in delicate Andalusian Maghribi script on fine vellum, with its first leaf decorated with a large geometric floral …
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4Magnets, hydraulics, alcohol, perpetual motion machines: a beautiful, unrecorded 14th century scientific manuscriptTractatus de magnete. [In a compendium of scientific texts, together with …Italy, ca. 1380-1400.
InquireA truly outstanding late medieval manuscript comprising six self-contained works on chemistry, medicine, mechanics, engineering, and applied physics, including "one of the most impressive scientific treatises of the Middle Ages" (DSB X, 537): Peregrinus's "Tractatus de magnete", "the first extant treatise on the properties and applications of magnets" …
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5Previously undiscovered: a new attribution to al-Buni, on the art of magic talismansAl-Tarajuh fi Fann al-Tanazuh.Mamluk Egypt or Syria, 13th-14th century CE.
€ 75,000.00A previously unknown work attributed to one of the most famous authors of Arabic charms, talismans, and folk magic: Ahmad al-Buni (d. 1225 CE), whose name appears twice in the manuscript, both in the title-page and the first page of text. This manuscript, dating to the 13th or 14th century CE, is an early and fascinating survival, likely written …
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6A remarkably early 14th century Coptic manuscript from Mamluk-era EgyptTheotokarion [Prayers to the Virgin].Mamluk Egypt, 14th century CE.
€ 15,000.00Prayers to the Virgin: a Coptic manuscript of the Theotokarion from Mamluk Egypt. This manuscript is notably early for a Coptic codex, and features many of the hallmarks of the Coptic manuscript tradition, including illustrated capitals in the shape of birds and knotwork designs as section headers. The work is partial, wanting leaves at the beginning …
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7Indo-Persian poetry, successively owned by a Sultan and a British spy in IndiaDiwan-i Amir Khusraw Dihlavi.Indo-Persia, Timurid Empire, ca. 1460-1480 CE.
€ 125,000.00A fine manuscript of the "Diwan-i Khusraw", a highly important text of Indo-Persian poetry, owned by the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid II (1447-1512) and later by R. W. Rotton, a British spy in India, and copied by a renowned 15th century nasta'liq scribe, Muhammad Ibn Muhammad Baqqal.
Amir Khusraw (1253-1325), also known as "the Parrot of India", …
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815th century Jain manuscript illustrated in goldKalpasutra [and] Kalikacharyakath [The Book of the Ritual and the Legend …Gujarat Sultanate, possibly Pattan, 1474 CE = 1531 VS.
€ 58,000.00Two central works of the Shvetambara Jain tradition finely illustrated in gold: the Kalpasutra ("Book of the Ritual") and the popular legend of Prince Kalaka, the Kalikacharyakatha.
The first and longest work, the Kalpasutra, is a canonical text of Jainism, and illustrated with twenty miniatures. It is divided into three sections: the stories …
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9Bound for the Italian engineer and industrialist Ernesto PagnoniSoliloquia animae ad deum.Italy, late 14th or 15th century.
€ 65,000.00The "Soliloquies of St Augustine", an inner dialogue on the matter of the soul. While throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance the text was generally attributed to St Augustine of Hippo and it commonly preceded the "Confessions" in early medieval copies, the authorship is now doubted.
At the end of the volume, fol. 65v and ff. 66f. have additional …
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10A landmark of Renaissance illustration, "the first illustrated architectural book to be published"Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, ubi humana omnia non nisisomnium esse docet …Venice, Dec. 1499.
€ 350,000.00First edition of this typographic masterpiece, the apogee of Venetian xylography in the quattrocento. The most celebrated illustrated printed book of the Italian Renaissance (and the only illustrated book published by Aldus), the "Hypnerotomachia" is generally considered the magnum opus of Aldine craft and a veritable design encyclopedia. William …
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11Studies of Michelangelo's original, un-bowdlerized designs for the Last Judgment, owned by Leopoldo CicognaraAlbum with 70 ink and wash studies after the "Last Judgment", preserving …Rome, ca. 1560.
€ 450,000.00Album of seventy studies after the "Last Judgment", preserving Michelangelo's original fresco designs and thus almost certainly made during his lifetime, as the frescoes were bowdlerized on the orders of the Council of Trent shortly after his death in 1564. From the famous library of the Italian art historian and collector Leopoldo Cicognara (1767-1834).
The …
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1216th century illustrated Italian manuscript about the art of war in a fine contemporary bindingLibro utillissimo et molto necessario di varii secreti importantissimi …Italy, before 1581.
€ 75,000.00An unusual and attractive Italian Renaissance manuscript on the art of war, lavishly illustrated in colour and in a sumptuous contemporary binding. The text comprises eight chapters dealing with the duties of the captain, making gunpowder, siege-breaking devices, the deployment through artillery of artificial fire, smoke and poisonous fumes, the …
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13Copied by the head monk of "the great Dharmakirti monastery"Karandavyuha [Compassionate Acts of Avalokitesvara].Nepal, 1645 CE = Samvat 265.
€ 18,000.00The important sutra of Mahayana Buddhism on the compassion of the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, copied in Sanskrit by a monk in 17th century Nepal. According to an unusually detailed colophon: "In the year Samvat 765 [1645 CE] [...] in the great Dharmakirti monastery, the Head Monk Sri Purnacandra made for himself, his wife, a veritable goddess of …
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14Plotting the marriage of Richard CromwellAutograph letter signed ("O Cromwelle").No place, 3 Apr 1648.
€ 58,000.00To Richard Norton, a leading parliamentarian who had served as a colonel of cavalry in the first civil war and had returned as member of parliament for Hampshire in 1645, seeking to expedite the marriage of his son Richard Cromwell to Dorothy Maijor (1627-76), as the country descended into the Second Civil War.
Dorothy was the daughter of Richard …
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15First edition of the first great Croatian dictionaryBlago jezika slovinskoga illi slovnik ú komu izgovarajuse rjeci slovinske …Loreto and Ancona, 1649 -1651.
€ 12,500.00The principal achievement of the Italian linguist and lexicographer Giacomo Micaglia (1601-54): a "Thesaurus of the Croatian Language and Croatian Dictionary, in which Croatian words are rendered in Italian and Latin". Micaglia, by his own description a "Slavic-speaking Italian", was of Slavic ancestry and used the name Jakov Mikalja in his native …
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16Investment in the Papal States[Account book].Rome, 1654-1668.
€ 6,500.00Sumptuously bound account book of a Roman church dignitary comprising purchases of papal state bonds ("monti") over a period of 15 years. From 21 May 1654 to 8 May 1668, Pietro Bertolani invested in the Vatican's most popular and secure financial products, the so-called Monti, a special kind of government bond involving interest rates of up to twelve …
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17The five great poems of Nizami GanjaviKhamsa of Nizami.India, 1669 CE = 1080 H.
€ 45,000.00The greatest work of Nizami Ganjavi: an illuminated large format manuscript of the Khamsa, illustrated with thirty-one miniatures decorated with gold, including rare scenes of the Prophet's Night Journey. Comprising all five of his best-known narrative poems, Nizami's Khamsa is a masterpiece of Persian literature and was a popular collection in the …
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18Museum-quality manuscript herbalFlora delicians, sive icones plantarum ex hortis, pratis et nemoribus nostratibus …Memmingen, 1676.
InquireUnique, museum-quality manuscript herbal, previously unknown to research, compiled for the Memmingen pharmacist Wolfgang Schötz by an unidentified but obviously professionally trained artist. The nearly 300 watercolours and gouaches, all impressively accomplished, show the principal Central European medicinal, poisonous, spice and ornamental plants …
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19Seventeenth-century illustrated Italian manuscript about geometry and artilleryDi alcuni principi di geomettria, necessarij per intendere, e sapere fare …Italy, 17th century.
€ 25,000.00Comprising mainly 54 full-page plates executed in pen and ink, illustrating cannons, mortars, explosives, crossbows (with explosives), hoists, winches, ballistic trajectories, diagrams and artillerymen. Many of the drawings in this manuscript are modelled on the engraved plates in Diego Ufano's treatise on artillery, first published in Spanish (Brussels, …
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20India's forgotten theatre of the American RevolutionMonmouth's Log Book.Bay of Madras and other places, 1783-1784.
€ 18,500.00The remarkable original logbook of Captain James Alms, containing a first-hand account of the final battle of the American Wars of Independence. Fought between British and French forces (the latter the new American allies) half a world away from the rebelling American colonies, the final shots fired in the American Revolution were sent across the …
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21"C'est toujours une entreprise fort incertaine"Letter signed ("Votre trés humble et tres obeisant serviteur, Chevalier …Vienna, 1 May 1785.
€ 9,500.00To the librettist Valadier, declining to set his opera "Cora" to music. Gluck expresses his mortification at being unable to comply ("I am absolutely incapable of undertaking any work at all which requires application") and is unwilling to oversee any other composer in the work because of the difficulties of such an enterprise, and because the person …
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22"Men are born and remain free and equal in rights": one of the very few copies printed on vellumLa Constitution Française, Présentée au Roi le 3 Septembre 1791, et …Paris, 1791.
€ 85,000.00The birth of the French constitutional monarchy: the extremely rare first duodecimo edition of the first French constitution, one of only five known copies printed on vellum.
One of the most precious documents in French political history and the supreme manifestation of political power, the first French constitution was proclaimed by the National …
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23"Surely the finest example of English color printing"Imitations of Original Drawings by Hans Holbein, in the Collection of His …London, 1792-1800.
€ 18,000.00A fine copy of the first edition. This impressive example of 18th century British colour printing in an elaborate binding, boasting over eighty very fine plates, has been hailed as the best of its kind: "This magnificent work is surely the finest example of English color printing" (Ray); "In every way a splendid book" (Abbey). The original Holbein …
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24A manual of the hand-seals of esoteric Buddhism[Manuscript mudras manual].Nepal, 18th century CE.
€ 35,000.00A manuscript handbook of esoteric Buddhism: over 250 miniatures depicting the mudras of Vajrayana Buddhism (also known as esoteric or tantric Buddhism), delicately hand-painted in bright colour on a Tibetan folding book manuscript (thyasapu). Mudras, often translated as hand-signs or seals, are the carefully formed hand poses rich in iconographic …
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25From Sanskrit to Persian: the Book of WarRazm-nama [The book of war].North India, 18th century CE.
€ 85,000.00The Sanskrit Mahabharata in all eighteen books of its Persian incarnation, the Razmnama. This Persian text was a feat of translation originally commissioned in 1582 by the Mughal emperor Akbar; the resulting Razmnama is not a literal translation of the Sanskrit original, but the content and the narrative itself are relatively unchanged. Its source …
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26Magical recitations against evil in Tibetan sutrasAryamahasaniparatna ketudharani mahayanasutra [The noble Mahayanasutra: …Tibet, 18th century CE.
InquireA Tibetan manuscript containing two complete sutras, each a dharani text describing magic recitations, rituals, and enchantments. The first sutra, "The great gathering of peaks and jewels", opens with two miniatures flanking the first leaf: Shakyamuni Buddha, and one of the historical Buddhas who preceded the Buddha of the current era. Likely composed …
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27The woodblock printing tradition of Tibet[The Life of Milarepa and The Collections of Songs of Milarepa].Tibet or China, 18th-19th century CE.
€ 8,500.00The two works by the 15th century madman-sage of Tibet, both books famous for their role in the early tradition of woodblock printing in Tibetan literature. The Life and Songs of Milarepa were written by Tsangnyön Heruka (1452-1507 CE) in the late 15th century; their popularity as woodblock-printed books led to a blooming of printing culture in …
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28Printed in blood[Dharani texts].Tibet, 18th or early 19th century CE.
€ 4,500.00A set of Tibetan woodblock-printed dharani texts, purportedly printed in blood. Blood ink has a long tradition in ascetic Buddhism in Tibet, and to the north in China. Two notable examples come from the Dunhuang Cave excavations, and are today held in the British Library. The manuscript Or.8210/S.5451, in Chinese, ends with a scribal colophon which …
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29Cosmology and wonder-tales, splendidly illustrated'Aja'ib al-Makhluqat wa Ghara'ib al-Mawjudat [A section of The Wonders …India, late 18th/early 19th century CE.
€ 45,000.00The great work of the cosmographer al-Qazwini: a manuscript comprising several sections of his "'Aja'ib al-Makhluqat", wonderfully illustrated with over one hundred and seventy miniatures. These colourful paintings show the astrological signs, an astronomer at work with telescope and astrolabe, a series of Islamic angels, a particularly wide range …
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30The first English grammar of 'low' TamilA Grammar of the Common Dialect of the Tamulian Language.Vepery Chennai, 1806.
€ 4,500.00First English edition of Beschi's grammar of colloquial (or "low") Tamil, first published in Latin by the Danish Missionary Press in 1738. This English translation by the German soldier and educator Christoph Horst (1761-1810) formed the subsequent basis for all following English-language attempts at a Tamil grammar.
Joseph Beschi (1680-1746) …
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31Ottoman almanac and calendrical scrollRuzname-i Darendevi [Darendevi Calendar].Ottoman Turkey, probably Istanbul, 1817/18 CE = 1233 H.
€ 14,000.00An Ottoman Turkish manuscript calendrical scroll, decorated with gold. By repute, this Ottoman scroll was formerly in the collection of Warren Hastings, Governor-General of India. The manuscript bears the title "Ruzname-i Darendevi" ("Darendevi Calendar"), which follows the calendar prototype giving prayer times for Istanbul established by Mehmed …
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32Mystic ZoroastrianismThe Desatir or Sacred Writings of the Ancient Persian Prophets; in the …Bombay, 1818.
€ 3,500.00First edition of the "Desatir", one of several works originating from an Indian milieu of mystic Zoroastrianism which attempted to show that a mystical form of Zoroastrianism preceded the "historical" form. Claiming to date from the Sasanian period, it is in fact a 16th-century work.
According to the preface, the then only known manuscript …
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33With sixty hand-painted miniatures of horsesFarasnama [Book of Horses].India, 1820/21 CE = 1236 H.
€ 18,500.00An Indian manuscript copy of a celebrated treatise on horsemanship, the "Farasnama" ("The Coloured Book of Horses"). Constituting a Persian translation of the Sanskrit "Salihotra", its topics include horse-breeding, grazing, dressage, veterinary advice and horseracing.
The "Salihotra" is attributed to Durgarasi, son of Surgarasi, who is believed …
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34De luxe editionDarstellung der K. K. Oesterreichischen Armee mit allen Chargen [...].Vienna, 1823.
€ 15,000.00Deluxe issue of the first edition, exceedingly rare: a splendid ensemble of military costume plates assembled by Franz von Hauslab and lithographed by Joseph Trentsensky, in an attractive green gilt morocco binding. In contrast to the regular edition, the individual sheets (measuring ca. 155 x 197 mm) are here mounted on much larger blue leaves lithographed …
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35A copperplate-printed Lotus SutraSutra of the White Lotus of the True Dharma [The Lotus Sutra].Kyoto, 1827.
€ 9,500.00A very rare copper-engraved scroll of the Lotus Sutra, the most popular of all Buddhist scriptures, which promises salvation to all who place faith in it. This is a most interesting and early example of copper engraving being used for purposes other than illustration in Japan. Engraved throughout in minute characters, this Lotus Sutra, also known …
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36An officer's treasureAsakir-i Mansûre-i Muhammediyye [The victorious soldiers of Muhammad].Istanbul, 1829/30 CE = 1245 H.
€ 25,000.00First edition of this scarce and magnificent luxury example of a fine Ottoman military publication, printed to be gifted to the highest ranks of Ottoman officers in the new elite fighting units of the Mansure Army. This new Ottoman force was formed in the wake of the 1826 Auspicious Incident as bodyguards for the Sultan, and was first commanded by …
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37One of 100 copies: lithographed facsimile of a key manuscriptVendidad Sadé. L'un des livres de Zoroastre. Lithographié d'après le …Paris, 1829-1843.
€ 45,000.00One of only 100 copies: a complete lithographed facsimile of the key manuscript which Abraham Anquetil-Duperron had brought to France from India in 1762, winning instant notoriety. This facsimile was issued more than six decades after his feat, over a 14-year period (the lithographer died half-way through the process), under the supervision of the …
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38The first dictionary of the Tagalog languageVocabulario de la lengua Tagala: primera, y segunda parte.Manila, 1835.
€ 5,800.00Originally compiled by Fr. Pedro de San Buenaventura in 1613, this important work was the first dictionary of the Tagalog language. It was enlarged and revised by the Franciscan Fr. Domingo de los Santos, who arrived in the Philippines in 1665 and, after administering parishes mainly in La Laguna, died in Majayjay in 1695. The first edition of Santos' …
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39The history of armour throughout the agesDer Harnisch von seinem Entstehen bis zu seinem Wiedervergehen in Bildern …Southern Germany, "1714" but apparently early 19th century.
€ 25,000.00Two striking series of highly decorative watercolours illustrating the history of armour throughout the ages. The first is purportedly copied after an earlier manuscript by the Augsburg artist G. P. Rugendas, dated 1714. The latter, with a date of 1688, is attributed to one "Matteo Argenteocorno" - a pseudonym for the goldsmith Matthäus Silberhorn …
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40Macau under Bishop Jerónimo da MataCollection letters and documents relating to the province of Macau, partly …Macau, January and February 1847.
InquireA fine collection of documents relating to the province of Macau under the episcopacy of Jerónimo da Mata (bishop 1845-62), during the time of the so-called Goan Schism. The schism followed the decision of Pope Gregory XVI to withdraw Cochin, Cranganore and Mylapore from the jurisdiction of Goa and assign them to vicars apostolic under the Congregatio …
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41Unique drawings of military formationsAlbum showing Chinese military formations ["Five Stars and the Crescent"].Beijing, ca. 1850.
€ 25,000.00Unique manuscript album in accordion format showing Chinese military formations and drills. "Five Stars and the Crescent" (moon) may refer to a constellation or pattern of stars imitated by a military manoeuvre. The album was produced by court artists of the Imperial Workshop during a time when the Chinese army was facing rapid decline, both in terms …
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42On philosophy and natural science: the most extensive Schopenhauer manuscript to appear on the market for over a decadeAutograph manuscript.No place or date.
€ 180,000.00The manuscript discusses cosmogony and the movement of the planets, mentioning the contributions made by Immanuel Kant and especially Laplace, as well as Kepler's Laws, then expanding these considerations to the level of metaphysics. This is the working manuscript for vol. 2, chapter 6 ("Zur Philosophie und Wissenschaft der Natur") of Schopenhauer's …
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43Mughal emperor and colonial administrator riding an elephantThe Mughal Emperor Akbar Shah II and Archibald Seton, British Resident …Northern India, ca. 1850-1860.
€ 25,000.00In this carefully realized Indian miniature, the shifting powers of late Mughal India appear in a single scene: riding on an elephant are the Mughal emperor Akbar Shah II (1760-1837) and Archibald Seton (1758-1818), British resident at Delhi, with Archibald Seton holding a morchal and sitting behind the haloed and bejeweled ruler. In front of the …
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44Handsome association copy: Chinese phrase book for French and British soldiers in the Second Opium WarGuide des armées alliés en Chine ou dialogues sur les reconnaisances …Paris & London, 1859.
€ 4,800.00First edition of an extraordinary phrasebook for French and British officers in preparation for the Second Opium War in China, jointly published in Paris and London.
The book opens with a list of Chinese provinces and their principal towns; this is followed by two pages of "Hygenic regulations to be observed in China" which end with the classic …
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45Inscribed by Florence NightingaleNotes on Nursing.London, 1860.
€ 28,000.00Author's presentation copy, inscribed to the reformer Joseph Adshead (1800-61) on the half title: "Joseph Adshead Esq / from his obliged friend / Florence Nightingale / July 1860 / Please do observe Pages 209-211".
Florence Nightingale and Joseph Adshead made their acquaintance through the Liberal politician and manufacturer Richard Cobden …
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46Unique letters written by the first Indian ruler to perform the HajjTwo autograph letters with seals.Bhopal, 1864.
€ 18,500.00A unique record of an Indian ruler's Hajj: two letters from Sikandar Begum, the only Indian monarch of her era to perform the Hajj, a female head of state and an independent ruler as Nawab of Bhopal in British Colonial India, in her time the only woman knighted by the British Empire outside Queen Victoria.
Both letters are stamped with the …
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47With original punch cardsCours de théorie pour le tissage professé par P. Audibert. Fait par L. …Lyon, 1871.
€ 7,500.00Beautifully preserved: an extensive, hand-drawn weaving pattern book compiled in the textile center of Lyon, including five pages of diagrams dedicated solely to punch cards. The work comprises over a hundred hand-painted designs alongside fabric samples illustrating the execution of various patterns.
The new, advanced weaving mills of the …
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48An Urdu lithograph-printed tafasirJami' al-Tafasir [Qur'an and Commentary].Delhi, 1875 CE = 1292 H.
€ 3,500.00A large Urdu lithograph-printed commentary on the Qur'an, mimicking the manuscript tradition of the Islamic 'tafasir', or Qur'an commentary. The Arabic text is presented in the largest and finest lettering, with interlinear Urdu and Persian translations, and the Urdu commentary itself printed entirely in the margins. This work is quite scarce, with …
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49Fit for a king: paintings of the final flowering of the Burmese court[Burmese court scenes - folding book].Burma Myanmar, ca. 1870s.
€ 38,000.00A lavishly illustrated Burmese parabaik manuscript, completely hand-painted in scenes and figures, probably from the court workshop of the royal court at Mandalay. Dominating the work are the ten court scenes across 31 folios, recording the major events of the year. These include the regatta festival in the 6th month of the traditional Burmese calendar, …
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50"England is now ruled by irresponsible clerks, mostly snobs"10 autograph letters signed and one autograph postcard signed ("R.F. Burton", …London, Trieste and Geneva, 27 May 1882 to 12 May 1884, 8 November 1888, and no date.
€ 45,000.00Exceptional collection of correspondence on the "Arabian Nights". Burton advises the poet John Payne on his translation of the Arabic classic, published just before Burton's pre-eminent edition. He offers assistance to Payne in preparing his edition, for which he refuses any royalty payment ("I cannot accept them"), often asking for Payne's latest …
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51The dawn of the computer age, in the form of a bookLivre de prières tissé d'après les enluminures des manuscrits du XIVe …Lyon, 1886.
€ 28,000.00A technical feat of bookmaking, weaving, and scientific ingenuity. Only approximately fifty - and no more than sixty - copies of this book were produced over two years; each page is entirely woven from silver silk thread, programmed into the Jacquard loom using over 200,000 individual punch cards, making this one of the earliest examples of what …
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52"You are nothing but a nihilist": the most substantial Nietzsche manuscript in private handsAutograph manuscript.Sils-Maria, June 1888.
InquireThe most substantial Nietzsche manuscript known to exist in private hands and the only relevant example to appear on the market in many decades. Rare Book Hub lists not a single manuscript in Nietzsche’s hand. Apart from a single octavo leaf containing merely 15 lines in pencil (Reiss 174 [2015], lot 414) and a brief, inscribed essay on classical …
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53Wilde as editor of a feminist monthlyAutograph letter signed ("Oscar Wilde").London, probably summer of 1888.
€ 25,000.00To the actress and socialite Maria Louisa (née Long), Lady Monckton: "Dear Lady Monckton, Will you, when your holiday arrives, write me a short article upon modern plays and modern acting, for a monthly magazine to which I have been asked to become literary adviser. The Princess Christian [of Schleswig-Holstein, Queen Victoria's daughter], Lady …
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54Limited issue, signed by the authorThe Picture of Dorian Gray.London, New York & Melbourne, 1891.
€ 35,000.00First edition of Wilde's only novel, signed limited issue: number 40 of 250 large-paper copies of the de luxe issue on Van Gelder handmade laid paper, signed "Oscar Wilde". The title-page and half title were designed by Charles Ricketts, who provided illustrations and cover designs for many of Wilde's works. This luxury issue is the corrected second …
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55Illustrated with seven miniaturesDevi Mahatmya [Glory of the Goddess].Northern India, 19th century CE.
€ 4,500.00Glorifying the supreme goddess: a manuscript of the Devi Mahatmya, penned in Sanskrit and illustrated with seven finely painted miniatures. The goddess known as Mahadevi, among numerous other names, honorifics, and incarnations, is described in the Devi Mahatmya as the supreme power and creator of the Universe. This belief in Mahadevi as a profound …
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56The earliest guide to MeccaFutuh al-Haramayn [Description of the Holy Cities].India or Persia, late 19th century CE.
€ 35,000.00Monumental manuscript copy of the first Islamic guidebook for the pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina, which Muhi al-Din Lari (d. 1526/27) completed in India in 1505/06. The book provides instructions on the Hajj pilgrimage rituals and descriptions of important sites that Muslim pilgrims can visit, including of the Kaaba in Mecca. Whilst no early illustrated …
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57"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 of …
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58"Please keep my movement strictly secret": The "Father of the Nation" shortly before his triumphant return to ChinaAutograph letter signed ("Very truly yours / Y. S. Sun")."On board R.M.S. 'Adriatic'", 8 Nov 1911.
€ 120,000.00After a series of failed uprisings in the years leading up to the date of our letter, the exiled Sun Yat-sen was in the United States seeking further support when news reached him of the success of Huang Xing's second military uprising at Wuchang, on 10 October 1911. Within weeks he set sail for London, as the present letter attests, where he sought …
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59One of the most important collections of Avestan manuscriptsThe Mulla Feroze Library. Authors' Catalogue of Printed and Lithographed …Bombay, 1928.
€ 1,500.00Extremely rare catalogue of the Mulla Feroze Library of Zoroastrian printed and lithographed books, periodicals, and manuscripts.
Firuz Mulla Bin Kawoos (1758-1830), a Parsi priest of the Kadmi sect and author of the epic Persian poem "George Nama" (a history of India from its discovery by the Portuguese and of the English in India to 1819), …
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60A woman's inheritance: contract on wood from the Atlas MountainsManuscript contract (arra) on argan wood.Morocco, Atlas Mountains, later 19th century.
€ 850.00A legal document written in Arabic by a member of the Berber tribes of the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, on a debarked and smoothed piece of a branch of Argania spinosa, a tree endemic to southwest Morocco. Similar pieces are held in the collections of various universities and museums.
This manuscript is an inheritance contract written after …
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61Eminent 20th century scientistsAutograph inscription signed.Princeton, NJ, 13 Mar 1964.
€ 4,000.00A small but fine collection of autographs by eminent 20th century scientists, assembled by the Chinese mathematician Shih Wei-Shu (1931-98), a member of Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study who worked on topology and partial differential equations.
The first item is inscribed by J. Robert Oppenheimer, the "father of the atomic bomb": "To …
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621960s autograph album, including signatures from Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of the Rolling StonesAutograph album.No place, 1960s.
€ 2,500.00A remarkable collection of autographs, including inscriptions by notable sportsmen, actors and musicians, interspersed with occasional personal contributions by friends of the owner.
The album was gifted to Feliks Zakrzewski of London by his mother on his 11th birthday in October 1963, and the inscriptions were acquired almost entirely over …
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63Samizdat GodfatherKrestnyi otets: roman v dvukh chastiakh, kniga pervaia; kniga vtoraia [The …Soviet Union, ca. 1969 to mid-1970s.
€ 6,500.00First Russian translation of Puzo's cult novel about Italian organized crime in New York, disseminated as a samizdat photocopy of a rough typescript, as the book was outlawed in Russia until the Perestroika years.
One reason for the ban was its romanticized depiction of mob culture, but it was also clear that the members of the Central Committee …
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64The quest for gravitational waves, helping a student, and announcing the birth of his daughter, LucyTyped letter signed ("Stephen").Cambridge, 10 Nov 1970.
€ 35,000.00To Charles W. Misner: one of Hawking’s students, Gary Gibbons, is to attend the meeting of the American Physical Society in New Orleans from 23-25 November, "where he will report on the British work on the design and construction of gravitational wave detectors. We think that, without the use of liquid helium, we can improve the sensitivity by …
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65Signed by J. K. Rowling and the Potter films' castHarry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. [Signed].London, 1998.
€ 12,000.00First deluxe edition, fourth impression, signed by the author and 20 cast members in black ink on the half-title, title-page, dedication leaf, final page of main text, and reviews page at rear. These signatures were collected at the world premiere of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2" in London (Trafalgar Square) on 7 July 2011, and …