2022 New York International Antiquarian Book Fair
A chronological catalogue of 50 items offered on the occasion of the 62nd New York International Antiquarian Book Fair, April 21 through 24, 2022
Booth B1
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1The finest Staufian document ever seen in the trade: the last Staufian emperor confirms a document by his grandfatherDocument.Ravenna, April 1226.
€ 450,000.00Extremely rare, exceptionally well preserved ceremonial document, lost since 1782. At the request of abbot Conrad, Emperor Frederick II confirms the privilege granted to St Paul's Abbey, Lavanttal, by his grandfather Frederick Barbarossa on 19 March 1170, in which the latter bestowed his protection on the monastery, awarding it sole tenure of Völkermarkt, …
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2Among the oldest manuscripts of this text in existenceSharh al-talwiyyât al-lawhiyya wa al-'ursîyya li-l-Suhrawardî [Explanations …Mamluk Syria, 1316 CE = 716 H.
€ 125,000.00Rare and early manuscript of Ibn Kammuna's principal work, this copy written less than fifty years after the commentary, which made its author famous, was completed in 1268.
Ibn Kammuna, who lived in Baghdad in the 13th century, is considered one of the most important Jewish philosophers after his Andalusian colleague Moses ibn Maimon (Maimonides, …
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3With a contemporary scholar's grotesque caricatures illustrating matrimonial law[Lectura Infortiati].Southern France, ca. 1406-1430.
InquireFirst part (of two) of Bartolus's commentary on the Infortiatum, the second part of the Digest or Pandects. The subjects under discussion in this part include matrimonial law, divorce, dowries, guardianship, wills, and intestate succession. This early 15th century manuscript is finely illuminated with initials in colours and gilt; the opening initial …
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4Owned by the Austrian theologian Johann Hofmüllner of WeitraHomilies 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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5Bound by Master Mathias of ViennaSermones de poenitentia et restitutione (Poenitentiale). Sermones de confessione.Probably Vienna, after 1460.
€ 50,000.00Extensive 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 …
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6"La prima edizione assoluta"La Commedia. Comm. Jacopo della Lana.Venice, 1477.
€ 250,000.00"La prima edizione commentata della Divina Commedia" (Mambelli), published only five years after the editio princeps (Foligno 1472). An exceptionally large and crisp copy, completely unsophisticated in its first binding.
This seventh edition altogether is the first to contain extensive commentary, "a heavyweight volume both literally and metaphorically, …
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7Splendid imitation Grolier binding by HaguéInstitutiones. (Comm. Franciscus Accursius).Nuremberg, 27 Dec. 1486.
InquireFine 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.
The …
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8Inscribed by a Mosul physician in 913 H (1507 CE)Dhakhirah-i Khwarazm-Shahi.Probably Anatolia, ca. 1490 / late 15th century CE.
€ 65,000.00Al-Jurjani's important medical compendium, the first major medical text to be written in Persian. Al-Jurjani (d. 1136) "went to live in Khwarizm in 504/1110 and became attached to the Khwarizmshahs Kutb al-Din Muhammad, to whom he dedicated his 'Dhakirah' [...] His 'Dhakirah Khwarizmshahi', probably the first medical encyclopaedia written in Persian …
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9Splendid vellum manuscript by Jean Coene, replete with illuminations of female saints, probably commissioned by a Paris nunneryLatin 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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10Illustrated and hand-coloured Terence with fine provenanceComico carmine.Strasbourg, 18 Mar 1503.
€ 35,000.00The third Grüninger edition, the first to include the numerous specially made smaller woodcuts that adorn the text, hand-coloured throughout in this copy. The full-page illustrations are repeated from the 1496 and 1499 incunabular editions. The woodcuts showcase Grüninger's method of using a large number of separate blocks in ever-changing combinations …
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111522 travel and navigation advice by Ferdinand Columbus for Emperor Charles V, the knowledge most likely taken from his experience accompanying his father in his Fourth Voyage to America in 1502Aviso de la Orden y Mareaje a la Armada del Emperador Nro Señor Debia …Seville, ca. 1522.
€ 250,000.00Exceptional manuscript by Hernando Colón (Fernando Columbus), one of the first people to travel to America as early as 1502, and son of the most famous explorer of all times.
The present "Aviso de la Orden y Mareaje" was composed by Hernan Colón (1488-1539), one of the first Europeans to travel and explore the coasts of America, a renowned …
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12The earliest of Bacon's works ever printed: automobiles, airplanes, submarines, explosivesDe his quae mundo mirabiliter eveniunt: ubi de sensuum erroribus, & …Paris, 1542.
€ 15,000.00First edition, containing "the earliest of Bacon's authentic works to be printed" (DSB). Often referred to as one of Bacon's most important writings, it occupies leaves 37 to 52 of the volume. "A very rare book which [...] contains the editio princeps of Roger Bacon's 'De mirabili potestate artis et naturae' which is identical with his 'Epistola …
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13Alhazen’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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14Illustrated astronomical commentarySharh al-mulakhas al-Jaghmini fi al-hay'a [Commentary on Al-Jaghmini's …Persia, 16th century ca. 1590.
€ 28,000.00Illustrated commentary by Qadizade al-Rumi on Al-Jaghmini's famous astronomical treatise "Mulakhas" ("Summary on the Science of the Authority"), completed in AH 808. Al-Rumi (1364-1436), known under the name of Salah al-Din Musa Pasha, was one of the principal astronomers at the famous Samarkand observatory. The present treatise is dedicated to his …
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15Calligraphic manuscriptVerzeichnus und warhaffter bericht, was das fürnembst in gantz Italia …Germany, 1592.
InquireHighly representative calligraphic manuscript of this popular guidebook to Italy, predating its publication by seven years, obviously commissioned by the Bavarian noble family Riederer von Paar. Kranitz von Wertheim's guide "Delitiae Italiae" was first published in 1599 in Frankfurt am Main and Leipzig, and quickly advanced to become one of the most …
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17A magnificent masterpiece of calligraphy and micrography for Princess Juliana of Hesse-DarmstadtGerman Psalter in the translation of Martin Luther.Oldenburg, 1634.
€ 125,000.00A splendid calligraphic manuscript on vellum and paper created for the 28-year-old Juliana of Hesse-Darmstadt (1606-59), countess of East Frisia, later in the collection of Victoria, Princess Royal, the eldest daughter of Queen Victoria and Albert of Saxe-Coburg. The micrographic text includes the liturgical calendar for 1634, the Psalms in mirror …
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18The women of Constantinople: the first costume book to show only women in their traditional dressRecuel [!] de divers portraits des principales dames de la Porte du Grand …Paris, 1648.
€ 35,000.00First edition, very rare. Georges de la Chappelle, a native of Caen, accompanied the French envoy Le Haye to the Porte and spent several years in the Levant. His work is known to us almost exclusively through these engravings, showing what Thieme/Becker described as "the prettiest ladies in the Imperial Seraglio". In the introductory text included …
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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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20From HaitiAutograph letter signed ("Godin").Petit-Goâve, Saint-Domingue Haiti, 28 Oct 1735.
€ 4,500.00A long, highly interesting letter written from Haiti, during the early months of the French Royal expedition for the measurement of the meridian arc.
In 1734 Godin had been requested to submit to the French chief minister the best means of measuring the exact figure of the Earth, and proposed sending expeditions to the Equator and the polar …
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212 guilders from the Lobwasser BequestAutograph receipt signed.Leipzig, June or July 1748.
€ 180,000.00Signature by Johann Sebastian Bach, confirming in his own hand the receipt of 2 guilders ("acc[epi] - 2 fl.") from the Lobwasser Bequest. The sum was paid out around every 2nd of July to the cantor, deputy headmaster, and third teacher (tertius) at St. Thomas. Above and below Bach's signature, his colleagues Conrad Benedict Hülse and Abraham Kriegel …
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22Bawdy satire on Southern Germany nobilityBawdy caricature of the family of Erbach-Schoenberg.No place, ca. 1760-1770.
€ 3,500.00A bawdy caricature poking lewd fun at members of the aristocratic German family of Erbach-Schönberg, licking each other's backsides in exaggerated humility. The centre of attention is Carl Eugen Count Erbach-Schönberg (1732-1816), reclining on a sopha and baring his haunches, a lively red from a recently-administered beating (captioned "dearest …
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23More than 100 colour recipesFärber farben gere[c]ht anzustöllen auf unterschidliche arth.Probably Germany, 1779.
InquireCollection of over 100 colour recipes in neat handwriting, probably the work of a German dyer active towards the end of the 18th century. It comprises instructions for preparing dyes in various colours, including blue, scarlet, crimson, red, brown, yellow, black, green, grey, silver, and white, for dyeing materials such as linen, cotton, and wool. …
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24A long-awaited reunion: Beethoven's highly emotional first sketch of "Neue Liebe, neues Leben""Neue Liebe, Neues Leben". Autograph musical manuscript.Vienna, 1798-1799.
InquireFirst draft for the lied "Neue Liebe, neues Leben", a setting of a 1775 poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, begun in late 1798. The present sketch, jotted down without interruptions in a very cursory, almost rushed hand, already contains the melody and the words with no expression markings, but includes occasional bass sections as well as parts of …
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25Alexander von Humboldt's detailed study of the salt mines of Zipaquirá"Memoire raisonné sur la Saline de Zipaquira". Autograph manuscript signed …Zipaquirá, Cundinamarca, Colombia, Sept. 1801.
InquireAn exceptional report and a fine example of the observational and analytical skills that marked Humboldt's work on his celebrated expedition to Spanish America, authorized by the Spanish monarchy in 1799. Accompanied by Aimé Bonpland he arrived in Colombia, after having spent three months in Cuba, in July 1801. In September he visited the vast salt …
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26Six Days to CharityAutograph letter signed ("Beethoven").Vienna, 23 Mar 1812.
€ 90,000.00To the Viennese civil servant Franz Rettich (1768-1818), who was to help Beethoven send urgently needed scores to Graz for a charity concert on March 29th, only six days hence:
"Es dürften bis Morgen abend wohl sicher noch die 2 overturen folgen, und so wird Ihnen geholfen, jedoch mit der äußersten Anstrengung. Schreiben Sie nur gefälligst, …
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27Ordering two booksAutograph document signed.Berlin, 27 Jun 1822.
€ 7,500.00Ordering books from the "Nicolaische Buchhandlung": "Schelver Lebens u. Formengeschichte der Pflanzen / Der deutsche Gilblas - von Göthe / bittet sich aus / Prof. Hegel".
The History of the Life and Forms of the Plant World by the German physician, botanist and natural philosopher Franz Joseph Schelver had just been published by Engelmann …
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28"Edizione di sola trenta esemplari": Luxury dedication copy for Marie Louise, Duchess of ParmaSaggio intorno musica dei Greci.Milan, 1822.
€ 25,000.00Only edition. Of all of Gironi's publications, all of which are of a similar nature, the present work on Greek music is one of the rarest, published in only 30 copies and printed on strong, very wide-margined wove paper. This is the dedication copy for Marie Louise, Archduchess of Austria and Duchess of Parma (1791-1847), the wife of Napoleon and …
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29The long-lost complete score of Schubert's Lied"Das Stille Lied". Autograph musical manuscript signed ("Frz Schubert mp.").Vienna, May 1827.
InquireComplete manuscript for "Das stille Lied" for a male vocal quartet (two tenors and two basses), written a year before Schubert's death, between completing the first and the second part of the "Winterreise". A little-known song of great and simple beauty, this is the setting of a text by the German theologian and poet Johann Georg Seegemund (Pseud. …
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30An album amicorum of the international aristocracy, commissioned at the Tsar's court and executed by one of Russia's most prestigious book artists and designersFriendship album for Princess Elizabeth of Prussia.Baden, Bad Kissingen, Darmstadt, Hohenschwangau, Homburg, Karlsruhe, Munich, Osborne House, Peterhof, St Petersburg, Wiesbaden and other places, 1855-1880.
€ 65,000.00Exceedingly prestigious and luxurious friendship album with the signatures of Alexander II and Alexander III of Russia, the German Emperor Wilhelm I, Queen Victoria, seven kings including Frederick William IV of Prussia, Ludwig I, Maximilian II, and Ludwig II of Bavaria, five empresses including Alexandra Feodorovna, Maria Alexandrovna, and Elizabeth …
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31Ruskin's passportPassport, signed.London, 10 Apr 1872.
€ 6,500.00Issued to Ruskin for travel on the Continent, stamped and signed by the French consulate in London.
Tongue of wallet cracked and fragile, otherwise in good condition.
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32Staining nerve tissue with gold chloride: inscribed by the authorEine neue Methode zum Studium des Faserverlaufs im Centralnervensystem.Leipzig, 1884.
€ 15,000.00First printing, offprint from the "Archiv für Anatomie und Physiologie" (1884, 5-6). Inscribed and signed to his schoolfriend, the chemist Josef Herzig, on the upper wrapper cover: "Seinem lieben Freunde Dr. Jozef Herzig | dVerf.". "Freud's full account of his method of staining nerve tissue with gold chloride [...] An English version [...] was …
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33Standard work of Muslim astronomy: a fine manuscriptKitab Suwar al-Kawakib [The Book of the Fixed Stars].Isfahan, 19th century CE.
InquireAl-Sufi's book, based on the Almagest of the Greek astronomer Ptolemy, concerns the 48 constellations known as the Fixed Stars. Commissioned by the Buyide emir, 'Adud al-Dawla, this treatise had a great impact on Muslim astronomy and was long considered a standard work of reference. The eminent astronomer Al-Sûfî wrote it in Isfahan around 965 …
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34Kafka'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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35To his friend and teacherAutograph letter signed.Vienna, 15 Mar 1914.
€ 25,000.00In German, to his friend, the Austrian painter and engraver Robert Philippi, who had initiated him to engraving, announcing his arrival: "Entschuldigen Sie, ich habe an den von mir bestimmten Tagen nicht kommen können, - werde aber bestimmt morgen Montag 5-6 zu Ihnen kommen".
Stamp clipped from the envelope.
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36Klecksographic album with Gabriele D'Annunzio and Emperor HirohitoFriendship album with 69 entries realised in Klecksography, by rulers and …Brijui, Fiume, Pola, Rome, Sorrento, 1919-1924.
€ 15,000.00An important and highly interesting Italian friendship album assembled between July 1919 and June 1924, realized in Klecksography throughout, by folding in half the signatures while still damp to create symmetrical ink blots, similar to the one used for the Rorschach test.
Among the personalities here represented is Emperor Hirohito, who visited …
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37Perfect numbered copy of the deluxe issue, signed by the sitters throughoutKöpfe 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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38The Book of a Generation: The 20th CopySiddhartha. Eine indische Dichtung. Erste bis sechste Auflage.Berlin, 1922.
InquireDe luxe issue of the first edition: no. 20 of 50 numbered copies, printed specially for the author and signed "Hermann Hesse". On the front free endpaper Hesse penned an additional inscription to the Austrian gynaecologist Josef von Halban (1870-1937): "Für Herrn / Hofrat Dr. J. Halban / von s. ergebenen / Herrmann Hesse".
The regular issue …
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39Hand-printed commemorative publicationIn Memoriam Gustav Klimt.Vienna, 1926.
€ 5,000.00One of 140 copies of the second book (of a total of only 21) issued by the "Officina Vindobonensis", the private press inaugurated in 1925 by Robert Haas, Carry Hauser, and Fred Siegle. The initials were cut by Haas, the binding was designed by Elisabeth Karlinsky. Printed on handmade paper by Zerkall.
Some browning to first and last leaf …
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40"now my camp is gaining the upper hand"Autograph letter signed.Nemchinovk, between January 7 and 14, 1929.
€ 16,500.00In Russian, to his third wife, Natalya Andreevna (née Manchenka, 1902-90), about fighting against the AKhRR (Assotsiatsia Khudozhnikov Revolutsionnoi Rossii - Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia), appointments with Kirill Ivanovich Shutko (with whom he talked about Dziga Vertov), Archangelski, M. P. Kristi, and Aleksei Gan, who wished …
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41Freud signing "half as papa"Guest book inscribed by Sigmund Freud, Ernest Jones, Marie Bonaparte, Max …Hochroterd near Vienna, 1932-1936.
€ 12,500.00Anna Freud's guest book from Hochrotherd in the Vienna Woods, where she and her partner Dorothy Tiffany Burlingham had bought an old farmhouse as a weekend and holiday home in 1930. Several major figures in the psychoanalytic movement signed the book: Sigmund Freud signed the first page, dating his inscription 26 July 1932 (with a three-word sentiment …
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42"Alice in Wonderland": presentation copy of the script, for and from AliceAlice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. Screen …Los Angeles, 1933.
€ 28,000.00De luxe copy, owned by "Alice", of the script to the 1933 Paramount Pictures adaptation of Lewis Carroll's classic. The script appears to have been available in a numbered edition (number 22 was sold at Sotheby's in 1975) and an un-numbered edition for members of the production (cast-member Ronald “Baby LeRoy” Overacker’s copy sold at Bonhams, …
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43László Willinger's Freud portraitPortrait photograph signed ("Sigm. Freud").Probably Vienna, 1936.
€ 25,000.00The well-known portrait of Freud taken by the Austro-Hungarian photographer László Willinger: a very attractive print in excellent condition. Willinger, who has been barred from any professional activity in Germany in 1933, worked for some time in the Vienna atelier of his father Wilhelm before emigrating in 1939. The present portrait was created …
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44"A first-hand description of the National-Socialist legal system, seen from the point of view of an anti-National-Socialist participating observer"The Dual State. A Contribution to the Theory of Dictatorship.New York / London / Toronto, 1941.
€ 2,000.00First edition of this classic study of the totalitarian state.
After years of professional and underground resistance to Hitler's regime, the German lawyer Ernst Fraenkel (1898-1975) escaped Nazi Germany to the UK in 1938, subsequently emigrating to America in 1939, where he studied American law at the University of Chicago. During this period …
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45Picasso's wartime Buffon: a very fine copy, embellished with two original drawings for a friend2 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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46Todesfuge"Todesfuge". Typescript poem signed in majuscules ("Paul CELAN").N. p., 1949-1950.
InquireThe final version of Celan's most famous poem "Todesfuge" ahead of its publication in his 1952 poetry collection "Mohn und Gedächtnis", with the famous opening line, "Schwarze Milch der Frühe wir trinken sie abends".
According to his own account, Celan wrote the poem in Bucharest in 1945, though some sources state that he had already started …
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47The discoverer of PenicillinPhotograph signed.No place, ca. 1950.
€ 6,500.00An appealing signed half-length portrait vintage photograph, circa 1950, showing Fleming seated and smoking a cigarette while signing a book on his knee. Signed "Alexander Fleming" in dark fountain pen ink across a white area of the image between his hands.
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48Signed Picasso portraitPhotograph signed.Cannes, 1956.
€ 6,500.00Picasso is seen in a checkered shirt at a table, a pen in his right hand, signing prints, looking at another person to his right who is presenting the sheets. A pencil note on the verso indicates the picture to have been taken at his Villa La Californie in Cannes and obtained in 1956.
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49Signed by all 56 contributorsNew Departures. Double issue 7/8 [and] 10/11.Bisley/London, 1975.
€ 6,500.00One of only 25 signed copies. The famous double number of the avant-garde literary magazine: a milestone of the Beat Generation and one of the most important anthologies of underground literature of the 1960s and '70s. Featuring 56 original signatures by leading figures of the Beat Generation, including William S. Burroughs, Jack Kerouac, John Cage, …
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50La BD franco-belge, 1990-1994Album of original drawings.Blois, Paris, Saint-Malo and no place, 1990-1994.
€ 45,000.00A splendid album of original artwork by some of the foremost artists of the Franco-Belgian comics scene active during the early 1990s. The contributions, some of which are located and dated, would seem to have been collected at various comics fairs or events. Virtually all are inscribed to "Jean-Michel", also variously spelt "Yann Mikael" or similarly, …