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S.-Petersburg, 1899 [recte October 1898]. 8vo. Bound in an excellent newer red half morocco in perfect contemporary style, with five raised bands and gilt author and year to spine. Marbled edges and beautiful marbled en-papers. Old owner's stamps to title-page ("Biblioteka Aleksandova, S. 1873 F.", "Iz knig Avrutina M.V.", and the number "21162"), otherwise also internally very nice and clean. (4), 290 pp. Very rare first edition of Lenin's first published book, the seminal miscellany of his economic papers, which constitute the first outline of his revolutionary ideas. The work consists in five economic essays/studies, four of which are published here for the first time ("The Handicraft Census of 1894-95 in Perm Gubernia and General Problems of "Handicraft" Industry"; "Gems of Narodnik Project-Mongering"; "The Heritage We Renounce" - all three written in exile in 1897 - and "On the Question of Our Factory Statistics", written in 1898), and one of which ("A Characterisation of Economic Romanticism") had been published the previous year, in installments, in the magazine Novoye Slovo, April-July 1897. Before the present publication, only very few of Lenin's papers and articles had been published, and none of them in book form. The present publication brings to light Lenin's elaboration of the tasks of the Russian Marxists (both as to their programme, their tactics, and the organization as such) ("The Heritage We Renounce") and gives us the basis for his take on Marxism. Much of the original material published here was used by Lenin, both directly (e.g. the "Handicraft Census") and indirectly (forming a basis for the work) in his later published book "The Development of Capitalim in Russia" (1899), which established his reputation as a Marxist theorist. Furthermore, the present publication constitutes Lenin's earliest economic writings directed against the Narodniks. As a whole, the present publication gives us the first rounded picture of Leninist thought and provides us with the basis for Leninist economics and politics. That which Lenin develops in the present studies and essays forms the basis for the capitalist and Marxist thought that he is later to present and which becomes the standard introduction to the Russian economy for later generations of Marxists. The work is of great scarcity and was presumably printed in very small numbers.

(Köln (Cologne), Ulrich Zell / Zel, ca. 1469). Large 8vo. Block measuring 21,5 x 14 cm. Printed in Gothic type, 27 lines to a page, 4-, 3-, 2, and 1-line initial spaces. Initials, paragraph marks, underlines, and capital strokes supplied in red throughout. Antoninus' "Defecerunt..." begins on f. (4r), ending with a colophon on f. (139r); Chrysostomos' "Sermo..." begins on f. (139v). Bound in a beautiful 19th century full polished calf with five raised bands to spine, gilt title-labels, inner gilt dentelles, and all edges of boards gilt. The hinges are worn and weak and cracked at the top. Marbled end-papers. Inside of front board with the book plate of Gilbert R. Redgrave. 144 ff. (including final blank). Internally a bit of soiling and browning and with numerous contemporary handwritten marginal notes throughout, some shaved when bound. The first leaf is with a slightly later 15th century handwritten inscription stating the provenance of the copy: "Mo[aste]rii Neostadiensis Ord[inis] S. Pauli Eremit[ae]" (i.e. Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit, Monastery in Neustadt), being the Pauliner-monastery in Wiener Neustadt outside of Vienna. There are two further inscriptions, both in contemporary hand, presuambly the same as that of the marginal notes throughout. They are on f. (65r) and f. (143v) and state that the book belongs to the Augustinian order of the St. Ulrich-Kloster ("mo[na]sterii S. Udalrici") in Wiener Neustadt. Exceedingly scarce early incunable-printing, possibly the first printing of both texts, being Antoninus’ “Confessionale” (the one known under the incipit “Defecerunt scrutantes scrutineo” (f. 4r) – one of the most influential confession books ever written, on the powers of the confessor, the seven deadly sins, the manner of interrogating persons of varying status, and absolution and the imposition of penance -, together with (Pseudo-) Chrysostomos’ “Sermo de Peonitentia” The venerated Catholic saint, Dominican friar, and Archbishop of Florence Antoninus Florentinus (1389-1459) had a great reputation for theological learning and had assisted as a papal theologian at the Council of Florence. Hist most important works – both written before and printed before his Summa Theologica -, are arguably his guides for confessors, which for centuries were highly regarded by the clergy as an aid and constituted a major development in the field of moral theology. Antoninus published three separate works that are all entitled “Confessionale”. They are distinguished by their incipit, the present being “Defecerunt…”, the most fundamental and influential of the three. The two others have “Curam illius habe”, also known as the “Specchio di coscienza”, which is an instruction manual for the sacrament of confession, written in Italian for a Neapolitan gentleman, directed at advising lay men and women, and “Curam illius habe,” also known as the “Medicina dell’anima”, which is an instruction manual directed to priests. Unlike the other two manuals, the “Defecerunt…” was published in Latin. It was “completed before July of 1440. This latter work is Antonin’s most popular by far, to judge by the number of manuscript copies, printed editions, and vernacular translations (Italian, Spanish, Croatian).” (Jason A. Brown: St Antonin of Florence..., 2019, pp. 44-45). Printed together with the “Defecerunt” Confessionale is the important “Sermo de poenitentia”, long ascribed to Chrysostomos, in which he deals with penance, also possibly printed here for the first time. The printing history of the work is quite complicated. There is no date and no printing place in the earliest printings of this foundational Catholic work, and numerous versions of it were printed. Furthermore, much of the “Defecerunt” seems to have been incorporated into his later, also highly influential “Summa” (see 3.17 – de statu confessorum). “The Confessionale “Defecerunt” exists in two known recensions, a briefer and a longer. These are distinguished by their incipits. The briefer recension incipit: Defecerunt scrutantes scrutinio ... Scrutantes aliorum peccata sunt confessores. Scrutinium autem est inquisitio facta in confessione. The longer recension incipit: Defecerunt scrutantes scrutinio ... Scrutinium quidem est confessio, in quo et penitens scrutatur conscientiam suam et confessor cum eo. It would be a tenable hypothesis, a priori, that the longer recension is original, that its material was copied into the Summa at the relevant places, and that the briefer recension was produced by abbreviating the longer one. Having examined early printed editions of the “Defecerunt” and considered their text against the autograph manuscripts, I consider it more likely that the longer recension is the later one, and represents an expanded version produced by adding in material from the Summa at corresponding places in the original Confessionale.” (Jason A. Brown: St Antonin of Florence..., 2019, p. 112). The present version – arguably the earliest – is the briefer, which was then later elaborated upon. As all bibliographers agree, it is clear from the characters that this copy was printed by Zell in Køln (Cologne), and no later than 1469 (some say no later than 1468, some just state “ca. 1470”)). Zell printed more than one version around the same time, but this seems to be the first of them – corresponding exactly to Hain 1162. In all, between 50 and 60 incunable editions of the work appeared in Latin, along with editions in Italian and Spanish, testifying to the enormous impact the work came to have on Catholic penitence. According to Gesamtkatalog der Wiegendrucke, 44 copies, including single fragments, are known to exist in public holdings, and at least one copy is known to exist on private hands. Hain-Copinger: 1162; GW: 2082; Brunet: I:333; Graesse I: 154. Provenance: During the reign of the pietist Habsburger Friedrich III (1440-1493), the small town of Wiener Neustadt near Vienna witnessed a blossoming of new clerical orders. They were more than doubled. To the already established monasteries were added, among several others, both an Augustiner-Kloster (which took over St. Ulrich), in 1459, and the Paulinerkloster (the one for St. Paul the First Hermit), in 1480. As is evident from the inscriptions in the present copy, it has belonged to both these orders, the first of which will presumably have acquired it at its appearance, where it was thoroughly read and annotated. With a decree of December 20th 1459, Pope Pius II allowed for a Augustinian Canon-monastery in Wiener Neustadt and thus fulfilled a longstanding wish of Kaiser Friedrich III. In June 1459, a decisive prerequisite for the founding of this monastery had taken place – the Secular Canons had renounced their parish church St. Ulrich in the Western suburb of Wiener Neustadt, which was now at the disposal for the Augustinian Canons. Friedrich III had very specific requests for the Augustinian Canons of Wiener Neustadt, and in accordance with these, Pope Pius II prescribed a dress for them that differed from the usual colour. Instead of a white habit, they were to wear a brown habit with a gold-coloured cross on the right side; the almucium (fur shoulder cloak), worn over the habit, was to be white on feast days and in church (instead of the usual black), while on ordinary days and outside of church, a brown almucium was to be worn. Like the provost of the secular canons, the provost of the Augustinian Canons also had the right to pontificals. The founding of the Augustinian Canons' foundation is recorded in a relief on Friedrich III’s tomb in the St. Stephan Cathedral in Vienna. On both sides of St. Ulrich, enthroned in the center, kneels an infulated priest, presumably the provost and dean. This group is surrounded by thirteen (also kneeling) canons. The inscription reads: "CANONICI REGULARES S. ULRICI NOVE CIVITATIS."

[Nuremberg], Christian de Launoy seel. Erben, 1764 [recte: 1763-66]. Folio. Contemporary half calf with gilt lines to spine. Corners a bit bumped. In magnificent, completely clean and fresh condition. (6), 8, (4), 72, 40, (8), 26 ff. + 51 magnificent engraved plates - all plates in astonishing, contemporary hand-colouring. Plates numbered as thus: 1-5 + 2b (i.e. 6 plates - depiting the microscope), I-XXX + A-E (i.e. 35 - details of floral structure and pollens), Anhang 1-10 (i.e. 10 - mainly insects). The plates are engraved by (and coloured by/under the auspices of) Christoph Keller after drawings by Gleichen-Russworm. With several beautiful, large engraved vignettes (by Johann Michael Stock, efter Keller). The scarce first edition of this splendid work, in which the outstanding microscopist Baron Gleichen-Russworm recorded his observations of plants and insects. The 51 astonishingly beautiful hand-coloured copperplates show the morphology of plants and insects in great detail as well as his magnificent specially constructed microscope and its different parts, making it of the utmost importance to the history of the microscope as well as the fertilization processes in plants. With his thorough study of the pollen, stamens, and pistils as well as the process connected with them, magnificently presented in great detail on beautifully produced plates, the work became a great source of inspiration for many biologists and microscopists of the 18th century. The microscope described and depicted here was frequently reproduced from the detailed plates and Gleichen-Russworm's experiments widely repeated in order to investigate the true nature of the plant. The plates depicting the microscope are among the most frequently reproduced depictions of microscopes. The work appeared in three fascicles, between 1763 and 1766 and were issued with a title-page stating 1764. Wilhelm Friedrich von Gleichen, known as Russworm (1717 - 1783) belongs to the outstanding microscopists of the eighteenth century. He was the elder son of Heinrich von Gleichen and Caroline von Russworm. "He received little formal education and in 1734, after some years as a page at the court of Prince Thurn und Taxis in Frankfurt, he decided to make his career in the forces of the margrave of Bayreuth. [...]. Gleichen-Russworm remained in the army until 1756, when he resigned his commission in order to devote himself to the management of the Greifenstein estates, inherited from his mother in 1748. His first published writings appeared after his departure from Bayreuth, in the periodical "Fränkische Sammlung aus der Naturlehre, Arzneigelahrtheit, Ökonomie und der damit verbundenen Wissenschaften"; they deal, inter alia, with natural history, physics, and chemistry but are, for the most part, quite fanciful.[...] In the summer of 1760 Gleichen-Russworm made the acquaintance of Martin Ledermüller, who had already begun publication of his "Mikroskopische Gemüths- und Augenergötzungen" (1759-1762); it was this work which led Gleichen-Russworm to concentrate on microscopy. Ledermüller visited Schloss Greifenstein in 1762, and Gleichen-Russworm continued to benefit from his advice until the former took offense at certain criticisms of his work which appeared in "Geschichte der gemeinen Stubenfliege" (1764).Gleichen-Russworm was particularly interested in the processes of fertilization in plants and animals, and in 1763 he published the first fascicle of Das neueste aus dem Reiche der Pflanzen. This work contains fifty-one colored plates illustrating numerous details of floral structure and various pollens; in addition, his interest in the construction of the microscope is reflected in the six plates devoted to the different modifications and accessories which he designed for the instrument. His account of the pollen of Asclepias syriaca L. in Auserlesene mikroskopische Entdeckungen (1777-1781) contains what appears to be the first observation of a pollen tube, although he remained unaware of its significance." (D.S.B.). Nissen BBI: 716. Pritzel: 3367 (merely stating 46 plates). Honeyman: 1515. Wellcome: III:125 (merely having an incomplete copy of the French translation).

Haag, Nijhoff, 1888-1889. Text-volumes in lex-8vo, two volumes, identically bound in near contemporary burgundy half cloth with the original printed front wrappers preserved an pasted on to front boards. the original printed paper spine labels have also been preserved an pasted on to spines. Wear to capitals, corners, and hinges. Blindstamped library imprint to top of front boards (Colonial Office Library). Bound with both half-titles. The half-title of vol. 1 mounted, as is the title-page of vol. 2. Stamps to title-pages (Arab Boreau Cairo and Colonial office Library). Otherwise a clean and fine copy with no noteworthy flaws. XXIII, (1), 228, (2) pp. + 3 genealogical tables and 2 folded maps + XVIII, 397, (1) pp. The atlas volume consists of the printed table of contents and all 65 photographs and lithographs inserted into a 19th century full vellum photograph album with sturdy leaves. The album itself has some wear, but is sturdy, robust and crarming. It artistically shows the craftmanship of the stiching by displaying parts of the sewing cords on leather onlays on the spine. Leather ties. In all, there are 75 illustrations, consisting in four chromolithographic plates, 6 tones lithographic plates (one double-page and folded) and 65 original photographs of varying sizes. Some are full-page, some are mounted four to a page, and some that have originally been four (and in one case three) to a page have here been individually mounted on a leaf each. Although taken out and mounted in to the present album, all numberings (I to XL) have been preserved, as have the titles of the pictures. Generally in very good condition, although one lithograph has a closed tear. Scarce first edition of the standard scientific work on Mecca, the first of its kind ever to be published. This magnificent work constitutes a pivotal historical source for our knowledge of the Holy City, for some the Forbidden City. It is arguably to date the most important Western account of Islam's holy city, not least due to the magnificent photographs taken by Snouck Hurgronje himself and his student Al-Sayyid Abd al-Ghaffar, a Meccan doctor, who became the first Arab photographer of Mecca. The work gives us the most unique insight into the people, the life and faith of Mecca at a most crucial time for both the city and the Arabian peninsula. "The 21st century reader should realize that the present book is a classic, but in many ways also a modern book. It describes Meccan society in the 1880's, and as such it is an important historical source - in fact till today the only one on the subject." (Intruduction by J.J. Witkam to the English translation, p. (XIII) ). "Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje, (born Feb. 8, 1857, Oosterhout, Neth.-died June 26, 1936, Leiden), professor and Dutch colonial official, a pioneer in the scientific study of Islam.While serving as a lecturer at the University of Leiden (1880-89), Snouck Hurgronje visited Arabia (1884-85), stopping at Mecca. His classic work "Mekka", 2 vol. (1888-89), reconstructs the history of the holy city and sheds light on the origins of Islam, early traditions and practices, and the first Islamic communities. The second volume, translated into English as "Mekka in the Latter Part of the 19th Century" (1931), contains many details of daily life in Islamic culture and deals with the Indonesian Muslim colony at Mecca." (Encycl. Britt.). "Our standard scientific work on Mecca and the pilgrimage we owe to the next Christian pilgrim on our roll, Prof. C. Snouck Hurgronje... [H]e journeyed to Mecca, where for six months he lived as a student of the Koran, and gathered the material for his monumental work on that city. As Burckhardt had been mainly interested in the topography of the city, and the pilgrimage ceremony, Snouck Hurgronje interested himself particularly in a social study of the Meccan community, and so complete is his work that he has left nothing to later writers save to note the changes made by passing years." (Arthus Jeffery, The Moslem World, Volume 19 (1929), pp. 232-3). Much speculation has been given to the circumstances under which Snouck Hurgronje succeeded in being able to enter Mecca the way he did. No other Western scholar had been given the opportunity of entering the Holy City this way. "Ever since Snouck Hurgronje published his monograph on Mecca, the book has amazed its readers. Mecca was and is the Holy City for some, the Forbidden City for others. How had a young Western scholar succeeded, and in such a short time, to become accepted by the Meccans as one of them and to write such a detailed description of Mecca's society? Since Snouck Hurgronje has mostly kept silent about this remarkable feat, stories of legendary proportions were bound to come into circulation..." (Witkam, p. (XIII) ).Through mediation with the Ottoman governor in Jeddah, Snouck Hurgronje, who was fluent in Arabic, was examined by a delegation of scholars from Mecca in 1884 and, upon successful completion of the examination, was allowed to commence a pilgrimage to the Holy Muslim city of Mecca in 1885. His chief object was to become intimately acquainted with the daily life of the Mekkans and of the thousands of Muhammadans from all parts of the world living in Mekka for material or spiritual purposes.A pioneering traveler, he was a rare Western presence in Mecca. He embraced the culture and religion of his hosts with passion, to such an extent that he successfully gave people the impression that he had converted to Islam. But what is just as astonishing as his entering so fully into life in Mecca and being able to report so intimately and lively on it, is his accompanying photographic documentation. Also in this respect, he is a pioneer. In his day, a camera probably weighed ab. 40 kilos, and one needed a number of chemicals in order to develop the pictures, which would have been done on site. Having been forced to leave Mecca due to a misunderstanding, after five months, Hurgronje gave the photographic equipment to a local physician he had been staying with, Al-Sayyid Abd al-Ghaffar, who began using the camera and sent images back to Hurgronje in the Netherlands. Thus, Abd al-Ghaffar became Mecca's first home-grown photographer. Many of the photographs were originally credited solely to Hurgronje, but they are now jointly credited, with experts unable to tell who shot what.

Helmstadt, C. G. Fleckeisen, 1799. 4to. Bound uncut in a very nice recent pastiche-binding in brown half calf with elaborately gilt spine and marbled paper covered boards. With repair to title-page, not affecting text. Small restorations to upper margin of leaf A2 and A3. Brownspotted throughout. 39, (1) pp. + engraved plate. Rare first edition of Gauss's first book in which he proved the fundamental theorem of algebra which states that every non-constant single-variable polynomial with complex coefficients has at least one complex root. Gauss received his doctorate degree for this work, which is considered his first great work. It marks the beginning of an extraordinary ten years often referred to as his 'Triumphal Decade' with landmark achievements such as the publication of 'Disquisitiones Arithmeticae' and the calculation of the orbit of the newly discovered planet Ceres. On june 16, 1799, even before the thesis was published, Gauss was awarded the title Doctor Philosophiae after the usual requirements of an oral examination, particularly tedious to Gauss, was dropped. In a letter to Bolyai, Gauss's close friend, Gauss described his thesis: "The title describes the main objective of the paper quite well though I devote to it only about a third of the space. The rest mainly contains history and criticisms of the works of other mathematicians (name d'Alembert, Bougainville, Euler, de Foncenex, Lagrange, and the authors of compendia - the latter will presumably not be too happy) about the subject, together with diverse remarks about the shallowness of contemporary mathematics" "Professor Pfaff, Gauss's formal research supervisor, shared with Gauss an interest in the foundations of geometry, but it is mere speculation that the two discussed this topic. Gauss's dissertation is about the fundamental theorem of algebra. The proof and discussion avoid the use of imaginary quantities through the work is analytic and geometric in nature; its underlying ideas are most suitably expressed in the complex domain. Like the law of quadratic reciprocity, the fundamental theorem of algebra was a recurring topic in Gauss's mathematical work - in fact, his last mathematical paper returned to it, this time explicitly using complex numbers." (Gauss, A Biographical Study, p. 41). "There is only one thing wrong with this landmark in Algebra. The first two words in the title would imply that Gauss had merely added a 'new' proof to others already known. He should have omitted "nova". His was the first proof . Some before him had published what they supposed were proofs of this theorem - usually called the fundamental theorem of algebra - but logical and mathematical rigor Gauss insisted upon a proof, and gave the first" (Bell, Men of Mathematics, p. 32) "Gauss ranks, together with Archimedes and Newton, as one of the greatest geniuses in the history of mathematics." (Printing & the Mind of Man). Dibner 114

Amsterdam, Jan Janssonius, 1631. Folio. Contemp. hcalf. Raised bands. Compartments gilt with floral stamps. Titlelabel with gilt lettering. Repairs to spine ends and hinges. Marbled coverpapers. Covers a bit rubbed. Endpapers renewed. Engraved frontispiece title, engraved portrait. (24),(10) pp. and 110 fine engraved plates (67 to the first part, 43 to the second), depicting 560 plants, usually life-size. A few minor brownspots. Scarce early (the first 1612) edition of Sweert's famous Florilegium, at first intended to be both a catalogue for selling plants and bulps and a picture-book of plants, but the later editions (as here) became a true Florilegium for collectors and botanical scientists. The first part deals with bulbous species, and the second with species having "fibrous" roots (fibrosae radices). Thirty-three tulip heads are paraded in regular columns. The American contingent is represented by the sunflower, cactus, agave, pineapple and Canna. Sweerts and Johann Theodor de Bry were the first to establish the convention of portraying lower stem with bulb or root alongside severed upper stem and flower in order to reproduce the plant life-size on the page. "Sweert prepared his Florilegium as a guide of his available stock for the Frankfurt Fair of 1612. The plates, depicting some 560 bulbs and flowers, were from the Johann Theodore de Bry Florilegium which in turn was based on that by Pierre Vallet. His attractively depicted bulbs sparked their popularity, leading to 6 editions of the work between 1612 and 1647, and a demand which would later result in "Tulipomania". At the time of the fair Sweert was in the employ of Emperor Rudolf II as head of his gardens in Vienna. He borrowed freely from plates that had been published before, so that many of those that appeared in the Florilegium had been cultivated in the gardens of King Henry IV of France at the Louvre." (Wikipedia).Nissen, 1921. - Hunt, 196 (1612-edition).

Hauniæ (i.e. Copenhagen), 1855. 8vo. Bound in a lovely recent red half morocco with five raised bands and gilt title and year to spine. Red marbled paper over boards and lovely blue marbled endpapers. All edges gilt. A damp stain throughout - to most of the leaves it it only marginal, but on the first leaves it touches the text slightly and to the last couple of quires more. Apart from that, only lighter brownspotting. One leaf (pp. 65-66 with a restored tear, affecting text, but with barely any loss of lettering (half of an L and half of an e are very vague). First leaf of text with a marginal annotation and hand pagination. (4), X, 470 pp. Exceedingly scarce first edition of the work that founded Pali-studies in the West, the foundational first Western publication of Theravada-Buddhism, namely Fausböll’s critical edition of the Dhammapada, being the first European edition of a complete Pali-text as well as the first Latin translation of the Dhammapada, today probably the most frequently translated Buddhist text in the world. This Latin translation is also the first full non-Asian translation. Excerpts of the Dhammapada had appeared in English in the periodical The Friend printed in Colombo, Sri Lanka, but a full English translation, which is based upon Fausböll’s version, only appeared in 1870. The first German translation appeared in 1860. But none of these other earliest translations had anywhere near the impact that Fausböll’s critical edition along with the Latin translation came to have upon the study of Buddha and Buddhism in the West. With Fausböll’s publication, the Dhammapada was introduced in the West, where it came to find great dissemination and is now the most frequently translated Buddhist text in Europe. The Dhammapada, the extremely influential collection of sayings of the Buddha in verse form, constitutes one of the most widely read and best known Buddhist scriptures. The original version of the Dhammapada is in the Khuddaka Nikaya, a division of the Pali Canon of Theravada Buddhism. Each saying recorded in the collection was made on a different occasion in response to a unique situation that had arisen in the life of the Buddha and his monastic community. “The Dhammapada is the best known and most widely esteemed text in the Pali Tipitaka, the sacred scriptures of Theravada Buddhism. The work is included in the Khuddaka Nikaya ("Minor Collection") of the Sutta Pitaka, but its popularity has raised it far above the single niche it occupies in the scriptures to the ranks of a world religious classic. Composed in the ancient Pali language, this slim anthology of verses constitutes a perfect compendium of the Buddha's teaching, comprising between its covers all the essential principles elaborated at length in the forty-odd volumes of the Pali canon.” (The Dhammapada. The Buddha's Path of Wisdom. Translated from the Pali by Acharya Buddharakkhita with an Introduction by Bhikkhu Bodhi, 1996). Buddhist tradition has it that shortly after the passing away of the Lord Buddha, five hundred of his disciples met in council at Rajagaha in order to recall the truths they had received from their spiritual teacher during the previous forty-five years. They wanted these truths about moral and spiritual conduct to live on forever and for Buddha’s message to be available for all future disciples. The followers and Arhat felt the responsibility to convey the teaching and discipline of the Buddhist order as faithfully and truly as possible, and having no written texts to rely on, they prepared the many discourses for recitation with repetitions in various contexts, so that they could be remembered. Like the verses of Homer and other ancient works that were only written down later. “At that time, according to the Sinhalese, the Dhammapada was orally assembled from the sayings of Gautama given on some three hundred different occasions. Put in verse form the couplets contrast the vanity of hypocrisy, false pride, heedlessness, and selfish desire with the virtues of truthfulness, modesty, vigilance, and self-abnegation. The admonitions are age-old, yet they strike home today, their austerity of purpose fittingly relieved by gentle humor and earthy simile. Subsequently, several renditions of the Dhammapada in the Sanskrit and Chinese languages came into circulation; likewise, a number of stanzas are to be found almost verbatim in other texts of the canonical literature, testifying to the esteem in which its content was anciently held. Since first collated, the Dhammapada has become one of the best loved of Buddhist scriptures, recited daily by millions of devotees who chant its verses in Pali or in their native dialect.” (Bodhi, 1996). “The Dhammapada, an anthology of verses attributed to the Buddha, has long been recognized as one of the masterpieces of early Buddhist literature. Only more recently have scholars realized that it is also one of the early masterpieces in the Indian tradition of kavya, or belles lettres.” (The Dhammapada. A Translation. translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu). Viggo Fausböll (1821-1908) was a Danish educator, translator, orientalist, linguist, and most of all a pioneer of Pali scholarship. He studied at the University of Copenhagen, where he later became professor, teaching Sanskrit and Esat Indian philology. His magnum opus is his groundbreaking 1855 commented edition of the Dhammapada, with Latin translation, which founded Pali scholarship in the West and formed the basis for later translations and editions. A new edition of it appeared in 1900. Fausböll became Knight of Dannebrog in 1888, Dannebrogsmand in 1891, and Commander 2nd degree in 1898. The work is of the utmost scarcity outside of institutional holdings. We have never seen a copy in the trade before, and we have not been able to trace a single copy at auction.

Kazan, Kazan University Press, 1855-56. 4to (263 x 216 mm). In a nice later half calf binding with four raised bands and marbled paper covered boards. Extracted from "Uchenye zapiski, Imperatorskago Kazanskago Universiteta", 1855, vol. 1. Two library-stamps to p. 51 with offsetting to p. 50 and small stamp to last free end-paper. With very light creasing to outer margin, otherwise a fine and clean copy. 56 pp. Exceedingly rare first appearance of Lobachevsky’s landmark 'Pangeometry', a seminal work that serves as a synthesis of his exploration into non-Euclidean geometry and its practical applications and is widely considered his clearest account of the subject. It is also the conclusion of his life's work and the last and final attempt he made to acquire recognition. Lobachevsky's contributions not only marked a turning point in mathematical thought, but were also a catalyst for profound shifts in physics, and philosophy as they expanded the boundaries of human understanding, challenging 2000 year old conventional wisdom; consequently, he is often referred to as "The Copernicus of Geometry". Lobachevsky wrote his Pangeometry in 1855, the year before his death, at a time when he was completely blind. He dictated two versions, a first one in Russian (the present), and a second in French. Despite his revolutionary work, Lobachevsky’s received little, if any, attention from the scientific community. One reason for this was that his works were published in very small numbers in relatively obscure journals – they seem to have had minimal circulation even within Russia. The present treatise contains basic ideas of hyperbolic geometry, including the trigonometric formulae, the techniques of computation of arc length, of area and of volume, with concrete examples. It also deals with the applications of hyperbolic geometry to the computation of new definite integrals. “Lobachevskii’s geometry represents the culmination of two thousand years of criticism of Euclid’s fifth, or parallel, postulate, which states that given a line and a point not on the line, there can be drawn through the point one and only one coplanar line not intersecting the given line. As this postulate had stubbornly resisted all attempts (including Lobachevskii’s) to prove it as a theorem, Lobachevskii came to the realization that it was possible to construct a logically consistent geometry in which the Euclidean postulate represented a special case of a more general system that allowed for the possibility of hyperbolically curved space. Lobachevskii’s system refuted the unique applicability of Euclidean geometry to the real world, and pointed the way to the Einsteinian concept of variably curved space” (Norman 1379.). “At the same time as Lobachevsky, other geometers were making similar discoveries. Gauss had arrived at an idea of non-Euclidean geometry in the last years of the eighteenth century and had for several decades continued to study the problems that such an idea presented. He never published his results, however, and these became known only after his death and the publication of his correspondence. Janos Bolyai, the son of Gauss’s university comrade Farkas Bolyai, hit upon Lobachevskian geometry at a slightly later date than Lobachevsky. Since Gauss did not publish his work on the subject, and since Bolyai published only at a later date, Lobachevsky clearly holds priority.” DSB. Lobachevsky's non-Euclidean geometry paved the way for further advancements in mathematics, including the development of differential geometry and the study of Riemannian manifolds. These areas of mathematics have found applications in fields as diverse as physics, engineering, and computer science. Furthermore, his work laid the groundwork for Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity, which relies on the concept of curved spacetime. It showed that there is no single "correct" geometry, but rather multiple valid systems. This led to a broader understanding of the nature of axiomatic systems and their relation to reality - implications that extend well beyond the realm of mathematics, shaping our understanding of space, reality, and the limits of human knowledge.

Ferrara, Benedetto Mamarello, 1590. Small 8vo. Later half vellum with gilt title-label to spine. Marbbled paper over boards. A faint damp stain to the last few leaves, otherwise a nice and clean copy. Old ownership-signature to last leaf. Bookplate to inside of front board. Large woodcut device to title-page. Woodcut initials and headpieces at beginning. (8), 170, (5) pp. The very scarce first edition of the first translation into any language of any part of Montaigne's Essays, namely Naselli's monumental first Italian translation, which came to pave the way for later translations of the work, among them Florio's first English from 1603. Montaigne's magnum opus was published in 1580, and in 1588, the final edition appeared, constituting the definitive text of the work and that on which all later editions were based. With his seminal work, Montaigne not only created a novel genre of writing, he also founded modern scepticism and the revival of ancient scepticism, and he paved the way for the modern philosophy and thought presented by Bacon, Decartes and Newton. "Unlike anti-intellectuals like Erasmus, Montaigne developed his doubts through reasoning. Unlike his skeptical predecessors who presented mainly a series of reports on the variety of human opinions, Montaigne worked out his complete Pyrrhonism through a sequence of levels of doubt, culminating in some crucial philosophical difficulties... The occurrence of Montaigne's revitalization of the Pyrrhonism of Sextus Empiricus, coming at a time when the intellectual world of the 16th century was collapsing, made the "nouveau Pyrrhonisme" of Montaigne not the blind alley that historians like Copleston and Weber have portrayed, but one of the crucial forces in the formation of modern thought... It was also to be the womb of modern thought, in that it led to the attempt either to refute the new Pyrrhonism, or to find a way of living with it." (Popkin, vol. II, 1960, pp. 54-55). There are many important aspects of Montaigne's groundbreaking work, which has been subject of an uncountable number of scholars throughout centuries. But one aspect which seems to have been forgotten in recent times is one that is emphasized by Naselli's extremely important first ever translation of the work. As the Italian title will reveal, the work was also widely viewed - and intended - as a political council book. Naselli bases his translation on Montaigne's own final edition from 1588 and publishes it merely two years later, including 42 of 94 chapters of the first two books. His translation is the one closest in time to the original appearance of the work and is the only one published in Montaigne's own life-time. It is thus in a unique position to tell us about contemporary views on the work and its use. "One enormously important prose genre upon which Montaigne draws most heavily consists of political advice books for courtiers and princes that proliferated in great number and with great social and political impact in the late Renaissance. Montaigne's appropriation of the political counsel genre has gone largely unnoticed by contemporary scholars, and bringing it into focus has significant implications for our understanding of the "Essais"... bringing it to the foreground allows us to challenge more robustly the common conclusion that Montaigne's unique project "is not a political work."Many in the first generation of Montaigne's reception appear to have seen the "Essais" principally as a contribution to the political contribution to the political counsel literature. For example, Girolamo Naselli's 1590 Italian translation of the "Essais is titled "Discorsi morali, politici e military", while John Florio follows Naselli's lead in the title of his 1603 English translation, "The Essayes or Morall, politike and militaire discourses". And when Francis Bacon enthusiastically adopts Montaigne's novel "Essai"-form for his own ends, he does so as a useful means of giving "Councels Civill and Morall", not simply musings personal and poetic." (Thompson, Montaigne and the Tolerance of Politics, p. 21). As is mentioned on the title-page, this first translation also contains another, long "questione". "In this deliberative discourse, very different in kind from anything a modern reader would associate with "Essais", and apparently composed soon after the winter 1576-7 Estates General of Blois, the author argues methodically and resolutely against those at the assembly who in a public "ragionamento" demonstrated the employment of foreigners in a republic to be universally undesirable, and who nearly succeeded in having this position passed into law." (Boutcher: The Scool of Montaigne in Early Modern Europe, vol. 2, p. 136).

Paris, Charles de Sercy, 1691. Small 8vo. Contemporary full mottled calf with five raised bands to richly gilt spine. All edges of boards gilt. Spine worn, especially at top and bottom, which lack pieces of leather (conserved). Outer hinges worn and weak, so capital bands are showing, but inner hinges are fine and tight. First ab. 10 leaves with a mostly light damp stain. Last 17¤ of leaves with small worm-holes, almost solely marginal, not affecting text, and mostly single holes. All in all internally very nice and clean. [20], 505, [46] pp. Exceedingly scarce first edition of one of the most important cookbooks ever printed, being the first to contain alphabetized recipes. In this masterpiece in the history of cookery, we find the first printed recipe for crème brulee, the first printed recipe for meringue and the first known food recipes to contain chocolate. Furthermore, Massialot’s magnum opus includes the “Macreuse en ragout au chocolate”, which is possibly the first known Aztec recipe in a European cookbook. “Massialot, who lived from 1660 to 1733, served as chef de cuisine for various high-ranking Frenchmen, including Philippe I, Duke of Orléans. He’s best known for his “Nouveau cuisinier royal et bourgeois”... In the book he not only laid out recipes for the meals he prepared for royals, but he was also the first to alphabetize recipes, and both meringues and crème brûlée made their first appearances in the book.” (Dan Meyers in The Daily Meal: 10 Chefs Who Changed the Way We Eat). “Le cuisinier royal et bourgeois” consists of two parts, the first consisting in descriptions of menus for a whole year. Many of these had been prepared at court and both dates and hosts are mentioned in the book. The second part consists in the actual cookbook and constitututes the first cookbook in which the recipes are alphabetically ordered. They are ordered to the chief ingredient and there are often variations for flesh- and fishdays. The book is now worldwide-famous for the invention of crème brulée, for the first recipe of meringue and for the novel recipes containing chocolate: one in a sauce for wigeon or scoter, the other in a sweet custard. Up until then, chocolate had been consumed solely as a drink. Another of Massialot’s innovations presented in the present work is that of adding a glass of white wine to fish stock. The “Macreuse en ragoût au chocolate” (duck stewed in chocolate)-recipe, which also appears here for the first time and is thought to be the first known Aztec recipe in a European cookbook, was reproduced by Alexandre Dumas in his dictionary of cookery in 1872, where he calls it a “masterpiece.” Massialot was extremely influential, both in France and abroad. The recipes in the present work were initially intended for nobility, but they eventually made their way to public restaurants founded by former cooks of the court after the French Revolution. The book is one of the key foundation stones for restaurants as we know them today. The work was extremely popular and kept appearing throughout several centuries. A second edition appeared in 1693, a third in 1698, and then it appeared again in 1705 and 1709. In 1712 it was expanded to two volumes and in 1733-34 it was revised and expanded to three. The work was translated into English as early as 1702 as “The Court and the Country Cook” and had an enormous influence on English cooking as well. François Massialot (1660, in Limoges– 1733, in Paris) served as chef de cuisine (officier de bouche) to various illustrious personages, including Phillipe I, Duke of Orléans, the brother of Louis XIV, and his son Philippe II, Duke of Orléans. In his preface, Massialot describes himself as "a cook who dares to qualify himself royal, and it is not without cause, for the meals which he describes...have all been served at court or in the houses of princes, and of people of the first rank." Serving banquets at places like the Versailles, this can hardly be said to be an overstatement. The first edition of this milestone of cookery is of the utmost scarcity. According to OCLC, merely five copies are located worldwide (two in the US and three in Europe) and not a single copy is traceable at actions. Vicaire: 573 (“Première edition, très rare”).

Augustae Taurinorum (Turin), Ioannes Michael Briolus, 1785 + 1789. Folio. 3 later half vellum in old style with titles and tomes printed in black on spines. All edges uncut. Title-pages printed in red and black. Large engr. vignette to all three title-pages. Engr. frontispiece-portrait to volume one. (10), XIX, (1), 344; (4), 366, XIV (= Nomina Generum & Vernacula + Errata), (2) (=colophon); (4), XIV pp + 92 beautiful full page engr. HAND-COLOURED plates. Complete w. all three half-titles and all 92 plates in the very scarce coloured state. A very good copy w. some occasional brownspotting and soiling. Last ab. 35 plates w. waterdamage to upper right corner, only on some plates affecting the actual plate, and on these not affcting the image, but merely the plate-numbering in upper right corner. The supplementary "Auctarium" is in 4to and bound in a newer full leather binding w. gilt spine (Henning Jensen). Engr. title-vignette. (4), 53, (1) pp. + 2 folded engr. plates. Complete, nice and clean w. only minor occasional brownspotting. Scarce first edition of one of the most important Italian floras, here in the EXTREMELY RARE COLOURED STATE, by one of the most important botanists of the 18th century, the Piedmont Linné ("Il Linneo piemontese"), Carlo Allioni (1728-1804). The Piedmontese Flora is Allioni's main work. In the text it describes 2.831 species of Piedmont plants, and the plates depict 92 hitherto unknown or very rare species of plants, many of which have been discovered by Allioni himself or by his illustrator. The 92 beautiful plates are drawn by Francisco Peiroleri and engraved by his son Petrus Peiroleri. The work was more than 25 years on its way, and with its appearance Allioni established his reputation as one of the main botanists of the 18th century.This work is considered one of the most important flower books of Europe and undoubtedly the most important of Piedmont, and it has received worldwide fame as one of the most beautiful and important alpine botanical works. With this work Allioni is the first to organize the flora of Piedmont in a modern system, i.e applying the new principles of nomenclature after the Linnean model, and for this reason he is called the Linné of Piedmont. He actually corresponded much with Linné, who also considered him a reformist botanical writer and even named the New World herb genus Allionia after him.Carlo Allioni was an Italian physician and botanist and is considered one of the greatest experts in scientific botany and medicine in Europe in the 18th century. He was born in Turin in 1728 and finished his medical studies in 1747. He had planned to become a professor of medicine, but decided to devote himself to the study of natural history and became one of the most important botanists of the century. "As a young man of twenty-five, Carlo Allioni made a botanical tour of Piedmont and Savoy, but he was sixty and nearly blind when the "Flora Pedemontana", his most important work, was published. He had been for many years Professor of Botany and Director of the Botanical Garden of the University of Turin, and was a corresponding associate of learned societies from Spain to Sweden." (Alice M. Coats, The Book of Flowers, 1973. Nr. 80). In the 18th century botanical science underwent somewhat of a rebirth, mainly caused by the writings of Linné. However, Linné was not alone in making his discoveries and systems known and applied, and several important botanists helped pave the way for the taking over of the Linnean nomenclature system. Not only had Linné turned the way of classifying, arranging and naming species upside down, he had also discovered many new species and begun to compile local floras. One of his devoted followers was Allioni, who devoted himself entirely to the new system and became an enthusiastic advocate for it. The Flora Pedemontana, which had been under preparation for about 25 years, when it appeared in 1785, represents the epitome of Allioni's floral studies, and it represents a scientific study of the utmost importance, since it practically applies the new principles of botanical nomenclature.The illustrator, Francesco Peyroleri aus Viù, was a very gifted self-taught botanical painter, who was famous for his artistic abilities as well as his home-made colours that were made from the flowers he knew from the botanical gardens. He was also renowned for his special way of pressing the plants from below on to the humid paper in order to achieve a better sense of relief in the figures. Though he was self-taught, he possessed such skills that he quickly became an authority, whom many others asked for advise, and he was counted as an equal by the masters. "In Allionis "Flora Pedemontana", deren Tafeln er sämtlich gezeichnet hat, wird er nicht selten als Finder oder Entdecker angeführt. Der Stecher dieser Tafeln, Francescos Sohn Pietro Peyroleri, hatte bereits 1755 im Alter von 14 Jahren die Zeichnungen des Vaters für Allionis "Rariorum Pedemontii stirpium specimen primum" vervielfältigt" Seine Ausbildung hatte er dann von Carlo Emanuele Beaumont empfangen, der wie Bartolozzi ein Schüler Joseph Wagners in Venedig war." (Nissen I, p. 154).Together these two major authorities, Allioni and Peiroleri, have made a hugely important and lasting contribution of great beauty to the history of scientific botany, which became a main publication of the Age of Enlightenment. Coloured copies of the work are known to exist, but they are extremely scarce. "The earlier works having plates with an engraved or lithographed outline exist in both hand-coloured and uncoloured states. Sometimes as with Curtius's "Flora Londoniensis", uncoloured states are extremely rare; sometimes, as with Allioni's "Flora Pedemontana", the coloured state is extremely rare." (Sitwell, p. 67).Sitwell p. 69. "92 uncoloured plates by F. Peiroleri, engraved by P. Peiroleri. Coloured copies are extremely rare."Stafleu and Cowan nr. 100 (Flora Pedemontana) + 101 (the Auctuarium). Nr. 100: "The plates (copper engravings) are by Francisco Peyrolery (engraved by Pietro Peyrolery), mostly uncoloured; coloured copies are rare… Becherer (1953) has shown that the 23 specific names marked with a dagger are to be attributed to Allioni and not to Bellardi who had provided information on the relevant species to Allioni but who had not named them."Graesse I:81. "Les exempl. Ornés de planch. Enlum. Sont plus chers (15th. Weigel, sans le suppl.). Pritzel ignorait qu'il en existe" - Pritzel does state: "Florae Pedemontanae exempla tabulis coloratis rarissime occurrunt." (Pritzel p. 4). Nissen, however might be said to ingnore this.Nissen 18. The "Auctuarium" is here wrongly registered by Nissen as containing 80 pp. and 7 plates. Pritzel: 108.Brunet I:190-91. "Les exemplaires avec planches coloriées sont plus chers que les autres."Alice M. Coats, The Book of Flowers, 1973. Nr. 80: The Carline Thistle. The plant, "which is shown here, was distinguished and named by Allioni."The work was reprinted in 2003, in order to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the great botanist (2204).

Rome, Typographia Medicea, 1590 (-1591). Folio. Completely uncut in the original blank interim wrappers (with slight offsetting to verso of front wrapper). Newer paper backstrip matching the paper of the wrappers. Some leaves browned. Occasional brownspotting. An overall excellent copy. Housed in a old vellum chemise with ties and handwritten title (EVANGELIUM) to spine. Old, amorial, vague red stamp to title-page, colophon, and p. 97, from the Bibliotheque Impériale (now Bibliotheque Nationale), with a small deaccession-stamp to title-page. Magnificently illustrated with 149 large woodcut engravings in the text. 368 pp. Arabic text within double-frame border througout. Beautifully printed on very heavy paper. The scarce editio princeps of the Arabic translation of the New Testament, magnificently printed in Granjon's famous font (considered the first satisfactory Arabic printing type, appearing here for the first time) and beautifully illustrated with 149 woodcut illustrations in the text. This work constitutes the very first printing by the Typographia Medicea-press, a printing-house set up by Pope Gregor XIII and Cardinal Ferdinando de Medici in order to promote and distribute Christian scriptures to the East. This splendid work is considered the first successful printing of Arabic. Apart from the Latin part of the title-page and the colophon, the book is in Arabic throughout. Two issues of the work were printed almost simultaneously, the Arabic-only text, which has the year 1590 on the title-page (and 1591 on the colophon), and the interlenear Arabic-Latin edition, which has 1591 on the title-page. The Arab-only edition, with 1590 on the title-page, is generally considered the first. "Its first great Arabic publication was this edition of the Gospels, bearing the date 1590 on the title page, and 1591 at the end. Two versions appeared, one solely in Arabic and one with an interlinear Latin translation." (Library of Congress).The work was edited by Giovanni Battista Raimondi (1536-1614), a renowned Orientalist and professor of mathematics at the College of the Sapienza in Rome. Raimondi had travelled extensively in the Middle East and had thorough knowledge of Arabic, Armenian, Syrian and Hebrew. He is, however, most famous for being the editor at the Typographia Medicea-press; together with French engraver Robert Granjon (who also created the Arabic typography of the present work) "bettered all previous attempts [to print in Arabic] in Europe, and would remain unsurpassed long after the press had closed. (Boogert, "Medici Oriental Press, Rome 1584-1614")."Antonio Tempesta, the engraver (cutter: Leonardo Parasole), had studied under Santi di Tito and Joannes Stradanus at the Accademia del Disegno in Florence (later working with Stradanus and Vasari on the interior decoration of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence), before travelling to Rome, where he executed various commissions, including frescos for Pope Gregory XIII in the Vatican and decorations for the Villa Farnese. Simultaneously with his frescos and panel paintings, he executed a large number of engravings. The illustrations for the present work are remarkable examples of Tempesta's work, noteworthy for their clear composition and narrative of the episodes depicted. Despite the extremely high quality of the prints, the press never became an economic success and it went bankrupt in 1610. Scholars have noticed that presenting a work with beautiful scriptural illustrations, as the present, to Arabic-speaking Muslims, when Islam forbids religious illustration, showed little understanding of the culture and almost certainly hindered Pope Gregory XIII's missionary efforts."The press was not only an intellectual enterprise; it was also a commercial one. Raimondi clearly hoped to sell his books in the East, rather than the West, because the selection of the works he produced showed little consideration with the type of material European scholars in this period needed. While the works failed to sell in the Ottoman Empire, however, they did significantly stimulate the study of the Middle East in Europe.Ferdinando de' Medici had ordered Raimondi to print 'all available Arabic books on permissible human sciences which had no religious content in order to introduce the art of printing to the Mohamedan community.' Only more than a century after the Medici Press in Rome had closed, did it finally have the envisaged impact in the Levant; Ibrahim Müteferrika, the first Muslim printer, referring to it in his plea to the sultan to allow him to open his own printing house at Istanbul, which happened in 1729." (Boogert, "Medici Oriental Press, Rome 1584-1614").The copy was previously in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, at the time when it was entitled "Bibliothèque Imperiale", which was its name, inbetween, from 1849 to 1871. Thus, the book entered the library in Napoleonic times and was later deaccessioned. Brunet II, 1122-23Schnurrer 318Adams: B:1822

Paris, Firmin-Didot, 1822. 4to. Contemporary half calf with gilt spine. Old paper label to top of spine. Two old stamps to foot of title-page and old inscription to top of title-page. Half-title browned, otherwise just a bit of mild scattered brownspotting. A mild damp stain to lower blank margin of ab. 20 leaves, far from affecting text. A nice copy. Plates with light brownspotting. (4), XII, 639 pp. + 2 plates. First edition of Fourier's seminal main work, an epochal achievement in the history of science, being "the first outstanding publication on the conduction of heat" (Milestones of Science) and the "source of all modern methods in mathematical physics involving the integration of partial differential equations in problems where boundary values are fixed." (Cajori). "Fourier demonstrated that problems in mathematical physics can be solved for any complex condition when one knows how to solve the simple periodic initial condition." (Milestones of Science). The great achievements that Fourier presents us with in the present work can be seen as twofold, treating first the formulation of the physical problem as boundary-value problems in linear partial differential equations, which extended rational mechanics to fields outside those Newton had defined in his "Principia", and second "the powerful mathematical toold he invented for the solution of the equations, which yielded a long series of descendants and raised problems in mathematical analysis that motivated much of the leading work in that field for the rest of the century and beyond." (D.S.B.).Dibner: 154.Sparrow: p. 31. Barchas: 740.Norman: 824.

Kjöbenhavn, 1805 (-ca. 1807). Queer-folio (binding measuring 25,2 x 32 cm). Bound in a later (ca. 1920'ies), elegant brown full calf binding with gilt ornamentations to spine. Boards with gilt line-frames, gilt rosettes as those on spine and larger gilt corner-decorations. All edges of boards gilt and inner gilt dentelles. Front board with gilt title in the middle. Neatly rebacked. Minor wear to back board and a few smaller stains to front board and spine. Overall very nice. Bound with one of the very scarce printed title-labels. This is for the third issue, dated 1805 (the collection was issued in six issues, all dated between 1805 and 1806. They appeared in blue wrappers with printed title-labels, of which the last number in the year and the number of the issue were left blank to be added in hand, as they are here. Only a few examples of these title-labels have been preserved). All 36 engraved and hand-coloured plates (all measuring 16 x 21 cm) mounted on leaves of thick cardboard-like paper (measuring 24,5 x 31 cm). All images with original handwritten description in Danish underneath. Occasional brownspotting, but overall in very nice condition. Exceedingly scarce collection of all 36 plates that were issued of Truslew’s spectacular “Ships in the Sea”, this being one of three complete copies known. Only two complete copies exist in public institutions (Handels- og Søfartsmuseet at Kronborg and the Danish Royal Collection of Graphic Art), and this is the only known complete copy on private hands. The 36 highly interesting plates that constitute this rare work occupy a central role in the history of Danish art, culture, and in the history of wartime. It is with this work that the tradition of Danish marine art is founded and it is inextricably linked with the name of one of the greatest Danish artists of all time: C.W. Eckersberg (known as “the father of Danish seascape painting”). It is generally accepted that Eckersberg with all likelihood drew the illustrations for Truslews etchings. “Ahead of his major travel to Paris and Rome in 1810-16, he (i.e. Eckersberg) had executed a number of ship portraits that were issued by N. Truslew in 1805 under the title “En samling skibe i næsten alle mulige stillinger i søen 1-6 Hæfte”. It is (a collection of) 36 coloured aquatints that could be engraved after the drawings of Eckersberg”. (Own translation from Danish, from “Den Danske udvikling of marinemaleriet. C.W. Eckersbergs arbejder af maritime karakter”, pp. 10-11). Not much is known about the amateur artist Niels Truslew, who was born in 1762 and was employed for decades in the office of the commercial house of the merchant Niels Ryberg. We know for certain, however, that Eckersberg and Truslew knew each other, and we know that for a while they worked together. It has also been proved beyond doubt that one of Eckersberg’s early watercolours from 1804 is the model for plate nr. V in the present collection. “[T]he role of the young Eckersberg, who became his generation’s most prominent painter, in the creation of the engravings is of considerably (sic) interest. Though it is true that it is not known with certainty just how much Eckersberg was involved, the series is evidence of a Danish background for the famous seascapes which Eckersberg first began to paint in the 1820‘s. In the period after he had done his early watercolour, he had been in Paris as a student of David, and it has been thought that the source of inspiration for Danish sea painting should therefore be found in the south. Truslew’s engravings show, however, that there was a native background for Eckersberg’s seascapes which, at the same time, of course, must be seen in the context of a larger European tradition.” (Møller, Lorentzen & Møller: Niels Truslew – Skibe I Søen 1805. 1979. Pp. 121-22). Apart from its obvious artistic importance, this scarce collection sheds light on a highly important period in Danish history, right between the Battle of Copenhagen (1801) - between Admiral Nelson’s squadrons and the anchored Danish ship blocks – and the bombardment of Copenhagen (1807) by the British. It is a period in which Danish maritime trade blossomed anew under the shelter of neutrality, and a period that saw a dramatic increase in popular interest in maritime subjects. The work is novel in several respects and is not merely a collection of ship portraits as such. It is also not a catalogue of ship types, as one finds in the 18th century, nor a collection meant for students. Truslew portrays the ships in action, and the illustrations are of one or more ships in function, in specific situations. Sometimes they will be exposed to the raging of the elements (it is probably not a coincidence that it is an English ship that is hit by lightening!), but most of them are seen in undramatic, everyday situations. The choice of ships is highly interesting, as it includes both English, American, Russian, French, Dutch, and Swedish ships, as well as Danish. And seeing that the interest lies in portraying contemporary ships, not historical ones, it becomes and important historical source. The American schooner, for instance, alludes to the West Indies. Sweden, France, and Russia are represented by warships, whereas there is not a single English warship. What is also unusual for this type of illustrations of the period, in both Denmark and abroad, is Truslew’s ability to create space around the ships, to put them in perspective and create an overall effect of space. These 36 plates are extremely rare and as mentioned, only two complete copies exist in public institutions. These two known copies vary from each other, however. The plates of the copy at Handels- og Søfartsmuseet has both German and Danish text, and the plates are numbered in the plates. That of the Royal Collection of Graphic Art has the Danish handwritten text under the plates and no numbering, as our copy. It is that copy that is used for the 1979-publication, “Truslew – Skibe i Søen”, which reproduces all of the plates. Our copy confirms exactly to that, with a few small variations: The handwritten text on plate VIII in our copy says “En Brig…” in stead of “En dansk Brig” The colouring of the American flag on plate XXXII varies a bit, as the red stripes are much clearer in our copy The handwritten text on plate XXXVI in our copy reads “anker” in stead of “ankeret”.

Zürich & Winterthur, Literarischen Comptoirs, 1843. 8vo. Bound in one nice later half calf binding in contemporary style with gilt title and blindstamped ornamentation to spine. Faded inscription of "Eigenthus des Literar. Museum" to both title-pages and last leaf of bot volumes. Stamps of the same Litarary Museum to volume 1, at both title-page, last leaf and a few leaves inbetween. Neat pencil annotations to a few leaves of volume 1. Neatly washed and with a few tiny closed tears to second gathering. A small spot to lower blank margin of pp. 195-8 of vol. 1. Contents generally clean and crisp. All in all a evry nice copy. IV, 320 + IV, 288 pp. [Marx' paper: Vol. I, pp. 56-88]. Extremely scarce first edition of this two-volume periodical, which contains the first printing of Marx' first newspaper article, being the first political article written by Marx for publication, namely his "Comments on the Latest Prussian Censorship Instruction". This important debut work, which constitutes the foundation of Marxian dialectic and his formulation of Critical Hegelianism, was written between January 15 and February 10, 1842, but due to censorship restrictions, it first appeared here, in Ruge's "Anekdota", in Switzerland in 1843, to avoid German censorship. "The young Marx and the young Engels ridiculed the Prussian Censorship Law of 1841. The attack of the young Mark, "Comments on the Latest Prussian Censorship Instruction," was written in 1842 but published a year later in Ruge's "Anekdota"."Comments on the Latest Prussian Censorship Instruction" is an early exercise by the young Marx in the application of the categories of Hegelian critique. In this essay, the young Marx employed the Hegelian modalities of substance and essence to demonstrate the authoritarian nature of the Prussian Censorship Instruction. The young Marx utilized the concepts of substance and essence in the defence of free press. "Comments on the Latest Prussian Censorship Instruction" defines the essence of a free press as free mind, or the essence of reason as freedom. The young Marx argues that it was impossible for reason to act in accordance with its essence unless it was totally free, because without absolute freedom, reason cannot follow its own insights to their logical conclusion. Consequently, when the Prussian Censorship Instruction limits the freedom of reason, when it sets boundaries beyond which reason cannot go, the Prussian Government annihilates the essence of reason. The strategy of the young Marx is his essay is to adopt Hegelian logic in the cause of liberalism. He wished to show how Hegelian categories could be adjusted, could be transformed into weapons in the cause of political reform. In this essay, the young Marx proved two things, that he interpreted Hegel as a critical Hegelian and that he himself continued this Critical Hegelian tradition. In 1842, the young Marx explored, experimented with the use of Hegelian categories, essence, and appearance as devices by which to advance the cause of political progressivism, and this was the meaning of Critical Hegelianism in the generation of Gans." (Norman Levine: Divergent Paths: Hegel in Marxism and Engelsism, pp. 142-43)."Karl's [i.e. Marx] politics had closely followed those of Ruge ever since the end of the 1830s. In 1842 and 1843, their responses to immediate events, not least the "frivolous diatribes of the "Free", had remained very close. An established author, and in the possession of independent means, "Papa Ruge" - as Jenny called him - was clearly the senior partner in this collaboration. The banning of the "Deutsche Jahrbücher" in January 1843 as the result of Prussian pressure, together with the suppression of the "Rheinische Zeitung", meant the effective silencing of Young Hegelianism within Germany. The aim of the criticism, as it was applied among Young Hegelians, was to highlight the gap between the demands of reason and the behavior of the government, but its failure to make any significant headway against the Prussia of Friedrich Wilhelm IV had also pushed them both towards an open criticism of Hegel's political philosophy. (Gareth Steadman Jones: Karl Marx, Greatness and Illusion, p. 142).Although another anonymous essay "Luther als Schiedsrichter zwischen Strauß und Feuerbach" (Vol. II, pp. 206-208) has long been attributed to Marx, the preface to MECW I now states that "recent research has proved that it was not written by Marx (Draper, register, p. 58). The piece might be by Feuerbach himself.

Geneve, Barrillot (sic!) & Fils, [1748]. 4to. Two lovely contemporary uniform full calf bindings with richly gilt spines, gilt title- and tome-labels and single gilt line-borders to boards. Edges of boards blindtooled. Very neatly restored at hinges and corners, barely noticeable. 19th century book-plate ("FAMA") to inside if front boards. Old handwritten notes in ink to front free end-papers. Some leaves evenly browned, as usual. Vol. I with contemporary owner's inscription "B. Heiman/ 1756/ S. st." to verso of title-page. Light inkspotting to half-title and occasional light brownspotting. Vol. II with very small owner's name to verso of front free end-paper: "Mr. Gustavo Horta" and with a worm tract. The worm tract is mostly very small and only in the very top corner of the upper blank margin or as a tiny hole in the inner blank margin towards the hinge. From pp. 493 to 544, the worm tract is larger, but still situated in the blank margin (outer) and far from affecting text at any point. With both half-titles, preface (vol. 1), and tables of contents. No errata at the end of volume one, and no folded map. Woodcut printer's devices to title-pages. (8), XXIV, 522; (4), XVI, 564 pp. The very rare first edition, first issue of Montesquieu's seminal main work, "[i]n many ways one of the most remarkable works of the eighteenth century" (PMM 197), in which the author presents his theory of constitutional monarchy, advocating constitutionalism and the separation of powers, and explains human laws and social institutions. The very first printing, i.e. the first edition, first issue, of the present work is of the utmost scarcity. Numerous editions and issues of the work were printed in the months following the first appearance. The present copy has the first issue pointers (the two "r"s in "Barrillot" on the title-page, no errata). It does not have a folding map, as mentioned by Brunet, but whether this is actually supposed to be present or not in the first printing, has not been established - some bibliographers say that it should not be there.Montesquieu began writing this his magnum opus in 1743, by the end of which year he had almost finished the first draft of it. The same year he began the first of two great revisions of it, which he finished in 1746. In 1747 he finished his second revision, adding several new chapters, and chose J. Barrillot from Geneva to publish the work, which finally appeared for the first time in November 1748, in two quarto volumes, with no mention of author or year. Numerous editions and issues appeared the following months and years, and by 1751 22 editions of the work had appeared. Already in 1750 the work was published in English, the English editions amounting to 10 by 1773, and by 1801 the work had appeared in both German (1789), Dutch, Danish, Polish, Italian, and Russian (1801). The work exercised the greatest of influence, both negative and positive, and numerous anti-Montesquieu-pamphlets and articles appeared during the last half of the 18th century. Because of the work, Montesquieu was also attacked by the Sorbonne, as well as in the general assembly of the French clergy, and in Rome. In 1751 the work was placed on the Index.As the number of editions, translations etc. bears witness to, the work provided the greatest of impact on 18th century political thought as well as actual politics and law. In fact, few other works can be claimed to possess the same power of influence as this one, directly affecting the likes of Tocqueville and Catherine the Great. Although Montesquieu had to defend himself against great thinkers like Voltaire, "his theories underlay the thinking which led up to the American and French revolutions, and the United States Constitution in particular is a lasting tribute to the principles he advocated." (PMM 197). "Montesquieu was one of the great political philosophers of the Enlightenment. Insatiably curious and mordantly funny, he constructed a naturalistic account of the various forms of government, and of the causes that made them what they were and that advanced or constrained their development. He used this account to explain how governments might be preserved from corruption. He saw despotism, in particular, as a standing danger for any government not already despotic, and argued that it could best be prevented by a system in which different bodies exercised legislative, executive, and judicial power, and in which all those bodies were bound by the rule of law. This theory of the separation of powers had an enormous impact on liberal political theory, and on the framers of the constitution of the United States of America." (SEP).Kress: 4920; Tchemerzine: VIII, 459; PMM 197.

Königsberg, Martin Eberhard Dorn, 1746. 8vo. Nice newer full vellum with gilt spine. Title-page a bit soiled and with neat reapair to blank margins, far from affecting text. A bit of occasional browning and soiling. one plate repared from verso, no loss. Title-page + 16 pp. + pp. (3) - 240 + 2 folded engraved plates. Fully complete. The exceedingly scarce first edition of Kant's debut, the first work that he ever published, at the mere age of 22. The work constitutes a milestone in the modern discussion of dimensionality.Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) - now considered, along with Plato and Aristotle, the most important philosopher of all time -, entered the university of Königsberg at the age of 16, in 1740. Here he studied mainly mathematics and physics under Martin Knutzen and Johann Teske, until his father's death in 1746. These years proved formative for the young philosophical genious, and his profound interest in the philosophy of science stems from this period. When his father died, however, Kant was forced to break off his studies to help provide for the family, which he did by working as a private tutor for three different families over a period of about nine years. Finally in 1755 he was able to resume his studies at the university, and the same year he received his doctorate of philosophy; in 1770 he was finally given a permanent position, as professor of logic and metaphysics at the University of Königsberg. It is here that he writes the works that have changed the entire trajectory of modern thought - his three seminal critiques, that of pure reason, that of practical reason, and that of judgment. The foundation of Kant's philosophy is laid during his early years of studying, which culminate is this his first publication, "Thoughts on the True Estimation of Living Forces", which constitutes an attempt to determine space dimensionality from a physical law. Kant initially adapted Leibnitz's view and tried to explain the nature of space by means of the forces of monads that cause such substances to interact. Although its basic idea was abandoned during his critic period, Kant's first work nonetheless constitutes amilestone in the modern discussion of dimensionality. "The two main influences on Kant in his philosophical reflections on science were Leibniz and Newton. During his first period of study at the University of Königsberg, from 1740 to 1746, Knutzen taught that version of Leibniz's metaphysics which the German philosopher Christian von Wolff had made popular. He also taught the mathematical physics which Newton had developed. He revealed to the young Kant the various oppositions, puzzles, and contradictions of these two great natural philosophers. The nature of space and time was what interested the young Kant most in these disputes between Leibniz and Newton. He studied the famous exchange of letters between Leibniz and Samuel Clarke, a defender of Newton's philosophy. [...] In his early years Kant pondered the nature of space and time first from the point of view of Leibniz and then of Newton, but eventually he found both positions unsatisfactory." (Ellington, in DSB: VII, pp. 225-26). The nature of space and space dimensionality that Kant attempts to uncover and explain in this his first work comes to found a basis for all his later thought. The role that physics, especially the concepts of space and time, plays for his view of the world and for the development of his philosophical thought is immense, and his earliest thoughts on the subject understream all of his later thought.Warda nr. 1.

Napoli, Musca, 1720 & 1721. 4to. Bound together in one contemporary full vellum bindingwith old, faded title in ink to spine. A vertical crack to the spine, but binding fine and tight. A bit of wear to extremities. A bit soiled, but all in all good and completeley unrestored. Some quires quite browned and some quires with brownspotting. Book-plate to inside of front board (LA Law Library) and contemporary owner's signature to title-page (De Marinis). Some contemporary underlinings and marginal pointers to the first leaves. First title printed in red and black. (4), 195, (1) pp. + (4), 260 pp. The exceedingly scarce first edition of what is arguably Vico's magnum opus, his great work on law, which is now generally accepted as the first version of his New Science, due to which Vico is now considered one of the most important philosophers of all times. The work consists in the two books known as "De Uno" and "De Constantia" that were published separately in 1720 and 1721 respectively. They are almost always bound together and we know that all copies of that Vico gave away contain both works. Having finished his magnum opus, he couldn't put it away and began making extensive notes and revisions - evident from the extremely annotated copy that he himself had, where not a single margin was left blank. These annotations were later published as his "Notae" and sometimes accompany the first two books to make up what is known as the "Diritto Universale" (or "Universal Right"). . It is in this magnificent work of law - these two books that constitute the most comprehensive work that Vico ever wrote - that the thoughts that lie at the heart of Vico's philosophy are formulated for the first time. "The new Science" is an extension of that invented in his "De Constantia", and it is here that we find for the first time Vico's philosophy of history. It is thus in the present work, not in the "New Science" as often thought, that we find the groundbreaking interpretation of history as the product of the actions of men - the "Verum-factum"-identity, which is at the core of not only the "New Science", but of all his later thought. Though most scholars today agree that the present work is the most important of all of Vico's work, outshadowing even "The New Science", the work has been neglected and overlooked for decades. In many ways, the reason for this could be found with Croce and his work on Vico from 1923. "Croce minimized Vico's contributions in the domain of the philosophy of law. Gianturco is firmly convinced that the most certain result of the Crocean monograph on Vico was to direct on the "New Science" such a dazzling light and to make of it such a seducing, glowing star as to establish it in the center of the firmament of Vichian research. Thus, the "New Science" eclipses the extraordinary achievements in the juridical sphere that are found in the "De Uno". As Gianturco began to develop his thesis with arguments derived from the history of juridical thought, he advises readers to free themselves of this kind of favoritism for the "New Science" and to clear the eyes of their mind of the blindness that does not allow them to see where other, perhaps even greater, merits of Vico are to be found... It is necessary for us to perform a kind of "Copernican" turning, a reorientation of our categories. It is necessary to assume that the North Star of our research, the cynosure of our attention, is no longer the "Scienza nuova", but "Diritto universale... (From the preface to the English translation of Vico's "Universal Right", Pinton & Diehl, edt., p. xlv).And this is a notion backed by virtually all modern Vico-scholars - the "De Uno" and the "De Constantia" (together "Diritto Universale") are considered absolutely central in Vico's philosophy and as the starting point of all of his unique and monumental ideas. "Michael Mooney, from the beginning of his work of 1985 on Vico's rhetoric, points out the correlation that exists between "Institutiones Oratoriae" and "Diritto universal" in regard to the importance of philology as the leit-motif of all, let us say, using Gianturco's image, the Vichian firmament. Mooney confirms that the merit goes to Vico for having developed philology not merely to an art, but to a science, by means of all the groundwork done in "Diritto universal", working out a system of civilization, of commonwealths, laws, poetry, history - in a word, of the whole human culture. Thus, Vico carefully thought out a scientific philology." (Pinton & Diehl, p. xlv).The present work marks a significant step in the redefinition of the relationship between metaphysics and philosophical questions of law. Vico connects natural and historic law and creates a new notion of the natural right of people that theorizes the historic right of nations. Uinifying human and divine knowledge, Vico creates a new theory of law, philosophy, and history."Giambattista Vico is often credited with the invention of the philosophy of history. Specifically, he was the first to take seriously the possibility that people had fundamentally different schema of thought in different historical eras. Thus, Vico became the first to chart a course of history that depended on the way the structure of thought changed over time.To illustrate the difference between modern thought and ancient thought, Vico developed a remarkable theory of the imagination. This theory led to an account of myth based on ritual and imitation that would resemble some twentieth century anthropological theories. He also developed an account of the development of human institutions that contrasts sharply with his contemporaries in social contract theory. Vico's account centered on the class struggle that prefigures nineteenth and twentieth century discussions.Vico did not achieve much fame during his lifetime or after. Nevertheless, a wide variety of important thinkers were influenced by Vico's writings. Some of the more notable names on this list are Johann Gottfried von Herder, Karl Marx, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, James Joyce, Benedetto Croce, R. G. Collingwood and Max Horkheimer. References to Vico's works can be found in the more contemporary writings of Jürgen Habermas, Hans-Georg Gadamer, Alasdair MacIntyre and many others.There is no question that his work is difficult to grasp. Vico's style is challenging. Further, he is heavily influenced by a number of traditions that many philosophers may find unfamiliar: the natural law tradition of thinkers like Grotius; the Roman rhetorical tradition of authors like Quintillian; and the current science and anthropology of his day. Nevertheless, Vico's theories on culture, language, politics and religion are deeply insightful and have excited the imaginations of those who have read him." (IEP).The work is of the utmost scarcity, with merely one copy appearing at auction within the last 50 years and with very few copies in libraries world-wide (especially containing both parts).

Paris, (Clousier imprimeur), 1781-86. Folio. (51 x 33,5 cm.). Bound to style in 5 uniform full light brown sprinckled full calf (bound in the 1970 ties). Blindtooled lineborders and blindtooled dentelles with blindtooled cornerpieces on covers. 7 raised bands. bands with gilding. Compartments gilt with flowers. Inner hinges in leather. Marbled endpapers. No wear to bindings. 5 halftitles, 5 title-pages with engraved vignette. I: (4),XIII,(3),252 pp. Without an engraved dedication-leaf (called for by Brunet "épitre dédicatoire gravée). II: (4),XXVIII,283 pp. III: (4),XL,201,22 pp. IV: (4),II,(6),XVIII,266 pp. V: (4),(2),267-429,(1) pp., 434 engravings on 317 sheets, including the 14 plates with medals and coins (doubles médailles) + 13 mostly double-page engraved maps, plans and charts. More than 100 larger and smaller vignettes, head-and tailpieces, ornaments etc., 25 in 2 colours. Wide-margined with very few brownspots (a small brownspot on the phallus-plate in volume II), a few leaves with small closed tears in margin, 1 leaf having a printed line repaired (a weakness in the paper) but no loss of letters. Foot of last leaves in volume II with very light foxing. Plates and text fine a clean, gently washed. First edition of this renowned travelbook, one of the most successful travel books ever published - "the completed work is one of the most beautiful that a private person has ever produced, and it is unparalleled among the sumptuous voyage pittoresque publications". (Millard French,148).In 1759, Claude Richard Saint-Non (1727-1791) was relieved of his duties as a deacon and lawyer, and undertook a cavalier tour through Italy in the years 1759-1761 with the painters Jean-Honoré Fragonard and Hubert Robert. His publication project of a Voyage pittoresque initially envisaged five volumes on the whole of Italy and a volume on Switzerland, but then limited itself to only southern Italy. For the etchings Saint-Non on the one hand on some older pictures by Robert and Fragonard among others. On the other hand, the 61 employed engravers worked mainly on documents which had been supplied by a group of artists traveling on his behalf under the direction of Dominique Vivant Denon, secretary of the French Ambassador in Italy, in 1777/78. Volume I deals with the history, buildings, artists and customs of Naples and Vesuvius with its outbursts. Volume II is dedicated to Herculaneum and Pompeii; Volume III deals with Southern Italy (including Paestum and Capri). Sicily is treated in volumes IV and V. Brunet V,55-56. - Cohen-de Ricci, 928-29. - Ray, French Illustr. Books, 34.

[China, Hung-wu era, Printed during the reign of the first Ming emperor, Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang (Ming Taizu) (1368-98)] Folio (340 x 225 mm). Woodblock printed on grey mulberry paper. Uncirculated condition (UNC). Ornamentation and text faded, which happens naturally over time with mulberry paper, but legible. Lower left corner slightly rounded, which is also due to the quality of the paper and not due to use.1. Two red (vermilion) seal handstamps, one at each side, are located on the note. These stamps are typically not so clear, because they naturally fade over time. The seals of the notes are what signatures are to modern notes.The red imperial seal is applied on the reverse.2. At the top are six chinese characters "Ta Ming t'ung Hsing Pao Cha's (Treasure Note of the Great Ming) in regular (K'ai Shu) style. Text is in black.3. The outer frame is ornated with dragon patterns surrounding the text. Ornamentation is in black.4. The upper center is printed with the face value "1 Kuan" (One string) in regular (K'ai Shu) style. "One String" was at this time equivalent to 1000 copper cash or one tael of purse silver or one-fourth tael of gold.5. The middle center is printed with diagram of ten piles containing ten copper coins, each coin representing the value of 10 cash (this equals 1000 copper cash).6. On both sides of the center are eight chines characters "Ta Ming Pao Ch'ao, Tien Hsia T'ung Hsing" (The Great Ming note, circulates everywhere) in real (Chuan Shu) style.7. The lower center is written in chinese and could be translated to "This Ta Ming Pao Cha'o is printed with the approval of the Emperor through the Hu Pao and used side by side with the copper cash. Those who counterfeit Ta Ming Pai Cha'o will be beheaded while an informant will be rewarded with 250 taels of silver with confiscated property of the convicts into the bargain".The size of the 1 Kuan note is the largest paper-money ever issued. Uncirculated condition, and by far the best preserved specimen we have ever handled, of this Ming dynasty 1 kuan note - the earliest obtainable commercial printing on paper, and nearly the earliest obtainable printing of anything - a full lifetime before Gutenberg. The oldest paper-money that are preserved until today are those from early Ming dynasty, dated year 1375. These notes are the earliest numismatic printings. Only a small number of these paper-money are still available for the numismatic or printing collector. The significance of the first 1 kuan banknote was emphasized by the fact that it featured as one the world-changing inventions in the British Museum project, A History of the World in 100 objects, selected by the Museum's Director, Neil MacGregor (Broadcasted by BBC 4 in 2010). No copies of the 1 kuan note was known until around 1900 where a cache of notes in the base of an overthrown statue of Buddha was discovered. The second find was made in Peking in 1936, when a pile of notes was uncovered during the demolition of one of the city walls. The beginning of the 15th century saw a high rise in inflation, primarily of the over-printing of notes. Because of the inflation and the silver bullion obtained through Chinese trade with the Spanish in Manila, the use of paper money gradually diminished. The first banknotes were not issued in the Western world until 1661, when Sweden printed kreditivsedlar (credit notes) as an alternative to their massive copper coins.

München, Hyperion Verlag Hans von Weber, 1912. 4to. Bound uncut in a very nice, exquisite full morocco binding with five raised bands, gilt title and single gilt lines to spine. A single gilt line-border to boards. Top edge gilt. Minor wear along hinges. Internally very nice and clean, with only a few occasional very minor light brown spots. Printed on thick, heavy paper (Büttenpapier) with watermarks. With the bookplate of "Feuerbacher Heide" to inside of front board. The very scarce first edition, nr. 32 of 100 copies, of Thomas Mann's disturbing masterpiece, probably the most famous story of obsession ever written. "The Death in Venice" is considered one of the most important literary productions of the 20th century. This first edition of the book was printed in merely 100 copies, which are all numbered. In 1913 the first trade edition appeared.

Milan, Por el Heredero de Pedromartir Locarni y Iuan Bautista Bidello, 1610. 8vo. In contemporary full limp vellum with title in contemporary hand to spine. Extremities with wear. Repair and a small hole to front board and missing vellum on upper outer corner of back board. Previous owner's name in contemporary hand to title-page. First 8 leaves lightly washed. Damp stain throughout, however mainly affecting pp. 169-340. The paper is still good and solid. A good copy in its original binding. [Blank], 16 ff, 722 pp, [blank]. [mispaginated between pp. 704-707, as called for]. Scarce first edition of 'Don Quixote' to be printed in Italy, being the 10th overall printing of part one, preserved in its first binding. The editor changed Cervantes's dedication to the Duque de Béjar for that of Vizconde Vitaliano, otherwise the text follows that of the second edition printed in Madrid by Juan de la Cuesta in 1605. This masterpiece, which established the novel genre in Western literature, was first published by Cuesta in Madrid in 1605 and became an instant success. The first edition, published in Madrid in 1605, was followed by three pirated editions later the same year and two further authorized editions. The first part of Don Quixote was revised by Cervantes up to and including the third Cuesta edition of 1608. The second part was not published until 1615. “The first part of Don Quixote came out in 1605. What had begun as a simple satire on the tedious chivalric romances of the time broadened into a sweeping panorama of Spanish society; and it was this, the variety, the liveliness, and the gibes at the famous, which won it instant fame. Its larger claims, the subdued pathos, its universal humanity, were slower to be appreciated. But within months Don Quixote and Sancho Panza had become legendary […]. Don Quixote is one of those universal works which are read by all ages at all times, and there are very few who have not one time or another felt themselves to be Don Quixote confronting windmills or Sancho Panza at the inn.” (PMM 111) Brunet 1748 Palau 51983 Suñé 10 (PMM 111, being the first edition from 1605)

[Redhill, Love & Malcolmson for His Majesty Stationery Office, 1911]. Large 8vo. Well preserved; sometime machine stitched into a volume, now disbound; from the Patents Department of Manchester Free Library, with stamp in upper margin of the first page, accession date 9 September 1911. 3 pp. [1, blank] + one lithographic plate. The extremely rare propeller patent that constitutes Wittgenstein's first publication, and without doubt the scarcest. It is his work on the propeller presented here and the mathematical problems associated with the development of it that leads Wittgenstein to consider the foundations of mathematics, considerations that directly lead him to philosophy and logic and to an immediate change of career, without which the entire tradition of modern philosophy and logic would have looked completely different. The present publication, published at the mere age of 21, is arguably responsible for catapulting Wittgenstein into his philosophical career. After taking out the patent, Wittgenstein quit his aeronautical career and stopped working on his jet-engine. Not until recently has the great importance of the invention to early aviation been recognized - Wittgenstein's scheme anticipated by three decades developments in which blade-tip jets were used to drive the rotors of hybrid helicopters. Wittgenstein's patent had within it the seeds of the centrifugal-flow gas turbine engine, later to be developed in the 1930'ies by Frank Whittle, the father of jet-propulsion and the inventor of the torbojet engine. About 30 years after Wittgenstein's invention, the engine was reinvented, by Friedrich Doblhoff, this time leading to a completely new concept for a helicopter, which was successfully tested for the first time in 1943. The patent was unknown to all Wittgenstein biographers and scholars, confirming the extreme scarcity of it. Only von Wright mentions Wiggtenstein's work, and only indirectly, probably not knowing about the patent. Wittgenstein apparently told him "the problem on which he worked at Manchester has since become very urgent". Von Wright's assumption was that he was referring to the emergence of reaction engines in modern aircraft.

Madrid, 1906. Folio oblong. Bound in a splendid recent full longgrained burgundy morocco binding in pastiche style, with four raised bands to beautifully gilt spine. Boards with gilt ornamental borders and gilt centre-piece. Gilt line to edges of boards and inner gilt dentelles. Marbled end-papers. All leaves re-hinged. Occasional light brownspotting, but overall very nice. Title-page (the version with the second line (beginning "Colección de Ochenta...) in lower case), 2 pp. of text (dated 1863) + 80 engraved plates (on fine, laid paper measuring 23,4x32 cm.). Plates 17 and 77 have been misbound (the numbers 1 and 7 look almost the same - Harris II:201: "In some sets this plate has been bound out of order where the number hs been read as 77"; II:288: "In some sets this plate has been bound out of order where the number has been read as 17). A beautiful copy of the splendid fourth edition of Goya's magnificent "Disasters of War" - one of the most significant anti-war works of art ever produced - consisting in all 80 plates that were issued. "The Disasters of War" constitutes Goya’s political masterpiece, directly inspired by and documenting the horrors he witnessed during the Peninsular War of 1808-14 between Spain and France under Napoleon Bonaparte, the terrible famine in Madrid in 1811-12, and the disappointment at the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy. As such, it is one of the earliest and most important examples of war documentation and remains to this day one of the boldest anti-war statements ever made. This, however, is also the reason why these groundbreaking etchings were not published during Goya’s life-time. It was both too dangerous and too gruesome. As Alastair Sooke puts it, "[e]ven today it is difficult to look at the Disasters, because Goya catalogues the brutality and fatal consequences of war in such a stark, confrontational and unflinching manner." (See his article for BBC Culture, 2014). In this seminal series of etchings, Goya not only uses art to comment on politics and the atrocities connected with war, he also pioneers a number of artistic tools. Breaking from painterly traditions, he deviates from the heroics of most previous war art to show us how war can bring out the worst in humanity. He abandons colour in order to show us a more direct truth conveyed by the use of shadow and shade. Also, the fact that he presents the 80 works of art as a collection, together with the harsh, realistic nature of the etchings themselves, connect the images more closely to the art of photography that we are now so familiar with, causing the work as a whole to be viewed as one of the earliest examples of actual first-hand war reportage. The work has been extremely influential, perhaps most famously inspiring Pablo Picasso and Ernest Hemingway (For Whom the Bells Toll). "There are many contenders for the most powerful example of war art from the past two centuries: Picasso’s Guernica (1937), painted in response to the bombing of a Basque village during the Spanish Civil War, would be an obvious choice. For me, though, nothing quite matches the originality and truth-telling ferocity of the Disasters of War, a series of 80 aquatint etchings, complete with caustic captions, by the Spanish artist Francisco de Goya (1746-1828)." (Sooke). The execution of the engravings has been dated to a period between 1810 and 1820, but no contemporary edition was made of this spectacular series. "Possibly by the time they were finished, the war and famine scenes were not of great appeal, and Goya was probably unwilling to risk another financial failure such as he had experienced with the "Caprichos". It was a time of stern repression and the publication of the satirican and violently anti-clerical subjects of some of the "caprichos enfánticos" would certainly have been dangerous. These facts would account for a postponement of publication. Also, Goya himself tells us that he fell seriously ill in the winter of 1819... and on his recovery he was planning to leave Spain and settle permanently in France. That Goya did not attempt to make an edition of "Desastres" in Madrid before leaving for France is borne out by the investigations of Catharina Boelcke-Astor, who showed that the copperplates were stored away in safes by Goya's son Javier, where they remained until the latter's death in 1854. Eventually, in November 1862, they were acquired by the Academia de San Fernando from D. Jaimé Machén for 28,000 reales..." (Harris I:141). In 1863, the first edition of Goya's seminal work was issued, under the famous title "Los desastres de la guerra". In all, 500 copies were issued. A second edition followed in 1892, and a third in 1903. Both of these editions were issued in merely 100 copies. In 1906, the fourth edition appeared, in a number of 275 copies. "This edition is excellently printed on very suitable papers" (Harris II: 175) and is considered much superior to the third. A further three editions appeared, in 1923, 1930, and 1937 respectively. "When Goya had engraved all the plates of the "Desastres" he gave his friend, Céan Bermúdez, an album containing a proof set of eighty-five plates, including the eighty plates eventually published as "Los Desastres de la Guerra", two plates numbered 81 and 82, which were prepared for the series but not published with it, and the three little engravings of "prisoners", which were never intended by Goya for inclusion in a published edition of the series." (Harris I:140). The first plate prepares the spectator for the contents of the series and can be seen as a sort of frontispiece, plates 2-47 deal mainly with the horrors of the war, plates 48-64 record the terrible famine in Madrid, and the final plates 65-80 constitute the "Caprichos enfánticos". " "The impact of the scenes is incredible," says the independent art historian Juliet Wilson-Bareau, one of the world’s leading Goya experts. "Each one is a powerful, original work of art in its own right, yet linked to the others with a common theme, including the way their titles - terse comments, questions, or cries of outrage - connect them, and read on from one to another. The grouping of the series into three ‘chapters’ gives the whole a sense of rhythm and purpose." Goya must have hoped that he would live to see the publication of his Disasters, but the despotic rule of Ferdinand VII made this impossible. "Under his repressive and reactionary regime," Wilson-Bareau explains, "there was no way that Goya could have published his set of prints that so clearly denounced all violence and all abuse of power." Still, following their posthumous publication, the Disasters proved enormously influential, inspiring artists including the German Otto Dix as well as Dalí and Picasso - and, more recently, the British brothers Jake and Dinos Chapman, who bought a complete edition of the prints and ‘defaced’ them by adding grotesque, cartoonish faces. Even the war photographer Don McCullin acknowledges a debt: "When I took pictures in war, I couldn’t help thinking of Goya," he has said. The genius of the Disasters is that they transcend particularities of the Peninsular War and its aftermath to feel universal - and modern. Perhaps this is because, as the British writer Aldous Huxley put it in 1947, "All [Goya] shows us is war’s disasters and squalors, without any of the glory or even picturesqueness." So should we consider the series as the greatest war art ever created? Wilson-Bareau certainly thinks so. "For me, yes," she tells me. "I have lived with these prints, which many people consider too shocking, absolutely unbearable, and I find in them - besides the heartbreak and outrage at the unspeakable violence and damage - a great well of compassion for all victims of the suffering and abuses they depict, which goes to the very heart of our humanity." (From Alastair Sooke's BBC-article). Harris II: 175.

London, Robert Sayer & Jean Bennett, 1777. [Engraved title: London, Sayer & Bennett, 1775]. Folio. Recently bound in a magnificent pastiche-binding of brown half calf with six raised bands and gilt red leather title-label to elaborately gilt spine. Vellum corners and lovely marbled paper over boards. The binding is made over the original one, preserving the original sewn spine underneath as well as the original end-papers. An excellent, beautiful copy. Very clean and fresh. Only minor, light browning to a few maps, and last map with a bit more staining. One map with a small tear to lower margin, far from effecting engraving. Previously in the possession the Danish medieval estate Ravnholt, since the 18th century owned by the noble family of Sehestedt Juul, with discreet stamps from this ownership to title-page: "Sehestedt Juel" and "Rauenholdts Bibliothek". Title-page (French) + 6 pp. of preface (French) + (2) pp. of index (French) + double-page engraved, illustrated title (English) + 36 double-page and 3 single-page engraved maps, all (but one) dated London, Sayer, 1775 (one map - Antigua - without the year, but London, Sayer). Scarce first French edition - consisting in all the original 39 maps of the 1775 English edition (all (but Antigua) dated 1775) and the engraved double title-page in English, preceded by a French title, preliminary discourse (also in French), and index - of Jeffery's seminal West-India atlas, one of the most important works on the West Indies and the work that we have to thank for the introduction of "Carribean" as the designation that was to become standard on maps. The work played a pivotal rôle in the geo- and cartographical denomination of places and areas in this part of the world. In his preface, Jefferys does away with previous terms applied by geographers: "La division des Espagnols, & elle se trouve tout-à la fois physique & politique, fut adoptée bientôt par les Anglois, les Hollandois & queslques autres peuples; la plûpart des navigateurs & des marchands en s'y conformant, ont imposé depuis longtemps à tous les Géographes la nécessité de diviser l'Amerique en trois parties, savoir, "Amerique du Nord", "Indes Occidentales", "Amerique du Sud." Mais les Géographes, surtout les Francois, ont perséveré dans leur ancienne division, probablement parce qu'ils aiment à se répéter, & souvent aussi à se copier l'un l'autre." (From the preface, p.2). (i.e.: "The division of the Spanish, and this is found in both physics & polics, was soon adopted by the English, the Dutch & some other populations; the main part of navigators and merchants have complyed herewith and have long made clear to geographers the necessity to divide America into three parts, namely, "North America", "West Indies", "South America." But geographers, especially the French, have persevered in their old division, probably because they like to repeat, and often also to copy, one another").But not only does Jefferys extend this denominal division of America to geographers and cartographers, he also (re-)introduces the designation that was to become standard of the Caribbean: "Les premier Espagnols l'appellèrent Mer du Nord lorsqu'ils eurent découvert une nouvelle mer au delà de l'isthme de Panama. Quelquefois on lui a donné le nom de "Mer Caribe" ou "Caribenne", qu'il auroit mieux volu adopter que de laisser anonyme un aussi vaste espace." (From the preface, p. 2, §1).- "Although the best-known sea of the New World, the Caribbean remained nameless longest. It was the original Mar del Norte, a term promptly extended to all parts of the western atlantic. Velasco tried to find a proper name for it, saying: "de los Canibales llaman el golfo grande del mar Océano desde de Deseada y Dominica por toda la costa de Tierra Firme, Yucatán, Golfo de Tierra Firme y de las islas del mar del Norte." This compiler in Spain, regarding the maps before him, made the distinction we do between Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico. (Gulf of Tierra Firme was that of Darién.) Velasco remained in manuscript until the nineteenth century, and I do not know that his Gulf of the Cannibals was ever thus known. In the introduction to his "West Indian Atlas", Thomas Jefferys wrote, two centuries later: "It has been sometimes called the Caribbean-Sea, which name it would be better to adopt, than to leave this space quite anonymous"; he did so on his map. North European nations at the time were in possession of the Carib islands (the Lesser Antilles) and it is perhaps thus that Jefferys introduced the designation that was to become standard on maps but was not adopted in Spanish lands." (C.O. Sauer, "The Early Spanish Main", p. 2). As one of the earliest documentations of the West Indies, Jefferys' seminal "West-India Atlas" was informed by prevailing attitudes about the legitimacy of Britain's colonial enterprises and contemporary debates surrounding the abolition and emancipation movements and played a significant rôle in the spreading of knowledge regarding this part of the world. Jefferys himself, one of the most prominent and prolific map publishers and engravers of his day, was opposed to the slave-trade, which unfortunately hinged upon the sugar trade that the atlas was designed to aid, and also spoke out against it. The English cartographer Thomas Jefferys (c. 1719-1771), "Royal Geographer to King George III" was the leading map supplier of his day and as such had access to information that many other cartographers did not. He engraved and printed maps for government and other official bodies and produced a wide range of commercial maps and atlases, most famously of America and the West Indies.Having died in 1771, he did not live to see the publication of his great "West India Atlas", which was published by Robert Sayer, who, in partnership with John Bennett, had acquired his maps. Thus, the West India Atlas was published posthumously, under Jefferys' name. Philips III:p. 570.