Forum Rare Books

Opening the East for trade for the Dutch and the English

LINSCHOTEN, Jan Huygen van. Itinerario, voyage ofte schipvaert, ... naer Oost ofte Portugaels Indien ...
Amsterdam, Cornelis Claesz., [1595-] 1596.
With:
(2) IDEM. Reys-gheschrift van de navigatien der Portugaloysers in Orienten, inhoudende de zeevaert, soo van Portugael naar Oost-Indien, als van Oost-Indien weder naer Portugael ...
Amsterdam, Cornelis Claesz., 1596 [= 1595].
Including: IDEM. Een seker extract ende sommier van alle de renten, domeynen, tollen, ... importen, trubuyten, thienden, derde-penninghen en[de] incomsten des coninghs van Spaengien ...
Amsterdam, Cornelis Claesz., 1596.
(3) IDEM. Beschijvinghe van de gantsche custe van Guinea, Manicongo, Angola, Monomotapa, ende teghen over de Cabo de S. Augustijn in Brasilien ...
Amsterdam, Cornelis Claesz., 1596. 4 parts in 1 volume. Small folio (ca. 31 x 21 cm). With 6 folding maps, 36 folding or double-page plates, a full-page author's portrait, and a large illustration on each of the 4 divisional title pages, all engraved. Contemporary blind-tooled vellum over modern boards (?), sewn on 5 supports laced through the joints, with the manuscript author, title, and year of publication on the spine, red and blue sprinkled edges. [8], 160; 134, [4], 135-147; [82], [2 blank], [8] pp. Full description

€ 110,000

Arabian Peninsula & Gulf States Brazil East Africa Indonesia / Dutch East Indies Navigation North America South America Travel & Voyages Africa Travel & Voyages Asia Travel & Voyages Middle East Travel & Voyages South America Travel & Voyages Southeast Asia West Africa West Indies

Discovery of the Canary Islands in classical Greek and Roman, Arabic and Portuguese sources

MACEDO, Joaquim José da Costa de. Memoria em que se pertende provar que os Arabes não conhecerão as Canarias antes dos Portuguezes.
Lisbon, printing office of the Academia Real das Sciencias, 1844. Folio. With a woodcut Portuguese coat of arms on the title-page. Modern brown paper wrapper. [4], 232 pp. Full description

€ 1,500

Navigation Portugal Travel & Voyages Africa Travel & Voyages Europe Travel & Voyages Middle East West Africa

First edition of a report - with the rare folding map - from Commodore Perrys expedition containing directions for U.S. merchant ships navigating the coasts of China and Japan

MAURY, William Lewis & Silas BENT. Sailing directions and nautical remarks; by officers of the late U.S. naval expedition to Japan, under the command of Commodore M.C. Perry.
Including (with a divisional title): Fac-simile of the original treaty with Japan, with the English version.
Washington, A.O.P. Nicholson, public printer, 1857. Large 4to (ca. 29.5 x 23 cm). With a large folding map of the coast of China and of the Japanese and other islands, including the Marianas and the Philippines; and the facsimile of the 14-page treaty in Japanese printed on both sides of 7 integral leaves, with the English text printed letterpress on both sides of the following leaf. Original publishers half purple cloth, Spanish-marbled paper sides (grey with red, blue, black, yellow and white veins), letterpress paper label with the title in a built-up decorative border on the front board: "Sailing directions for the coasts of Japan and China". 22, [2], 14, [2] pp. Full description

€ 5,000

China Japan & Far East Navigation

Highly detailed maritime atlas

GREAT BRITAIN METEOROLOGICAL OFFICE. Monthly current charts for the Indian Ocean. From information collated & prepared in the Meteorological Office.
London, Admiralty Hydrographic Office, under the superintendence of Rear-Admiral W. J. L. Wharton, 1895-1896. Plano. Oblong Royal 1mo (full-sheet leaves: 51 x 62 cm). An atlas of 12 large black and white nautical charts. Limp cloth with gold-tooled title on front cover. [12] ll. plus the 1-page “Advertisement”. Full description

€ 3,500

Arabian Peninsula & Gulf States Atlases & Globes China India & Sri Lanka Navigation Southeast Asia

The climate of the East African coast

[METEOROLOGICAL OFFICE - EAST AFRICA]. Weather in the Indian Ocean to Latitude 30° S. and Longitude 95° E. Including the Red Sea and Persian Gulf. Volume II. Local information. Part 9 Coast of East Africa from the equator to Cape Delgado [...].
London, Meteorological Office, Air Ministry, 1940. 8vo. With map frontispiece and several illustrations and tables in the text. Original publisher's printed red wrappers. 63, [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 1,500

East Africa

Probably the first manual for the use of chronometers at sea

OWEN, William Fitzwilliam (ed.) & Richard OWEN. Tables of latitudes, and longitudes by chronometer, of places in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans; principally of the west and east coast of Africa, the coasts of Arabia, Madagascar. &c. resulting from the observations of H.M.S. Leven and Barracouta, in the years 1820 to 1826 inclusive, ... To which is prefixed an essay on the management and use of chronometers ...
London, George Duckworth and William Ireland, 1827. 4to. Contemporary blue boards for the Danish Navy Library, later backed with cloth. [2], 33, [3], 16, [36], 8 pp Full description

€ 2,500

Instruments & Microscopy Naval History Navigation

Portuguese classic of practical navigation, with 36 maps and nautical charts

PIMENTEL, Manuel. Arte de navegar, em que se ensinão as regras praticas, e os modos de cartear, e de graduar a Balestilha por via de numeros, e muitos problemas uteis aì navegação, e roteiro das viagens, e costas maritimas de Guineì, Angola, Brazil, Indias, e Ilhas Occidentaes, e Orientaes ...
Lisbon, Miguel Manescal da Costa, 1762. Folio (30 x 20.5 cm). With 21 engraved plates (1 folding), 1 nearly full-page engraving of a compass rose and about 10 woodcut diagrams in the text. Contemporary or near contemporary tanned sheepskin, richly gold-tooled spine, new endpapers. [12], 603, [1] pp. Full description

€ 5,000

Brazil Charts & Maps Latin America Middle America Navigation South America Southeast Asia West Indies

Only published edition of the original 1521 text of the navigation book of the great Ottoman admiral

PIRI REIS (Paul KAHLE, ed.). Bahrije. Das türkische Segelhandbuch für das Mittelländische Meer vom Jahre 1521.
Berlin and Leipzig, Walter de Gruyter & Co., 1926-1927. 3 volumes. Large 8vo (26 x 18 cm). Volume 1 with 137 reproductions of manuscript pages of Ottoman Turkish text and maps and volume 2 with 4 plates. Publisher's original printed wrappers. [1], [1 blank], [2] pp. + 64 ll. + [4], [1 blank], [1] pp.; ll. 65-137; [1], [1 blank], XLVIII, 88 pp. Full description

€ 2,500

Navigation Turkey & Ottoman Empire USA - United States of America

Navigational guide covering the coast and coastal waters of Brazil, by the French Imprimerie Royale

ROUSSIN, Albin-Reine. Le pilote du Brésil, ou description des côtes de l'Amérique Méridionale comprises entre l'ile Santa-Catharina et celle de Maranaõ, avec les instructions nécessaires pour atterrir et naviguer sur ces côtes; ...
Paris, Imprimerie Royale, 1827. 8vo. Modern half calf, marbled sides. [3], [1 blank], 241, [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 1,950

Brazil France Latin America Navigation South America

Discussing the survey of the West coast of Africa

[AUTOGRAPH]. ROUSSIN, Admiral Albin Reine. [Autograph letter, signed, to Louis-Marie Bajot].
Rochefort, 31 August 1818. Double-leaf (31.3 x 20 cm). In French. 2 pp. text. 2 pp. text. Full description