Forum Rare Books

A teenage sailor’s adventures in Arabia, Mumbai and elsewhere

JAMES, Silas. A narrative of a voyage to Arabia, India; &c; ...; with remarks on the genius and disposition of the natives of Arabia Felix; ...
London, printed by William Glindon, sold by the author, [1797]. 8vo. With a frontispiece portrait of the author engraved by William Newman. Modern dark brown calf, gold-tooled spine. “VI” [= VIII], 7, [1 blank], [1], 10-232 pp. Full description

€ 8,500

Arabian Peninsula & Gulf States India & Sri Lanka Iran / Persia Travel & Voyages Africa Travel & Voyages Asia Travel & Voyages Middle East Travel & Voyages Southern Asia

Account of a voyage to the Cape of Good Hope, Ireland and Norway

JONG, Cornelius de, and J. OLIVIER Jz. Reizen naar de Kaap de Goede Hoop, enz. ... Voor jonge lieden bearbeid.
Amsterdam, G.J.A. Beijerinck, [1833]. 8vo. With an engraved title-page, engraved frontispiece and 7 engraved plates (including 3 folding). Contemporary half vellum. XII, 208 pp. Full description

€ 1,250

Ireland Scandinavia Southern Africa Travel & Voyages Africa Travel & Voyages Europe

World atlas including one 6-sheet and eleven 4-sheet wall maps

KITCHIN, Thomas and others. Kitchin's general atlas, describing the whole universe.
London, Robert Laurie, James Whittle, 1808. Imperial folio (53 x 39.5 cm). With 28 engraved maps (numbered in 41 parts) assembled from 67 sheets. Most include elaborate cartouches with pictorial decoration. With the maps coloured in outline. Contemporary half calf. 1 leaf plus maps. Full description

€ 18,000

Atlases & Globes Charts & Maps USA - United States of America

The most richly illustrated edition of a famous description of South Africa

KOLB (KOLBE), Peter. Naaukeurige en uitvoerige beschryving van de Kaap de Goede Hoop.
Amsterdam, Balthazar Lakeman, 1727. 2 volumes bound as 1. Folio. With engraved title-page, engraved portrait of the author, 6 engraved maps (including one large folding map, 42.5 x 54.5 cm), 1 engraved plan and 45 engraved plates. 18th-century tanned sheepskin with a tree pattern, gold-tooled spine. [20], 529; [6], 449, [87] pp. Full description

€ 7,500

Anthropology & Ethnography Faunas & General Zoology Herbals & Medical Botany Mammals Travel & Voyages Africa VOC

Captain's journal of the voyage of the steam ship "Cornelis Dirks" to Africa and South America

KOOPMAN, J.F. Verslag van eene reize naar de westkust van Afrika, Rio de Janeiro en Rio de la Plata, door Z.M. schroef-stoomschip Cornelis Dirks, ...1859-1860.
[Amsterdam, widow of G. Hulst van Keulen, 1863]. 8vo. Contemporary blue paper wrappers. [2 blank], [2], 127, [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 1,500

Argentina Brazil Latin America Naval History South America Travel & Voyages Africa Travel & Voyages South America West Africa

First edition of Labillardière's famous voyage in search of La Pérouse, with 44 plates, including 14 after Redouté

LABILLARDIÈRE, Jacques Julien Houton de. Relation du voyage a la recherche de la Pérouse.
Including: Atlas pour servir à la Relation du voyage à la recherche de la Pérouse, ...
Paris, H.J. Jansen, An VIII [= 1799/1800]. 3 volumes. 4to (2 text volumes) and folio (atlas). Atlas with engraved title-page, large folding map (59 x 86.5 cm) and 43 full-page engraved plates (numbered 2-44), including 14 botanical plates drawn or completed by Pierre-Joseph Redouté. Modern mottled half calf. XVI, 442; 332, 113, [1] pp. Full description

€ 12,500

Australia Mutiny, Piracy & Shipwrecks Pacific Islands Southern Africa Travel & Voyages Africa Travel & Voyages Australia Travel & Voyages Pacific

Important description of the South Africa interior, with 9 hand-coloured plates (7 showing indigenous Africans)

LE VAILLANT, François. Voyage de Monsieur Le Vaillant dans l'intérieur de l'Afrique.
Paris, Leroy (colophon vol. 2: printed by Lottin l'aîné & Lottin), 1790. 2 volumes. 8vo. With the publisher's woodcut device on each title-page, engraved frontispiece, 2 folding engraved views and 9 numbered engraved plates (7 costume figures of indigenous Africans and 2 illustrations of giraffes).With the 9 numbered plates coloured by a contemporary hand. Contemporary half calf, richly gold-tooled flat spines. XXIV, 383; 403 pp. Full description

€ 1,950

Anthropology & Ethnography Costumes & Uniforms Travel & Voyages Africa

Seminal guide to the East and West Indies, with 42 double-page and folding plates, including 6 maps, all engravings beautifully coloured by a contemporary hand

LINSCHOTEN, Jan Huyghen van. Histoire de la navigation ... aux Indes Orientales ... Avec annotations de B. Paludanus, ... Troixiesme edition augmentee.
Including:
LINSCHOTEN, Jan Huyghen van. Le grand routier de mer, ...
[LINSCHOTEN, Jan Huygen van]. Description de l'Amerique & des parties d'icelle, ...
Amsterdam, Evert Cloppenburg, 1638. Folio (32.5 x 21 cm). With 3 title-pages (2 from the same full-page engraving and 1 letterpress with an engraving of a ship in a cartouche with 4 inset city views), a nearly full-page engraved portrait of the author in a cartouche with 4 inset views, 42 engraved plates including 6 maps (31 double-page & 11 larger folding). All plates coloured by a contemporary hand. Near contemporary mottled calf, gold-tooled spine. [8], 206 pp.; [4], 181, [1 blank]; [1], [1 blank], “86” [= 80], [2 blank] pp. Full description

€ 275,000

India & Sri Lanka Navigation Travel & Voyages Africa Travel & Voyages Asia Travel & Voyages Southern Asia USA - United States of America West Indies

Detailed observations of life in the Ottoman Empire, Egypt
and elsewhere in the Levant and Middle East ca. 1610

LITHGOW, William. Willem Lithgouws 19 jaarige lant-reyse, uyt Schotlant nae de vermaerde deelen des werelts Europa, Asia en Africa.
Amsterdam, Jacob Benjamin (colophon: printed by Christoffel Cunradus), 1653. 2 parts in 1 volume. 4to. With engraved frontispiece by Crispijn de Passe, 1 engraved plate and 6 engraved illustrations in the text. 19th-century half vellum. [8], 186, 98 pp. Full description

€ 1,950

Balkan & Greece Eastern Mediterranean & Cyprus Italy Malta North Africa & Egypt Portugal Scotland Spain Tobacco Travel & Voyages Africa Travel & Voyages Asia Travel & Voyages Europe Travel & Voyages Middle East Turkey & Ottoman Empire

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