Forum Rare Books

The sailors of the Dutch vessel "Willem Ernst", moored in the Harbour of Sydney
infected by the recently broken out "Victorian gold rush"

[MANUSCRIPT - DECLARATION]. [Declaration signed by five Dutch captains in Sydney Harbour].
(Signed:) Sydney, 24 December 1853. Ca. 32.5 x 20 cm. Housed in a white paper folder. [1] l. Full description

€ 350

Australia Manuscripts & Documents Medicine & Pharmacy (19th Century) Naval History

A remarkable manuscript service book for the divine offices on parchment,
with seven eye-catching illustrations

[MANUSCRIPT - SERVICE BOOK - DIVINE OFFICES]. Ordine da osservarsi nell'oratorio di Santa Maria di Passione, circa gli Essercicii Spirituali delle feste cavato dalla Regola maggiore.
[Milan], [18th-century]. Folio (27,5 x 18,5 cm). With 5 full-page and 2 half-page, hand-painted religious illustrations and 9 hand-painted initials on a blue background, heightened with gold and silver. 18th-century gold- and blind-tooled parchment, each board with a blind ornamental centre-piece ornament in a blind-tooled frame, in a larger frame of gold fillets, with a gold flower in each of the 6 spine compartments. [1 blank], [1], 66 pp. Full description

€ 14,000

Bibles, Liturgy & Devotional Works Book of Hours, Missals & Prayerbooks Catholicism & Eastern Orthodox Church Italy Manuscripts & Documents

Original documents of an 18th-century lawsuit against the murderer of a blacksmith in Zoeterwoude

[MANUSCRIPT DOCUMENTS]. BERGH, Johan van den. Eenige stukken concerneerende criminele procedures in cas d'appel voor het hof geventileerd tusschen den bailluw van Rhijnland contra Pieter Oostenryk in materie van manslag met de ms. schriftuuren.
[Leiden], 1726-1729. Folio (33 x 21.5 cm). Manuscript in Dutch on laid paper, with 2 embossed seals (clein segels). Later blue paper wrappers, with a printed title label mounted on the front wrapper. 28, [8 blank] pp. Full description

€ 1,750

Law & Politics Manuscripts & Documents Netherlands

1558 declaration signed by the great botanist Dodoens in his capacity as Mechelen churchwarden

[MANUSCRIPT]. DODOENS (DODONAEUS), Rembert. [Declaration of financial and other documents received as incoming churchwarden of the Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Mechelen].
[Mechelen], 27 December 1558. Oblong 4to (19 x 21.5 cm). A document written in dark brown ink on paper, with the opening words filled in afterwards in light brown ink and the signature in light brown ink. [1] ll. Full description

€ 12,500

Belgium Church History & Missions Economic History & Trade Manuscripts & Documents Medicine & Pharmacy (16th Century) Religion (16th Century)

Travelling through Germany and Russia in the 19th century

[MANUSCRIPT - DUTCH]. TROMP, C.H. [Collection of an illustrated manuscript diary, and travel journals, including some views and photographs of Russia and Germany].
[The Netherlands, 1824-1911]. Manuscript on paper in Dutch. Preserved in a card-board box (27 x 23.5 x 7 cm), covered with marbled paper. Full description

€ 3,500

Eastern Europe Germany Manuscripts & Documents Russia (incl. Siberia) Travel & Voyages Europe

Remarkable logbook of the lesser-known part of l'Archimède's diplomatic mission to Asia

[MANUSCRIPT - EAST ASIA - LAGRENÉ MISSION]. [Ship's log of the "Archimède"].
At sea between Macao and Calcutta, 1846. 2 volumes. Folio (ca. 32 x 22 cm). With two pencil sketches on pp. 58 and 59. Contemporary blue cloth, blue sprinkled edges, pink paste paper endpapers. 65, [40 blank]; 76-106 [=30], [100 blank], [1], [2 blank], [2], [10 blank] pp. Full description

€ 8,500

China India & Sri Lanka Law & Politics Logbooks Manuscripts & Documents Southeast Asia Travel & Voyages Asia Travel & Voyages East Asia Travel & Voyages Southeast Asia Travel & Voyages Southern Asia

Romantic imaginary voyage in French verses

[MANUSCRIPT - FRENCH - IMAGINARY VOYAGE]. Voyage imaginaire. Poème. Chant 1-4.
Adegeest (manor house at Voorschoten, between The Hague and Leiden), 1853. Large 4to (27 x 21.5 cm). Loose quires in cover: marbled boards joined together by a spine of red painted sheepskin, green ties. [2], V, 81, 120, VI, 132, 131 pp. Full description

€ 2,500

France French Literature Imaginary Voyages & Utopias Literature Manuscripts & Documents

Manuscript compilation of texts on Arabian horses

[MANUSCRIPT - HORSES - HAIR]. Chevaux. Observations sur les chevaux Arabes du désert. ... Cheveux.
[France, ca. 1794-ca. 1813]. Folio. Disbound. [10], [2 blank], [3], [1 blank], [4], [2 blank] pp. Full description

€ 4,500

Horses & Horsemanship Manuscripts & Documents

Illustrated manuscript of the Qanunceh, or "small canon":
a summary of Ibn Sina's famous Canon of Medicine

[MANUSCRIPT - IBN SINA (AVICENNA)]. [Mahmud ibn Muhammad ibn Umar AL-GAMINI and others]. [Qanunceh (= Small canon)].
[colophon: 1279 AH (= 1862 CE)]. (ca. 17.5 x 10.5 cm). Manuscript on paper, written in a cursive, Persian-Arabic script in 15 to 23 lines per page. With 1 leaf containing 8 hand coloured illustrations, with captions, of medical instruments (4 instruments on respectively the recto and verso of leaf 26). Contemporary brown calf, with blind-stamped decorations. [29] ll. Full description

€ 28,000

Arabic Printing & Calligraphy Iran / Persia Manuscripts & Documents Medicine & Pharmacy (19th Century) UAE - United Arab Emirates

Autograph letter from the New Zealand naturalist Thomson to fellow carcinologist
and renowned French zoologist Alphonse Milne-Edwards

THOMSON, George Malcolm. [Manuscript letter from George Malcolm Thomson to Alphonse Milne-Edwards].
High school, Dunedin, New Zealand, 30 August 1882. 20.5 x 12.5 cm. Written in a neat cursive in brown ink on laid paper made in Scotland watermarked "A Cowan & Sons Ivory". Folded. [2], [2 blank] pp. Full description