Autographs, Documents & Manuscripts

[LETTERS]. ALVAREZ DE TOLEDO, Pedro and Maria OSORIO Y PIMENTEL. [Three letters to Ferrante Gonzaga, Viceroy of Sicily, two from Pedro Alvarez de Toledo and one from his wife Maria Osorio y Pimentel].
Andria (in the Kingdom of Naples), 13 August to 10 September 1539. Folio (21.5 x 30 cm).
(1) Letter in Italian, signed, from Pedro Alvarez de Toledo in Andria to Ferrante Gonzaga, 13 August 1539, with a 23 mm seal bearing Alvarez de Toledo's coat of arms (with a chain of flags) stamped on a slip of paper attached with red wax.
(2) Letter in Spanish, signed, from Pedro Alvarez de Toledo in Andria to Ferrante Gonzaga, 3 September 1539, with the 45 mm imperial armorial seal stamped on a slip of paper attached with red wax.
(3) Letter in Italian, signed, from Maria Osorio y Pimentel [in Andria] to Ferrante Gonzaga, 10 September 1539, with the remains of what appears to be her husband's 23 mm red wax seal.
Each letter, in brown ink, occupies one page, with the last page containing the address and the sender's seal. The two inside pages of the second and third letter are blank. Each formerly folded for posting, so that the address would have appeared on one side and the seal on the other. [4]; [4]; [2] pp. including blanks. Full description

[ARABIAN NIGHTS]. BURTON, Richard F. The book of the thousand nights and a night[:] a plain and literal translation of the Arabian nights entertainments.
With:
(2) BURTON, Richard F. Supplemental nights.
(3) BURTON, Richard F. [Autograph manuscript book review of an 1881 Panchatantra edition].
(Colophons:) U.S.A. [Boston, MA?], The Burton Club, [ca. 1940]. 16 volumes (incl. 6 supplements). 8vo. With an original manuscript leaf written by Burton (with the manuscript heading: "Proof to Sir R.F.B. Hotel des Bains, Aigle, Canton Vaud, Switzerland" and a note "Long Primer Pressig.") and each volume with a different frontispiece in two states (coloured and uncoloured). Contemporary richly gold-blocked green morocco, boards with Arabic script in gold, spine with raised bands, gold-tooled turn-ins, marbled pastedowns. Full description

[ARABIC & ENGLISH VOCABULARY AND PHRASE BOOK]. The interpreter in the Arabic and English Languages, consisting of nouns, epithets (or adjectives), verbs & afterwards some compendious examples.
Ca. 1830s. 4to (21.5 x 27 cm). With 2 folding tables, 17 lines to the page, written in red and black ink. Contemporary navy blue morocco, with the title lettered in gold on spine, marbled endpapers. [6], 237, 238-266, [10] pp. Full description

[ARABIC MANUSCRIPT].

Kitab Al-Waqi'at fi'l-Fatawi.
[Levant, ca. 1290]. Small 4to in 6s (17 x 14) cm. Arabic manuscript, 15 to 17 lines to the page, written in clear cursive ta'liq script on brown Middle Eastern paper. With occasional red rubrication. Contemporary (?) blind-tooled calf, mostly covered with later calf leaving only the contemporary back cover exposed. 19th century European paper endpapers. With a loose leaf of 18th century European paper with Arabic manuscript writing on one side. 374 ll.

Full description

ARANEA, Vincenzo. In praecepta decalogi secundae tabulae dicta tractatus.
Including: [IDEM]. Disputationes de sacramentis novae legis.
[L'Aquila, ca. 1640]. 2 volumes. 4to. Written in a neat Italian cursive hand, some parts in other hands. Uniformly bound in contemporary vellum. [8], 270, [4] ll.; [4], 655, [10] pp. Full description

[ASSAROTTI, Ottavio Giovanno Battista]. Dottrina Christiana. [Manuscript in Italian].
[Genoa, ca. 1815/20]. 8vo. With 117 (of 118) full-page hand-coloured drawings, each in a frame of double rules (20.5 x 14 cm), with lively illustrations of the Christian doctrine, and text in Italian. Contemporary half calf, gold-tooled spine. 117 (of 118), [3 blank] ll., including the last 3 blanks. Full description

[ATLAS - HISTORICAL]. Atlas historique. - Souvenirs historiques. - Tableaux et cartes.
[Montpellier?], [date on spine of vol. 1:] 1851. 3 volumes. Folio (vol. 1) and large 4to (vols. 2-3). Neatly written manuscripts on paper with 23 graphically vibrant maps, coloured in outline with subtly shaded washes in grey (for the coasts) and numerous bright colours (for political boundaries), and with calligraphic headings. Contemporary bindings: vol. 1 red half goatskin; vol. 2 black half goatskin; vol. 3 black sheepskin. [1], [26 double]; [1], [22 double]; [1], 30 double, [1] ll. Full description

[AUTOGRAPH MANUSCRIPT - FRANCE, ENGLAND & INDIA]. [French manuscript on the negotiation strategy of the French with the British on India.]
ca. 1778. Folio. Sewn with two small chords in the left upper and bottom corner. [7], [1 blank] pp. Full description

[AUTOGRAPH]. MELANCHTHON, Philipp. [Autograph letter, signed, from Philipp Melanchthon to Sebastian Boetius].
[Wittenberg], Easter [14 April 1555]. Folio (19.5 x 32 cm). In Latin. [2] pp. Full description

[BACKER, Jan] and Albrecht Nicolaas van AERSSEN BEIJEREN. Exercitien voor een compagnie grenadiers bestaande in het manuaal & d'evolutien ...
[The Netherlands], 1738. Folio. With 25 ink drawings depicting tactical formation exercises for infantry. Contemporary gold- and blind-tooled mottled calf, a red morocco title-label lettered in gold, gold-tooled board edges, marbled edges. [1], [1 blank], 49, [9 blank] pp. Full description