Forum Rare Books

Caring for the royal falcons of King Sancho I of Mallorca

[FALCONRY - SANCHO I OF MALLORCA]. [Invoice document (albarán) for falconry expenses].
1320. Folio (folded lengthwise, 11.2 x 32 cm). Catalan manuscript on cotton paper. Stored in custom-made purple half morocco case. 9 written pp. on 8 tall sewn leaves. Full description

€ 85,000

Economic History & Trade Falconry, Fishing & Hunting Manuscripts & Documents Spain

Italian manuscript criticizing contemporary France in a dialogue between Muhammad and Colbert

[MANUSCRIPT - FRANCE]. Colloquio su'gli affari presenti del 1683 fatto nell'Inferno, tra Maometto, e monsieur Colbert, già ministro di Francia.
[Italy, ca. 1684?]. Small folio (29 x 20.5 cm). Manuscript in brown ink on laid paper in a legible hand. Sewn. [54], [2 blank] pp. Full description

€ 2,500

France Law & Politics Manuscripts & Documents

Splendid manuscript on the state, condition and organization of the French Royal navy in 1732, from the library of Henri Beraldi

[FRENCH ROYAL NAVY]. [Binding title:] Abregé de la marine du Roy 1732.
[Paris?, 1732]. 13.5 x 19 cm. Manuscript in brown-black, red and blue ink on vellum, some of the lettering and borders gilt. With a beautiful frontispiece painting in coloured gouaches (14 x 9.5 cm) pasted on the page facing the opening of the text Contemporary gold-tooled red goatskin morocco, gold-tooled blue-black goatskin morocco pastedowns, gilt edges. Frontispiece plus [2], 26 ll., including 2 double and 1 larger folding. Full description

€ 95,000

Bindings Calligraphy Canada & Greenland Drawings & Watercolours France Manuscripts & Documents Middle America Military History (18th Century) North America Ships & Shipbuilding West Indies

Extraordinary manuscript in French containing a manual on gardening and landscape architecture, ready to print

[MANUSCRIPT - GARDENING]. Introduction à la théorie de l'art des jardins.
Ca. 1775-1800. 2 volumes. 4to. Written in several, slightly different neat 18th-century hands. Later red decorated paper over stiff paperboards, spines covered with brown paper, black morocco spine labels with titles and volume numbers in gold. [2], 2, 46 pp., 47-76 ll., 60 pp.; 129, [3], 83, 96, 20 pp. plus 2 ll.with the table of contents. Full description

€ 18,500

Architecture Castles, Gardens & Mansions France Horticulture Manuscripts & Documents

Confidential letters on the Baltic Sea trade,
written by the Dutch Republic's resident in Copenhagen to the States General

GOES, Robert. [4 confidential letters by Robert Goes to the registrars of the Dutch States General on the Baltic Sea trade].
[The Netherlands, written 1689-1690 and copied then or soon after]. 4 manuscript letters. Folio. Written in one column in three different 17th-century hands (each letter written, signed and dated in a single hand) on 5 bifolia (2 bifolia for the letter dated 5 December 1689). Folded. [3], [1 blank]; [2]; [2]; [2] ll. Full description

€ 3,250

Autographs & Letters Economic History & Trade Mutiny, Piracy & Shipwrecks Naval History Poland & Baltic Scandinavia & Arctic

Luxurious collection of 390 coats of arms of important Flemish, Dutch and French noble families,
mostly hand-drawn and hand-coloured and some painted with gold and executed on vellum

[HERALDRY - FLANDERS - NETHERLANDS - FRANCE]. [Album containing coats of arms of Flemish, Dutch and French noble families].
[France, Flanders and the Netherlands, 17th and 18th century]. Folio. With 390 coats of arms (plus another 49 blank shields) of which 13 on vellum, all but 25 contemporary hand-coloured of which 17 painted with gold and 1 with silver and all but 3 drawn by hand. Mostly all coat of arms are captioned in brown ink in contemporary 17th- or 18th-century cursive hands, in which also the sometimes added manuscript text (on the same or another leaf) is written. Coats of arms on paper and vellum in various sizes, mounted on later folio-sized paper leaves. 18th-century half red roan (sheepskin), brown sprinkled paper sides over boards, manuscript title label on the front board. All loose leaves and quires mounted/stored on [29] ll, the quires loosely stored in a paper slip mounted on a leaf. Full description

€ 9,500

Belgium Drawings & Watercolours France Genealogy, Heraldry & Flags Manuscripts & Documents Netherlands

Detailed account of horses by a Dutch cavalry officer who served Prussia against Napoleon Bonaparte,
with 31 beautiful watercolour drawings (30 in colour) showing 32 horses

[HORSES - MILITARY]. Anecdoten van paarde kenners, paarde liefhebbers, ruijters en ross-kammers. Naar waarheid en eijge ondervinding opgesteld. Door een gepensioneerd cavallerie officier.
[The Netherlands, ca. 1815]. Folio (38 x 24 cm). Manuscript on paper written in brown ink in a readable Latin hand, with the title on p. 72, illustrated with 30 small watercolour drawings of horses mounted on the leaves (mostly about 8.5 x 11 cm), and a washed pen drawing with 5 caricature figures before a monument (9.5 x 16 cm), mounted above the dedication. Half vellum (1930s?), gold-tooled spine. [4 blank], 248, 251-254, 257-267, [9 blank] pp. Full description

€ 17,500

Germany Horses & Horsemanship Manuscripts & Documents Military History (19th Century)

How to teach arithmetic according to the 19th-century educational system of mutual tuition

[JOMARD, Edmé François]. Arithmétique élémentaire ou tableaux d'arithmétique composés selon les principes et assujetis aux procédés de l'enseignement mutuel; par M. Jomard, secrétaire de la Societé pour l'enseignement élémentaire.
[France?, ca. 1822]. Small folio (ca. 29.5 x 19 cm). With 6 folding text leaves. Contemporary quarter vellum. [1], 88, [1 blank] ll. Full description

€ 5,000

Education & Pedagogy France Manuscripts & Documents Mathematics

Royal instructions, drafted for the Archbishop of Goa, with anti-Jesuit themes

JOSÉ I, King of Portugal. Instrucçõens com que el Rey meu senhor manda passar ao Estado da India o reverendo Arcebispo de Goa primaz do Oriente.
[Lisbon?, dated 10 February 1774 at the foot of each of the six Instrucçõens]. Folio. Manuscript on paper, written in a neat secretarial hand. Contemporary gold-tooled brown calf. [2 blank], [4], [68], [2], [4 blank] ll. Full description

€ 16,500

India & Sri Lanka Jesuits Manuscripts & Documents Portugal Religion (18th Century)

Drilling the Austrian Imperial infantry, with 49 manuscript formation plans in colour

LEEUWEN, Engelhard August Baron van. Plans des neu herrauss gegebene Exercittii nach den dermahligen Kayserl: Königl: kriegs Fuss Volck eingerichtet. Herausgegeben im Jahr 1765. Zugehörig Titl. Herrn Obrist Wacht M[ei]st[er] Baron v[on]: Engelhard.
Austria, 1769[?]. Oblong 4to (18.5 x 23 cm). With title and the explanation of the key letters used in the plans written in red, the key to the colour coding in the troop formations in 8 colours, and 49 (of 55) numbered colour-coded plans of infantry exercises. Each text leaf and each plan (except no. 26) in a frame of rules, nos. 2-35 in red, the rest in black. Plans 1, 24, 32, 33, 42, and 46 have been torn out, in 2 cases leaving a small piece of the drawing. Contemporary mottled tanned sheepskin, gold-tooled spine. [3], 16 ll. plus 49 (of 55) numbered plans. Full description