Books

  An amazing survivor – an early Istanbul opera broadside advertising the 1855 single-show performance of Gaetano Donizetti’s ‘Don Pasquale’ at the famous Naum Theatre in Pera (Beyoğlu), Constantinople, headlined by the legendary basso buffo singer Vincenzo Galli, published locally in Italian, Ottoman Turkish, Greek, Armenian and Armenian printed in the Ottoman Alphabet!

Two diaries, written mostly during World War II by Inge Weinbrecht from Munich, depict a life of a teenage girl from the early years of the war, when she was sent to a Nazi children’s summer camp, to her witnessing the fall of the Reich and marching of American soldiers into Munich.

Johann Christian NOSSEK (1804-1856). A Pronouncing Pocket–Dictionary of British Proper Names. Taschenwörterbuch der Aussprache brittischer Eigennamen [Titles on the Cover]. Taschen-Wörterbuch der Aussprache der englischen, schottischen und irländischen Eigennamen. A pocket Dictionary of the English, Scotish, Irish and Indish, as well as of the Greck, Latin and Hebrew, proper Names of Countries, Places, Mountains, Rivers and Persons etc. [Title Pages].…

  A rare ephemeral program written in French, Armenian and Ottoman, was published for a for the matinée and evening performance of the Ottoman operetta Leblebici Horhor Aga, written by an Armenian author Tigran Tchoukhajian.

A lucidly written overview of the first 140 years of Barbados history, especially valuable for its lively treatment of the internal political undercurrents that buffeted the island in the 18th century; while issued anonymously, the work is known to have been written by Henry Frere, a leading member of the plantocracy and the island’s government; published in the immediate wake…

A rare first edition of a children's educational book on Buddhism, authored by Thai Princess Poon Pismai Diskul. Large 8º, title, VIII, 24 pp., original wrappers with illustrated cover, minor staining and foxing, small pencil annotations on the title page, otherwise in good, seemingly unread condition).

  An émigré Cossack periodical with inserted folding map of the Kuban region of Russia was edited by a former Major-Genera,l White Russian Vyacheslav Naumenko, who escaped the post WWII Repatriation of Cossacks.

  A Russian translation of Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs du Mal, which was considered the best one at the time, was published by a Russian émigré press in Paris.

  A rare set of 3 magazines on literature was published in Ukrainian language by Ukrainian exiles in Prague in 1931 and 1932. From a library of a Ukrainian exile Ilarion Ohienko, later Metropolitan bishop of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Winnipeg, Canada.

administrator or military officer to be employed while making a reconnaissance of the island in the tense period leading up to World War I; featuring 26 colour photolithographed maps and 1 legend sheet all published in Antananarivo by the colonial military press, the ‘Service géographique de l’Etat Major du groupe de l’Afrique Orientale’, including 19 provincial maps and 6 large-format, sophisticated…

  8°, 64 with colour and black and white images, original colour wrappers, stapled (small tears and tiny loss of paper in margins, spine renewed, minor staining, but overall in a good condition).  

An unusual multilingual work by de Cantos with a text collage, made of various languages Square 8°, 190 pp. also printed upside down(first 65 pp. not numbered), [2 pp.], one full page illustration in grey, black and red (same design as on the cover), illustrated covers with flaps (light foxing throughout the book, slightly age-toned in margins, wrappers with foxing…

A rare address book of Vienna   Large 8°. [4 pp.] title and introduction, 226 pp., [1 pp.] errate original pink card binding with lettering (Very Good, with minor foxing to the first and last page and very small wear to the cover).

  An important dissertation on aerodynamics by using a wind channel was made as a result of experiments, expanding over years, by a German engineer Max Schirmer at the blimp factory Zeppelin during WWII.

  8°, 198 pp., contemporary marbled paper boards and green cloth spine (pp 111, 158, 191-193 marked twice, pages misnumbered 174-177, but complete according to catch words, small folds in corners, but overall in a good condition with only minor age-toning).  

  [Leşkergah / Lashkargāh. Historical, Literary, Artistic, Archeological Studies]   A pioneering work on the pre-Islamic history of art and archeology of a southwestern Afghan city Lashkargāh, with attached visiting card of the author   8°, 152 pp., interleaved 7 sheets, printed with photographs from both sides, original illustrated wrappers, author’s visiting card attached with a pin to the title…

[Afganistan Hükümdarlarının Memleketimizi Ziyaretleri Hatıraları / Memories of Afghan Rulers' Visit to Our Homeland]   Oblong 8°, 48 pp. with black and white images, 2 pages of text and a map, original illustrated wrappers (later spine, tiny tracks in margins, wrappers little rubbed and dusty, but overall in a good condition).  

  8°, 29 pp., later marbled wrappers (slightly stained, otherwise in a good condition).  

An extremely rare Nazi report on the state of roads in Germany's former African colonies and the Belgian Congo, made early in World Wat II in preparation for plans for the Third Reich to regain its African empire either by diplomacy or force, being a printed copy of an original typescript labelled as 'Als Manuskript gedruckt' ('Printed as a manuscript'), issued…

  A rare, richly illustrated book in Ottoman script on Africa, North Pole, Australia and South America.

  A scarce, pioneering atlas of Africa with 18 colour plates featuring 50 maps designed by the leading Vienna map house of Freytag & Berndt, including some sophisticated works of thematic cartography and original maps showcasing the level of Western knowledge of the continent, made to capitalize upon the Africa-mania that swept the general public in the wake of the…

  A rare ephemeral Ottoman map of Africa was printed on the back cover of a notebook   8°. [48 pp.] manuscript in pencil on paper with printed stripes, stapled, original pink illustrated wrappers (front cover with light water-staining, tears, loss of image and recently repaired with scotch tape, map with soft folds and tiny tears in the margins, staples…

A complete set of the contemporary Ottoman translations of Schweinfurth’s influential travelogue to Africa. 8°: 911 pp. with black and white illustrations, folding map, coloured in outline, one toned lithograph with hand coloured details, contemporary Ottoman black calf with gilt and debossed decoration (remboîtage in a contemporary Ottoman binding) (minor age-toning and foxing, holes in the map on the crossings…

Yeni Afrika. Afrika kitʼasinin ahval-i coğrafya ve tarihiyesi hakkında maʼlûmat-ı cedide ile seyyah-i meşhur İstanliʼnin son Afrika seyahatnamesini ve üç kitʼa boyalı haritayı havidir New Africa. Geographical and Historical Situation of African Continent, New Information by a Famous Traveler Stanley and a Map Coloured in three Colours.   A rare late 19th century Ottoman book on contemporary Africa   8°,…

  A rare pair of mimeographed books on agriculture printed on pink paper in Slovenian language in a DP camp in Austria after WWII   Two titles bound in one volume, 4°, mimeographed on pink paper with illustrations. 42 pp., [3 pp.,]. 42 pp., [2 pp.,]. Original black boards and cloth spine (boards slightly rubbed, otherwise in a good condition).

A critical observation of bad management of palm groves in Angola among the native people after the abolition of slavery in 1869, with a plan how to educate Angolans in modern techniques of agriculture for their own benefits.   12°, 44 pp. [4 pp.] blank, original green wrappers with lettering (wrappers little stained with old paper labels on the cover…

A rare pamphlet by the Albanian resistance against the Italian Fascism, printed in Istanbul.   8°, [10 pp.], wrappers with illustrated covers, stapled (little stained and dusty, small holes in the lower margin of the cover, soft folds)

8°, 156 pp., [4] with illustrated vignettes in the text, contemporary brown cloth binding without bound in wrappers (small tears and minor loss of paper in the gutter, minor staining, binding with light wear and ink staining, some sheets slightly stained in the margins, old bookdealer’s stamp on the last page, old signature and date on the title page, altogether…

  [On the Introduction of the Armenians to Algeria]   An unusual French pamphlet describing a governmental plan, to relocate a larger amount of Armenians from the Ottoman Empire to Algeria, in order to boost economy and trade of this relatively new part of France. A handsome example, from a library of Marquis de Chasseloup-Laubat, the French Colonial Minister, who…

  An introductory educational textbook and Ottoman-Turkish alphabet primer (Elifbâ) designed for late-Ottoman student instruction.  

8°. 29-35 pp., facing pages marked with the same number, with colour lithographed plates, printed covers, stapled (tiny loss of paper in the lower corners of the last pages, light staining and foxing, otherwise in a good used condition).

  A rare pamphlet on a sermon preached in Nestorian Mission in Urumia, Persia, printed in Boston, and signed by the author, Rev. Justin Perkins, “an apostle to Persia” and the first citizen of the United States to reside in Iran.

The fourth edition of this fundamental work in classical economics.   Two volumes, both 8º, xiii, 498 pp. [8 pp.], 489 pp., [62 pp.], contemporary full calf, dark red morocco spine labels with gold lettering, speckled edges (light scuffing to the corners of the bindings, first and last leaves with light brown glue-staining from the boards in margins, collector’s rubber stamps “Ex-Libris E.…

  Extremely rare in commerce – the first edition of a work that featured the most powerful defense of slavery of the late Enlightenment era, and one of the most influential and controversial books in Brazilian and Portuguese history, written by José de Azeredo Coutinho, the Brazilian plantation owner-turned celebrated intellectual and cleric who was the (unintentional) forefather of Brazilian…

    Large 8°: [25 pp.], title page and 12 chromolithographed illustrations, printed on one side only, verso tan paper, original cover, later binding, stapled (internally in good condition with minimal staining in margins, back cover replaced, front cover slightly stained with repaired vertical crack with tiny loss).  

  A charming complete set of three rare Turkish medical pamphlets on anatomy, written in the Ottoman language for students of medicine, illustrated with amazing proto-modern colour plates.   3 issues (all published), all 8°, with original printed wrappers: No. 1: 69 pp. with black and white illustrations, with 5 interleaved colour plates; No. 2: 36 pp. interleaved with 3…

  [The Gospel of Wealth. According to the English Text of Andrew Carnegie]   A rare Greek translation of The Gospel of Wealth by an American industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, a text especially important for the history of foundation of public free libraries   8°. 75 pp. with a full page portrait, [4 pp.], original card pink wrappers with illustration…

Pierre Adolphe Capelle (1775 – 1851) Paris: Capelle IX (1800-1801)   16°, original colour engraving, 144 pp. letterpress, pages with uneven margins, original brown wrappers (small folds in corners, little dusty, stamp 8. XI. 1946 in the lower margin of the last page, old tag with a title mounted n the inner side of the front wrapper, loss of paper…

  8°, original cover, [2 pp.], 104 pp., folding map, later brown cloth binding with lettering (minor age-toning, old hand-written price on the inner side of the rear board, but overall in a good condition).  

1 of only 2 known surviving examples - the original issue of the French merchant Charles Jeannest’s exciting and historically valuable account of his four years (1869-73) spent in the coastal Congo (today’s Banana, DRC and Zaire Province, Angola), where he served as a factor at several trading posts, featuring authentic and highly detailed eyewitness accounts and perceptive analysis of…

A foundational document of the establishment of the Estado Novo’s transformative colonial regime in Angola, being the secret typescript report on the state of the Portuguese colony written (and signed in mss.) by the military strongman and political heavyweight António Lopes Mateus, who had just been appointed as the Governor-General of Angola, submitted to the Portuguese dictator António de Oliveira Salazar; in…

Twelve Lessons on the Friendly Treatments of Animals   8°, 63 pp., original blue wrappers with illustrated cover (paper slightly waved, wrappers with hardly noticeably foxing and old-hand-written number on the top, but otherwise in a good, clean condition).

The Artist and The Revolution. An Artist in The Russian Revolution: Notes by an Artist - A text on the role of the art and artists in Russia and the changes of their roles through the revolution was written by a Russian immigrant in Berlin, Georgy Kreskentievich Lukomsky (1884–1952).   12°. 95 pp., original wrapper with lettering (wrappers with light…

  A rare satirical illustrated anti-Fascist-Italy pamphlet, printed for the Greek soldiers during World War II. Large 8°. [64 pp.] with black and white illustrations, original illustrated wrappers (Very Good).   Evangelos BITSAXIS - Kostantinos STASINOPOULOS, editors; T. MORAITINI, A.G. POP, K. VARNALI, authors of texts - F. DIMITRIADIS, K. BEZOU, N. KASTANAKI, P. PAVLIDIS, S. POLENAKI, E. TERZOPOULOS, KYRIAZI,…

A rare, unusual separately issued propaganda publication in Croatian language with an extreme anti-Semitic content, was printed in 1939, on the eve of WWII. It is a reprint of a 1906 article by an influential Croatian politician Stjepan Radić (died 1928), who later became a liberal politician and regrated his early writings.   8°: 16 pp., original green wrappers with…

A rare anti-Semitic work in Croatian language was published on the eve of WWII.         8°. X, 221 pp., original wrappers with lettering (old owner's stamp on the first page, tiny tears in the  wrappers, otherwise a good, uncut example).  

  The first book in Ottoman language to express anti-Semitic tendencies   12°. 78 pp. [2 pp.] blank, original illustrated purple wrappers (minor tears in margins, but overall in a good, uncut condition).  

  Two volumes bound-in-one. 8°. 96 pp., 128 pp., contemporary marbled paper binding with a flap, Dark brown goat spines (age-toned and stained, small tears in marginsold annotations in black ink in margins, sporadic words underlined in red and black ink, old bookseller’s stamps, hand-written title in lower edge, binding scuffed, rubbed and with small loss of material, corners rubbed…

  8°. [2 pp.], 278 pp. letterpress, contemporary dark brown Morocco binding with a flap and gold and blind tooling (old book-seller’s stamp on the first unnumbered blank page, old annotations on blank pages and inner sides of the boards, binding slightly rubbed with loss of material on the corners, sporadic margins with light water-staining and folds, but otherwise clean).…

Very Rare – a remarkably astute treatise on cholera accompanied by an amazing 462 case studies of named patients written at the height of the Cholera Epidemic of 1833-4 in Portugal by the respected physician Emigdio Manoel da Victorio da Costa, who selflessly tended to infected persons on the front lines; the work remained in manuscript for many years, until…

  [Devil’s Daughter and Other Stories]   Short stories in Arabic language written in Cairo during WWII by an Egyptian writer Mahmud Taymur and ornated with a stunning cover design   8°. 150 pp., [2], original illustrated card wrappers (wrappers rubbed on the corners and stained on the back cover, small old annotation on the title page, in a read…

  Arabic translation of three texts on Oedipus by a prolific Egyptian translator Taha Hussein, accompanied with an overdramatic cover and charming mid-century clip art   Small 8°. 194 pp., original illustrated wrappers (wrappers with short tears, folds and rubbed corners, small loss of paper around the spine, inside in a good condition).  

  8°, 443 pp., [4 pp.], contemporary pink boards and brown spine, endpapers made of old stationary paper with printed grids (binding with light staining and recent hand-written title on the spine, old manuscript annotation in pencil on the title page and in black ink on p. 85, endpaper with small loss of material and pieces of mounted paper, minor…

  [Poems from the Prison about my Country and the Things I Love]   A collection of poems by an Egyptian revolutionary writer Ahmed Fouad Negm   8°. 118 pp., [2 pp.], original illustrated wrappers (light foxing, tiny wear on the corners, but otherwise in a good condition).    

  [The Second Separation of Forces Agreement in Sinai 1975 (An Analytical Study)]   8°. 415 pp. with maps in text, original illustrated card wrappers (wrappers lightly rubbed and stained with soft folds, otherwise in a good condition).  

  [Washington in Tel Aviv or There Used to be Israel Here]   An Arab nationalistic book against Israel with an antisemitic cover design   8°. 184 pp., [8 pp.] with black and white illustrations, original illustrated card wrappers (wrappers slightly stained, corners with tiny chips and folds, spine with a small loss of material, imprint on the back cover…

  [Gazavât-ı Celile-i Peygamberî / Battles of the Glorious Prophet]   An exclusively bound Ottoman book on the glorious conquers of the Prophet Muhammad, written by a historian Ahmet Refik.   8°. 224 pp. with decorative vignettes and a small map in text, folding map, bound in dark brown goat with gold ornaments on the covers and lettering on the…

Chromolithograph. 9 x 13,5 cm (3.5 x 5.3 inches). Slightly stained.

A 1748 edition of the first accurate book of Arabic grammar by orientalist Thomas van Erpe includes the first Latin translation of the 9th century Arabic anthology the Hamasah by Abu Tammam.

  A unique manuscript by a Belgian imperial calligrapher François Magnée, commissioned by the Archery Society at the Poeke castle and presented to Prince Leopold Duke of Brabant, future King Leopold II.   Folio (37 x 25 cm), [8 pp.] black, red, green, blue, silver and gold ink on vellum (5 pp. manuscript and 3 pp. blank), bound with a…

  Folding card, 15x15 cm, with illustrated cover and printed empty template (Very Good, minor staining in the inner white margins).  

  An unusual archive in Hungarian language includes dozens of photographs and original typewritten police reports on true crime scenes from Budapest, made between 1947 and 1949, most of them related to murders.  

  A stunning, well-rounded private archive of a French engineer, businessman and bibliophile Léon Sellié, giving a detailed insight on the life of an upper-class expat in the Late Ottoman period. The archive includes over 200 documents with 27 diaries, expanding over almost 29 years and describing over 9000 days in Istanbul, photographs, an unpublished manuscript on antique monuments of…

  A thick manual on the Islamic law by Muhammed Seid Serdarević (1882 -1918), a Müderris (teacher) at the Sultan Ahmed's Madrasa in Zenica, is one of the first such books, written in Arebica. I was written in Zenica in 1917 and published after the author’s death with an epilogue by the editor Džemaluddin Čaušević.  

  Official Note from the Consul Charged ad Interim of the General Consulate of France in Buenos-Aires, to the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Argentine Confederation, reclaiming on the authority of international law, that the French, who notoriously and publicly have established themselves in the republic with the same enjoyments and civil liberties as the Argentine citizens, be not…

An elaborately made manuscript travelogue to Argentina in 1891 by a teenage boy Mariano de Bary, a son of a bank and transportation mogul Heinrich Albert de Bary and a descendant of a prominent Argentinian family Saavedra.   Large 4º, blank, illustrated title page, 130 pp., [1 pp.], manuscript in blue ink, 43 original black and white photographs mounted in…

  A rare Armenian almanac, issued in 1905 in Istanbul by the Armenian Hospital, including folding maps and valuable information on the Armenian minority.   8°, 512 pp. with portraits in text and interleaved 6 folding black and white maps, [20 pp.] advertisements on thin yellow paper, original blue cloth blinding with debossed black decoration and gilt lettering (title with…

This manuscript broadside is a stunning example of artistry, seamlessly blending Armenian calligraphy with its distinctive letters and rich Christian symbolism that is deeply embedded in the nation’s identity. The inclusion of a traditional labyrinth form elevates the piece, serving as a profound tool for meditation and concentration.   Drawing and manuscript in various colours on paper, 62 x 44…

  A book on the founder of Armenian diaspora poetry in the United States Hamastegh was drafted by an Armenian designer Minas Minasian published in New York a year following the poet’s death.

  A scarce pamphlet in French language is a translation of an Armenian text with the analysis of the current political situation of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. It was written during WWI in Istanbul, shortly after the Armenian genocide, where over 1 million Armenians were murdered, as many more were deported or imprisoned.   8°. 70 pp., [2 pp.],…

  Small 4°, 416 pp., [2 pp.], 146 pp. with black and white photos, maps and reproductions of documents.  

  A rare book in French language, written during World War I, in the time of the Armenian genocide, analyses contemporary situation of the Armenian Church in the Ottoman Empire and in the world.   Large 12°. 96 pp., original green wrappers with lettering (good, uncut example, wrappers with minor staining and tiny tears).  

  8°, 96 pp., original wrappers with lettering (wrappers stained with tiny tears, inside in a good condition with minor staining to the margins).  

  A rare early edition of Agathangelos’es History of Armenia, one of the most influential texts on the early Christianity in the country.

  A book on Armenian history with a folding map, showcasing the historical territory of Armenia, was printed during WWI in Istanbul, on the eve of the Armenian Genocide.

A rare first edition of Armenian poetry with a beautiful art nouveau cover design, printed in colour, was published by the Mekhitarists’ press in Venice.

  A rare book of poems in Armenian language were written by Gusan Ashot, an author and performer of Armenian lyrics. First edition.  From the library of an Armenian author and researcher Levon Mikirtitchian.

  A uncommon collection of Armenian poetry by an Aleppo-born Harutiun Berberyan was published in Bairut, Lebanon. Signed by the author and with a collector’s stamp by an Armenian author and researcher Levon Mikirtitchian (Lewon Mkrtchʻean).

A rare first edition of an Armenian novel by Mesrop Taghiadian, printed in Calcutta.   12°, [4 pp.] blank, [6 pp.], 177 pp., [5 pp.] blank, original green wrappers, later spine (two tiny wormholes in margins in the first part of the book, light brown ink lines on the title pageotherwise in a good condition).  

  Small 8°, 4 full-page black and white maps, double-page black and white map, 635 pp. with black and white illustrations, original blue cloth with debossed lines on the covers and gilt lettering on the spine (minor foxing and light staining in the upper part of the edge, spine slightly age-toned with minor cracks on the side, but overall in…

A charming rare pamphlet with religious text in Armenian language, printed by the Mekhitarist Press in Trieste.   12°, 98 pp. with vignettes and illustrated initials, later marbled paper wrappers (mispagination without pp. numbers 43-44, but complete and corresponding to the example from the National Library of Armenia, tear in the lower inner corner of the title page repaired with…

  [Albom hay nshanagreru : aṛtʻiw 1500-ameaki hay tareru giwtin ew 400-ameaki hay tpagrutʻean / Album on the Armenian Letters on the 1500th Anniversary of the Invention of the Armenian Letters and the 400th Anniversary of the Armenian Printing]   A charming ephemeral pamphlet with a series of Armenian letters, composed of portraits and images of monuments and important places…

  A book of  portraits of Slovenian male and female authors from 16th to early 20th centuries was privately bound in a highly decorative contemporary art deco binding.

  A scientific work on the formation on Yugoslavia by a French Slavist Émile Haumant was contemporary bound in a highly decorative art deco binding with tricolour fore-edge colouring and tooling. 

[Greiz, Germany: 1930s - 1940]

An impressive commemorative photographic album accompanying a large exhibition in Luanda, in 1938, demonstrating colonial introduction of Western architecture and design in Angola.   Large 4°, 173 pp. text with vignettes and decoration, printed in black and orange, interleaved black and white photographs. [17 pp.] advertisements printed in black and orange, original illustrated wrappers (wrappers rubbed with small chips on…

  A stunningly well preserved art nouveau luxury edition of poetry by a Slovenian author Dragotin Kette with wonderful illustrations by an academic artis Maksim Gaspari, made in Munich and influenced by contemporary art nouveau. Large 12°. Portrait with a facsimile signature, XXXVI, [1 pp] text with a portrait, protected with original guard, facsimile of a letter protected with original…

  A translation of Ruskin’s children’s book with original zincograph engravings by a Yugoslavian academic painter Anton Koželj in Art Nouveau style.

  An Art-Deco binding with printed photomontage on linen was designed by a Slovenian architect Janko Omahen.

  The second edition of an Arabic translation of the book Communist Guerilla Warfare, describing the warfare tactics of the Soviets and also Yugoslav partisans during WWII.   Large 8°. [2 pp.], 245 pp. with illustrations in text, original illustrated wrappers (minimal age-toning to the paper and hardly noticeable wear to the wrappers, but overall in a good and clean…

[Sharh-i Diwan-i Hafiz-i Shirazi / Commentary on the Divan of Hafez]   A rare book in Ottoman language in three volumes, partly printed in Alexandria   3 volumes. Small 4°. 4 pp., 411 pp. Old annotations, 455 pp. (first four pages originally coloured yellow with orange detail). , 464 pp. Recent brown calf with embossed decoration (pp. 3-4 of the…

  A privately published pre-WWII Slovenian manual on asparagus   Small 8°, 38 pp. with black and white illustrations, [2 pp.], original green card wrappers with lettering, stapled (small blue lines on the cover, two old school-library stamps, crossed with a book-seller’s stamp).  

A pedagogical avant-garde book with data visualization, in techniques of typographic illustrations in letterpress, made by a Portuguese educator Paulo de Cantos.