Books

A rare book on the astrology by a pioneer and foremost authority of spiritualism and spiritism in the late Ottoman Empire Ragıp Rıfkı   8°. 56 pp., original wrappers with illustrated cover (wrappers slightly stained, minor age -toning, otherwise in a good, clean condition).

  A unique, previously unrecorded letter by the Italian cartographer and scientist Giovanni Rizzi-Zannoni with his measurements of the latitude of Istanbul, based on the suggestions personally received from a Dalmatian geographer Roger Boscovich during his stay in Istanbul to observe the Transit of Venus in 1761.

[Observation of the New Problem of Mathematical Geography, i.e. the Science of the Earth's Sphere]   An exceedingly rare treatise on the length of the day in various parts of the Earth, written by an Arab / Libyan scholar Muhammad Kamal al-Tarabulsi with an introduction of a Beirut-based American scholar Robert West 8°. 23 pp. with illustrations, printed in yellow…

  An Ottoman book on astronomy, illustrated with fine black and white aquatints, was written for educational purposes and was based on the latest French popular works on astronomy, such as books by Amédée Guillemin (1826 – 1893) and Charles Briot (1817-1882).   8°. [16 pp.], 362 pp. with black and white printed and mounted illustrations in text, 17 interleaved…

  8°, 206 pp. with black and white photos, contemporary red boards and black calf spine with gilt decoration and lettering, old small paper stamp with annotations in Ottoman on the cover (minor age-toning and foxing, old collector’s rubber stamp on the title page, otherwise a very good example in highly decorative original binding, with only slight wear to the…

  A German translation of the second part of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s famous marathon speech in the parliament, which lasted over 36 hours in 6 days, is preserved with an extremely rare dust jacket, decorated by a striking powerful portrait of the Turkish leader.

  A very rare atlas made by the Berlin Missionary Society, one of the most important missionary organizations in Africa and China during the 19th and early 20th Centuries, featuring 16 original maps made by missionary cartographers, including important figures such as Alexander Merensky and Bernhard Struck, containing 14 maps of South and East Africa and 2 maps of China;…

  A very rare and unusually attractive large format WWII Japanese map of Australia, New Guinea and the Eastern Indonesian Archipelago, made in 1942, the year that the Japanese Air force mounted the shocking ‘Bombing of Darwin’, the largest ever attack upon Australia mounted by a foreign power, and just before the Allies endeavoured to take the offensive in New…

A very rare, large format, separately issued map of Australia and Oceania that is perhaps the last great map of the continent to be printed in Ottoman Turkish script, with attractive colours and adorned with the flags of major African states and colonies, published in Istanbul for the Kitabhane-yi Sudi bookshop.   Colour off-set print (Good, some light staining, wear…

  An uncommon Serbian book with poems by Todor Manojlović with the cover design by an Avant-Garde artist Mihailo S. Petrov, a member of Group Oblik. Signed by the author.

  A stunning theatre and music play with original colour woodcuts by one of the leading Yugoslavian Avant-garde and Constructivist artist August Černigoj, made for Slavic cultural circle on the Fascist occupied territory. 

  An attractive cartographic ‘Sugoroku’ gameboard commemorating the 1925 Asahi Shinbun Trans-Eurasian flight, a major landmark of early aviation, whereby two Japanese planes flew from their homeland over 16,500 km to tour various European capitals as part of a patriotic PR tour to showcase Japan’s role as world power, printed by the mission’s sponsor, the ‘Asahi Shinbun’, a leading Japanese…

[Ajirņamamiñjari also Ajirna Manjari / Indigestion with Explanation and Commentary]   A rare book in Sanskrit, printed in Varanasi, India, and describing remedies for indigestion, based on the Ayurvedic medicine   Large 8°, title page, 25 pp., contemporary dark red cloth binding with gilt lettering on the cover, contemporary patterned endpapers (little age-toned, tiny tears in margins, binding and endpapers…

A scarce work on the Communism was written by an Azerbaijani author Resulzade Mehmet Emin during his exile in Istanbul. Emin was an influential pan-Turkist, pan-Islamist and communist, who saved young Joseph Stalin in Baku in 1905 from being arrested, which later helped him for not being prosecuted later in the Soviet Union.   8°. 144 pp., 20th century brown…

[Overview of Azerbaijani History, Literature and Politics]   A rare, important book with the history and current political situation of the newly founded Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, written by the Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs Adil Khan Ziatkhan, was presented at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, where the independence of the republic was confirmed internationally.    8°, 101 pp., original…

  An exceedingly rare third, enlarged edition of Mirza Akbar Sabir’s poetry, accompanied with superb colour illustrations by Azim Azimzade, was published at the occasion of the erection of the monument to the peat in Baku in 1922.  

An attractive book for children in Azeri language, written with Arabic letters, with a humorous story in verses, was published in Baku in 1899. The author was a prominent educator, author and translator Sultan Mecid Ganizade.    8°. Title page, 41 pp., [4 pp.] blank, original pink wrappers with lettering and illustrations, contemporary brown cloth binding with debossed titles in…

The first modern book on geography in Azeri, written by a pioneer of Azeri modern education, Gafur Rashad Alakbar   8°. 117 pp. with black and white illustrations, [1 pp.], later marbled paper wrappers (slightly age-toned, light staining, sporadic old repaired tears in margins, lacking original wrappers, otherwise in a good, clean condition).

  The first edition of the monumental Japanese work on insects.  

A charming notebook containing useful information for Japanese immigrants in the United States was given as a New Year’s gift to regular guests of Aki Hotel, located in Japantown, San Francisco. The hotel also served as an unofficial home for the Japanese Consulate. The owner of the hotel, Ichiro Kataoka, who immigrated from Hiroshima, was the first Japanese man in…

[Imperial Ottoman Loan 4% of the Baghdad Railway. Second and Third Series. Contract]   4°, 11 pp. in French, 11 pp. in Ottoman, original tan wrappers with title in French on the front and Ottoman on the rear wrappers (old library stamps, small tears and chips in edges, traces of old paper label on the spine, later spine).  

Postcard. Lithography in colour (Very Good, slightly age-toned, tiny tears and chips in margins ) 10 x 14cm (5.11 x 3.5 inches).

A rare Communist Azeri publication with contribution by various authors on the subject of the modern education was published on the Labour day, May 1st, 1924 to commemorate Lenin, who passed away in January of the same year.   4°. 74 pp with a full page portrait of Lenin, original wrappers with lettering, 20th century brown cloth binding with lettering…

  [Arşın mal alan. 3. tab'ı / The Cloth Peddlar. 3. Edition]   Lyrics to the legendary Azerbaijani early comic and romantic operetta by the first composer of an opera in the Islamic world, Uzeyir Hajibeyov.   8°. 53 pp. with portrait on the first page, rear wrappers with cover in Russian, later green cloth with title in small gold…

  [The Expulsion of the Germans from China. An Account of the Events Based on English Shanghai Newspapers from October 1918 to April 1919]   Small 4°. Illustrated frontispiece, XI, 402 pp., bound in publisher’s green linen binding with lettering on the cover and spine (Very Good, minor age-toning to the spine).  

A resplendent and unique presentation piece given to Pieter Meijer, the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia), being the very rare economic yearbook for the colony for 1867, custom bound in sumptuous full red morocco with elaborate gilt neo-rococo designs and bearing a dedication to the His Excellency; published locally by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Batavia,…

Black ink and gouache on paper, 64 x 37 cm (soft folds with light wear and tiny holes, light staining, otherwise in a good condition).

[Nice, March 5, 1868. The Count of Castell, Grand Master of the Court, and the Lieutenant-General, Baron de Jeetze, Aide-de-Camp to his Majesty King Louis I of Bavaria, have the honour to ask you to attend the FUNERE SERVICE which will be held tomorrow, Friday March 6th, at 9 am, at the Cathedral for the rest of the soul of…

Chromolithograph. 9 x 13,5 cm (3.5 x 5.3 inches). Minor staining, overall in a good condition.

Chromolithograph. 9 x 13,5 cm (3.5 x 5.3 inches). Minor staining, overall in a good condition.

Postcard. Lithography in colour (Very Good, slightly age-toned) 10 x 14cm (5.11 x 3.5 inches).

  A rare Catholic book, printed in Arabic language in Beirut.

  An exceedingly rare book on the Ottoman language for the Lebanese, printed by the Saint George Press in Beirut   8°. 195 pp., contemporary marbled boards and black cloth spine (last two pages with tiny chip in the outer white margin, binding lightly scuffed, otherwise in a good condition).  

  A rare Belorussian folio size newspaper printed by the émigrés in Munich, Germany.

A rare, early Bengali novel, printed in Calcutta. 12°, [2 pp.] title page, 228 pp., original brown cloth binding, yellow endpapers (old annotation in inner side of the front board, a period binding, almost certainly Indian in origin with small scratches and worm holes around the spine with worm-holes only affecting the hinges of front endpapers, internally clean and crisp…

  An unusual and rare collection of poems by a Slovenian author France Prešeren was translated to Bengali by Sisir K Chattopadhyaya, and published in Calcutta in 1957.

Benjamin FRANKLIN (1706-1790), author; REŞAD, translator. [Tarik-i Refah. Frankli'nin Servet Hakkındaki Nasayihi ve Tercüme-i Hali / The Way to Wealth. Franklin's Commentary on Wealth and ItsTranslation] Sarajevo: Sultan Beyazıd Saadet Kütübhanesi 1326 [1910] 8°, 30 pp., [2 pp.], uncut as originally published, later marbled wrappers (uncut, unread example with minor storage wear) (#70725). A rare Ottoman translation of Franklin’s The…

  [Tarik-i Refah. Frankli'nin Servet Hakkındaki Nasayihi ve Tercüme-i Hali / The Way to Wealth. Franklin's Commentary on Wealth and ItsTranslation]   A rare Ottoman translation of Franklin’s The Way to Wealth, published in Ottoman language in Sarajevo, Bosnia, in 1910   8°, 30 pp., [2 pp.], original orange wrappers with lettering (wrappers with a light stain, otherwise in a…

[The History of the Berlin Police from 1945 until 1. 10. 1950 from 1945]   A typescript with major changes inside the Berlin Police, set between 1945 and 1974, mostly covering the events of the cold war   Large 4°, 55 pp. typescript numbered recto and verso or only recto, [52 pp.] typescript recto and verso or only recto, some…

  An extremely rare, seemingly unrecorded pamphlet with private home addresses of the nobleman, foreign diplomats and members of the Prussian court, was printed around 1800, probably for heads of protocol. The first name of the list it the one of the first US minister to Berlin John Quincy Adams.

A guestbook from a renowned Munich-based Cognac distillery and liqueur factory, formerly operated by the Jewish families Macholl and Landauer until the rise of the Nazis. Small folio, 63 sheets of thick paper with signatures in various inks and pencil, 87 blank sheets, two mounted black and white photographs, inserted sheets with signatures and data about visits, inserted typed and…

The New Testament in Ottoman Turkish is based on the first translation by Ali Ufki. It was printed in Paris using 17th-century Arabic types, which were previously utilized in Napoleon’s Cairo press. This typeface is considered one of the most elegant designs created in the West.   4°. [2 pp.], 3 pp., 318 pp., [4 pp.] blank, contemporary brown goat…

[Bibliography of Publications in the National Liberation War. 1941-45]   The groundbreaking bibliography, listing over 9000 titles of underground publications, issued by the Yugoslav Partisans during WWII, including in North Africa, Italy and in the concentrations camps.                                  4°: [18 pp.] with a full-page portrait…

An important and scarce work on Partisan publications by Vladimir Dedijer, subsequently one of the most internationally esteemed Yugoslav academics, issued in Belgrade shortly after its liberation.   Large 8°: 158 pp. (1 image within text), 1 plate,  1 folding plate, [1] (index), original tan wrappers with printed brown and red cover, stapled, on the first blank page a stamp of…

  A 1946 reprint of texts and illustrations from an underground Partisan & Communist magazine Ljudska pravica (Right of the Nation).

  First Spanish book on billiards, with two large folding plates.

  Ottoman red morocco binding from the circle of sultan Abdul Hamid II.   

  A German military map was bound in a highly decorative red binding with gilt embossed royal coat of arms. 

Ahmet Refik Altınay (1881-1937). [General History. Ancient History – Medieval Centuries] Istanbul: Millî Matbaa 1926. Large 8°, 627 pp. with interleaved black and white illustrations, contemporary black Morocco binding with gold tooling on covers and lettering on the spine, contemporary patterned endpapers (a tiny chip in white edges of pages 361-362 and 575-576, latter with a tiny loss of lettering,…

Postcard. Lithography in colour (Very Good, slightly age-toned) 10 x 14cm (5.11 x 3.5 inches).

8°. 111 pp., portrait with red printing and lettering in margins, 20th century dark brown cloth binding with lettering on the cover and spine (minor foxing, hand-written old price on the inner side of back cover, one white margin trimmed, an old typed title mounted on the title page, otherwise in a good condition).

A documentary report on Haiti by former President François Denys Légitime   Large 8º, [8 pp.], full page portrait on thicker paper, full page view of Port au Prince on thicker paper, XLVI, 422 pp., [4 pp.], double-page colour lithographed map, later binding with red marbled paper boards and cloth spine with lettering, speckled edges (binding slightly rubbed on the…

  An early monograph on Slovenian artist Božidar Jakac in mint condition, from the artist’s library. Signed copy. 

  A scarce catalogue of the first exhibition of Yugoslavian artist in Poland after WWII, made in the month of the Tito-Stalin Split, after which the communication between Yugoslavia and Poland was shut down. From a library of Božidar Jakac. 

  [Pious and Christian Prayers with Other Prayers, First , Given to the Light by Many Precious, Serious, Learned Men, Endowed with Abundant Gifts by the Holy Spirit …]   A rare book of prayers in Czech language, written for the Protestant milieu of Bohemia, was published on the eve of the Battle of White Mountain, that sealed the future…

مىرزا عبد ألوهاب معتمد Mirzâ ‘Abd al-Vahhâb Mo‘tamed al-Dawle Nashât (d. 1244/1828), Author of Text; Hajji Musa, Author of Introduction and Book Catalogue; ‘Ali-Asgar Tafres (fl. 1261 - 1288 / 1844 - 1871), Scribe. Tehran: [s.n.] 1281-82 [1864-1865].   First catalogue of Persian printed and lithographed books Long 4°, [6 pp.], 344 pp., [1 pp.] lithographed text on paper with…

  A charming and ephemeral Portuguese lunisolar calendar, which form has survived until today in a modern publication called Borda d'Água, named after the alleged first author of this work.  

  An Ottoman report on Bosnia and Herzegovina, published in the crucial year of 1908, when Austro-Hungary withdrawn from Novi Pazar in exchange for being given permanent sovereignty over Bosnia.   8°, 15 pp., original blue wrappers with lettering (minor water-staining, old annotations on the cover, wrappers with light staining, small tears in margins and old mounted paper label on…

A rare Bosnian pan-Turkic anti-Communist pamphlet was published during WWII by a Muslim intellectual Mustafa Busuladžić, who sided with the Croatian pro-Nazi anti-Communist government. The book was used as an evidence against him at his trial for collaboration only days after the end of WWII.   12°. 70 pp. with a portrait and a map, later 20th century blue cloth…

  [Banaluka Sahrası Muharebesi / Battle of Banja Luka Field]   Small 8°, original cover with lettering, [2 pp.] title page, 17 pp., new black cloth binding with gilt lettering and debossed decoration (improvised repairs of paper loss in inner margins, light water staining in margins, sporadic old annotations in pencil, minor staining).  

  A rare scientific work on plants by a Danish agronomist Paul de Neergaard, with highly decorative illustrations by Mads Stage, was originally written in Esperanto and later translated to other languages. 

  A fascinating, foundational work on the Brazil’s wild southern frontier during the generation following independence, being an account of Rio Grande do Sul written by Nicolào Dreys, a French merchant who lived in the province from 1818 to 1828, and published in Rio de Janeiro in 1839 during the height of the ‘Ragamuffin War’, a successionist struggle which gripped…

Extremely rare and important, being the official Rio de Janeiro printing of the Anglo-Portuguese Convention of January 21, 1815, singed at the Congress of Vienna, whereby Britain (which in 1807 resolved to unilaterally ban the Transatlantic slave trade) agreed to compensate Portugal with £300,000 (then an enormous sum) for the having (illegally) apprehended and condemned Portuguese and Brazilian slaving vessels…

  A rare book in Ottoman Turkish includes photoreproductions with the locations of the Ottoman army in Bucharest in Romania, during the occupation of Romania’s capital by the Central powers between 1916-1918.

Three early rare Thai merit-making volumes were created for the 40th anniversary of King Chulalongkorn’s reign. They include speeches based on manuscripts from the National Library, delivered at Wat Arun in Bangkok after the restoration of key structures during Thailand's Buddhist reform movement. In very good, seemingly unread condition from an European collection.

  [Note on the Judgement in Periods of Nations]   8°, [2 pp.], 318 pp (wrongly printed 813), [4 pp.] errata and blank, original embossed brown calf with a flap, original pasted-down endpapers with blue stenciled patterns, blank loose endpapers, hand-written title on the spine and on the foot edge (slightly age-toned with minor staining, old minor annotations on the…

An important Ottoman first-hand account on the political events of the second half of the 18th century and the relations with the Central Europe by a Baghdad-born author, was printed by the Bulaq press in Egypt.   2 volumes, bound in one, 4°. 14 pp. (index), 210 pp., [1] blank, 7 pp. (index), 190 pp., printed on thick paper, contemporary…

An Ottoman translation of an Arabic classic work on the politics, printed in Bulaq, Cairo. 8°: 153 pp. letterpress, later European binding with marbled boards an green cloth spine with gold lettering, marbled endpapers (binding slightly rubbed on the corners, but otherwise in a good condition).    

  Possibly the first detailed history of Bulgaria made after the proclamation of its independence   8°, 191 pp., modern black cloth with gilt lettering and debossed ornaments (light staining and sporadic water-staining in margins, sporadic tiny holes in white margins (paper deformations- as published), title page with stronger staining and a small hole in the margin, first pages with…

A pamphlet in French language was written by one of the Bulgarian leading literary experts to show the superiority of the Bulgarian over Serbs, through their literature, during WWI, when the neighboring Bulgaria and Serbia were fighting on opposite sides.   

  [Resimli Bulgarca Rehber-i Kıraat / Illustrated Guide to Bulgarian]   8°. 52 pp. with illustrations, [2 pp.] errata (later wrappers, old taxation stamp on the title page, small worm holes in the lower part of the text, sporadic old annotations in pencil, otherwise in a good condition).  

  8°. [4 pp.], 620 pp. with black and white illustrations in text, 4 full page colour maps and one double-page map, contemporary red boards with black cloth corners and brown calf spine (minor wear to the binding, small cracks in the gutters of the endpapers, minor foxing, old pencil annotations on front endpapers, overall in a good condition).  

12°. 162 pp., later wrappers (first and last page with light water-staining, old annotations on the title page and in the first page above, old stamp on the title page).

Letters for Mothers or a Guide for Mothers in the Good Nutrition of Children. Third Edition   A rare book in Bulgarian language, published by the American Bible House was printed by Boyaciyan in Istanbul and includes instructions for mothers.   Large 12°. XII, 180 pp., [2 pp.] blank, original green cloth binding with debossed decoration and gilt lettering on…

Large 12°. 12 pp., original yellow wrappers with lettering (old owner’s name and annotation on the cover, inside of the cover and title page above, old owner’s small stamp with initials on the top of the title page, old Ottoman stamps, minor foxing with tiny tears in margins).

  A rare pamphlet, printed in Bulgarian language in Istanbul   Large 12°. 8 pp. (old owner’s name and annotation on the cover, old owner’s small stamp with initials on the top of the title page, tiny folds, slightly dusty, small repaired loss of white inner margin on the last page).  

[Istanbul, 1880s or 1890s]   Large 12°. 4 pp. (without wrappers, possibly as originally published, in a good condition).   A religious pamphlet in Bulgarian language.

[Schoolbook for History of the Homeland for 3 Class]   8°. 164 pp. with black and white illustrations in text, original green wrappers with lettering and illustrations (wrappers with light age-toning, foxing and chips, inside with minor foxing and age-toning to first pages, but otherwise a good example).

12°: 13 pp. with illustrated cover, [3 pp.] blank, stapled (minor foxing to the wrappers, otherwise in a good condition)

  A rare pamphlet, printed in Bulgarian language in Istanbul   Large 12°. 24 pp., original wrappers with lettering (slightly age-toned and stained, old Ottman and Bulgarian stamps, old annotations, wrappers, first and last page with small loss of white margins).  

[To New Places and New Tasks. (Through national suffering, social, peace, progress, labor and prosperity. On the occasion of the Feast of the Assumption - 18/1923)]   8°, 31 pp., original wrappers with lettering, stapled (wrappers with light foxing, crudely cut upper margin, internally with light age-toning, otherwise in a good condition).  

A rare book in Bulgarian language, published by the American Bible House was printed by Boyaciyan in Istanbul.   8°. [4 pp.], 277 pp., [3 pp.], original brown cloth with embossed decoration and gilt lettering (spine pale, tiny crack in the hinge of the rear endpapers, otherwise in a good condition with only sporadic light staining inside)

  [Les aventures de Télémaque / The Adventures of Telemachus by Fénelon]   8°, XV, 402 pp., [6 pp.], later brown three quarter calf with bown boards, later patterned endpapers (first blank page missing, sporadic underlinings in red pencil in the first pages, otherwise in a good condition with minimal staining).  

12°. 104 pp., original black cloth wrappers with debossed title (slightly age-toned, wrappers lightly stained with light vertical cracks in the rear cover, tear in front endpapers).

12°. 192 pp., original brown cloth binding with debossed title (binding pale, and stained with minor scuffs to the spine, overall in a good condition).

A rare, important history book in Bulgarian language, written by a prominent Bulgarian diplomat,  was printed in Istanbul by a Macedonian Press   8°, [2] title page, XXI, 616 pp., [4 pp.] errata, newer marbled wrappers (uncut example, partly unbound title page with missing upper white corner, some pages lightly stained, old dried moist stains between pages 180-200, otherwise in…

  A book on Anatolia by a historian and diplomat Carl Jacob Burckhardt was printed by a private press in Munich in 1925 and was contemporary bound in an elegant half vellum binding. 

Extremely rare – the earliest comprehensive published account of the ‘Bhamo Expedition’ of 1868, the ambitious official British mission to open what promised to be an exceedingly lucrative trading route between Upper Burma and Yunnan, one of China’s wealthiest yet most politically unstable provinces, written by one of the endeavour’s principals, Captain Alexander Bowers, a seasoned ‘China hand’; the work,…