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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 rare and important work on Demotic script, the ‘keystone’ that linked ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphics to the medieval world, which permitted the legendary philologist Jean-François Champollion to decipher the Rosetta Stone; the present study written by his brother, the archaeologist Jacques-Joseph Champollion-Figeac, is largely based upon the late Jean-François’s work, and critically emphasized the alphabetical nature of the script and…

An exceedingly handsome large binding, made by a Slovenian artist and professor Davorin Volavšek during the revival of the national style in the time of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, represents lake Bled with its island and castle.   Large 4°, title, 52 unnumbered colour and black and white plates and photographs, recto only brown calf with embossed decoration, corners reinforced…

A George III mahogany globe case, being an extraordinary, and likely unique master piece of the 18th English furniture maker’s art, its grand scallop shell shaped compartment is skillfully composed of thick pieces of pure mahogany, while the case it designed to house a normal midsize globe; the con sequence of an expensive bespoke commission, it is a striking oeuvre…

Very rare and historically significant – “the first Brazilian pharmacological handbook”, published in Rio de Janeiro, and authored by José Maria Bomtempo, the chief physician to the Portuguese-Brazilian royal court and an internationally-renowned authority on tropical medicine; the fascinating and surprisingly readable work was intended to educate military doctors working in the field in Brazil on how to identify flora,…

A seemingly unrecorded variant of an extremely rare, colossal ‘Headquarters Map’ of French Indochina (modern day Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos) that was the blueprint for the imminent French colonial control takeover of Laos; the map was made in the immediate wake of the Third Mission Pavie (1889-91), led by the brilliant eccentric diplomat-explorer August Pavie that secured the pathway for…

A photograph of the Ibex Mine in Leadville, Colorado, by the local photographer G.B. Sanborn, made around 1900   Albumen silver print 16,5 x 21,5 cm (6.5 x 8.5 inches), originally mounted on grey card 25,5 x 30,5 cm (10 x 12 inches), with stamp of the author verso (margins little scuffed and stained, but overall in a good condition).…

A rare miniature Ottoman calendar for women was published in 1916 during World War I by the first Ottoman Muslim feminist press, which also printed a newspaper under the same name, Kadınlar Dünyası (Women’s World). 7 x 5,5 cm (2.8 x 2.2 inches), [64 pp.], calendar with blank pages verso, portraits of contemporary leaders and dignitaries, original illustrated covers mounted…

2 postcards. 9 x 14 cm (3.5 x 5.5 inches). Each postcard has Fabricius’s address on the front and a manuscript in black ink on the verso. One postcard is signed H. K., the other without a signature, but a continuation of the same topic in the same handwriting.

A lovely little gem – being an exquisitely rendered original manuscript guide to maritime navigation by the Spanish Navy Pilot (later Captain) José Ignacio de la Sierra, a veteran of the Argentine War of Independence; of the most elegant penmanship with a pictorial watercolour title and richly embellished with geometric diagrams and statistical charts, it outlines the principles of course…

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…

A seemingly unrecorded collection of cards featuring transparent illuminations that depict demons, illusions, and portraits of Napoleon Bonaparte, accompanied by sheets containing macabre tales and other stories, created during the height of gothic novels' popularity.   11 originally coloured engravings, each 7 x 6 cm (2.7 x 2.3 inches), 9 folded green sheets, each with printed title on the front,…