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Charles George GORDON, aka “Gordon of Khartoum” (1833 - 1884).   Manuscript, [Khartoum, Autumn 1879].   An original manuscript of extraordinary quality and interest, being a report written by the legendary British soldier-adventurer Sir Charles George Gordon, aka “Gordon of Khartoum”, in his capacity as Governor-General of Sudan, in the service of the Egyptian Khedive, articulating his well-conceived plan to…

  A rare and important work predicated upon the latest reconnaissance that was the most advanced map of the Khartoum-Omdurman region of Sudan to date, made by the British War Office as a vital strategic aide in the immediate run up to the Battle of Omdurman (September 2, 1898), the decisive showdown of the Mahdist War, the 18-year-long contest for…

  This is a valuable manuscript archive relating to the Suez Canal, the project that utterly revolutionized global transportation, commerce and communications.  It is highlighted by a detailed letter written by one of the major stakeholders in project, written from Alexandria only a few days after Sa’id Pasha, the Viceroy of Egypt, formally approved Ferdinand de Lesseps’s proposal to build…

Regulations for the navigation of the Suez Martime Canal   Large 4°. 13 pp., [3 pp.] with partly colour illustrations, bound with original sting (sporadic old annotations, soft folds, tiny holes and tears in white margins, folds with tears, minor age-toning and staining, mostly to the last page, but overall in a good condition).

A delightful unique collection featuring a manuscript on sundials and two paper instruments, all contained in a contemporary marbled paper case.

Ibn al-Ḥājj al-Tilimsānī al-Maghribī (ابن الحاج التلساني المغربي). [Kitab Shumūs al-anwār wa-kunūz al-asrār al-kubrá / The Book of Suns of Lights and Treasures of Great Secrets] [S.l., S. d., but probably Cairo, ca 1920].  8°, 128 p., contemporary red and black marbled boards, later spine (boards rubbed and lightly scuffed, inside slightly age-toned, with small tears and tiny loss of paper…

Anon. [S. l., S. d., but Ottoman Empire, probably Istanbul, late 19th century]. Black ink on paper, 31,5 x 21 cm (inches), (tiny tears in folds and margins light foxing).

  A rare informative supplement to the 1000 issue of the Ottoman cultural and literary magazine Sevret-i-Funoun contains portraits of the authors of the Ottoman new literature.   Folio. [20] with black and white illustrations, unbound as originally published (minor traces of wear and staining, spine of the first sheet and the inner sheet repaired with an old tape, a…

  RESERVED   An intriguing late colonial era map of Paramaribo, Surinam, in the form of an aerial photograph of the city tinted in green superimposed with information identifying all streets, 208 named key sites, neighborhoods, railways, and bus and ferry routes; created by the colony’s foremost geographer and geologist, Henk Dahlberg, working for the Surinam’s Central Bureau of Air…

A highly, detailed, large format separately issued official plan of Paramaribo, showcasing the capital of Surinam on the eve of the Roaring ’20s, when it was a fast growing mart of commodities and one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the world, depicting all significant aspects of infrastructure, land use and key institutions (including churches, mosques, Hindu temples and…

Exceedingly rare - 1 of only 3 known examples - the first ultra-detailed printed city plan of Paramaribo, the capital of Surinam, issued only 12 years after the abolition of slavery, when the city’s was experiencing dramatic physical and population growth due the influx of emancipated slaves migrating from rural plantations; made by Albertus Jacobus Meijer, a tax collector, who…

Postcard. Lithography in colour (Very Good, slightly age-toned, verso small later annotations in the corner, a tiny piece of corner missing) 13 x 9 cm (5.11 x 3.5 inches).