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An exceptionally rare book containing the Austrian national anthem, written in ten languages of the Austrian Empire and published in Lemberg, now known as Lviv in Ukraine.   16º. Mispaginated and wrongly bound, but complete: original front wrapper, [1-2] title page, [7]-8, [3]-4, [5]-6, [17]-18, [9]-10, [11]-12, [13]-14, [15]-16, but wrongly numbered as 15, [19]-20, [23]-24, portraits, original rear wrapper.…

A scarce large representation of the German explorer Alexander von Humboldt in his Berlin library, and surrounded by the artefacts from his journeys in the last years of his life. Colour Lithograph, 70 x 85 cm (27 x 33.3 inches) (minor age-toning, tiny chips in margins, repaired tear in the lower margin).

An educational toy for children, designed as a cyclorama - a card theater featuring rotating images in the center. It represents dramatic scenes with heroic Muslims and was created during the German economic growth interest in North Africa, especially in Egypt. Accompanied by a rare original pamphlet addressing the connection between voice and visual effect.

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

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)

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 unique Ottoman manuscript atlas created by a geography teacher at the Preparatory School in Bolu to address the lack of modern printed materials for geography classes. 8º. Manuscript. [14 pp.] text, 99 single- and double-page numbered maps, but actually 101 maps with nos. 10 and 11 marked twice, all maps with contemporary coloured details and verso blank, interleaved blank…

A remarkable memory book of a German or Austrian soldier during World War II, with entries made in various US POW camps and writings by his fellow inmates. 8º. Blank, title page, 3 full page illustrations with attached canteen slips, hand written entry, full page illustration with attached canteen slip, 8 sheets with 8 entries in different handwritings, full page…

A valuable and unique archive concerning the “Slave-Grown Cocoa Controversy”, a great scandal that made global headlines in the years leading up to WWI, whereupon Portugal was found to be allowing the owners of the famed cocoa plantations of the islands of São Tomé and Príncipe to literally enslave black migrant workers, mainly from Angola; the scandal embroiled the three…

An original manuscript contract for the sale of 35 named slaves, sold for the price of £1800 by the Irishman Patrick Coningham, based in Union Island, in the Grenadines, to his brother Walter Coningham, one of St. Vincent’s preeminent sugar planters and the proprietor of he the well-known Colonarie Vale estate; the contract, which was signed sealed and witnessed in…

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.

A fascinating and academically valuable ‘insider’s account’ of the Jagannath Temple (in Puri, Odisha), perhaps the most famous and controversial place of Hindu worship in the world, home to the Ratha Yatra, a massive festival where in old times pilgrims were crushed under the wheels of gigantic ceremonial chariots (under mysterious circumstances), events the inspired the English work ‘Juggernaut’; featuring…

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).

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).

An exceedingly rare ephemeral music score, made by an Austrian geographer and diplomat Gustav von Kreitner for the German Club Concordia in Shanghai in 1878 to raise money for wounded Austrian soldiers in Bosnia. 32 x 25,5 cm (12.6 x 10 inches), [4 pp.] printed title and double-page music score (minor foxing, traces of glue on the spine, old signature…

A bespoke example of Captain William Cornwallis Harris’ fascinating and important account of his 1836-7 expedition to the Transvaal, featuring the complete collation of the first edition, published in Bombay in 1838, with 4 plates lithographed by the author, plus, his excellent and important map, plus, extra-illustrated by 24 resplendently hand-colored lithographed plates and the map from the subsequent London…

An exceedingly rare, nearly complete set of 184 issues (of 186) of one of the pioneering Colombian magazines, promoting contemporary literature, extra illustrated with four lithographs by Manuel Doroteo Carvajal Marulanda.

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 and highly detailed bilingual map of Victoria (Central), depicting the governmental and commercial epicentre of Hong Kong as it appeared on the eve of the Roaring ’20s, labeling every street and outlining every key building and institution, published in Shanghai by the Guoguang Shuju printing house.   Photolithograph, small contemporary mss. annotation in pink crayon, with printed pastedown…

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,…