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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…