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An ephemeral Japanese map illustrating Operation Barbarossa in September 1941 highlights the complex relations between Japan, the Soviet Union, and the Axis powers during World War II. Colour lithography, 53 x 75 cm (21 x 29.8 inches) (soft folds).  

S. l., s.d, but France, circa 1815. 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, 2 pages of miniature text in the inner side and blank verso (of probably 12 sets), housed in original slipcase with illustrated cover (slipcase soiled with folds and scratches,…

  [Rules and Establishments of the Cavalry [i. e. Order] of Sanctiago-del-Espada. With the History of its Origin and Fundamentals].   A superb example of a rare late 16th century regulations for the Spanish Order of Santiago, printed in red and black, with a unique binding and a prominent provenance.   Small 4°. Armorial wood-cut title page, wood-cut image of…

The very rare, spectacular and complete portfolio of 8 very large format maps and 2 Topographical Cross-Sections from the ‘Ordnance Survey of the Peninsula of Sinai’ (1868-9), the ambitious exploring expedition led by the Royal Engineer captains Charles William Wilson and Henry Spencer Palmer that conducted the first scientific mapping and archaeological reconnaissance of the interior of the Sinai, both to…

  A photograph of today little known Prague-based Linguistic Society, joining the prominent Austro-Hungarian researchers of Africa, as well as Indian, Arabic and Classical languages.   Gelatin silver photo, contemporary mounted on thick card, manuscript numbers recto in margin, black manuscript in black ink and pencil on the back, 12 x 16,5 cm (4.7 x 6.5 inches), (minor foxing verso,…

  [Avrupa'da Ne Gördüm / What did I see in Europe. [French title:] France, England, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Austria and Hungary]   A stunning travelogue of Europe by an Ottoman novelist, editor and translator of Jules Verne, Ahmed İhsan, was influenced by a novel Around the World in Eighty Days. Possibly the first travelogue to involve the Orient Express.  …

An unusual pan-Turanian work in German language, representing the contemporary movement in the Ottoman Empire, was written and self-published in Ljubljana by a Slovenian author and orientalist Arthur von Wurzbach, who appears to be overlooked in the historical books, possibly for his monarchist and pro-Ottoman sentiments in his homeland, which would soon become Yugoslavia.   Small 4°, 32 pp. letterpress…

An elaborate large late 19th century colour photogravure of a painting of an Arabian charging army by Alfred Paris was made by a high-end Parisian gallery Boussod, Valadon & Cie.

  An unusual well-designed Catholic calendar for missions worldwide in Slovenian language was printed on the eve of the end of WWII and designed by a young artist Marjan Tršar, who would become one of the most prominent Yugoslav painters of the 20th century. The cover is an original colour woodcut by the artist.  

An amazing original artefact from the Japanese Imperial Court during the glorious days of the Meiji Emperor, and of Japan’s ongoing opening to the West, being the original manuscript invitation presented to Joaquim José da Graça, the Governor of Macau and the Portuguese Minister Plenipotentiary to Japan, to attend an audience with the Meiji Emperor on July 5, 1882, written…

Rare - the pioneering and definitive 19th century study of Macau’s Chinese community which after three centuries under Portuguese rule had developed many distinct cultural characteristics, covering subjects such as cuisine, attire, weddings, homes and domestic habits, justice, religion, festivals, commerce (the city’s great bazaar), medicine, as well as a valuable chapter on the Chinese emigration to Cuba that flowed…