Rare books from Antiquariaat FORUM BV

[2] pp. plus 8 double-page engraved plates.Rare first and only edition of an architectural print series of 3 elevations and 5 plans of the stately manor house "Huis te Nigtevecht" also known as "De Nes", designed by the Amsterdam architect Herbert Kramer (d. 1705). The house nearly fills a small square island in the Vecht river, near Vreeland, southeast of Amsterdam. One plan includes the surrounding water and the drawbridge that gave access to the house, and another shows the roof. The house was built in 1687 for Pieter Reael (1650-1701), Lord of Nigtevecht, after his 1683 marriage with Maria Eleonora Huydecoper (1658-1706), the daughter of the magistrate, burgomaster of Amsterdam and humanist Balthasar Huydecoper. Huis te Nigtevecht was torn down in 1829/30, so the present print series gives us our best record of its original form. Its large octagonal hall looking on to the garden is of special architectural interest, for it may be the earliest example of this form, which shows French influences.… Read More

[2], "234" [= 236], [10] pp.Rare first edition of Jan II van Ghelen's Dutch translation of Sebastian Brant's famous Ship of fools, a telling satire on the foolishness of men. The book really is a picture book, each act of folly depicted in a large woodcut in which the fool with cap and bells plays the main role, the text explaining the woodcut and its moral. It first appeared in German in 1494, in Latin in 1497, and went through hundreds of editions in many languages, as well as spin-offs of various kinds, including a song by The Grateful Dead in 1974. A Dutch translation appeared in Paris in 1500 and a few more in the following decades, including one at Antwerp in 1548, but the present edition was far more influential and was long even cited as the first.Sebastian Brandt (1457-1521) is famous largely for this verse satire, in which more than a hundred fools set sail in search of a fool's paradise. Each humourously satirizes one particular vice or folly of Brant's day, sparing neither clergy nor… Read More

The so-called "manuscript edition" of Richard Burton's celebrated translation of Alf Laylah Wa Laylah, commonly known in English as the Arabian nights. These Arabic tales, cherished in Europe since the early 18th century, are often erotic in content, and in Burton's unexpurgated translation they outraged Victorian England. Burton included numerous footnotes and a scholarly apparatus, offering a vivid picture of Arabian life (including sexual customs), which set his translation apart from earlier English renderings. The present edition (limited to 99 sets, the present being copy no. 49) includes a manuscript leaf from a text by Burton. In the present copy this is a book review by Burton, of a French translation of Johannis de Capua's Latin translation of a Hebrew translation of the Panchatantra, a Sanskrit frame story written several centuries before the Arabian nights. The notes at the head show that it was used as printer’s copy.The title-page of volume one uses the correct main title, The book of… Read More

XII, 135 pp.Rare complete copy of the first edition of an account of harbours and roadsteads in the Netherlands and the Dutch East Indies, by the bookseller and historian Cornelis van der Aa (1749-1816), written to accompany the 31 beautiful and luxurious plates drawn and engraved ca. 1772 to ca. 1781: large engraved views of the harbours, showing a wide variety of boats and ships, with people engaged in fishing or trade and 2 showing herring fishing and whaling. They were first published in a print series and several single prints ca. 1779 to ca. 1781, but those showing the harbours and roadsteads at Batavia and the nearby island Onrust in the East Indies and those showing harring fishing and whaling do not generally appear in the sets of prints.With a contemporary presentation inscription on the half-title. With some minor stains on a few plates, but otherwise in very good condition and with generous margins. The binding with a couple tiny scratches, but otherwise fine. Magnificent views of the… Read More

[20], 302, [2], 149; 164, [10]; [2], 66 ll.Extra-illustrated large folio edition of the Dutch Statenbijbel (States Bible) with 6 maps and 336 illustrations hand-coloured, the translation officially authorized by the Dutch Reformed Church and published with a privilege from the States General of the Dutch Republic. The 1619 Synod of Dordrecht established a committee to prepare the new translation, and leading Dutch scholars worked on it for nearly twenty years before Paulus Aertsz. van Ravesteyn (ca. 1586-1655) published the first edition in 1637. The 6 maps and the engraved illustrations were produced to be inserted into Van Ravesteyn's folio editions. The series of 336 illustrations by Claes Jansz. Visscher with eight to one leaf, are engraved by Cornelis Danckerts. With some browning, but still generally in good condition and with large margins. The binding has been rebacked, as noted, and the "sharkskin" on the boards has some cracks and wear, but the silver furnishings and gauffered edges are… Read More

30 ll.Interesting French manuscript guide for travelling from Alexandria to Cairo, written by a Norman nobleman. The guide instructs the traveller to travel overnight from Alexandria to Atfeh (Al 'Atf) by way of a cangia (a type of passenger boat) over the Mahmoudiyah Canal. In Atfeh the traveller is advised to buy a marmite (a French cooking vessel), a casserole and several clay jugs for storing Nile water, before boarding a dahabeah (a large cangia) to Cairo. Among the activities suggested for Cairo is a visit to the cavalry school in Giza, where its director, the French colonel Varin, will receive the traveller like "a good Norman innkeeper". When visiting the pyramids, the traveller will be assailed by Bedouins “in an instant". If you desire to climb a pyramid, "address yourself to the Sheikh el-Beled and tell him to give you three men and to send away the others. A Bedouin will take you by each hand, another will push you from behind and in an instant you will be up". Also of interest is the… Read More

[104] pp.A lovely, wholly chromolithographed Catholic prayer book in Art Nouveaux style and in a high relief hallmarked silver binding. The text was written by Luigi Condio, a church canon in Torino and author of several editions of Manuale di preghiere. The illustrations and decorations were drawn by the Torino miniaturist and calligrapher Vittorio Vulten, who no doubt calligraphed the text as well. Condio's preface is dated from Torino, 11 May 1902, and the book was almost certainly published that year. Some preliminary pages are signed in the plates by two Cardinals: Mariano Rampollo (1843-1913) in Rome, whose expected election as Pope in the following year was vetoed by the Austrian Emperor; and Agostino [Richelmy] (1850-1923) of Torino.Book and binding in very good condition. A splendid little prayer book with chromolithographed illustrations and decorations on every page and with a high-relief rendering of Our Lady of the Rosarie on the silver binding.l Not in ICCU; KVK; WorldCat.

VI, 122, [1 blank], [2], [1 blank] pp.First separately published and expanded edition of an account of the former King of Portugal, Dom Ferdinand II’s visit to Morocco, written by the Portuguese/Moroccan diplomat José Daniel Colaço (1831-1907). In the introduction Colaço states that a printing press had just been set up in Tangiers and that this is its first product. Colaço was born in a family of Portuguese diplomatic agents, active in Morocco since the mid-18th century, and was appointed Deputy Consul of Portugal in Tangiers in 1856, the year of the present journey. He accompanied Dom Ferdinand just after the end of his reign. The account itself was first published in the Archivo Universal in 1856, but is here expanded with an account of the presentation of the Order of the Tower and Sword (a Portuguese order of knighthood) to Sultan Muhammad IV of Morocco, and an account of presentation of the same Order to his successor Hassan I.A very good copy.l For the author: Dicionário de orientalistas… Read More

XXXII, 618; XII, 643, [1]; XII, 763, [1] pp.Attractively bound set of the first accurate English translation of the of Alf laylah wa laylah, commonly known in English as the Arabian nights. The British orientalist Edward William Lane (1801-1876) lived in Egypt for several years and had integrated well with the Arabic population.The first printing of vol. 1 (1839) appears to have sold out by the time vol. 3 was printed, so the complete sets were published with a new printing of vol. 1, matching the first printing line for line. Since the publisher switched printers (from Whitehead to Clowes) between volumes 2 and 3, the new printing of vol. 1 omits the reference to Whitehead as printer and apparently also the translator’s advertisement.With the bookplate of the American collector Henry T. Cox, whose library was auctioned in 1899, and the library stamps of the American businessman Henry T. Sloane (1845-1937). A very good set.l Jack Ross, Scheherazade's web: the 1001 nights & comparative literature… Read More

Folding map of the main roads of Saudi Arabia, but depicting the whole Arabian peninsula. On the left of the map text giving information on the climate, Riyadh, Jeddah, Damman, Taif, the Akrama water dam, Alkhobar, the telephone system and the exchange rates. The reverse side of the map includes plans of Jeddah, Riyadh, Dammam and 8 photographic city views. Some minor tears at the folds, front partly discoloured and browned, but otherwise in good condition.

Folding map of the main roads of Saudi Arabia, but depicting the whole Arabian peninsula and including the Sultanate of Oman, meaning the present state must have been published in or after 1970. On the left of the map text giving information on the climate, Riyadh, Jeddah, Damman, Taif, the Akrama water dam, Alkhobar, the telephone system and the exchange rates. The reverse side of the map includes plans of Jeddah, Riyadh, Dammam and 8 photographic city views. In very good condition.

Pars hiemalis: [72], 568, 4, CCXXXII, [4] pp.; pars verna: [36], 592, 4, 8, CCXXXIIII, [6] pp.; pars aestiva: [36], 612, CCXV, [5] pp.; pars autumnalis: [36], 516, CCXLVIII, [4] pp.Extremely rare 1714 edition of a breviary from the late Plantin press, well produced, printed in red and black throughout and with 17 engraved plates, published in the year that Spain turned the southern Low Countries over to Austria. The works comes in four volumes: one for each season, but each volume opens with a calendar for the whole year. Plantin published numerous of Roman Catholic breviaries, holding occasional papal privileges for publication in Spain and the Netherlands. They published their first in 1558 and their last in 1823. Bindings rubbed, but internally in very good condition.l Anet (1 copy); WorldCat (1 other copy); cf. Voet, The Plantin press 801 et passim (early eds.).

574; [2], 575-729, [2], [5 blank]; “637” [= 635], [1], [1 blank], [4 blank] (in place of [1], [3 blank]); 192; 479, [1 blank]; 861, [2], [1 blank]; 128, [186], [6 blank]; 336, [2], 337-758, [2], [8 blank] pp.A small Latin Vulgate bible printed by the Plantin-Moretus office in Antwerp, the smallest-format edition of the Sixtine-Clementine authorized Catholic text. The first volume of the Old Testament has only the engraved general title-page, while each of the remaining Old Textament volumes as printed has a separate volume title-page naming the books it covers (including the volume with the apocrypha, miscellaneos texts and the indexes. After the general title-page follow a preface to the reader, the decree of the Council of Trent, "Paulus Papa V. Ad futuram rei memoriam" (Pope Paul V died in 1621) and a privilege, dated Brussels, 1611. The Old Testament also has prefaces to the books. The New Testament has no preliminaries except its title-page. In 1546 the Council of Trent ordered a revision of… Read More

Exceptionally large armillary sphere with rich calligraphical and ornamental decoration as an image of the universe. The celestial sphere is surrounded in the centre by rings with the signs of the zodiac (outside) and various planet symbols. The names of the zodiac signs and months are engraved in Arabic. Signed and dated by the artist, an "Alexander", in the year 1125 AH. A nearly identical object is kept at the Globe Museum of the Austrian National Library at Vienna (item GL. 214), there classified as "Persian/Arabic". While simple celestial globes are not uncommon in the trade, elaborate specimens of the present size (53 cms) are very rare. Slightly soiled and corroded, but hardly rubbed.

XXV, [1 blank], 501, [1 blank], [2] pp.First edition of this valuable narrative recording a trade mission to Kazembe IV. It was the last of three major Portuguese expeditions to connect the Portuguese territories of Angola in the west with Mozambique in the east. The expedition, fitted out with only one instrument (a compass), suffered from poor planning and failed in its objective to establish trade contacts with the Kingdom of Kazambe (in present-day Zambia). However, Gamitto, second-in-command of the expedition, was an observant traveller with a genuine interest in the customs and traditions of the peoples he encountered, and his narrative records valuable ethnographic information on the Malawi, the Cewa and Tumbuka, the Bisa, the Lunda, and the Bemba. Gamitto was the first to observe that the Malawi were matrilineal and described in full detail several technical processes and customs that have since disappeared. The fine plates show views, artefacts, and portraits, providing an excellent visual… Read More