ANDUEZA, José María. de. Isla de Cuba pintoresca, historica, literaria, mercantil, e industrial. Recuerdos, apuntes, impresiones de dos épocas. Madrid, Boix, 1841.
£2250
First and only edition, very rare in such fine condition, of this charmingly illustrated work by a 19th-century part-time immigrant, and also a much understudied work of rather greater interest than suggested by its title.
The finely executed lithographs include of views of Guanajay, the Teatro de Tacón and the Convents of Belen and Santo Domingo in Havanna, the Husillo Falls, the St. Francis Piers, the Puentes Grandes River, and the residence of the Conde de Fernandina in Havanna’s Cerro quarter.
BIRON, Claude. Curiositez de la nature et de l’art, aportées dans deux voyages des Indes; l’un aux Indes d’Occident en 1698. & 1699. & l’autre aux Indes d’Orient en 1701. & 1702. Avec une Relation abregé de ces deux Voyages. Paris, Jean Moreau, 1703.
Sold
First edition, rather rare, of Claude Biron’s account of his two voyages to the Lesser Antilles and to India, including observations of curiosities, both natural and man-made, and one of the works known to have been with Sir Joseph Banks aboard the Endeavour.
HAYGARTH, Henry William. Buschleben in Australien … Aus dem Englischen von M.B. Lindau. Dresden and Leipzig, Arnoldische Buchhandlung, 1849.
£550
Rare first German translation, with a short preface by the translator, Martin Bernhard Lindau, explaining the original, English, work’s interest and partly directed at future immigrants from Germany.
ROOMEN, Adriaan van [Adrianus ROMANUS]. Parvum theatrum urbium sive urbium praecipuarum totius orbis brevis et methodica descriptio. Frankfurt, Nicolaus Basse, 1595.
£12,000
First edition, and a very appealing copy with the woodcuts here finely coloured, of the famous Flemish physician and mathematician’s Latin town book.
Whilst the woodcuts are largely identical to Abraham Saur’s German version, but with some omitted or added, ‘this Parvum theatrum urbium is not a Latin edition of the German work. Completely independent from Saur’s, van Roomen’s text is entirely new, displaying a very different and more succinct approach in his rendition of this geographical work, much reflecting his scientific education and orientation.
The work includes 67 European woodcut city views and plans including cuts showing London, Lisbon, Louvain, Antwerp, Brussels, Rouen, Ghent, Lyon, Bordeaux, Paris, Frankfurt, Mainz, Aachen, Heidelberg, Hamburg, Bremen, Hannover, Fulda, Wittenberg, Magdeburg, Nuremberg, Augsburg, Tubingen, Dresden, Worms, Leipzig, Erfurt, Jena, Lubeck, Brunswick, Strasburg, Basel, Geneva, Riga, Rome, Venice, Genova, Prague, Vienna, and Riga, as well as Constantinople, Jerusalem and the tower of Babylon (the final illustration contained). All are in fine colouring, employing red, various shades of green, as well as yellow, purple, and brown, with some delicate and carefully applied heightening in gum Arabic.
SCHUBERT, Gotthilf Heinrich von. Bilder aus dem heiligen Lande. Vierzig ausgewählte Original-Ansichten biblisch-wichtiger Orte, treu nach der Natur aufgenommen und gezeichnet von J. M. Bernatz. Stuttgart, J. Steinkopf'sche Buchhandlung (Louis Hänel), no date [1839].
£2200
First edition, (a later issue ?) issue of Schubert and Barnatz’s beautifully executed views of the Holy Land.