Our Selection for the 51st Stuttgart Antiquarian Book Fair
Wuerttembergischer Kunstverein, 27-29 January 2012
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| 1 | Album amicorum of Hermann Werner from Hanover, medical student at Helmstedt (fl. c. 1600). Stadthagen, Neustadt/Rbge., Hannover, Braunschweig, Helmstedt, Quedlinburg, 1598-1608. 8vo. 67 entries: 64 written pages on 71 ff. With 9 coloured coats of arms, half-page coloured scene of puttos, and a small sketch. Contemp. blindstamped vellum (restored; some warping) with modern pastedowns. Original marbled flyleaves. |
| € 8,500 | |
| Student's album amicorum, kept over the period of a decade by the otherwise unknown Helmstedt 'candidatus medicinae' Hermann Werner, brother of the Greek scholar Christoph Werner, who died in 1632 as headmaster in Stadthagen (cf. Strieder XVII [1819], s. v.). The earliest entries would all seem to be from Stadthagen, including those of the 13-year-old Count Julius zu Holstein-Schaumburg (d. 1601) and of the Klencke family, whose members Ludolf, Wilken, and Theodor sign with Latin quotations and a full-page coat of arms. The entries of the year 1599, mostly penned in Hanover or Helmstedt, include the physicians Jakob Horstius (1537-1600), professor at Helmstedt since 1584, and his son Heinrich Adolf (1569-1632), who was later to serve as local doctor in Torgau. The illustration provided by the Stadthagen "artis pharmaceuticae amator" Heinrich Weber is of special charm, featuring a putto on a skull, blowing bubbles. The year 1601 takes Werner to Quedlinburg, where he acquires entries by the Saxon counsellor Johann von Kostitz (1541-1611) and the young Counts Heinrich Wolrad (1590-1641) and Christoph Ludwig zu Stolberg-Wernigerode (1595-1619). While the 11-year-old's Horace quotation (from the rather ill-chosen ode "Eheu fugaces labuntur anni") is penned in meticulous Roman lettering, the phrase "Gratia gignit gratiam" above Christoph's name betrays the insecurity of the six-year-old writing novice. Additional inscriptions are by Johannes Gerdangk (1573-1644), later prebend of Quedlinburg, and by the Helmstedt priest Werner Oporinus (1571-1643), who sets his two-page entry upon the hand-coloured blue marbled flyleaf (with quotations from Epicharmos and Simonides), sketching a sun breaking through the mist under the Greek maxim "phaanteros ek nephelon" ("more radiantly still from the clouds"). Returned to Helmstedt and Hanover in 1602, Werner garners contributions by Heinrich Boethius (1551-1622), professor of divinity at Helmstedt, by the legal scholar Johannes Hackelbusch (a disciple of Statius Borcholt), by Wilhelm von der Wense (brother of the "Fruchtbringende Gesellschaft"'s Georg von der Wense), and his close relative Heinrich Hilmar von Münchhausen (1558-1617) with his young sons Liborius (1587-1646) and Philipp Adolf (1593-1657). Even Werner's brother signs, the aforementioned Christoph Werner (instructor of the young Barons Münchhausen), who invokes a humanist precept by Euripides: "mé zóen met' amousías" ("Never live among the uneducated!", HF 676). In 1604 Werner acquires the signature of Lorenz Scheurl (1558-1613), professor of divinity and superintendent in Helmstedt (cf. ADB 31, 155f.); entries from 1606 include that of Christian Hasthaejus, Ph.D. and M.D., who was to publish a "Kurtze Pest Ordnung" in Hildesheim in 1609. In 1609 the three eldest sons of Duke Franz II of Sachsen-Lauenburg sign: the young Dukes Franz Julius (1584-1634, Imperial Chamberlain to Ferdinand II), Julius Heinrich (1586-1665, field marshal in the Battle of White Mountain and friend of Wallenstein), and Ernst Ludwig von Sachsen (1587-1620), as well as the Braunschweig patricians Melchior and Tilo von Vechelde, both with fine German aphorisms. On 27 April 1608 the Hanover officer Bartold Knaust (1676-1642) signs his entry (he was created military captain of the city but two weeks earlier and would later become famous as the saviour of the town in the Thirty Years' War). His inscription includes a fine coat of arms and the maxim: "Frisch und frolich dran, mitt geluck und freuden davon" ("Tackle things briskly and cheerfully, and you will succeed with fortune and felicity"). - Charming late-Renaissance humanist friendship album from Northern Germany, including several noted representatives of local scholarship, politics, and nobility, many at a very tender age. Detailed listing of contributors available upon request. (more) | |
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| 2 | (Bartsch, Zacharias). Wappen Buch Darinen aller Geistlichen Prelaten Herre[n] und Landleut auch der Stett des löblichen Fürstenthumbs Steyer Wappen und Insignia, mit ihren farben, nach ordnung, wie die im Landthauss zu Grätz angemahlt zu finden. Graz, Zacharias Bartsch, (1567). 4to. Title page (printed in red and black) with woodcut vignette, (12) pp., 1 bl. f., dedication leaf with woodcut coat of arms, 157 (instead of 168) woodcut armorial plates, 1 bl. f. (B1), thus 167 (instead of 176) ff. In contemporary hand colour throughout. Damaged contemp. brown satin binding. All edges gilt and goffered. |
| € 8,500 | |
| Fine copy of Bartsch's collection of Styrian coats of arms (noble families, towns, and monasteries), splendidly coloured throughout (including title page and dedication) by a contemporary hand. "His most important work [...] The original ms. is in the Styrian State Archives" (cf. Durstmüller). The Protestant xylographer Bartsch had opened a printing shop in Graz in 1563, but was arrested for a censorship matter in 1578 and died the following year. His "Wappenbuch", his principal work, is one of his few self-composed publications. - Somewhat incomplete, as usual: wants the 11 arms of Stubenberg, Stubenberg zu Wurmberg, Lembach, Staudacher, Zollner, Jöbstl, Khuen von Belasi, Strassfelder, Wülfferstorffer, and Spitzen, as well as the alternative arms of Teuffenbach zu Mairhofen. Binding severely rubbed; extremeties bumped. Quires loosened in places; occasional insignificant waterstaining; slight worming near end. 18th-c. note of authorship on t. p.; acquisition note "20 fl." on pastedown; some old library shelfmarks. Extremely rare: only two copies listed in VD 16 (BSB Munich and Austrian National Library); a single (also incomplete) copy at auctions since 1950; only the 1893 facsimile is widely available. (more) | |
| ¶ VD 16, B 617. Durstmüller I, 77 (with illustration; in error: "162 Holzschnitte"). | |
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| Original manuscript of the Hawaiian National Anthem, signed by the King | |
| 3 | [Hawaiian National Anthem]. Berger, Henri, German musician and composer (1844-1929). Autograph musical manuscript signed ("H. Berger"). Lahaina, 6. XI. 1875. Folio. Four two-line systems with altogether 16 bars and three underlaid stanzas. 1 p. |
| € 15,000 | |
| Autograph transcript of Hawaii's National Anthem which Berger composed in the year before and which is still valid up to now under the title "Hawai'i Pono'i". Its words were written by King David Kalakaua (1836-91), the last reigning king of the Kingdom of Hawaii, who dated and signed the present copy as "David M. Kahanonesi, Re Kai Hanola". - Berlin-born musician Henri Berger arrived in Hawaii in 1872, having been commissioned by the King to turn a handful of local musicians into a royal orchestra. Berger was closely affiliated to the Royal Family, served as Royal Bandmaster up to 1915, and acquired lasting merits for his efforts to transcribe literally hundreds of traditional Hawaiian melodies, saving them from oblivion. - Somewhat spotty, edges with some browning; small tear in the lower left margin. (more) | |
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| 4 | Bernard de Gordon. Lilium medicinae [and other medical texts]. [Southern France], 1332. 8vo (148 x 88 mm). Old French textualis (brown ink) on vellum, written by Magister Petrus Rastellus. 203 (instead of 206?) ff.: 1[7] (instead of 8, wanting f. VI and most of VIII), 2-23[8], 24[6] (instead of 8, wanting VII and VIII), 25[8], 26[3] (2+1), 27[3] (?; wanting most of III). C. 40-60 Zeilen, ruled in lead (c. 115 x 63 mm). Rubricated throughout, one-line initials and chapter headings in red, two- to four-line Lombardic initials in red and blue. Wants at least three ff. and lower margins of ff. 7 and 204; f. 6 cut sideways; numerous original remarginings loosened (lost entirely in at least eight cases, and partly in another seven); some contemp. marginalia trimmed; occasional fading but well-legible altogether. Late 18th c. French half calf with marbled covers (wants spine; rubbed and bumped). Edges sprinkled in red. |
| € 185,000 | |
| One of the earliest textual witnesses for one of the most important mediaeval scientific works. Bernard de Gordon's systematic manual is chiefly a compilation from Arabic medical works which he supplemented with his own observations. The book enjoyed great popularity until well into the 17th century and was widely known through mnanuscripts and prints in French, German, Spanish, English, Irish, and Hebrew. In his "Canterbury Tales", Geoffrey Chaucer counts the author among the three modern authorities of Western medicine. - Contents: Short medical texts on pills, salts, purging, excesses of the humours, explanation of weights and list of substances used in medicines. Opening defective after most of added margin lost (incipit "veri tulli et contra vitia pectoris..."), including "De pilluris, Pillule ante cibum" (f. 1; cf. Thorndike/K., col. 1049); "Colere hec sunt medicine digestive simplices. Viola rosa" (f. 2; cf. Thorndike/K., cols. 1698 & 862), attributed to Masalwab (Mesue); cures for upset stomach and nose bleeding (f. 7v; in different hand; most of leaf lacking). On ff. 8-15v: a list of 99 physical problems or desiderata with the substances to cure or promote them, numbered with red arabic numerals (including inducing and suppressing lust and how to promote hair growth with the ashes of green lizard: "Aurora. Haec capillos generant. Cinis locerte viridis..." (not listed by Thorndike/K). - This is followed by the main text: "Incipit lilium medicine a magistro Bernardo de Gordonio conditum", prologue inc. "Interogatus a quodam socrate ... Inchoatus autem est liber iste cum auxilio dei magni in preclaro studio montis pesulani post annum xxiii relecture. Anno domini m.ccc.iii mense julii" (f. 16); list of chapters for Part I (ff. 16r/v); Part I, chapter 1, opens "Febris est calor" (f. 16v); Part VII, chapter 24 ends "sine ista factum est nichil. Et libellus de graduatione", followed by the colophon in two parts and a list of the numbers of folios occupied by each part (f. 200r). This is followed by Bernard's "De conservatione vite", from part 3, headed "Libellus de pulsibus", opening "Pulsus est nuncius" and ending "constrictio sicut motus contrarii" (f. 200v; cf. Thorndike/K., col. 1150). At the end: Walter Agilon, "Tabula de pulsibus", inc. "Cum x sint genera pulsum", expl. "pulsa currus naturalis significat ablationem" (in a different hand, ff. 201-202v; for Agilon [Montpellier, first half of 13th c.] cf. E. Wickersheimer, Dictionnaire biographique des medecins en France au Moyen Age, 1936, pp. 170-173); on f. 203 truncated medical text in a different hand opening "Ars medicinorum". - The "Lilium medicinae" was the greatest work of Bernard de Gordon, composed betweeen 1303 and 1305 at the University of Montpellier, where he was professor from 1283 to 1307. Montpellier's reputation as the outstanding medical school in Europe owed much to Bernard de Gordon who, like all his contemporaries, drew extensively from the writings of Arab and Jewish physicians. His fame largely rested on the "Lilium", a wide-ranging treatise that covers the weaknesses and diseases of the body from top to toe, with one of the earliest mentions of spectacles for correcting vision and of the possible action of the nerves in causing muscle movements. The popularity of Bernard's work is reflected in the 53 manuscripts listed by Demaitre. Only three of these are positively dated earlier than the present manuscript, which is a fascinating example of the ingenuity brought both to book making and medical science in the fourteenth century. - This manuscript was clearly a portable working copy, with additional reference works added to the Cilium. Despite its small scale, some of the leaves had to be made up to size, before writing, by the addition of parchment strips to the margin, a technique usually associated with larger volumes. The text is clearly articulated by the red initials and numbering. Signed and dated in the colophon on f. 200: "Iste liber est magistri petri rastelli quem manu propria scripsit et perfecit anno domini I[ncarnationis] m.ccc.xxxii die xxi in me[n]se iust lune ante madalenam". Southern features of the script and vellum suggest that this was in southern France, where Bernard de Gordon, professor at the University of Montpellier, began the Lilium medicinae in 1303, as stated on f. 16. It is likely that Petrus Rastellus, who had the university title of Master, wrote the volume for his own use on a limited budget. Later in the library of the Carthusian monastery at Macourt near Valenciennes, as noted on f. 204v: "Liber domus beate marie de macourt ordinis carthusiensis iuxta val cameracensis dyocesis/Carthus/" (late 14th-c. ms. ownership with shelfmark "T.20"). The monastery, founded in 1288 and transferred to Macourt in 1297, could have lost books from the library when it was pillaged by Calvinists in 1566 or at its suppression in 1790. On 11 December 1810, the volume was purchased in Paris by Alexander Serdobin Sarmatich when he was on the staff of Prince Alexander Kurakin, the Russian ambassador, at the Hotel de Thélusson, rue de Provence, as inscribed on f. 201. (more) | |
| ¶ Cf. L. E. Demaitre, Doctor Bernard de Gordon. Professor and Practitioner (Toronto 1980). L. Thorndike/P. Kibre, A Catalogue of lncipits of Medieval Scientific Writings in Latin (London 1963). | |
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| The first Chinese New Testament | |
| 5 | [Biblia sinica - NT]. [New Testament. Translated from the Greek by R. Morrison]. [Canton, für den Übersetzer, 1814]. 8vo. 8 vols. (148) pp. (90) pp. (138) pp. (114) pp. (128) pp. (142) pp. (122) pp. (196) pp. Printed in Chinese characters from woodblocks. Original wrappers with printed labels to front cover. Housed in original folding case in green cloth labled "Le noveau Testament / Pa Chiniesiska" to cover. |
| € 15,000 | |
| "The editio princeps of the N.T. in Chinese" (Darlow/M.). First edition of the New Testament in Chinese, printed in 2000 copies; complete copies with all eight volumes are of the utmost rarity. Richard Morrison (1782-1834) was the first protestant missionary in China. Together with Joshua Marshman he is regarded as father of the Chinese Bible. Before leaving for China he studied the language with the native Yong Sam-Tak. A pioneer in the evangelisation of Chinese and translating the Bible for the common people, he continued his work until publishing the New Testament as a whole. This translation gives proof of Robert Morrison's important work in developing China for the Christian world. - From the library of the Russian diplomat Jan Pieter van Suchtelen (1751-1836) with his ownership stamp "Bibliothecae Suchtelen". A general in the Russian army during the Russo-Swedish War (1808-09), Suchtelen became the plenipotentiary for Russian Emperor Alexander I in 1812, when he negotiated and signed the Treaty of Örebro. He served as Russian ambassador to the Swedish Court from 1809 until his death in 1836. - Splendidly preserved in original printed wrappers with title labels. (more) | |
| ¶ Darlow/Moule 2459. Wylie, Memorials of Protestant missionaries to the Chinese, 4. Milne, Retrospect, 267. | |
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| Luxury edition | |
| 6 | Brand, [Johann] C[hristian]. Zeichnungen nach dem gemeinen Volke besonders Der Kaufruf in Wien. Etudes prises dans le bas peuple et principalement Les Cris de Vienne. Nach dem Leben gezeichnet v. C. Brand Professor der bildenden Künste. Vienna, T[ranquillo] Mollo, [after 1798]. Folio (348 x 474 mm). Engr., coloured t. p., 45 engr. plates in original colour and toned borders. Contemp. half calf with marbled covers; spine attractively gilt (remains of giltstamped spine label; modern red cover label). |
| € 35,000 | |
| Luxury copy of the third edition, which contained more plates than any previous one. Engraved by C. and Fr. Brand, J. Feigel, C. Conti, J. E. and S. Mansfeld, Quirin Mark, J. Mössmer, S. Schytz and others. The plates show the various professions, peddlers and travelling salesmen who were common sights on the Viennese markets of the late 18th century: the pretzel baker, chicken seller, sausage salesman, postman, bird-dealer, milk lady, night watchman, etc. All drawn by the Viennese painter and engraver Johann Christian Brand (1722-95), who taught at the Vienna Academy of Arts. The collection had been first published in 1775-76 comprising 40 plates; a second issue released in 1780 contained the same material. A new edition produced in 1796 contained a mere 38 plates, to which third edition added seven completely new illustrations. This edition was published in uncoloured and coloured versions, as well as in the present luxury edition distinguished by its inked and colour-toned borders and especially delicate colouring. - Corners bumped; spine-ends damaged. Insignificant fingerstaining to wide blank margins near beginning; the plates, usually encountered only in strongly browned state, are very clean, showing luminous, crisp colour; unusually fine wove paper. An outstanding copy. (more) | |
| ¶ Beall Ö 5. Kaut 6. Cf. Lipperheide Ebb 1. Colas 423. Hiler 110. Massin 219. | |
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| 7 | Brod, Max, author, composer, and journalist (1884-1968). Corrected galley proofs for his biography "Johannes Reuchlin und sein Kampf", with some autograph corrections and notations in margins. O. O., [April 1965]. Folio (490:140 mm). 169 ff. |
| € 1,500 | |
| Brod's biography of the German humanist Johannes Reuchlin (1455-1522) was published in Stuttgart by Kohlhammer in 1965. - Newsprint sheets evenly toned, folds, many sheets with ink date stamp at top; most corrections and notations are in another hand. (more) | |
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| 8 | Brouchuisius, Daniel. Secreta Alchimiae Magnalia D. Thomae Aquinitatis, de corporibus supercoelestibus, & quod in inferioribus inveniantur, quoque modo extrahantur: de lapide minerali, animali, & plantali. Item thesaurus alchimiae secretissimus, quem dedit fratri suo Reinaldi. Accessit et Ioannis de Rupescissa liber lucis, ac Raymundi Lullii opus pulcherrimum [...]. Cologne, Nikolaus Bohmbargen, 1579. 4to. 60 pp. With small woodcut printer's device on t. p. and 2 page-size woodcuts in the text. Later vellum. |
| € 12,500 | |
| First edition of one of the rarest alchemical books ever published, containing three fundamental works of mediaeval alchemy: the "Tractatus de lapide philosophico" (falsely attributed to St. Thomas Aquinas, according to Ferchl), the "Liber lucis" of John de Rupe, and the "Clavicula" of Raymond Lull. The woodcuts show the stove described by John de Rupe. "Brouchuisius, also known as van Broikhuizen, was a physician; more is not known" (Brüning). - Somewhat browned and brownstained in places. Contemp. ms. benediction and ownership ("Martinus Prantst...") to title page (slightly trimmed at bottom). Ms. underlinings and very extensive marginalia throughout, added by at least three distinct owners of the 16th and early 17th century; one stove woodcut has also been extensively annotated. Slight edge damage to final ff. (professionally remargined; occasional slight loss to ms. marginalia). A single copy in international auction records since 1950 (Z&K 1998, modern boards, stained: DM 13,500). (more) | |
| ¶ VD 16, T 1030. Ferguson I, 127 (note). Schmieder 139. Ferchl 40. Brüning I, 0517. | |
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| "Über Kortüm freilich war mir ein Licht aufgegangen" | |
| 9 | Burckhardt, Jacob, Swiss historian of art and culture (1818-1897). ALS ("JBurckhardt"). Basel, 16. VI. 1879. Large 8vo. 3 pp. on double leaf. |
| € 4,500 | |
| To his former student, the classicist Heinrich Gelzer (1847-1906), thanking him for a lecture. Burckhardt had wanted Gelzer to follow Nietzsche as professor of Greek at Basel: "[...] Es sind wesentliche neue Anschauungen in wahrhaft überzeugendem u glänzendem Zusammenhang ausgesprochen. Es sind endlich wieder Resultate, nachdem man in Schriften vieler guter u redlicher Leute immer nur Material, d. h. Schutt u. resp. Staub hat besehen u. schlucken müßen. In den Zeiten da ich noch Culturgesch[ichte] des Mittelalters las u. bald diesen bald jenen Byzantiner durchsah, dämmerte mir hie u. da Aehnliches, aber ich steckte noch im allgemeinen Vorurtheil drin. Über Kortüm freilich war mir ein Licht aufgegangen seit ich in seinem 'Mittelalter' (II, p. 506) die famose Stelle kannte, wo es heißt: Byzanz nahete raschen Schrittes seinem Verfall u. Untergang - worauf aber nur 6 Zeilen später wieder von einem 'langsamen Todeskampf' die Rede ist. Unsere Viri eruditi arbeiten wohl meist recht fleißig, aber schreiben thun sie manchmal gar zu schludrig u. das Geschriebene noch einmal zu überlesen, ehe es an den Setzkasten geht, ist noch immer nicht allgemeine deutsche Sitte [...] Wie gerne ich Sie bei Nietzsche's Abdication hier gehabt hätte, können Sie denken, aber ich verdenke es Ihnen nicht daß Sie in Ihrer jetzigen deutschen Laufbahn bleiben, aus welcher man ja nur einmal austreten kann, dann jedoch für immer. Wir hoffen nun an Jacob W. einen künftigen und redlichen Collegen zu erhalten, aber Sie wären uns natürlich gar viel erwünschter gewesen. Freilich ahne ich, daß Sie eine Fülle großer Aufgaben historischer Art vor Augen sehen, bei welchen Ihnen die hiesige Stellung eines Professors der Philologie gar zu hinderlich gewesen sein würde [...]". - Heinrich Gelzer had studied under Burckhardt for five semesters. After taking his degree in 1869, he taught in Basel and Heidelberg for several years before accepting the chair of Classics and Ancient History in Jena in 1878. Nietzsche resigned from his Basel chair of Greek in 1879; his successor was Jacob Wackernagel (1853-1938). - Slight edge defects. (more) | |
| ¶ Printed in the Letters, vol. VII (1969), no. 812, p. 32f. | |
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| 10 | Castro, Dom João de & de Carvalho, Antonio Nunes. [Logbook of the Red Sea and Arabian Coast. With Atlas Volume]. Roteiro em que se contem a Viagem que fizeram os Portuguezes no Anno de 1541, partindo da nobre Cidade de Goa atee Soez, que he no fim, e Stremidade do Mar Roxo. Com o sitio, e pintura de todo o Syno Arabico [...] tirado a luz pela primeira vez do manuscrito original, e acrescentado com o Itinerarium Maris Rubri [...]. Paris, Baudry & Barrois, 1833. 8vo. (6), LIV, IX, 334, (2) pp. With engr. frontispiece portrait of Castro, engr. portrait of Estevão da Gama, and folding map of the Arab coast (51 x 39.5 cm) with closed tear at right. With folio atlas volume (30.5 x 42.5 cm): (32) composed of 16 (mostly) hand-coloured maps and views. Text bound in contemp. quarter calf on marbled boards with gilt titles to spine (joints rubbed), album in contemp. marbled boards with green calf spine (worn). |
| € 7,500 | |
| Very scarce (unrecorded on ABPC) account of this 16th-century sea voyage around the Arabian Peninsula, including the rarely-found folio atlas of plates. The present work is the first full appearance of this journey in print, published from the original manuscript logbooks of Castro's journey. The present copy is illustrated with 16 beautiful large-size folding maps and views of the coast (each generally 57 x 42 cm, hand-coloured and including vignettes and miniature views of cities and inhabitants). Table XV shows the port of 'Toro' - thought to be the ancient city of Aelana, near modern-day Aqaba, including a depiction of a small village with Turkish soldiers attacking Christians - most likely the earliest image ever composed of this region of the Arabian coast. Castro's manuscript touches on both navigational matters and events of general interest; for example, he devotes a long passage to refuting the theory that the Red Sea really is red (p. 257) by drawing up daily samples for examination. Joao's voyage took him up the Red Sea. He alighted on both the African and the Arabian coast until he reached Suez; his account includes imaginative depictions of the various ports he encountered en route. As the British Library catalogue notes, the original manuscript was reputed to have been bought by Sir Walter Raleigh for £60. - From the library of Portuguese statesman Antonio Capucho with his engraved bookplate to pastedown. (more) | |
| ¶ Welsh 4780. Catalogue of the manuscript maps, charts and plans [...] in the British museum, p. 386. Scholberg, Bibliography of Goa & the Portuguese in India, DC7. Avila Perez 1562 ("rara"). | |
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| Inscribed copy | |
| 11 | Chopin, Frédéric, composer (1810-1849). "Scherzo Pour Piano. Dédié à Adéle de Furstenstein. Op. 31". Inscribed copy signed. Paris, Maurice Schlesinger, [1837]. Folio. Title page and 19 pp. In modern half calf gilt portfolio with giltstamped title to spine. |
| € 58,000 | |
| First edition of one of Chopin's most famous works, his Scherzo no. 2 in B-flat major, inscribed by Chopin on the title page: "à Mlle C. Porte. Chopin". Mlle. Porte was a professor at the Conservatoire de Paris; her pupils included the pianist Caroline Montigny-Rémaury. - Insignificant waterstain to upper left corner, otherwise clean and untrimmed. Maurice Schlesinger's publisher stamp on t. p. - Inscribed copies of Chopin's works are even rarer than letters or musical manuscripts in his hand; auction records of the last decades list not a single comparable piece. (more) | |
| ¶ Platzmann 118. | |
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| Liberation of Belgrade | |
| 12 | Churchill, Winston S., British statesman (1874-1965). Typed letter signed. Whitehall, 8. X. 1944. 4to. 1 p. |
| € 7,500 | |
| To Ivan Subasic (1892-1955), Prime Minister of the Yugoslavian government-in-exile: "I have received your letter of October 7 enclosing the text of the speech which His Majesty King Peter proposes to make on the liberation of Belgrade. I request Your Excellency to inform His Majesty that I consider the speech will be admirably suited to this great occasion [...]". - Churchill wanted (and got) the speech to give equal thanks to British, Russian and partisan forces for ejecting the Nazi occupiers. A generous rhetorical gesture since the British role was minimal. But this was all part of Churchill's long game in the Balkans. Just days after this letter, he made his famous "percentages deal" with Stalin in Moscow where they devised a distribution of British-Soviet influence in various countries in eastern and southern Europe - Romania to be 90 Soviet and 10 British, Greece 90 British and 10 Soviet. The real world effect of these projected percentages has never been very clear. But Yugoslavia was to be a "50-50" country, with Churchill strongly backing the royal government in exile as his vehicle for British influence. Stalin opposed the return of the monarchy, but relented to Churchill's idea that a plebiscite be held. "When time comes," Churchill told the King, "I shall see to it that plebiscite is conducted under British, Russian and American supervision." And with a smile he added, "I shall manage your campaign." However, Peter II was ousted in November 1945 and Tito installed a 100 Communist government that was, ironically, friendly to neither Moscow nor London. - On stationery with embossed letterhead; punched holes in the left margin (not touching text), and small pinhead-sized holes at the upper edge. (more) | |
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| 13 | Da Vinci, Leonardo. Trattato della pittura [...]. Nuovamente dato in luce, colla vita dell'istesso autore, scritta da Rafaelle du Fresne [...] & il trattato della statua di Leon Battista Alberti. Naples, Ricciardo, 1733. Folio (250 x 370 mm). 2 pts. in 1 vol. (8), 115 pp. (8), 55, (8) pp. Title page printed in red and black. With 2 engr. portraits, engr. title vignette, 6 engr. headpieces, 2 engr. tailpieces, 6 engr. initials, and 71 engravings in the text. Contemp. half vellum with giltstamped spine. |
| € 8,500 | |
| First Italian edition. Leonardo's famous work on the theory of art remained unpublished for more than 150 years, circulating in various manuscript copies before it was finally printed in 1651. The editor du Fresne based his work on two manuscripts; his text remained the basis for some twenty further editions published until the beginning of the 19th century (cf. Schlosser). - Part II contains L. B. Alberti's treatise "Della statua". His writings are considered "the first literary formulation of the aesthetic and scientific theories of the Renaissance on architecture, painting and sculpture" (PMM). - Occasional insignificant brownstaining; slight worming to spine; extremeties bumped in places. Attractive, untrimmed copy in its original Italian half vellum binding. (more) | |
| ¶ Verga 7. Cicognara 233. Schlosser 144. PMM 28 (note). | |
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| 14 | Droste-Hülshoff, Annette von, German poet (1797-1848). "Das alte Schloß". Autogr. poem. [Meersburg, prob. early 1842]. Large 8vo. 1½ pp. |
| € 25,000 | |
| Five eight-line verses, with the author's name "Annette Freiin Droste zu Hülshoff" added below by her close friend, the writer Levin Schücking. Fair copy for the publication of the poem composed in late 1841 or early 1842. Schücking submitted the poem (with others) to the "Morgenblatt" in February 1842, but it was rejected. "In dem Schloß haus' ich am Berge, | Unter mir der blaue See, | Höre nächtlich Koboldzwerge, | Täglich Adler aus der Höh', | Und die grauen Ahnenbilder | Sind mir Stubenkameraden | Wappentruh' und Eisenschilder | Sopha mir und Kleiderladen [...]". Extremely rare. (more) | |
| ¶ Critical edition vol. I.1, p. 85 (with different beginning: "Auf der Burg haus' ich am Berge"); the present autograph is referenced unter "H2" in the commentary (vol. I.2, p. 893). | |
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| Cabaret Fledermaus | |
| 15 | Friedell, Egon, Austrian writer (1878-1938). "Geschichte der 'Fledermaus'". Autograph ms. signed in the title. [Prob. Vienna, late 1928]. Large 4to. 2¼ pp. on 3 ff. In pencil. |
| € 9,500 | |
| Original manuscript of this much-reprinted, classic text recounting the history of the legendary Vienna cabaret founded by the Wiener Werkstätte. Friedell himself had served as the company's artistic director since 1908 and, as principal writer, had contributed much to its glory. After the financier Fritz Wärndorfer (1867-1939) went bankrupt, management changed: "[Es] erschien ein Fachmann, der duftige kleine Operetten wie 'Putzi, sei doch nicht so fad' und kecke kleine Szenerien wie 'Die Geheimnisse eines Bidets' spielte. Aber auch dieser erstklassige Fachmann machte Pleite und die Fledermaus wurde ein Revuetheater, worin schlankbeinige Mädchen auftraten, die man an den Tisch bitten konnte. Ich habe auch gegen diese künstlerische Entwicklungsphase nichts einzuwenden. Wenn nur der Wein sich nicht so verschlechtert hätte." - Several autogr. insertions and corrections. In perfect condition. (more) | |
| ¶ First published on 2 Dec. 1928 in the Neues Wiener Journal (preprint from 'Die Wiener Werkstätte 1903-1928', ed. Mathilde Flögl, Vienna 1929). | |
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| 16 | Furtwängler, Wilhelm, German conductor and composer (1886-1954). 3 autograph musical manuscripts. N. p., c. 1900. Mostly folio; on music paper. Altogether 68 ff. |
| € 15,000 | |
| Previously unknown, very early drafts for quartets, and a work for orchestra and choir. One manuscript inscribed "W. Furtwängler 1900". - Mainly in pencil, with numerous deletions and corrections; some sheets with stronger edge damage. (more) | |
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| 17 | George, Stefan, German poet, editor, and translator (1868-1933). Autograph postcard signed. [Berlin, 7. XI. 1898]. Oblong 8vo. ½ p. With autogr. address. |
| € 2,500 | |
| To the publisher Georg Bondi (1865-1935), whom George had met in the spring of that year at Ludwig von Hofmanns in Rome: "Geehrter Herr Dr! ich hoffe morgen (auch eine frühe stunde) ist Ihnen genehm | Ihr St. G.". - A few months later, in the beginning of 1899, George's "Jahr der Seele" was published in a revised edition by Bondi. - Slightly browned due to paper. (more) | |
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| Goethe's ring, made for him by a young female artist | |
| 18 | Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, German poet (1749-1832). Large gold ring of Goethe's, the oval glass gem engraved by Angelica Facius, depicting the Villa Ludovisi statue group of the artist Menelaus. [Weimar, c. 1826]. 19 x 15 mm. Includes LS ("Goethe"). Weimar, 16 Jan. 1826. Ink on heavy card, c. 99 x 98 mm (mounted on card; some minor staining). |
| € 75,000 | |
| A very rare example of a personal Goethe artifact on the market, apparently cut to order for Goethe by the young Weimar engraver Angelica Facius. The enigmatic statue group depicted on the glass gem was once thought to represent "Papirius and his Mother", but has also been identified as "friendship", "Merope and Aegyptus", "Young Senator and his mother" and many other names (in the first pages of his 1870 study, "Die Gruppe des Künstlers Menelaos in Villa Ludovisi", the archaeologist Reinhard Kekulé cites no less than a dozen interpretations). Until the beginning of the 19th century, the sculpture stood in the Palazzo Ludovisi in Rome. Goethe visited the Palazzo several times during his Italian journey and visit to Rome in 1786-87. In his famous autobiography, "Dichtung und Wahrheit" ("Truth and Fiction"), he describes his interest in gemstones beginning as early as 1767, and states that "although single statues and larger groups of sculpture remain the foundation and the summit of all knowledge of art, yet, either as originals or as casts, they are seldom to be seen; on the contrary [...] a little world of gems is made known, in which the more comprehensible merit of the ancients, their happy invention, judicious composition, tasteful treatment, are made more striking and intelligible, while, from the great number of them, comparison is much more possible". Goethe's diaries, letters and written work contain frequent references to gemstones as well as his personal collection - a testament to his life-long interest in the subject. In a letter to the great German sculptor Christian Rauch dated February 1832, written a month before his death, Goethe makes his last written reference to gemstones and mentions the engraver of the ring, Angelica Bellonata Facius (1806-87). She began her studies under her father, Weimar gem-engraver Friedrich Wilhelm Facius (1764-1843), and Goethe, who introduced her to Christian Daniel Rauch (1777-1857). She apprenticed in Rauch's studio between 1827 and 1834 and exhibited at the Berliner Academy Exhibitions in 1830 and 1832. Facius worked on a number of commissions for the Weimar court, including medals of Goethe, Schiller, and Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia and Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. - The ring later belonged to Heinrich Lempertz (1816-98), one of the greatest Goethe collectors of all times. The motif on the ring was illustrated in his catalogue "Goethe and his Time" and described as "Philosopher and Student". The description states that the stone was purchased by Friedrich Wilhelm Facius and cut by his daughter Angelica. The Lempertz Goethe collection was first documented in a catalogue in 1899. The monumental Lempertz sale comprised 1460 lots; the ring, forming lot 657, was acquired by the widow of the German businessman Theodor Sölling. The previous lot, knocked down to the same bidder and included here with the ring, was a letter signed by Goethe to an unnamed recipient, inquiring whether he can see Friedrich Wilhelm Facius's carnelians or chalcedonies, or where he might obtain such gemstones fit for being made into rings ("Man wünscht die kleinen Carneol- oder Chalcedonsteine, welche Herr Facius besitzt, zu sehen oder zu erfahren, wo dergleichen, zu Ringen geeignet, auswärts wohl zu haben wären") - obviously the communication with which the commission to have the ring cut was initiated. (more) | |
| ¶ Slg. Lempertz: Goethe im Mittelpunkte seiner Zeit (J. M. Heberle [H. Lempertz' Söhne], auction, 12-14 October 1908; Cologne, 1899), nos. 656f. Femmel/Heres, Die Gemmen aus Goethes Sammlung (Leipzig, 1977), p. 125. Truth and Fiction Relating to My Life (New York, 1902), p. 339. Haskell/Penny, Taste and the Antique (Yale, UP, 1998), p. 288. Thieme/Becker XI, 181. | |
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| 19 | Günderrode, Karoline von, German poet (1780-1806). "Morgenlicht! Morgenlicht". Autogr. poem ms. (26 lines). N. p. o. d. [prob. 1804/05]. Large 8vo. 1½ pp. On green paper; upper edge trimmed somewhat unevenly. With addendum. |
| € 35,000 | |
| The lost version (cf. Morgenthaler III, 228) of the famous poems known as "Des Knaben Morgengruß" and "Des Knaben Abendgruß". Second version of the poem written around 1804/05 and first published in 1899 by Ludwig Geiger (p. 182), who probably provided the titles. - Includes a TLS by Geiger (30 Aug. 1909) in which he presents the autograph to an unknown recipient. - Provenance: Frankfurt, private collection; previously acquired by Geiger in 1909 and given away by him in 1909. - Of the utmost rarity. (more) | |
| ¶ Walter Morgenthaler (ed.), Karoline von Günderrode. Sämtliche Werke und ausgewählte Studien. Historisch-kritische Ausgabe. Basel & Frankfurt a. M., Stroemfeld/Roter Stern, 1990. Vol. I (Texte), p. 388f. Vol. II (Varianten), p. 204f. Vol. III (Kommentar), p. 228f. Nachlaß, no. 60. Max Büsing, Die Reihenfolge der Gedichte Karolinens von Günderrode. Berlin, dissertation, 1903, p. 90f. Ludwig Geiger, Ungedruckte Dichtungen von Karoline von Günderrode, in: Dichter und Frauen. Abhandlungen und Mittheilungen. Neue Sammlung. Berlin, Paetel, 1899. - The literary estate of Karoline von Günderrode's poetry consists of 66 text units, all kept at public institutions, mainly in the Stadt- und Universitätsbibliothek Frankfurt. The editors of the Critical Edition were unable to trace a sincle textual witness in private collections (cf. Morgenthaler I, 40 f.). | |
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| 20 | Happel, Eberhard Werner. Thesaurus exoticorum oder eine mit außländischen Raritäten und Geschichten wohlversehene Schatz-Kammer fürstellend die Asiatische, Africanische und Americanische Nationes [...]. Hamburg, Thomas von Wiering, 1688]. Folio (327 x 199 mm). 5 parts in one vol. (10), 288 pp. 192 pp. 120 pp. 160 pp. (4), 115, (1) pp. (may want 8 pp. of preliminary matter). Title page printed in rot and black. With engr. half titel, 3 folding woodcut plates, and 25 (instead of 27?) folding engr. plates and maps (some in contemp. colour), as well as 199 woodcuts in the text. Marbled half calf (c. 1800) with giltstamped red spine label. Folio (199:327 mm). |
| € 4,500 | |
| Second edition, often referred to as the first (the actual - and extremely rare - first edition was published in 1684). This exceptionally wide-ranging collection of politics and travel reports, anecdotes, scientific discoveries, and experiments is a testament to Happel's shrewd understanding of popular taste in journalism. The woodcuts constitute the principal work of Thomas Wiering (cf. Thieme/Becker XXXV, 537). "Has special interest for the American collector, as it consists of a series of 15 curious representations of the aborigines of America, all with detailed descriptions of their manners, customs, religion" (Sabin). Mainly concerned with the Turkish Wars in Europe (also mentioning the campaigns in southern Greece from 1684 to 1688); the last part is a complete translation of the Koran into German, edited by Johann Lange (after a Dutch translation that in turn follows du Ryer's 1647 French version). - Title page trimmed closely; slight loss to imprint. Browned throughout due to paper. Somewhat incomplete, as always (only a single one of the eight copies sold at auction during the last 20 years was complete); plates and text with tears to edges and folds (frequently reinforced rather roughly by a near-contemporary owner). From the Atabey collection with his bookplate on front pastedown. (more) | |
| ¶ Dünnhaupt II, 769, 15. Sabin 30279. Jantz 1291. Hayn/Gotendorf III, 84. Hiler 413 (all with different collations). Sturminger 1464. VD 17, 39:131766W. Cf. Atabey 563 (notes this second copy; the other also incomplete). Not in Apponyi, Colas, Lipperheide or Payer. Not in Blackmer. | |
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| Travels in Asia | |
| 21 | Hedin, Sven, Swedish geographer, explorer and travel writer (1865-1952). "Några ord om min resa genom Asien". AMsS ("Sven Hedin"). No place, [1897]. Large folio. 15 pp. on double or single leaves. With blank half-sheet envelope, captioned "Ord och bild Korpus". |
| € 8,000 | |
| Autograph manuscript entitled (in Swedish) "A Few Words About My Travels Through Asia", as submitted to the Swedish journal "Ord och Bild" for publication in 1897. After two trips to Persia and having gained his doctorate in Berlin in 1892, he in 1893 ventured on his first self-planned expedition, investigating the Pamir Mountains, travelling through the Tarim Basin in Xinjiang region, across the Taklamakan Desert, Lake Kara-Koshun and Lake Bosten, and proceeded to study northern Tibet. He covered 26,000 kilometres and mapped 10,498 kilometres of them on 552 sheets. Approximately 3,600 kilometres led through previously uncharted areas. Several attempts to climb the 7,546 metre Mt. Muztagata were unsuccessful. Since their water supply was insufficient, seven camels died of thirst, as probably did several of his escorts. He reached Beijing in March 1897 and returned to Stockholm via Mongolia and Russia. While his scientific expedition report, "Die geographisch-wissenschaftlichen Ergebnisse meiner Reisen in Zentralasien 1894-97", was not printed until 1900, the present ms. contains Hedin's first published account of the sensational journey, during which he several times barely escaped death. - A few smudges from the typesetter's hand, otherwise fine. (more) | |
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| 22 | [Heidelberg Confederation]. Declaration by Count Ludwig von Stolberg during the 1552 Princes' Uprising and Stolberg's correspondence with Elector Palatine Fredrick II, Duke Christoph von Württemberg, and Duke Albrecht V of Bavaria regarding the Heidelberg Confederation. Giessen, Heidelberg, Augsburg, and Munich, 1552-1556. 7¼ pp., mostly with address. |
| € 7,500 | |
| The so-called "Heidelberg Confederation" was founded in 1553 during a personal meeting between the Elector Palatine and the Dukes of Jülich, Bavaria, and Württemberg, at a time when peace within the Empire was severely threatened by a series of interlocking problems (Franconia, Saxony, Brunswick, Spanish Succession, etc.). The Confederation agreed on defensive politics but would come to one another's aid if necessary. It was dissolved in 1556. - The correspondence comprises: 1) Ludwig von Stolberg (1505-74). Document with papered seal. Gießen, 16 March 1552. 1 p. Oblong folio. - Confirmation for the King of France, the Elector of Saxony, the Duke of Mecklenburg, the Landgrave William of Hesse and other members of the confederation, agreeing not to intervene with their military campaigns and to grant free passage of troops and free access to provisions. 2) Frederick II, Elector Palatine (r. 1544-56). Letter. Heidelberg, 27 Nov.1553. 2¼ pp. and address. 4to. Offering Ludwig von Stolberg the office of chairman of the Confederation. 3) The same. Letter with papered seal. Heidelberg, 29 Jan. 1654. 1 p. and address. Folio. To Ludwig von Stolberg, repeating the previous offer. 4) Christoph, Duke of Württemberg (r. 1550-68). LS. Augsburg, 8 April 1555. 1 p. and address. 4to. To Ludwig von Stolberg, confirming his having passed on a missive of Ludwig's to Albrecht of Bavaria. 5) Albrecht V, Duke of Bavaria (r. 1550-79). LS. Munich, 17 Feb. 1556. 1 p. and address. Oblong 4to with papered seal. Answer to Ludwig von Stolberg, who had asked to be released from his office. 6) The same. LS. Munich, 15 March 1556. 1 p. and address. 4to with papered seal. To Ludwig von Stolberg, referring to his previous correspondence. (more) | |
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| 23 | Hofer, Andreas, Tyrolean rebel (1767-1810). ADS. N. p. o. d. Oblong small 8vo. 1 p. |
| € 8,000 | |
| An order to return ammunition: "Die Iber Plibenen Paderonnen sein dem Herrn Joseph gogl ab zu gäben | Andere Hofer". - Fragment of a document by another hand on reverse. Clipped from a larger sheet; slight brownstaining and traces of mounting. (more) | |
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| 24 | Hugo, Victor, writer (1802-1885). Portrait photograph with autogr. inscription signed. No place or date. 110 x 57 mm. |
| € 2,500 | |
| Half-length portrait: "Hommage a Miss Emily Carey | Victor Hugo". - Finely preserved. (more) | |
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| With six-page entry by the "father of gymnastics" | |
| 25 | [Jahn, Friedrich Ludwig]. Album amicorum kept by the superintendent Karl Friedrich Ferdinand Tiebel, containing c. 200 entries. Halle, Lenzen (Priegnitz), Magdeburg, Berge, Hillersleben and other places, 1795- c.1800. Oblong 8vo. 1 f., 229 [but: 219] numbered pp. (87/88, 143-146, 187-190, and 223/224 skipped; 31/32 used twice), 3 ff. With 9 watercoloured pen-and-ink drawings (some in full-page format), 6 pen-an-ink sketches (4 washed), silk embroidery, and 2 silhouettes. Contemp. calf with label to gilt spine; front cover has monogram "K.F.F.T."; "K 1795 B" on back cover. Contemp. paper jacket and cardboard slipcase. |
| € 18,000 | |
| Filled with beautiful, often artistically and iconographically remarkable miniatures, this album amicorum is of particular importance for its provenance: drawn up by the circle of friends around the German gymnastics educator and nationalist Friedrich Ludwig Jahn (1778-1852), it illustrates the famous "Turnvater"'s hitherto largely unknown student days and contains a long autobiographical entry by the German "father of gymnastics" who founded the "turnverein" (gymnastics club) movement in Germany. Jahn was a fervent patriot who believed that physical education was the cornerstone of national health and strength and important in strengthening character and national identity. The owner of the album, Karl Friedrich Ferdinand Tiebel (1778-1835), superintendent and senior preacher at Nauen, was a close friend of Jahn's. - One drawing is inserted loosely. Occasional fingerstaining and traces of handling, rather severe scuffing to jacket and slipcase. (more) | |
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| 26 | Kaindl, Anton. Manastiri din Romania i Oltenia. Gravures à l'eau-forte de Antoine Kaindl Bucarest. Bukarest, 1927. Folio. Series of 10 aquatint etchings (c. 240 x 160 mm), all signed by the artist in pencil. Stored loosely in original folder printed in red and black. |
| € 2,000 | |
| Bibliographically unrecorded series of etchings showing Romanian and Walachian monasteries, including Horezu, Putna, Govora, and several of Polovragi. The only other known copy (University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, special collections, shelfmark NA5924 .K35x 1900z) contains a mere six plates. Nothing is known about the artist; he is claerly not identical with the like-named Munich sculptor who died in 1922. - Folder browned and stained; several small tears to edges. Plates variously browned. Good, clean impressions; wide-margined and untrimmed set. (more) | |
| ¶ OCLC 768778294. | |
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| From the collection of Kurt Wittgenstein, the brother of Ludwig | |
| 27 | Kandinsky, Wassily / Marc, Franz (ed.). Der Blaue Reiter. Munich, R. Piper & Co., 1912. Small folio. (2), 131, (1), 2, (2), (133-)140, (10) pp. Complete with 41 plates (4 in hand colour) and 3 folding plates of music (by Schönberg, Webern, and Berg). Original illustrated cloth. |
| € 12,000 | |
| First edition of the famous almanac whose title illustration provided one of Expressionism's most important groups with its name. When published, the bold manifesto, now hailed unanimously as epoch-making, met with near-complete incomprehension among public and critics. Although the almanac was variously reprinted and translated from 1914 onwards, the project of a series was dissolved with the advent of World War I; not even the anticipated second volume was published. - Our copy is that of the artistically-minded Viennese businessman Konrad "Kurt" Wittgenstein (1878-1918), the only of the numerous children of the steel industrialist Karl Wittgenstein to follow in the paternal footsteps. One and a half years after the volume's publication, he penned the curiously prophetic note on the endpaper: "Zu besprechen im Jahre 1933. KW. Nov. 1913" ("To be discussed in 1933. KW. Nov. 1913"). The commentary would seem to betray a degree of confusion by the "new art", but not its total rejection, somewhat helplessly deferring judgment by two decades. Indeed, Wittgenstein could have no inkling of the watershed that the year 1933 would mean for modern art in Germany, and how the work of Kandinsky, Marc, Macke and Kirchner, that of Schönberg, Berg and Webern would be vilified as "degenerate art" - and no more could he have anticipated the role that would be played in this tragedy by his brother Ludwig's former schoolmate Adolf, who (but ten years before Kurt wrote these words) had so utterly failed at the same Linz high school at which the later philosopher had excelled. The musically talented industrialist did not live to see or discuss all this: when he finally managed to return from America in 1917, after being marooned in New York by the outbreak of the Great War, he immediately joined the Austrian army to serve in the war effort; for reasons never quite resolved, he shot himself at the Italian front on 27 October 1918, a day before the official retreat - apparently because the troops under his command refused to obey his orders and deserted en masse. - Binding very slightly rubbed; insignificant waterstain throughout near upper edge; slight wrinkling to tissue guard opposite colour frontispiece. The volume was passed on by Kurt's sister Margarethe Stonborough to her son Thomas; he left it to his son Pierre Stonborough and his wife Françoise, from whose collection it was acquired directly. - A uniquely inscribed icon of classical modernism with outstanding provenance. (more) | |
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| Dedication copy | |
| 28 | Kant, Immanuel, German philosopher (1724-1804). Autograph dedication signed ("auctor"), from the first edition of "Religion Within the Bounds of Bare Reason". N. p., [c. 1793]. 8vo. ½ p. Some addenda (s. b.). |
| € 35,000 | |
| Dedication to his one-time student Carl Gottlieb Fischer, in Latin, on a blank sheet formerly constituting the flyleaf of "Die Religion innerhalb der Grenzen der bloßen Vernunft": "VIRO | docto, cordato, integerrimo, | Carol. Theophil. Fischer, | Christianismi veri | Praeconi ac Exemplo, | Amico exoptatissimo, | libellum hunc | D[at].D[icat].D[edicat]. | auctor". - At the bottom of the page is an certificate of authenticity by Justus Florian Lobeck, Secretary of the Royal Library at Königsberg, dated June 15, 1850, attesting that the rare Kant autograph was removed from the volume presented to Fischer. C. T. Fischer (1745-1801) was a hospital priest in Königsberg from 1787 and an admirer of Kant. In a letter from him to Kant on January 29, 1794, Fischer thanks him for "the gift of Religion [...] from the hand of its author" (transl.; Kant: AA XI, Briefwechsel 1794, p. 486, no. 615). - Some brownstaining. Includes two later letters and a postcard referring to the quotation. (more) | |
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| 29 | Charles VI, King of France (1368-1422). Letter signed ("Charles"). Sablé, 23 March [1488]. 4to. ¾ p. With address. |
| € 15,000 | |
| Dating from the time of the Tournai schism (which lasted from 1483 to 1505), addressed to the government of Flanders - "a Nos tres chers et bien amez gens Les gens des troys membres de flandres" - with the order to follow the instructions of the Bishop of Tournai, Louis Pot, and to provide him access to his possessions: "Trés chers et biens amés, Naguères vous avons escript en faveur de Nostre amé et et féal conseiller Loys Pot evesque de Tournay à ce que lui feissiez obéissance comme à vostre evesque et que l'empeschement mis en sa possession durant ces dernières guerres lui feust osté et aussi que en traictant des matières de [...] expresse mension feust faicte de son cas affin que desormais il ne peust estre inquiété en son droit ni les fruicst de son évesché empeschés et pour ce que de plus en plus nous avons la matiere [...] et que tousjours avons tenu et tendrons la main pour nostre dit conseiller [...]". - Written two days after the end of the war on Brittany. During these years, Tournai had two bishops, one named by the Pope and the other, Louis Pot, named by the King. Bishop Louis never succeeded in being confirmed by the Pope. - Slight brownstaining and paper defects, but still well preserved. Includes full transcription. Extremely rare; no other signed documents by King Charles VI are listed in auction records of the last decades. (more) | |
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| 30 | [Card Game]. "Wiener Aufschlag Karten" (cover title). Prob. Vienna, c. 1820/1830. 32 cards in original watercolour (87 x 49 mm), stored loosely in contemp. paper slipcase. |
| € 3,500 | |
| Very pretty set of Viennese fortune-telling cards from the Biedermeier era, showing scenes and symbols (with their meaning in black ink captions). The number of 32 cards was typical for fortune-telling cards of the period. - Backed with coloured paper. Slightly browned with insignificant bronwstaining in places. Slipcase somewhat rubbed.. (more) | |
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| 31 | Lichtenberg, Georg Christoph, German writer (1742-1799). "Silhouetten | Fragment von Schwäntzen". AMs. No place, [1777]. 4to. 4 pp. on double leaf. With three pen-and-ink sketches. |
| € 28,000 | |
| Working manuskript of part one of Lichtenberg's famous satire on Lavater's just-published "Physiognomische Fragmente zur Beförderung der Menschenkenntnis und Menschenliebe" (1775-1778), which enjoyed great popularity throughout Europe. Lichtenberg provides a masterful parody of Lavater' maudlin style and his minimalist depictions of profiles and ears coupled with elaborate interpretations of character. The first two sketches depict "heroic, forceful" tails: that of a pig and another of an English mastiff. The third drawing unites both tails within a cameo. With certificate of authenticity by Lichtenberg's student Friedrich Kries (1768-1849). Lichtenberg's Göttingen colleague Ernst Gottfried Baldinger (1738-1804) published the satire in 1783 without the author's knowledge in the "Neues Magazin für Ärzte" (vol. 5). The present ms. shows several departures from the printed version, which also omits the final cameo vignette. - Insignificant foxing; slight tears to fold. Includes offprint of first publication, bound with two issues of the 1807 "Morgenblatt für gebildete Stände", concerning Lichtenberg (half calf with giltstamped spine label, c. 1870, with bookplate of Eduard Grisebach). (more) | |
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| The "Swedish Nightingale", as painted by Corbould | |
| 32 | Lind, Jenny, singer (1820-1887). Contemporary portrait, signed and dated by the artist near left edge ("Edward Henry Corbould"). London, 1850. Oval watercolour on cardboard (280 x 240 mm). Framed and glazed. |
| € 9,500 | |
| Impressive half-figure portrait of the thirty-year-old soprano, by one of the most popular painters of the Victorian age. Edward Henry Corbould (1815-1905), known for his numerous history paintings as well as for his portraits of the royal family, instructed Queen Victoria's children in the art of watercolour for several years. - Probably produced as a memento for a wealthy admirer of the then-unmarried singer (she married Otto Goldschmidt in 1852). Signed by Jenny Lind on card affixed to the reverse. (more) | |
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| 33 | [Malta]. A[tkinson?], F. B., traveller and amateur painter (fl. c. 1830). Watercolour album of views from Malta and Southern Italy. Malta, Naples, Pompeji, Paestum, Palermo and other places, prob. mostly 1832. Oblong 8vo. Collection of 32 pen-and-ink drawings, 30 of which are watercoloured: 27 views and 5 costume scenes, one view washed in sepia, 2 others uncoloured (mainly c. 160 x 120 mm). Includes later photograph. Mounted in contemp. dark green cloth album. |
| € 12,500 | |
| Charming album privately assembled by an English 1830s traveller through Southern Europe. Most of the views and all of the costume scenes show Malta and its inhabitants (St. Julian's, fortifications, the Palace courtyard, a Maltese ferryboat, Bighi Palace, Fort Ricasoli, the Vittoriosa dockyards, Mdina, Valetta, Fort Tigné, the Quarantine and Gallery Ports, etc. Additional views from Southern Italy show smoking Vesuvius and the ruins of Pompeji and Paestum. A pen-and-ink sketch of Horstead Manor in Norfolk is mounted on the rear pastedown. The last drawing before that, washed in sepia, shows an Italian landscape, signed and dated "F.B.A. Nov. 20 1832". Front pastedown bears contemp. ownership "F. H. Atkinson. Malta and Italy", later bookseller label "C. Le Feuvre, Bookbinder, Beresford Library, Jersey" (c. 1880); unidentified, probably British family photo (also 1880s) on flyleaf. - Backing cardboard (and occasionally also illustrations) somewhat foxed; watercolours show fine contrast throughout. (more) | |
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| 34 | Martinus Polonus. Sermones de tempore et de sanctis cum promptuario exemplorum. Strasbourg, [Georg Husner], 1484. Folio (224 x 318 mm). 255 unnumbered ff. (last blank). Gothic type, 2 cols., 46 lines. Rubricated throughout. With title border painted in red and orange, large initial "S" in several colours with pretty flower and tenril designs, red colophone border and numerous red and blue initials. Contemp. blindstamped pigskin over wooden boards with 2 metal clasps (wants fittings). Ms. spine label. |
| € 24,000 | |
| Probably the editio princeps of this collection of homiletic samples by Martin von Troppau (d. after 22 June 1278), rubricated and with pretty initials throughout. The alleged earlier edition cited by Hain and supposedly printed in Strasbourg in 1480 (H 10853) does not seem to have existed. Martinus Polonus (also known as Martin von Troppau or Martinus Oppaviensis) is regarded as one of the most respected chroniclers of the Middle Ages. - Some 6 ff. remargined at bottom, 2 more leaves show loss to corners. Somewhat browned and brownstained; several contemporary marginalia. Worming to beginning and end (touching text in final third). Binding rubbed and bumped; defect to back cover and numerous wormholes. The pretty Gothic blindstamping shows hunting scenes, floral designs, and the Agnus Dei (not recorded in Schunke, Schwenke collection). Splendid hand-painted armorial bookplate of Wolfgang Crener von Sulzbach (fl. c. 1510), a scholar of canon law; several later ownership entries, stamps, bookplate. (more) | |
| ¶ Hain 10854. Goff M-329. GW M 21433. ISTC im00329000. Pellechet 7628. IGI 6245. Proctor 591. BMC I, 132. Walsh 221. CIBN M-184. BSB M-238. Wierzbowski III, 2013. Estreicher XXII, 201. | |
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| 35 | Melanchthon, Philipp, humanist and reformer (1497-1560). ALS ("Philippus"). [Wittenberg, 19 March] 1530. Folio. 1 p. With autogr. address and traces of seal. |
| € 28,000 | |
| To Johannes Weber, priest in Neustadt an der Orla, praising him for a decision in a matter of matrimony and giving him further advice: the marriage of Georg Jüngkling and Else Moser is declared invalid; Jüngkling must separate from her as long as the fate of her first husband remains uncertain. However, for the time being he must not remarry, and the marriage will become valid if it is proved that the first husband is dead: "S[alutem] D[ico] | Bene facis, quod con[s]tanter attingis controversias matrimoniales. De negocio d. georgii sic sencio[:] Quod illud matrimonium contractum, cum mulier incerta esset de vita, ac voluntate viri prioris, qui ipsa consenciente abiit, sit irritum. Est igitur liber georgius. Sed movet me scandali racio, ne statim concedam ei ducere aliam uxorem. Agendum prius est per magistratus, cum illa muliere, aut per nos cum amicis mulieris, ut res exploretur de vita prioris mariti certo. Si ipsa mulier volet abire ad priorem maritum, non detineas eam, quia hoc secundum coniugium non est iure contractum. Habes meam sentenciam, quam te rogo, ut ita modereris, ne plus offensionum ex hac re oriatur [...] Prohibebis etiam, ne georgius et illa mulier, re inexplorata, redeant ad se mutuo. Sed si consentit virum esse mortuum, scandali caussa, velim georgium hanc mulierem re[tin]ere". - The background is explored in Luthers Briefwechsel, vol. V, note to no. 1494: Else Moser had been married to the gunsmith Hieronymus Malter, who had fought in the service of King Louis of Hungary and had been taken prisoner at the Battle of Mohács in 1526. A letter written by Malter, requesting his wife to visit him in Hungary, where he was being held prisoner of war, arrived only in 1529, shortly after she had remarried. Thus, it had to be determined whether or not the first husband was still alive. - Slightly dust-soiled and some edge damage; slight tears to folds remargined. (more) | |
| ¶ Melanchthons Briefwechsel (ed. H. Scheible), vol. IV (Stuttgart 2007), p. 878. | |
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| 36 | Münster, Sebastian. Rudimenta mathematica. Haec in duos digeruntur libros [...]. Basel, (Henricpetri, March 1551). Folio (220 x 317 mm). (10) pp., 1 bl. f., 242, (2) pp. With large title woodcut, folding woodcut plate, numerous woodcuts in the text, and printer's device on reverse of final f. (Bound with) II: Schöner, Andreas. Gnomonice [...], hoc est: De descriptionibus horologiorum sciotericorum omnis generis [...] libri tres. His addita sunt eiusdem autoris: Gnomonices Mechanices [...] De inventione lineae meridianae [...] De compositione astrolabii. Nuremberg, Johann Montanus & Ulrich Neuber, 1562. (6), CVIII ff. Title printed in red and black with woodcut border, 4 (3 folding) woodcut plates, 148 woodcuts in the text (44 nearly full-page) and printer's device on reverse of final f. (Bound with) III: Benedetti, Giovanni Battista. De gnomonum umbrarumq[ue] solarium usu liber. Turin, heirs of Niccolo Bevilaqua, 1574. (6), 123 ff., final blank f. With woodcut coat of arms on title page, numerous woodcut initials, and numerous woodcuts in the text. Contemp. vellum; remains of ties. |
| € 25,000 | |
| Fine horological sammelband, comprising three rare works on gnomonics, all in their first edition. - I. "The most sumptuously illustrated work of Münster, the second part represents his final word on sun-dials and enlarges on the 1531 and 1533 quarto editions. Wall-dials, especially, are described, and a number illustrated, so are the Kratzer type of polyhedral dial, Koebel's, Finé's, etc. dials, the scapha, nocturnals, etc." (Weil). Among the woodcuts is a fine series of half-page zodiac illustrations (p. 166-177) and the seven planet symbols (p. 182-184); the large woodcut shows surveyors at work. - II: About sundials and astronomico-technical problems; frequently bound with the previous work. - III: "Benedetti is of special significance in the history of science as the most important immediate forerunner of Galileo [...] Benedetti's first publication after his move to Turin was a book on the theory and construction of sundials, 'De gnomonum', the most comprehensive treatise on the subject to that time. It dealt with the construction of dials at various inclinations and also with dials on cylindrical and conical surfaces [...] Original editions [of all of Benedetti's works] are very scarce" (DSB). - Clean and well-preserved throughout. An appealing collection from the library of the elusive 1570s scholar Martin Wallendorff from the Zips region of modern Slovakia (his autogr. ownership "Sum Martini Valendorffii" on t. p.). (more) | |
| ¶ I: VD 16, M 6675. Adams M 1939. BM-STC German 633. Houzeau/Lancaster I, 11364. Zinner 2022. Honeyman 2274. Libri rari 198. Bromley 605. Weil, Cat. XXXII, 236. - II: VD 16, S 3458. Adams S 677. BM-STC German 792. Houzeau/L. I, 11370. Zinner 2291. Honeyman 2800. ADB XXXII, 294. - III: Edit 16, CNCE 5165. Adams B 653. Riccardi I, 111. DSB I, 608. Houzeau/L. I, 11377 ("Bon traité. Rare"). | |
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| 37 | Petrus de Natalibus. Catalogus sanctorum et gestorum eorum ex diversis voluminibus collectis [...]. Strasbourg, Martin Flach, 1513. Folio (222 x 320 mm). (4), 253 ff. Title page printed in red and black. With woodcut title border (birds and grapes) by Hans Wechtlin and page-sized woodcut by Urs Graf at the end of preliminary matter. Contemp. blindstamped pigskin. Two clasps. |
| € 7,500 | |
| Early edition of this influential collection of Lives of the Saints, first published in Vicenza in 1493. "A very valuable work with a wide circulation. In his arrangement of the various lives he follows the calendar of the Church. The collection [...] went through many editions, the last of which (the eighth) appeared in Venice, 1616" (Cath. Encyclopedia, s.v.). Fine Strasbourg print; Urs Graf's splendid woodcut shows the Ascension of the Christ. - Binding rather severely rubbed. Some worming to beginning and end; occasional brown- and waterstaining. Late 16th-c. ms. ownership and large engr. bookplate to front pastedown. (more) | |
| ¶ VD 16, P 1881. BM-STC German 644. Adams N 45. Ritter 1856. | |
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| 38 | Picasso, Pablo, painter and sculptor (1881-1973). Portrait d'une femme. No place, [1954]. Chalk drawing on cardboard (cover board of "Verve" magazine), primed with black paint, signed at bottom right "Picasso". Framed and glazed. |
| € 25,000 | |
| Impressive original drawing, a complimentary portrait created on the inside cover of an issue of "Verve" dedicated to Picasso (Verve, vol. VIII [1954], no. 29/30) and to which he had contributed the cover design. - Includes certificate of authenticity by Alan Goldberg (COA 2002). (more) | |
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| 39 | Preuenhueber, Valentin. Annales Styrenses: Das ist, historische Beschreibung aller denckwürdiger Händl und Geschichten, die sich zu und umb die Statt Steyr von Anfang derselben Erhebung biß Annum sechzehen hundert und neunzehen begeben und zuegetragen [...]. No place, c. 1650. Folio (219 x 316 mm). Contemp. ms. copy. German ms. (ink) on paper. (6), 668 pp. With 44 hand-painted coats of arms in watercolours and paint. Vellum binding (c. 1690; restored) using a 15th-c. liturgical manuscript with red and blue lombardic initials (inc. "Hoc Adam in genesi"). Modern ties. |
| € 8,500 | |
| Fine, contemporary manuscript copy of Preuenhuber's principal work, written between 1625 and 1630 and not published until 1740 (reprinted in 1983). The "Annales Styrensis", comprising the history of Steyr in Upper Austria from its beginnings to the death of Emperor Mathias in 1619, were the first town chronicle and constitute "an outstanding performance of Austrian historiography in the age of the Thirty Years' War" (Eder, 107). The Protestant Preuenhueber was evicted from Steyr in 1629 and died in 1642. His original ms. was copied by the Steyr magistrate in 1643 and returned to his family in late 1654; it later became part of the Windhag Library in Vienna (today in the University Library). Even the editio princeps published by J. A. Schmidt in Nuremberg in 1740 (the city of Steyr had always lacked the funds to finance a printed edition) is not based on the autograph but on one of the several ms. copies prepared throughout the second half of the 17th century. Thus, many handwritten "Preuenhuebers" in public and private collections contain more information than the printed book (our copy, e.g., mentions the murder committed by a Garsten chorister in 1578 and the execution of the infanticide Rosina Mittendorfer in 1607, neither of which are to be found in the 1740 publication). The beautiful arms of the noble families connected with the history of Steyr are done in stark, crisp colour. - Preliminary matter (title and table of contents) supplied in the mid-18th century. From the library of Franz Gottfried Vor(r)ig von Hochhaus (d. 1701), Imperial Counsellor to the Aulic Chamber and Steward of the iron trade in the Archduchy of Austria (his ms. ownership, dated 1693, to front pastedown). Early 19th c. ownership stamp "GJA" on t. p. Later in the collection of the bookplate collector Baron Rudolf von Hoscheck-Mühlhaimb (1896?-1960; his bookplate and autogr. notes on the pastedown). (more) | |
| ¶ Cf. J. Ofner, "Annales Styrenses. Ein Nürnberger Druck aus dem 18. Jahrhundert", in: Oö. Heimatblätter 20 (1966), 63-70, esp. p. 66. K. Eder, "Ein Reformatonshistoriker - Valentin Preuenhueber", in: Zft. f. Dt. Geistesgesch. 3 (1937) 3/4. I. Zibermayr, Das oö. Landesarchiv in Linz (1960). Coreth, 131ff. | |
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| 40 | Preziosi, Amadeo. Stamboul. Souvenir d'Orient par Preziosi. Paris, Lemercier, 1872. Large folio (395:543 mm). Tinted lithographic title page and 28 numbered colour lithograph plates, mounted on card, table of plates. Contemporary brown calf with giltstamped cover title, elaborately blindstamped cover borders, and 13 brass fittings. Floral endpapers. All edges gilt. |
| € 18,000 | |
| Third French edition of Preziosi's stunning series of colour lithographs, presenting oriental views, scenes, and costumes from Istanbul, including scenes from the bazar and the coffeehouses, views of the port and the cemetery, portraits of Greeks, Arabians, merchants, eunuchs, dervishes, etc. Three images are presented as oblong ovals. The plate size is identical with that of all previous editions; merely the date "1857" used in the first edition was erased and replaced with a series number. One plate ("Corps de Garde") was omitted after the first edition; complete as prescribed by the list of plates at the end. - Mounts somewhat foxed (stronger near end); binding slightly bumped and scuffed in places but altogether well-preserved. A fine copy. The English first edition (1858) in later half morocco fetched £13,750 at Sotheby's in 2009; Atabey's copy (the 1861 second issue: corners rebacked; spine rebacked; marginal spotting) commanded £30,000 in 2002. (more) | |
| ¶ Cf. Atabey 999 (2nd issue dated 1861). Blackmer 1353 (2nd ed. dated 1865). Colas 2422 (1st ed. dated 1858). Lipperheide 1440. | |
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| 41 | [Jigsaw Puzzle]. Jeu de Patience. Geduld-Spiel. [No place], J. A., [c. 1810]. Engr. plate mounted on wood (c. 190 x 160 mm). Original red cardboard box with engr. cover label. |
| € 1,500 | |
| Charming 30-piece jigsaw puzzle, showing a couple in period costume. Includes original instructions in French and German. The publisher's initials "J. A." cannot be resolved; however, this is clearly one of the earliest German puzzles ever published to show the now-standard interlocking cut. Astonishingly, the first jigsaw puzzles were not marketed until 1763, when the English engraver John Spilsbury designed a contour-cut specimen for use in geography lessons, depicting the English counties (cf. Vogel, Bilderbogen, Papiersoldat, Würfelspiel und Lebensrad, p. 149). - Signatures of two contemporary owners on the back of the box: "Friderika Waltherin" and "Juliana Franziska Walther". (more) | |
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| 42 | [Rezepthandschrift]. "Nützliches Farben-Buch" (cover title). Prob. Germany, c. 1700. Folio (200 x 330 mm). 105, (2) pp., 8 bl. ff., (12) pp. of additions, 64 bl. ff., (7) pp. of index, 3 bl. ff. Includes a small sketch. Contemp. half calf with ms. cover title. Edges sprinkled in red. |
| € 2,000 | |
| Copious recipe book containing 151 numbered (and many additional) recipes for hundreds of purposes: colouring thread, wool, silk, and cloth, colouring hair, preparing lacquer, making fruits of wax, silk, and plaster, preparing varnish, producing artificial flowers, etc. An entry on p. 82f. notes that the author learned the instructions for a lacquer varnish from a Halle pharmacist. Other recipes are credited to the Hamburg artisan Johannes Carl Berbrich (pp. 88ff): toothpaste, mirrors, glass and window panes, how to mend broken porcelain, clean paintings, silver-plate copper, prepare soap, pomade, hair-growth ointment, make freckles disappear, etc. - The collection is possibly the result of a journeyman's travels, as it mentions additional sources in Wolfenbüttel and Berlin, as well as a "Frau von Alvensleben". The dialect would seem to point to a Saxon writer. Continued by another contemporary hand after p. 101. - Binding slightly rubbed; spine-ends show some worming. Insignificant browning to interior. Altogether a clean, well-legible ms. (more) | |
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| 43 | Rossini, Gioacchino, composer (1792-1868). AMusQS with inscription ("G. Rossini"). Bad Kissingen, 23. VIII. 1856. Small oblong 8vo. 1 p. Framed. |
| € 5,000 | |
| Four bars from a piano waltz: "A Madlle. Pauline Granville [...]". - Some browning due to paper. (more) | |
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| 44 | Schönberg, Arnold, Austrian composer (1874-1951). AMusQS. N. p., 1. III. 1934. 103:240 mm. 1 p. Framed. |
| € 9,500 | |
| From the Wind Quintet, Opus 26; signed "Arnold Schoenberg" and inscribed "mit besten Grüßen". - Schönberg fled Austria in 1933 after the Nazi party labeled his twelve-tone technique - which involved the manipulation of an ordered series of all twelve tones in the chromatic scale - a form of "degenerate" music comparable to jazz. In this manuscript, produced just after Schoenberg arrived in Boston to teach at the Malkin Conservatory, he lays out in four bars the twelve-tone sequence ("Anteceding sentence / consequent sentence / retrograde set") that appears in the Wind Quintet, Opus 26. - Toned and rough at the lower margin, creasing at left and right margins with loss at lower right not affecting signature. Float-mounted. (more) | |
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| 45 | [Salzburg Exodus]. Höckhinger, Daniel. Complete set of 17 oval "Schraubmedaillen" (devotional medallions) depicting the exodus of the Salzburg Protestants. [Augsburg, c. 1732/33]. 17 etched paper medallions in contemporary color heightened in gold, 35 x 45 mm each, numbered 1-17. Reverse printed in yellow, red, and gold. |
| € 4,500 | |
| Splendidly preserved set of so-called "Schraubbilder" of the type produced mainly in Augsburg during the 1730s to commemorate the tragic eviction of Salzburg's Protestants, an outrageous event that produced an exodus of ten thousands. The cycle of 17 hand-coloured miniatures depicts Biblical parables and concrete scenes of the Salzburg religious movement, including the emigration from their native land and their arrival in Prussian exile. Although such "Schraubtalers", devotional miniatures kept in hollowed-out coins, are known since the late 16th century, the earliest emigration series of this kind was created by the Augsburg silversmith Abraham Remshard. His success with mass-produced etchings inspired other Augsburg artists to follow suit. Soon the pictures were inserted in custom-made tin boxes rather than real silver coins, which not only lowered costs but also permitted for non-circular shapes. "An especially painstakingly executed cycle was that of Daniel Höckhinger, which was also released in an oval format" (cf. Marsch, 95). Very rare; the only other known copy (in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna) also includes two miniature maps (of Salzburg and Prussia, not present here) intented for the insides of the tin box. (more) | |
| ¶ A. Marsch, Die Salzburger Emigration in Bildern (Weißenhorn, 1977), Z 3a (p. 93ff and fig. 3). | |
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| 46 | Siemens, Werner von, German inventor and industrialist (1816-1892). Autograph manuscript signed. N. p., [fl. 1888]. 4to. 4 pp. on double leaf. |
| € 5,800 | |
| Probably an unfinished manuscript in response to a statement made by the engineer Max Möller (1854-1935) in the "Meteorologische Zeitschrift": "Ich hatte nicht die Absicht auf die Frage der atmosphärischen Dynamic zurückzukommen da ich meine Anschauung hinlänglich deutlich dargelegt zu haben glaubte und da Herr Max Möller, der bisher allein in seiner Abhandlung: 'Die Anwendung des Gesetzes der Flächen auf atmosphärische Strömungen' auf meine Mitteilung: 'Ueber das allgemeine Windsystem der Erde' näher eingegangen ist, meiner Behauptung der Unanwendbarkeit des sogenannten Flächengesetzes auf atmosphärische Luftströmungen im Wesentlichen beigestimmt hat. Ich bin aber neuerdings darauf aufmerksam gemacht, daß einige prinzipielle Behauptungen des Herrn M. Möller der von mir aufgestellten direct entgegengestellt sind und daß mein Schweigen so ausgelegt würde als hätte ich s[ie] inzwischen fallen gelassen. Da dem nicht so ist und da es mir nicht im Interesse der Wissenschaft zu liegen scheint zwei origi[n]elle Widersprüche ungelöst ruhen zu lassen so muß ich schon um Aufnahme einer kurzen Rechtstellung [...] bitten. Herr M. Müller [!] schreibt: 'Gegen die Ferrelsche Theorie richtet der Autor das Bedenken dieselbe mache eine allzu unbeschränkte Verwandlung von dem Gesetze der Erhaltung des Rotationsmomentes'. Dies ist tatsächlich zutreffend, wie wohl eine Beschränkung der nachfolgenden Werke des Autors nothwendig erscheint; derselbe sagt: 'Ich muß bestreiten daß die Erhaltung der Rotationsmomentes bei der Luftbewegung Platz greift' und ferner: 'Damit das Rotationsmoment constant bleiben kann muß eine bedeutende Arbeit verwendet werden. Es fehlt aber die Kraft gänzlich welche diese Arbeit leisten könnte'. In dem ungefähren Satze müsste dies Werk gänzlich fehlen. Wir werden sehen daß thatsächlich nicht unerhebliche, meridional wirkende, Kräfte zur Verfügung stehen, daß dieselben aber allerdings nicht im Entferntesten ausreichen um einen geschlossenen einfachen Kreislauf der Luft zwischen Aequator und Pol zu unterhalten' [...]". - Slightly browned due to paper. (more) | |
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| 47 | Wagstaffe, John. The Question of Witchcraft Debated. Or a Discourse against their Opinion that affirm Witches, Considered and enlarged. The Second Edition. London, Edward Millington, 1671. 8vo. (12), 198 (but: 196) pp. (pp. 5/6 skipped). Contemp. calf (restored). |
| € 2,500 | |
| Third edition. "A work of great merit, and would do honor to a scholar and logician of the present day" (C. W. Upham, Salem Witchcraft [Mineola 2000], p. 248). Wagstaffe's defence of the cause of reason and truth against the railery of orthodoxy "created much mirth among the wits of Oxford, as he himself ‘looked like a little wizard.’ In his book he threw doubt on the truth of the alleged instances of contracts between spirits and men and women, pronounced them to be ‘ridiculously absurd, and some of them so impossible for all the devils in hell to accomplish.’ He considered the tales as ‘partly founded in mistaken interpretations of Scripture, partly in the knavish and gainful impostures of some men, partly in the vain, foolish credulity of other men.’ His position was assailed by Meric Casaubon in the second part of his book ‘Of Credulity and Incredulity,’ 1670, and in a work entitled ‘The Opinion of Witchcraft vindicated,’ by R. T., 1670. The attacks called forth a second and enlarged edition of Wagstaffe's book" (DNB, s. v.). - Pages 149ff. contain a translation of Lucian's dialogue "Philopseudeis" (Lovers of Lies), prepared by Sir Thomas More. - From the library of Thomas Patrick Young, D.D., Prebendary of Westminster, Caius College (d. 1778), with his engr. armorial bookplate on front pastedown and his autogr. note on Wagstaffe on the flyleaf: "concerning this authere see Wood's Ath. oxon. v. 2 p. 387. J. Wagstaffe, ob. 1677 aet. 44 Wood says, that he died in a manner distracted, occasioned by a deep conceit of his own parts, + by a contintual bibbing of strong and high-tasted liquors. He was a little crooked man, + of a despicable presence. The first edition of this book was in 1669. Meric Casaubon animadverted upon it". (more) | |
| ¶ Coumont W2.3. Wing W199. Goodell 1913. | |
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| 48 | Walch, Sebastian. Portraits aller Herren Burger-Meistern, der vortrefflichen Republique, Stadt und Vor-Orths Zürich, Von dem 1336ten biß auf das 1742te Jahr. Kempten, Walch, 1756. Folio (295 x 404 mm). 24 pp. With mezzotint frontispiece, engr. title vignette, headpiece and initial, and 60 mezzotint portraits by Sebastian Walch, mostly after Johann Caspar Füßli. Contemp. calf, elaborately gilt. Bronze varnished turquoise endpapers. All edges gilt. |
| € 6,000 | |
| The portraits of all mayors of Zurich from Rudolphus Bruno to Johannes Hofmeister (with arms and brief captions throughout ) was published "at the expense of the author." - Binding somewhat rubbed and bumped. Tear to plate no. 8 (not touching image); some browning and fingerstaining to margins. Traces of bookplate on pastedown. A very appealing, splendidly bound copy. (more) | |
| ¶ Thieme/B. XII, 570 & XXXV, 68. Lipperheide Ga 12. Haller IV, 584. Barth 10904. Lonchamp 3226. | |
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| 49 | Werfel, Franz, Austrian writer (1890-1945). AMs. Vienna, 1933. Large 8vo. 3 pp. on 3 ff. |
| € 4,500 | |
| Thee pages from his address, "Können wir ohne Gottesglauben leben" ("Can we live without belief in God?"), presented in Vienna on 5 March 1932. Werfel fervently defends belief, which he calls the prerequisite for any form of mental and spiritual life: "Wir haben hier den verpönten Versuch unternommen, das Problem des Gottesglaubens aus dem Reich der Religion in das Gebiet allgemein menschlicher Betrachtung zu tragen. Die streng wissenschaftlich Gesinnten werden die zwingende Schlüssigkeit vermissen, die sie von einer Deduktion fordern. Die streng Gläubigen werden den Hinweis auf den dogmatischen Bau der Religion entbehren, in dem für sie alles in Ewigkeit geordnet und gefestigt ist. Einige dürften sich darüber aufhalten, daß die Aesthetik, das Prinzip des Wohlgefallens, angerufen wurde, um zwischen der gotterfüllten und gottlosen Welt zu entscheiden, wie zwischen zwei Gläsern gleichwertigen Weins [...] Es kann nach unseren Ausführungen kein Zweifel mehr darüber herrschen, daß die Wahl der gotterfüllten Welt einen differenzierteren, werthaltigeren, 'geschmackvolleren' Geist voraussetzt als die Wahl der gottlosen Welt [...] Nun herrscht freilich unter den Geistigen heutzutage eine merkwürdige Feigheit, die sehr viele daran hindert, der größten Frage dieses Lebens offen ins Auge zu sehn. Die Gründe für diese Feigheit haben wir mehrfach angeführt. Zu dem Irrglauben, die wahre Wissenschaft maße sich eine Entscheidung an, tritt eine unbewusste Verwechslung der Gottesidee nicht einmal mit der tatsächlichen sondern mit einem politischen Zerrbild der Priesterschaft, wie es die Jahrhunderte der Aufklärung und des Freisinns in die Seelen gepresst haben. So lächerlich es klingt, für sehr viele kluge und aufgeschlossene Leute erweckt der Name Gottes und der Gedanke einer geistigen Überwelt die fürchterlichen Assoziationen: Finsteres Mittelalter! Inquisition! Folterkammer! Galilei! Progrom! Absurder Märchenglaube. - Hier warten große Aufgaben für eine Psychologie der Völker, Klassen und Generationen. Ehe die analytische Psychologie darangeht, mit ihrem Messer den menschlichen Gottesbegriff zu sezieren, müsste sie aufrichtigerweise untersuchen, welche dunkle Rachsucht ihr dieses Messer schleift. Es ist hoch an der Zeit, daß der geistig wache Mensch erkenne: Ich darf mich der letzten Frage nicht entziehen, ohne auf Erden ein feiger Schwächling zu bleiben, der keinen festen Stand hat [...]". - Published by Zsolnay in 1932 as the title essay in a collection. Fol. 3 bears later note "(aus 'Gottesglauben')", signed "Franz Werfel" and dated "Wien 1933". Several ms. corrections (some in pencil) and deletions; leaves numbered in red crayon. Traces of staples; insignificant smudging. (more) | |
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| Luxury binding by Ferdinand Bakala | |
| 50 | [Windisch, Karl Gottlieb]. Beschreibung des Hochfürstlichen Schlosses Esterháß im Königreiche Ungern. Bratislava, Anton Löwe, 1784. Large 4to. 57, (3) pp. With 8 folding engr. plates (plans, horizontal and vertical sections, views). Contemp. coloured wrapper bound within luxury navy blue morocco with elaborate giltstamped borders surrounding eight-part giltstamped light blue and red calf insets; arms of Esterházy de Galantha on cover; spine in six compartments; giltstamped red spine label; leading edges gilt; gilt inner dentelle; coloured endpapers; signed "Ferd. Bakala" inside front cover. |
| € 9,500 | |
| Only edition. - Detailed description of the Esterházys' famous castle near Lake Neusiedl, including the opera house in which several of Haydn's works saw their first performance. Prince Nikolaus I (1714-90), known as "the Magnificent", chose the Baroque Eszterháza castle as his residence. The fine engravings show views and plans of the building and grounds. - Wide-margined, almost spotless copy; upper corner of title page remargined. Magnificent, splendidly gilt luxury binding for the Esterházy family, manufactured by Ferdinand Bakala, the probably most highly-regarded Viennese bookbinder of the early 20th century. In perfect condition. (more) | |
| ¶ Kat. der Ornamentstichslg. Berlin 2160m. Wernigg 4660. Identification of author in: A. Seidler, Vom Nutzen des Quellenstudiums. Der Brief als literaturhistorischer Informationsträger (Vienna, 2003), p. 4 (n. 16). | |
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