Category: Travel

BOSWELL, James

AUTHOR’S PRESENTATION COPY TO ANDREW LUMISDEN

BOSWELL, James. An Account of Corsica, The Journal of a Tour to that Island, and Memoirs of Pascal Paoli. By James Boswell, Esq; Illustrated with a New and Accurate Map of Corsica.

 London, Printed for Edward and Charles Dilly in the Poultry, 1769.

£6500

8vo, frontispiece plate with engraved portrait of Pascal Paoli by J. Lodge after Henry Bembridge, title page, “Letter” and “Preface” (pp. xxxii), large engraved folding map of Corsica (from the same plate as in the first edition, but with a scale of miles added), text from pp. 33 to 400. Bookplate to front pastedown of American collector Joseph Y. Jeanes from Philadelphia. Rebound in late C19th half red morocco and marbled paper over boards by the famous Philadelphia binders firm Pawson and Nicholson (see printed name to top outer corner of verso of first front endpaper). Corners and joints partly rubbed and worn, small tear to folding map, lightly yellowed throughout and occasional minor spotting. Waterstaining on head of flyleaf with Boswell’s inscription: “To Andrew Lumisden Esq: as a mark of sincere regard from the Author”. A very good copy.

Third edition of this famous account of Corsica by the English writer, novelist and travel diarist James Boswell, which is also an important presentation copy from the author to his dear friend Andrew Lumisden. The preface to this edition includes for the first time a eulogistic letter from George Lyttelton to Boswell in praise of Paoli. Boswell, a Scottish lawyer, is mainly remembered as the biographer of Samuel Johnson. He was invited to visit Corsica by Paoli in August 1764 whilst he was travelling in Italy. Boswell was determined to get to Corsica and stated that had he not received a formal invitation, he should still go, and probably be hanged as a spy. ‘He crossed from Leghorn to Corsica; saw the great Paoli; talked politics to him . . . He also took the liberty of asking Paoli “a thousand questions with regard to the most minute and private circumstances of his life” ’ (DNB). He apparently played Scottish airs to the Corsican peasantry. He returned to London with his head full of Corsica, and against Johnson’s advice, resolved to write an account of his experiences. This is a refreshing contemporary observation of eighteenth-century Corsica and covers a number of aspects; the first chapter consists of a geographical analysis of the Island followed by a historical and political overview. The book concludes with Boswell’s journal of his tour of the Island and the memoirs of Pascal Paoli. However, the book did not receive general approval. Walpole laughed at it and Gray described the journal as a “dialogue between a green goose and a hero”. Boswell never ceased to champion the Corsican cause and published a volume of “Essays in favour of the Brave Corsicans” in the spring of 1769. Andrew Lumisden (1720–1801), an “active and accurate antiquary”, was a Scottish Jacobite with whom Boswell became acquainted in Rome in 1765. They became good friends and Lumisden later assisted Boswell when he was writing the Life of Dr Johnson, by deciphering place names in the diarists’ journal of a French tour in late 1775.

Rothschild 446, 447.

BLIGH, William

FIRST EDITION OF CAPTAIN BLIGH’S REPORT OF THE MUNITY ON THE BOUNTY

BLIGH, William. A voyage to the South sea, undertaken by command of His Majesty, for the purpose of conveying the bread-fruit tree to the West Indies, in His Majesty’s ship the Bounty, commanded by Lieutenant William Bligh. Including an account of the mutiny on board the said ship, and the subsequent voyage of part of the crew, in the ship’s boat, from Tofoa, one of the Friendly islands, to Timor, a Dutch settlement in the East Indies.

London, George Nicol, 1792.

£7,250

FIRST EDITION. Large 4o. pp. 264. (1), [i], a4 (1) b4c1 (1) c3d-o4 (1) p-x4y2 (1) y2z42a1 (1) 2a32b-2e42f2 (1) 2f22g42h3 (1) 2h12i-2l4. Engraved portrait frontispiece, one plate and 6 engraved maps and charts (5 folding). Browning and soiling to frontispiece and t-p, and generally throughout the book, especially in proximity of the insertions; some heavey dampstaining to the plates. T-p’s upper corner torn apart and repaired with new paper. E1 repaired and reinforced to margin on verso; T2 with extensive repaired tear to upper margin towards centre, no text loss. In contemporary mottled calf, rebacked, title to gilt spine in six compartments with anchor emblem, corners and a few abrasions repaired. A complete, good copy in a fine binding.

First edition of this work detailing one of the most remarkable incidents in the whole of British maritime history. Following a request by West Indian merchants to George III, Sir Joseph Banks recommended that the Admiralty fit out the Bounty for a voyage to collect bread-fruit trees from Tahiti for shipment to the West Indies. Banks also recommended Lieutenant Bligh as commander of the voyage on which Fletcher Christian sailed as the Master’s Mate. Reaching Cape Horn in 1787 and encountering fierce head winds, Bligh retreated across the South Atlantic to round the Cape of Good Hope and sail south to Australia and New Zealand to Tahiti. This is the first official account of the voyage and mutiny, edited from Bligh’s journals by James Burney under the supervision of Sir Joseph Banks while Bligh was on his second bread-fruit voyage. The year of publication also marked the court-martial proceedings against fourteen returned mutineers, three of whom were hanged.

Ferguson 125; Hill 135; Kroepelien 93; NMM 1:624; Sabin 5910. 

[RUSSIA] “THE GREAT WAY”

THE MAKING OF MODERN RUSSIA: A STUNNING PHOTO ALBUM SHOWING LANDSCAPES AND VIEWS FROM THE  EARLY TRANS-SIBERIAN RAILWAY

“The Great Way”: Views of Siberia and the Siberian Railway.

Krasnoyarsk, I.R. Tomashkevich and M.B. Axelrode and Co., 1899.

£5000

Photo album (30x36cm), pp. (iv), 124 [= ill.]. Cyrillic type. Translation of subtitle: “Issue No. 1: From the river Ob to the river Yenisei and Tomsk branch. 124 views of the most important railroads, buildings, cities, villages, views of foreigners and scenic areas adjacent to the line. etc., with a description of them, compiled by V. A.; photos by Tomashkevich”; [auth. pref. Akselrode and Tomashkevich]. In a crimson buckram binding, beautifully illustrated on front cover in colours, with gilt title. Embossed gilt lettering to spine. Double blind panels and central tooling on rear cover. Only some very light spotting on initial three leaves. A perfect copy.

125 years ago, in 1891, work for the Trans-Siberian Railway began. Still today it is considered one of the greatest infrastructure projects in the history of mankind. A railway across Eurasia not only made the East closer, but also contributed to the creation of many cities, without which it is impossible to imagine Russia. It only took about 25 years to complete the railway. Created in Krasnoyarsk by I. R. Tomashkevich and M. B. Axelrode, this photo album was meant to proudly advertise and promote this difficult engineering enterprise by emulating the American example. It also instigated new communication policies aimed at the cultural unification of the Russian nation, as pointed out by the scholar Mikhaylova Natalia in “Confectionery trade cards from the series ‘The views of Siberia and the Siberian railway’ as part of mass visual culture of the late 19 early 20 century Russia” in ART&CULT, No. 18, 2-2015 (abstract: A series of trade cards “The views of Siberia and the Siberian railway” demonstrates some key points of the mass visual culture of the late XIXth and early XXth centuries. The series reflects the vision on Siberian Railroad and the symbolic appropriation of Siberia by a Central Russia resident): “A simple comparison of the Einem cards [chromolithographs] with the postcards from the album indicates that the latter with no doubts served as a source for an unknown artist of ‘Einem’. This method of memorialization of a large state-sponsored construction project had foreign analogues: in the late 1860s an album “Great West Illustrated” devoted to the construction of the Pacific railroad was published in the United States. However, the significance of the Tomashkevich-Axelrode album for its time was far more profound than just publishing the documents on Trans-Siberian Railway. It played an important role in promoting this ambitious construction project, both in Russia and abroad. The album was presented at the Exposition Universelle of 1900 in Paris and, along with the famous panoramas of P. Piasecky, was meant to shape a visual image of a new large-scale Russian undertaking in European audience. A series of trade cards produced by the partnership “Einem” may be regarded as the canonical mass-edition of this album. A world’s fair in Paris was widely covered in the press of the period, and the Russian public was well informed about the exhibits presented in the Russian pavilion that were dedicated to the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway. It is likely that the album by Tomashkevich-Axelrode had a high cultural status. Those purchasing Einem candy boxes with a card from the Siberian series had thus an opportunity to share the experience of those who were able to visit the Exposition Universelle.”

 

DIONYSIUS PERIEGETES [with] POMPONIUS MELA [with] PSEUDO-JEROME [with] SOLINUS, GAIUS JULIUS

Dionysii Alex. Et Pomp. Melae Situs Orbis Descriptio, Aethici Cosmographia. C.I. Solini Polyhistor. In Dionysii Poematium Commentariii Eusthathii: Interpretatio Eiusdem Poematii Ad Verbum, Ab Henr. Stephano Scripta: Necnon Annotationes. [DIONYSIUS PERIEGETES (Stephanus, Henricus, Ed.) [with] POMPONIUS MELA (Oliver, Pedro Juan, Ed.). Situs orbis descriptio. [with] PSEUDO-JEROME (Simmler, Josias, Ed.) Aethici cosmographia [with] SOLINUS, GAIUS JULIUS (Delrio, Martin, Ed.) Polyistor]

[Geneva], Excudebat Henricus Stephanus, 1577.

£3000

4to, (viii) 158 (xxiv) 47 (i) 152, ¶4 a-v44 ¶¶4 4 A-2B4. Greek and Roman letter, a little Italic. Decorated initials, headpieces, Estienne device on title page [Schreiber 18], double- and single-column text alternation. Gloddaeth library bookplate on front pastedown. T-p little soiled, some light age yellowing and thumb marks on margins throughout. Occasional ms. underlining. Bound in early full calf over boards, rebacked, somewhat worn on front covers, red morocco label to spine in compartments. A fine copy.

This beautiful edition is a collection of Ancient Greek and Latin texts on geography and cosmography. It includes the famous ethno-geographical description of the world written by the historian Dionysius Periegetes, which was first published by Robert Estienne in 1547, who was the father of Henry, the printer of this edition. This collection includes Pomponius Mela’s De situ orbis, the cosmography of Aethicus Ister, and Gaius Julius Solinus’s Polyistor, which is a description of the curiosities of the world compiled in Late Antiquity. Except for the geographical parts of Pliny’s Historia naturalis, in which Mela is cited as an important authority, the De situ orbis is the only formal treatise on the subject in Classical Latin. This appears here with a commentary by the Spanish humanist Pedro Juan Oliver. The Polyistor is provided with a commentary by the hand of the Jesuit Martin Delrio. The Cosmography, which was issued under the name of Aethicus, its protagonist, is probably the work of a C8th writer, known as Pseudo-Jerome, who was close to the court historiographers of the early Carolingian period. Dionysius Periegetes came from Alexandria and is believed to have written his description at the time of the Roman Emperor Adrian.

 Renouard, 145; Brunet II, 729; Adams D648; Chaix, 89; Schreiber, Mouson dôra, n°50.

CASTILLON, Jean [CHINA]

[CHINA] – CASTILLON, Jean. Anecdotes, chinoises, japonoises, siamoises, tonquinoises, &c., Dans lesquelles on s’est attaché principalement aux moeurs, usages, coutumes, &religions de ces différens peuples de l’Asie.

Paris, Chez Vincent, 1774.

£850

FIRST EDITION. 8vo, pp. 422 + 234 + 52 + 32. Roman letter, a little italic, headpieces. In contemporary mottled calf, slight wearing at corners and mild rubbing to board edges, raised bands on gilt spine in six compartments, title on red morocco label, marbled pastedowns. Quires C and D a little browned, occasional light yellowing of page edges, light dampstaining to upper corner of last two gatherings. An exceptionally fine copy, a.e.r.

First edition of this work divided in four parts respectively devoted to China; Japan; Siam, Tonkin and Cochinchina; and a last section on the peoples and kingdoms of “la presqu’isle au-delà du Gange”: Laos and Cambodia.

Barbier I, 179.

MARLIANI, Bartolomeo

FIRST ILLUSTRATED EDITION OF ONE OF THE MOST CELEBRATED EARLY GUIDES OF ROME EMBELLISHED BY FINE ENGRAVINGS

Urbis Romae Topographia.

Rome, in aedibus Valerij dorici & Aloisij fratris,…, 1544.

£9,750

FIRST ILLUSTRATED EDITION. Folio, ff. 6, pp. 122 [2], A6, A-B4, C-L6. Italic letter, some Roman and Greek. T-p without ornamentation, woodcut initials. 23 fine woodcut illustrations, including a folding double-page engraved map of Rome signed by the calligrapher Giovanni Battista Palatino (Frutaz 12); very large woodcut printer’s device (Pegasus) on recto of final leaf with register and imprint date. First issue, which shows the text of the privilege from Pope Paul III. Small hole due to the moulding of a little area of the upper margins of the first three initial leaves. Extensive waterstaining affecting the book throughout, along gutters and foot margins. Light soiling, or spotting, and thumb marking to margins of some pages. Folding plate with the plan of Rome somewhat worn, with some parts partially detaching. In contemporary limp vellum, missing ties, cover edges slightly ragged. A good well-margined copy on thick paper, despite the waterstains.

The FIRST illustrated edition of this important guide to Rome, dedicated to Francis I.  The text, first published in 1534 by Antonio Blado with a dedication by Rabelais, was substantially amended and enriched with woodcut plans, views, and sculptures for the present edition. Born towards the end of C15th to a noble Milanese family, Bartolomeo Marliani dedicated his life to the study of Roman archaeology. This work was the pre-eminent account of the antiquities of classical Rome of his day, many of which were to suffer subsequent alteration or disappearance. This edition is one of the masterpieces of Renaissance classical architecture and has remained justly sought after throughout four and a half centuries. The enduring importance of the work is that it tells us what the city was like before many of its ancient ruins were altered, incorporated or swept away in the great building activities of the later C16th and C17th . Marliani’s approach to the archeology of Rome differs considerably from that of his predecessors, especially Giacomo Mazzocchi, in that he gives far more prominence to architectural and sculptural detail than to inscriptions, which had almost solely occupied earlier archaeologists. Illustrations include a map of Rome, the mythological founders of the city Romulus, and his brother Remus with the she Wolf, the Laocoon, the Circus Maximus, the Pyramid, the Pantheon, and the Obelisk. The depiction of the statue of Laocoon is one of the earliest; Marliani had been present in Rome for the discovery of the statue in 1520.

BM STC It. p.418;  Fowler p.189; Olschki 17512; Brunet III 1437-8 “Edition ornée de bonne gravures sur bois…..Elle est rare, assez recherchée, et néanmois à bas prix”.  Mortimer, Harvard C16 It. 284 (with 4 reproductions); Censimento 16 CNCE 34273; Culot, Bozerian roulettes 19, 42, palettes 3, 12, signatures 1; Adams M-610; Berlin Kat. 1831; Schudt 605.