| |
|
|
|
|
|
Catalogue
73
Voyages
& Travels
|
|
|
|
|
36. CASAS, BARTHOLOME de las. Newe Welt, Warhafftige Anzeigung
Der Hispanier grewlichen, abschewlichen vnd vnmenschlichen Tyranney,
von ihnen inn den Indianischen Ländern, so gegen Nidergang
der Sonnen gelegen, vnd die Newe Welt gennet wird begangen. .. Jetztaber
erst inss Hochteutsch durch einen Liebhaber dess Vatterlands...
[Frankfurt], 1597. First German edition. $8,500
Small 4to; pp. [16], 158, [12] (Register); title in red and black;
contemporary full limp vellum, somewhat soiled and worn; small discrete
personal stamp at lower corner of title-page; front free endpaper
wanting; early notations on front paste-down and in margin of two
leaves; light age-browning throughout.
European-Americana 597/14; Sabin 11277; Medina BHA 1085 note (II,
478); JCB I: 354; Friede, J. & B. Keen, Bartolome de las Casas
in History; this very scarce edition is not in Hill, Streeter, Church
or Field, who cite other early editions. Both Sabin and Medina state
that this German edition is from the original Spanish edition of
Brevissima Relación, while another German edition of 1597
or 1598 is from the French translation. Las Casas was born in Seville
in 1474 and accompanied Columbus on his third voyage to America
in 1498. He was the first priest ordained in the New World, that
ceremony taking place in San Domingo in 1510. This work comprises
one of his famous tracts in which he argues against the mistreatment
of and outright cruelty to the Indians of Spanish America, and demonstrates
a remarkable respect for the rights of the indigenous peoples. He
continued, for his whole life, to champion the cause of the natives,
and devoted fifty years to destroying the policy of enslaving them.
He might well be considered "the New World's first political
activist." -(Friede & Keen) "Of all the names, associated
with the discovery and conquest of America, that of the author,
Don Bartholomew de las Casas, is second in eminence only to that
of Columbus..." -(Field, p. 216).
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
37. CHAPPE D'AUTEROCHE, [JEAN]. A Voyage to California, to
observe the Transit of Venus...With an Historical Description of
the Author's Route through Mexico, and the Natural History of that
Province. Also, a Voyage to Newfoundland and Sallee, to make Experiments
on Mr. Le Roy's Time Keepers. By Monsieur de Cassini. London, Edward
and Charles Dilly, 1778. First edition in English. $3,000
8vo; 4 ff, pp. 215; engraved plan of Mexico. Full contemporary calf,
neatly rebacked in period style; complete with half-title which
is often lacking; armorial bookplate (of Thomas Beilby, [silversmith?
1747-1826?]); an extremely good copy. Very scarce.
Sabin 12004; Howes C299; Monaghan 396; Cowan, p. 46; TPL 6566; O'Dea
190; not in Lande; JCB 2451; Hill, pp. 49-50: "This is the
rare English translation of the [French edition], having the plan
of Mexico City re-engraved on a smaller scale. This volume is enlarged
with accounts of a further expedition to Newfoundland. Count Cassini,
who was the director of the Paris Observatory... gives a long description
of the American cod fishery." The celestial phenomenon known
as the transit of Venus had caught the imagination of European scientists;
it was, in fact, the same period in which James Cook, on his first
voyage, was carrying out observations from Tahiti for the British.
Chappe d'Auteroche died while in Baja California and was buried
there. The work was seen through its printing and publication by
de Cassini.
|
|
|
|
An Important Description of Japan
|
|
38. CHARLEVOIX, PIERRE-FRANCOIS-XAVIER. Histoire et Description
Générale du Japon; où l'on trouvera tout ce
qu'on a pu apprendre de la nature & des Productions du Pays,
du Caractere & des Coûtumes des Habitans, du Gouvernement
& du Commerce, des Révolutions arrivées dans l'empire
& dans la Religion; et l'examen de tous les auteurs, qui ont
écrit sur la même sujet. Avec les fastes chronologiques
de la découverte du nouveau monde. Paris, Chez Pierre-François
Giffart, 1736. Two volumes. First edition. $8,225
4to; 4 ff, pp. lviii, 667, [1]; 2 ff, pp. xii, 746, [2]; 8 folding,
engraved maps and plans; 25 engraved plates (13 folding); 3 large,
engraved head-pieces; contemporary full calf, worn at edges and
corners; minimal foxing; half-titles and titles printed in red and
black; in vol. I Ffijj is signed Ffij, Lllii is unsigned, Yyyii
is signed Zzzii; one leaf spotted; in vol. II there are brown spots
on 1 leaf, with loss of one small word; old neat repair to verso
of large folding map with no loss. A very good copy, and complete
with half-titles.
Cordier Japonica 422; De Backer & Sommerfogel II, 1077; Alt-Japan-Katalog
322. Charlevoix, the French Jesuit traveller and historian, wrote
this work although he had never been in Japan. It is mainly a compilation
of the works of Engelbrecht Kaempfer (1651-1716) but this does not
detract from its importance, for the original German was never published,
the extant German version being taken from the English edition of
1727. Besides Japanese history, this work contains a description
of the political, social and physical state of the country in the
eighteenth century and for upwards of one hundred years it remained
the chief source of information for the general reader. Many of
the plates are after Kaempfer, and the twenty-page "Liste et
examen des auteurs" forms an important bibliography to works
that had been written on Japan. The maps are of the Empire of Japan,
Korea, and Japan, the coast of China and Kamschatka. Also included
(vol. I, pp. ix-xlvi) is Charlevoix's Projet d'un Corps d'Histoires
du Nouveau Monde; avec les fastes chronologiques de toutes les Découvertes,
& des principaux Etablissemens, qui ont été faits
par les Européens depuis le milieu du quinzième siècle,
... which set forth the proposed plan for his 1744 Histoire et Description
Générale de la Nouvelle France.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
39. CLAVIGNY, JACQUES DE LA MARIOUSE DE. Le Grand Tamerlan
Par M. De Clavigny, Chanoine de la Cathedrale de Nantes, & Abbé
de Gondon. A Caen, Chez Jean Cavelier, Impimeur du Roy & de
l'Université. M.DC.LXXXIII (1683). $2,850
12mo; pp. [16], 119. Signatures: A-G8, H4. Contemporary full mottled
calf; upper joints cracked; corners bumped; spine gilt in compartments;
title vignette; decorated head and tail pieces; foliated initials;
manuscript signature on title; two corrections made to text by hand;
faint water stain on title. Rare.
We have not located another copy of this work. Tamerlane, or Timur
Lang (1336-1405), the powerful Persian nomadic leader who founded
the Timurid Dynasty, was born near Samarcand. He became Emir of
Transoxiane, and from 1370 to 1405 was known as a ruthless military
leader, building a legendary empire that included nearly all the
provinces of Persia, Bagdad, Karabula and Kurdistan. His army invaded
Russia, taking Moscow in 1382, and Herat (now Afganistan) in 1383.
His armies also entered India in 1398, wreaking massacre and destruction
in its wake. Tamerlane's last campaign was an attempt to overthrow
the Ming Dynasty, but he died in the process of preparing the attack.
In spite of his notorious personality, however, Tamerlane was a
patron of the arts, and he was responsible for a great deal of the
architecture still visible in Samarcand. There have been many early
accounts of Tamerlane's conquests published, including excerpts
from his own memoires. Jacques de La Mariouse de Clavigny was a
French theologian, chanoine of the cathedrale at Nantes and Abbé
of Gondon. Among his other works were a translation of the psalms
of David and a treatise on languages. Jean Cavelier, the printer,
was active in Caen from 1665-1694.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
40.
COBBOLD, RALPH P[ATTERSON]. Innermost Asia. Travel &
Sport in the Pamirs. London, William Heinemann, 1900. First edition.
$600
8vo; pp. xviii, 354; 27 (of 28) photographic plates, including frontis.
portrait; 85 textual illustrations; 5 maps, including large folding
map of Central Asia and India, coloured. Publisher's pink cloth,
faded; untrimmed edges; gilt lettering and portrait of ovis poli
(wild sheep) on cover; gilt lettering on spine. Foxing on endpapers
and prelims, stain from paper clip on top margin of 2 leaves; interior
otherwise clean; small tear on fold of map; wanting one plate. Small
card inscribed: "With Colonel R.P. Cobbold's compliments."
Yakushi C130; Czech, p. 49; BM 10077. Cobbold travelled to the Pamirs
of Central Asia in 1897-1898, initially as a sportsman eager to
bring home trophies of animals indigenous to the region. Inevitably,
he was caught up in the politics of crossing through settlements
of the various tribes, and his observations are interesting "unofficial"
remarks on the problems in the area. The appendices include a chronological
history of events in the area from the mid-18th century, the commerce
and mineral wealth of innermost Asia, and copies of the treaties
pertaining to the Russo-Afghan frontier.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
