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  1. MEGUSCHER, Francesco.

    Memoria … in risposta al quesito additare la migliore e più facile maniera per rimittere i boschi nelle...

    Milan, presso l’I.R. Istituto, 1847.

    First edition of this comprehensive report on the best means to reverse the deforestation of the mountains of Lombardy, in a way that could be both environmentally sustainable and economically profitable.

    £950

  2. WHITMAN, Walt, and Antonio FRASCONI (illustrator).

    A Whitman Portrait.

    [New York, Spiral Press, 1960.]

    First edition, comprising extracts from Leaves of Grass, facsimile letters and a selection of woodcut ‘portraits’ by Frasconi. Numbered 149 of 525 copies signed by Frasconi, printed on Japanese Goyu paper.

    £250

  3. AUGIER DU FOT, Anne Amable.

    Catechismo d’ostetricia per istruzione delle mammane di campagna composto per odine e a spese del...

    Venice, Stamperia Graziosi, 1787.

    Uncommon first Italian edition of this handbook of obstetrics, initially published in France at the behest of Turgot in 1775 and distributed gratis to French midwives.

    £550

  4. SALADO GARCES Y RIBERA, Francisco.

    Varias materias de diversas facultades, y sciencias politica contra peste, govierno en lo espiritual,...

    Utrera, Juan Malpartida, 1655.

    Very rare first edition of this highly interesting work on plague, viewed from medical, religious, and political standpoints, by a lawyer from Utrera in southern Spain, written in the wake of the devastating epidemic that struck the city and province of Seville in 1649 as part of the Great Plague...

    £2500

  5. COSTANZO, Gaetano.

    Qualche considerazione sui mezzi curativi adoperati nel ripartimento delle donne al manicomio di Palermo …

    Palermo, Giovanni Lorsnaider, 1876.

    Very rare first and only edition of this fascinating treatise on the care of women at the asylum for the insane in Palermo, by its chief medical officer Dr Gaetano Costanzo.

    £350

  6. [TACCONI, Gaetano.]

    ‘Medicae inst[ructio]nes’, ‘Tractatus de febribus’, and ‘Compendiosa nonulloru[m] m[or]boru[m] peculiariu[m]...

    [Bologna, Italy,] 1739.

    An extensive manuscript compendium of apparently unpublished medical texts compiled by a student at the Archiginnasio of Bologna who studied under Gaetano Tacconi (1689–1782), comprising notes on the prescription and preparation of medication, on fevers, and on a wide variety of illnesses. The...

    £1250

  7. BAINES, Thomas.

    Explorations in South-West Africa. Being an account of a journey in the years 1861 and 1862 from Walvisch Bay,...

    London, Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts & Green, 1864.

    First edition. ‘The volume contains an interesting account of hunting and exploration in the country of the Namaquas and Damaras, and the illustrations are very spirited; there is a good description of the flora and fauna of the country, together with an account of the habits of the natives. It is...

    £850

  8. BAKER, Samuel White, Sir.

    Ismailïa. A narrative of the expedition to central Africa for the suppression of the slave trade organized...

    London, Macmillan and Co., 1874.

    First edition. In 1869 ‘the Khedive Isma’il appointed Baker to a four-year term as governor-general of the equatorial Nile basin, with the rank of pasha ... Baker’s duties included annexing the equatorial Nile basin, establishing Egyptian authority over the region south of Gondokoro, suppressing...

    £850

  9. BARCLAY, Edgar.

    Mountain life in Algeria ... With illustrations by the author.

    London, Kegan Paul, Trench, & Co., 1882.

    First edition of this illustrated account of the Kabyle people of northern Algeria by the English artist Edgar Barclay (1842-1913). ‘From the city of Algiers, looking eastwards across the bay, is seen a snow-covered mass towering above lower ranges of mountains. It is to the country lying immediately...

    £250

  10. BARING-GOULD, Sabine.

    Iceland: its scenes and sagas ... With numerous illustrations and a map.

    London, Smith, Elder and Co., 1863.

    First edition of this account of a visit to Iceland by the clergyman, collector of folk songs and hymn writer Baring-Gould (1834-1924), undertaken for ‘examining scenes famous in Saga, and filling a portfolio with water-colour sketches’ (Preface).

    £350

  11. CAMPBELL, John.

    Travels in South Africa. Undertaken at the request of the Missionary Society.

    London, printed for the author by T. Rutt, 1815.

    First edition, first issue. Campbell (1766-1840) had been fascinated by Africa since his youth, and in 1812 was sent by the London Missionary Society ‘to restore good relations between the missionaries and the governor of Cape Colony, Sir John Cradock (in which he was successful), and to survey the...

    £750

  12. DAMBERGER, Christian Frederick.

    Travels in the interior of Africa, from the Cape of Good Hope to Morocco, from the years 1781 to...

    London, G. Woodfall for T.N. Longman, O. Rees, J. Cuthell, and C. Geisweiler, 1801.

    ‘One of the cleverest volumes of fabricated travels ever produced. The details are so circumstantial, and the mixture of fact and fiction is accomplished with so much skill, that it is not uncommon to find people who do not know that the account of the travels is nothing more than a well-contrived...

    £550

  13. DONALDSON, Florence Annesley.

    Lepcha land or six weeks in the Sikhim Himalayas ... With a map showing route, and 106 illustrations....

    London, Sampson Low Marston & Company, 1900.

    First edition, Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker’s copy. ‘In this account of what may best be described as a prolonged picnic in one of the byways of the Himalayas – where Time still walks on crutches – I have attempted no description of the flora and fauna of a country which, though it offers few facilities...

    £400

  14. ELLIOT, George Francis Scott.

    A naturalist in mid-Africa. Being an account of a journey to the Mountains of the Moon and Tanganyika.

    London, A.D. Innes & Co., 1896.

    First edition. ‘The idea of going to Africa again suddenly occurred to me after a long conversation on African Floras. I came to the conclusion that if I entered the continent by the Zambesi and went up via Tanganyika to Ruwenzori and thence by Uganda to Mombasa, I should be able to solve the question...

    £300

  15. ELLIS, William.

    Narrative of a tour through Hawaii, or, Owhyhee; with remarks on the history, traditions, manners, customs, and...

    London, published for the author by H. Fisher, Son, and P. Jackson, 1826.

    First edition. ‘The Narrative of English missionary William Ellis is particularly important, as it was the first book written about the Hawaiian Islands and the first serious notice of the Islands since Captain Cook’s discovery of them forty-eight years earlier. It may be called the first scientific...

    £400

  16. GARDINER, Allen Francis.

    Narrative of a journey to the Zoolu country, in South Africa ... undertaken in 1835.

    London, William Crofts, 1836.

    First edition of this account of the Zulu Kingdom by the naval officer and missionary Gardiner (1794-1851). ‘In 1834 he went to Africa ... explored Zululand, and started the first missionary station at Port Natal. From 1834 to 1838 he attempted to establish Christian churches in Zululand, but political...

    £400

  17. GRAY, William.

    Travels in Western Africa, in the years 1818, 19, 20, and 21, from the River Gambia, through Woolli, Bondoo, Galam,...

    London, John Murray, 1825.

    First edition, with fine aquatint plates. The Colonial Office’s Niger expedition, commanded by Major John Peddie, reached the River Senegal in November 1815; Peddie immediately fell victim to fever, leaving Staff Surgeon Dochard and Captain Gray to take over the mission. They set out with 100 men and...

    £600

  18. HÖHNEL, Ludwig von.

    Discovery of lakes Rudolf and Stefanie. A narrative of Count Samuel Teleki’s exploring & hunting expedition...

    London, Longmans, Green, and Co., 1894.

    First English edition (first published in German in 1892). In 1887 and 1888 Count Samuel Teleki von Szek, an Austrian nobleman with an estate in Transylvania, undertook a sporting and exploratory expedition into the East African interior. Departing from Zanzibar with von Höhnel, he ventured into the...

    £750

  19. LAING, John.

    An account of a voyage to Spitzbergen; containing a full description of that country, of the zoology of the north,...

    London, for J. Mawman and David Brown, 1815.

    First edition of Laing’s acccount of his voyage as a ship’s surgeon under Captain Scoresby to the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen in 1806 and 1807, in which he describes the ice conditions, whaling methods, the walrus, seal, polar bear, reindeer, and arctic fox, as well as some of the island’s...

    £850

  20. LANDON, Perceval.

    Lhasa: an account of the country and people of central Tibet and of the progress of the mission sent there by...

    London, Hurst and Blackett, 1905.

    First edition of this handsomely illustrated work on Tibet by Perceval Landon (1869-1927), written following the British expedition to the country under Francis Younghusband in 1903-4, initiated by Lord Curzon to counter Russia’s perceived ambitions in central Asia. After an introductory history of...

    £550