Search results
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LABORDE, Léon de.
Journey through Arabia Petraea, to Mount Sinai, and the excavated city of Petra, the Edom of the prophecies ...
London, John Murray, 1836.
First English edition of Laborde’s Voyage de l’Arabie Pétrée (1830). ‘Laborde travelled with the well-known Linant de Bellefonds, who at that time was in service with Mehmet Ali as an hydraulic engineer. They set out from Cairo in February 1828, where Laborde had established himself after his...
£200
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MAYDON, Hubert Conway.
Simen its heights and abysses. A record of travel and sport in Abyssinia, with some account of the sacred...
London, H.F. & G. Witherby, 1925.
First edition. ‘Accompanied by Captain G. Blaine, Maydon set out in 1922 for the mysterious Simien Mountains along the northwestern edge of the Abyssinian Plateau. While much of his narrative provides excellent details regarding the terrain and peoples of the region, there are important sporting adventures...
£200
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BURNLEY, James.
Biskra and the desert: a record of a tour in Algeria in the year 1885.
Bradford, ‘privately printed’, [1906].
First edition of this diary of a tour in Algeria undertaken by James and Marie Burnley in the spring of 1885, encompassing Algiers, Béjaïa, El Kantara, Biskra, Sidi Okba, and Constantine, as well as Marseille and Nîmes on the return journey, illustrated throughout with attractive photographs.
£50
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BARTLETT, William Henry.
The Nile boat; or, glimpses of the land of Egypt ... Second edition.
London, Arthur Hall, Virtue, and Co., 1850.
Second edition (first 1849), with handsome steel-engraved illustrations. ‘Bartlett visited Egypt twice, in 1842 and in 1845 (his third and fourth voyages to the Levant). His description of Egypt was extremely successful; five editions had appeared by 1862’ (Blackmer). ‘While disclaiming for the...
£100
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[WARD, Edward, and VOLTAIRE.]
The Humourous and Diverting Story of Two Sailors, Who, in order to recruit their Stock of...
6, Punderson’s-Place, Bethnal-Green-Road’, [c. 1800?].
Seemingly unrecorded edition of this humorous chapbook tale of two penniless sailors who turn to piracy in an attempt to pay their rent, printed with a translation of Voltaire’s Memnon and the anonymous poem ‘Clara’.
£450
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MILLAIS, John Guille.
A breath from the Veldt … With numerous illustrations by the author and frontispiece by the late Sir J....
London, Henry Sotheran and Co., 1899.
Second edition, a handsome work, recounting John Guille Millais’ travel and hunting expedition to South Africa, copiously and beautifully illustrated by the author and containing ‘perhaps the most beautiful illustration connected with South African art’ by his father John Everett.
£150
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PALGRAVE, William Coates.
Cape of Good Hope. Ministerial Department of Native Affairs. Report of W. Coates Palgrave, Esq., special...
Cape Town, Saul Solomon, 1877.
Uncommon first edition. ‘From 1869 until his retirement, Palgrave held a number of posts in the Cape Colony administration and on 16.3.76 was appointed Cape special commissioner for Namaland and Hereroland. Over the next nine years he would travel widely throughout Namibia in connection with British...
£175
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BELL, John.
Travels from St Petersburgh in Russia, to various parts of Asia. Illustrated with maps …
Edinburgh, printed for William Creech and sold by Geo. Robinsons and Co., 1788.
Edinburgh edition (first Glasgow 1763) of this account of the Asian adventures of the Scottish traveller and physician John Bell (1691–1780) undertaken between 1715 and 1738. The first volume supplies an account of Bell’s journeys from St Petersburg to Isfahan as medical attendant to the Russian...
£650
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BRUCE, Peter Henry.
Memoirs of Peter Henry Bruce, Esq. a military officer, in the services of Prussia, Russia, and Great Britain....
Dublin, J. and R. Byrn, 1783.
Dublin edition (first London 1782) of the entertaining memoirs of the German-Scottish military adventurer Peter Henry Bruce (1692–1757), ‘pleasantly written’ and displaying ‘very close and intelligent observation’ (DNB). Bruce joined the Prussian army in 1706 as an engineer, taking part in...
£450
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ANVILLE, Jean-Baptiste Bourguignon d’.
Considérations générales, sur l’étude et les connoissances que demande la composition...
Paris, Galeries du Louvres, 1777
Two first edition works in one volume by the great French geographer and royal cartographer Jean-Baptiste Bourguignon d’Anville, consisting of d’Anville’s general guide to geography and his remarks on the construction of his famous maps of China.
£500
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FRASER, James.
The history of Nadir Shah, formerly called Thamas Kuli Khan, the present emperor of Persia. To which is prefix’d...
London, W. Strahan for the author, 1742.
First edition of ‘the first book in English treating of the Persian ruler Nadir Shah, “the scourge of God”, who had invaded India in 1737–8’ (ODNB), by the Scottish orientalist James Fraser (1713–54). Fraser served with the East India Company for ten years, at Mocha in Yemen and at Khambhat...
£650
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[BELGIUM and NETHERLANDS.]
‘Journal of a trip to Holland July 1825’.
The Netherlands and Belgium, 1825.
An entertaining and informative diary of a holiday in the Netherlands and Belgium by an anonymous Englishman, recording his adventures in Rotterdam, Delft, The Hague, Leiden, Haarlem, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Brussels, Waterloo, Ghent, and Bruges.
£650
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BONVALOT, Gabriel.
Across Thibet, being a translation of ‘De Paris au Tonking à travers le Tibet inconnu’ … with illustrations...
New York, Cassell Publishing Company, 1892.
Second edition (first 1891) relating the extraordinary Central Asian journey of Bonvalot (1853-1933) in the company of Prince Henri d’Orléans and the Belgian missionary Constant de Decken.
£200
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[TICHBORNE, Herbert.]
Rambles in Polynesia by ‘Sundowner’ …
London, European Mail Ltd, 1897.
First edition, with a presentation inscription from the author, and in an attractive pictorial binding.
£125
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STEIN, Aurel.
Sand-buried ruins of Khotan. Personal narrative of a journey of archaeological and geographical exploration in Chinese...
London, Hurst and Blackett, 1904.
‘Cheaper edition’ (published a year after the first) of Stein’s account of his first expedition to Central Asia in 1900–1901.
£500
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BRETON DE LA MARTINIÈRE, Jean Baptiste Joseph.
China, its costume, arts, manufactures, etc. Edited principally from the originals...
London, for J.J. Stockdale, 1813.
Fifth edition (first 1812) of this popular and charming work devoted to China, translated from the French (La Chine en miniature) and illustrated with 80 hand-coloured engraved plates, beginning with a portrait of the emperor Qianlong.
£950
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SMITH, Albert Richard.
The Story of Mont Blanc …
London, David Bogue, 1853.
First edition of Smith’s famous book on Mont Blanc, a lovely copy formerly in the possession of his sister, Laura Eady.
£1275
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SIMPSON, Alexander.
The life and travels of Thomas Simpson, the Arctic discoverer …
London, Richard Bentley, 1845.
First edition of this account of the life and adventures of the Scottish Arctic explorer Thomas Simpson (1808–1840), by his brother Alexander. Simpson joined the Hudson’s Bay Company and arrived in Canada in 1829. Between 1836 and 1840 he took part in a remarkable expedition under Peter Warren Dease,...
£650
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[SCHLOSSER, Johann Albert.] BODDAERT, Pieter.
Epistola ad virum celeberrimum Johannem Burmannum … De Chaetodonte Argo descripto...
Amsterdam, apud Cornelium van Tongerlo, 1770.
First and only edition of Boddaert’s description of this Indo-West Pacific fish species found in the Schlosser natural history cabinet.
£500
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[RICHMOND.]
The Belvidere: a Poem. Inscrib’d to Joseph Grove, Esq. of Richmond, in the County of Surrey …
London: Printed in the Year 1749.
First edition, rare (British Library and Yale only) of a very attractive description in verse of a country estate in Richmond. The first pages offer a prospect of the garden with its flowers and shrubs, shaded walks and arbours, a bower with the escutcheon over the door of the late Sir William...
£2750