1. Abu Taleb Tabrizi / Abu Taleb Isfahani / Mirza Abu Taleb Khan.

The Travels of Mirza Abu Taleb Khan in Asia, Africa, and Europe, during the years 1799, 1800, 1801, 1802, and 1803. Written by himself, in the Persian language. [With an Appendix: ‘Author’s Vindication of the Liberties of the Asiatic Women’]. Translated by Charles Stewart, Esq.

First and only Edition. Two Volumes (complete set). London, Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, 1810. Octavo. Frontispice-Portrait with original tissue-guard, VIII, (8), 320, 418 pages. Hardcover / Beautifully restored bindings by english master binders in stunning modern half-morocco with the original spine-labels applied. Original endpapers and pastedowns with the original bookplates / Exlibris preserved. Excellent condition with some browing and ghosting to the pages, as usual with this set. Name of historical preowner Richard Meade in ink on titlepages. Rare in this very amazing restored condition.

2. Afghanistan – Tallis, John / Rapkin, John. (1817 – 1876)

Cabool (Kabul / Afghanistan), The Punjab (Pakistan) and Beloochistan (Balochistan) with Vignettes and Illustrations of Boats on the Indus / Sultan Mahmoud’s Minars and Fortress (Ghuznee / Ghazni in Afghanistan) / Beautiful scenery of Lahore.

Original steel engraving / Vintage map. Drawn and engraved by John Rapkin. Partly hand-coloured. London & New York, J & F. Tallis, 1851. Plate Size: 33.7 cm x 26 cm. Sheet Size: 37.5 cm x 27.2 cm. Vintage 19th century map in very good condition.

3. Asia / Polynesia – Tallis, John / Rapkin, John. (1817 – 1876)

Polynesia or Islands in the Pacific Ocean with New Guinea, Caroline Islands, Nippon, New Hebrides, Society Islands, Sandwich Islands with beuatiful Vignettes and illustrations of Kalakakooa, Sandwich Islands (Hawaii), Otaheite, Harbour of Dory, New Guinea, Resolution Bay, Marquesas and the Northwest tip of Australia and California shown in the outskirts of the map.

Original steel engraving / Vintage map. Drawn and engraved by John Rapkin. Partly hand-coloured. London & New York, J & F. Tallis, 1851. Plate Size: 35.7 cm x 25.8 cm. Sheet Size: 37.5 cm x 27.3 cm. Vintage 19th century map in very good condition.

4. Barneby, W. Henry.

The New Far West and The Old Far East – Being Notes of a Tour in North America, Japan, China, Ceylon, Etc. With Maps and Illustrations. [Including an Appendix on the Supplementary Treaty of Commerce between the United States and Japan].

London, Edward Stanford, 1889. Quarto. Frontispiece, X, 316 pages with three large fold-out-maps in colour and eight illustrations in black-and-white. Hardcover / Stunning 19th century prize-binding in beautiful full tan calf bearing the Arms of Monmouth Grammar School [with their Motto “Serve and Obey”]. Inscription and embossed stamp of Monmouth – Grammar School to endpaper. Dedicated by Headmaster C.M.Roberts to former pupil W.A.Lamb in July 1890. Excellent condition with only minor signs of wear.

5. Bushby, John / [Maori Village Travels] –

Round the World from North to South with Rod & Camera / Collection of three Volumes of printed and manuscript travelogue (reads like a logbook) / Travel Diary. Volume I – Privately printed, luxury photoalbum from the year 1907 – 1908 with 142 pages of printed photographs of a trip through Canada, Alaska South Sea Islands (Suva, Fiji), Tonga, New Zealand with several photographs of a trip on S.S.Manuka (Union Steam Ship Company) with images of life on board and of the trip to Maori Villages, Rotoiti, Tu Moana, Cape Horn, Rio de Janeiro, Teneriffe, Hunting, Fishing, Camping etc. / Volume II: Manuscript Volume in an easy decipherable hand of a trip on the steamer “Pretorian” from Liverpool on July 30th, 1903 to New York, Maryland, then on to Vancouver and Japan with excellent travel descriptions and list of costs of lodging in Yokohama, Kyoto, Nagasaki etc. / Volume III: Continues the Travelogue to Singapore, Siam, Java, Japan, Hawaii (Honolulu and back to California) – With extensive listing of costs for Passage, Hotels etc. in New York, Honolulu, Hongkong, etc. This Volume with longer descriptions of Hong Kong etc.

Daere (Cumberland), Privately printed and original manuscript, 1903 – 1908. Octavo. Volume I – 142 pages / Volume II (Manuscript) – 89 pages / Volume III (Manuscript) – 185 pages. Original Hardcover and flexible red leather. Very good condition with only minor signs of external wear. Magnificent account with exact and vivid descriptions of localities and the technique of the trip and its expenses. Ticket Prices, Hotel Costs, Voyage costs from Harbour to Harbour etc. etc. Unpublished account of a british merchant family’s private (Cotton Merchant) trip around the world.

6. Cambodia – Fer, Nicholas de / [Nicolas de Fer]. (1646 – 1720)

Vintage Maps of Cambodia, Ceylon and Maledives with India: “Presqu’ Isle de L’Indedela le Golfe du Gange” AND Presqu’ Isle de L’Inde de la le Golfe du Gange” [with Golf de Siam , Bankok etc.] / With an additional map mounted verso: “Amerique Meridionale” [showing Central America and South America from Isles de Caribes to the “Detroit de Magellan”].

Original copper engraved maps. [Paris], c. 1700. 16 cm wide x 13.2 cm high. Mounted on paper. Very good condition. From a wonderful collection of Maps from an old english library (South Shields) – with a tiny library stamp to the mounting paper (The stamp is NOT on the Map).

7. Corbett, Jim.

My India.

Delhi / Bombay / a.o., Oxford University Press, 1989. 14 cm x 21 cm. 190 pages. One black and white map. Original illustrated softcover. Very good condition with only minor signs of external wear.

8. Day, Samuel Phillips.

Tea – Its Mystery and History – With a Preface in Chinese and English by Lo Fong Loh. Illustrated [by J.F.Weldon].

Vintage First Edition / Original 19th century Edition. London, Simpkin, Marshall & Co., 1878. Small Octavo. Pagination: Vintage Portrait-Frontispiece, Fac-simile of Mr. Lo Fong Loh’s Prefatory Notes in the chinese Hing Shoo, or running hand, [II], 92 pages with six full-page illustrations and several vignettes. Hardcover / Original publisher’s decorative cloth with gilt lettering and ornament to spine and front board. Tiny stamp of preowner on endpaper and verso frontispiece: “Agnes Jeffery Cox”. Unusually excellent and firm, overall very good+ or even better condition of one of the rarest and most sought after books on tea. In this condition scarce !

9. Guinness, Géraldine.

Dans l’Orient lointain – Lettres de Géraldine Guinness Missionnaire en Chine (1888-1889). Traduites de l’anglais par Mlle Laure Armand et par le Traducteur-Editeur.

2 me Mille. Genève, chez le Traducteur-Editeur, 1893. Octavo. 218 pages. [Illustrated]. Hardcover / Original, publisher’s illustrated Hardcover. Very good condition with only minor signs of wear.

10. Hedin, Sven V.

Abenteuer in Tibet.

Leipzig, F. A. Brockhaus, 1908. 16 cm x 23.5 cm. 414 pages. Generously illustrated with colour plates, black-and-white images and with fold-out map on back pastedown. Original Hardcover (yellow ochre cloth with colour illustration, embossed gilt decoration and title on front and embossed gilt lettering on spine). Very good condition with only minor signs of external wear. Half-title, frontispiece and title page detached from book block.

11. [Himalaya / Darjeeling].

Collection of two (2) 19th century photographs of traditional tourist locations in Darjeeling / India. Included are: 1. View of the Himalaya from Plateau in Darjeeling / 2. The Loop at Agony Point Darjeeling-Himalayan Railway.

Darjeeling, c.1890. 20 cm x 15.7 cm. 2 Photographs, possibly produced by british photographers Samuel Bourne & Charles Shepherd. Original Prints on paper. Very good condition with only minor signs of external wear. Interestingly: People in India can see the Himalayas for the first time in ‘decades,’ as the lockdown during the Covid-19-Pandemic eases air pollution. The view in this historical 19th-century-photograph is a reminder of Nature’s need to breath.

12. India – Tallis, John / Rapkin, John. (1817 – 1876).

Southern India – Including the Presidencies of Bombay and Madras. With Vignettes of Shuhur, Jeypoor, The Government House, Calcutta, and Tomb of Sultan Mahomed Shah, Bejapoor. Also included are Depictions of European soldiers, natives at prayer and the Seal of the East India Company.

Original steel engraving / Vintage map. Drawn and engraved by John Rapkin. Partly hand-coloured. Illustrations by A.H. Wray and Engraved by J.H. Kernot. London, & New York, John Tallis & Company, 1851. Plate Size: 31.8 cm x 25.5 cm. Sheet Size: 37.2 cm x 27.2 cm. Vintage 19th century map in very good condition.

13. Krist, Gustav.

Alone Through the Forbidden Land – Journeys in Disguise through Soviet Central Asia. translated by E.O. Lorimer.

No place (London), Readers’ Union (by arrangement with Faber & Faber Limted), no year (c.1939). 13.5 cm x 22 cm. 271 pages. 46 illustrations on 32 plates. Hardcover [publisher’s original light-brown cloth] with printed lettering on spine. Printed lettering and vignette on front board. Very good condition with only minor signs of external wear. Minor foxing along spine. Interior very bright and clean.

14. Matthiessen, Peter.

Under the Mountain Wall – A Chronicle of Two Seasons in Stone Age New Guinea.

London, Harvill, 1989. 13.5 cm x 21.5 cm. 272 pages. Several black and white drawings and photographs throughout. Original Softcover. Very good condition with only minor signs of external wear. Some minor foxing to endpapers and edges. Internal pages bright and clean.

15. Payne, John.

Volume I (of III) of the “Universal Geography” [Including Asia, Africa and Voyages of English Navigators] – formed into a new and entire system; describing Asia, Africa, Europe, and America; with their subdivisions of Empires, Kingdoms, States, and Republics: the extent, boundaries, and remarkable appearances of each country; cities, towns, and curiosities of Nature and Art. Also giving a general account of the fossil and vegetable productions of the Earth, and of every species of animal: The History of Man, in all Climates, Regions and Conditions; Customs, Manners, Laws, Governments and Religions: The State of Arts, Sciences, Commerce, Manufactures and Knowledge. Sketches of the Ancient and Modern History of each Nation and People to which is added, A Short View of Astronomy, as connected with Geography; of the Planetary System to which the Earth belongs; and of the Universe in General. With a set of Maps, drawn from the best Materials, every one of which is very neatly coloured; and a great Variety of Copper-Plates; descriptive of the most remarkable curiosities in the world. With an Appendix in two Parts, containing I. The History of the Voyages round the World, and toward the North and South Pole, which have been made since the year 1764 by English Navigators and II. A Digested and Geographical Account of the most considerable Islands and Countries which have been either discovered or explored during those Voyages, collected from every writer upon those subjects. Part I on the Appendix includes: 1. The First Voyage round the world, performed by Commodore Byron, in the Dolphin, accompanied by the Tamar Sloop / 2. Captain Wallis’s Voyage round the World, being the Second performed in the Dolphin / 3. Continuation of Captain Carteret’s Voyage round the World in the Swallow / 4. Lieutenant Cook’s Voyage round the World, in the Endeavour Bark (First Voyage, Second Voyage and Third Voyage including a stunning engraving of Cook, together with Portraits of inhabitants of the Sandwich Islands, Mangea and Ulietea) / The Appendix Part II contain a Geographical Account and Description of the Islands which have been lately discovered or visited in the South-Sea, proceeding from East to West (Easter Island / The Society Islands / The FRiendly Islands / The New Hebrides, Mallicolo and New Caledonia / New Zealand / New Holland / The Sandwich Islands //

First Edition. Dublin, Printed by Zachariah Jackson (Great Ship-Street), 1792. Quarto. XV, 894 pages with a list of subscribers and eight fantastic full-page copper engravings (NO MAPS in this Volume) / Frontispiece (The beautiful Frontispiece-plate is cleanly detached and now comes with this beautifully restored book framed): Plates included are: 1. Frontispiece: Vegetable Productions constituting important Articles of Commerce: Nutmeg Tree / Bohea Tea Plant or Thea Bohea / The Cotton Shrub / The Nutmeg enclosed in the Mace and Nutmeg Kernel / Flower of Tea / The Cotton Shrub – This plate is hand-coloured ! / 2. The Artificial Sphere (Globe) with the Solar System and Divisions of the Earth / 3. [Kamtschatka] – A Kamtscadale Travelling in Winter / An inside View of a Winter-Hut of the Kamtschadales / 4. Animals in the Southern Parts of Africa (The Rhinoceros Bicornis / The Buffalo / The Hippopotamus, called by the Hottentots the Seacow) / 5. The Country contiguous to the Cape of Good Hope – Hottentots and their Huts &c. &c. / 6. Portrait – Collection on one plate of Captain James Cook – Killed on the Island of Owhyhee – 14th of February 1779 (From a painting by Dance in the possession of Sir Joshua Banks) – other portraits on that page include A woman and a man of the Sandwich Islands / A Man of the Magea – Omai or Omia , a Native of Ulietea / 7. Portrait – Collection on one plate of: Poulaho – King of the Friendly Islands / A Man of van Diemen’s Land / A Woman from van Diemen’s Land / A Woman of Prince William’s Sound / A Man of Prince William’s Sound / 8. Portrait-Collection on one plate of: A woman of Otaheite Island (Tahiti) bringing a present / A Woman of Otaheite (Tahiti) dancing / An Otahetian (Tahiti) in the Dress of his Country / A New Zealand Warrior completely armed (Maori) // Hardcover / Professionally restored original 18th-century leather with original gilt ornament and new labels on spine. Binding rubbed but after the masterful restoration in very good condition. Some of the plates slightly loose but not detached. Very few minor wormhole damage to the last 250 pages. Rare with the plates ! From the library of Richard Meade, Ballymartle, with his original bookplate to the pastedown. One of the early accounts of english Navigation and Discovery.

16. Payne, John / Hardie, James / Provenance I: Signature of J.J. Westervelt [Jacobus James Westervelt (1755 – 1826) – Schraalenberg and Provenance II: Charles Sydney Clark (1925) presented this set to Johnson Free Public Library at Hackensack, New Jersey].

A New and Complete System of Universal Geography [Complete with all 20 maps / illustrations] ; Describing Asia, Africa, Europe and America; with their Subdivisions of Republics, States, Empires and Kingdoms : The Extent, Boundaries and Remarkable Appearances of each Country; Cities, Towns and Curiosities of Nature and Art. Also giving a general account of The Fossil and Vegetable Productions [with hand-coloured plates] of the Earth. The History of Man, In all Climates, Regions and Conditions; Customs, Manners, Laws, Governments and Religions: The State of Arts, Sciences, Commerce, Manufactures and Knowledge. Sketches of the Ancient and Modern History of each Nation and People to the present time. To which is added, A View of Astronomy, As connected with Geography; Of the Planetary System to which the Earth belongs; And of the Universe in General. With a copious Index annexed to each Volume. Being a Large and Comprehensive Abridgement of Universal Geography. By John Payne. With additions, corrections and Improvements from the latest and best authors by James Hardie – Author of “The Principles of Latin Grammar”, “The American Remembrancer” and “Universal Tablet of Memory” &c. In Four Volumes.

First Abridged Edition. Volumes I [Asia] and II [Africa] (of IV). New York, Printed for and Sold by John Low, Book-Seller at The Shakespeare – Head, No.332 Water-Street, 1798 – 1799. Octavo – Edition. Pagination: Volume I [Asia]: Folded Frontispiece (Map of the World), XLVIII, 518 pages plus 10 unnumbered pages of an Index and one additional page with Directions for the Bookbinder for placing the maps and illustrations as well as Errata. Volume I includes all 10 Maps / Engravings as called for / Volume II [Africa]: Folded Frontispiece (Map of Africa), 578 pages plus 12 unnumbered pages of an Index plus one additional page with Directions for the Bookbinder for placing the maps and illustrations as well as Errata. Volume II includes all 10 Maps / Engravings as called for. Hardcover / Modern Library – Binding with the original 18th century – work bound in. Former library copy of Bergen County Historical Society (cancelled) and Johnson Free Public Library in Hackensack, New Jersey, with a very boring, modern library binding and library cards applied to the endpapers only, leaving the bookblock with text and maps and illustrations entirely untouched from any library-signs. Very good condition with some signs of external wear.

17. Schmalkalden, Caspar / Joost, Wolfgang [Bearb.].

Die wundersamen Reisen des Caspar Schmalkalden nach West- und Ostindien 1642 – 1652.

2.Auflage. Leipzig, Brockhaus, [1987]. 8°. 192 Seiten. Illustriert. Original Hardcover. Leinen mit Schutzumschlag. Sehr guter, neuwertiger Zustand.

18. Smythe, F.S.

Camp Six – An Account of the 1933 Mount Everest Expedition.

First edition. London, Hodder and Stoughton, 1937. 15 cm x 22.5 cm. Frontispiece, XI, 307 pages. 36 illustrations including frontispiece. Hardcover [publisher’s original blue cloth] with gilt lettering on spine. Very good+ condition with only minor signs of external wear. Binding very firm. Interior very bright and clean.

19. Staunton, Sir George / Lord Macartney.

An Authentic Account of an Embassy from the King of Great Britain to the Emperor of China [First Dublin Edition with 34 full-page-plates]; Including Cursory Observations Made, and Information Obtained, in Travelling Through That Ancient Empire, and a Small Part of Chinese Tartary. Together with a Relation of the Voyage undertaken on the Occasion by his Majesty’s Ship ‘The Lion’, and the Ship ‘Hindestan’ in the East India Company’s Service, to the Yellow Sea, and Gulf of Pekin [sic]; as well as of their return to Europe. With Notices of the several places where they stopped in their way out and home: being the Islands of Madeira, Teneriffe and St.Jago, the Port of Rio de Janeiro in South America; the Islands of St.Helena, Tristan da Cunha and Amsterdam, the Coast of Java and Sumatra, the Nanka Isles, Pulo-Condore and Cochin-China. Taken chiefly from the Papers of his Excellency, the Earl of Macartney, Knight of the Bath, his Majesty’s Embassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Emperor of China; Sir Erasmus Gower, Commander of the Expedition and other Gentlemen in the several Departments of the Embassy.

Two Volumes (complete set). Dublin, Printed for P.Wogan, R.Cross, P.Byrne and others, 1798. Octavo. Volume I: XV, 449 pages with 8 full-page plates / Volume II: XVIII, 430 pages, with 26 full-page-plates and including an Appendix. Hardcover / Original, early 19th century half leather with original spinelabels. Bindings firm and strong but rather worn. Bookplate of Richard Meade, Ballymartle, to the pastedown of Volume I. Overall in very good condition with some stronger signs of wear but with all the illustrations / engravings, called for in the Dublin Edition.

20. Sutherland, Patrick.

Spiti, the Forbidden Valley.

First Edition. Network Photographers, 2000. 25 cm x 31 cm. 120 unnumbered pages. Original Hardcover with original dustjacket in protective collector’s mylar. Excellent condition with only very minor signs of external wear. Signed by the author on the title page.