Search Results: Titles starting with R from Comellas Rare Books

A Paris, de l'Imprimerie Royale, 1717. 2 volumes 4to. 8 leaves. 544 pages. 88 out-of-text plates of which 4 folding and 2 leaves. 526 pages. 20 leaves. 64 out-of-text plates of which 1 folding. Full blue morocco of the Levant, triple gilt fillet framing the boards, smooth ornate backs, all edges gilt (contemporary binding). First Edition and first issue of the most interesting journey on the Levant (see Chadenat). On Pontchartrain's proposal, Tournefort was ordered by Louis XIV to organize a trip to the Levant and Africa. Accompanied by the draftsman Aubriet and the German physician Gundelsheimer, his mission was to rediscover the medicinal plants used by the ancient physicians, Hippocrates, Galen and Dioscorides. They left Paris in March 1700 for Candia and all the islands of the archipelago, Constantinople, Turkish and Persian Armenia, then Georgia (of which this is one of the first descriptions) and Mount Ararat. They returned to Marseilles in June 1702 via Asia Minor. Tournefort brought back from… Read More

Paris, en la boutique de Pierre Rocolet, chez la veuve de Damien Foucault, 1680. 4to. 6 leaves. 306 pages. 1 leaf. 13 out-of-text folding engraved plates and and 4 half-page in-text engravings. Full brown calf, spine with nerves, label of red morocco (contemporary binding, anciently rebacked). First Edition of this detailed description of Constantinople in the 17th century, including the oldest detailed plans of the Hagia Sophia Palace and other monuments of the city. Grelot had been residing for some time in Constantinople when he met Chardin in 1671. With him he visited Crimea, Corcassia, Mingrelia, Persia and part of India. They separated in 1676 and Grelot returned to Paris after staying again in Constantinople. The volume is illustrated with four vignettes engraved with costumes and thirteen engraved out-of-text fold-out plates: view of the Hellespont and the Propontide, view of Constantinople, panorama of the Grand Serail, view of Solimania, etc. Interesting copy offered in 1705 in… Read More

Firenze, per Gaetano Cambiagi stampatore granducale, 1792. 4to. (1 blank leaf). 2 leaves. 236 pages. Contemporary half-calf, adorned flat spine (head of spine restored). First Collected Edition, largely original, of the author's works where we find an important biographical note on James Cook and his travels, entitled "Elogio del capitano Giacomo Cook" (pp.121-156). This dissertation, read before the Royal Academy of Florence, of which the author was a member, had been published separately in a bilingual Italian-English edition in 1785. It is joined to other occasional pieces in verse and prose discourse on various interesting subjects ("Sull'Occhio e sulla vista" pp.190-206 with references to Newton, "Delle relazioni dei sensi" pp.207-222, "De Italorum meritis in anatome" pp.223-236, etc.), The present edition, printed on strong paper, was probably printed in small numbers and is even rarer than the first edition of 1785. Worldcat lists only five copies (compared to eighteen copies for the separate… Read More