Rare books from Shapero Rare Books

Madrid, 7 December, 1611. . Small folio (28.0 x 18.5 cms), 4 ff. (six pages of printed text followed by one integral blank leaf [i.e. two pages]). Woodcut initial to first leaf. A great rarity: an original quiros presentation memorial. 'The discovery of the Southern Continent, whenever, and by whomsoever it may be completely effected, is in justice due to this immortal name' (Alexander Dalrymple). Between 1607 and 1614 Quiros wrote a series of petitions (or memorials) addressed to the King of Spain requesting that he be given command of another voyage to find the great hidden continent: Terra Australis Incognita. The majority of these memorials, over 50 in number, were presented in manuscript form, however fourteen were printed at Quiros's own expense in limited numbers for presentation to the King and his Councils alone. These presentation memorials represent the earliest printed record of discovery and plans for colonisation of Terra Australis, the Australian continent. Pedro Fernandes de… Read More

Paris, Imprimerie Royale for Pillet Aine, 1824-44. . First edition. 12 vols comprising: 8 vols 4to text, plus 4 large folio volumes (1 atlas, 3 of plates), three engraved titles, 354 engraved plates and maps, contemporary green morocco-backed boards, atlas in original blue-green marbled boards, modern morocco-backed fold-over box. A fine fresh set, minor defects noted below. The set comprises:FREYCINET, L.-C. de S. de. Historique, 1825-37. 3 vols: 2 vols 4to text, large folio (49 x 33 cm) plate volume. Atlas: engraved title with integral vignette, 11 pages of letterpress text at back, Table explicative, 12 engraved maps or plans (2 double page) and 100 views, and portraits(41 hand-coloured). Occasional light spotting.QUOY, Jean R.C.; GAIMARD, Joseph P. Zoologie, 1824. 2 vols: 1 vol. 4to text, large folio plate volume. Atlas: engraved title on india paper mounted, 13 pages of letterpress text at back, Table Explicative, 96 engraved plates (77 hand-coloured or printed in colour and finished by… Read More

Rome, [Circa 1778 & 1785]. . Two works in 2 vols; folio (550 x 400 mm. approx.); 'Vedute': the complete suite as listed by Wilton-Ely comprising double-page engraved title, double-page engraved frontispiece, 135 double-page engraved plates (including the 2 plates by Francesco Piranesi listed at the end of Wilton-Ely), the watermarks examined appear to conform to Robison 39, 57, 64 and 67; plate 243 [Wilton-Ely] with paper flaw to the centre fold lower margin, not affecting image; Pompei: the complete suite comprising a double-page engraved plate, a large folding plate and a 6-sheet plan, each sheet large and folding (3 with short marginal tear, repaired, 2 touching text); extra-illustrated with the following plates: 'Pianta di Roma e del Campo Marzio' [Wilton-Ely 1008]; 'Prospetto interiore del Tempio Vaticano Il Santo Padre... Vaticano', both of these by Francesco Piranesi; Near contemporary Russia gilt, the covers with broad gilt borders, neatly rebacked, all edges gilt. From the library of… Read More

Bayid Persia (Baghdad), dated 13 Shawwal 401 AH (1010 AD). . Single volume, second volume only of the text, decorated manuscript in Arabic, complete in alternating quires of 8 and 12 leaves with a bifolium at the end to complete the text, 162 leaves (plus one contemporary and 3 later endleaves), 218 by 118 mm; single column of 11-12 lines in sepia naskh hand of the author al-Sharif al-Radi himself, title on recto of first leaf, colophon at end of text in same hand, on distinctively Persian dark-cream paper, most leaves with mould markings (of 7-8 laid reed lines per centimetre, and with no chain lines apparent), final free endpaper with numerous ownership inscriptions (pre-fourteenth century), occasional marginal commentary (also pre-fourteenth century), some early damp-staining and mottling to leaves to entirety of volume affecting upper and outer corners, a few repairs to preliminary leaves including a closed tear to first leaf, strip of modern paper pasted along length of pastedown (probably… Read More

1995 . Unique acrylic, resin, formed paper and fiberglass, 1995, signed and dated on the relief centre left: 'F. Stella, 95', 136.5 x 137.2 cm. (53¾ x 54 in.) frieze23 At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century fantastical tales of other worlds and eras began to grip the imaginations of the public. The title Atvatabar I references the science-fiction story The Goddess of Atvatabar by William Richard Bradshaw. The story is based on the theory that the planet on which we live is a hollow shell that is one thousand miles in thickness within which are entire continents and oceans that are all lit by an interior sun. Within this fictional earth, fifty million people worship a living goddess of surpassing beauty named Atvatabar. Stella's circular composition confines an abundance of abstract forms and structures, referencing the book's advanced social, philosophical and religious matrix that exist within the earth's interior walls. Given this piece is part of Stella's… Read More

Paris, Imprimerie Impériale [then] Royale, 1809-1822, [-1830]. . First edition. 21 vols bound in 20 (9 volumes quarto text, 1 volume elephant folio text [bound with Antiquities vol. I], 11 elephant folio plate volumes), the complete set of 894 plates of which 40 are wholly or partly printed in colours and or hand-coloured, and 2 printed in bistre, many double-page, and or folding, plate DD in Etat moderne II with fore-margin sometime renewed, scattered light foxing, contemporary calf gilt with marbled paper panels to covers (moiré cloth panels to natural history vols.), text volumes rebacked to style, spine gilt lettered and ruled. Antiquities, 5 vols: (I) Engraved frontispiece, map, 99 plates numbered 1-97 (plates 79 and 87 each in two states) + 1 unnumbered plate; Bound with folio text; (II). 92 plates numbered 1-92; (III). 69 plates numbered 1-69 ; (IV). 72 plates numbered 1-72 + 2 plates lettered e & f ; (V). 89 plates numbered 1-89.Etat Moderne, 2 vols. (I). Engraved map, 83 plates numbered… Read More

Circa 1800. . 3 vols, folio (50.9 x 37.4 cm); 244 mounted watercolours of flowers, fruit, birds and silkworms on Chinese paper, comprising vol.1: 82 drawings of flowers, vol.2: 82 drawings of flowers, vol.3: 8 drawings of silkworms, 7 of parrots, 59 of fruit/flowers, 6 of junks, nineteenth-century russia gilt, gilt armorial of George Spencer-Churchill, Marquess of Blandford (later 5th Duke of Marlborough), light foxing to a few plates, one volume rebacked retaining original spine, one volume with light water stain to upper cover, lightly scratched, some loss of leather to spine. A sumptuous collection of mounted watercolours depicting Chinese silkworm cultivation, birds (including parrots), Asian fruits and multiple species of flowers; the work of exceptionally fine draughtsmanship from a Chinese school. Stylistic variety suggests a number of hands. The Chinese characters on the painting of silkworms read Quan Yuan Hao Jian Bo, meaning a shop (the first three characters) that sells silk foil (the… Read More

London, Printed for W. Strahan; and T. Cadell, in the Strand, 1776. . First edition; 2 vols, 4to (31.5 x 24.5 cm); contemporary marginal annotations in pen, with half-title to vol. II, ad. for 'The Theory of Moral Sentiments' to title verso vol. I, publisher's ad. to vol. II 4F2 verso, errata vol. II [A2] verso, cancels vol. I M3, U3, 2Z3, 3A4 and 3O4, and vol. II D1 and 3Z4, vol. II p.288 misprinted 289; contemporary gilt-ruled sprinkled calf, rebacked but retaining original red and green morocco lettering-pieces, bottom and fore-edges untrimmed, wide margins (circa 6.5 cm), occasional spotting and soiling, minor marginal tears, mostly repaired, internal joints reinforced with tape; [12], 510; [4], 587, [1]pp; signatures: A4 a2 B-3T3 (bound without terminal blank); [A]2 B-4F2. The first edition of the 'first and greatest classic of modern economic thought' (PMM). Smith (d.1790) spent ten years writing and perfecting The Wealth of Nations, the popularity of which surpassed its publisher's… Read More

Toscolano, Paganino Paganini, 1523. . Second edition; 2 vols in one, folio (30.8 x 20.8 cm); title printed in red and black within a woodcut strapwork border, white on black woodcut initials (including a portrait of the author on A1), woodcut diagrams and illustrations throughout, L2r with full-page woodcut diagram with red printing, frontispiece with partially erased annotations, small tear to right-hand margin on frontispiece and a stain of acid ink puncturing the paper at the bottom of the frame, E4v - E6r with extensive marginal annotations, text underlined and annotated throughout (not affecting legibility of text), S3 with obvious oxidation spots that do not disturb the text, evidence of wormholes, occasional creasing of pages, marginal spotting, very occasional marginal dampstains; 18th-century full vellum, red title piece on spine with gilt border and lettering, warping to upper board, wormholes on boards and spine, some soiling to boards, corners slightly rubbed; [8], [1], 2-224; 76.… Read More

Antwerp, Jan Baptist Vrients, 1603. . Large folio (480 x 300mm); text in Latin; engraved title, coat of arms, epigraph and portrait of Ortelius, all coloured by a contemporary hand with gilded detailing, 118 plates, all coloured by a contemporary hand, all woodcut initials coloured by a contemporary hand (some light, variable spotting and offsetting, marginal spitting, a few repaired tears). [Bound with:] – Parergon sive veteris geographiae aliquot tabula. Engraved title and 38 plates, all coloured by a contemporary hand (some light spotting and offsetting, a few small tears). [Bound with:] – Nomenclator ptolemaicus. Title page with hand-coloured vignette. Modern red morocco. One of the largest and finest editions of Ortelius's Theatrum, comprising 156 plates handsomely coloured by a contemporary hand. Ortelius, geographer to King Philip II of Spain, is credited with having authored the first modern atlas, the Theatrum orbis terrarum. Following Ortelius' death, his copperplates were acquired by… Read More

Madrid, Rafael Esteve (?) for the artist, 1799. . First edition, one of approximately 300 copies; quarter broadsheets (311 x 205mm); 80 plates on a single uniform stock of unwatermarked laid paper; etchings with burnished aquatint, many with drypoint and/or burin (fine impressions printed in sepia, printing with great contrasts and bright highlights, the aquatint just beginning to show a little wear on some plates, with the scratch on plate 45, with wide margins, some pale spotting mainly on the first few pages, otherwise in very good condition; black morocco binding by Lebrun, signed on the spine and dated Paris 1844 on the rear cover, tooled in gilt with the Self-Portrait of plate 1 and the name of the artist on the front cover, the motif and title of plate 32 on the back cover, marbled endpapers; within a matching red morocco box, with the name of the artist, the title and the name of the binder on the spine, the inside with a black and gilt morocco inlay showing all the tools used for the… Read More

Arabia, mid- 7th century AD. . Single leaf, decorated manuscript on parchment, in Arabic, containing the text from Qur'an Juz' VII, sura al-A'raf, parts of vv. 169-194, fragmentary leaf, c. 335 x 230 mm; single column, 22 lines of sepia hijazi script to both sides, verse marked by clusters of 4 or 6 dots, a few words overwritten in a later hand, areas of loss to folio. an important witness to the earliest extant qur'anic manuscripts and a relic of the earliest period in islam, copied only a few decades after the lifetime of the prophet muhammad in the 7th century ad.Early history of the Qur'an and Islam:Muslims believe the Qur'an to be the verbatim revelations received to The Prophet Muhammad from Allah. Before the Qur'an was copied into written form it was memorised by heart from the followers of The Prophet Muhammad during the Caliphate of Abu Bakr (633-34 AD). After the death of The Prophet Muhammad wars were killing Muslims that had memorised the sacred words so to preserve the text Zayn ibn… Read More

Anatolia, possibly Konia, dated Jumada II [7]54 AH (July 1353 AD). . Single volume, decorated manuscript on thick polished fibrous buff paper, in Farsi, 311 leaves (with two later endleaves at each end), 250 by 175 mm; text in four columns, 31 lines cursive naskh script, headings in red, catch-words throughout and leaves foliated in a later hand, columns double-ruled in red, a few later marginal annotations, some later ink inscriptions in red and black ink, these in Ottoman Turkish and Farsi, a few scattered ink smudges else very clean and attractive condition internally; early sixteenth-century Ottoman leather over pasteboards, covers with cut-out central medallions and corner-pieces willed with filigree detailing against a gilt backdrop, ruled in gilt, marbled paper pastedowns, an attractive early binding. islam24 08 Exceptionally early medieval manuscript copy of one of the most important works of sufi poetry by Rumi.Jalal al-Din Rumi (1207-1273) was a Persian poet, originally from greater… Read More

Paris, chez Levrault, fréres, Libraires, quai Malaquai, 1801-1805. . First edition, first state; 2 vols; folio (53 x 35 cm); half-titles, 145 etched plates after illustrations by Jacques Barraband printed in colour and finished by hand, table of contents to end of each vol., occasional light spotting, mostly to margins; contemporary burgundy straight-grained morocco gilt, upper and lower panels with wide gilt borders of palmettes, enclosing Meander roll in blind and inner gilt panel, gilt spine in 7 compartments, all edges gilt, minor restoration to corners and spine caps, each vol. housed in red cloth clamshell case with contrasting black calf lettering-pieces to spine. First edition in the preferred folio format of this celebrated work, which stands in the front rank of ornithological books.An excellent copy of Levaillant's celebrated Histoire Naturelle des Perroquets, illustrated with 145 hand-finished etched colour-plates after original drawings by the French artist Jacques Barraband (d.1809),… Read More

1986 . The complete set of four lithographs in colours, 1986, on Arches wove paper, each signed and dated in pencil, numbered from the edition of 100 (there were also 50 in Roman numerals), in the original card portfolio case with text sheets, printed by Art Estampe, published by Editions de la Différence, Paris, each sheet 71 x 63.5 cm. (28 x 25 in.)