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Travel

Contact Jonathan Harrison, Alex Day, Andrea Mazzocchi or Katherine Thorn

We stock Western books in European languages, generally – but not exclusively – published before circa 1850. We are especially interested in early travel accounts – from the late fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries – in all areas beyond Europe.

Geographical regions in which we have tended to specialise include the Pacific and its surrounding countries – South America, the Northwest Coast of America, Japan, China, the maritime regions of Asia, including the Philippines and Indonesia, and Australia. Books on Africa, the polar regions, manuscripts and separately published maps are also handled.
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  1. BORLASE, William.

    The natural History of Cornwall: The Air, Climate, Waters, Rivers, Lakes, Sea, and Tides; Of the Stones, Semimetals,...

    Oxford, W. Jackson for the Author, and London, W. Sandby, 1758.

    First edition of Borlase’s monumental survey of Cornwall. Though aged over sixty at the time of publication, William Borlase (1696 – 1772), rector of Ludgvan, toured central and eastern Cornwall between 1752 and 1757, gathering material for his Natural History. The result, though less...

    £750

  2. BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE.

    Report of the First [-Eighth] Meetings.

    London, John Murray, 1833-39.

    ‘The principal effort in the initial organisation of the British Association came from Edinburgh and the provincial scientific societies. Babbage himself was prevented from attending the first meeting in York by pressing work ... However his central position was acknowledges when he was appointed one...

    £1200

  3. [BRUNEL, Antoine de.]

    A journey into Spain.

    London, printed for Henry Herringman, 1670.

    First edition in English. A free and abridged translation of Voyage d’Espagne curieux, historique et politique, first published anonymously in 1665. Setting out from the Netherlands in 1651 in the company of François van Aerssen, Brunel toured France, Germany and Italy before travelling to...

    £950

  4. BURBURY, John.

    A Relation of a Journey of the Right Honourable my Lord Henry Howard, from London to Vienna, and thence to Constantinople;...

    London, Printed for T. Collins and I. Ford … and S. Hickman … 1671.

    First and only edition of this account of a special embassy to the court of Sultan Mehmed IV, undertaken in 1664-5 by Walter Leslie, the Scottish-born Ambassador Extraordinary of the Holy Roman Empire. In his party was Henry Howard, later sixth Duke of Norfolk, along with the author John Burbury, who...

    £5750

  5. CAESAR, Caius Julius.

    Rerum gestarum commentarii XIV … omnia collatis antiquis manuscriptis exemplaribus, quae passim in Italia,...

    Frankfurt, Georg Rab for Jacopo Strada, 1575.

    First Strada edition of Caesar’s Commentaries, with woodcut illustrations, annotated by the Feuillants against François Hotman. Prepared by the humanist scholar Jacopo Strada (1507 – 1588), Rab’s edition prints Caesar’s Commentaries with Aulus Hirtius’s additions, Eutropius’s epitome of...

    £1650

  6. CALLINI, Bartolommeo.

    Arrolandosi sotto le insegne di Gesù Cristo col prender l’acqua del santo battesimo nell’insigne cattedrale...

    Vicenza, Tipografia Paroni, 1802.

    Unrecorded broadsheet celebrating the conversion to Catholicism of Marco Mortera, a Jew from Vicenza.

    £350

  7. CARDONNEL, Adam de.

    Picturesque Antiquities of Scotland [I–II] …

    London: Printed for the Author, and sold by Edwards … also by Edwards’s, in Halifax. 1788.

    First edition, the very rare issue with the plates in sepia, printed directly onto thick wove paper.

    £975

  8. CAREY, Henry Charles.

    Principles of social science.

    Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincott, 1858-1860.

    First edition, a very attractive copy, of Carey’s principal work. ‘His treatment of social science was original, and led him to a series of supposed discoveries, the order of which he has stated in the introduction of his most important work The Principles of Social Science. His point of departure...

    £1200

  9. CARTWRIGHT, John.

    England’s Aegis; or, the military Energies of the Empire ...

    London, Richard Phillips, 1804.

    First edition, scarce, by the gentleman reformer and former naval officer John Cartwright. ‘Ever the patriot, when Britain was facing possible French invasion he took up a passionate advocacy of the utility of the pike and the creation of an Anglo-Saxon-type militia in his … England’s...

    £400

  10. CATANEO, Girolamo.

    De arte bellica, sive de designandis ac construendis arcibus et propugnaculis, necnon et de iis oppugnandis,...

    Lyons, Jean de Tournes, 1600.

    First Latin edition, scarce on the market, of this handsomely illustrated military classic, first published in Italian at Brescia in 1564. Edited and published by Jean de Tournes, this edition is dedicated to Henry IV of France. The military architect Cataneo (active 1540-1584) was considered,...

    £1850

  11. CÉSPEDES Y MENESES, Gonzalo de.

    Varia fortuna del soldado Pindaro.

    Lisbon, Geraldo de la Viña, ‘626’ [i.e 1626].

    Rare first edition of this semi-autobiographical picaresque novel, printed while the author was in exile in Lisbon following the publication of his politically controversial Historia apologética en los sucesos del reyno de Aragon (1622).

    £6750

  12. CHANDLER, Richard.

    Travels in Greece: or an Account of a Tour made at the Expense of the Society of Dilettanti.

    Oxford: ‘Printed at The Clarendon Press ... Sold by J. Dodsley, J. Robson, T. Cadell, P. Elmsley, and G. Robinson, London; and by D. Prince,...

    First edition. The classical scholar, traveller, and author Chandler (bap. 1737, d. 1810) was educated at Winchester College and Queen’s College, Oxford, and awarded a demyship at Magdalen College in 1757. Following the publication of an annotated collection of fragments by Tyrtaeus, Simonides, Theognis,...

    £1750

  13. [CHINA.]

    Précis des nouvelles reçues des missions de Chine et des royaumes voisins, en 1819.

    [Paris, Adrien Le Clere, 1819?].

    An extremely rare summary of the state of French Christian missions in Su-Tchuen (China), Tong-King (Vietnam), Cochinchine (Vietnam), Siam (Thailand), and Pondichery (India) in 1819.

    £180

  14. [CHINESE ARTS DEALER.] ISKANDRIAN-HUPEDEN, A.

    [Cover title:] ‘My Treasure Box’ [Title-page:] ‘Some selected...

    Shanghai, Spring 1938.

    A charming and insightful trade catalogue compiled by a female Chinese arts dealer, covering porcelains, cast bronzes and irons, stone and wood sculpture, lacquered figures, furniture and screens, pottery and embroidery. The colours and dimensions are often described in the text, and the final...

    £1600

  15. [CLIFFORD, Jeronimy].

    The case of Jeronimy Clifford, merchant and planter of Surinam. Paper, No. 160.

    [London, n.p., 1711].

    First extended account of Clifford’s long-running legal battle with the Dutch West India Company in Surinam over Corcabo, his sugar plantation. The earlier publications had been just four pages long; this work furnishes us with plantation account details and testimonies, chronologically arranged with...

    £1250

  16. COBBETT, William.

    A Collection of facts and observations, relative to the peace with Buonaparte, chiefly extracted from the Porcupine...

    London, Cobbett and Morgan, 2 November 1801.

    First edition, collecting anti-Jacobin articles from Cobbett’s Porcupine 51 June to 27 October 1801, alongside eight letters by him to Lord Hawkesbury, and nine appendices of treaties and speeches. The Porcupine, launched as an independent newspaper by Cobbett in October 1800,...

    £350

  17. COLLIE, John Norman.

    Climbing on the Himalaya and other Mountain Ranges.

    Edinburgh: T. and A. Constable for David Douglas, 1902.

    First edition. The organic chemist and mountaineer Collie (1859-1942), was educated at Charterhouse and Clifton College, before studying chemistry at University College, Bristol and at Queen's College, Belfast. A series of teaching and research positions at Würzburg University, the Ladies' College,...

    £1350

  18. [COLUMBUS.] QUARITCH, Bernard, and Michael KERNEY.

    The Spanish Letter of Columbus . . . A facsimile of the original edition published...

    [London], Quaritch, 2006.

    Over the centuries, booksellers have contributed much to the elucidation and sometimes to the falsification of historical documents. The story of the first printed account of the New World, usually known as Christopher Columbus’s Letter to Santángel or simply the Columbus Letter, illustrates both themes.

    £60

  19. [COYER; VOLTAIRE; WAR OF THE AUSTRIAN SUCCESSION.]

    ‘Recueil des Pieces’.

    France, 1744-1749.

    An extraordinary sammelband of 75 pamphlets – 27 of which are recorded in only 3 or fewer libraries on OCLC – mostly relating to successful French exploits throughout Europe during the War of the Austrian Succession, including the Dutch and Italian campaigns and the conclusion of the war.

    £5500

  20. DALI, Salvador.

    Normandie. French Railways.

    France, Draeger for SNCF, 1970.

    Mont Saint-Michel meets stone circles, butterflies and surrealist heads in this promotional SNCF poster for train travel in Normandy.

    £200