AntiquarianAuctions.com Auction #53 Runs August 25-September 1

AntiquarianAuctions.com is an online auction site dedicated to the sale of rare and out-of print books, maps& prints, documents, letters, ephemera and vintage photography.

All pricing is done in US$. No buyer’s premium is charged.

Photography

Lot 1: Du Camp (Maxime), Egypt, Nubia, Palestine and Syria, Photographic Pictures collected During the Years 1849, 1850 and 1851

Published: E. Gambart & Co., Publishers, London, 1852

Each print is mounted and (with thirteen exception) has the original numbered, titled and captioned (in French) tissue guards (the guards are frayed around all the edges), some mounts stained and soiled but the prints are generally in good state. Each mount bears a short title in French. The mounts measure 444 x 314 mm and the prints 215 x 160 mm. The wrappers each comprising four folio pages are frayed and some are separated, part 18 is only the first page.

Each part contained 5 plates with the numbers written in ink (part 12 bears only 4 numbers) and lists the complete 125 titles.

‘The earliest and one of the most famous French publications illustrated with original photographs is Maxine du Camp’s ?gyptie, Nubie, Palestine et Syrie. The author made an archaeological expedition to the Middle East under the auspices of the Ministry of Public Instruction, leaving France at the beginning of Nomember 1849 accompanied by Gustave Flaubert. Throughout the tour Du Camp used the calotype process as modified by Blanquart-Evrard, an after his return in 1851 published a selection of 125 photographs, with short descriptions.

A narrative of the tour was published separately but without the illustrations in 1853. The prints, which were made in Lille, bear out Blanquart-Evrard’s claim for permanence. They have preserved their cold dark grey colour to this day but most of the prints are too dark and lacking in contrast. This is due to the sel’dor toning which weakened the strength of the prints, necessitating ac onsiderable over-exposure which was difficult to judge.’ From: Gernsheim (Helmut) The History of Photography, (1955), page 145.

Estimate: $15,000/20,000

Modern First Editions

Lot 10: Hemingway (Ernest), Across the River and into the Trees

Published: Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1950

First edition, advance issue. Dark blue cloth with gilt stamping, one of 25 copies bound for presentation. Signed and inscribed by Hemingway three weeks prior to publication:"For Ben Meyer/from his friend/ Ernest Hemingway. / Havana 21/8/50". With original letter and envelope, from Mary Hemingway to Ben Meyer, on Finca Vigia San Francisco de Paula Cuba stationery.

Ben Meyer was a journalist who traveled to Cuba to interview Hemingway about his latest novel, Across the River and Into the Trees. In the article, Meyer quotes Hemingway as being very pleased with his new work, and describes Hemingway’s house (Finca Vigia, Lookout Farm) and his daily activities.Published first in the Kansas City Star on 10 September, 1950,Meyer’s article celebrates the publication of Across the River, a book Hemingway himself stated "is about love and death, happiness an d sorrow and the town of Venice. I really fired all the barrels on this one." Meyer stayed in contact with the Hemingways, as evidenced in the letter to him from Mary Hemingway, dated 1958, thanking him for photos he sent to her of her hometown, Bemidji, MN. Conversations with Ernest Hemingway, Bruccoli, 1986.

Estimate: $20,000/30,000

Lot 15: Hemingway (Ernest), Three Stories and Ten Poems

Published: Contact Publishing, Paris, 1923

First edition, limited to only 300 copies. Original publisher's printed blue wrappers. An attractive, unrestored copy with some toning to the spine, afew minor spots to wrappers,spines lightly chipped,else a very good to near fine copy. Housed in a custom quarter leather case.

Estimate: $30,000/40,000

Antique Maps & Atlases

Lot 123: Blaeu (Willem) Africae nova descriptio

Published: Willem Blaeu, Amsterdam, c.1647

This carte-a-figure is one of most sought after decorative maps of Africa from the 17th century. It was produced in 1617 by Willem Blaeu, the Dutch master cartographer. This example of the map was printed from the 3rd and most commonly available state of the copperplate; this map was published in a Dutch edition (see image of the verso) of Atlas appendix, published in one of the following years 1647, 1650, 1661, 1664.

Blaeu’s cartographical model is after Ptolemy and this folio map is derived from his his 1608 wall map. The nine vignettes above the map are scenes from the European classical history of Africa. The side panels depict European visualisation of the some of the indigenous peoples of Africa.

Estimate: $2,550/3,500

Lot 123: Linschoten (J.H.) & Langren (A. van)
Typus Orarum Maritimarum and Delineatio Orarum Maritimarum
Published: Van Langren, Amsterdam, 1596

These two maps are becoming increasingly difficult to find. The best description of this, one of the most attractive pair of maps available,comes from Richard and Penelope Betz , authors of Mapping of Africa but described in their Rare and Scarce Maps of Africa, A cartographic sequence 151 - 1640.

'A beautifully engraved two-sheet map of Western & Eastern Africa. The maps are literally filled with cartographic detail - sailing ships and sea battles, sea monsters, animals within Africa, numerous compass roses, and strap-work cartouches. These maps represent two of the more beautiful maps of Africa! Tooley calls the eastern Africa map "the earliest and most decorative special map of the East Coast of Africa embracing the eastern Cape, Natal, the Portuguese East, and Kenya".

Estimate: $8,000/9,000

Travel & Exploration

Lot 20: Valle (Pietro Della): The Travels of Sig. Pietro Della Valle, A Noble Roman, into East India and Arabia Deserta
Published: Printed by J. Macock, for John Place, London, 1665

First English edition, a complete copy with the double-page engraved map (which has recently, circa 1980's, been hand coloured), 3 engraved plates on 2 leaves, and 5 woodcut plans within text. A little browning to the page edges but overall this is a very good, bright,wide margined copy in a late twentieth century full panelled calf binding. Spine with raised bands. Gilt decorative bands. Red title label, gilt. An attractive copy of this scarce title,complete with the map and plates still present.

The text consists of 54 letters written by della Valle to the Neapolitan Physician Schipano during the course of his travels through the Holy Land, Syria, Persia and India. The greatest number of letters are from Persia and Constantinople. --- Wing. V 48A.
Estimate: $6,000/7,500

Lot 190: Baines (T.) & Lord (W. B.) Shifts and Expedients of Camp Life

Published: Horace Cox, London, 1871

First edition: 831 pages, frontispiece - Swinging the packs of the North Australian expedition over a branch on Jasper Creek, Victoria River, 1856,engraved titlepage,14 plates,numerous illustrations in the text, half calf with marbled board and end papers, reinforced at the front and back hinges, marbled edges, decorative spine gilt, avery good copy. 

Mendelssohn (Sidney) South African Bibliography, Volume 1 page 925: This was published in seventeen parts, and is a guide to travellers, explorers, and settlers, founded on the experiences of the authors, and referring incidentally to South Africa.

Estimate: $700/800

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All pricing is done in US$. No buyer’s premium is charged.

Next auction: Auction #53: 6 - 13 October 2016

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