Manuscripts and Letters
76 items found
[Original drawings]
Mongolian horsemen with falcons, cats and rabbits. [Eight original paintings on silk].
Mongolia, mid to late 19th - early 20th century. Oblong (27 x 35 cm). Eight paintings on silk, each mounted on large, iridescent silk sheets, and framed behind glass. Early to mid-20th century black varnished, bevelled wooden frames, each measuring 38.0 x 47.5 cm.
Read moreSepp, J. C. [S. C. Snellen Van Vollenhoven]
Proof prints from: Nederlandsche insecten, naar hunne aanmerkelijke huishouding, verwonderlijke gedaantewisseling en andere wetenswaardige bijzonderheden, beschreven en afgebeeld door Jan Christiaan Sepp. Tweede Serie. Eerste - Tweede deel.
Amsterdam, J. C. Sepp & Zoon, 1860-1870. 79 folio sheets (26.5 x 21.3 cm), numbered V-L (first part), and I-XXXIII (second part).
Read moreLacaze-Duthiers, [F. J.] H. de
Three important, published works by Henri Lacaze-Duthiers, including a collection of proof copies and handwritten notes and corrections to one of them.
Paris, 1877-1885. Various sizes. 468 pp. [160, 220, 88]; 28 [8; 14; 6] lithographed plates, of which 22 hand-coloured. Preserved in a burgundy cloth covered clamshell box (30.4 x 25.2 x 9.2 cm) with printed label.
Read moreSand, M.
Manuscript of: Catalogue raisonné des lépidoptères du Berry & de l'Auvergne ( Cher, Indre, Creuse, Puy-de-Dôme, Cantal) ( France centrale) Deuxième Partie - Microlepidoptera.
Paris, E. Deyrolle [published edition], 1871-[shortly before] 1879. 4to (22.1 x 14.6 cm). [179] pp., followed by ca. 100 blanks. Original green half sheep over marbled boards. Printed label on front board. [AND] 12 pages of manuscript text pertaining to this work and in particular the preface. In a contemporary envelope [AND]. A signed letter (draft?) 92 pp. (folded), by the author on paper with his blind-stamp, directed to one of his correspondents.
Read more["JAM" (R. de Bouillé, Comte)]
[Original watercolour sketches of French landscapes]
[France], no place, no publisher, ca. 1863-1890. 13 oblong sheets (22.3 x 29.2 cm), all with fine watercolour paintings, either full-sized, or smaller, in a drawn rectangular frame. And one drawing on slightly smaller paper, more sketchy, in pencil.
Read moreFauché, B.
Histoire naturelle, botanique.
[France, unpublished, ca. 1850]. Folio (39.8 x 28.8 cm). Title page with polychrome title and vignette, heightened with gold; 15 tissue-guarded plates with watercolour images of fungi (1) and flowering plants with explanatory text leaves in fine calligraphy. Original full embossed and pebbled black calf; gilt-stippled board edges and fine gilt inner dentelles. Iridescent endpapers. Spine with five raised bands and gilt title; front board with gilt initials "B. F." (= Berthe Fauché); rear board with gilt vignette "Maison des Oiseaux". All edges gilt.
Read moreMacInnes, D.G.
A study of fossil Mammalia from East Africa [original manuscript].
Unpublished [n.d., but ca 1938.] 4to (26.0 x 20.4 cm). Original typed manuscript with 336 pp.; 143 original photographs in various sizes, and some original drawn maps. Full contemporary dark blue cloth with gilt title on spine.
Read more[Trade Catalogue]
Walking stick knobs and handles. [Original drawings]
France, unpublished, ca. 1880-1900. Folio (39.0 x 28.0 cm). 151 cards, each with one to four individual pencil or ink designs, mounted on 52 stiff paper leaves. Dark green limp cloth. Spine with blind-stamped rectangular compartments, central floral vignettes and title; front board with gilt and black ornamental border, rear board with large, black intricate, oriental vignette.
Read moreLeuba, [F.]
Monographie du genre Morchella. Traité au point de vue historique, botanique et chimique.
[Switzerland], unpublished, 1875. Folio (31.2 x 24.0 cm). Script title page with watercolour vignette, handwritten preface by the author, dated 15 Août 1875 (verso blank), 16 pp. of handwritten descriptive text; nine watercolour plates with script captions. Later half morocco over marbled boards. Marbled endpapers.
Read moreCapitani, F. di
Francesco di Capitani. [Manuscript design examples].
Roma, di Capitani, [ca. 1935]. Large, oblong cardboard binder with two metal pins. Folio (36.5 x 53.5 cm). 64 leaves with original drawings, of which 61 in full colour (crayon). Black morocco boards with embossed title and patterned pastedowns. Stiff brown endpapers.
Read more[Pattern book]
Musterbuch für Stahldruck.
Unpublished [n.d., but ca. 1890]. Folio (32.5 x 21.0 cm). Ca. 150 leaves with over 2,500 finely hand-coloured decorative transfers in Art Nouveau and romantic styles. Black blind half calf over black boards. Front board with original, neatly handwritten label.
Read moreVuijk, J.
[Original orchid drawings and descriptions]
Amsterdam, [unpublished], ca. 1950-1975. A huge collection of more than a thousand sketches, drawings (b/w line drawings in pencil or ink, and in [full] colour) of wild orchids, with additional annotations - in Dutch, with Latin names. On 376 leaves, including 41 partially or (near) completely in original watercolours. Preserved in contemporary folders, titled by the author.
Read moreLloyd, T.
Trevor Lloyd's sketchbooks of New Zealand.
New Zealand, ca. 1925. In two volumes. Folio (35 x 25 cm, and 36 x 33 cm). The first of white paper, with his name handwritten on the second leaf, and (68 groups of) illustrations, mostly on leaf rectos only, a few using both sides of a leaf. The second, largest, of brown paper, with his name written on the front cover. Inserted: one sheet of trace paper with pencil drawing, and 24 leaves with colour pencil sketches of New Zealand landscapes, and people.
Read moreEscher, M. C.
Escher Adventures in Perception. [With handwritten letter by Maurits Escher to Han van Gelder, who produced an Oscar-nominated film about the artist and his work].
Laren, the artist, 1970. Handwritten letter in black pen, dated "Laren, 27-XII-'70", written on a folded postcard featuring Escher's "Cycle", produced in 1970 by The Vorpal Galleries in San Francisco, CA.
Read moreVaillant, L. [L.] and M. [F.] Bocourt
Mission scientifique au Mexique et dans l'Amérique Centrale. Recherches zoologiques pour servir à l'histoire de la faune d'Amérique Centrale et du Mexique. Poissons.
Paris, Mission du Mexique et dans l'Amérique Centrale, 1874-[1915]. Large 4to (35.5 x 27.5 cm). Title to the Zoology section, title to part IV, half title to the ichthyology, [i ("avis"), 265 pp.; 31 plates, numbered 1-16, 1bis, 1ter, 5bis, 5ter, 5quat, 8bis, 9bis, 10bis, 10ter, 11quint (error for 10quint?), 11bis, 11ter, 11quat, 13bis, 13ter; all with original descriptive text leaves, of which 26 in fine chromolithography with additional hand-colouring; plates 1bis, and 1ter tinted, and plates 9bis, 10ter, and 10quint plain, as always. Printed wrappers to part IV, dated 1874, bound in. Contemporary half morocco over marbled boards. Spine with five raised bands, and gilt title. Marbled endpapers. Top edge gilt.
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