First Latin edition and an internally excellent copy of this account of Asia and the Middle East, which along with Polo, formed one of the few eyewitness sources for Asia from the Middle Ages: According to Lach, in its French redaction (Fleur des histories d’Orient), it formed an important source..... More

Very rare first edition of this eyewitness account: “the first European book devoted exclusively to China” (Lach, I.1, p. 330). This highly important work, the first printed book published in the West on the subject, served as the primary source on China for European authors and their readers - most..... More

Rare first Venetian edition (appearing in the same year that the first Italian-language edition was published in Rome) of the Spanish Augustinian Juan Gonzalez de Mendoza’s (1545-1618) groundbreaking treatise on China, a work considered “the most comprehensive and popular book on Ming China to appear in Europe” (Lach, I.ii, p...... More

Rare first edition and the first and rarest of this series of Portuguese-language reports from missions overseas, with a decided emphasis on Asia. Separately issued in 5 publications over a period of 8 years, the first volume appeared in 1603 and the last concluded in 1611. Because the individual volumes..... More

Rare first German edition of this influential Jesuit letterbook from China describing Matteo Ricci’s acceptance at the court of Peking and marking a shift in European perceptions of China from “a view of China as seen from Macao to a view of China from within.” (de Paula Nogueira, p. 426)..... More

Rare first French edition of the earliest written eyewitness account of Japan, by the adventurer, pirate, missionary and mercenary who was among the first Europeans to visit that country. In 1537 Mendes Pinto (1509?-1583) began a 21-year odyssey to the East. Although his reliability has been questioned almost since the..... More

Stunning copy of this "important and influential history of the Ottoman Empire, based on an important collection of source material, which includes Leonard of Chios letter on the fall of Constantinople, Spandugino's account of Ottoman life and manners, and the accounts of Giovio, Menavino, Barletius and others.- Atabey 1088 The..... More

The very rare third, enlarged, and best edition of Bartoli's L'Asia descritta. This work was intended to cover the Jesuit experience in the Far East, including Japan and China since the Order's first arrival there in the mid-sixteenth century. The volume on China appeared just before Kircher's China illustrata, and..... More

Extremely rare first edition of this ephemeral pamphlet documenting the royal audience of the Siamese embassy to France in 1686/7. The arrival of three Siamese ambassadors in northern France in the summer of 1686 caused a great deal of consternation in the popular sphere: illustrations of the embassy were frequently..... More

First edition of one of the first French works on commerce in Russia, including a noteworthy early map of Alaska. “Extremely detailed and worth studying” (Lada-Mocarski). Describing Russia’s contemporary situation, government, and both domestic and international trade, the book includes tables of all exports—from caviar to gingerbread—and “comptes simulés”—sample receipts..... More