ILAB Joins the Protest Against Amazon’s Bid to Control Top-Level Domain Names

Today, the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers has joined the numerous other organizations, such as the Authors Guild or the American Association of Publishers, objecting to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN’s) plan to sell top-level domains to private companies.  Online retail giant Amazon has bid to be the exclusive custodian of .book, .author and .read domains. Read more ...

Paris 2014 - 41st ILAB Congress

The ILAB and SLAM committees are very pleased to announce that the 41st ILAB Congress will run in Paris from the 13th to 16th April, 2014, to coincide with the 100th anniversary of SLAM. The Paris Congress will immediately follow the International Antiquarian Book Fair at the Grand Palais scheduled from 10th to 13th of April 2014. We hope that the very special  program that we have planned will attract numerous visitors to Paris and we are looking forward to meeting our new colleagues and welcoming old friends.

Anne Lamort, President SLAM, Tom Congalton, President ILAB

ILAB Patrons of Honour

ILAB is very proud to present Sir David Attenborough, Barry Humphries, René Fayt, Michael Knoche, Reiner Speck, Jay and Jean Kislak and Sid Lapidus as Patrons of Honour:

"Their commitment to the preservation of printed culture makes them our clients, our audience, and our inspiration, and very often all three. The paths that they have followed and the collections that they have formed are likely to have an extraordinary influence on the understanding of human culture for future generations."

16th ILAB Breslauer Prize for Bibliography

The 16th ILAB Breslauer Prize for Bibliography will be awarded in 2014 to one or more books about books published in any language and in any part of the world between 2009 and 2012. Publishers, librarians, collectors, antiquarian booksellers and all book lovers are very welcome to submit books to the prize until the end of April 2013 by sending a single copy to the Prize Secretary.

Support scholarship! Submit books to the most prestigious prize until April 2013!

The World’s Expert Antiquarian Booksellers - In 1 Book!

The new edition of the ILAB Directory contains all names, addresses and specialities of the ILAB dealers who are organized in 22 national associations and who are located in 32 countries all over the world. Have a look!

“Book collecting is and almost always has been a vibrant, exciting and engaging pastime"

"It’s our job to make others understand that.” An interview with ILAB President Tom Congalton about his career, his favourite books, Between the Covers, collecting, ILAB and the future of the trade. Read it!

ILAB Booksellers on Video

"A wonderful snapshot of the rich history of both the ABAA and the rare book trade" - ILAB is proud to present the video archive project by Michael Ginsberg and Taylor Bowie. Recently added: interviews with two amazing ladies: Marguerite Goldschmidt and Florence Shay.

"Out of the classroom and into the world" - ILAB Internships

ILAB has launched an internship program for young antiquarian book dealers. Alena Lavrenova, Anastasya Zhikhareva, and other young antiquarian booksellers from Russia, spent several weeks in Austria, Hungary, Germany, Netherlands, Australia and the United States. Read their exciting reports and join our new Facebook Group!

The World's Best Booksellers Met in Switzerland

From 22 to 26 September the presidents of 22 national antiquarian booksellers' associations and rare book dealers from all over the world met for their 40th Congress in Lucerne. Besides the meetings and elections on Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday, they climbed high mountains and dark caves and visited Switzerland's most outstanding museums and private collections. Read the online diary!

Old and Rare Books. From ILAB: the one stop FREE App for all lovers of rare books

The International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB)  has launched an ILAB Moile App which is now available in the Apple Store and the Android Market. Search for “ILAB rare books” or “International League of Antiquarian Booksellers” to find the free App ready to install on your phone.

GlossaryGlossary terms

• Bibliophile, Case, Copyright page, Crease, Illuminated, Morocco, Poor, Raised bands, Trade paperback, Typescript

CataloguesBook Catalogues

• List 2-2013

  

  Bookseller: Govi Alberto Libreria di Fabrizio Govi

  Specialties: Early printing, General Stock, Humanism, Old and rare books

  [+] More

Book FairsRare Books - Next Fairs

• Masterpiece London

  27 Jun 2013 - 03 Jul 2013

  

  Masterpiece London, perfectly situated at the peak of the capital’s summer season, brings together exhibitors from across the world renowned for specialising in art, antiques and design of...

  [+] More

• 

  40th Australian Antiquarian Book Fair (ANZAAB)

  26 Jul 2013 - 28 Jul 2013

  

  The Australian and New Zealand Association of Antiquarian Booksellers is proud to present its 40th Australian Antiquarian Book Fair, to be held from Friday July 26 to Sunday July 28 in the...

  [+] More

BooksellersAntiquarian Booksellers

• Antiquariaat A. Kok & Zn. B.V.

  

  Amsterdam - NETHERLANDS

  Specialties: Archeology, Architecture, Art, Botany

  [+] More

Rare Book Gallery

• Astronomicon

  MANILIUS

  Bookseller: Jonathan A. Hill, Bookseller, Inc.

  
  Roman letter, 72 leaves, 30 lines, five fine woodcut initials with a white interlaced branchwork design on a black ground. Guide letters for the... More
  Roman letter, 72 leaves, 30 lines, five fine woodcut initials with a white interlaced branchwork design on a black ground. Guide letters for the smaller initials. Small 4to (200 x 147 mm.), antique blindstamped calf (extreme inner margins of five or six leaves expertly & almost invisibly strengthened, verso of final leaf a little dusty). Nuremberg: Johann M?r of K?sberg (Regiomontanus), [ca. 1473-74]. First edition of the first printed book on astronomy; of the greatest rarity with only two other copies having appeared at auction in the last fifty years. "The work of Manilius was the main exemplar of that 'poetic astronomy' which exerted such a powerful influence on German humanist thought from Regiomontanus to Conrad Celtis and beyond."-Rose, The Italian Renaissance of Mathematics, p. 105. Regiomontanus envisioned the new invention of the printing press as one of the chief means of restoring mathematics and astronomy. It was this book and the others in Regiomontanus' publishing program with which he formally launched the renaissance of astronomy and mathematics, issuing the most important texts in edited and corrected editions. The Astronomicon describes the sphere, zodiacal and other constellations, great circles, comets, and astral influences on human beings. It put forward a number of sound astronomical hypotheses, especially relating to the nature of the stars, and became an important textbook, representing the most advanced views on astronomy of ancient Roman times. The text of the poem, composed in the first century A.D., had only recently been discovered when it received this, its first printing. This book was printed at the press of Regiomontanus, the foremost astronomer of the time, who established the first observatory in Europe, and was the first publisher of astronomical and mathematical literature. He had finally settled in Nuremberg after a career in Italy under Cardinal Bessarion and, more recently in Vienna, as librarian to Mathias Corvinus. The press was probably a private one and not a commercial office; it was the first scientific publishing house. Its output was limited to some ten titles, all issued within a year and a half, of which this is the only one to bear a full colophon. The type, apparently never used again, seems to have been cut in imitation of the smaller type of Sweynheym and Pannartz at Rome. It is amongst the most elegant of the early roman types used in Germany. This and the second edition (Bologna: ca. 1474) were printed from independent sources. The great modern editor of Manilius, A.E. Housman, considered this the more important textually and believed that Regiomontanus must have corrected the text himself as so many corrections are not to be found in any surviving manuscript (Housman, V, p. xvii). Neither of Manilius' other great editors, Scaliger and Bentley, knew of this edition, and so Regiomontanus' corrections were incorporated into the text only in the 20th century. This is an extremely rare book. As we have mentioned above, only two other copies have appeared at auction in the past fifty years. The ISTC-in-progress records only the Chapin, Harvard, Huntington, and Morgan Library copies in the U.S. Fine copy. 18th-century crowned stamp on outer margin of title and foot of final leaf. ❧ B.M.C., II, p. 456. Goff M-202. Klebs 661.1. Lalande, p. 9-"Le premier livre d'astronomie qu'on imprima." Stillwell, The Awakening Interest in Science during the First Century of Printing 1450-1550, 75. . Less
  
  

  Buy from:	abaa.org Biblio

  Price: 175000.00 USD

• THE IOURNALL, OR DAYLY REGISTER, CONTAYNING A TRUE MANIFESTATION, AND...

  Neck, Jacob Cornelissoon van:

  Bookseller: William Reese Company - Americana

  
  London: [Simon Stafford and Felix Kingston] for Cuthbert Burby & John Flasket, 1601.. [1],58,[4] leaves. Woodcut vignette of sailing ship on... More
  London: [Simon Stafford and Felix Kingston] for Cuthbert Burby & John Flasket, 1601.. [1],58,[4] leaves. Woodcut vignette of sailing ship on titlepage. Extra- illustrated with 19 engravings (numbered 1-3, 19, 4-18) from Van Neck's HISTORIALE BESCHRIJVINGHE (Amsterdam, 1619). Text and plates "inlaid to size," remargined to 9 1/4 x 6 3/4 inches. 19th-century mottled calf, double-fillet gilt border on boards, spine gilt in compartments, gilt leather label. Boards and spine slightly worn. Titlepage and extra- engraved plates fully attached to sheets; printed pages of text inserted in blank leaves in order to show recto and verso. Engraved plates annotated in ink with corresponding "page" (leaf, recto or verso) of text. Lacking the dedication leaf (paraph 2) and leaf Q4 (blank), pages shaved (with occasional slight loss of text in lower margin), rust hole in leaf P3 (affecting a few letters on recto), tear in leaf Q3 (repaired, not affecting text). Overall, a very good copy, with the 1860 engraved bookplate of the Library of the Earls of Macclesfield on front pastedown, shelf marks inscribed on verso of front free endpaper. Embossed stamp of the Earls of Macclesfield in upper extended margins of titlepage leaf and following two leaves of text. The first English edition of Van Neck's account of his 1598 voyage to the East Indies, translated from the 1601 Amsterdam edition of the author's HET TWEEDE BOECKE. The Dutch navigator, who represented the Verre Company, commanded three ships which were part of the first successful Dutch trading voyage to the region. The other two ships were commanded by Wybrand Van Warwijck and Jacob Van Heemskerk. Van Neck's vessel became separated from the other two after rounding the Cape of Good Hope, and the three did not reunite again until his arrival in Java in late December 1598. Unlike his Dutch predecessor, Cornelis Houtman, who three years earlier had seized the port of Bantam, Van Neck dealt diplomatically with the natives. "Rather than rejecting the inflated prices asked by the local ruler, he offered to pay over the odds in order to cement a lasting relationship...Van Neck's was the most profitable of the pre-VOC [Dutch East India Company] voyages. Despite the apparently high price paid for spices, he netted a profit of 300 per cent on his overall costs. In 1601, fourteen fleets comprising sixty-five ships sailed for the East Indies, but by that time competition between rival Dutch operators, as well as with the Portuguese, had inflated prices and none were as successful as Van Neck's first enterprise" - Howgego. While focused on activity in the East Indies, EUROPEAN AMERICANA notes that the text includes references to Brazil and tobacco from the West Indies. Van Neck's account was popular throughout the first half of the 17th century and was reprinted and translated into German and French as well as English. It also appeared in collections of voyages such as those by De Bry, Hulsius, and Colijn. This extra- illustrated copy includes nineteen engraved plates from the Amsterdam 1619 edition of Van Neck's HISTORIALE BESCHRIJVINGHE published by Michiel Colijn. The images are mounted on separate sheets and bound in the book at the appropriate portion of the text. The engravings are annotated in ink, indicating the appropriate page (i.e. recto or verso of a specific leaf) related to the image. A rare book on the market. Prior to this copy from the Macclesfield sale in March 2007, the last copy previously available was sold at the Boise Penrose sale in 1971. Both EUROPEAN AMERICANA and STC record only two copies in the U.S., at the Huntington and NYPL, the latter noted as imperfect. EUROPEAN AMERICANA 601/66. STC 18417 (noting quires A-G printed by Stafford, paraph 2 and quires H-Q printed by Kingston). TIELE-MULLER, p.144. HOWGEGO N13. Less
  
  

  Buy from:	Biblio

  Price: 75000.00 USD

• ITINERARIO, VOYAGE OFTE SCHIPVAERT...NAER OOST OFTE PORTUGAELS...

  Linschoten, Jan Huygen van:

  Bookseller: William Reese Company - Americana

  
  Amsterdam: Cornelis Claesz, 1596 - 1595 - 1596.. Three parts bound in one volume (parts two and three bound in reverse order in this copy). Text in... More
  Amsterdam: Cornelis Claesz, 1596 - 1595 - 1596.. Three parts bound in one volume (parts two and three bound in reverse order in this copy). Text in double columns. [8],160; 134,[4],135-147,[8]; 82,[1]pp. plus a total of six folding or double-page maps, thirty- six folding or double-page plates, and a single-page portrait of Linschoten. Folio. Contemporary vellum, elaborately tooled in gilt, spine with gilt compartments, silk ties, yapp edges. Recased, with new endpapers. Maps and folding plates with some occasional slight chipping or splits at folds, repaired on versos in some cases. Occasional tanning or foxing. Overall, a handsome copy, brilliantly colored. In a chemise and half morocco and cloth slipcase, spine gilt. A remarkable copy of the first edition of the most important description of the East Indies in the Age of Discovery, with beautiful early hand-coloring and in a handsome contemporary vellum binding, likely a special presentation copy. Linschoten's work was of tremendous importance, as it unlocked the secrets of Asian trade routes, once the exclusive domain of the Portuguese, for the rest of Europe Jan Huygen van Linschoten (1563-1611) a Dutchman born in Haarlem in 1563, had an "avaricious thirst for knowledge which enabled him to get detailed information of land and sea as far afield as the Spice Islands and China" (Penrose). Linschoten travelled to Goa in 1583 as a clerk of the newly- appointed Portuguese Archbishop of Goa. He made a few trips into India, compiling notes on his experiences, gleaned information on sea routes from Portuguese sailors, and collected information from other sources as well. Linschoten left India in 1589, hired as a pepper factor for the Fugger and Welser interests, where he learned about the organization and administration of the spice trade. Returning to Holland in 1592 (after a two-year stay in the Azores), he prepared his notes for the Amsterdam publisher, Claeszoon, in response to interest in the Netherlands and other European countries about commercial possibilities in Asia. As trade in the Far East was dependent on routes via America or Africa, his work eventually encompassed the entire globe, including Spanish and Portuguese activities in America. Linschoten's practical experience lent authenticity to his work, and it remains one of the most important of all travel books. Linschoten's ITINERARIO... and the two other works published in 1595 and 1596 (which should properly be found together, as here) soon was considered the single most significant source regarding the East and West Indies and numerous editions were published in Dutch, Latin, French, German, and English. Klooster describes the work as "a magnificent panorama of pictures and maps of the non-European world. ITINERARIO contained so much detailed and accurate information about shipping lanes, winds, and currents, that seafarers could use it virtually as a handbook. Many of his maps were in fact copies of the excellent models of the Portuguese cartographer Fern?Vaz Dourado." It was the most comprehensive account of the East and West Indies available at the beginning of the 17th century. As well as including important travel accounts taken from contemporary Portuguese, Dutch, and Spanish sources, it is the first work to include precise sailing instructions for the Indies, and, according to Church (and other authorities), "it was given to each ship sailing from Holland to India." The second section, REYS-GHESCHRIFT VANDE NAVIGATIEN..., was published in 1595, a year before the ITINERARIO..., and is bound last in this copy. The text gives detailed sailing directions for the East Indies, as well as for Brazil and the West Indies. The third part (bound second in this copy) gives an account of America on pages 17-82, especially the coastal regions, and includes information on the African coast as well. It is found here in its first state (see Church), and was published in 1596. The maps include van Langren's maps of the East Indies and South America (including the Caribbean and Florida), and the double- hemispherical world map of Plancius dated 1596 (Shirley 192). The marvellous plates include scenes of Asia, particularly Java, China, and India. Several of the plates depict activities in Goa, including a wonderful panoramic view of the market, while other plates depict Portuguese travellers on land and on sea. Linschoten's is an important work that served not only as a valuable record, but also as a catalyst for change in the balance of power amongst European trading nations in the east: "the navigator's vade mecum for the Eastern seas" (Penrose). When Linschoten returned from Goa to his home in the Netherlands, he did so at a time when the people of northern Europe and particularly his countrymen were especially interested in what he had to report concerning the trading activities of the Portuguese in the East. His most important and far- reaching observations concerned the gradual decline of Portuguese power in the East and her ability to protect her trade routes and monopolies. This, together with the trading possibilities he detailed, encouraged a series of Dutch, French, and English fleets to set sail for the Spice Islands, and beyond to China and Japan. Lach says that Linschoten's description of Goa is "one of the most original and reliable narratives prepared during the sixteenth century on life at the hub of Portugal's Eastern empire and still is regarded as one of the best sources for Goa's history at the peak of its glory....The original edition...contains a number of excellent maps, three of which are of great value for the study of Asia. These maps, which are much better and more detailed than earlier printed maps, were clearly derived from the latest and best Portuguese charts of the Eastern oceans and sea coasts" - Lach. Parry calls Linschoten's work "a journal of human adventure and observation, an uplifting story that appeals on many levels." "Fine copies of this work with all the maps and plates are extremely rare" - Church catalogue. A work of tremendous consequence and importance, here in a handsome copy with lovely contemporary hand- coloring. EUROPEAN AMERICANA 596/63 & 596/64. JCB I, pp.343-345. SHIRLEY 192, 182. SABIN 41356. TIELE 84-87. KLOOSTER, DUTCH IN THE AMERICAS, p.8 & catalogue item 5. David E. Parry, THE CARTOGRAPHY OF THE EAST INDIAN ISLANDS, p.84-85. CHURCH 252. HOWGEGO L131. BORBA DE MORAES, pp.486-487. WAGNER, NORTHWEST COAST 184. Lach, ASIA IN THE MAKING OF EUROPE, volume 1, pp.198-204 & 482-489. Less
  
  

  Buy from:	Biblio

  Price: 275000.00 USD

• William Congreve and the development of rocketry: unique archive of...

  Congreve, William

  Bookseller: Jeremy Norman's Historyofscience.com

  

  Congreve, William (1772-1828). Unique collection of materials by and relating to rocketry pioneer William Congreve, including the following (for... More

  Congreve, William (1772-1828). Unique collection of materials by and relating to rocketry pioneer William Congreve, including the following (for our full description of the collection, including a calendar of documents in the archive, please contact us or download the PDF available on our website under the Rare Books tab):

  (1) Archive of 116 manuscripts, including Congreve's diary of the 1807 Copenhagen bombardment, 30 other manuscripts relating to Congreve war rockets and other military matters, 22 love letters from Congreve to his wife, and 27 manuscripts relating to Congreve's financial affairs. 1803-1869. Preserved in a cloth drop-back box.

  (2) Bound volume of 2 printed pamphlets by Congreve on his rocket system, as follows: [1] A concise account of the origin and progress of the rocket system. . . . [6], 29pp. London: J. Whiting, 1807. [2] Speculation as to the principles of the flight of rockets, with a view to determine the precise effects of the stick . . . 8pp. Text diagrams. N.p., 1807. Together 2 items, 4to. 229 x 188 mm. 19th cent. boards, rebacked, endpapers renewed. Minor stains on blank flyleaf. Small library stamp of King's Inns Library, London on verso title and last leaf.

  (3) Bound volume of 7 printed pamphlets by Congreve on his rocket system, as follows: [1] A concise account of the origin and progress of the rocket system . . . [6], 32, [2]pp. London: J. Whiting, 1810. Second edition. [2] Postscript to the concise account of the origin and properties of the rocket system. 15pp. London: J. Whiting, 1808. [3] The different modes of use and exercises of rockets, both for bombardment and for the field. 20pp. 4 engraved plates. London: James Whiting, 1810. [4] Detail of a plan for attaching to cavalry regiments a proportion of rocket artillery, with case shot . . . 10pp. 2 folding engraved plates. London: James Whiting, 1809. [5] General view &c. General view of a complete course of experiments proposed to be tried . . . for the investigation and organization of the rocket system . . . [caption title]. 24pp. N.p., n.d. [1807 or after]. [6] Memoir on the possibility, the means, and the importance, of the destruction of the Boulogne flotilla . . . [2], 34, [2, blank]pp. London: J. Whiting, 1806. [7] Explanation of the plan and intention of the project mortar boat [caption title]. [9]-11pp. Folding engraved plate. [London]: Whiting, November 1807. Together 7 items in 1, 4to. 222 x 177 mm. Tree calf ca. 1810, rebacked preserving original gilt spine and leather label, small scratch on back cover; preserved in a cloth drop-back box. Engraved bookplate of Ernst Augustus, Duke of Cumberland and later King of Hanover (1771-1851), brother of George IV and head of the Hanoverian army, in which Congreve held the commission of lieutenant colonel.

  (4) Congreve. A treatise on the general principles, powers, and facility of application of the Congreve rocket system as compared with artillery. . . . 4to. 84 [i.e., 80]pp. 12 engraved folding plates. London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green, 1827. 277 x 211 mm. Quarter morocco, marbled boards in period style; preserved in a cloth drop-back box. Minor foxing to some plates, occasional faint offsetting from plates. From the library of historian of rocketry and space travel Frederick I. Ordway III, with his bookplate.

  (5) Beatson, Alexander (1759-1833). A view of the origin and conduct of the war with Tippoo Sultaun; comprising a narrative of the operations of the army under the command of Lieut.-General George Harris, and of the siege of Seringapatam. 4to. xxiii, 265, clxxii pp. Engraved frontispiece portrait and 5 folding plates (1 hand-colored), 2 folding printed tables. London: G. & W. Nicol, 1800. 268 x 218 mm. Mottled calf gilt ca. 1800, spine and corners worn, chip in lower spine, hinges cracked. Moderate foxing and toning, some offsetting from plates. From the library of Frederick I. Ordway, with his bookplate.

  (6) Grant. Rocket practice in the marshes. Hand-colored aquatint engraving. Woolwich: J. Grant, 1845. 343 x 460 mm. Matted. From the collection of Frederick I. Ordway III, so labeled on the back of the mat. Fine.

  No. (1) is the most significant archive extant of manuscript materials by and about the prolific English inventor and technologist William Congreve and his family. Congreve is best known for creating the first rocket weapons system and initiating the modern processes of research and development in rocketry. Our archive extends over six decades, from 1803 to 1869. No other archive or collection held by individuals or institutions compares to it.

  Frank Winter, rocketry historian and author of the leading book on the history of the Congreve rocket, The First Golden Age of Rocketry (cited here as Winter 1990), cites in that work one manuscript at the British Library (titled "A second century of inventions," BM MS. 38844) and three letters dated 1785, 1810 and 1813. OCLC records a manuscript at Princeton dated 1794-1800 and titled "Exercises and manoeuvres for two light six pounders, or two heavy 3 pounders of General Desagulier's construction"; it is not stated whether the manuscript is in Congreve's hand. OCLC records a "Signed list of ammunition needed for a particular service," dated July 6, 1793, in the collection of the Pierpont Morgan Library (it is possible that this last was actually written by Congreve's father, who was head of the Royal Arsenal). These are, as far as we know, the only recorded manuscripts relating to William Congreve apart from our archive.

  Included in our archive are letters and manuscripts covering William Congreve's career in rocketry. The most notable of these is his diary of the 1807 Copenhagen bombardment, which represents the first truly successful large-scale use of the Congreve war rocket in combat. Other noteworthy manuscripts include a signed draft and a fair copy of a "Report to the Commissioners of the Navy" dated October 1813, in which Congreve summarized his war rocketry activities from 1805 to 1813; a letter dated November 1813 relating to "the expense, or rather the economy of the Rocket System"; bills for materials used in rocket construction; an undated letter to a Captain Elliot discussing the subject of a "rocket cavalry"; letters discussing a plan of "applying Rockets for throwing ropes ashore from shipwrecked vessels"; and letters in which Congreve writes of his achievements and his attitude towards his work. The archive also contains manuscripts and letters relating to some of Congreve's other inventions: naval guns, bombships, and Congreve's design for a paddlewheel boat, which is detailed in a long letter illustrated with Congreve's sketches. Also included are a long series of love letters that Congreve wrote to his wife, Isabella, and another series of long, detailed letters written to Congreve during the last few months of his life by his secretary, R. Drake, discussing, among other things, Congreve's political career as a Member of Parliament, his precarious financial position, the publication of his Treatise on the General Principles, Powers, and Facility of Application of the Congreve Rocket System (1827), and negotiations with the British East India Company for exclusive rights to the Congreve war rocket for use in India.

  A calendar of all the documents in the archive can be had from us upon request.

  Nos. (2) and (3) contain a total of nine papers constituting the nucleus of Congreve's publications on rockets, beginning with his proposal for the attack on Boulogne and finishing with somewhat revised versions of his first expositions of the rocket system. A bound collection identical to our no. (3) is held at the Naval History Center of the U.S. Navy Department Library; this suggests that Congreve had a few collections like these made, most likely for presentation. Our collection bears the bookplate of Prince Ernst Augustus (1771-1851), fifth son of George III; he was made Duke of Cumberland in 1799, and in 1837, with the death of his brother William IV, he became King of Hanover. Ernst Augustus no doubt figured largely in Congreve's sphere, both as the brother of the Prince of Wales, whose patronage Congreve enjoyed, and as the head of the Hanoverian army, in which Congreve was awarded a commission in 1811.

  No. (4), A Treatise on the General Principles, Powers, and Facility of Application of the Congreve Rocket System, contains the fullest account of Congreve's rocket system. It is the only one of his works to contain illustrations of the Congreve rocket system in use. The plates depict the use of the rockets in various military situations: by rocket cavalry and infantry, in bombardment from earthworks, in the attack and defense of fortresses, from boats and ships, etc. Letters referring to the book's publication can be found in the Congreve archive.

  No. (5), Beatson's View of the Origin and Conduct of the War with Tippoo Sultaun, is an account of the fourth Anglo-Mysore war (1798-99), in which Indian troops under Tipu Sultan of Mysore (1750-1799) were defeated by the British East India Company under Sir Arthur Wellesley (later Duke of Wellington). Tipu, together with his father, Hyder Ali, developed the tactic of using rocket brigades to launch mass attacks on infantry formations. These rocket attacks, used during both the third and fourth Anglo-Mysore wars, so impressed the British forces that they brought several examples of Indian gunpowder rockets back to England; these provided Congreve with the inspiration to develop his own system of war rockets.

  No. (6), a hand-colored aquatint engraving published by R. Grant, shows British Army war rocket practice using a rocket launcher mounted on a tripod. The image was used as an illustration in the Army and Navy Register and Woolwich Gazette for 1845.

  Less
  
  

  Buy from:	Biblio

  Price: 125000.00 USD