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HEADLAND, Robert Keith.

A Chronology of Antarctic Exploration: A synopsis of events and activities from the earliest times until the International Polar Years, 2007–09.

[London], Quaritch, 2009. Folio (300 x 210 mm), pp. 722; blue cloth; dust-jacket. A historical chronology of all Antarctic regions compiled during 25 years at the Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge, by its former Archivist. This book lists the voyages to the far southern parts of the Earth, in particular to Antarctica, from those directly engaged in exploration and research, to sealers and whalers exploiting its resources, to those accidental discoveries made by early merchants blown off course. The record begins in 700 BC and continues to the present. Detailed entries for expeditions and related historical events provide a thorough and useful guide to the history of the Antarctic and its surrounding territories. A comprehensive introduction describes its evolution and structure. Maps and plates are included to show the development of knowledge of the far south, the locations of places mentioned in the text, and events of several selected expeditions. ISBN 978-0-9550852-8-4

RENNIE, Neil.

Pocahontas, Little Wanton: myth, life and afterlife.

[London], Quaritch, 2007. 8vo (215 x 140 mm), pp. xii, 209, with 12 full-page illustrations (one folding); title printed in red and black; blue cloth, pictorial dust-jacket. Pocahontas – meaning ‘Little Wanton’ or playful one – is famous for something she may or may not have done four hundred years ago: rescue the English colonist John Smith from execution by her father, Powhatan, the Indian paramount chief of the Virginia area. Pocahontas, Little Wanton investigates the legendary rescue and separates the known facts of her life and death in England from the myths about her. The book then follows the posthumous history of her story, as it is told and retold over the centuries by historians, dramatists, poets, novelists and film-makers who formed her into an American national icon, repeatedly rescuing the colonial Englishman from the indigenous Indian. Pocahontas, Little Wanton is the first book to combine an account of her brief life with the history of her long, ambiguous afterlife, as an American Indian heroine. Neil Rennie is a Reader in English at University College London. He has written Far-fetched facts: the literature of travel and the idea of the South Seas (1995) and edited R. L. Stevenson’s In the South Seas. He is currently working on a history of real and imaginary pirates. ISBN-13: 978-0-9550852-6-0

STODDARD, Roger.

Jacques-Charles Brunet, Le Grand Bibliographe. A guide to the books he wrote, compiled, and edited and to the book-auction catalogues he expertised.

[London], Quaritch, 2007. 8vo (220 x 140 mm), pp. xiii, 90, with 21 illustrations (two coloured); title printed in red and black; blue cloth, dust-jacket. As an undergraduate in Brown University Roger Stoddard operated a second-hand bookshop from his dormitory room, issuing modest catalogues while working for Goodspeed’s Book Shop in the summer months. From 1958 until 1961 he assisted William Jackson, Librarian of the Houghton Library, and from 1961 until 1965 he served as Assistant Curator, then Curator of the Harris Collection of American Poetry and Plays in Brown University. In 1965 he was called back to Houghton Library where he has held various titles, retiring on 31 December 2004 as Senior Curator in the Houghton Library, Curator of Rare Books in the Harvard College Library, and Senior Lecturer on English. On 15 December 2004 he was appointed Associate of the English Department, and he continues to practice bibliography and to publish from his carrel in the book stack of the H. E. Widener Memorial Library. Works in progress include bibliographies of American poetry printed 1610–1820, William A. Alcott, Albert Cossery, and Andrée Chedid. Stoddard’s interest in the great French bookseller-bibliographer, Jacques-Charles Brunet (1780–1867), goes back to his undergraduate days, when, he writes, ‘I sought out Lawrence C. Wroth, Librarian of the John Carter Brown Library, who agreed to accept me as a student in Bibliography for a semester. Each week I would be assigned some classic work, compose a brief essay about it, and present myself for instruction by the master. One week the assignment was Brunet’s Manuel, the book I had dreamed of finding. Brunet offered guidance to all books, it seemed to me: everything you looked for was there to find. Eventually, I would learn to depend on his accuracy, but at first it was the inclusiveness of his selection that amazed me. When I went to the Houghton Library as an apprentice, I consulted Brunet so frequently that my boss, William A. Jackson, moved the book from his office into mine. A few years later . . . I began to collect Brunet for myself and to describe copies of his books when I traveled. I learned a lot that I wanted to share, so I made a bibliographical catalogue . . . ’. ISBN-13: 978 0 9550852 3 9.

JACOBSON, Ken.

Odalisques & Arabesques: Orientalist Photography 1839–1925.

[London], Quaritch, 2007. 4to (285 x 250 mm), pp. 308, with over 500 illustrations, including 85 full-page tritones; dark brown cloth, pictorial dust-jacket. Profusely illustrated, this is the most comprehensive survey to date of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century photography of the Middle East and North Africa. Using Orientalist painting as a counterpoint, it primarily relates the extraordinarily rich visual documentation of the peoples and cultures of the ‘Orient’. Many of the photographs reproduced here have never been published before. Biographies of more than 90 photographers are given, with details of their various identifying marks, allowing now the correct attribution of works that have hitherto been anonymous or misattributed. ISBN: 978-0-9550852-5-3

PAYNE, Anthony.

Richard Hakluyt. A guide to his books and to those associated with him, 1580–1625.

[London], Quaritch, 2008. 8vo (210 x 150 mm), pp. [iv], 116, with 18 full-page illustrations; pictorial card wrappers. In this guide various approaches to Hakluyt’s books are suggested under a number of interrelated headings – his patronage and connections; Italian and French influences; his use of illustration and his presentation of texts; his intentions; and his impact and readership. It is hoped that it will aid a broad appreciation of Hakluyt’s work and the nature of his achievement, notably that his part in the publication of over twenty-five travel books marks a contribution to travel literature far beyond the Principal navigations . . . and discoveries of the English nation for which he is chiefly famous. Extensive notes are provided to indicate further primary and secondary references and, finally, there is a bibliography of the books by or otherwise associated with Hakluyt published between 1580 and 1625. ISBN: 978-0-9550852-7-7.

ACOSTA, José de.

The naturall and morall historie of the East and West Indies. Intreating of the remarkeable things of heaven, of the elements, mettalls, plants and beasts which are proper to that country: together with the manners, ceremonies, lawes, governments, and warres of the Indians. Written in Spanish by Joseph Acosta, and translated into English by E. G.

London, printed by Val. Sims for Edward Blount and William Aspley, 1604. Small 4to (190 x 135 mm), pp. [viii], 590, [14], [2, blank]; both blanks (A1 and b4) present; old repair affecting A1; contemporary calf, gilt; finely rebacked preserving original spine; with two old ownership inscriptions, of ‘J. Strange’ (one dated 1633), on title, and the bookplate of William Charles de Meuron, seventh Earl Fitzwilliam (1872–1943) on inner paste down. First English edition. A ‘remarkable book. It was both a more thoughtful and a more thorough account of the Indian world than anything then available. Its novelty, of which Acosta was justly proud, is apparent even from the title. The idea of a “moral history”, a history, that is, of mores – of customs – was an unusual one in the sixteenth century. No one, as Acosta was at pains to point out, had ever attempted to write a true “history” of the Indians, though there had been accounts of the origin and growth of the Spanish colonies which included a (usually cursory) glance at the indigenes . . . . Of all the vast literature on the Indies during this period Acosta’s Historia was perhaps the only work which contemporaries recognised as having broken new ground’ (Pagden, The fall of natural man: the American Indian and the origins of comparative ethnology pp. 149-57).To indicate yet another facet of this exceptional work, mention can be made of Acosta’s description of mountain sickness, ‘Acosta’s disease’, experienced by him while crossing the Peruvian Andes.This English translation is the work of Edward Grimeston, made from the French version of 1598 or 1600 rather than the Spanish of 1590. It ‘made available much new information, both geographical and philosophical, to English readers [and] important and rational ideas conerning the origins of the American Indians were revealed . . . . Acosta used geographical and faunal data . . . to reinforce the theory of Indian entry into America via a strait or land bridge linking it with Asia. His ideas had a profound impact on later English writers on the subject such as Strachey, Brerewood and Purchas’ (Steele p. 17).Alden 604/1; Church 328; Cordier, Japonica 120; Garrison & Morton 2244; Sabin 131; Sommervogel I 35; STC 94; Steele 1.

[FISHERY.]

A collection of 10 manuscript documents concerning the capture of a whale in Davis Straits in June 1788. Dated between 7 June 1788 and 27 January 1789.

Manuscript documents, with dockets; old folds. A letter from the owners of the Lord Hood of Dunbar,Thomas Meik, Charles May, Robert Cunningham, and G. Nelson., to Messrs. John Wadrington of Newcastle, dated 19 September 1788. The Sarda is accused of having taken a whale by unfair means that properly belonged to the Lord Hood. In it, Messrs. John Wadrington are asked to ‘employ an attorney in whom you can confide, to investigate, this matter to the bottom and it is our own opinion that the privatlyer he goes to work so much the better, as the Master & crew of the Sarda will be on their guard if they at first hear that an action is to be taken’. It further mentions that enclosed are copies of:The declaration of Alexander Downie, harpooner onboard the Lord Hood, dated 3 September 1788.The declaration of William Liston, Specksoneer of the ship Raith of Leith, dated 6 September 1788.Remarks taken from John McKenzie’s journal while Master of the Lord Hood, dated 7 June 1788 ‘in Davie’s Streights Lat. by . . . 17°35N’. As well as another extract from McKenzie’s journal.Two copies (one rough, one fair) of extracts from each of the above accounts, as well as that of Jacob Hays of the Ann & Elizabeth of Whitby.The correspondence continues with a letter, dated 7 November 1788, from the owners of the Lord Hood to Messrs. Wren & Airey of Newcastle, giving them further details of the case against the Sarda. They state ‘it really appears to us to be a matter of doubt whether we will be able to establish a proper claim to the fish in question, the whole depends on you being able to draw something out of the Sarda’s crew to effectuate this. We are resolved not to enter into an expensive litigation, without knowing the footing we have to stand on’. The declarations of the Captain and harpooner of the Raith of Leith is enclosed with this letter.The collection ends with a letter from Wren & Airey, dated 27 January 1789, stating: ‘The evidence stated we fear will not be sufficient to support an action against the Sarda. Though it is sufficient to convince us the fish belonged to the Lord Hood. We fear the crew of the Sarda will be very well taught what answers to give in case any enquiries are made which they must be aware of’.

[TAIWAN AGRICULTURE.]

Brunner, Bond & Co. (Japan) Limited. Agricultural Advisory Department. Reports on agriculture in the Japanese empire. Report No. Taiwan 1. Subject: An investigation of conditions in Formosa with special reference to agriculture. Reference: by E. J. McNaughton. Dated '27th January, 1930'.

4to (280 x 220 mm), ff. [3], 3, 151, [1], 3, 8, [1], 5 typewritten text, with 24 maps and charts, 39 gelatin silver prints on 14 leafs, and a folding map of Taiwan; contemporary blue cloth; corners slightly bumped. A detailed analysis of Formosa and its agricultural potential executed by Brunner, Mond & Co (Japan) Ltd., founded in 1920 as a selling company.Provenance: Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI), London, owners of Brunner, Mond & Co from 1926.

[TABLE BAY, 1827.]

Port instructions for Table Bay.

[1827.] 410 x 320 mm, single leaf printed newsletter; old folds; fine condition. Rare. A printed newsletter containing information, instructions and signals for ships entering Table Bay in Cape Town by day and by night.

[AMERICAN NAVY.]

The American Navy with an introduction and descriptive text. Reproductions of photographs. [with] Cuba and the wrecked Maine with introduction and descriptive text. Reproductions of photographs. [and] The Hawaiian Islands 'The paradise of the Pacific'. Reproductions of photographs.

Chicago, Geo. M. Hill & Co., 1898. Three works bound in one as issued, oblong 4to (195 x 260 mm), pp. [iv], [48, photographic reproductions]; [iv], [50, photographic reproductions]; [iv], [62, photographic reproductions]; original blue and red pictorial cloth. First editions. These works were issued to celebrate the American Navy. As is explained in the introduction to The American Navy, ‘some have thought the United States rather behind the times, but this error will be dispelled by the illustrations and explanatory text [of this publication]’ (p. iii).

GRINKE, Paul.

From Wunderkammer to Museum.

[London], Quaritch, 2006. 4to (250 x 190 mm), pp. 112, with black and white illustrations; originalgrey cloth. This is a revised and illustrated edition of our 1984 catalogue of early books on cabinets of curiosities and collecting, written by Paul Grinke, who has added a new preface and a selective bibliography of books on the subject published since 1970. New. ISBN: 0 9550852 0 9

AUVERMANN, Detlev, and Anthony PAYNE.

The Society of Jesus 1548–1773.

[London], Quaritch, 2006. 4to (250 x 190 mm), pp. [192], with numerous black and white illustrations; blue cloth, pictorial dust-jacket. This is a catalogue of books by Jesuit authors and works relating to the Society of Jesus published between 1548, when Ignatius of Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises was first printed, and 1773, when the Society was suppressed. It includes an historical introduction by Alastair Hamilton, Arcadian Visiting Research Professor, Warburg Institute, University of London. Originally issued as our Catalogue 1226 in 1996, The Society of Jesus has been unobtainable for many years and has become sought after as a reference work. To meet this demand it has now been reprinted, in hardback, in an edition of 200 copies. ISBN-10: 0 9550852 1 7.

BENNETT, Terry.

Old Japanese photographs. Collectors' data guide.

[London], Quaritch, 2006. 8vo (260 x 185 mm), pp. 308, with over 200 illustrations; blue cloth, pictorial dust-jacket. Designed as a useful and practical reference guide to the history of photography in Japan from its beginnings until 1912, this presents the results of important new research and a mass of data gathered from long-forgotten and largely inaccessible nineteenth-century sources. It should become an indispensable source of information for collectors and others interested in the subject, be they curators, historians, dealers or auctioneers. Significant features are the identification of over 4000 photographs by studio, the indexing of over 350 photographers and publishers of Japan-related stereoviews, reproductions of nineteenth-century periodical literature on Japanese photography and numerous studio advertisements of the period, as well as important material on early photographers drawn from Masonic archives. Terry Bennett, acknowledged as one of the world’s leading authorities on the subject, has been collecting, researching and lecturing on nineteenth-century Japanese, Chinese, and Korean photography for twenty-five years. His books include Caught in Time: Great Photographic Archives, Japan (1995, with Sir Hugh Cortazzi), Early Japanese Images (1996), Korea: Caught in Time (1997), Japan and the Illustrated London News 1853–1899 (2006), and Photography in Japan 1853–1912 (2006). He is currently working on a book on early Chinese photography. ISBN-10: 0 9550852 4 1; ISBN-13: 978 0 9550852 4 6.

[HOUSMAN, A. E., and A. W. POLLARD.]

A.E.H. A.W.P.: a Classical Friendship.

[London], The Foundling Press and Bernard Quaritch, 2006. 8vo (250 x 145 mm), pp. 68, [4]; blue cloth. Printing in full for the first time five letters from the poet and classical scholar A. E. Housman to A. W. Pollard, Keeper of Printed Books at the British Museum, this explores a friendship that was both intimate and formal. The story told by the book’s editor, H. R. Woudhuysen, begins with the exuberance of brilliant undergraduates at Oxford. Yet Housman’s mysterious failure to gain even a pass degree condemned him to a decade’s drudgery before he could take up academic life once more. In the meantime he contributed translations to Pollard’s Odes from the Greek Dramatists, and Pollard crucially suggested the title for his book of poems, A Shropshire Lad. Bibliographical exchanges follow, before Housman’s final short letter movingly harks back to Oxford days and reveals at last a lifelong emotional commitment. The edition is limited to 350 numbered copies, letterpress printed, with a tipped-in facsimile of Housman’s last letter to Pollard. ISBN-10: 0 9519182 7 3.

QUARITCH, Bernard, and Michael KERNEY.

The Spanish Letter of Columbus . . . A facsimile of the original edition published by Bernard Quaritch in 1891. With an Introduction by Felipe Fernández-Armesto and essays by Martin Davies on Pere Posa and the printing of the Spanish Columbus Letter at Barcelona in 1493 and by Anthony Payne & Katherine Spears on Quaritch, the Spanish Columbus Letter, and America 1890–1892. Edited by Anthony Payne.

[London], Quaritch, 2006. Small folio (350 x 255 mm), pp. li, [3], 33, with 10 coloured illustrations and a reproduction of the original Columbus Letter; title printed in red and black; blue cloth, pictorial dust-jacket. 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. The version of it which the London bookseller Bernard Quaritch bought in 1890 and sold in 1892 was and is, by common acclaim, the most valuable item of printed Americana ever to have appeared on the market. No other copy of this, the earliest edition, a folio printed in Spanish at Barcelona in 1493, is known. Samuel Eliot Morison, the enormously influential scholar who long occupied the chair of American history at Harvard, called it ‘the single most important document on the discovery of America’. Quaritch and his able assistant, Michael Kerney, were responsible for an enduring contribution to scholarship, producing in the Spanish Letter of Columbus – republished here in an edition limited to 500 copies – the first authoritative study of the document. But, as Felipe Fernández-Armesto recounts in his Introduction, it nearly got dismissed as a forgery. Quaritch’s Spanish Letter of Columbus, appearing in the thick of contention and in the midst of forgeries, was therefore more than just the usual bookseller’s publicity material. It was an important piece of scholarly claim-staking on behalf of a genuine text against unwarranted assertions. Despite some errors – most of which were the result of assumptions common at the time or deficiencies of knowledge unremedied until later – Quaritch’s Spanish Letter of Columbus did its job effectively. It demonstrated, correctly, that the folio in question was printed at Barcelona in 1493 and that all other known editions of the Columbus Letter followed it. This was a service to his firm and to the Lenox Library (now part of the New York Public Library), which purchased the item – and to the whole world of learning, which has been able, ever since, to return with confidence to a precious and intriguing text: the first piece of printing to reveal to the Old World the existence of the New. Besides Felipe Fernández-Armesto’s extensive Introduction, this new edition of Quaritch’s Spanish Letter of Columbus includes an account of the printing of the original Spanish Columbus Letter in 1493 and, drawing on materials surviving in the Quaritch Archive, the story of how Quaritch, and his son, Alfred, marketed it in America. Felipe Fernández-Armesto is Prince of Asturias Professor in the Department of History at Tufts University and a Professorial Fellow of Queen Mary, University of London. For work on maritime history and related subjects he won the Caird Medal of the National Maritime Museum, the John Carter Brown Medal, and the Premio Nacional de Investigación of the Sociedad Geográfica Española. His books include Columbus (1991), The Times Atlas of World Exploration (as general editor, 1991) and, in 2006, The Pathfinders: a Global History of Exploration and Amerigo: the Man who Gave his Name to America. Martin Davies was formerly Head of Incunabula at the British Library and is the editor and translator of Columbus in Italy: an Italian Versification of the Letter on the Discovery of the New World (1991). ISBN-10: 0 9550852 2 5.

BASTA, Giorgio.

Govierno de la cavalleria ligera . . . Traducido del lenguaje Toscano en Español por Pedro Pardo Ribadeneyra, entretenido por su Magestad en los Estados de Flandes, y dirigido al excelentissimo Señor Don Gaspar de Guzman, Conde de Olivares, y Duque de San Lucar la Mayor.

Madrid, Francisco Martinez, 1641. 8vo (210 x 145 mm), pp. [xxiv], 142, [18]; contemporary speckled calf; spine gilt in compartments; extremities a little rubbed; a very good copy. Second edition: this translation was first published in Brussels in 1624. A treatise on the management and use of light cavalry originally published in Italian (Venice, 1612). Basta, who commanded the Holy Roman Emperor’s troops during the Long War of 1591–1606, wrote a number of military manuals. This, one of his best known works, was posthumously published following his death in 1607.Palau 25366.

SARMIENTO DE GAMBOA, Pedro.

Viage al Estrecho de Magallanes por el Capitan Pedro Sarmiento de Gambóa en los años de 1579 y 1580 y noticia de la expedicion que despues hizo para poblarle.

Madrid, Imprenta Real de la Gazeta, 1768. Small 4to (215 x 165 mm), pp. lxxxiv, 402, [2], XXXIII, [1, blank], with three folding plates; two unobtrusive, old stamps on verso of title (see below for provenance); an excellent, untrimmed copy in contemporary vellum, with original ties and the title lettered in ink on spine. First edition: very rare. The first printing of Sarmiento’s manuscript journal in the Royal Library at Madrid, edited by Don Bernardo de Iriarte. An English translation is found in Clements Markham, Narratives of the Voyages of Pedro Sarmiento de Gambóa, Hakluyt Society, 1895 (pp. 1–205, 352–75).Sarmiento, ‘one of the most remarkable men of his age; perhaps the last in whom the ardent and indomitable spirit of the Conquistadores burned in all its ancient power’, had sailed as Mendaña’s captain on the expedition which discovered the Solomons in 1568. In 1579 he was ordered by Francisco de Toledo, Viceroy of Peru, to intercept Drake, who had penetrated the Pacific, and to ‘carry out a detailed exploration of the Straits, including all entries into them, so that all pirates’ holes should be stopped; he was to prepare charts and sailing directions and to note the most promising places for settlements and especially for fortifications, and to take formal possession wherever he landed. After entering the Atlantic, one ship was to be sent back to Peru with despatches (reports should also be sent overland from La Plata), while Sarmiento himself was to go on to Spain to report to the Council of the Indies and the King. This program was faithfully executed: Sarmiento’s descriptions of the Straits themselves and their tangled western approaches were extemely detailed, many of his names surviving: the monument to this part of his work is the towering Mount Sarmiento, so named by Robert Fitzroy’ (Spate I pp. 265–6).The expedition was the ‘first direct voyage from Peru to Spain, and in Toledo’s view the expected fortification of the Straits would provide a more economical trade route between the two, by cutting out the Isthmus portage, and would enable the endless wars in Chile to be more efficiently supported. Moreover, Sarmiento’s careful sailing directions were to meet with very appreciative recognition by Fitzroy and King, more than two centuries later. But the immediate sequel was to see the utter wreckage of his hopes’, as is recounted in the harrowing tale of Tomé Hernández, the only survivor of the settlement established by Sarmiento at Rey Don Felipe (or Port Famine as it was aptly named by his rescuer, Thomas Cavendish), which is printed as an appendix to the present book. ‘So ended Sarmiento’s dream: the last great Spanish action in those regions, and either the most useless and tragic in the annals of the sea or the apex of Spanish heroism, according to choice’ (ibid. pp. 268–76).Provenance: Antonio Pascual de Borbón (1755–1817), with his stamp, showing the letters ‘S.D.S.Y.D.A.’ enclosed within a crowned wreath, and that used by the three Infantes, Fernando (later Ferdinand VII of Spain), Antonio (same as above) and Francisco, while in exile during the Napoleonic occupation of Spain.Hill 1526; Medina BHC 482; Palau 302364; Sabin 77094.

[ARMY LIST, 1792.]

A list of the officers of the army and marines, with an index; a succession of colonels; and a list of the officers of the army and marines on half-pay. Also with an index. The fortieth edition.

[London], War Office, 1792. 8vo (210 x 130 mm), pp. [ii], 22, 25–53, 70–159, 198–277, 276*–277*, [278]–299, cols. 300–398, pp. 399–438; contemporary tree calf, gilt, with morocco label on spine (slightly chipped); joints cracked. The 1792 edition of the annually issued Army list. It lists the officers in the British Army by rank, regiment and garrison. Many of those named in this issue would go on to serve during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.Provenance: This copy with the bookplate of Francis Longe of Spixworth Park, Norfolk. The Longe family crest of a seated lion holding a saltier is engraved on the front and back covers. Francis Longe (1748–1812) held the position of high sheriff from 1786. The text includes several annotations recording subsequent status changes (for example, promotions).

COMFORT, Sim.

Naval swords and dirks. A study of British, French and American naval swords, cutlasses and dirks during the age of fighting sail.

[London], Sim Comfort Associates, 2008. 2 vols, large 4to (290 x 230 mm), pp. xvi, [ii], 223, [1, blank]; [225]–540, [6]; original cloth with white pictorial dust-jackets; blue-cloth slipcase, gilt. First edition: number 93 of 750 copies. Naval swords and dirks reflects the weapons that a naval officer and his men would have used to gain their fame and is written as a companion to both Boarders away and Swords for sea service. The object is to provide a number of colour images for each of 174 British, 21 French and 33 American hangers, cutlasses, officers’ swords and dirks. Included are fine images of hilts, but also all makers’ scabbard cartouches and details of blade design and marks. In addition, the text provides a lively commentary by a collector written for fellow collectors and curators which includes a detailed description of each piece, and biographical information to the many provenanced swords. A Glossary and comprehensive Index are also provided.It includes a supplement, titled The relics of Captain Robert Cuthbert: the surviving commander of HMS Majestic, under the fleet command of Admiral Lord Nelson, the Battle of the Nile, 1 August 1798 (16pp. bound in green wrappers).

MENDOZA, Bernardino de.

Theorica y practica de guerra, escrita al Principe Don Felipe nuestro señor.

Antwerp, Emprenta Plantiniana, 1596. 8vo (190 x 120 mm), pp 175, [5]; leaf I with small burn hole affecting a couple of letters in the text; some very faint dampstaining affecting last few leaves; contemporary vellum; spine chipped with a little loss; small ink stain to front cover, but overall an attractive copy. First published in Madrid in 1595, this is the second edition of Mendoza’s celebrated military treatise. Intended as a manual for the instruction of the young prince (the future Philip III), to whom it is dedicated, the author describes the work as a condensation of all he had read and experienced in more than thirty years’ service. ‘Its smooth and pleasant style and its absence of theoretical speculation or technical charts made the work ideally suited for this task. Apparently, the work was also intended to influence the military policies of the future king, for Mendoza often calls on the monarch to improve and reform Spain’s armies’ (F. González de Leon, ‘ “Doctors of military discipline”: technical expertise and the paradigm of the Spanish soldier in the early modern period’, The Sixteenth Century Journal, 1996, 27:1, p. 76).Mendoza, the third son of Don Alonso, the third Count of Coruña, studied at the University of Alcalá de Henares before entering the army. He served in North Africa, Malta, and the Netherlands, and from 1567 to 1583 as captain and lieutenant general of the cavalry in the Duke of Alba’s forces. In 1574 he became Philip II’s ambassador to England and, from 1584, to Paris, where he played an important role in the French Religious Wars. He retired to the Monastery of San Bernardo in Madrid having lost his eyesight in 1591.Provenance: Jesuit College of San Ermenegildo in Seville, with an ownership inscripion and library stamp on the title, and with the later stamp of Paulino Vigón on the verso of the title.Cockle 580; Palau 163696.

NELSON, Horatio.

An autograph letter, signed, to Major-General William Anne Villettes. Dated 'Victory, April 18th 1804'.

240 x 190 mm, pp. [3]; Villettes’ docket on verso, reads ‘Lord Nelson 18th April 1804, Answered 18th May’; old folds, slightly dust-soiled. This letter is not recorded in Nicolas’s The dispatches and letters of Vice Admiral Lord Viscount Nelson (7 vols: 1845–1846) or White’s Nelson: the new letters (2005). Written while commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean, a period of Nelson’s life which White describes as ‘by far the most important period in his professional career, during which he demonstrated his abilities as an all-round commander better than at any other time’ (White p. 294), this letter illustrates his management of the war in the Mediterranean, with its attendant diplomatic and intelligence gathering requisites.Villettes, a Swiss born British Army officer whom Nelson had earlier described as ‘a most excellent officer’ (Nicolas I p. 393), was then based in Malta (1801–1807) and was commander-in-chief of the military forces in the Mediterranean. He and Nelson had been friends since 1794 when the two had participated in the siege of Bastia in Corsica, the former in charge of the military forces and the latter the naval command.In response to Villettes’ letters of 17 and 18 March, which include an extract from a letter by Hugh Elliott, British minister at Naples from 1803 to 1806, Nelson states that he would be unwilling to order an attack on Alexandria. He notes Russia was likely to enter the war soon (which it did in April 1805), making the neutrality of Naples, Sicily and Sardinia untenable, and noting that under such circumstances Villettes would be called upon to aid Naples. He also comments on the French naval and military force being gathered in Toulon and suggests that its likely object was Egypt.‘In the early nineteenth century there was no central naval intelligence service. Commanders-in-chief established their own local networks based on personal contacts, and the information gathering of their scouting ships. It is still a little-known area of naval history and, to date there has been very little in the way of detailed academic study of the fascinating, but necessarily rather shadowy, subject. One of the problems confronting historians hitherto has been the paucity of primary source material and this has applied to Nelson as much as to any of his contemporaries. As a result, this important aspect of his work, especially during his time as the Mediterranean commander-in-chief, has hardly featured at all in the various biographies’ (White p. 368). The regular correspondance Nelson maintained with Villettes was part of his information gathering system and this letter provides a good example of how such a system worked.Not in Nicolas, The dispatches and letters of Vice Admiral Lord Viscount Nelson or White, Nelson: the new letters.

O'BRYEN, Christopher.

Naval evolutions: or, a system of sea-discipline; extracted from the celebrated treatise of P. L'Hoste, professor of mathematics, in the Royal Seminary of Toulon; confirmed by experience; illustrated by examples from the most remarkable sea-engagements between England and Holland; embellished with eighteen copper-plates; and adapted to the use of the British Navy. To which are added, an abstract of the theory of ship-building; an essay on naval discipline, by a late experienced sea-commander; a general idea of the armament of the French Navy; with some practical observations.

London, printed for W. Johnston, 1762. 4to (260 x 210 mm), pp. viii, 90, [2], with 18 folding plates; contemporary mottled calf, gilt; corners slightly worn; rebacked, preserving old spine. First edition. ‘The first book on tactics in the English language . . . . Translated extracts from Hoste’s book amounted to about a quarter of the younger O’Bryen’s work. The experience of the Seven Years War may have tended to discredit Hoste’s approach, or at any rate the kind of battle tactics derived from it, but there were, no doubt, British officers who regretted the absence of a tactical manual in English. The extracts from Hoste, covering part of the elementary sections at the start and most of the battle sections at the end, were probably those considered most useful for British officers . . . . The plates were redrawn from the originals and to the same scale. Hoste’s Théorie de la construction des vaisseaux was also abstracted by O’Bryen’ (Tunstall, Naval warfare in the age of sail pp. 123–4).The ‘Essay on naval discipline’ was probably written by the author’s father, also Christopher O’Bryen. He had been made post in 1713, commanding the 60-gun Rippon at Cape Passaro, before entering the Russian navy in 1739. The essay ‘is of considerable value to the historian because it discusses current thought and practice’. ‘If we assume that the selection of incidents over half a century old in the essay make it rather an anachronistic effort, it becomes difficult to account for its reappearance in 1767. On the contrary, it would seem that the 1762 book was well received, and that this was not entirely due to its wretched presentation of Hoste, with whom many British officers must by then have been familiar, especially after the second edition of 1727. Past events, even half a century old, were relevant to the study of tactics because the matériel of navies had changed so little’ (Tunstall pp. 124, 125).Adams & Waters 2150; NMM V 736; Sommervogel IV 480.

[SIEGE OF GIBRALTAR, 1780.]

A view of Gibraltar, with Sir George Brydges Rodney coming to its relief, & bringing with him five men of war, part of Don Juan de Langara's fleet, captured off St Vincent in his way to that garrison, on the 16th of January 1780. To his Royal Highness Prince William Henry, Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, this plate, representing a scene the result of an action so advantageous and honorable to his country, and in which signal service his Royal Highness sustained so a glorious a share, is, by permission, most humbly and respectfully dedicated, by Robert Wilkinson and Robert Pol...

London, R. Wilkinson & R. Pollard, 1 June 1782. 570 x 770 mm, engraving; a fine example with wide margins. A fine view of Gibraltar, drawn by the marine painter Dominic Serres and engraved by Robert Pollard. It depicts the British garrison, with Rodney’s squadron at anchor and several of Admiral Langara’s Spanish fleet, which had been captured during the celebrated ‘Moonlight battle’.In 1779, Spain had entered the American War of Independence against Britain with the direct aim of capturing Gibraltar and had soon sent an army to besiege the British garrison there. The following year it was decided that a naval squadron under Rodney should be sent to relieve Gibraltar. ‘Though some ministers (Sandwich in particular) were sceptical, the British public was deeply persuaded of the value of Gibraltar (and Minorca which depended on it), and the ministry felt obliged to give it a high priority’ (Rodger, Command of the ocean p. 343). The expedition was an outstanding success. ‘On 7 January 1780, off Finisterre, Rodney largely captured a convoy of sixteen Spanish ships and a few days later, off Cape St Vincent, he met and, in the famous Moonlight battle, comprehensively defeated Admiral Langara, the Spanish commander. Rodney’s force was much superior to Langara’s but the nature of the battle, a night attack in heavy seas with an immediate order by Rodney to chase, marked the aggressive approach that Rodney habitually brought to his actions. Six of the nine Spanish ships were captured and one was blown up’ (Oxford DNB). Gibraltar was relieved and Britain’s sea command in the Mediterranean was secured.

[ROWLANDSON, Thomas.]

English manners and French prudence or French dragoons brought to a check by a Belvoir leap. A scene after nature near Ciudad Rodrigo September 1811. Obstupuere omnes!

London, H. Humphrey, 25 November 1811. 250 x 365 mm, coloured engraving. An English hussar officer,Lord Robert Manners, ‘holding his sabre against his shoulder, takes a flying leap across a stream, looking composedly over his left shoulder at French mounted soldiers, whose horses have checked at the stream. He says “Adieu Messieurs”. The foremost Frenchman cries “Sacrebleu!!!”, the others “Mais comment?”; “Quel diable d’anglois”; and “Est il possible” ’ (BM).It commorates a celebrated incident in the 1811 Ciudad Rodrigo campaign in which Manners, surprised by a French cavalry picket, was pursued to a brook. This he successfully cleared, taking off his hat and saying ‘Adieu Messieurs’. Southey, in his History of the Peninsular War, recalls the event, stating that Manners ‘might probably have been taken, if his horse, being English, and accustomed to such feats, had not cleared a high wall [in fact a stream, as in the engraving], and so borne him off’ (Southey, III p. 321).Manners, a talented horseman, ‘was an extra Aid-de-Camp and an intimate friend of the Duke of Wellington, under whom he served throughout the whole Peninsular War. His Lordship received a severe wound at Waterloo, which he concealed until the close of that “glorious and well-fought field” . . . . He attained the rank of Colonel in 1821, and that of Major-General in 1830’ (‘Obituary’ in Gentleman’s Magazine, January 1836, p. 89). He later followed a political career as MP for Cambridgeshire.BM, Catalogue of political and personal satires 11743. Not in Ogilby.

[EASTLAKE, Charles Lock.]

Napoleon Bonaparte as he presented himself at the gangway of his Majesty's ship Bellerophon, in Plymouth Sound, in the month of August 1815. Engraved by Charles Turner.

London, published by Charles Lock Eastlake, June 1816. 765 x 530 mm, mezzotint. ‘Brilliant proof, before any inscription’ (Whitman). Eastlake, the only British artist to paint Napoleon from life, studied the French emperor during his captivity on the Bellerophon. ‘Every evening, with a friend named Shepheard, he went out in a small boat, as did thousands of others, to watch Bonaparte make his regular appearance at the starboard gangway: “I hope, but for the object I have had in view (that of getting a likeness of him), I should not have paid him that respect which more than one visit implies; and notwithstanding his dignified appearance, I can see him yet reeking with the English blood that has been lately shed”. Seeing Eastlake at work, Bonaparte held his pose at the gangway and sent ashore a uniform and decorations for the young artist’s use. The first finished portrait, a small full-length, made a “rumpus” in Plymouth and, on being taken aboard the Eurotas, received the approbation of one of the subject’s aides: “Le portrait de l’empereur Napoléon exécuté par Mr Eastlake est le plus rassemblant que j’ai vu, et capable de donner une idée parfaite des habitudes du corps de S.M.” ’ (Robertson, Sir Charles Eastlake and the Victorian art world p. 6).It is from this version of Napoleon Bonaparte on board the Bellerophon in Plymouth Sound that Charles Turner engraved this mezzotint (see Robertson p. 250), which was published on 26 June 1816 by Eastlake with a dedication to the Prince Regent. Our copy is what Whitman refers to as a ‘masked’ proof, ‘that is to say, after the metal plate had been inked, a strip of paper was laid over the inscription space, previous to the impression being printed, so as to make the impression appear as a proof before lettering. These masked impressions are usually so choice that there is little doubt they were, in most cases, the first taken after the subject was finished, and before the inscription place was cleared, probably to be submitted for approval to the painter, or to the owner of the plate’ (Whitman pp. 27–28).Whitman, Charles Turner 397.

 
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