Forum Rare Books
@forumrarebooks
Rare book dealers from the Netherlands, specializing in books, manuscripts, prints, maps & other works on paper concerning Travel & Exploration, Islamic World, Natural History, Early Printing, Cartography, Science & Medicine, etc. www.forumrarebooks.com
Published in 1609, Bartolome Leonardo de Argensola's carefully researched "Conquista de las islas Malucas" is one of the most important works for history of Moluccas and Philippine islands in the early colonial period. Our copy comes in beautiful #binding and was once owned by Sir Thomas Phillips.
New on our website: the most luxurious of all Dutch Phaedrus editions. Published in 1701 by François Halma, it was especially made for the education of young Dutch Prince Jan Willem Friso of Nassau. Beautifully illustrated and splendidly bound. Find out more on our website. #rarebooks #bookbinding
Greetings from Australia! A few pictures of our stand (9) in Wilson Hall at University of #Melbourne. Tomorrow is already our last day. We'll be here from 10am to 4pm. Do drop by if you're in the neighbourhood! Curious about the books you see? Check our fair catalogue on our website. #rarebooks
New on our website: the most complete edition (Venice, Roberto Meietti, 1596) of the celebrated dialogues by Sperone Speroni (1500-1588), a major work of Italian #Renaissance humanism and one of the most influential collections of literary and philosophical dialogues of the 16th century. #rarebooks
Just 2 more days before the start of the Melbourne Rare Book Fair and here's a 1st highlight you can expect to find in Stand 9 in Wilson Hall at the University of Melbourne! Unrecorded issue of important 1590 edition of Dutch "deux aes" Bible, in a magnificent contemporary panel-stamped binding.
Our #bookoftheday was - partly - made into a hit movie by Christopher Nolan. This bilingual copy of the Illias was printed in 1650 by Johannes van Ravesteyn and bought that same year by Pieter Nuyts, a man who visited as many islands as Odysseus, but who was not as capable as the Greek hero, ... 1/2
In today's newsletter we present not 1, but 2 new catalogues! Both concern #Medicine & Pharmacy, and contain lots of recent acquisitions. This only edition (Lyon, 1532) of Symphorien Champier "Castigationes" is just 1 of many interesting rare books, manuscripts, prints, etc. included. #bookbinding
New on our website: the beautifully decorated graduation diploma awarded to Lucas Walkier by the University of #Padua , and kept in #fanfarebinding. The text is dated Padua, 22 February 1662 and signed (a.o.) by Claudius Berigardus Molinensis as Praeses, and Comes Hieronymus Frigimelica as Promotor.
We congratulate #Spain with their deserved win of the World Cup! Our #bookoftheday, naturally, had to be a Spanish one. This very nice #binding contains 2 works by Pedro de Nuñez de Avendaño. The first is one the earliest works on hunting and hawking written in Spanish, the other concerns law.
Another highlight for viaLibri's Virtual Showcase: this lovely edition of Jean-Ignace-Isidore Grandville's popular "Les fleurs animées", depicting flowers as women, was once part of the library of Duke Maximilian Joseph, father of Elisabeth, Empress of Austria, better known as "Sisi". #rarebooks
Coming up: viaLibri's Virtual Showcase (July 15-20)! First highlight from our stand: "Relaciones de Pedro Teixeira" (Antwerp, 1610), classic history of the kings of Persia and Hormuz, as well as one of the earliest Western books mentioning Qatar. In a beautiful armorial binding.
Our #bookoftheday is this celebrated typographical facsimile of so-called "Ventisettana", widely regarded as finest early edition of Giovanni Boccaccio's Il Decamerone. Produced in Venice in 1729 in strictly limited edition of approx. 300 copies, many of which were reportedly destroyed by fire.
New on our website: #firstedition of a beautifully illustrated account, by Abraham de Wicquefort, of Charles II of England's travels through the Netherlands, in 1661, after the death of Oliver Cromwell, on his way to regain the English Crown. Find out more on our website. #rarebooks
Here's something fun that's new on our website: Jeu des Paquebots! Remarkable example of early educational and geographic #boardgame, published by Charles #Watilliaux, Parisian games manufacturer who succeeded Coqueret in 1874.
As it is very hot right now, we're taking a bookish trip with arctic explorer William Edward Parry (1790-1855), because we want to read about attractive words like 'ice' and 'winter'. This is the 2nd, corrected, & autographed edition of the account of his voyage in search of the #NorthwestPassage.
Check our website for a full description of this beautiful piece of embroidery.
If you were Dutch, living in 1803, and wanted to know all there was to know about the world, you were in luck, as the 44th and final volume of the "Tegenwoordige staat", was published that year. We now offer a complete set with all 386 illustrations in our new Summer Catalogue! #rarebooks
Frankly, our Summer Catalogue contains nothing but highlights, incl. a few items you might not expect at an antiquarian book store, such as this exquisite example of a "Nanban byôbu", a type of Japanese folding screen depicting arrival of Europeans in Japan in late 16th- & early 17th centuries.
Now available: Summer Catalogue 2026! 75 recent acquisitions and highlights from our stock on Exploration, Travel & Voyages, incl. this classic account of Dutch Brazil and Dutch East Indies by renowned traveler, writer and artist Johan Nieuhof (1618-1672). Check our website for pdf-version.
Dominicus Baudius (1561-1613) was a French Neo-Latin poet, scholar and historian who taught at Leiden from 1603-1613 where he became friends with luminaries such as Justus Lipsius, Janus Dousa, Daniel Heinsius, and Hugo Grotius. (1/4)
Our #bookoftheday once belonged to János Nagyváthy (1755-1819), Hungarian pioneer of agricultural science. His name is written on an endpaper in this copy of #firstedition of Johann Friedrich Henckel's "Flora saturnizans", a study of the relation between plants and minerals. #rarebooks #science
Born ca. 1510, he studied arts in Milan and medicine in Bologna, but his temper and heterodox religious views repeatedly brought him into conflict with the authorities. All of his books were placed onto the Index. Who was he? 1/2
Our #bookoftheday is this classic series of fictional letters that examine conflicts that arise from differences in wealth and social status, especially as it affects courtship rituals, by the famous Dutch novelist and playwright Belle van Zuylen (1740-1805), also known as Isabelle de Charrière.
There's theologians and there's the Theologian. The latter is Gregory of Nazianzus (329-390 CE), one of the most influential Fathers of the Eastern Church. A highlight in our next short list Early Printing will be this #firstedition (Venice, 1536) of his "Orationes novem elegantissimae".
Before Nishi Amane (1829-1897) became the 'father of Western philosophy in Japan', he studied in Leiden, where he wrote the preface to the Dutch edition of Rudolf Lindau's account of Japan, which is part of our short list Asia Travel. More on our website. #rarebooks #nippon
In our next newsletter we will present 12 #travelbooks concerning #Asia, incl. rare 17th-century English edition of classic and partly fictional 14th-century account of travels of Sir John Mandeville through Turkey, Egypt, Ethiopia, Syria, Persia, Arabia, India and East Indies. More on our website.
It's on! Come visit our virtual stands at Vialibri's Showcase for 50 interesting #rarebooks and manuscripts, incl. this first Dutch edition (1733) of beautifully illustrated classical fables adapted by Antoine de la Barre de Beaumarchais, in sumptuous #binding by Three Acorn Bindery in Amsterdam.
Today, our #bookoftheday is actually two books, both in #manuscript, and both containing prayers in German. Both of these were produced at the end of the 18th century and both have interesting #bindings. Both are written in a very neat script, one by a man named Johann Karl Erbes,
After New York and London our next fair destination is a virtual one: the viaLibriVirtual Showcase (May 20-25). A first highlight is this fascinating #albumamicorum of Carl Gottlieb Heinrich from Bischofswerda, who entered the Dutch army in 1802 and later served in Batavia. More on our website.