Recent Acquisitions
October 22nd, 2024
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A note on OCLC
As is now the norm, OCLC counts are tentative, at best, as we recognize that searches using different qualifiers will often turn up different results. Searches are now further complicated by the vast numbers of digital, microfilm, and even print-on-demand copies, which have polluted the database considerably, making it difficult, without numerous phone calls or emails, to determine the actual number of tangible copies. Hence, even though the counts herein have been recently checked, most all should be taken as a measure of approximation.
1. [Alembic Press.] Papermaking in Nepal. Winchester: Alembic Press, 1984.
$175
Edition limited to 110 copies (this, no. 74), 7½" v 5½", pp. [12] on double leaves; one page with short tear in margin (not touching any letterpress), all else fine in original decorative paper wrappers. Hand set in Kennerly by Claire Bolton and printed with an Arab treadle platen on Nepali paper.
"This article by Robert Smith, Director of UK Committee of UNICEF, first appeared in July 1984 issue of Woman and Home and is reprinted here with permission in aid of UNICEF."
2. The Serpent power being the Ṣaṭcakra-nirūpaṇa and pādukā-pañcaka; two works on laya-yoga, translated from the Sanskrit, with introduction and commentary by Arthur Avalon (Sir John Woodroffe). Sixth edition. Madras: Ganesh & Co., 1958.
$500
Large 8vo, pp. xiv, [2], 529, [1], v, [1],184; 16 plates, some in color; fine copy in original red pictorial cloth stamped in black on upper cover and spine, and in a fine dust jacket.
John George Woodroffe (1865-1936) also known by his pseudonym Arthur Avalon, "was a British Orientalist whose extensive and complex published works on the Tantras, and other Hindu traditions, stimulated a wide-ranging interest in Hindu philosophy and yoga" (Wikipedia).
3. Oriente poliano. Studi e conferenze tenute all'Is. M.E.O. in occasione del VII centenario della nascita di Marco Polo, 1254-1954. Roma: Istituto italiano per il Medio e Estremo Oriente, 1957.
$150
First edition, 4to, pp. [4], 236, [4]; partially unopened; title page printed in red and black; 15 plates; fine in original cream wrappers printed in red and black.
Twelve papers on Marco Polo, about half in English and the others in French, German, and Italian. These include: L.C. Goodrich, Westerners and Central Asians in Yuan China. -- K. Enoki, Marco Polo and Japan. -- L. Olschki, Marco Polo, Dante Alighieri e la cosmografia medievale. -- E.H. Schafer, A fourteenth century gazetteer of Canton. -- A. Mostaert, Le mot Natigay/Nacigay chez Marco Polo. -- E. Haenisch, Die Schriftfrage im mongolischen Ostreich. -- K.A.N. Sastri, Marco Polo on India. -- B. Spuler, La situation de l'Iran à l'epoque de Marco Polo. -- É. Balazs, Marco Polo dans la capitale de la Chine. -- R. Wittkower, Marco Polo and the pictorial tradition of the marvels of the East. -- L. Hambis, Le voyage de Marco Polo en Haute Asie. -- P. Demiéville, La situation religieuse en Chine au temps de Marco Polo.
4. [Bible in Mandarin & English, N.T., Gospels, John.] The Gospel according to Saint John. Mandarin and English. Shanghai: British and Foreign Bible Society, 1932.
$125
8vo, pp. [2], 93, [1]; parallel text with English and Mandarin on facing pages; original limp maroon cloth stamped in blind; vertical crease, light wear, else very good. Early ownership signature of J. A. Heady.
Not found in OCLC.
5. A Lenape-English dictionary. From an anonymous MS. in the archives of the Moravian Church at Bethlehem, Pa. Edited, with additions by Daniel G. Brinton ... and Rev. Albert Seqaqkind Anthony. Philadelphia: Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 1888.
$175
4to, pp. [8], 236; portrait frontispiece, original red cloth, title gilt direct on spine, t.e.g., uncut; original red cloth, gilt-stamped spine; spine sunned, else near fine, sound, and clean. Bookplate of Wesley Reinhold Hiller.
The original manuscript is attributed inconclusively to C. F. Dencke. Volume 1 in The Pennsylvania Student's Series.
6. Simla past and present. Bombay: The Times Press, 1925.
$150
Second edition, 8vo, pp. [6], viii, 342, [2]; frontispiece portrait, second frontispiece, 2 maps (1 folding), and many illustrations from drawings and photographs on 95 plates; small rubberstamp on the front pastedown of Ames India Library, bookplate removed, with their sticker removed from base of spine and pocket removed from rear pastedown; all else very good and sound in original pictorial brown cloth, gilt-stamped spine.
7. Through the jade gate and central Asia. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1927.
$135
First American edition, 8vo, pp. xvi, 304; large folding map, frontispiece, and 12 illustrations from photographs on 11 plates; top corner of front free endpaper clipped away, else a near fine copy in original green cloth stamped in red on upper cover and spine, and preserving a fair original pictorial dust jacket with breaks at the folds, pieces missing at the edges, and old tape repairs on recto and verso, but with no loss of text.
This is the first of at least nine books co-authored by this pair of intrepid travelers. And while the jacket isn't the greatest, it's apparently very uncommon.
"Two of three missionary ladies of China Inland Mission describes their journey in 1923, from the heart of China to Kansu and across the Gobi desert to Turkestan and thence home through Siberia" (Yakushi).
This edition not noted by Yakushi, but see Yakushi C03a for the London edition of the same year.
8. Overland to China. London & New York: Harper & Bros., 1900.
$225
First edition, 8vo, pp. xi, [1], 464, [1]; frontispiece portrait, plates, illustrations in the text, 4 folding color maps; very good in original blue cloth gilt, slight wear to edges, ownership inscription on recto of the frontispiece (partially showing through), one folding map bound into gutter improperly and not openable without possible damage; clean and sound.
Colquhoun (1848-1914) was a British explorer and the first Administrator of Southern Rhodesia. In the 1880s he took part in several exploratory expeditions to Burma, Indo-China and southern China, for which he was awarded the 1884 Founder's Medal of the Royal Geographical Society. This book concerns his travels on a return trip to China in connection with railway negotiations, and in 1898 and 1899 he traveled by train through Siberia, eastern Mongolia, and through China from north to south.
Not in Yakushi. See Howgego IV, p. 197.
9. Journey to Lhasa and central Tibet ... Edited by the Hon. W. W. Rockhill. New edition. London: John Murray, 1904.
$250
8vo, pp. xvi, 368; 2 maps, one a large folding color map with short tear entering from the guard and another short tear at one fold (no loss), 4 folding color plans, frontispiece, 34 illustrations from photographs on 31 plates; original red cloth, gilt-stamped spine; binding slightly dull, ding in the fore-edge of the upper cover; all else good, sound, and clean.
"Das, a Pundit of the Indian Survey, explored the area between North Sikkim and Lhasa during the years 1879 to 1881 and reached Lhasa in 1881. Reports first printed as 'Narrative of a Journey to Lhasa in 1881-82' in 1885, and 'Narrative of a Journey round Lake Yamdo (Palti) and in Lhakha, Yarlung and Sakya in 1882' in 1887" (Yakushi).
Yakushi D55 noting the first edition of 1902 with only 6 plates and almost 100 fewer pages.
10. A friend in need, 1857; friendship forgotten, 1887. An episode in Indian Foreign Office administration. London: Indian Political Agency, 1890.
$750
First edition, 8vo, pp. xvii, [3], 148; portrait frontispiece and 5 other portraits, and a folding color map; original pictorial blue cloth gilt-stamped on upper cover and spine; front hinge cracked, lower free endpaper excised, the binding a little shaken; all else very good and clean. Bookplate of Augusto Dias Coi
"An analysis of the relations that existed between the governments of Nepal and British India. In 1857 the troops sent by the Nepalese king contributed to suppressing the mutiny in India. This was gracefully acknowledged by the crown and assured the king of Nepal of friendship unforgotten. In 1887 when the ruling house was usurped and the family made refugees in India the British Indian Government failed of offer any aid to the ruling family of Nepal" (Asian Educational Services).
Yakushi D239.
11. Lepcha land or six weeks in the Sikhim Himalayas ... Photographs by P. and F. Donaldson. London: Sampson Low Marston & Company, 1900.
$250
First edition, 8vo, pp. xii, 213, [1]; 24 plates, 82 illustrations in the text; original pictorial blue cloth stamped in black, gray and white, in gilt on spine, t.e.g.; edges rubbed, the binding a little shaken and the front hinge starting; a good copy, internally clean.
Yakushi D285: "Journal of an extensive tour in Sikkim in 1891."
12. The Tibetan book of the great liberation or the method of realizing Nirvāṇa through knowing the mind, preceded by an epitome of Padma-Sambhava's biography and followed by Guru Phadampa Sangay's teachings according to English renderings by Sardar Bahādur S.W. Laden La and by the Lāmas Karma Sumdhon Paul, Lobzang Mingyur Dorje, and Kazi Dawa-Samdup. Introductions, annotations and editing by W.Y. Evans-Wentz ... With psychological commentary by C.G. Jung. London, New York, Toronto: Geoffrey Cumberlege, Oxford University Press, 1954.
$400
First edition, 8vo, pp. lxiv, 261, [1]; color frontispiece and 8 plates; fine copy in original green cloth stamped in gilt on upper cover and spine, preserving the printed dust jacket which is price-clipped, but approaches fine.
Walter Yeeling Evans-Wentz (1878-1965) "was an American anthropologist and writer who was a pioneer in the study of Tibetan Buddhism, and in transmission of Tibetan Buddhism to the Western world, most known for publishing an early English translation of The Tibetan Book of the Dead in 1927" (Wikipedia).
13. Storia della spedizione scientifica italiana nel Himalaia, Caracorum e Turchestan cinese, 1913-1914. Con capitoli aggiuntivi di Giotto Dainelli e J.A. Spranger. Bologna: Zanichelli Editore, [1979-81].
$150
3 volumes, small folio, pp. [18], 180; [171]-397, [1]; [387]-533, [1]; 323 illustrations from photographs, 24 panoramas (5 in rear cover pocket), hydrographic sketch, topographic sketches, index, 3 folding maps in rear cover pocket; original black cloth, red and gilt labels on spines; except for the fact that "Volume Fuori Commercio" ('out of commerce') is oddly whited out on the title page of volume III, all else is fine.
Reprint of the 1924 edition of Filippi's Storia della Spedizione Scientifica Italiana nel Himalaia, Caracorùm e Turchestân Cinese (1913-1914), for which see Yakushi F73.
.
14. Travels in Koordistan, Mesopotamia, etc. With sketches of the character and manners of the Koordish and Arab tribes. London: Richard Bentley, n.d.
$500
First edition, remainder issue; 2 volumes in 1, 8vo, pp. viii, [iii]-ix, [1], 382; 477, [1]; 2 engraved frontispieces; recent terracotta cloth, most of the original gilt-stamped spine preserved and laid down; sound and clean.
"Contains much detailed information about places, ancient sites, scenery, and, above all, peoples —Turkmans, Gīlānīs, Kurds, and Arabs—almost unknown to the West" (iranicaonline.org).
15. The peerless 100-year Chinese-English calendar 1894-1948. San Francisco: [Calmar Printing Company, 1924].
$300
First edition, 8¼" x 5¼", pp. [8], 100, [4]; text in English and Chinese, printed in black and red; red printed paper wrappers backed in red cloth; light creasing to wrappers, else fine.
The traditional Chinese calendar operates on a sexagenary cycle and is not easily translated into a Gregorian date. With the increase of trade between China and the west, a handy reference for conversion was essential. The compiler first produced a table for the use of American Immigration agents, then expanded it into this 100-year calendar for the general public.
Newberry and Huntington only in OCLC.
16. A Chinese-English dictionary ... Second edition, revised and enlarged. London: Bernard Quaritch; Shanghai, Hongkong [et al]: Kelly and Walsh, 1912.
$950
2 volumes, very large, thick 4to, pp. xviii, 942; 943-1711, [1], 84; later brown cloth, gilt lettering direct on spine; a very good, clean, sturdy copy. Ownership signature in each volume of Shan Wing Chan.
The work took eighteen years to compile and another two years just to print it. "The nineteenth century ended on a high note in Chinese bilingual lexicography with the publication of Herbert A. Giles' A Chinese-English Dictionary. Giles (1845-1935) began his career in China in 1867 as an interpreter for the British Consular Service, returned to Ningbo as Counsul in 1891 and in 1897 was named Professor of Chinese at Cambridge University.
"Perhaps the most respected sinologist of his time, Giles wrote more than two dozen books on China. His crowning achievement was his Chinese-English Dictionary, first published in 1892 and revised in 1912. The dictionary is still useful today, especially to students of Imperial China and of Chinese literature, and formed the basis of Robert H. Mathews' Chinese-English Dictionary (1931, 1943), perhaps the most popular Chinese-English dictionary in use until the 1970s" (Chien & Creamer, "A Brief History of Chinese Bilingual Lexicography," in vol. 40 of Studies in the History of the Language Sciences, Amsterdam, 1986).
This edition not in Vancil; Zaunmuller, col. 40.
17. Rulers and dynasties of East Asia. China, Japan, Korea: chronological tables. [With:] Kings, Khans, and other rulers of early Central Asia: chronological tables. [With:] Regents in Central Asia since the Mongol Empire: chronological tables. Koln: E. J. Brill, 1983-85.
$150
First editions of each, each printed in an edition of 400 copies. 3 volumes, 8vo, pp. xxiv, 159, [1]; xxii, 128, [2]; xx, 178, [4]; numerous maps throughout, tables; fine in original printed wrappers. Issued as no. 10, 11 and 12 in the publisher's Materials for the Study of the History of Religions series.
Karl-Heinz Golzio studied comparative religion, Indology and Oriental art history from 1970 to 1981. His 1981 doctorate was: The temple in ancient Mesopotamia and its parallels in India, a study of religious history. Between 1972 and 1986 he traveled several times to the Middle East, India, Southeast Asia, North Africa, South Africa and Central Asia. He researched and taught at the University of Cologne. His research focused on Southeast Asia and Cambodia in particular.
18. L'Asie inconnue. Dans les sables de l'Asie / Vers la ville interdite. Traduit du Suedois par Charles Rabot. Paris: Felix Juven, [1903-04].
$250
First French edition, 2 volumes, tall 8vo, pp. [6], iv, 393, [5]; [iii]-viii, 402, [2]; portrait frontispiece, vignette title pages, 7 maps and numerous illustrations throughout from photographs by the author; some toning of the text, old library rubberstamp on title pages; all else very good in contemporary brown morocco-backed marbled boards, gilt-stamped spines.
Describes the author's exploration in Central Asia and Tibet in 1899-1902.
Yakushi H174d.
19. Travels in Siberia. London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1854.
$850
2 volumes, 12mo, pp. xv, [1], 458; xviii, 432; lacking the frontispiece but with the very large folding hand-colored map of the Russian Empire in fine condition; recent brown cloth-backed marbled boards, printed paper labels on spines, a.e.g.; text lightly toned else fine in a new serviceable binding.
20. [Himalayas - Big Game Hunting.] The ibex of Sha-Ping and other Himalayan studies. London: Macmillan and Co., Limited, 1915.
$150
First edition, large 8vo, pp. xiv, 151, [1]; 15 tipped-in plates reproducing watercolors by the author, as well as numerous small pen and ink sketches by him in the margins; a very good, sound, and clean copy in original green cloth decorated in gilt on the upper cover and spine.
Rundall was killed in action in 1914 (in the same battle that took his brother as well). The book is a series of stories of hunting adventures, told from both the hunter's point of view and the hunted.
Yakushi R395.
21. The campaign in Tirah, 1897-1898. An account of the expedition against the Orakzais and Afridis under General Sir William Lockhart, based (by permission) on letters contributed to ʻThe Timesʼ. London: Macmillan and Co., Limited, 1898.
$325
First edition, 8vo, pp. xvi, 250, [2] ads; frontispiece portrait, 7 maps and plans (4 folding), and 20 plates; original pictorial blue cloth stamped in gilt on upper cover and spine; the binding a little soiled and the upper cover with a scratch or two, but on the whole a very good, sound, and clean copy.
"The Tirah campaign, often referred to in contemporary British accounts as the Tirah expedition, was an Indian frontier campaign from September 1897 to April 1898. Tirah is a mountainous tract of country in what was formerly known as Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan, now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province" (Wikipedia).
22. [India.] Guide. Agra map & 8 plans. Arabic and Persian inscriptions with English translation. [Caption title: A description of the Taj or the tomb of the Emperor Shah Jehan and the Empress Mumtaz Mahal]. Sikandra, Agra: K. Kahn, 1927.
$375
12mo, pp. ii, 102; 8 folding maps and plans; list of Mogol emperors mounted on the rear pastedown; very good, clean, and sound in original gray cloth lettered in black.
Colorado, Newberry and Cleveland Public only in OCLC.
23. A wayfarer in China. Impressions of a trip across west China and Mongolia. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, The Riverside Press, 1913.
$125
First edition, 8vo, pp. xiv, [2], 338; frontispiece, double-page map and 38 illustrations from photographs on 26 plates; original decorative blue cloth stamped in gilt, red, and yellow; but for a mis-fold at the top of the second page of the map and the first page of text, a very good, sound, and clean copy.
Not in Yakushi.
24. Official guide for shippers & travellers to the principal ports of the world, 1933-34. [Osaka, Japan]: Osaka Shosen Kaisha, Osaka Mercantile Steamship Company Limited, 1933-34.
$275
Twentieth edition; Large 4to, pp. [2], 634; thumb-indexed; illustrated throughout with maps, advertisements, halftones, decorative initials, drawings, much in color; original blindstamped black cloth, gilt-stamped spine; front free endpaper excised, the first 50 or so leaves wrinkled, all else generally very good, sound, and clean.
25. Massif sino-thibétain, provinces du Setchouen, du Yunnan et Marches Thibétaines, contribution à l'étude géologique de ce massif ... préface de M. Charles Rabot ... avec reproductions photographiques, cartes, figures et 3 cartes géologiques en couleurs. Paris: Émile Larose, 1916.
$150
First edition, large 8vo, pp. [4], iii, [1], 249, [1]; original printed wrappers bound in; 4 folding maps (2 large and in color at the back), 27 photographic illustrations on 12 plates plus 7 illustrations in the text; later black cloth, gilt-stamped spine; textblock toned, the last leaf adhered to the inside back wrapper; all else very good and sound.
Includes texts including "Geographical preliminaries" by Dr. A. F. Legendre; "Geological description of the routes" by Dr. A. F. Legendre and P. Lemoine; "Study of eruptive rocks" by Colonel Azema; "Study of Rhaetian plants" by Fernand Pelourde; and, "Geological results" by Paul Lemoine
"The journeys of Legendre in Western Setchuen and Northern Yunnan carried out in 1912. This volume is mainly devoted to geological studies of the routes taken by the mission" (Yakushi).
Yakushi L144.
26. Hindu-koh: wanderings and wild sport on and beyond the Himalayas. Edinburgh & London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1889.
$300
First edition, 8vo, pp. xx, 464, 24 (Blackwood catalogue); chromolithograph frontispiece, 8 plates plus other illustrations in the text; original pictorial green cloth stamped in black and gilt on upper cover and spine; spine ends rubbed and showing small cracks; all else very good, sound, and clean.
"The author traveled from Srinagar to Leh, and then to Chang Chenmo, Lingzi-tang in 1871. 'Hindu-koh' is an old name for the Himalaya, 'Koh' being Persian for 'mountain.'" (Yakushi).
Czech, Asia, p. 131; Yakushi M45.
27. [Manchu-German Dictionary.] Handwörterbuch der Mandschusprache. Tokyo, Hamburg, Weisbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1952-55.
$250
Thick 8vo, 3 volumes in 1, each with its own title page; pp. [2], 1032 (continuous pagination); contemporary black cloth backed in red cloth, lettering in gilt on spine; text toned, front hinge starting; very good and the binding still sound.
Hauer (1878-1936) published 26 books and publications, including Manchu translations of the Chinese Three-Character Classic and a passport in the Manchu language. His largest and most important work was the translation and editing of K'ai-kuoh fang-lüeh, History of the Founding of the Manchurian Empire (de Gruyter, Berlin 1926). His Dictionary of the Manchu Language, which remains an important standard work in Manchurian studies to this day, was republished by Oliver Corff in 2007.
Zaunmulller, col. 267.
28. On the track of the Abor. London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1912.
$250
First edition, 12mo, pp. xii, 218, [8] ads; publisher's slip regarding price tipped in at front endpaper, 4 full-page maps; original red cloth stamped in white and gilt; very good, sound and clean.
"The Abor Expedition was a punitive expedition against the Abors in Assam on the North-Eastern Frontier of India lasting from October 1911 to April 1912, following the murder of Mr Noel Williamson (Assistant Political Officer in the districts of Sadiya and Lakhimpur) and his party" (fibis.org).
29. [Missionaries.] Les missions d'Extrême-Orient. Par un missionaire. Tours: Maison Alfred Mame et fils, n.d., [1902].
$150
First edition, large 8vo, pp. 190, [2]; frontispiece, 21 illustrations in the text (6 full-page); contemporary maroon calf-backed marbled boards, gilt-stamped spine; lightly worn, the text a touch toned, else a very good, sound copy. Bookplate of "Bibliotheque du P.S.G. Reigan Reserve."
30. All the Russias: travels and studies in contemporary European Russia, Finland, Siberia, the Causasus, and Central Asia. London: William Heinemann, 1902.
$150
First edition, 8vo, pp. xvi, 476, [4] testimonials; 4 maps (3 full-page and 1 folding), 135 illustrations from photographs on plates and in the text; original pictorial blue cloth, gilt-stamped on upper cover and spine, t.e.g.; a few small spots on the upper cover, previous owner's bookplate, else a very good, clean and sound copy.
31. The emerald set with pearls; being, reminiscences of the beautiful land of Kashmir, with illustrations from water-colour drawings ... Also, Thomas Moore's 'Lalla Rookh' with musical additions by Florence Parbury and Guido Zuccoli. London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co., Ltd., [1909].
$350
First edition, large 4to, pp. 218, [2], 37 (printed music), [1]; 30 mounted color plates, most reproducing watercolors by Parbury, manuscript facsimile; original green cloth, some soiling, spine ends a bit chipped, lower outer corner of covers discolored, endpapers toned; a good, sound, and clean copy.
Not in Yakushi.
32. Exploration in Tibet ... With an introduction by Syamaprasad Mookerjee and foreword by S.P. Chatterjee. Calcutta: University of Calcutta, 1950.
$425
First edition, 8vo, pp. [5], viii-xxxii, 302; 2 portrait frontispieces, 21 maps and charts on 12 sheets in rear cover pocket, 86 illustrations from photographs on rectos and versos of 26 plates; original blue cloth lettered in red on spine, printed orange dust jacket; the jacket a little sun-touched on the spine, the binding stretched for the bulk of the maps in rear cover pocket; all else very good, sound, and clean.
"The author is an Indian explorer and a scholar, who describes a history of exploration in the region of Kailas and Manasarowar Lake, where he first visited in 1928, and geographical, geological, religious, agricultural, political matters, etc. in Tibet" (Yakushi).
Yakushi P285.
33. Explorations in Turkestan with an account of the basin of Eastern Persia and Sistan. Expedition of 1903, under the direction of Raphael Pumpelly. Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Institution, 1905.
$325
First edition, 4to, pp. xii, 324; 2 plates (1 folding, 1 in color), 4 maps (3 folding), and 174 illustrations in the text, mostly from photographs; later green cloth lettered in gilt on upper cover and spine.
Contains the texts of five papers: Archaeological and physico-geographical reconnaissance in Turkestan, by Raphael Pumpelly; A journey across Turkestan, by William M. Davis; Physiographic observations between the Syr Darya and lake Kara Kul, on the Pamir, 1903, by Raphael W. Pumpelly; A geologic and physiographic reconnaissance in Central Turkestan, by Ellsworth Huntington; and, The basin of eastern Persia and Sistan, by Ellsworth Huntington.
Yakushi P326.
34. [Qing Dynasty Lexicon in Manchu.] 御製五體清文鑑 = Yü chih wu tʻi Chʻing wen chien. Pei-ching: Min tsu chʻu pan she, 1957.
$500
3 volumes, thick 8vos, pp. [2], 93, [3], 1667, [1]; [4], 1669-3396; [4], 3397-4973, [1], 72; 2 folding tables; text a bit toned, but generally a very good, sound copy in original red cloth stamped in gilt on upper covers and spines.
A pentaglot dictionary containing Manchu, Tibetan, Mongolian (Mongolian script), Chagatai, and Chinese, with Tibetan and Chagatai also transliterated into Manchu. Includes colophon, introductory matter, and supplementary matter in Chinese, Manchu, Mongolian (Mongolian script), Tibetan and Uighur.
This is a facsimile reproduction of a copy of the The Qing Dynasty Pentaglot in Manchu, Tibetan, Mongol, Uighur and Chinese, housed in the Ku kung po wu yüan in Beijing. This work takes the entire vocabulary of the preceding four-language work of the same title and adds to it the Turki equivalents, as well as the phonetic transcriptions for two of the languages.
35. Report on the inscriptions of the Devasthanam Collection with illustrations. Issued under the authority of His Holiness Sri Mahant Prayagadasji Varu, Vicharanakarta of the Devasthanams ... With an Introduction By M. R. Ry., K. A. Nilakanta Sastri. Madras: Tirupati Sri Mahant's Press, 21, Anderson Street, 1930.
$450
First edition, 4to, pp. [6], xxiii, [3], 366; , 29 leaves of plates (5 folding); pictorial title page; 2 folding maps, 30 double-sided plates (5 folding); original blue moiré cloth, gilt-stamped spine; lightly rubbed at the extremities, else a very good, sound, and clean copy. At the head of the title: Sri T. T. etc., Devasthanam Epigraphical Series.
"Sadhu Subrahmanya Sastry will be remembered forever for his outstanding research on the inscriptions in Tirumala adding to the glory and popularity of the temple and its deity Lord Venkateswara. Sastry, who was in TTD service [i.e., Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams, an independent government trust in India which manages various temples] as Peishkar of Tirumala temple, had keen interest on epigraphy that ultimately driven him to take up intense research on the inscriptions found in Tirumala temple and also other temples under the control of TTD, in the process bringing the entire history of the famous temple to the world. His books [are] based on the findings in the inscriptions in Tirumala and other temples is a literary treasure and a rare historical record ... Sastry also brought out many interesting facts related to the development of Tirumala and other sub-shrines of TTD engraved on the inscriptions and copper plates and carried out a stupendous research work on it" (Spandana Harish).
36. The currency of the Far East. The Schjöth collection at the numismatic cabinet of the University of Oslo, Norway . London: Luzac & Co.; Oslo: H. Aschehoug & Co., 1929.
$125
First edition, folio, pp. [8], 88 plus 132 composite plates; near fine in original red cloth stamped in gilt on upper cover and spine; sound and clean.
Issued as No. 1 in the Publications of the Numismatic Cabinet of the University of Oslo series.
37. Big game shooting in Nepal (with leaves from the Maharaja's sporting diary). Calcutta: Thacker, Spink & Co., 1942.
$350
First edition, 4to, pp. xii, [1], 174; color frontispiece, 11 other color plates, 2 folding color maps, 32 black & white plates; original green cloth stamped in black on upper cover and spine; a very good, sound, and clean copy.
Czech, Asia, p. 191; Yakushi S631: "Sketch of Nepal, with emphasis on forests and hunting."
38. Memoirs of the life and travels of John Ledyard from his journals and correspondence. London: Henry Colburn, 1828.
$450
First British edition, 8vo, pp. xii, 428; contemporary half calf, gilt-paneled spine in 6 compartments, maroon morocco label in 1; ex-St. Paul Public, with perforated stamp in title-page, pocket inside lower cover marked withdrawn, and accession numbers on spine; joints rubbed, all else good, clean and sound.
Descriptions of Ledyard's early life, travels with Cook in the Pacific (he accompanied Cook on his third voyage), his association with Thomas Jefferson, and his adventures in Siberia and Africa.
Beddie 4525; Forbes 709; Howes 818.
39. The Kāçyapaparivarta, a Mahāyānasūtra of the Ratnakūṭa class edited in the original Sanskrit in Tibetan and in Chinese by Baron A. von Staël-Holstein. [Shanghai: Commercial Press, 1926].
$500
Small folio (10¾" x 7¾"), pp. xxvi, 234, [2] corrigenda; original three-quarter black cloth, gilt-stamped spine; spine with several small cracks, the front free endpaper excised, and the title page reinserted on a guard; good and sound. The original publisher's price label remains on the front pastedown.
Alexander Wilhelm Freiherr Staël von Holstein (1877-1937) was a Baltic German aristocrat, Russian and Estonian orientalist, sinologist, and Sanskritologist specializing in Buddhist texts. "In 1909, he was appointed to academic post at the Imperial University of St. Petersburg. During his tenure at St. Petersburg, he undertook intensive studies of the recent archaeological discoveries at Dunhuang, Turfan, and other Central Asian sites, and documented the role that Chinese historical sources, most notably the travel diaries of Xuanzang, played in facilitating these discoveries. He also developed a thorough understanding of Tibetan and utilized Chinese sources to illustrate otherwise unrecorded aspects of early Indian history.
"During the First World War ... the Baron [was] granted leave to study Tibetan and Mongolian documents in Beijing. What was to be a two year sabbatical became a permanent sojourn. He arrived in Beijing in 1916 and, apart from a year spent at Harvard, remained there until the end of his life ... Deciding to remain in Beijing, he accepted an adjunct teaching position at Peking University (later, Yenching University). Together with Paul Pelliot, Lucius Porter, and William Hung (the latter two of whom were also faculty at same institution), he was invited in 1928 by the newly established Harvard-Yenching Institute to take up a visiting professorship at Harvard for the 1928-29 academic year. During this time, he taught the first course in the Tibetan language ever offered at Harvard, and also gave a graduate seminar on the Kāçyapaparivarta, an important Buddhist scripture that he annotated in Tibetan and Chinese and published in 1926. Upon returning to Beijing, he was appointed Professor of Central Asian Philology and Director of the Sino-Indian Institute at Yenching University, a position endowed with funds from the Harvard-Yenching Institute. He remained in this position until his death in 1937" (Harvard University).
40. Through deep defiles to Tibetan uplands. The travels of a naturalist from the Irrawaddy to the Yangtse. London: H. F. & G. Witherby, 1934.
$200
First edition, 8vo, pp. 250; folding map, frontispiece, and 11 illustrations from photographs on 6 plates, plus a plan; bookplate removed and 2 small rubberstamps on front free endpaper indicating a library provenance; otherwise, a near fine copy in original terracotta cloth, gilt-stamped spine.
"An account of a journey made in 1928-29 in connection with the expedition organized by the Roosevelts and Suydam Cutting, about which a fuller account is given by those authors in Trailing the Giant Panda. Stevens traveled from Burma through Tali-fu to Tatsienlu, with J. H. Edgar. From there the author went to Muping, Kiating-fu, and to the Yangtse and Shanghai" (Yakushi).
Yakushi S745.
41. Ethnographic notes in southern India ... First edition, second issue. Madras: reprinted by the superintendent, Government Press, 1907.
$250
8vo, pp. [2], viii, 580; frontispiece and 39 plates from photographs; original pictorial blue-gray cloth stamped in gilt on upper cover and spine; bookplate of the now defunct College of Missions, Indianapolis, with pocket on rear pastedown and accession numbers on spine; all else very good, sound, and clean.
Includes sections on marriage, death, omens, deformity, torture, slavery, fire-walking, hook-swinging, infanticide, the Meriah [i.e., human] sacrifice, earth-eating, boomerangs, clepsydras, and others.
In fact, this is the first book edition. Some of these articles had appeared previously in the Madras Museum Bulletins, hence this so-called "second issue."
42. In the high Himalayas: sport and travel in the Rhotang and Baralacha, with some notes on the natural history of that area. London: H. F. & G. Witherby, 1924.
$600
First edition, 8vo, pp. 223, [1] ads; frontispiece, map, and 30 illustrations from photographs on 15 plates; prelims slightly spotted, spine a little dull; a good, sound copy in original green cloth, gilt-stamped spine.
"The author spent much of his leave in the Himalaya, north of Simla and made several journeys to Lahul, Spiti and Kulu. He gives pictures of that area encircled by the Chandra and Bhaga rivers" (Yakushi).
Yakushi W129.
43. Chronological tables of the Chinese dynasties. (From the Chow Dynasty to the Ch'ing Dynasty) ... Edited by Prof. E. R. Lyman, of Shansi University. Shanghai: Shanghai Printing Co., 1902.
$150
First edition, 8vo, pp. [1], iii, 103, [1]; original printed yellow cloth; text toned, the cloth a little soiled, else very good and sound.
"Owing to frequent errors in calculating the years from Chinese into Western chronology, or from Western dates into Chinese dates, it has been thought that a complete table of every year of each reign will aid in preventing the recurrence of these errors in the future, therefere [sic] I have asked Mr. Theodore Wong to prepare it under the editorship of Prof. Lyman" (prefatory note).
44. The junkman smiles. London: Chatto & Windus, 1959.
$175
First edition, 8vo, pp. 254; map endpapers, 6 plates and numerous illustrations in the text by the author; original yellow cloth, spine stamped in red and gilt; in a very good unclipped dust jacket which shows very light spotting.
This copy inscribed by Worcester in a neat, calligraphic hand: "To Professor V. D. Tate with every good wish from the author ... Windlesham, June 1966" and with Worcester's chop stamped in red.
Worcester was for 30 years employed in the Chinese Maritime Customs, and produced a total of five volumes on the watercraft of the Yangtze. The volume, largely autobiographic al, is also a tribute to his adopted country, China, and the Chinese way of life.