Strauss, Richard, Komponist (1864-1949). Eigenh. Bildpostkarte mit U.Rom, 30 Oct 1928.

An den Direktionsrat der Wiener Oper Karl Lion: "Molinari war bei Ihnen: Hoffentlich läst sich außer Aida auch das Requiem ermöglichen. Sonst eine andere italienische Oper! Wie geht es in Wien? Schicken Sie mir bitte nach Palermo Hotel Igieia [recte: Igiea] Nachricht. Wir haben eine sehr schöne Reise und sind sehr vergnügt. Mit herzlichen Grüßen an Sie, Ihre liebe Frau und das ganze Bureau […]".

[Jainism - map]. Adhaidvipa Pata.Kutch, India, late 18th to early 19th century.

An exquisitely detailed Adhaidvipa Pata: a traditional Jain painting of the "two and a half continents" of the Jain tradition. Late period examples are usually quite stylized, but this one is rendered with uncommon focus on the geographic realities of the Indian subcontinent. Written entirely in Sanskrit, the Adhaidvipa Pata and the accompanying cosmological diagram on the reverse maps both the earthly realm and the sky, tracing the movement of the rivers of the Indian subcontinent below and the zodiac above. Unlike many examples, rivers are shown in their historical courses, with their origins and the regions through which they pass clearly marked; historical rivers which today no longer exist are present in their rightful place. Each region is labelled, usually along with the name of a ruler, and the landscape itself is marked by temples.

Looking upwards, the cosmic diagram on the reverse is designed for astrological use, and shows the months, the summer and winter solstices, and star or moon signs. Information is provided regarding the presence of each star in each sign, as well as further details pertaining to constellations, all coming together in a manuscript sky-scape ready for an astrologer's calculations. This mathematical detail extends to the use of traditional Indian units of distance, Yojana, for use on the earthly map.

Circular maps are part of a long Eurasian map-making tradition, and in India the Adhaidvipa Pata are a key part of this cartographic and cosmological lineage.

[Autograph album]. Album of letters, free franks, cut signatures, letters and pen and ink …Various places, ca. 1850-1890.

A superb autograph album of the Victorian Era with letters, free franks, cut signatures, and pen and ink sketches, including: William Harrison Ainsworth, Lucy Anderson, William Sterndale Bennett, Elizabeth Butler, William Cobbett, Wilkie Collins, Walter Crane, Canon Robinson Duckworth (Alice's Wonderland Duck), Thomas Faed, Myles Birket Foster, Arabella Goddard, François Guizot, Warren Hastings (Governor-General of Bengal), Sir Charles Henry Hawtrey, John Hullah, Robert Inglis, Alfred Jaëll, Henry Le Jeune, H. P. Liddon, Samuel Meyrick, Sir Robert Peel, Alfred de Rothschild, John Ruskin, Tommaso Salvini, Charles Santley, Edward Hugh Lindsay Sloper, Henry Temple (3rd Viscount Palmerston), John Tenniel, Arthur Wellesley and Arthur Richard Wellesley (1st and 2nd Duke of Wellington), and Garnet Joseph Wolseley (1st Viscount Wolseley).

Free franks, including Lord Amherst and Lord Melbourne, and cut signatures, including Frederic Archer, Squire Bancroft, Julius Benedict, Sarah Bernhardt (signed photograph), Jacques Blumenthal, Robert Browning, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Lord Cardigan, Michael Costa, W. E. Gladstone, C. G. Gordon (of Khartoum), Henry Irving (signed photograph), Lord Leighton, John Everett Millais, Alfred Piatti, Pauline Rita, Anthony Trollope, Auguste Vianesi, and Henri Vieuxtemps.

William Cobbett: "Mr. Dean, I have made a bargain with Mr Akerman, to give up to him my business and house at Kent Street […]" (ALS, 1828).

Wilkie Collins: "I have much pleasure in thus contributing to your collection of autographs" (ALS, 1878).

John Ruskin: "Mr Ruskin is entirely unable to read letters of this kind - he returns these testimonials, or they would be lost in the heaps of his papers" (ALS, undated).

John Tenniel: "Dear Sir, If you will have the kindness to send on Wednesday - about mid-day, I think I may promise that the drawings shall be ready. I have been tormented by painters, paperhangers, & all sorts of annoyances, to the great hindrance of my work, else, the drawings would have been finished last week" (ALS, 1880).

[Mandate Palestine]. [Archive and autograph letters from the 1936 Palestinian Revolt].Mandate Palestine, 1936.

An incredible archive of handwritten letters, sketches, and photographs by a British officer engaged in putting down the Great Palestinian Revolt of 1936, including a firsthand account of the destruction of Jaffa's Old Town and raids on villages in what is now the West Bank, including several Palestinian villages later destroyed by Israeli forces in 1948.

Most notable are the letters pertaining to the siege and destruction of Jaffa, which the author, Lt. Charles Meredith Inigo-Jones (1912-2009), describes firsthand in a detailed letter to his mother: "We are to form a cordon round the place and we know that there will be a terrific rush after the first explosion. We have to search everybody who comes out for arms, as it is a hotbed for rioters, we hope it will help to clean the place out in both mind and body". Following is a sketched map of the old city of Jaffa with barricades, platoons, police squadrons, and "track of explosions" marked. "I will have about 15 men to hold one of the main streets of the old city [...] The whole show was put off at 2pm because the population complained that they wanted more than 24 hours to clear out so we are now giving them 48 hours, and we start at the same time tomorrow".

After the first explosions, he enters the city: "The smells were terrible, the people have been in a state of siege for about 40 days [...] there are no drains or anything like that, the dead were buried in the walls of the rooms, we discovered that after the explosions [...] we went through into another part of town where they had not moved out, they had all the sick and dying in the road and you had to walk or step over the top of them. It struck me that the Plague of London must have been rather like this. I only wish I had had a large lorry with me, as when I went round after one or two of the explosions, I saw the most lovely Persian Rugs silks oak chests etc [...] but it was soon covered up with about 10 feet of rock after the next explosion".

The reprisals against Jaffa are one of the most infamous events of the 1936 Revolt, but Inigo-Jones, based out of Jerusalem and Nablus, saw the length and breadth of Mandate Palestine. He reported a series of skirmishes and arms raids on villages and wadis and occasionally reported on the goings-on of the larger international stage ("I heard two police officers who came in from Hebron say that the tribes at the border of Palestine and Arabia were getting up in arms and preparing to fight"). In turns remarkably callous and remarkably frank, illustrated with photos and sketches; altogether a vital record of Palestine in 1936.

Felder, Cajetan Frh. von, Politiker (1814-1894). Lithogr. Portrait mit eigenh. Widmung und U.Wien, 10 Feb 1883.

Mit eigenhändiger Widmung an den Mediziner und Komponisten Rudolf von Vivenot (1807-1884): "Dem hochverdienten Arzte und edlen Menschenfreunde Hrn. Dr. Rudolf Ritter von Vivenot zur freundlichen Erinnerung an den g. Bürgermeister Dr. C. Felder".

Cajetan Frh. von Felder wurde 1868 zum Wiener Bürgermeister gewählt, reorganisierte Verwaltung und Finanzwesen, modernisierte die Wasserwirtschaft der Stadt und initiierte die Errichtung zahlreicher repräsentativer Gebäude (darunter auch die Rotunde). Wissenschaftliches Ansehen erwarb sich Felder, der seit 1860 Mitglied der Deutschen Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina war, als Entomologe und Besitzer einer bedeutenden Schmetterlings- und Käfersammlung.

Die Ränder mit Restaurierungsspuren.

[League of Arab States, Secretariat General]. Seventh Arab Petroleum Congress.Cairo, 1970.

Extraordinarily comprehensive run of papers from the 1970 Petroleum Congress, many issued by prominent oil companies, including Gulf of Suez Petroleum Company, General Petroleum Company, and American Independent Oil Company, commonly known as Aminoil. Discusses seismic and geological issues, the chemical composition of crude oil, the prospects of oil and gas production in Egypt, stratigraphic analyses, and the desulfurization process as used in the petroleum industry to reduce air pollution in compliance with international law. The plates and charts illustrate the distribution of sulfur in crude oil reserves, reproduce photographs of fault lines and nanofossils, and show the migration traces distribution of chloroform bitumen in the Shukheir Area.

This set comprises issues no. 34, 37, 50, 51, 57, 58, 60 (two copies), and 75. Issue no. 75 in English and Arabic.

A very well preserved set reflecting the 1970s' scientific background to oil production in the Arab World.

[League of Arab States, Secretariat General]. Fifth Arab Petroleum Congress.Cairo, 1965.

Extraordinarily comprehensive run of papers from the 1965 Petroleum Congress, many issued by prominent oil companies, including Aramco, Shell Qatar, the Standard Oil Company of California, Iraqi Oil Company, Phillips Petroleum Company, and one issued by OPEC. Discusses Arab oil policy, employee training procedures in refineries, corporate organization at Iraqi Petroleum Company in Kirkuk, the problem of the origin of petroleum, the economic consequences of substandard maintenance methods, the geology of the Gulf of Suez, Lebanon's petroleum potential, the use of additives to produce suitable diesel fuel, and discussing the critical offshore fields of Qatar, with notes on the new 1963 concessions, exploration drilling, geology, production rates. Includes a rare legal paper in Arabic on the nature of the petroleum concession contract as an administrative contract rather than a private law contract.

This set comprises issues no. 16 (two copies), 17, 20, 22, 29 (three copies, two in Arabic and one in English), 30 (two copies, in Arabic and English), 46, 53, 54, 62, 64 and three unnumbered papers. 10 issues in Arabic.

A very well preserved set reflecting the 1960s' scientific background to oil production in the Arab World.

Columna, Guido de. [Historia destructionis Troiae - German]. Die hystori Troyana.Augsburg, 1488.

Third edition of the German translation by Hans Mair, the 1474 editio princeps of which is the first printed edition of the "Tale of Troy" in any language. The Middle Ages knew Homer only by name and the Troy myth from Benoit Saint-Maure's "Roman de Troie". Guido de Collone's "Historia destructionis Troiae" is a condensed version of the latter and was widely translated throughout Europe. Until the 16th century the Troy Tales were taken as an established fact of world history, Troy marking the beginning of non-Biblical, secular history.

Ot the utmost rarity: only nine copies recorded, of which one is lost (Berlin) and four are incomplete: this includes the last copy seen in the trade (Antiquariat Günther, 55 frühe deutsche Drucke, No. 18, formerly the Donaueschingen Fürstenberg library). A single copy in America (Library of Congress).

Forkel, Johann Nikolaus. Life of John Sebastian Bach; With a Critical View of His Compositions.London, 1820.

First edition in English of Forkel's celebrated first Bach biography, originally published in 1802 as "Über Johann Sebastian Bach's Leben, Kunst and Kunstwerke". "His account of Bach as a performer and teacher is a vivid record of the life of the musician whom Forkel regarded as the highest representative of the art. Much of the information came directly from Bach's sons Carl Philipp Emanuel and Wilhelm Friedemann. An English translation of the biography appeared in 1820, presumably the work of A. F. C. Kollmann" (New Grove). A new English translation would appear in 1920.

Regarded as the father of modern musicology, J. N. Forkel (1749-1818) was a pioneer in the study of the life and work of Johann Sebastian Bach.

[Autograph album]. Autograph album of Marie-Louise Schenker-Angerer with entries by Pablo …Brijuni, Vienna, Salzburg, London, and Paris, 1924-1972.

The present album was owned by Marie-Louise Schenker-Angerer ("Mausi", 1905-73), daughter of Leopold ("Lony") Kupelwieser and granddaughter of the industrialist Paul Kupelwieser, who had purchased the malaria-infested Brijuni archipelago in 1893. Early in the 20th century, Robert Koch succeeded in eradicating the disease-bearing mosquitos, and the islands off the Istrian coast quickly turned into a resort popular with the European aristocracy and wealthy bourgeoisie, with artists and businessmen. One of the latter was August Schenker-Angerer, a scion of the Schenker shipping dynasty. His son Gottfried was Mausi's brother-in-law, and Gottfried's wife, the soprano Margit ("Manci") (née Rupp), was her sister-in-law. On 10 July 1924 Marie-Louise married Gottfried's younger brother August ("Guggi", 1897-1979).

The album at hand reaches back as far as the 1920s; the earliest contribution, by Alfred Arbter, was entered on the day of Marie-Louise's wedding. Some entries are from Brijuni; many more undated ones were probably written in Vienna, where the family resided in Strohgasse. The latest entries, from the 1940s and beyond, are written in Paris. Among the most famous contributors are Wilhelm Backhaus (2), Alfred Brendel (2), Pablo Casals (autograph musical quotation signed), Jörg Demus (autograph musical quotation signed), George Gershwin (autograph musical quotation signed and 2 photographs), Friedrich Gulda (autograph musical quotation signed), Bronislaw Huberman (autograph entry signed with a photograph pasted in), Wilhelm Kempff (autograph musical quotation signed), Jan Kiepura (signature on a picture postcard), Guglielmo Marconi (2, one a signature on a picture postcard of his yacht "Elettra"), Sergei Rachmaninoff (eh. U.), Vladimir Sokoloff (autograph entry signed), and Paul Wittgenstein (autograph entry signed). Further, G. B. Shaw contributed a loosly inserted signature leaf (dated Brijuni, May 1929), a picture postcard (annoted on the verso"G. B. Shaws Ankunft in Brioni"), and two original photographs, one of which shows him with the heavyweight champion (1926-28) Gene Tunney, who popularised golfing on the islands in 1928/29. Additional entries are by Claude Anet, Mattia Battistini, Jagadish Chandra Bose, Richard Buhlig (2), Winifred Christie, Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi, Otto Erich Deutsch, Severin Eisenberger, Fred Freed (2), Ignaz Friedman, Hedi Gigler-Dongas, Jan Kiepura, Germaine Leroux, Therese Leschetizky, Emanuel Moór, Boyd Neel, Max Reinhardt, Emil Sauer v. Aichried, Wilson Vance (2), Peter Wallfisch, Paul Weingarten, and Earl Wild.

The loosely inserted addenda include letters by Alfred Arbter, Alfred Brendel, Carl Goldmark, Hedwig Kanner-Rosenthal, Luzi Korngold, and Richards Strauss's son Franz, as well as two letters by Vladimir Sokoloff, who gives an enthusiastic report of Max Reinhardt's visit to New York in late 1927.

Little is known about Marie-Louise's later life other than that she published two books under the name "Marie-Louise Kupelwieser de Brioni" (cited below); a poignant account by Pierre Le-Tan suggests that she lost her family fortune and may have died in poverty.