[Roman inked wooden tablet]. Roman inked wooden tablet.Roman Empire, 4th century CE.

One of the earliest extant documents in world history to be written in ink: a wooden tablet in New Roman cursive, the first true cursive script with minuscules. Succeeding the earlier, unsophisticated Old Roman cursive in the 3rd century, the style was quickly adopted as the daily script of the later Roman Empire and used widely beyond the official chanceries: not simply a stylistic variation, it is a foundational element in the development of written language in Western Europe and the ultimate precursor of all subsequent medieval minuscules, including our own lower-case alphabet.

Roman writing tablets were a crucial medium of communication in antiquity. Typically made from oblong pieces of wood pieces, they usually had a wax surface that was inscribed with a stylus. While the vast majority of ancient writing tablets is lost, examples of such wax slates ("tabulae ceratae") were discovered in Pompeii, and between 2010 and 2013 a significant collection was unearthed in London's financial district, dating from 50 to 80 CE.

Inked tablets, by contrast, are vastly more uncommon than wax examples. A trove of these remarkable slates was discovered in the fort of Vindolanda, south of Hadrian's Wall; each tablet is approximately the size of a modern postcard, and similarly thin. These specimens, now in the British Museum, are considered the earliest known surviving instances of ink-written letters from the Roman era.

The ink tablet at hand, however, represents a third group, the rarest of them all. The closest example are the "Tabulae Albertini", cedar wooden tablets which are larger and thicker than those from Vindolanda. Written in Northern Africa in the late 5th century CE, they were discovered in the region of Tébessa, Algeria, in 1928. The present tablet, however, is at least a century older, and although it has been reused, the recessed area never held any wax. No traces from earlier writing with a stylus is evident, so the previous text was probably washed off - a common practice with the ink tablets.

In his Historia Naturalis (book 35, §25), Pliny gives a classic account of "atramentum" ("ink", or literally, "blacking"), describing it as a mineral "made from soot in various forms, as (for instance) of burnt rosin or pitch ... The ink of the very best quality is made from the smoke of torches. An inferior article is made from the soot of furnaces and bath-house chimneys. Some manufacturers employ the dried lees of wine ... Polygnotus and Micon, celebrated painters at Athens, made their black paint from burnt grape-vines ... The dyers make theirs from the dark crust that gradually accumulates on brass-kettles. Ink is made also from torches (pine-knots), and from charcoal pounded fine in mortars ... Book-writers' ink has gum mixed with it, weaver's ink is made up with glue. Ink whose materials have been liquified by the agency of an acid is erased with great difficulty".

The text forms the end of a record of real estate transaction. Written in highly formulaic legal language, it confirms a contract between heirs and elders ("heredes et seniores") negotiated on an estate called "Rascotiano". The full document would have been a diptych or triptych, comprising two or even three tablets.

Gaubil, Antoine, French Jesuit missionary, astronomer, and historian at the Imperial Court in Beijing (1689-1759). "Catalogue Chinois des Étoiles". Autograph manuscript.Beijing, 1734.

An unrecorded manuscript celestial atlas from the Sui dynasty, edited with an extensive commentary by the early 18th century Jesuit astronomer Antoine Gaubil, hailed by Joseph Needham as the "father superior of Chinese Astronomy".

The manuscript contains an unpublished translation of the "Bu Tian Ge" (given in English variously as "Songs of pacing the heavens" or "The song of the marches of the heavens"), a Sui dynasty (581-618 CE) star catalogue in verse by the Taoist hermit Dan Yuanzi, also known as Wang Ximing. Beyond the text of the star catalogue, Gaubil provides his ink-drawn copies of 31 star charts, including a spectacular fold-out celestial map of the north polar region. Further, Gaubil offers not only an extensive commentary on the text, but also a tabular catalogue of Chinese stars that allows us to determine the corresponding European stars based on their distance from the North Pole.

The manuscript can be dated securely to 1734, the year Gaubil sent it, together with the Chinese original, to the French astronomer Joseph-Nicolas Delisle in St Petersburg with a request that it be forwarded to his editor Étienne Souciet SJ (1671-1744) in Paris - a wish with which Delisle complied. Delisle's copy of the manuscript and the Chinese original, as well as the accompanying letter by Gaubil, dated Beijing, 25 July 1734, are preserved in the library of the Paris Observatory.

Written in verse, "Bu Tian Ge" was probably not intended for a scientific audience but rather to disseminate astronomical knowledge and to serve as a mnemonic. It is nevertheless "important in the history of Chinese astronomy because it definitely codifies the subdivision in the celestial skies into 3 yuan (enclosures or barriers) and 28 essential xiu, thus delineating the original theoretical organization of ancient Chinese astronomy" (Iannaccone). The poem is a beautiful testament to the microcosm-macrocosm analogy in Chinese natural philosophy, walking the reader through palaces and other institutions of the Chinese Empire, linking stars and their constellations to the political organization of the state and its representatives. In this system, the first constellation is the middle or purple palace (Zi wei yuán) of the Celestial Emperor: "In the middle of the Zi palace are the 5 stars of the northern pole, and the 6 Gòuchén stars. The northern pole is the most respectable in the sky, and the star seen there is called Niu [Niu Xing], the celestial pivot. The 1st star of the northern pole is called the Crown Prince, and presides over the moon. The 2nd is the Sovereign King, presiding over the sun; the 3rd is named after the sons of the second wives, presiding over the 5 planets" (transl.). The constellations of the purple palace or Ziwei enclosure are represented in fig. 1, the spectacular fold-out celestial map of the north polar region. Although the illustrations and the text are from the same source, Gaubil remarks in a short introduction to the charts that they cannot be assumed to be identical with those of the Sui dynasty original: "It would be preferable if we had these figures as they were made by the author of Bu Tien Ge, but no doubt they have been altered". They are nevertheless part of a continuous tradition of Chinese star maps that includes very similar objects such as the Dunhuang star map, dated around 700.

In his extremely valuable notes, comments, and glosses, Gaubil provides highly erudite cultural contextualization and the key to connecting Chinese astronomy with its European equivalent. A particularly interesting note points to astrological beliefs tied to the specific form of celestial representation in the "Bu Tian Ge", while distancing Chinese astronomical scholars from astrology: "It should come as no surprise, therefore, to see stars honoured in this catalogue, for example Canopus. As we have seen, the catalogue assumes that the spirit or soul of certain great men resides in certain stars, and it is not surprising for beings to be honoured who are believed to have the power to procure happiness or misfortune. Chinese scholars have always been far removed from such ideas". Finally, Gaubil offers a history of Chinese star catalogues and charts, tracing them back to the legendary Shang dynasty (ca. 1600-1046 BCE) shaman Wuxian, here transcribed as "Vou Hien", and the historically documented early astronomers Gan De and Shi Shen, active in the 4th century BCE, but also documenting Jesuit contributions to his own day: "When the Jesuits entered the court of mathematics [Imperial astronomical bureau, Qintianjian], they examined the Chinese celestial maps in detail, by means of conferences with local astronomers. They were soon able to see the Chinese stars that corresponded to the European ones, and made celestial maps in the European manner for latitudes, longitudes, declinations and right ascensions. They did not put the figures on the maps, but joined the stars of the Chinese asterisms by lines. They took the positions of the stars from Tycho's catalogues, and made a Chinese catalogue according to the order of the signs, adding the stars near the southern pole, unknown to the Chinese". As part of this tradition, Gaubil mentions the star charts of Ferdinand Verbiest and Claudio Filippo Grimaldi, whose charts were also attached to the aforementioned letter to Joseph-Nicolas Delisle, as well as Ignaz Kögler's plan to execute such a work. With respect to the recent catalogue of the Belgian Jesuit François Noël, Gaubil was somewhat skeptical: "Father Noël wrote a Latin catalogue of Chinese stars, but I do not think it is enough to explain what the Chinese know about stars".

Antoine Gaubil, who arrived in Beijing in 1722 and would remain there for the rest of his life, was the most important astronomer among the French Jesuits in China, and one of the greatest disseminators of Chinese science and wisdom in Europe in the 18th century. His work on astronomy and as an historian and translator of important Chinese texts such as the "I Ching" earned him the praise of Alexander von Humboldt as the wisest of the Jesuit missionaries. Joseph Needham even considers him "the interpreter general and father superior of Chinese astronomy", of which the manuscript at hand gives impressively evidence.

Busaidi, Said bin Sultan al- (and others), Sultan of Oman, Muscat, and Zanzibar (1791-1856). [Letters on the suppression of the slave trade in Zanzibar].Zanzibar and other places, 1838-1937.

From the hands of sultans: letters from the Sultanate of Zanzibar during the suppression of the slave trade, penned by the likes of Sultan of Muscat and Oman, Said bin Sultan, and his successors in Zanzibar. These successors include Bargash bin Said (ca. 1837-88), Khalifa I bin Said (ca. 1852-90), Ali bin Said (ca. 1854-93), Hamad bin Thuwaini (ca. 1857-96), and Khalifa II bin Harub (1879-1960), alongside letters by Sulaiman bin Hamad, close advisor to Said bin Sultan, and by the Sultan of Anjouan. The correspondence is rounded out by English letters from the Zanzibar observers and administrators of the British Empire.

Dated 1838 CE, the letter from the Lion of Oman is a note in the Sultan's own hand. Translated in English below the Arabic, the translator notes that the above was "signed by his Highness" and "the above written by His Highness." The Sultan was assuring his correspondent at the US consulate that a sea captain of the "U.S. Sloop of war" who desires to visit him is welcome anytime.

In the latter half of the 19th century, the discourse turns to the suppression of the slave trade and to the correspondence required in running a sultanate, which increasingly ran hand-in-hand. A British observer and personal friend of Said bin Sultan, Atkins Hamerton, dashed off a hurried note informing the powers at be of potential slave ships to be intercepted at Aden. Another from 1864 declares "Since the recent order of His Highness [i.e., Sultan Majid bin Said (ca. 1834-70)] prohibiting the transport of slaves during the monsoon the aspect of Zanzibar has become quite altered; slave vessels which formerly passed daily under the windows of my house are now never seen, the slave market is almost empty".

The Arabic correspondence includes a business agreement between the Imam of Muscat and George Graham of Liverpool, possibly to do with a mining project, and much of the daily business of sultans: Bargash bin Said orders the protection of a harried subject, Ali bin Said orders dues paid by the Witu Company, Khalifa bin Said orders Governor Abdullah bin Hamad to sort out a difficulty with a debtor, and Hamad bin Thuwaini tells the same governor that he will have to wait for his requested boats.

A unique archive which spans the business of sultans, enslaved persons, British colonial officials, and Arab administrators, tracing the final days of the slave trade on the shores of East Africa and Arabia.

Pasternak, Boris, Russian poet (1890-1960). "Stikhi iz romana v proze" [Poems from a novel in prose]. A cycle of ten …No place, ca. 1948.

Samizdat ("self-published") collection of poems from Pasternak's then-unfinished novel "Doctor Zhivago", which would be published by Feltrinelli in Milan in 1958 after the manuscript was smuggled out of the USSR. Following an old Russian tradition widely used even in Czarist times, manuscripts and typescripts such as the present one were clandestinely disseminated by the author and his friends to evade Soviet censorship.

A gift to the author's close friend Mikhail Zenkevich, inscribed by his wife in pencil on the flyleaf: "Manuscript, autograph and binding of Boris Leonidovich Pasternak. This manuscript was given by B. L. Pasternak to my husband, Mikhail Zenkevich, on one of his visits to our house. Alexandra Zenkevich".

The cycle includes all of Zhivago's poems written before 1948 (ten out of the 25 "Lara" poems published in the novel), among them "Hamlet", "Ob'jasnenie" ("Explanation"), "Zimnjaja noch'" ("Winter Night"), "Rozhdestvenskaja zvezda" ("Christmas Star"), and "Na Strastnoj" ("On Strastnaya"), with which the novel ends.

Pasternak published "Stikhi iz romana v proze 'Doktor Zhivago'" in "Znamya" (no. 4, 1954, pp. 92-95) prior to their appearance in the book. The poems in this carbon vary only slightly in language, capitalization and layout from those in "Doctor Zhivago". Pasternak instructed his typist Marina Kazimirovna Baranovich to prepare copies of "Stikhi iz romana v proze" for distribution among friends. Only four other carbon copies of the work in this form have been located: one inscribed to Olga Petrovska (Sotheby's, Dec 5, 1991, lot 554); a second inscribed to Iuri Aleksandrovich Afanasiev (Bonham's, 2016, lot 24); a third inscribed to literary historian M. P. Gromov (Pasternak, Polnoe sobranie sochinenii 9, pp. 515f.); and a fourth inscribed on 10 April 1948 to his translator Cecil Maurice Bowra (Collection of Irwin Holtzman, Hoover Institution Archives).

Ibn Batuttah. Voyages d'Ibn Batoutah. Texte arabe, accompagné d'une traduction par C. …Paris, 1853-1859.

First and only complete edition of the Arabic text of Ibn Battuta's famous "Rihla" (literally, "The Journey"), the most significant eyewitness account of the Arabian Peninsula during the Middle Ages. Over a period of thirty years, the Muslim Moroccan explorer Abu-‘Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Batutah (1304-77?) visited most of the known Islamic world, including North Africa, the Horn of Africa, West Africa, Southern Europe and Eastern Europe in the West, to the Middle East, South Asia, Central Asia, Southeast Asia and China in the East - a distance surpassing that covered by his near-contemporary Marco Polo. Ibn Battuta is considered one of the greatest travellers of all time. He journeyed more than 75,000 miles, a figure unsurpassed by any individual explorer until the coming of the Steam Age some 450 years later. After returning home from his travels in 1354, Ibn Battuta dictated an account of his journeys to Ibn Juzayy, a scholar whom he had previously met in Granada. This account is the only source for Ibn Battuta's adventures. For centuries his book was obscure, even within the Muslim world, but in the early 19th century extracts were published in German and English based on manuscripts discovered in the Middle East, containing abridged versions of Ibn Juzayy's Arabic text. During the French occupation of Algeria in the 1830s, five manuscripts were discovered in Constantine, including two that contained more complete versions of the text. "These manuscripts were brought back to the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris and studied by the French scholars Charles Defrémery and Beniamino Sanguinetti. Beginning in 1853, they published a series of four volumes containing the Arabic text, extensive notes and a translation into French. Defrémery and Sanguinetti's printed text has now been translated into many other languages while Ibn Battuta has grown in reputation and is now a well-known figure" (Wikipedia).

Gaubil, Antoine, French Jesuit missionary, astronomer, and historian at the Imperial Court in Beijing (1689-1759). "Catalogue pour la lune et les 5 planètes". Autograph manuscript.Beijing, 1735.

A chronological survey of the movements and positions of the moon and the five planets between 147 BC and AD 1735, compiled from Chinese works. Beyond the tables of observations, Gaubil offers highly interesting notes and remarks on the observations themselves, Chinese astronomical terminology, as well as the history, practice, and relevance of lunar observation in China, especially with respect to the lunar calendar, dynastic chronology, and astrology.

Two particularly interesting notes are found towards the end of the manuscripts on pp. 29 and 31, respectively. In the first note, Gaubil mentions his source and prides himself with surpassing comparable Chinese compilations: "It is from the astronomy of the dynasties that I have drawn the calculations or observations shown in these 29 pages. Several Chinese have made these kinds of compendiums, but they are unselective, truncated and full of errors" (transl.). The following note directs the reader's attention to the high esteem that Jesuit astronomers enjoyed at the Imperial Court in Beijing: "The mandarins appointed by the Emperor to work with the Jesuits to reform the Calendar gave an account of their commissions. In particular, they pointed out the shortcomings of the Ephemerides for the year 1634. It is here that they state that the Chinese do not speak of the latitude or declination of the planets, and that even the longitudes of the planets are very often incorrect" (transl.).

Gaubil sent the manuscript to his editor Étienne Souciet SJ (1671-1744), librarian at the Collège Louis-le-Grand in Paris, who added his note of receipt on 17 August 1752 in ink to the first page. Gaubil himself noted, "sent catalogue of constellations", apparently indicating another manuscript. The later pencil foliation ("153-168"), possibly added by Souciet, appears to indicate a publication project, but the manuscript was not published in Souciet's Observations and is not listed by Pfister.

Antoine Gaubil, who arrived in Beijing in 1722 and would remain there for the rest of his life, was the most important astronomer among the French Jesuits in China, and one of the greatest disseminators of Chinese science and wisdom in Europe in the 18th century. His work on astronomy and as a historian and translator of important Chinese texts such as the "I Ching" earned him the praise of Alexander von Humboldt as the wisest of the Jesuit missionaries. Needham even considers him "the interpreter general and father superior of Chinese astronomy".

Tagore, Sourindro Mohun. Tárávatí: a Tale, translated into English.Calcutta, 1881.

Only edition of this Hindu legend of Taravati, the wife of a wealthy Indian merchant, a tale originally composed by the translator's mother. Elaborately bound presentation copy, inscribed by the Indian musicologist and writer Sourindro Tagore (1840-1914) to the British patron of the arts, Constance Gwladys Robinson, Marchioness of Ripon (1859-1917), a close friend of Oscar Wilde (to whom the latter would dedicate "The Importance Of Being Ernest"): "In submission as an humble offering to Her Excellency The Most Hon.ble Marchioness of Ripon, CI. / With Sourindro Mohun Tagore's most profound respect", dated Calcutta, 5 December 1881. Rare; OCLC lists only six copies in libraries worldwide.

[Ibn Butlan]. [Taqwim al Sihha - latine]. Tacuini sanitatis Elluchasem Elimithar medici …Strasbourg, 1531.

Editio princeps of this rare treatise on health, with delightful woodcuts by Hans Weiditz.

Ibn Butlan's guide to good health, known as "Taqwim as-Sihha" in Arabic, had been circulating in manuscript copies during the 14th and 15th centuries under the Latin title "Tacuini sanitatis" or "Tables of Health". This is the first printed edition. It lays out six elements necessary for good health and avoiding stress: food and drink, air and climate, activity and rest, sleep and wakefulness, the secretion and excretion of humours, and states of mind, i.e. the emotions.

Mukhtar ibn al-Hasan, known as Ibn Butlan, a Nestorian physician in Baghdad in the 11th century, attempted to summarize medical knowledge in the form of synoptic tables. The effect and influence of many remedies, various waters, food, animals, the seasons, etc. are evaluated to bring about a harmony of health in man. The altogether 280 charming woodcut illustrations by Hans Weiditz at the foot of pages illustrate plants, animals, fruits, humours, diseases and cookery.

The other two works in this edition, which both deal with similar subjects, are by the 9th century Arabic philosopher al-Kindi and the 11th century Spanish physician Albengnefit.

[Biblia arabica]. Biblia Sacra arabica, Sacrae Congregationis de Propaganda Fide iussu edita. …Rome, 1671.

First edition: the editio princeps of the complete Bible in Arabic. Work on this translation began as early as 1625 under the direction of the Lebanese bishop of the Maronites, Sergius Risius (Sarkis el-Rizzi, 1572-1638), and Filippo Guadagnoli (1596-1656); it was later completed by Abraham Ecchellensis (1605-1664) and Luigi Marracci (1612-1700). "The preface relates how Sergius Risius started the work of translation in 1625. The reader is warned that he will find many colloquialisms not sanctioned by the grammars. The text is unvocalised […] Of interest are the woodcut Bible book headings, first crude and angular in the Pentateuch, then in a more fluent style for the Historical Books, and even sometimes in outline in the Prophets. In the Gospels almost one half of a column is taken up by them, and in the N.T. Epistles they cover one half-page over two columns" (Smitskamp, p. 338).

Numerous errors in pagination, especially in the first and second volumes, but complete with the often lacking errata leaves. A good copy, appealingly bound.

Owen, Charles Henry. Sketches in the Crimea, Taken During the Late War.London, 1856.

A rare volume of hand-painted lithographed plates, complete in 8 scenes on 6 leaves, the final plate a folding panorama of Sevastopol in the midst of battle. Each scene, including the lithograph title-page, has been hand-painted with delicate watercolours, particularly finely and subtly done, with bright uniforms and delicately painted skies and landscapes. The author, Charles Owen (1830-1921), was a Major in the British Army, and ostensibly a veteran of the 1853-56 Crimean War, fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance between France, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The plates show war scenes on sweeping landscapes, particularly focused on Sevastopol. In full, they are titled: Chapel in the Caves (the title-page lithograph); Dockyard and Barrack Buildings; Balaklava; Sebastopol from the Picket House Battery; Harbour of Sebastopol, from the Crow's Nest, Inkermann; Creek Battery Sebastopol; Monastery of St. George; Valley of Baidar, and finally, Sebastopol from the 2nd Parallel Right Attack, the large folding plate.

Scarce, with only five copies listed in institutions, all currently in the United States or Britain.

Nietzsche, Friedrich, German philosopher and poet (1844-1900). Autograph letter signed ("Friedrich Nietzsche").Basel, 27 Sep 1876.

To Richard Wagner, who in a previous telegram from Venice had requested Nietzsche to purchase for him "two pairs of silk vests and underpants of the finest Basel make" and send them to Bologna, where he was travelling after the financial failure of the August 1876 Bayreuth Festival. Nietzsche's response would have accompanied his shipment of these garments:

"Highly esteemed friend! It was a pleasure to do the small task you gave me: it reminded me of the times at Tribschen. I now have time to think about things past, far and near, since I sit a lot in a dark room, due to an atropine treatment for my eyes that was found to be necessary after my return home. The autumn, after this summer, is more autumn for me, and probably not for me alone, than any previous one. Behind the great events lies a streak of blackest melancholy, from which one certainly cannot escape soon enough to Italy or to work or both. When I think of you in Italy, I recall that it was there that you got the inspiration for the beginning of the Rheingold music. May it always remain the land of beginnings for you! So then you will be rid of the Germans for a while, and this seems to be necessary every so often in order to be able to really do something for them. Perhaps you know that I am going to Italy next month too, but not, as I said, into a land of beginnings, but of the end of my sufferings. These are again at a climax; it is really high time: my authorities know what they are doing by giving me an entire year of leave, although this sacrifice is disproportionately great for such a small community; for they would lose me one way or another if they did not give me this way out; in the last few years, thanks to the forbearance of my temperament, I have swallowed pain after pain, as if I were born for that and nothing else. To the philosophy which teaches something like this, I have paid my practical tribute in abundance. This neuralgia goes to work so thoroughly, so scientifically, it literally probes the limit to what extent I can bear the pain, and each time it takes thirty hours for this examination. Every four to eight days I have to count on a recurrance of this study: you see, it is a scholar's illness; - but now I'm sick of it and I want to live healthily or not live at all. Complete quiet, mild air, walks, dark rooms - that's what I expect from Italy; I dread having to see or hear anything there. Do not think that I am morose; not illnesses, only people can upset me, and I always have the most helpful, considerate friends around me. First, after my return, the moralist Dr. Rée, now the musician Köselitz, the same person who is writing this letter; I will also name Frau Baumgartner among the good friends; perhaps you will be glad to hear that the French translation by this woman of my last work (R[ichard] W[agner] i[n] B[ayreuth]) will be printed next month. If the 'spirit' came over me, I would write a travel blessing for you; but this stork has not built its nest on me lately: which is forgivable. So then please accept my heartfelt wishes which may follow you as good companions: you and your respected wife, my 'noblest friend', to steal from the Jew Bernays one of his most impermissible Germanisms [...]" (transl.).

Light browning; insignificant dampstaining; small tear to lower edge.

Ibn Batuta / Samuel Lee (ed.). The Travels of Ibn Batuta. Translated from the abridged Arabic manuscript …London, 1829.

First edition of the first substantial English translation of the travel account of Abu Abdullah Mohammed ibn Batuta (1304-68/69), known in the West as the Arabian Marco Polo, with extensive footnotes. A presentation copy with a special presentation leaf, gifted to the Junior United Service Club, whose bookplate this copy bears.

"While on a pilgrimage to Mecca [Ibn Batuta] made a decision to extend his travels throughout the whole of the Islamic world. Possibly the most remarkable of the Arab travellers, he is estimated to have covered 75,000 miles in forty years" (Howgego). His journeys included trips to North Africa, the Horn of Africa, West Africa and Eastern Europe in the West, and to the Middle East, South Asia, Central Asia, Southeast Asia and China.

The account, known as the Rihla, is esteemed for its lively descriptions of his travels, giving notable information on the history, geography and botany of the countries and cities Ibn Batuta visited, such as Tangiers, Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Arabia, Persia, Africa, Central Asia, India, Ceylon, and China. He describes, for example, the city of Aden as follows: "From this place I went to the city of Aden, which is situated on the sea-shore. This is a large city, but without either seed, water, or tree. They have, however, reservoirs, in which they collect the rain-water for drinking. Some rich merchants reside here: and vessels from India occasionally arrive here. The inhabitants are modest and religious" (p. 55).

Tesla, Nikola, Serbian-American inventor (1856-1943). Autograph letter signed ("N. Tesla").New York, 26 Jan 1894.

To his friend Robert Underwood Johnson, editor of The Century Magazine, on the first photographs taken with phosphorescent light: "From the samples your actress showed to me to-day I think that we can obtain excellent photos. This ingenious sheme of combining with the phosphorescent light a flash will no doubt succeed. I have seen some defects in the method we have employed last time and think that the next time we shall do better. I shall arrange for an other trial, but I think that we must perform a few more experiments before we come to a definite result, such as would be a credit to your magazine and to your article. You must therefore give us all the time you can [...]".

Tesla developed the first practical phosphorescent lamp, and would take the first photograph to be illuminated by phosphorescence - an image of Tesla himself holding the bulb in a rather dimly-lit room - in the weeks preceding this letter.

Lawrence, D[avid] H[erbert]. Lady Chatterley's Lover.Florence, 1928.

First edition, number 205 of 1000 copies signed by the author. Privately printed in Italy and available by subscription only, the book was banned in England and America for obscenity for over thirty years. In notoriously frank language, the novel tells the story of the physical and emotional relationship between a working-class man and an upper-class woman. Remarkably, given its subsequent central importance in the history of publishing and censorship, "Lady Chatterley's Lover" was written in the astonishing time of just five weeks, in "one of Lawrence's last great bursts of creative energy [...] With the help of the Florentine bookseller Pino Orioli, the handsome volume was printed in and distributed from Florence, and made Lawrence more money than he had ever imagined" (John Worthen, ODNB).

Hayek, Friedrich August, Austrian-British economist (1899-1992). "Notes for lectures". Autograph manuscript signed ("F. A. Hayek").No place or date.

Fine notes for three lectures on political philosophy and economics prepared by the Nobel laureate Friedrich August Hayek. The first, titled "The Miscarriage of the Democratic Ideal", corresponds with the title of a chapter in Hayek's last major work of social philosophy, "Law, Legislation and Liberty" (1973-79), which laments the far-reaching powers of democratic government: "The present forms of democratic government suffer from a mistaken design. It was erroneously believed that the opinion of the majority was a sufficient check on governmental powers. Therefore all the checks intended to limit the powers of government have been removed. The result is unlimited democracy which can govern more arbitrarily than all constitutional governments of the past [...]".

The other two lectures address "The Generation of Wealth", stressing the importance of adaptation and labour division, as well as "The Signals of the Market", criticizing some of the greatest minds of economics, including Adam Smith and Karl Marx, for having overlooked the key function of prices as signals of an evolving market.

The 1974 Nobel committee that awarded Hayek and Gunnar Myrdal their joint medal in Economics pointed to "their pioneering work in the theory of money and economic fluctuations and for their penetrating analysis of the interdependence of economic, social and institutional phenomena".

In excellent condition.

Freud, Sigmund, Austrian neurologist, founder of psychoanalysis (1856-1939). Autograph letter signed ("Freud").Vienna, 28 Jul 1927.

In German to the American journalist and statesman Arthur Sweetser (1888-1968) on an alarming incident involving Sweetser's son, Harold, who is suffering from a "sinister illness" that recently caused him to have a seizure when playing with other children; and with thanks for the positive attitude Sweetser has nonetheless retained towards the psychoanalytic treatment his son had received: "Die unheimliche Erkrankung Ihres kleinen Harald, sein plötzliches Entführtwerden aus einem Kreis spielender Kinder [...] setzte sich zu einem erschreckenden und demütigenden Gesamtbild zusammen und wirkte auf uns wie eine Lähmung [...] Indem Sie aus der selbstverständlichen Pflege, die Harald hier fand soviel machten, nicht die Nutzlosigkeit der analytischen Arbeit betonten sondern das erfreuliche Bild festhielten, das sie geschaffen hatte [...], haben Sie das Dunkel verscheucht, der menschlichen Seele direkt zum Sieg über das brutale Schicksal verholfen [...]".

Freud further acknowledges the receipt of a cheque for $1,000 to support the "Internationaler Psychoanalytischer Verlag", and thanks Sweetser for writing a letter to the Rockefeller Foundation in support of psychoanalysis.

Traces of rust near upper left corner. Otherwise in excellent condtion.