Military & Naval (all items)
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BOTTIGELLA, Giovanni Matteo; & Roberto Sanseverino.
Viaggio in Terra Santa. 1459
£475,000
EXCEPTIONALLY IMPORTANT ITALIAN/LOMBARD LANGUAGE MANUSCRIPT of a little-known pilgrimage to the Holy Land made from Venice to Jaffa by sea in 1458-9, containing "the most...
Quarto (220 × 155 mm), 133 unnumbered leaves written in a professional scribal hand in ink, about 29 lines per page on lined vellum, with contemporary annotations... Read more
SHARPE, Bartholomew, & William Hack.
To the Serene Mai.ties of Charles; the second. King of great Britaigne, France and Ireland. This following Journall of our transactions in the South Seas is humbly presented by your Ma:ties ever loyal 1682]
£75,000
An important manuscript journal of the buccaneer Bartholomew Sharpe's expeditions on the coast of South America from 5 April 1680 to 28 January 1681/2. Very possibly in Sharpe's own...
Small folio (305 ×193 mm). Near contemporary mottled calf, central double fillet gilt panels, red morocco label to the spine, lettered "Sharpe south sea 1680",... Read more
CHURCHILL, Winston S.
The Second World War. 1948–54
£25,000
First editions, each volume inscribed on the front free endpaper, two of the inscriptions with sketches of Churchill's miniature poodle Rufus II, to Miss Bella Lobban who looked...
6 volumes, octavo (206 × 134 mm). Contemporary blue morocco, titles gilt to spines, raised bands, single fillet gilt panels to the compartments and both boards,... Read more
CHURCHILL, Winston S.
The Second World War 1948–54
£17,500
First editions, volume I the Book Society issue (Cohen A240.4(I).c), the rest first impressions. Inscribed by Churchill on the half-title of volume I, "Winston S. Churchill, 1954,"...
6 volumes, octavo. Original black cloth, titles to spines gilt, red top-stain, in dust jackets. Illustrated with maps and diagrams. Cloth a little rubbed, mild foxing... Read more
SERRES, Dominick, R.A. & John Thomas
Liber Nauticus, and Instructor in the Art of Marine Drawing. 1805-6
£16,500
First edition. An excellent copy of probably the grandest English naval aquatint book, eight of the plates here being coloured, in Abbey's copy only plate XVII was coloured. Dominick...
2 parts in 1 volume, folio (475 × 330 mm). Recently bound to style in eighteenth-century half diced russia, marbled boards, matching russia patch label with gilt... Read more
CHURCHILL, Winston S.
Marlborough 1933-1938
£15,000
First editions, first issues. A set bearing a superb association with Churchill's commander on the Western Front, the colonel of the regiment to which the book is dedicated, the...
4 volumes octavo. The first 3 volumes in the original mauve buckram, title gilt to the spines, armorial gilt to the upper boards gilt, top edges gilt, Volume IV... Read more
MEDINA, Pedro de.
L'Arte del navegar, in laqual si contengonolere gole, dechiarationi, secreti, & avisi, 1554
£15,000
First edition in Italian, first issue with title dated 1554. First published in Valladolid in 1545, Medina's Arte del navegar was the first practical treatise on navigation and the...
Small quarto (215 x 149 mm). Contemporary limp vellum, manuscript title on spine, lacking ties, remnants of paper label at bottom of spine. Housed in a black quarter... Read more
![[The Second World War, in Dutch] Memoires over de tweede wereldoorlog.](/content/store/products/1853/2/19255.jpg)
CHURCHILL, Winston S.
[The Second World War, in Dutch] Memoires over de tweede wereldoorlog. 1949–54
£12,500
Deluxe Dutch edition, inscribed by the author, vols. 1–7 signed "W S Churchill" on the front free endpaper, vol. 6 additionally dated 1952 by him in the same place; vol. 8...
10 volumes, octavo. Publisher's quarter calf, green lettering pieces, tan cloth boards, dates blocked in green on front boards, top edges yellow. Photographic... Read more
JENKINS, James.
The Naval Achievements of Great Britain. From the Year 1793 to 1817. [after 1817]
£12,500
An extremely handsome copy of this magnificent publication, illustrating the high-water mark of Britain's maritime hegemony, and the apogee of the coloured aquatint. As Roger Quarm,...
Folio (358 × 285 mm). Twentieth-century royal blue crushed morocco by Birdsall, title gilt to spine, raised bands, double gilt ruled panels to the compartments,... Read more
JENKINS, James.
The Naval Achievements of Great Britain. 1817
£12,500
First Edition, First Issue, with uncoloured title-page vignette and plates watermarked no later than 1816. This magnificent publication, illustrating the high-water mark of Britain's...
Folio (321 × 262 mm). Recently rebound in green half morocco by J. May of London, spine richly gilt, side-panels decorated in blind, marbled endpapers, old... Read more
(FRENCH SIGNALS AT TRAFALGAR)
Officer's notebook from the Neptune containing the French signalling system. 1805
£12,500
Private manuscript signal manual carried on board the French ship Neptune in the Trafalgar campaign. Neptune, 80 guns, was built in 1803 at Toulon, and was commissioned just in time...
Small octavo (168 × 130 mm). Loosely sewn into limp vellum wraps, single linen tie remains. Illegible ?ownership inscription to the upper wrap. 22 leaves of... Read more
CAESAR, Caius Julius.
Commentarii. 1478
£12,500
A handsome early incunable edition of the Commentaries of Caesar, the fifth overall, with contemporary rubrication. The text comprises the seven books of the Gallic War with the...
Folio (326 × 234 mm). 151 leaves (of 152), medial blank fol. 132 (sig. r6) present as a stub only, as often. Collates: a–p8 q6 r6 A8 B8 C4. 42 lines to a... Read more
CHURCHILL, Winston S.
Three letters and a telegram from Churchill to Professor R. V. Jones, wartime head of the Air Ministry scientific intelligence branch. 1946-53
£12,000
A fascinating series of letters offering insights into Churchill's working methods, as war leader, team-builder and writer. Oxford physicist Professor R. V. Jones was a new addition...
Two 2-page octavo typed letters signed, telegram, and single page octavo typed letter signed; four pieces of correspondence. The first with salutation ("My Dear... Read more
CHURCHILL, Winston S.
The Second World War. 1948–54
£9,750
First editions, first impressions. Signed and dated 1950 by Churchill to the half-title of volume 2.
6 volumes, octavo. Finely bound by The Chelsea Bindery in dark blue morocco, titles gilt to spines, raised bands, single ruled gilt panel to compartments with rampant... Read more
MEIBOM, Marcus.
De Fabrica Triremium Liber. 1671
£8,500
First and only edition of this uncommon treatise on ancient shipbuilding, drawn from classical and Biblical sources, illustrated with a beautiful, etched frontispiece by de Hooghe....
Quarto (201 × 142 mm). Contemporary vellum, title inked to the spine, marbled edges. Superb folding etched frontispiece by Romeyn de Hooghe showing 5 separate... Read more
RALFE, James.
The Naval Chronology of Great Britain; 1820
£8,000
First edition in book form, with cancel leaf "b" correctly bound in volume I, rather than misbound at front of volume III. Originally issued in 12 parts. Superb series of plates,...
3 volumes octavo (244 × 157 mm) Dark brown half morocco on green linen boards by R.H. Porter, title gilt direct to the spine, raised bands with single gilt rule,... Read more
(NAVAL; French.)
Tableau de la Marine de France divisée par Escadres, 1787. c.1787]
£7,250
Elegant, superbly-finished presentation tabulation of the strength of the French navy at this historically crucial period, just four years after its vital role in the American War of...
Large landscape single-sheet (1030 × 690 mm). Entirely calligraphic table in brown, red and green ink; broad gilt rules; handsome water-colour sprigs of flowers;... Read more
![[The Second World War, in Dutch] Memoires over de tweede wereldoorlog.](/content/store/products/2272/2/19259.jpg)
CHURCHILL, Winston S.
[The Second World War, in Dutch] Memoires over de tweede wereldoorlog. 1948–54
£6,750
First Dutch trade edition, inscribed by the author, vol. 1 "Inscribed for Emery Reves by Winston S. Churchill, 1948", vols. 2–3 signed and dated 1949, vol. 5 signed...
10 volumes, octavo. Publisher's black cloth, spine lettered gilt on red panel, spine and cover lettered gilt, in the variously-coloured pictorial jackets. Photographic... Read more
SAVILE, Albany Robert, & Ferdinand Henry Wheeler Milner.
The Anglo-Afghan War of 1878. 1878-81
£6,750
First and only editions, classified "Confidential." Rare, the only other set of these papers that we have been able to trace is that in the India Office Records...
Foolscap quarto (304 × 195 mm) Contemporary half calf on black moiré boards, black morocco label, ruled compartments, edges sprinkled red. 12 linen-backed,... Read more
(SHIPPING)
Serie delle diverse specie di Bastimenti da Guerra e Mercantili che navigano nel Mediteraneo colle diverse posizioni di Vele e Manovre che sogliono farsi in Navigazione. c.1780
£6,750
An extremely attractive collection of uncommon eighteenth-century engraved shipping prints. The first series is recorded in one copy only, with later colour, in the National Library...
Landscape folio (first series of plates 275 × 397 mm, the second 255 × 357 mm). Late nineteenth-century black crushed morocco, panel to the upper board... Read more
BARRET, Robert.
The Theorike and Practike of Moderne Warres, discoursed in Dialoguewise. 1598
£6,500
First edition. In his preface Barret, a soldier of fortune, admits to "having spent the most part of my time in the profession of Armes … among forraine nations, as the French,...
Folio, (280 × 180mm). Contemporary limp vellum, front hinge cracked, but holding, somewhat stained and cockled, all but one tie still present, title inked to... Read more
SUTHERLAND, William.
Britain's Glory: or Ship-Building Unvail'd. 1717
£6,500
First editions of both parts. Sutherland had worked for many years as a master carpenter and then inspector and overseer of shipwrights in the naval dockyards at Portsmouth and...
Folio (333 × 215 mm). Two parts bound in one, the second with a separate title page, The Prices of the Labour in Ship-Building Adjusted: or, the Mystery of... Read more
DUPUGET, Edme-Jean-Antoine.
Essay sur l'Usage de l'Artillerie dans la Guerre de Campagne et dans celle des Sieges. 1767
£6,250
A handsome and highly interesting manuscript. The first published edition was issued by Arckstée & Merkus in Amsterdam in 1771, credited to "un Officier du Corps," the author...
Small quarto (203 × 163mm), manuscript, [vi], 294pp., [iv], 47pp. Contemporary mottled sheep, red morocco label, raised bands, spine gilt in compartments with... Read more
CHURCHILL, Winston S.
The River War. 1899
£6,000
First edition, first printing, second state - with the minor typo at p.459 in volume II corrected - of Churchill's second book. preceded by The Story of the Malakand Field Force...
2 volumes, octavo (221 × 144 mm). Finely bound by The Chelsea Bindery in dark blue morocco, title gilt to spines, raised bands with dotted roll, single fillet... Read more
FRUNEAU, René.
Collection of six scarce works on navigation, hydrography, meteorology, and astronomy published at Nantes. 1829-33
£6,000
First editions of a group of rather eccentric theoretical papers on a range of matters maritime by an "ancien marin Nantaise", based in his experiences as a ship's captain in the...
Octavo (198 × 124 mm). Contemporary quarter calf, imitation tree calf boards, black morocco label, edges stained yellow. Folding lithographed map and 3 folding... Read more
