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<b>Bonhams:</b> MANDELSHTAM, OSIP. 1891-1938. Autograph Manuscript, 2 pp, [Petersburg,] January 1913, entitled

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From Ptolemy to Stuyvesant from Antiquariaat Forum From Ptolemy to Stuyvesant from the Antiquariaat Forum. By Michael Stillman The Antiquariaat Forum has released a new catalogue entitled From Ptolemy to Stuyvesant. It is one of the more impressive book catalogues you will find, running 180 pages to describe and illustrate just 100 choice items. You will not find any recent material here. Some items qualify as incunabula, while the "new" material is from the 18th or 19th centuries. For those who collect seriously old and classic books, the Antiquariaat Forum is providing a wonderful selection. Here are a few of them. We start at the beginning, Geographia, by Claudius Ptolemaeus, better known as "Ptolemy." Ptolemy was born in the first century, in Roman Egypt, and is perhaps best known as an astronomer. However, geographer was his second major avocation. His manuscript atlas, essentially lost for a millennium was rediscovered around 1300. However, it would take the invention of printing to spread his learning, now almost fourteen centuries old, to the world. Item 1 in the catalogue is a 1490 Roman edition of the atlas. It is based on the plates used in the 1477 Bologna edition, the second printing of Ptolemy? ancient work. It includes 27 maps, with one of the world, as Ptolemy new it. It extended from just off the east African coast to the middle of China, and from the North Pole to the middle of Africa. No more of the world was known to him, and even this portion suffered from inaccuracies. Nonetheless, it was a remarkable accomplishment that would not be duplicated for many, many centuries. Priced at €250,000 (Euros, or approximately US $318,800). Item 74 is the first edition of the first emblem book. Emblem books are something of a forgotten genre today, but for centuries they were extremely popular, and maintain a loyal following of collectors who prize these distinctive works. An emblem book consists of an image with adjoining text. They will often be allegories, stories with a moral that tie to the image presented. The first of these books was created by Andrea Alciati, Emblemata Liber, or Book of Emblems. It was printed in Augsburg in 1531. It was reprinted at least 130 times over the next two-and-a-half centuries. Alciati was best known for his law books during his lifetime, but his reputation today rests on this groundbreaking work. €150,000 (US $191,283). For collectors in the physical sciences, item 34 is Die galvanische Kette, mathematisch bearbeitat, by Dr. Georg Ohm. Ohm was a pioneer in discoveries concerning electrical circuits and resistance. Indeed, the unit of electrical resistance, the ohm, was named for him. This is the 1827 first edition of his important work. €20,000 (US $25,765).
From Ptolemy to Stuyvesant from Antiquariaat Forum The Pyrenees Mountains in France, as drawn by Melling. Voyage pittoresque dans les Pyrenees Francaises et dans les departments adjacents offers a beautiful excursion through the Pyrenees Mountains of France. The French government commissioned artist Antoine-Ignace Melling to produce a series of drawings of the mountains, to show that they were as beautiful as the Alps. Melling did not fail. Text was provided by Joseph-Antoine Cervini, and this magnificent book was published in 1830. Item 14. C15,000 (US $19,328). Peter Stuyvesant was the leading New Yorker before there was a New York. He was the Governor of the earlier Dutch colony to occupy that space, New Amsterdam. He was noted as a generally good leader, and a promoter of education, but was also a bit more intolerant of minority religions than the usually progressive Dutch. Stuyvesant assumed leadership of the colony in 1647, but surrendered the territory to the British after the Anglo-Dutch War. The British King Charles II gave the tract of land to his brother and future King James II, then the Duke of York, which explains the city's current name. Stuyvesant returned to the Netherlands, but was then allowed to go back to his old estate on Manhattan Island. On the way back, he stopped in England, where he received permission to conduct trade between the Netherlands and his old colony, that permission being limited to just three ships and seven years. Item 98 is a 1667 safe conduct letter for one of those three ships, the "Nieuw Jork," and is signed by the Duke of York himself. A year later, the British changed their mind and revoked this permission. However, Stuyvesant remained on his 62-acre estate in Manhattan (what would that be worth today!) for the remainder of his life. C40,000 ($US 51,500). The Antiquariaat Forum may be found online at www.forumrarebooks.com, phone number +31 (0)30 6011955.

From Ptolemy to Stuyvesant from Antiquariaat Forum

From Ptolemy to Stuyvesant from the Antiquariaat Forum.

By Michael Stillman

The Antiquariaat Forum has released a new catalogue entitled From Ptolemy to Stuyvesant. It is one of the more impressive book catalogues you will find, running 180 pages to describe and illustrate just 100 choice items. You will not find any recent material here. Some items qualify as incunabula, while the "new" material is from the 18th or 19th centuries. For those who collect seriously old and classic books, the Antiquariaat Forum is providing a wonderful selection. Here are a few of them.

We start at the beginning, Geographia, by Claudius Ptolemaeus, better known as "Ptolemy." Ptolemy was born in the first century, in Roman Egypt, and is perhaps best known as an astronomer. However, geographer was his second major avocation. His manuscript atlas, essentially lost for a millennium was rediscovered around 1300. However, it would take the invention of printing to spread his learning, now almost fourteen centuries old, to the world. Item 1 in the catalogue is a 1490 Roman edition of the atlas. It is based on the plates used in the 1477 Bologna edition, the second printing of Ptolemy? ancient work. It includes 27 maps, with one of the world, as Ptolemy new it. It extended from just off the east African coast to the middle of China, and from the North Pole to the middle of Africa. No more of the world was known to him, and even this portion suffered from inaccuracies. Nonetheless, it was a remarkable accomplishment that would not be duplicated for many, many centuries. Priced at €250,000 (Euros, or approximately US $318,800).

Item 74 is the first edition of the first emblem book. Emblem books are something of a forgotten genre today, but for centuries they were extremely popular, and maintain a loyal following of collectors who prize these distinctive works. An emblem book consists of an image with adjoining text. They will often be allegories, stories with a moral that tie to the image presented. The first of these books was created by Andrea Alciati, Emblemata Liber, or Book of Emblems. It was printed in Augsburg in 1531. It was reprinted at least 130 times over the next two-and-a-half centuries. Alciati was best known for his law books during his lifetime, but his reputation today rests on this groundbreaking work. €150,000 (US $191,283).

For collectors in the physical sciences, item 34 is Die galvanische Kette, mathematisch bearbeitat, by Dr. Georg Ohm. Ohm was a pioneer in discoveries concerning electrical circuits and resistance. Indeed, the unit of electrical resistance, the ohm, was named for him. This is the 1827 first edition of his important work. €20,000 (US $25,765).

From Ptolemy to Stuyvesant from Antiquariaat Forum

The Pyrenees Mountains in France, as drawn by Melling.

Voyage pittoresque dans les Pyrenees Francaises et dans les departments adjacents offers a beautiful excursion through the Pyrenees Mountains of France. The French government commissioned artist Antoine-Ignace Melling to produce a series of drawings of the mountains, to show that they were as beautiful as the Alps. Melling did not fail. Text was provided by Joseph-Antoine Cervini, and this magnificent book was published in 1830. Item 14. C15,000 (US $19,328).

Peter Stuyvesant was the leading New Yorker before there was a New York. He was the Governor of the earlier Dutch colony to occupy that space, New Amsterdam. He was noted as a generally good leader, and a promoter of education, but was also a bit more intolerant of minority religions than the usually progressive Dutch. Stuyvesant assumed leadership of the colony in 1647, but surrendered the territory to the British after the Anglo-Dutch War. The British King Charles II gave the tract of land to his brother and future King James II, then the Duke of York, which explains the city's current name. Stuyvesant returned to the Netherlands, but was then allowed to go back to his old estate on Manhattan Island. On the way back, he stopped in England, where he received permission to conduct trade between the Netherlands and his old colony, that permission being limited to just three ships and seven years. Item 98 is a 1667 safe conduct letter for one of those three ships, the "Nieuw Jork," and is signed by the Duke of York himself. A year later, the British changed their mind and revoked this permission. However, Stuyvesant remained on his 62-acre estate in Manhattan (what would that be worth today!) for the remainder of his life. C40,000 ($US 51,500).

The Antiquariaat Forum may be found online at www.forumrarebooks.com, phone number +31 (0)30 6011955.