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

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Travel Books from Bernard J. Shapero Rare Books Travel 2006 from Bernard J. Shapero Rare Books. By Michael Stillman Bernard J. Shapero Rare Books is prepared to take you for a trip around the world in their latest catalogue, Travel 2006. Offered are over 400 travel items, mostly from Europe, but the travelers spread from that continent to all over the world. For collectors with a wanderlust, this is an outstanding collection. Shapero breaks their travels down to various sections of the catalogue based on the destination: Africa, Americas, Central Asia, Europe, Far East, Greece and Ottoman, India and South East Asia, Middle East, Russia, Pacific, Antarctic and Voyages. There is also a section on Mountaineering. So pack your bags and we'll take a brief tour of the travels and lands to which Shapero is ready to take you. One of the major discoveries, at least for Europeans (some Africans always knew the answer), was locating the source of the Nile. Richard Burton was the foremost 19th century traveler seeking this answer, but the solution finally fell to his associate, John Speke. Burton did not believe Speke's assertions based on a journey they took together, but Speke would return to Africa without Burton and finally lay the dispute to rest. Speke provides the answer in his 1863 book, Journal of the Discovery of the Source of the Nile. Priced at £950 (British pounds, or US equivalent of $1,742). Burton was already the major inland explorer of Africa and the Middle East at the time, which led him to take a hiatus from these travels around 1860. Instead, he went to America. He published his travelogue in 1861, The City of the Saints and across the Rocky Mountains to California. This journey began in New Orleans, and reached California before it ended. However, perhaps the most notable part of Burton's observations concerned the Mormon colony and his meeting Brigham Young. His objective and relatively nonjudgmental views of a group still despised by a great many people brought Burton much criticism. Item 35. £900 (US $ 1,651). By 1872, Burton must have been running out of traditional places to visit. This time, he accepted an offer to explore the sulfur mining potential of Iceland. Despite its name, Iceland is home to numerous sulfuric hot springs, and for many years, the condensed sulfur was mined. Burton extensively toured the island and reported his findings in 1875 in the two-volume set, Ultima Thule, or, a Summer in Iceland. Item 125. £1,000 (US $1,835).
Travel Books from Bernard J. Shapero Rare Books The Great Pyramid photographed by Emile Bechard in Andre Palmieri's work. Anna Leonowens was an English teacher in the Court of Siam, who retold her tale in The English Governess at the Siamese Court: Being the Recollections of Six Years in the Royal Palace at Bangkok. While popular at the time, this story probably would have faded into obscurity but for its later rebirth as a play and movie. It is the basis for the films Anna and the King, and the even better known The King and I. However, the movies have also brought added scrutiny to her tale, and much of it is now in dispute. Perhaps the inability to reconcile Mrs. Leonowens' description of her own upbringing with historical records has made her description of the Siamese Court suspicious. Certainly, she was brought to Bangkok to teach English to the King's children and spent several years in his employ, but she may also have exaggerated her own role, and colorized some of the things she witnessed to create a better story. The King and I has long been banned in Thailand (formerly Siam) because it is considered to be fictional and disrespectful. Fact or fiction, Mrs. Leonowens' story is one that remains well known long after her book was published in 1870. Item 247 includes both this work and her 1873 book, The Romance of the Harem. £3,500 (US $6,424). American author Nathaniel Hawthorne is best known for his novels, but here is a travel book for which he served as editor: Journal of an African Cruiser: Sketches of the Canaries, Cape de Verds, Liberia, Sierra Leone, &c. This is one of 500 copies published in London (contemporaneous with 1,500 from New York) in 1845. The book is an account of a cruise by an American squadron, written by Hawthorne's college friend Horatio Bridge. Item 17. £1,000 (US $1,835). For those with an interest in Egypt of over a century past, item 352 is L'Egypte et la Nubie, by Andre Palmieri. This large folio book published in 1887 contains 150 photographs by Emile Bechard. £4,000 (US $7,339). Bernard J. Shapero Rare Books may be found online at www.shapero.com, telephone +44 (0)20 7493 0876.

Travel Books from Bernard J. Shapero Rare Books

Travel 2006 from Bernard J. Shapero Rare Books.

By Michael Stillman

Bernard J. Shapero Rare Books is prepared to take you for a trip around the world in their latest catalogue, Travel 2006. Offered are over 400 travel items, mostly from Europe, but the travelers spread from that continent to all over the world. For collectors with a wanderlust, this is an outstanding collection.

Shapero breaks their travels down to various sections of the catalogue based on the destination: Africa, Americas, Central Asia, Europe, Far East, Greece and Ottoman, India and South East Asia, Middle East, Russia, Pacific, Antarctic and Voyages. There is also a section on Mountaineering. So pack your bags and we'll take a brief tour of the travels and lands to which Shapero is ready to take you.

One of the major discoveries, at least for Europeans (some Africans always knew the answer), was locating the source of the Nile. Richard Burton was the foremost 19th century traveler seeking this answer, but the solution finally fell to his associate, John Speke. Burton did not believe Speke's assertions based on a journey they took together, but Speke would return to Africa without Burton and finally lay the dispute to rest. Speke provides the answer in his 1863 book, Journal of the Discovery of the Source of the Nile. Priced at £950 (British pounds, or US equivalent of $1,742).

Burton was already the major inland explorer of Africa and the Middle East at the time, which led him to take a hiatus from these travels around 1860. Instead, he went to America. He published his travelogue in 1861, The City of the Saints and across the Rocky Mountains to California. This journey began in New Orleans, and reached California before it ended. However, perhaps the most notable part of Burton's observations concerned the Mormon colony and his meeting Brigham Young. His objective and relatively nonjudgmental views of a group still despised by a great many people brought Burton much criticism. Item 35. £900 (US $ 1,651).

By 1872, Burton must have been running out of traditional places to visit. This time, he accepted an offer to explore the sulfur mining potential of Iceland. Despite its name, Iceland is home to numerous sulfuric hot springs, and for many years, the condensed sulfur was mined. Burton extensively toured the island and reported his findings in 1875 in the two-volume set, Ultima Thule, or, a Summer in Iceland. Item 125. £1,000 (US $1,835).

Travel Books from Bernard J. Shapero Rare Books

The Great Pyramid photographed by Emile Bechard in Andre Palmieri's work.

Anna Leonowens was an English teacher in the Court of Siam, who retold her tale in The English Governess at the Siamese Court: Being the Recollections of Six Years in the Royal Palace at Bangkok. While popular at the time, this story probably would have faded into obscurity but for its later rebirth as a play and movie. It is the basis for the films Anna and the King, and the even better known The King and I. However, the movies have also brought added scrutiny to her tale, and much of it is now in dispute. Perhaps the inability to reconcile Mrs. Leonowens' description of her own upbringing with historical records has made her description of the Siamese Court suspicious. Certainly, she was brought to Bangkok to teach English to the King's children and spent several years in his employ, but she may also have exaggerated her own role, and colorized some of the things she witnessed to create a better story. The King and I has long been banned in Thailand (formerly Siam) because it is considered to be fictional and disrespectful. Fact or fiction, Mrs. Leonowens' story is one that remains well known long after her book was published in 1870. Item 247 includes both this work and her 1873 book, The Romance of the Harem. £3,500 (US $6,424).

American author Nathaniel Hawthorne is best known for his novels, but here is a travel book for which he served as editor: Journal of an African Cruiser: Sketches of the Canaries, Cape de Verds, Liberia, Sierra Leone, &c. This is one of 500 copies published in London (contemporaneous with 1,500 from New York) in 1845. The book is an account of a cruise by an American squadron, written by Hawthorne's college friend Horatio Bridge. Item 17. £1,000 (US $1,835).

For those with an interest in Egypt of over a century past, item 352 is L'Egypte et la Nubie, by Andre Palmieri. This large folio book published in 1887 contains 150 photographs by Emile Bechard. £4,000 (US $7,339).

Bernard J. Shapero Rare Books may be found online at www.shapero.com, telephone +44 (0)20 7493 0876.