We are specialized in science, philosophy, economics, natural history, and history of ideas in general, in the period from the 15th to the 20th century. Below are short-title descriptions of the books that we are showing at the China in Print book fair in Hong Kong. Full descriptions of all of our books are available. For a full view of our entire stock, please visit our web-site, www.lynge.com, where you will be able to search and browse more than 20,000 books.
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China in Print Hong Kong Hong Kong Maritime Museum
Nov 30th 2018 – Dec 2nd 2018
__________________________________________________________________________________________ Address: Herman H. J. Lynge & Søn A/S Silkegade 11 DK-1113 København K Denmark
Business hours: Monday-Friday: 10:00-17:00 (GMT+1) Saturday & Sunday: Closed.
Phone/Fax: (+45)33155335 / (+45)33915335
www/email: www.lynge.com / herman@lynge.com
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FOUNDING ELECTRO-DYNAMICS - OFFPRINT-ISSUE AMPÈRE, ANDRÉ-MARIE. Mémoires sur l'action mutuelle de deux courans électriques... (1820). First edition, in the extremely scarce off-print, of the first announcement of Ampère's seminal discoveries on electromagnetism, which laid the foundation for electrodynamics. HKD 125,000 / EUR 14,000 PRESENTATION-COPY OF ANDERSEN'S FIRST FAIRY-TALE ANDERSEN, H.C. Digte. 1830. THE RARE FIRST EDITION - PRESENTATION-COPY, IN THE EXCEEDINGLY SCARCE ORIGINAL PRINTED WRAPPERS - OF ANDERSEN'S THIRD BOOK, CONTAINING HIS FIRST FAIRY TALE. The magnificent presentation-inscription - hitherto unknown and unregistered - is arguably one of the most important Andersen-presentations. It is inscribed to Henriette Collin, née Thyberg (1813-1894), the then fiancée, later wife, of his closest and most important friend, who was more like a brother to him, Edvard Collin. The touching and heartfelt presentation-inscription, on the verso of the front wrapper, is in the form of a poem and expresses Andersen's views about himself, about life, love, and perishing, and predicting the fact that he would never find love. HKD 300,000 / EUR 33,500 UNIQUE ANDERSEN-COLLECTION, REPRESENTING ALMOST ALL ASPECTS OF HIS PRODUCTION ANDERSEN, HANS CHRISTIAN. A splendid collection of five unique Hans Christian-Andersen-items that together represent almost all aspects of his life and work - all items are inscribed/signed and include both one of his famous paper cuts, two presentation-copies of two different fairy-tale collections - including some of his most famous fairy-tales - one bearing a poetry-inscription - with a unique poem by Andersen -, the other bearing a prose-inscription, a letter written in English (which is highly unusual), and a presen 1851-1865. This unique collection gives us a magnificent insight into the personal life of the master of the fairy tale genre, Hans Cristian Andersen, whose works are among the most frequently translated works in all of literary history. It is of the utmost scarcity to be witness to so many aspects of the great writer all at once and many details about Andersen's life and work can be noted when looking at these unique items together - for instance, it reaveals to us his way of using metaphors, also in his personal relations and how he likes to "paint" with words, also when not working. In two of the presentation-insctiptions and in the ltter, he compares either books or the recipient with a bouquet of flowers, which is quite interesting to note. HKD 655,000 / EUR 74,000 ONE OF THE EARLIEST PANORAMIC VIEWS OF HONG KONG [BEATO, FELICE]. [First Arrival of Chinese Expeditionary Force -Encampment, Kowloon, Hong Kong March, 1860]. 1860. An extremely rare panoramic view of Hong Kong - being one of the very earliest -, complete with all six photographs. Beginning with the present Hong Kong-panoramas, Beato recorded a chronological sequence of views, creating a visual narrative of the campaign as seen from the point of view of the Western powers - the very first time that a photographer documented the unfolding of an army's maneuvers. The present six-photographs panorama was both costly to make and consequently difficult to sell. Shortly after, Hering (Henry Hering, a London commercial portrait photographer) and Beato shortened the panorama by two sections: "Taken from the Kowloon Peninsula towards Hong Kong Island, this picture originally consisted of six prints, with the left two dominated by a ragged hill in the foreground. By omitting these two sections, the four-part panorama in the collection (Hering C) fills a broad sweep of land and water with numerous British camps, barricades and warships." (Hung, Zooming in: Histories of photography in China). HKD 90,000 / EUR 10,000
2 EDITIO PRINCEPS OF THE ENTIRE BIBLE IN DANISH BIBLIA DANICA Biblia, Det er den gantske Hellige Scrifft, vdsæt paa Danske. 1550. The first Danish folio bible: "The editio princeps of the Bible in Danish", very rarely seen complete. "This first translation of the entire Bible stands as a monument of the Danish Reformation, and the influence it excercised, both at the time and subsequently, cannot be overemphasized. The translation was commanded by King Christian III, and nothing was spared in order to make it as perfect as possible. The best Danish theologians worked on the translation, but it was not until 1548 that the work had progressed so far that printing could be begun.... A German printer, Ludwig Dietz from Rostock, was therefore summoned. Already in 1534, he had printed a complete Bible in Low german, and in 1548 he came to Copenhagen with his printing material... It is copied from the Lübeck 1534 edition of Luther's German Bible, and is illustrated with many woodcuts by Erhard Altdorffer." (Thesaurus). As almost always, the copy has some defects - leaves remargined, recornered, marginal losses, textual repairs, some leaves shaved etc.. HKD 149,000 / EUR 16,750 FIRST 8VO-EDITION OF BLOCH'S MAGNIFICENT ICHTHYOLOGY BLOCH, MARC ÉLIÉSER. Ichthyologie ou Histoire Naturelle des Poissons. 1796. The rare first octavo edition of Bloch's Ichthyologie - arguably the most magnificent work on fish ever produced. This edition - with 216 beautifully hand-coloured plates - is very scarce indeed and is not recorded in Nissen, Wood nor BMC. HKD 131,000 / EUR 15,000 THE MOST IMPORTANT BOOK ON WITCHCRAFT OF THE ERA BODIN, JEAN. De la demonomanie des sorciers. 1580. Scarce first edition of Bodin's seminal "Demon-Mania", the most important book on witchcraft of the era. The work profoundly influenced the position on witchcraft of the following half century and directly influenced the course of witch trials of this period. The work is furthermore of fundamental importance to the understanding of Bodin's tripartite world picture and constitutes an invaluable supplement to his "Six livres de la république". HKD 131,000 / EUR 15,000 CHAMPIONING THE ABSOLUTE INFINITE BOLZANO, BERNARD. Paradoxien des Unendlichen. 1851. The exceedingly scarce first edition of this landmark work of logical and mathematical thought, in which Bolzano anticipates, by decades, Cantor's work in Infinite Numbers, lays the foundation for set theory, and becomes a precursor to Cauchy, Cantor, and Weierstrass in the arithmetization of mathematical analysis. Needless to say, the work, which calls for a total arithmetization of mathematical analysis, was highly praised and admired by the most important logicians in the field, such as Peirce, Dedekind, and Cantor. Bolzano recognized the necessity in analyzing the paradoxes of infinity, of defining various "obvious" mathematical concepts, including that of continuity, and became the first mathematician to note that an infinite set could be considered equivalent to certain of its subsets. HKD 220,000 / EUR 24,800 A MAIN WORK OF 20TH CENTURY EXISTENTIALISM CAMUS, ALBERT. Le Mythe de Sisyphe. (1942). The extremely rare first edition, first impression, review-copy ("S.P." on title-page and back wrapper), printed on the 22nd of September 1942, of Camus' seminal main philosophical work, being his first philosophical essay, and the work in which he introduces his philosophy of the absurd. Together with Sartre's "Being and Nothingness", "The Myth of Sisyphus" constitutes one of the greatest existentialist works of the 20th century. HKD 32,000 / EUR 3,500
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"I'VE GOT IT" - CRACKING THE CODE OF THE HIEROGLYPHS CHAMPOLLION LE JEUNE Lettre a M. Dacier... 1822. The scarce first edition, in the even scarcer original printed wrappers, of Champollion's milestone work, which announced for the first time the deciphering of the Rosetta Stone, provided the key to reading Egyptian hieroglyphs, and gave birth to the entire field of modern Egyptology. This seminal work arguably constitutes the single most important philological work ever written. HKD 565,000 / EUR 64,000 KUANG PAPER-MONEY FROM EARLY MING DYNASTY Ming dynasty 1 Kwan note. Hung-wu era (1368-98). The oldest paper-money that are preserved until today are those from early Ming dynasty, dated year 1375. These notes are the earliest numismatic printings, also the earliest obtainable commercial printing on paper, and nearly the earliest obtainable printing of anything - a full lifetime before Gutenberg. Only a small number of these paper-money are still available for the numismatic collector. The Chinese writing along the top of this Ming note reads 'Da ming tong xing bao chao' from right to left. This translates as 'Great Ming Circulating Treasure Note'. Below this, the denomination is written in two characters 'yi guan' ('one string'). Beneath the denomination is a picture of a string of 1000 coins, arranged in ten groups of one hundred coins. Beneath this are the instructions for use and a threat to punish forgers. Printed on grey mulberry bark paper. HKD 90,000 / EUR 10,000 THE DISCOVERY OF PENICILLIN FLEMING, ALEXANDER. On the Antibacterial Action of Cultures of a Penicillium... 1929. Seminal first printing [In: British Journal of Experimental Pathology] of the groundbreaking paper that announces for the first time one of the most revolutionizing discoveries of modern times, namely penicillin. Fleming's accidental discovery and isolation of penicillin in September 1928 (published here for the first time) marks the introduction of the age of useful antibiotics. This magnificent discovery would not only completely change the world of modern medicine, it would change the course of history, continually saving millions of lives around the world. HKD 166,500 / EUR 19,000 THE RAREST AND MOST IMPORTANT EDITION OF THE SYPHILIS-POEM FRACASTORIUS, HIERONYMUS. Syphilis, sive morbus gallicus. 1531. The exceedingly scarce second edition (the "Rome text") of "[t]he most famous of all medical poems" (Garrison & Morton), the poem which gave to the disease syphilis its name. This is the most important edition of the work, the first complete edition, the only authoritative version of the text to appear contemporarily, and by far the rarest edition - with ONLY FOUR KNOWN COPIES; - the present copy also with the final blank leaf (H4), "not preserved in any copy examined" (Baumgartner & Fulton). HKD 77,500 / EUR 8,750 THE FOUNDATIONAL WORK OF MODERN PLASTIC SURGERY GRAEFE, CARL FERDINAND. Rhinoplastik... 1818. The very rare first edition of the work that founded modern plastic surgery and the work in which the term "plastic" appears in connection with surgery for the first time in history, causing the field to be named as it still is today. This milestone work of plastic surgery constitutes "the first book on rhinoplasty. Graefe was the founder of modern plastic surgery. He developed the operations of rhinoplasty and blepharoplasty." The work was extremely influential and found great resonance throughout Europe and America. Through its massive influence, it came to found modern plastic surgery and is arguably the most important book ever written in this modern specialty. HKD 262,000 / EUR 29,500
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ON ABSOLUTE KNOWLEDGE HEGEL, GE. WILH. FR. System der Wissenschaft. Erster Theil (all), die Phänomenologie des Geistes. 1807. The very rare first edition, in a splendid copy, of Hegel's first major work, "Phenomenology of Spirit", in which he gave the first systematic account of his own philosophy. The Phenomenology of Spirit can be read as the itinerary of human reason. It traces the development of the categories of reason from the basic categories of sense perception to the manifestations of absolute spirit as religion, art, and philosophy. As the historical coming into being of reason coincides with the genesis of its self-awareness, the Phenomenology of Spirit also offers a justification of the human condition. The importance of Hegel's work for the development of modern thought cannot be overestimated. The dialectical structures which keep in place Hegel's thought shall determine the trajectory of Marx and - through the lectures of Alexandre Kojève - the course of modern French philosophy. HKD 136,000 / EUR 15,500 THE MAIN WORK OF 20TH CENTURY CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHY HEIDEGGER, MARTIN. Sein und Zeit. 1927. A splendid copy of the first edition, off-print, of Heidegger's main work, "Being and Time", -one of the most influential philosophical works of the 20th century, and most likely the most influential work of continental philosophy in the 20th century. HKD 38,000 / EUR 4,300 PRESENTATION-COPY OF THE EXCEEDINGLY RARE FIRST ISSUE (HELVETIUS, CLAUDE ADRIEN). De l'Esprit. 1758. Extremely rare first edition, first issue, with manuscript dedication-inscription from the author, of this monumental work of the French Enlightenment. This magnum opus of modern thought is considered the founding work of modern Utilitarianism, as it is here that Helvétius articulates the greatest happiness principle ("the greatest happiness for the greatest number") for the first time and becomes the first to define social welfare upon this utilitarian maxim, directly influencing Bentham and Mill. The materialistic philosophy of Helvétius' "De l'Esprit" also directly influenced Karl Marx, who had studied the work while in Paris and called the ideas presented in it "the social basis of communism". "De l'Esprit" arguably constitutes the greatest "succès de scandale" of Western thought and one of the most influential works of Western philosophy. This magnificent copy is stunning in all ways. It contains all the extremely rare condemned and repressed leaves of the first issue (bound in the back), it is printed on large paper, contemporarily bound (presumably under instruction by Helvétius himself) in a stunning full calf gift binding and with two manuscript ex-dono- (presentation-) inscriptions by Helvétius himself. One of them, on the verso of the title-page, is crossed out, but is still legible (reading "donum auctoris 17 avril 1760 Cl. Helvetius"), the second, on the front free end-paper reads "ex dono auctoris 1761" - thus indicating that Helvétius, who had the copy in his possession, to give away when he felt it appropriate, had first intended to give it away perhaps late in the year - in 1760, and then ended up giving it away in 1761. HKD 928,000 / EUR 105,000 THE NAZI BIBLE - PMM 415 HITLER, ADOLF. Mein Kampf. 1925-27 (vol 2 recte: 1926). Scarce first edition, first issue - in original bindings - of this infamous monument over the most tragic period in the history of Europe and mankind in general. Constituting a turning-point in the career of the 40-year old Hitler, who had achieved nothing of significance at the time, it also presents a devastating turning-point of the 20th century, paving the way for WWII. "Mein Kampf must rank as one of the most widely distributed and translated books in the world. By 1945 the German editions had reached a total circulation of about ten million copies and the book had been translated into sixteen languages." HKD 179,000 / EUR 20,200
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FOUNDING THE MODERN ART OF ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATION HORREBOW, PEDER. [RØMER, ROEMER]. Basis Astronomiae... 1735. The extremely rare first edition, presentation-copy, of this highly important work, which shows for the first time Ole Roemer's astronomical instruments by which he was the first to discover and measure "The Speed of Light". Nearly all of Roemer's papers and observations were destroyed in the great fire of Copenhagen in 1728, and as Roemer never published anything himself, the present publication constitutes all that we have documenting his instruments, his methods, and his discoveries, making this publication one of the most important astronomical works of modern times. "Not the splendid and magnificent Observatory in Paris, but the little hut Tusculanum (Roemer's small private observatory outside Copenhagen), became the place, from which the modern art of astronomical observation began." HKD 238,000 / EUR 26,800 THE EXCEEDINGLY RARE FIRST EDITION [HUDDART, JOSEPH] (+) ROBERT SAYER. The Oriental Navigator; or, New Directions for Sailing to and from the East Indies, China, New Holland, &c. &c. &c. 1794. The exceedingly rare first edition of Huddart's influential and much used pilot. From the moment of its publication, the work was considered of the utmost importance to the blossoming American-China trade route headed by such merchants as Robert Morris of Philadelphia. The Oriental Navigator was based upon the navigational experiences of officers in the East India Company and from the French edition of de Mannevillette's "French Neptune Oriental." Joseph Huddart (1741-1816), one of England's foremost hydrographers, a successful sea captain, entrepreneur and inventor, routinely navigated the oriental waters between India and China. In 1778 he started out on four voyages to the east, eventually in command of the East Indiaman Royal Admiral for her maiden and two subsequent voyages. He completed surveys of the coast of India and Sumatra and eventually published his pilot in 1794. HKD 119,000 / EUR 13,500 THE ALIENATION OF MAN IN EUROPE - OFF-PRINT - PRESENTATION-COPY HUSSERL, EDMUND. Die Krisis der Europäischen Wissenschaften und die transzendentale Phaenomenologie. 1936. First printing, in the extremely scarce off-print with a highly interesting presentation-inscription (to Léon Robin - the important French philosopher), of the first appearance of the first printed part (the only part to appear within his life-time) of Husserl's seminal work in which he develops his path-breaking project of linking the basic notions of science back to their conceptual roots in the pre-scientific parts of the "life-world". In "Krisis" famously Husserl cuts the umbilical cord to individual consciousness. He is engaged in what he describes as a "teleological-historical reflection upon the origins of our critical scientific and philosophical situation". This reflection revolves around the concept of "life-world", which he introduces as the designation of the pre-theoretical and unreflected element, out of which scientific thought arises. Husserl attributes the alienation of man in Europe to the fact that the sciences have forgotten that they are rooted in the "life-world". The concept has since played a pivotal role in the theory of communicative action of Habermas. HKD 67,000 / EUR 7,500 A MAIN WORK OF GERMAN IDEALISM KANT, IMMANUEL. Prolegomena... 1783. The rare first edition, first issue, of Kant's masterpiece, the more popular exposition of the ideas presented in his main work "Critik der reinen Vernunft" (1781). Three variants of the first edition appeared in the same year, distinguishable by head- and tailpieces; this is the first. HKD 30,000 / EUR 3,350
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THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF NATURE KANT, IMMANUEL. Critik der Urtheilskraft. 1790. The rare first edition of Kant's seminal "Critique of Judgment", the third and last of his critiques which, taken together, arguably constitute the most important contribution to philosophy since Aristotle and Plato. Kant's influence on modern philosophy is primarily due to his critical works, and with them he gives to philosophy a new and comprehensive way of dealing systematically with the problems of philosophy. In the "Critique of Judgment", Kant develops philosophical aesthetics and teleology that comprises nature and art. This aesthetics fulfills an essential systematic function in the Kantian architectonic. It bridges the gap between reason and nature, thus serving as a complement to practical reason of which Kant had proposed a critique two years earlier. HKD 47,500 / EUR 5,400 THE LOST EXPEDITION KING, RICHARD. The Franklin Expedition from First to Last. 1855. The exceedingly rare first edition, only to have appeared in auction twice the past 40 years, of Dr. Richard King's correspondence with the Admiralty regarding the search for the lost Franklin Expedition. King persistently held the view - which later was proved correct - that the Franklin Expedition, or traces of it, would be found, at or near the mouth of the Great Fish River. He volunteered to lead a search expedition, but was ignored. In his letters to periodicals, government ministers and the Admiralty, published in this present work, we are given a most interesting insight into the politics and practicalities regarding the search for the Franklin Expedition - one of the most notorious chapters in the history of polar exploration. HKD 90,000 / EUR 10,000 KING’S IMPORTANT NARRATIVE OF BACK’S 1833-1835 ARCTIC EXPEDITION KING, RICHARD. Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of the Arctic Ocean, in 1833, 1834, and 1835. 1836. Rare first edition of Dr. King's narrative of his travels under Captain Back in the Arctic Ocean in the mid 1830ies, a work praised for its more sanguine view of the expedition compared to his commander's. "Dr. King's narrative is full of the details of Indian life, as it was presented to the members of Captain Back's expedition. He looked at the same transactions with the natives, and the same phases of their character which Captain Back portrays, from a different point, and their coloring to his eye bears another tinge. His journal, filled with descriptions of interviews with the Chippewyans, Crees, Dog-Ribs, and Esquimaux, is therefore exceedingly interesting even after the perusal of Captain Back's narrative. Although every chapter is largely devoted to incidents associated with the natives, and anecdotes illustrative of their character, Dr. King yields the whole of Chapter xii. to an examination and relation of the present condition of the tribes inhabiting the Hudson's Bay territories." HKD 49,500 / EUR 6,700 THE TESTAMENT OF TYCHO BRAHE LONGOMONTANUS. Astronomia Danica. 1622. Exceedingly scarce first edition of this milestone of astronomy, in which Tycho Brahe's geoheliocentric model is developed empirically and publicly for the first time, to common acceptance for posterity. Longomontanus' magnum opus presented for the very first time Brahe's planetary observations and put them into a systematic whole, presenting the results of the entire program of Brahe. Printed five years before Keplers' "Tabulae Rudolphinae", "Astronomia Danica" constitutes the first work to systemtize Brahe's observations. It will forever stand as a cornerstone of astronomical literature, presenting us with the Tychonic world system. HKD 209,000 / EUR 23,500
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FIRST COMPLETE "LITTLE RED BOOK" MAO ZEDONG. Mao Zhu Xi Yu Lu. (Quotations of Chairman Mao). 1965. Rare first complete edition of the LRB. This is the third edition, upon which all subsequent versions and translations of the Little Red Book are based, here in its iconic red vinyl binding. The third edition is the first to contain all 33 chapters. With the rare endorsement-leaf, which is usually lacking. HKD 42,000 / EUR 4,300 FIRST TRANSLATION INTO ANY LANGUAGE OF "THE BIBLE OF MARXISM" - WITH A MOST INTERESTING PROVENANCE MARX, KARL. Kapital. Kritika politicheskoj ekonomii... 1872. First Russian edition (first issue, with the issue-pointers), being the first translation into any language, of Marx' immensely influential main work, probably the greatest revolutionary work of the nineteenth century. The present copy has a most interesting provenance, namely that of Stanislav Strumilin (1877-1974). He played a leading role in the analysis of the planned economy of the Soviet type, including modeling, development of the five year plans and calculation of national income. His particular contributions include the "Strumilin index", a measure of labor productivity, and the "norm coefficient", relating to analysis of investment activity. In the sixties he gained an international reputation in the field of the economics of education following the publication of "The economics of education in the USSR" by UNESCO. HKD 209,000 / EUR 23,500 FIRST POLISH EDITION OF THE BIBLE OF MARXISM MARX, KAROL. Kapital. 1884-[89]. Very rare first edition of the first Polish translation of Marx' revolutionizing main work, "The Capital", which was clandestinely printed in Germany and then smuggled into Poland. The publication of the first Polish translation of Marx' Capital not only came to influence Polish politics and economics, it also marked an important divide in Polish socialism and constitutes one of the earliest printings within organized Polish Marxism. HKD 209,000 / EUR 23,500 FIRST APPEARANCE OF THE PERIODIC TABLE OF THE ELEMENTS MENDELEEV, D. Osnovy Khimii [Russian, i.e. "Principles of Chemistry"]. 1869-71. The rare first edition of Mendeleev's landmark work, arguably the most important and influential work in the entire history of chemistry, containing the first appearance of the periodic table of the elements. Mendeleev famously used this table to accurately predict elements which were only discovered much later. "It is a fundamental milestone in the literature of modern chemistry, as it contains the first public appearance of the periodic table of the elements in its earliest form [...]. The second volume contains the first appearance of the period table in its modern form, with the elements of each group arranged vertically rather than horizontally" (Neville). "In richness and boldness of scientific thought, originality of expression and influence on the development and teaching of chemistry, Mendeleev's work has no equal in the world's chemistry literature". HKD 452,000 / EUR 51,000
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INTRODUCING THE CONCEPT OF "SUPERMAN" NIETZSCHE, FRIEDRICH. Also sprach Zarathustra. (1886) - [text recte 1883-84]. A truly splendid copy, in completely original state, of the first edition, title-issue, of Nietzsche's main work in which the concept of the "Superman" (or "Overman") in introduced. This is actually the first printings of these three parts, but the many remainders were sold and issued with a new title-page (with no year, but 1886). Only 45 copies of the exceedingly scarce privately printed fourth part were issued, the first trade edition of which is from 1892. It is difficult to overestimate the impact of Nietzsche's magnum opus. With this work he realizes his ideal of the poet-philosopher. It is, at the same time, a towering literary achievement and the most profound inquiry in the key notions of his philosophy (the Superman, the eternal return of the same). HKD 90,000 / EUR 10,000 THE MOST GRANDIOSE WORK IN DANISH BOOK PRODUCTION NORDEN, F.L. Voyage d'Egypte et de Nubie. 1755. Scarce first edition, only published in 200 copies by The Danish Royal Society. This splendid work communicated the results of this remarkable expedition undertaken in 1737-38. It is the most extensive description of Egypt's monuments, ruins, temples etc. since the times of Herodotus, as there had been only few travellers or written descriptions since classical times. An anecdote tells that Napoleon, before his expedition to Egypt, pointed to these two folio-volumes in order to encourage his staff of scientists and artists. The plates are excellent in their details and execution, engraved by the skillfull artist and engraver Marcus Tuscher in collaboration with the author, who died before the work went into the press. They depict landscapes, monuments, ruins etc., as well as maps. HKD 179,000 / EUR 20,200 A MASTERPIECE OF 18TH CENTURY ITALIAN CHALCOGRAPHY PAOLI, PAOLO ANTONIO. Antichita di Pozzuoli. (1768). The rare first edition of Paoli's masterpiece of 18th century Italian chalcography with both text and views in beautiful copper engraved plates. The systematic documentation of classical ancient Greek and Roman ruins, many of which are here depicted for the very first time, is considered the most important eighteenth century views of Pozzuoli and its surroundings. HKD 119,000 / EUR 13,500 THE FIRST MAN OF LETTERS PETRARCA, FRANCISCUS. Epistole Familiares. 1492. Very rare first edition of the most important and influential of Petrarca's publications, his seminal "Epistolae Familiares", which constitutes one of the most significant works of the Renaissance - the first documentation of "modern man". The present publication constitutes the only separately published incunable edition of Petrarch's letters. Later on, in all 350 letters to his friends were published; the present work is made up of the first 102 and the publication thus marks the beginning of one of the most important enterprises of humanism, namely the publication of the letters that reveal to us the man Petrarca. Petrarca is the first modern man whose life can be traced accurately (due to the publication of his letters) and he is considered the embodiment of the transition from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. The many outer and inner conflicts that we witness in the person Petrarca is a testament to the times in which he lived - a time in which the Middle Ages evolved into the Renaissance and in which man became the centre of the world, a time in which humanism was born. HKD 131,000 / EUR 15,000
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THE WALL - NUMBERED COPY - MAGNIFICENTLY BOUND BY MIGUET SARTRE, JEAN-PAUL. Le Mur. (1939). First edition, one of in all 110 numbered copies, of Sartre's first collection of short stories, which are generally accepted as Sartre's greatest existentialist works of fiction and the book as such as his greatest book of fiction. The present copy is one of 20 "out of commerce" ("hors commerce") copies on alfa paper. In all 110 copies appeared, 40 of which are on on pur fil and 70 on alfa (50 of them numbered 31-80, and 20 hors commerce numbered 81-100). This is number 86. HKD 45,500 / EUR 5,100 THE FIRST NARRATIVE OF HAMLET SAXO GRAMMATICUS. Danorum Regum heroumque Historie. 1514. A magnificent copy - one of the finest we have ever seen -, in its first binding and in unusually fine condition, of the rare editio princeps, the edition that preserved the first full history of Denmark for posterity and to this day the most important of all Danish historical publications. This magnificent work contains the first known written narrative of the legend of Hamlet and served as the basis for Shakespeare's play. HKD 238,000 / EUR 26,800 THE FINAL CONQUEST OF DARKNESS SWAN, JOSEPH WILSON. Electric Lamps... 1880. Scarce original printed patent for the seminal invention that is the incandescent light bulb. Though usually erroneously ascribed to Thomas Edison, it was in fact Joseph Swan who invented the light bulb and ended the dark ages. The present patent, for the carbonised paper filaments that finally made the light bulb completely functionable, constitutes a milestone in the history of mankind, marking man's final conquest of darkness. The invention of the light bulb marks a turning point, like the wheel or the invention of the printing press. As McLuhan put it in his groundbreaking main work, "a light bulb creates an environment by its mere presence". It does not have content in itself, as e.g. a newspaper, but it is a medium with a social effect strong enough to change the way we think, act, and behave. Electric light is "pure information" - a medium without a message. HKD 143,000 / EUR 16,000 FIRST TRANSLATION INTO ANY LANGUAGE OF THE BOOK OF MORMON THE BOOK OF MORMON Mormons Bog. 1851. Exceedingly rare first edition thus, namely the seminal first printing of the first translation into any language of the Book of Mormon. After the Prophet Joseph Smith's original translation of the Book of Mormon from the gold plates into English in 1829 and the return of those plates to the angel Moroni, no translations from English into any other languages appeared until this Danish translation of 1851. After this groundbreaking first translation, the Book of Mormon has been translated in its entirety into 95 languages (with portions of the book having been translated into another 20 languages) and has been printed in more than 150 million copies. HKD 179,000 / EUR 20,200
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VALTURIO’S FAMOUS ILLUSTRATED MILITARY TREATISE VALTURIUS, ROBERTUS. De Re Militari... (1532). The Rare first edition of Valturio's landmark work to be printed printed in France. The work constitutes the very first book "printed with illustrations of a technical or scientific character" (PMM). The magnificent woodcuts are 'reversed free copies' (Mortimer) of the blocks used to illustrate the second edition (Verona, 1483) which were in turn copied from the first edition (Verona: Johannes, 1472). Cockle notes that these illustrations were 'said to be from da Vinci's drawings'. (Cockle p. 134). The De Re Militari is essentially a compendium of the latest techniques and devices for scaling walls, catapulting missiles, ramming fortifications, and torturing enemies and the work marks the transition between Medieval and Renaissance warfare with the application of cannons and gunpowder. Soon after it's first appearance in 1472 The work became a primary handbook for Renaissance princes and military leaders: Leonardo da Vinci made use of it while acting as chief engineer to Cesare Borgia and even before its first printing the treatise was highly regarded and circulated in manuscript. The work kept being reprinted several times and the dates suggests it continued to be of more than antiquarian value: The 1484 edition appeared shortly after the accension of the militant Charles VIII and the present edition came on the heels of Francis I's important reorganization of the French army. HKD 131,000 / EUR 15,000 EXCEEDINGLY RARE FIRST EDITION OF CAPTAIN BERNARD WHITTINGHAM'S NOTES WHITTINGHAM, BERNARD. Notes on the Late Expedition against the Russian Settlements in Eastern Siberia And of a Visit to Japan and to the Shores of Tartary, and of the Sea of Okhostk. 1856. The exceedingly rare first edition of Captain Bernard Whittingham's notes on his voyage from Hong Kong aboard HMS Sibylle to the Russian settlements in Eastern Siberia. Here he recounts in detail the movements and actions of HMS Sybille, including the period of the capture of the Diana's crew (under the command Nikolai Baron Schilling) and their transfer in Hong Kong to other Royal Navy ships. Whittingham had volunteered to join an Allied squadron attempting 'to discover the progress of Russian aggrandisement in North-eastern Asia, and to ascertain how far the reports of her successful encroachment on the sea frontiers of China and Japan were true'. HKD 24,000 / EUR 2,700
Herman H. J. Lynge & Søn A/S was founded in 1821 in Copenhagen, and has been a member of the Danish Antiquarian Booksellers Association (ABF) and the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB-LILA) since their beginnings. We specialize in important and rare books in all fields of Science, Philosophy, and History of Philosophy in general.
Herman H.J. Lynge & Søn A/S, Silkegade 11, 1113 Copenhagen K., Denmark (+45) 33 15 53 35, herman@lynge.com
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