in Europe. The last section is on opium, which is “one of the first descriptions of the opium habit . . . ‘I knew in Malabar . . . the secretary to a judge of the king, very discreet and lively and with great ability and astuteness . . . who ate every day the weight of five drachmas’” (Escohotado, p. 811). He also describes a number of American plants, such as pineapple, sugar cane, and the rubber tree. He concludes with a monograph on the Indian elephant, Tractado del Elephante y de sus calidades (“Treatise on the Elephant and its qualities”) which includes two splendid engravings, one of an elephant nonchalantly leaning against the trunk of a coconut palm, the other showing a war elephant. Provenance: The title page has a manuscript inscription, contemporary with the publication, running vertically at the gutter margin, which quotes from Pliny the Elder’s Naturalis historia : “non placent remediis tam longe nascentia” (“Ingredients that grow so far away are unsatisfactory for remedies”), speaking to the innovative nature of the work, and perhaps suggesting early ownership by a conservative
practitioner who looked with suspicion at new remedies from “far away”. There are subsequent 17th- century ownership signatures of one Luis Galindo on ¶4 and A1; possibly the Ocanian humanist, doctor of laws and lawyer of the Royal Councils (“abogado de los Reales Consejos” – Rodriguez), whose ten volume manuscript compilation Las Sentencias filosóficas y verdades morales que otros llaman proverbios y adagios castellanos (“The philosophical sentences and moral truths that others call Castilian proverbs and adages”) is in the Biblioteca Nacional. Of similar date to Galindo’s inscriptions, there is an intriguing note to the first binder’s blank reading: “Perternece al Maiorazgo de Casa Real” (“belongs to the Royal House”). The 17th/18th century rebinding process seems to have removed some evidence of a royal provenance acknowledged by this inscription. There are no other marks indicative of such origins. The book also has a faint, illegible, inscription on the verso of the title page and a loosely inserted roughly contemporary slip of paper with manuscript calculation of income and expenses. Octavo (182 × 126 mm). Late 17th- or early 18th-century cat’s paw sheep, flat spine richly gilt within double-fillet border, red morocco label, marbled endpapers, red edges. Woodcut architectural title page incorporating the king’s arms and those of the city of Burgos, woodcut portrait of Acosta, and 42 full-page woodcut illustrations of plants, 2 full-page woodcuts of elephants, 3 smaller illustrations of plants, historiated woodcut initials. A little rubbed, covers slightly bowed, spine with faint crease along centre and neat repair to front joint, small loss to spine label, title page with minor loss repaired with paper on verso, N4–5 becoming detached, some spotting and staining internally, a few leaves trimmed with minor loss of text, but remains a very good copy. ¶ Garrison-Morton 1819; Howgego A6; Norman 1; Sabin 113; Stafleu-Cowan 23. Antonio Escohotado, The General History of Drugs, vol. 2, 2021; Chiyo Ishikawa, ed., Spain in the Age of Exploration, 1492–1819 , 2004; Donald F. Lach, Asia in the Making of Europe , vol. 2, 2010; Pilar Vega Rodríguez, “El refranero de Luis Galindo y los Adagia de Erasmo”, in Epos: Revista De filología , 9, 1993. £9,500 [153571] 2 ARNOLD, Edwin; Bijay Chand Mahtab (compiler). Siddhartha. Calcutta & Simla: Thacker, Spink & Co., 1921 First and only edition, warmly inscribed on the front free endpaper: “Tina, From the Ocean of Love where pain & pleasure commingle into a song of eternity I offer from ‘Song of my life’ these clear drops from the Master’s feet, Votre Toujours, Bijay, London, Aug. 1927”.
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This fine production contains elements from Sir Edwin Arnold’s narrative poem, “The Light of Asia”, which presents Buddha’s life, character, and philosophy in a series of verses. It was compiled by Maharajadhiraja Bahadur Sir Bijay Chand Mahtab (1881–1941), the ruler of Burdwan Estate, Bengal in British India from 1887 to 1941. He states in the foreword that the artwork was “painted for my private use by my young friend, Srijut Lala Rameshwar Prasad Verma, who comes from a family of artists who can trace themselves back to the Moghul Court . . . No hotchpotch or kedgeree of art outside India taints them and I hope they will be appreciated by those interested in true Indian art”. It is scarce: WorldCat identifies just four locations, BL, Cornell, SOAS, and Wisconsin; Library Hub adds the Royal Asiatic society and Curzon’s copy with the National Trust at Kedleston. Octavo. Original japon, coloured illustration mounted on the front board within an elaborate gilt lotus flower panel incorporating the title, endpapers with similar colour border printed in grey-blue, green and gilt, the front pastedown incorporating the author’s arms and monogram as Maharajadhiraja Bahadur of Burdwan, yellow silk book markerer. With 14 full-page illustrations, decorations to the title page and text, all in sepia. Just a little rubbed and soiled, free endpapers lightly browned, marker slightly ragged at the end, but overall very good. £950 [154866]
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All items are fully described and photographed at peterharrington.co.uk
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