//2021
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    Nobuie tsuba with karakusa motif. Momoyama period, c. 1600.

    Iron tsuba of mokko form decorated with arabesque (karakusa) in low relief carving. niku from 4.0 mm in the centre to 5.1 mm at the rim. Strong Nobuie [信家] signature (futoji-mei) to the left of nakago-ana. Hitsuana plugged with pewter.

    Size: H: 88.2 mm, W: 83.6, Th(c): 4.0 mm, Th(r): 5.1 mm Weight: 167 g.

    Signed: Nobuie [信家]

    Probably the work of Nidai Nobuie (c. 1600).

    Tokubetsu hozon certificate № 229324 of the N.B.T.H.K., dated 22.12.2010
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  • Nieuwe kaart der platte grond van de stad Parys en derzelver voorsteden; engraving, 1756.

    Title: NIEUWE KAART | der platte Grond van de Stad | PARYS | en derzelver Voorsteden. | Met aanwyzing van de Kwartieren, Staaten, | Markten, Pleinen, Paleizen, Abtyden, Kerken, | Kloosters en andere voornaame Gebouwen. | Na het Origineel van | M. DE LA GRIVE. | Te Amsterdam by | I. Tirion. | 1756. ||

    Author : Jean Delagrive (French, 1689-1757)

    Publisher: Isaak Tirion (Dutch, 1705 – 1765)

    Publication date: 1756.

    Dimensions: Sheet: 42.5 x 53.8 cm; Image: 30.7 x 37.7 cm.

    Plate № 59 from Beknopte Atlas van omtrent honderd platte gronden der voornaamste vestingen, kasteelen en Steden van Europa.
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  • Nicolas Restif de la Bretonne. Les faiblesses d’une jolie femme / Illustrations en couleurs de Raoul Serres. — Paris: Edmond Vairel, 1951.

    Title-page (red and black): RESTIF DE LA BRETONNE | LES | FAIBLESSES | D'UNE | JOLIE FEMME | ILLUSTRATIONS EN COULEURS | DE | RAOUL SERRES | {VIGNETTE} | EDMOND VAIREL, ÉDITEUR | PARIS || Description: 25.8 x 17 cm, French flapped wrappers lettered in red and black “LES | FAIBLESSES | D'UNE | JOLIE FEMME” in a 26 x 18 cm tan cloth double slipcase, [1-14] 15-175 [176] [8], collated in-8vo, with 25 colour in-text woodcut vignettes and two tailpieces at the end of each chapter, by Gérard Angiolini after watercolours by Raoul Serres. Published: April 18, 1951, in Paris. Edition: 1st thus, limited edition of 1,025 copies, of which this is № 904 of a common print run on Vélin de Rives paper (numbered 101-1,000). Contributors: Nicolas Restif de la Bretonne [Nicolas-Edme Rétif] (French, 1734 – 1806) – author. Raoul Serres [Schem] (French, 1881 – 1971) – artist. Gérard Angiolini (French, fl. 1946 – 1957) – engraver. Imprimerie Coulouma (Argenteuil), Robert Coulouma (French, 1887-1976) – printer. Edmond Vairel (French, 18… – 19...) – publisher, colourist.
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  • Nevers faience plate, France, late 17th century.

    Nevers faience footed plate with a hunter and his dog on a mound, in blue over white. Dimensions: Diameter 22.3 cm; H: 3.5 cm. Seller's description: Plat rond en faïence à décor en camaïeu bleu d'un personnage et son chien sur un tertre feuillagé dans un médaillon, frise d'entrelacs. Fin XVIIème.
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  • Moustiers faience plate, France, mid-18th century.

    Moustiers faience plate: tin-glazed earthenware plate with a scalloped rim, with green monochrome grotesque decoration of a whimsical creature and a female archer, surrounded by flowering vegetation and insects. Marked "X" on the bottom. "Joseph Fouque/Jean-Francois Pelloquin, started in 1749, used an"X" in its pottery mark". Diameter: 31 cm; Height: 4 cm.
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  • Moss agate snuff bottle with a jadeite stopper

    Agate snuff bottle of flattened rounded rectangular form, round neck, and flat base, semitransparent milky white body with dark brown inclusions of geometric form. Green jadeite stopper with a copper alloy spoon and collar. Qing dynasty [清] (1644-1912) Size: 7.2 x 4.3 x 2.2 cm
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  • Montelupo maiolica charger with a gentleman in landscape holding a halberd (Italy, 17th century).

    Footed round dish depicting a gentleman in an urban landscape holding a halberd in a style of "Arlecchino di Montelupo". Unsigned. Chips to the bottom. Diameter: 32.5 cm; Height: 4.5 cm. Produced in Italy, in Montelupo, about 20 kilometres (12 miles) southwest of Florence. 17th century, probably the first half. "After 1630, the year of the great plague, the number of potters reduced considerably and in the second half of the 1600s production suffered a drastic slump, potteries that specialized in a more prestigious production disappeared completely leaving only the potteries that produced kitchenware and terracotta objects" [www.tuscany-charming.it].
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  • Mons the Capital City of Hainault in ye Low Countries; engraving, 1744.

    Mons the Capital City of Hainault in y Low Countries, taken by y French in 1691, Restor'd to y Spaniards by y Peace of Ryswick in 1697, retaken by y Allies in 1709, and left to y Emperor by y Treaty of Utrecht. attribution to publication source has been trimmed.

    Dimensions: Sheet: 40.7 x 52.5 cm; Image: 37.5 x 48 cm. Published between 1744 and 1747. Attribution to publication source has been trimmed. Reference: Royal Academy 03/2919. Source: Maps for Mr. Tindal's Continuation of Mr. Rapin's History of England. London: John and Paul Knapton. Nicolas Tindal (British, 1687 – 1774) – the translator and continuer of the History of England by Paul de Rapin. Paul de Rapin (French, 1661 – 1725) – a Huguenot historian, author of the History of England.
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  • Miniature portrait of Fortunée Courtois at the age of 22 months. Attributed to Lié Louis Périn-Salbreux, ca. 1802.

    Round portrait of a little girl (22-month-old) with bright black eyes and red hair, draped in a semi-transparent shirt which leaves her chest and stomach bare, keeping a red apple in her right hand and two others lying in the fold of her clothes, standing against a dark natural background: bushes, leaves, an apple tree, blue skies, clouds, etc. Oil on metal; in an ormolu frame, in a wooden frame. Diameter without frames 8 cm, with frames – 12.6 cm. Sitter: Courtois, Fortunée-Florentine Elisabeth (French, August 23, 1800 г. – after 1878). Inscription (handwriting, nut ink): Fortunée, Florentine Elisabeth | Courtois a 22 mois. | née 5e fructidor an 8 || Attributed to Lié Louis Périn-Salbreux (French, 1753 – 1817). Fortunée-Florentine Elisabeth Courtois is a mother of Maurice Joly (French, 1829 – 1878). See also in this collection: blog, LIB-0460, blog, LIB-1038.2016, and Une Épave de l’Ancien Bateau by Tout-Paris. A Lost Article by Proust? The portrait was sold at Drouot (Paris) in 2020 with the following description: "École FRANÇAISE de la fin du XVIIIe siècle Fortunée Florentine Courtois enfant en chemise, en pied dans la nature, tenant trois pommes. Miniature sur ivoire, identifiée au revers : « Florentine Fortunée Elisabeth / Courtois à 22 mois / le 5e ( ?) Fructidor an VIII » [août 1800]; Diam. à vue : 7 cm; Cadre rond en bois tourné et noirci. Florentine Courtois, fille d’André et d’Elisabeth Corbara, épousa vers 1818 Lambert Philippe Joly, conseiller général du Jura, avocat ; leur fils Maurice Joly, avocat, fut ministre de la Justice du gouvernement provisoire en 1870 et grand maître du Grand Orient de France".  Maurice Joly was a lawyer, but nothing else in his description given by Drouot is true. From this inscription, we learned that Fortunée-Florentine Elisabeth Courtois was born on August 23, 1800. We were unable to verify this from any other source. From Morice Joly autobiography (Maurice Joly, son passé, son programme par lui-même. — Paris, Lacroix, Verbœckoven et Ce, 1870) we know that she was born in Bastia and that her father, Laurent Courtois (in some sources André François Désiré Courtois, born c. 1771), was a treasurer of Corsican troops under Napoleon Bonapart. Her mother was Elisabeth Marie-Grâcieuse Corbara (born c. 1750).
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  • Miguel Cervantes de Saavedra. The life and exploits of the ingenious gentleman Don Quixote de la Mancha / 2 vol. — London: J. and R. Tonson, R. Dodsley, 1742.

    Two volumes uniformly bound by Riviere & Son in full red marbled calf, triple fillet border stamped in gilt, elaborate gilt ornament and brown morocco labels with gilt lettering to spine, all edge gilt, gilt dentelles. Vol. 1: Title page: THE | LIFE AND EXPLOITS | Of the ingenious gentleman | DON QUIXOTE | DE LA MANCHA. | Translated from the Original Spanish of | Miguel Cervantes de Saavedra. | By CHARLES JARVIS, Esq; | IN TWO VOLUMES. | {single rule} | VOLUME the FIRST. | {double rule} | LONDON: | Printed for J. and R. Tonson in the Strand, and | R. Dodsley in Pall-Mall. | {single rule} | M DCC XLII || Pagination: [i-iii] iv-xxxii, [i-iii] iv-vi, [2], [1] 2-90, [14], [1] 2-355 [356]; 500 pages total + ils. Collation: 4to; 250 leaves; A4 a-b4 c-d2, A4, a-l4 m2 n4 o2, B-Z4, Aa-Yy4 Z2, ils. Illustrations: 27 full-page copperplate engravings, incl. frontispiece (skillfully repaired), portrait of Cervantes by George Vertue After G. Kent and a fictional portrait of Don Quixote by George Vertue after John Vanderbank. Vol. 2: Title page: THE | LIFE AND EXPLOITS | Of the ingenious gentleman | DON QUIXOTE | DE LA MANCHA. | Translated from the Original Spanish of | Miguel Cervantes de Saavedra. | By CHARLES JARVIS, Esq; | {single rule} | VOLUME the SECOND. | {double rule} | LONDON: | Printed for J. and R. Tonson in the Strand, and | R. Dodsley in Pall-Mall. | {single rule} | M DCC XLII || Pagination: [i-iii] iv-xii, [1] 2-388; 400 pages total + ils. Collation: 4to; 200 leaves; A4 a2 B-Z4 Aa-Zz4 Aaa-Ccc4 Ddd2, ils. Illustrations:41 full-page copperplate engravings, pl. 29 (as frontispieces) precedes pl. 28. Contributors: Author: Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (Spanish, 1547 – 1616) Translator: Charles Jervas (British, 1675 – 1739) Author: Cervantes biography by Gregorio Mayans y Siscar (Spanish, 1699 – 1781) Translator: Cervantes biography by John Ozell (British, d. 1743) Illustrator: John Vanderbank, the younger (British, 1694 – 1739) Artist: (Cervantes portrait): G. Kent (British, fl. 1738 – 1742) Engravers: Gerard Vandergucht (British, 1696 – 1776); George Vertue (British, 1684 – 1756); Bernard Baron (French, 1696 – 1762); Claude Du Bosc (French, 1682 – 1746 or later) Publishers: J. and R. Tonson (London); Robert Dodsley (British, 1703 – 1764) Catalogue raisonné: Lewine p. 102 Reference: Metropolitan Museum (New York)
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  • Memoirs of Vidocq / Illustrations by Cruikshank. — Philadelphia: T. B. Peterson and Brothers, [1859].

    Title: MEMOIRS | OF | VIDOCQ. |THE | Principal Agent of the French Police. | WRITTEN BY HIMSELF, | AND TRANSLATED FROM THE | ORIGINAL FRENCH, EXPRESSLY FOR THIS EDITION. | WITH ILLUSTRATIVE ENGRAVINGS, | FROM | ORIGINAL DESIGNS BY CRUIKSHANK. | PHILADELPHIA: | T. B. PETERSON AND BROTHERS, | 306 CHESTNUT STREET. || Pagination: ffl, engraved frontispiece w/guard, engraved t.p., [2] t.p. / copyright, 19-580, [12], [2] 3-17 [18-30], bfl + 4 plates. Collation: 8vo; [1]8 2-358 362 + 22 leaves of advert., + frontis., t.p., 4 plates. Correct collation despite pagination starts at p. 19. Binding: Publisher's brown pebbled cloth, front stamped in blind, gilt spine lettering, yellow endpapers. Owner's ink inscription to ffl, dated 1936. Ref.: HathiTrust and OCLC identify the plates as 'by George Cruikshank' though none is signed. Authorship of Eugène-François Vidocq (French, 1775 – 1857) is doubtful too. The translator is not stated.
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  • Memoirs of M. Thiers, 1870-1873 / Translated by F. M. Atkinson. — London: G. Allen & Unwin Ltd., [1915].

    Title: MEMOIRS OF M. THIERS | 1870—1873 | Translated by | F. M. ATKINSON | {publisher’s device} | LONDON: GEORGE ALLEN & UNWIN LTD. | RUSKIN HOUSE 40 MUSEUM STREET, W.C. Pagination: [6] 7-384. Collation: 8vo; [1]-248. Size: 23 x 15 cm Binding: Blue cloth, top and bottom ruled in blind, gilt lettering to front cover and spine. Original: Adolphe Thiers. Notes et souvenirs de M. Thiers, 1870-1873: voyage diplomatique, proposition d'un armistice, préliminaires de la paix, présidence de la République. — Paris : [s.n.], 1901. — 465 p. The preface and editing signed "F. D." [Félicie Dosne]. Félicie Dosne (French, 1823 – 1906) was Thiers's sister-in-law.  
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  • ‎Mémoires de Jacques Casanova de Seingalt: 1734—1755 et 1755–1772 / Colligés par René Groos, illustrations de Brunelleschi, 2 volumes— Paris: Gibert Jeune, Librairie d’Amateurs, 1955.

    Two-volume set. MÉMOIRES | DE | JACQUES | CASANOVA | DE SEINGALT | 1734 — Extraits — 1755 | COLLIGÉS PAR | RÉNE GROOS | ILLUSTRATIONS | DE | BRUNELLESCHI | {vignette} | GIBERT JEUNE | LIBRAIRIE D’AMATEURS | 61, BOULEVARD DE SAINT-MICHEL, 61 | PARIS || Pagination: [6], 1-345 [346], [8]; frontispiece and 15 colour plates (collotype), b/w tail-pieces and vignettes (offset). MÉMOIRES | DE | JACQUES | CASANOVA | DE SEINGALT | 1755 — Extraits — 1772 | COLLIGÉS PAR | RÉNE GROOS | ILLUSTRATIONS | DE | BRUNELLESCHI | {vignette} | GIBERT JEUNE | LIBRAIRIE D’AMATEURS | 61, BOULEVARD DE SAINT-MICHEL, 61 | PARIS || Pagination: [6] 1-337 [348] [8]; frontispiece and 15 colour plates (collotype), b/w tail-pieces and vignettes (offset). Limited edition, №2507 of 3000. Binding: original tan pictorial wrappers, in a slipcase.  
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  • Maurice Talmeyr. La franc-maçonnerie et la Révolution française. — Paris: Perrin et Cie., 1904.

    Cover: MAURICE TALMEYR | LA | FRANC-MAÇONNERIE | ET LA | RÉVOLUTION FRANÇAISE | — | Prix : 1 fr.  […] Librairie académique PERRIN et Cie. Title page: MAURICE TALMEYR | LA | FRANC-MAÇONNERIE | ET LA | RÉVOLUTION FRANÇAISE | — | PARIS | LIBRAIRIE ACADÉMIQUE DIDIER | PERRIN ET Cie, LIBRAIRES–ÉDITEURS | 35, QUAI DES GRANDS-AUGUSTINS, 35 | 1904 | Tous droits réservés || Autograph: Inscription to h.t. to Charles Foley from the author. Bibiographical description: Blue lettered publisher’s wrappers, 19 x 12 cm, pagination: [8] [1] 2-94 [2], collation: 8vo, π4 1-68. The Russian translation Н. Л. Фран-масонство и государственная измена. — СПб.: Издание В. П., 1906 is here: LIB-0940.2016. Contributors: Maurice Talmeyr [Marie-Justin-Maurice Coste] (French, 1850 – 1931) Pierre-Paul Didier (French, 1800 – 1865) Émile Perrin (French, 1828 – 1884)
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  • Maurice Auguste Benyowsky. Memoirs and travels of Mauritius Augustus, count de Benyowsky. — London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., 1904.

    Title: MEMOIRS AND TRAVELS | OF | MAURITIUS AUGUSTUS COUNT DE | BENYOWSKY | MAGNATE OF THE KINGDOMS OF HUNGARY AND POLAND, ONE OF | THE CHIEFS OF THE CONFEDERATION OF POLAND | ETC., ETC. | Consisting of his Military Operations in Poland, his Exile into Kamchatka, | his Escape and Voyage from that Peninsula through the Northern | Pacific Ocean, touching at Japan and Formosa, to Canton | in China, with an Account of the French Settle- | ment he was appointed to form upon the | Island of Madagascar | WITH AN INTRODUCTION, NOTES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY | BY | CAPTAIN S. PASFIELD OLIVER || Half-title (ornamental, in black and red): MEMOIRS & | TRAVELS of | MAURITIUS | AUGUSTUS | COUNT | DE | BENYOWSKY | LONDON•KEGAN• | PAUL•TRENCH• | TRÜBNER•&•Co 1904 || Pagination: [i, ii] – owner pasted wood engraving “A woman of Kamchatka” / Dryden House advert., [iii, iv] – serial title / MAB (years), frontis. Portrait of MAB by Walter L. Colls w/guard, [v, vi] – ornamental h.t / copyright, [vii, viii] – t.p. / list of ill., ix-xxxvi, 1-635 [636]. Collation: 2 blank leaves (binding), [a]-b8 c2 1-398 406, 2 plates, 2 blank leaves (binding). Binding: Modern ¾ morocco over marbled boards, raised bands, gilt fleur-de-lis-cross in compartments, burgundy label with gilt lettering, by Atkinson Book Binders, Salisbury (sticker to back pastedown). Contributors: Printed by Neill and Co., Edinburgh. Published by Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co.; Kegan Paul, Charles (British, 1828 – 1902). Author: Maurice Auguste comte de Benyowsky [Мориц Август Бенёвский] (Polish-Slovak-Hungarian, 1746 –1786). Editor: Samuel Pasfield Oliver (British, 1838 – 1907). Translator: William Nicholson (British, 1753 – 1815). Originally published in 1790, in London (I have not seen it anywhere) and in Dublin by P. Wogan [etc.], and in 1791 in French, in Paris by Buisson.
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  • Matthew Welch, Yuiko Kimura-Tilford. Worldly pleasures, earthly delights: Japanese prints from the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. — Minneapolis: Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 2011.

    Hardcover, 32 x 23.5 cm, publisher's blue cloth, blind-stamped to cover, gilt lettering to spine, pictorial DJ; pp.: [1-6] 7-375 [376 blank], ill.
    This catalogue features the top ten percent of the collection ... presented in an exhibition ['Great ukiyo-e masters : common pleasures, uncommon prints : Japanese woodcuts from the Minneapolis Institute of Arts', sponsored by Asano Laboratories] that opened in Tokyo at the Shoto Museum of Art on October 2, 2007, and traveled to the Nara Prefectural Museum of Art and the Sanritz Hattori Museum of Arts"--Foreword. "This [2011] publication ... coincides with a special exhibition, 'Edo Pop: Japanese Master Prints from the Minneapolis Institute of Arts' (October 16, 2011, through January 8, 2012), which will [also] be shown at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta ..."--Foreword. "With contributions by Shūgō Asano, Akane Fujisawa, Murasaki Fujisawa, Yuriko Iwakiri, Yōsuke Katō, Junko Mutō, Noriko Yamamoto. Contents: Foreword / Kaywin Feldman Acknowledgments / Matthew Welch, Yuiko Kimura-Tilford Seductive beauty : coveting and collecting Ukiyo-e / Matthew Welch Time line of the artists Catalogue of selected prints Object list in English and Japanese
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  • Masterpieces of French Faience: Selections from the Sidney R. Knafel Collection / Charlotte Vignon with Sidney R. Knafel. — NY: The Frick Collection, London: D Giles Limited, 2018.

    Title: Masterpieces | of French Faience | SELECTIONS FROM THE | SIDNEY R. KNAFEL COLLECTION | Charlotte Vignon | with Sidney R. Knafel | The Frick Collection, New York | in association with D Giles Limited, London | {device} || Pagination: [1-6] 7-72. Contributors: Charlotte Vignon (American, b. c. 1975) – Curator of Decorative Arts at The Frick Collection. Sidney R. Knafel (American, b. c. 1950) – Collector.
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  • Martin Hardie. English Coloured Books. — London: Methuen and Co., 1906.

    Half-title: THE CONNOISSEURS LIBRARY | GENERAL EDITOR : CYRIL DAVENPORT | […] | ENGLISH COLOURED BOOKS || Title: ENGLISH | COLOURED BOOKS | BY | MARTIN HARDIE | [device: THE CONNOISSEURS LIBRARY] | METHUEN AND CO. | 36 ESSEX STREET | LONDON || Dedication: TO MY WIFE | LOVE’S LABOUR : LOVE’S GIFT Pagination: ffl [i, ii] – h.t. / blank, [2] – blank / frontis. In colour, [iii, iv] – t.p. / First Published in 1906, [v, vi] – dedication / blank, vii-xxiv; 1-339 [340] bfl; 27 sheets of plates, colour and b/w. Collation: 8vo; a8 b4 A-X8 Y2. Binding: Hardcover, 26.3 x 19 x 5.7 cm; red cloth, blind-stamped with repeated fleuron, gilt floral designs and lettering in the frame to front cover, elaborate gilt floral design and lettering to spine; top margin gilt, other untrimmed, some pages uncut; plates w/guards. Printed on laid paper. Printed in Scotland by T. and A. Constable, at the Edinburgh university press. Contributors: Martin Hardie (British, 1875 – 1952) – Author Cyril Davenport (British, 1848 – 1941) – Editor of the series Sir Algernon Methuen (British, 1856 – 1924) – Publisher Thomas Constable (British, 1812 – 1881); Archibald Constable (British, 1774 – 1827) – Founders of the Publishing House "T. and A. Constable".  
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