Nova Legenda Anglie, first edition, London, Wynkyn de Worde, 1516. Estimate $8,000 to $12,000.

NEW YORK, NY.- On Tuesday, April 12, Swann Galleries will hold an auction of Early Printed, Medical, Scientific & Travel Books, featuring early English books and travel texts focusing on the exploration of Central Asia. 

Standouts among the travel books include a first edition of John Biddulph’s Tribes of the Hindoo Koosh, Calcutta, 1880, previously owned by the anthropologist Sir James Frazer, writer of The Golden Bough. Tribes of the Hindoo Koosh is estimated at $1,000 to $2,000.

Lot 185, John Biddulph, Tribes of the Hindoo Koosh. 6 lithographed plates; 3 folding genealogical tables; folding map in front cover pocket. [2], vi, 164; clxix pages. 8vo, 246x152 mm, original cloth, rubbed and shaken, spine ends and cover corners worn through; bookplate removed from front pastedown, contents otherwise clean. Calcutta: Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, 1880. Estimate $1,000 - 2,000 

A first edition of Sir Alexander Cunningham’s Ladák, Physical, Statistical and Historical, London, 1854, will also be on offer ($2,000 to $3,000).

Lot 192, Sir Alexander Cunningham, Ladák, Physical, Statistical, and Historical; with Notices of the Surrounding Countries. 31 lithographed, all but 14 in color; linen-backed folding hand-colored engraved map in rear cover pocket. [iii]-xii, [2], 485, [2] pages, including last leaf with printer's imprint; lacks the half-title. 8vo, 252x155 mm, later 19th-century 1/2 leather, extremities rubbed; contents generally clean, discoloration on linen backing not visible on recto of map. London: Wm. H. Allen and Co., 1854. Estimate $2,000 - 3,000

A pioneer in the field of mountaineering and climbing companion to the famous Aleister Crowley, Oscar Johannes Ludwig Eckenstein’s The Karakorams and Kashmir, An Account of a Journey, first edition, London, 1896, is included in the auction ($800 to $1,200).

Lot 197, Oscar Johannes Ludwig Eckenstein, The Karakorams and Kashmir. An Account of a Journey. xvi, 253, [2] pages, including initial ad leaf, half-title, and final leaf with printer's imprint. 8vo, 193x127 mm, original cloth with pictorial label on front cover, spine slightly darkened with small stain; free endpapers browned, smudge in lower margin of ad leaf, contents otherwise clean. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1896. Estimate $800 - 1,200 

Completing the strong travel section is a run of works by Hungarian-British archaeologist Sir Marc Aurel Stein, including a first edition of Serindia: Detailed Report of Explorations in Central Asia and Westernmost China, Oxford, 1921. This five-volume set is from the library of Stein’s friend and collaborator Fred H. Andrews and is estimated at $6,000 to $9,000. 

Lot 240, Sir Marc Aurel Stein, Serindia: Detailed Report of Explorations in Central Asia and Westernmost China. 175 plates of antiquities; 345 photographic illustrations; 59 plans. xxxix, [1], 547, [1]; viii, [549]-1088; xi, [1], [1089]-1580; x pages. 4 volumes, plus case containing contents list and 96 folding maps, including general map with glassine overlays. Together, 5 volumes. Folio, 330x252 mm, original cloth, worn, with hole in Volume 1 spine and dent along edge of flap on map case; free endpapers browned, clean tear in plate facing page 634 in Volume 2, contents otherwise generally clean. Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1921. Estimate $6,000 - 9,000. 

The medical books selection features a scarce first edition of Matthew Turner’s An Account of the Extraordinary Medicinal Fluid, called Aether, [Liverpool], 1761, in which Turner advocated the use of ether for a wide variety of ailments, including headaches and other pain ($5,000 to $7,000).

Lot 161, Matthew Turner, An Account of the Extraordinary Medicinal Fluid, called Aether. [4], 16 pages. 8vo, 194x124 mm, contemporary wrappers; contents faintly toned but clean. [Liverpool]: John Sadler, 1761. Estimate $5,000 - 7,000 

Another rarity is an early pharmacy manual, Lumen apothecariorum, Venice, 21 January 1512, by Quiricus de Augustus ($1,500 to $2,500).

Lot 130, Quiricus de Augustus, Lumen apothecariorum. 25, [1] leaves. Folio, 310x214 mm, 20th-century cloth-backed boards; contents clean apart from light soiling and circular stain on title, and small rust hole in blank lower margin of 2c2. (Venice: Filippo Pinci, 21 January 1512). Estimate $1,500 - 2,500 

The Anatomy of Melancholy, Robert Burton’s extensive study of depression, is also featured. A second edition published in Oxford, 1624, The Anatomy of Melancholy is one of the most popular psychiatric texts ever published ($1,500 to $2,500). 

Lot 134, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy. [4], 64, [4], 188, [4], 189-332, [2], 333-379, 370-557, [7] pages. Folio, 269x180 mm, modern 1/2 calf; marginal soiling and dampstaining throughout with traces of mold, paper corrosion in blank lower outer corners, scattered minor marginal tears, title restored and mounted with partial loss of imprint, next leaf mounted, lower outer corner of the 2 leaves after that restored with slight text loss, hole in outer margin of h5 affecting sidenote on recto, wormtrail in middle of volume entering text. Oxford: John Lichfield and James Short for Henry Cripps, 1624. Estimate $1,500 - 2,500 

Among scientific books is Marcel Tolkowsky’s Diamond Design, first edition, London & New York, 1919, the first systematic mathematical analysis of the optics of diamonds ($1,000 to $2,000).

Lot 176, Marcel Tolkowsky, Diamond Design. A Study of the Reflection and Refraction of Light in a Diamond. Folding plate and 36 text illustrations. [2], 104 pages, including half-title. 8vo, 182x125 mm, original blue cloth, gilt lettering slightly dulled, covers spotted, spine ends slightly frayed; endpapers browned with bookplates and owner's label on front pastedown and owner's stamp on rear pastedown, contents otherwise clean. London & New York, 1919. Estimate $1,000 - 2,000

Also included is Petrus Constantius Albinius’s Magia astrologica, Paris, 1611, a commentary on a work by Petrus Arlensis de Scudalupis dealing with the astrological relations of metals and gems with planets ($1,000 to $2,000).

Lot 165, Petrus Constantius Albinius, Magia astrologica. Hoc est . . . Clavis sympathiae septem metallorum & septem selectorum lapidum ad planetas. [16], 56 leaves, including blank last 2 preliminaries. 8vo, 170x104 mm, 19th-century marbled boards, spine darkened, chipped at top, book block loose in binding; contents toned and dampstained, last 2 leaves attached to rear cover. Paris: Charles Sevestre & Jean Petit-Pas, 1611. Estimate $1,000 - 2,000

The early printed books section of the sale features a first edition of Nova legenda Anglie, (London, 27 February 1516), a compilation of English saints’ lives by 14th-century chronicler John of Tynemouth ($8,000 to $12,000);

Lot 68, John Capgrave, falsely attributed to. Nova legenda Anglie. Full-page woodcut of Saints in Glory on A1r, repeated on verso and on recto of penultimate leaf; full-page woodcut royal arms on A6v; printer's device on verso of penultimate leaf. [6], 334, [2] leaves, including final blank, with leaves 283-293 supplied from a shorter copy. Printed in black letter. Folio, 276x194 mm, early 19th-century russia, rebacked retaining original backstrip with crest and arms of Sir Richard Colt Hoare (1758-1838); occasional soiling, scattered marginal stains, small marginal repairs without text loss on A1, X5, h4, and n5, upper margin of A2 restored with top line of text partly supplied in manuscript, blank outer margin of n5 and 2c1-2d5 restored with few letters in manuscript on 2d5, small hole in t1 repaired with few letters in manuscript. Signature of the antiquary Sir Roger Twysden (1597-1672) dated 1631 on recto of first leaf, notes in his hand on blank leaves bound in front; bookplates of John Arthur Brooke and Viscount Mersey; signature of G. Boyle dated 1978. (London: Wynkyn de Worde, 27 February 1516). Estimate $8,000 - 12,000

as well as a handsome second edition three-volume set of Raphael Holinshed’s Chronicles … to the Yeare 1586, (London, 1587), “the first continuous and authoritative narrative account of British history written in the vernacular,” and the principal source for Shakespeare’s history plays ($6,000 to $9,000).

Lot 74, Raphael Holinshed, The First and Second Volumes [Third Volume] of Chronicles. Now newlie augmented and continued . . . to the Yeare 1586. General and divisional titles within woodcut architectural or historiated borders. Mostly printed in black letter. 3 volumes in 4. Folio, 352x228 mm, early 19th-century gilt-panelled russia, few joints starting, few others expertly reinforced, Volume 3/1 and 3/2 spines slightly chipped at top; contents washed with some residual toning, soiling, and marginal stains, integral blanks in all 3 volumes lacking. handsome set. (London: John Harrison et al., 1587). Estimate $6,000 - 9,000

Also included is a first edition of Reginald Scot’s The Discoverie of Witchcraft, (London), 1584, “the first English-language discourse on witchcraft and conjuring tricks” ($10,000 to $15,000).

Lot 115, Reginald Scot, The Discoverie of Witchcraft. 4 full-page illustrations of conjuring tricks; one text illustration; 11 astrological and occult text diagrams. [28], 352, [4], 353-560, [16] pages, with the 2 unnumbered leaves of full-page illustrations supplied and possibly in facsimile. 4to, 201x137 mm, modern blind-tooled calf in 17th-century style; intermittent soiling, scattered ink blots and dark stains, particularly in middle of volume, old inscriptions on recto and verso of title, some scrawls and marginalia elsewhere, the 2 unnumbered leaves toned and soiled with blank lower margins restored to size.tall copy. (London: William Brome), 1584. Estimate $10,000 - 15,000 

The auction will be held Tuesday, April 12, beginning at 1:30 p.m. The auction preview will be open to the public Friday, April 8 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday, April 9 from noon to 5 p.m.; Monday, April 11 from 10 a.m. to 6p.m.; and Tuesday, April 12 from 10 a.m. to noon.