A History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus by Washington Irving (in 4. Vol)

• Hardcover: 416pp
  
• Binding: canvas
• Language: English
• Publish Date: 1828
• Publisher:  Paris, A. and W. Galignani
• Shipping Weight: 1530 g
• Condition: Good
• Dimensions: 16,5 x 11 cm

This was a scholarly but popular biography based primarily on the work of the Spanish historian Navarrete. Navarrete had published his work on Columbus, which contained a number of previously unknown and significant documents. However, Irving felt that “the whole presented rather a mass of rich materials for history, than a history itself.[and] the sight of disconnected papers and official documents is apt to be repulsive to the general reader, who seeks for clear and continued narrative.” In fact, he felt that nearly every account had been incomplete while many important documents and manuscripts ignored. Thus, he hoped to offer a more rigorous and yet accessible account. Written while Irving was a diplomatic attaché in Spain (1826-29), “it was the most painstaking effort of Irving’s life, and it won him election to the ‘Real Academia de la Historia’, the friendship of Navarrete, and a literary reputation in Spain where the work is still quoted respectfully”

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La Saxe galante.

• Hardcover: 416pp
  
• Binding: leather
• Language: French
• Publish Date: 1743
• Publisher: Amsterdam, aux dépens de la Compagnie
• Shipping Weight: 250 g
• Condition: Good
• Dimensions: 15,5 x 9 cm

Original ed. of this scandalous chronicle of the life of the King of Saxony, August II. “Advisor to Frederick the Great in Berlin and great European traveler, Pölnitz (1692-1775) gives us here a seductive portrait of the life at the court of Dresden in the eighteenth century, court that tried to imitate, without ever being able to equal, that of Versailles. Observer, intriguing and talkative, the author presents us with the pomp and wealth of the Nordic kingdom, as well as the erotic debauches of his king, Germanic Casanova having the reputation of having left behind some 400 illegitimate children “.

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