ANDERSEN'S FIRST ADULT FAIRY-TALE - MAGNIFICENT PRESENTATION-COPY ANDERSEN, H.C. Tre Digtninger.[Copenhagen], 1838. Rare first edition, in the extremely rare original printed wrappers (only known i a few copies), with a magnificent signed presentation-inscription from Hans Christian Andersen, exceptionally written on both front- and back-wrapper and to one of Andersen's close friends, Høedt. The "Three Poetical Works" contains the first printing on one of Andersen's most important fairy tales, "The Galoches of Fortune", which is in fact his very first fairy tale for adults, here in the original version. EUR 10,000 / HKD 86,500

FUNDAMENTAL WORK ON PERSPECTIVE SIRIGATTI, LORENZO. Venice, 1596. The rare first edition of this most important work on the art of perspective, one of the most elegant of its kind. Sirigatti's work is famous for being one of the very earliest thorough works solely dedicated to the art of perspective. Combining the visual language of the German book tradition of Lencker and Jamnitzer with the Italian tradition of linear perspective treated previously by Serlio and Barbaro and earlier that of Leon Battista Alberti (unillustrated), as applied to stage design and architectural theory, this is one of the seminal Italian works on the subject of perspective. Presumably, this work functioned as a basis for Galileo’s drawing technique. EUR 18,000 / HKD 156,000

FLORA DANICA IN EXQUISITE HANDCOLOURING(Copenhage), 1766-82.Extraordinarily fine copy of the original printing of the first 5 volumes of one of the finest floras ever compiled, the greatest illustrated work in Danish book-production, and the largest Flora ever produced. The earlier plates, in particular, are extremely delicately engraved and beautifully coloured. The colouring of this particular copy is superior to any other we have seen. EUR 47,000 / HKD 405,000

EXTREMELY RARE INCUNABLE WITH MAGNIFICENT WOODCUT ILLUSTRATIONS, IN A CONTEMPORARY BINDING CONRAD DINCKMUT - PLENARIUM. [Epistolae et Evangelia]. ["Hye hebt sich an das Evangeli Buch"]. [Evangelienbuch].Ulm, 1483. The exceedingly rare first (and only) printing of Conrad Dinckmut's "Plenarium". Richly illustrated with numerous magnificent woodcuts of a very high quality, all coloured (beautifully, but later), bound in a fully contemporary and completely unrestored south German binding, possibly from Dinckmut's own workshop, or possibly by Johannes Richenbach of Geislingen. This magnificent illustrated incunable by one of the earliest printers of Ulm (the 4th) is of the utmost scarcity. OCLC lists merely 1 copy in libraries worldwide. It seems, however, that there are a few more copies and some fragments in a few German libraries. EUR 33,500 / HKD 289,000