Robert Frew Ltd

Robert Frew Ltd Fine & Rare Books, Prints & Maps.

It’s the final day of the Berlin Rare Book Fair! Come and say hello at Stand 36. VDA - RARE BOOKS BERLIN ILAB
20/09/2026

It’s the final day of the Berlin Rare Book Fair! Come and say hello at Stand 36. VDA - RARE BOOKS BERLIN ILAB

We’re up north exhibiting at the York Book Fair !
12/09/2026

We’re up north exhibiting at the York Book Fair !

VERY SPECIAL HAND-COLOURED COPY FINELY BOUND BY THOUVENINBERNARDIN DE SAINT-PIERRE, Jacques-Henri. Paul et Virginie. Par...
27/08/2026

VERY SPECIAL HAND-COLOURED COPY FINELY BOUND BY THOUVENIN

BERNARDIN DE SAINT-PIERRE, Jacques-Henri. Paul et Virginie. Paris: Didot l’Aine, 1806.

First published in 1788, on the eve of the French Revolution, Paul et Virginie is the tragic story of ill-fated romance set in Mauritius. Heavily influenced by Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s philosophy of the innate goodness of nature, it became an immediate international bestseller and remains a milestone of French pre-Romantic literature.

Contemporary binding signed Thouvenin of aubergine morocco, covers richly decorated with gilt and blind-tooled designs, featuring a central lozenge and large corner spandrels, covers framed with blind-tooled dentelles, spine with double raised bands, richly decorated and gilt compartments, ochre paper doublures with a border of the same aubergine morocco and gilt edge, flowers and mille-dots at the corners, endpapers of the same ochre paper, gilt edges.

A total of 36 engraved illustrations comprising frontispiece portrait of Bernardin de Saint-Pierre engraved by Ribault after Lafitte, 6 engravings after Lafitte, Girodet, Gerard, Moreau the Younger, Prud’hon, and Isabey, presented in four states (final, before lettering, in colour, and pure etching). A fifth state of “Tombs” (the final state, with the title but without the legend) is also present. The copy has been further enriched with 10 additional engravings, mostly either other representations of the same scenes or reductions (reversed or not) of the engravings from the work.

A monumental Shahnameh from the lithographic press of the Bombay ‘master of printers,’ exceptionally illustratedFERDOWSI...
06/08/2026

A monumental Shahnameh from the lithographic press of the Bombay ‘master of printers,’ exceptionally illustrated

FERDOWSI, Abdul Qasim.

Kitab-i Shahnameh. An Impressive Lithographed Edition of the Shahnameh printed in India.

Bombay: Published by Muhammad Aqa Baqir, a merchant from Shiraz (Shirazi), at the press of ‘Abd al-Ghafur—known as Dadu Miyan ibn Muhammad ‘Abdullah Dahayili, dated the first day of Jumadi II 1272/8th February 1856.

An early lithographic Shahnameh, the great Persian epic, with calligraphy by Muhammad Ibrahim, and numerous illustrations drawn in the style of contemporary Qajar miniatures, melding the conventions of manuscript and printed book.

During the 18th and 19th centuries, Bombay became a central hub for Persian lithography, driven heavily by trade and the migration of the Zoroastrian Parsi community. These Indian-printed Shahnameh copies were highly sought after, often serving as visual and textual models for subsequent editions published back in Iran. The first such lithographed edition was published there in 1846, followed by the first illustrated edition in 1849.

THE MOST IMPORTANT WORK ON GREECE AND TURKEY OF THE PERIODCHOISEUL-GOUFFIER, Marie Gabriel Florent Auguste, Comte de. Vo...
05/08/2026

THE MOST IMPORTANT WORK ON GREECE AND TURKEY OF THE PERIOD

CHOISEUL-GOUFFIER, Marie Gabriel Florent Auguste, Comte de. Voyage Pittoresque de la Grèce. Paris: J.-J. Blaise, 1782-1809-1822. £11,500

An excellent copy of Choiseul-Gouffier’s massive and spectacularly illustrated record of his voyage to Greece on board the frigate Atalante, begun in 1776, commanded by Joseph Bernard de Chabert, Marquis of Chabert, who was interested in astronomy. Choiseul-Gouffier travelled to Greece as part of the Marquis de Chabert’s expedition. He was appointed French ambassador at Constantinople in 1784. The completion of the work was interrupted by the events of the Greek revolution, with the final volume completed, after the author’s death, under the direction of Barbié de Bocage.

The most important work on Greece and Turkey of the period, the book is beautifully printed on thick paper with fine engraved vignettes and, given that it took forty years to produce, it exhibits a remarkable typographical uniformity.

THE FIRST FRENCHMAN TO EXPLORE CHINAFEYNES, Henri de. Voyage faict par terre depuis Paris jusques a la Chine. Par le Sr....
28/07/2026

THE FIRST FRENCHMAN TO EXPLORE CHINA

FEYNES, Henri de. Voyage faict par terre depuis Paris jusques a la Chine. Par le Sr. de Feynes gentilhomme de la maison du Roy. Et ayde de Mareschal de Camp de ses armées. Avec son retour par mer. Paris: Pierre Rocolet, 1630.

Extremely rare first French edition of Feynes’ account of his voyage to China and the East Indies. Henri de Feynes, Comte de Monsart, was the first Frenchman to explore China. Most probably acting under secret orders from King Henri IV to provide vital intelligence to open up French trade with the Far East, he left France in 1606, travelling overland. Feynes called at Venice, Aleppo – where he joined the Baghdad caravan – Isfahan, went down to Hormuz and then onto India. Passing through Goa, he embarked for Malacca, then the Moluccas, Macao and finally disembarked in Canton in 1609. There, his account gives his observations of the porcelain and silk trade, cormorant fishing, and his astonishment at the bandaged feet of high-status women. His descriptions of India and the kingdoms of the far East are of particular interest, and, significantly, he notes the Dutch occupation of many East Indian islands. He marvels at the residence of the great Mogul, who was likely Jahangir, Mogul emperor of India. Feynes’ account also contains one of the earliest mentions of coffee, which he calls ‘cahayette’. He returned to Europe by sea from Goa to Lisbon via Mozambique. Landing at Lisbon, he was arrested as a spy and thrown in prison, and was not released until 1613. First published in English in 1615, both editions are exceptionally rare; this French edition has only sold three times at auction since the Second World war.

A CELEBRATED ART DECO PRINTING OF THE HIPPOCRATIC CORPUS[KUHN-RÉGNIER, Joseph]; HIPPOCRATES. Oeuvres Complètes. [Paris]:...
26/07/2026

A CELEBRATED ART DECO PRINTING OF THE HIPPOCRATIC CORPUS

[KUHN-RÉGNIER, Joseph]; HIPPOCRATES. Oeuvres Complètes. [Paris]: Javal et Bourdeaux, 1933-34.

A celebrated, limited-edition Art Deco printing of the Hippocratic corpus released in Paris between 1932 and 1934. Joseph Kuhn Régnier (Joseph Wilfrid Louis Kuhn-Regnier, December 10, 1873 1940) was a French poster designer and illustrator. From 1900 to 1938: advertising designer and caricaturist in magazines such as La Vie Parisienne, Fantasio, Lectures pour tous and Le Sourire. He created the cover of La Jeune Revue (June 1899) founded by Francis Laur. He exhibited a painting entitled L’Indifferente at the Salon d’Automne in 1904. Then he became a member of the Salon des humouristes. He illustrated a certain number of bibliophile works, and became, in the early 1920s, one of the specialists in the illustration of educational works, expressing himself in a clear and precise line drawing, among others for Fernand Nathan.

A HANDSOME PARIS EDITION OF PLUTARCH WITH AN EARLY DEPICTION OF THE PRINTING PRESS
PLUTARCH. [Plutarch’s Lives] Plutarch...
17/07/2026

A HANDSOME PARIS EDITION OF PLUTARCH WITH AN EARLY DEPICTION OF THE PRINTING PRESS

PLUTARCH. [Plutarch’s Lives] Plutarchi Cheron[a]ei et Aemilii Probi: illustrium virorum vit[a]e cm suo Indice dilige[n]ter recognit[a]e. Paris: Jodocus Badius Ascensius, 1520. 

A very good copy of this Parisian edition of Plutarch’s “Lives,” produced at the famous press Prelum Ascensianum. Established in 1503 by the classicist Jodocus Badius Ascensius (or Josse Badius, 1462-1535), formerly editor for the Lyonnaise printers Jean Trechsel and de Vingle, the press specialised in classical editions such as the present work, which is edited by Gérard de Verceil, with a detailed index. Plutarch’s “Lives”, also known as the “Parallel Lives”, is a monumental series of ancient biographies written by the Greek philosopher and priest Plutarch at the beginning of the second century AD. The work pairs famous Greek and Roman figures to explore their shared virtues, personal characters, and moral failings. Rather than writing definitive historical records, Plutarch focused on the psychological and moral traits that drove men to victory or tragedy. The work greatly influenced Renaissance mirrors for princes and was used for moral instruction, providing parallel biographies highlighting the virtues, vices and deeds of renowned Romans and Greeks, including Pericles, Theseus, Cicero, Demosthenes, Romulus and Scipio Africanus.

First used in 1507, Badius’s marque typographique, after his own design, is the second, and first detailed, illustration of a printing press.

THE FIRST COMPLETE EDITION OF THE ODYSSEY PRINTED OUTSIDE OF ITALYHOMER. [The Odyssey] Odysseia. (With the Batrachomyoma...
16/07/2026

THE FIRST COMPLETE EDITION OF THE ODYSSEY PRINTED OUTSIDE OF ITALY

HOMER. [The Odyssey] Odysseia. (With the Batrachomyomachia and the Life of Homer). Strasbourg: Wolfgang Köpfel, 1525. £3000.

A significant early edition of the Odyssey, being the first complete edition printed outside Italy, with an exceptional provenance. The preface is addressed to Philip Melanchthon, who would use the Greek text of Homer, as well as books of the New Testament, to teach his students the Greek language at the Wittemberg University.

Wolfgang Kopfel was a printer and publisher in Strasbourg, France, a leading intellectual figure in the Strasbourg Reformation, and the nephew of Wolfgang Capito. Köpfel’s Strasbourg-based operation utilised Greek print intended to emulate ancient handwriting, demonstrating a pioneering example of the humanistic shift in attention from Latin to Ancient Greek texts in the German Renaissance. This particular 1525 edition is rare, especially in a contemporary binding and the two volumes together. Indeed, Didbin states that all the works of Cephalus (Köpfel) are a rare occurrence, especially these two volumes. (Dibdin, 46).

The woodcut on the title pages have been found attributed to the hand of Hans Weiditz the younger, the German Renaissance artist also known as the Petrarch Master. Weiditz was one member of an elite circle of artists which included Hans Holbein and Albrecht Dürer. The woodcuts are from his time working with publishers in Strasbourg, where he lived from 1522 to 1536. They depict key tales and characters from the epic poems as well as the Muses and an artist’s impression of the blind poet himself. The Odyssey woodcut depicts key deities as well as a detailed portrayal of the eternal torture of Tantalus in the underworld.

A fine edition of Aesop’s fables, with excellent engravings by the leading British birds & beasts illustrator of his day...
21/05/2026

A fine edition of Aesop’s fables, with excellent engravings by the leading British birds & beasts illustrator of his day, Francis Barlow, said to be the only English artist worthy of his continental peers. The verses are by the pioneering Restoration playwright Aphra Behn, knows as Astrea, beloved of Virginia Woolf, who urged all women to let flowers fall on her tomb. This copy includes the b***y plate showing female nudity, often excised or defaced - swipe left to catch a glimpse!

(BARLOW, Francis); AESOP; BEHN, Aphra.

Æsop’s Fables with his Life: In English, French and Latin. Newly Translated. Illustrated with One Hundred and Twelve Sculptures. To this Edition are Likewise added, Thirty One New Figures Representing his Life. By Francis Barlow.
London: Printed by H. Hills jun. for Francis Barlow... 1687.

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