محمد بشير

Help support PERFECT ROAST POTATOES, a new project by award-winning British Filmmaker, Nick Frew. Just 4 days to go! https://www.kickstarter.com/…/perfect-r oast-potatoes-short-…

Braun and Hogenberg's 1572 map of London is the earliest obtainable map of the city. The map was published in their book of city views, 'Civitates Orbis Terrarum', and probably copied from an earlier map of 1559 which has since been lost. Our splendid copy of the map dates to 1577 and has original hand-colouring. If you look closely, you can see the royal barge sailing up the Thames!

We recently acquired this fascinating copy of Sir Richard Burton's 'Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to El-Medinah and Meccah'. A first edition, both volumes are inscribed: 'The 2 vols of this book were found in the compound of my brother's bungalow at Cawnpoor, after the massacre at that place, he & his wife were foully murdered.' The inscription refers to the Siege of Cawnpore, a key episode in the Indian Mutiny of 1857, just a year after Burton's magnum opus was first published. http://www.robertfrew.com/newsletter/4th- edition.html

Here is something to cheer up a grey Monday afternoon...'Fantaisies Oceanographiques...58 fantaisies inédites'. A first edition published in Paris in 1926, this suite comprises 25 pochoir designs inspired by cephlapods, sea plants, star fish and all manner of submarine life. For more details go to www.robertfrew.com

These rather serious looking chaps are from French publication 'Album de la Mode Officielle'. 'Spécialement réservé aux bons tailleurs', the designs illustrate continental fashions from the mid to late 1920s. For more details search 'Album de la Mode Officielle' on our website www.robertfrew.com.

The sun is shining and we are looking forward to exhibiting at the London Map Fair at the Royal Geographical Society this weekend. The fair opens at noon tomorrow, entry is free and it is a beautiful location opposite Kensington Gardens / Hyde Park. Do pop by!

Book Fair Week is over and we are now preparing for the London Map Fair at the Royal Geographical Society this weekend. This beautiful map of Africa is by Matthaus Seutter and was published in 1730. Seutter started his career as an apprentice brewer but turned his attention to cartography as an apprentice with renowned Nuremberg publisher Johann Baptist Homann.

Our stand is all set up at the London International Antiquarian Book Fair in Olympia's National Hall. The fair opens at 2pm this afternoon - do visit us at stand E07!

The sun is shining in SW7 and the atmosphere is redolent of the pleasant scene depicted in this 1761 'vue d'optique' of the nearby Royal Hospital at Chelsea. A popular genre of etching in the 18th century, 'vue d'optique' were composed to give the illusion of depth when viewed through a magnifying device called a zograscope.

'By the Queen's Royal Letters Patent, Bett's New Portable Terrestrial Globe.' This 19th century collapsible globe pops-up with an umbrella-mechanism and fits neatly in its original box when 'deflated'. Popular in Victorian schools, few examples of these globes survive in good order due to their fragile nature.

It is a rather grey day in SW7 but these charming views have us dreaming of La Serenissima. These illustrations of Venice are hand-coloured copper engravings and date to around 1750. To read full descriptions of these prints and others in the same series go to our website www.robertfrew.com

Happy birthday William Shakespeare! On the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare's birth we are delighted to offer this pretty set of his plays. Published in 1825 and bound in full gilt morocco, the 9 volumes are only 8cm tall and include 37 full-page engraved illustrations.

This week marks the anniversary of explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral's (c.1468 – c.1520) landing in Brazil where he claimed South America's north-east coast for Portugal. We are proud to offer this handsome set of the History of Brazil by 'Lakes Poet' Robert Southey. The book was first published in 1817, 5 years before Brazil declared its independence, and was intended to form part of a history of Portugal, a project that Southey did not complete.

On this day in 1506 construction of the present day St Peter's Basilica began under the patronage of the 'Warrior Pope' Julius II. This striking etching by Luigi Rossini from 1819 shows a view from the Quirinale Hill with the colossal statues of the horse tamers in the foreground and the splendid basilica in the background.

Tomorrow is the 259th anniversary of the publication of the first edition of Samuel Johnson's 'A Dictionary of the English Language'. Johnson compiled the monumental work single-handedly over the course of 9 years for the handsome sum of 1,500 guineas. This 1799 edition comes with a frontispiece portrait of the great lexicographer after the famous painting by Joshua Reynolds.

The sun is shining on the Salon du Livre Ancien at the Grand Palais, Paris. This lovely view of the city was published in 1649. In addition to well-known sites such as the Louvre and Notre-Dame, the view features its author, Swiss engraver Matthaus Merian, sketching in the foreground.

Our latest newsletter is out! Please click the link below to see this month's list. http://www.robertfrew.com/third-newslette r-2014.html