b'1761492An antique Islamic Indo-Persian illuminated manuscript page, 19th century. One loose folio with recto, finely illustrated with images of two hornbills. Ink and opaque watercolour on paper, mounted in lucite panel.34.8 x 18.4cmNOTEThe text is written in both Arabic and Farsi; in red are verses from the Quran in Arabic, in black are the translation and interpretation of the verses in Farsi. On the side illustrated with the hornbills in red contain verses 100-102 of Surat Al-Nahl (The Bee) of the Quran. The practice of juxtaposing calligraphed poetry and paintings was not uncommon and saw a rise from 15th century works collected in albums in the Persianate and Islamic world.PROVENANCEPrivate collection, Melbourne. Former estate collection of Dr.W.M. Bogdanowicz (1936-2017), Neurosurgeon, Madison, Wisconsin, USA.$650850 1489 1493CHARLES DICKENS,A CHRISTMAS CAROL IN PROSE being A Ghost Story of 1489 Christmas.,with illustrations by John Leech,GERMAN SCHERENSCHNITTE LIEBESBRIEFE: cut paper[London; Chapman & Hall, 1843], 3rd Edition, decorated love letter, divided into 8 hearts with turtle doves166pp + 2 adverts.;above, with a central circular message area; 36cm diameter,contemporary cloth binding with gilt title to upper board.dated 1780. Stave One as the first chapter heading, title-page printed $200300 in red and blue, frontispiece & 3 plates by John Leech hand coloured. 1490 This was the last edition published in the same year as the EARLY TEA TRADE DOCUMENT original issue, which was done on Christmas Eve. According Dutch East India Company (VOC). to John Eckel, A Christmas Carol was first published on An unpublished manuscript document recording a cargo ofDecember 19th, 1843 and sold 6,000 copies on the first tea from China carried on the VOC ship Vrouw Maria Cornelia,day. Before the end of the year, eleven days later, it was in dated 1790, titled: the third edition, with the combined number of copies of the Prisatie over de Lading Thee per het Schip Vrouw Mariasecond and third editions being estimated at only two to three Cornelia voor de Kamer Middelburg, alsmede de Pryze zo alsthousand copies.dezelve op den 29 November 1790 zyn verkogt. $1,2002,000Large folding leaf, 37.5 x 24.5cm, paper watermarked; manuscript in ink on (2) sides, with the title occupying a small section of the fourth side. Both sides of the manuscript list details of nine varieties of teaThee Boey, Congo, Souchon, Pecco, Songlo, Tonkay, Hysan Schin, Hysan, Soulongas well as types of packing, the quantities and qualities of each variety of tea, and their prices, carried on the ship Vrouw Maria Cornelia for the Chamber of MiddelburgZeeland, signed and dated 29 November 1790. Original folds, text clean and legible.Tea was the first global commodity for mass consumption, influencing trade and culture around the world, and the maritime industryincluding the VOCwas crucial to this development.PROVENANCEPrivate collection, Melbourne; acquired from the estate collection of Pieter Geyl (1887-1966), prominent Dutch historian.$1,5002,5001491An antique Persian double-sided illuminated manuscript page, 18th/19th,mounted and affixed with tape on the margins,24 x 15cm, sheet size 29 x 16cm$200300 1490'