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[Biblia arabico-syriaca - Evangelium].
Sacrosancta Jesu Christi Evangelia jussu Sacrae Congregationis de Propaganda Fide ad usum ecclesiae nationis Maronitarum edita. Rome, Typis Sacrae Congreg. de Propag. Fide, 1703.
Folio (256 x 370 mm). (36), 431, (15) pp., final blank f. With printer's device to title page, woodcut headpiece and four half-page woodcuts of the Evangelists. Printed in red and black throughout. Contemporary paper boards. The Maronite edition of the Gospels in Syriac and Carshuni (following the Roman Arabic Bible of 1671), including the Peshitta text. Edited by Faustus Naironus Banensis and Josephus Banesius for use as a service-book in Maronite churches and dedicated to Cardinal Barberini, this was published as the first volume of the "Novus Testamentum Syriacum, et Arabicum". - Some browning and occasional foxing, marginal waterstaining near beginning. Chapter and verse numbers supplied in the margins in ink by a late-18th century owner. An untrimmed, wide-margined copy in the original temporary boards as issued. Very scarce. Schnurrer 338. Darlow/Moule 1742 & 8968. OCLC 254265613.
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[Biblia coptica & arabica - Psalmi].
[Pi chou de pi Psalterion de Dauid. Kitab Zabur Dawud, al-nabi wa-al-malik]. London, Richard Watts for the British and Foreign Bible Society (al-Majma' al-mu'aiyyin li'ntishar al-Kutub al-Muqaddasah fi jami' al-Atraf), 1826.
4to. (328) pp., final blank leaf. Title page within woodcut borders. Contemporary calf (spine rebacked). Arabic and Coptic Psalter as issued by the British and Foreign Bible Society. Arabic text reprinted from the Risius-Guadagnolo-Ecchellensi-Maracci 1671 Rome edition of the Arabic Bible. The Coptic may be a reprint of the 1744 Rome Coptic-Arabic Psalter edited by Raphael Tuki (cf. Roper/Tait, Coptic Typography, in: Middle Eastern Languages and the Print Revolution [2002], p. 119). - Evenly browned throughout. Punched library ownerships ("Philadelphia Divinity School") and ballpoint shelfmark; old catalogue slip and pouch inserted loosely, with bookplate of the "Library of the Protestant Episcopal Divinity School of Philadelphia". Contemporary bookseller's label (Dondey-Dupré, Paris) to front pastedown. Darlow/Moule 1673 & 3095. OCLC 123078021.
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[Biblia polyglotta - Psalmi].
Psalterium Hebreum, Grecu[m], Arabicu[m], & Chaldaicu[m], cu[m] tribus latinis i[n]terp[re]tat[ion]ibus & glossis. Genoa, Pietro Paulo Porro, 1516.
Folio (binding 250 x 335 mm, inner book 236 x 327 mm). 200 leaves, complete. Title printed in red and black within woodcut arabesque border, printer's device on final leaf. With parallel text in Hebrew, Latin, Greek, Arabic and Chaldaean (in their respective types), 4 columns to a page, 41 lines. 13 woodcut floriated initials (5 Latin, 4 Hebrew, 2 Greek and 2 Arabic). Rebound in near contemporary brown calf, carefully restored, edges and corners repaired, spine fully rebacked in seven compartments with modern gilt title and date. First edition. - The first polyglot edition of any part of the Bible, and also the first polyglot work ever published. It is of the utmost importance in several further respects, constituting the second book printed in Arabic from movable type (following Gregorio de Gregorii's "Kitab salat as-sawa'i", a Horologion for the Lebanese Melchites, printed in 1514), as well as the earliest Arabic printing of any portion of the Bible. It also contains the first edition of the Aramaic text of the Psalter and offers for the first time Kabbalistic texts from the Zohar. Furthermore, Giustiniani’s commentary provides the first substantial biographical reference to Columbus, and is thus noted as an Americanum. - The learned Dominican Agostino Giustiniani (1470-1536) was Bishop of Nebbio in Corsica from 1514 and later became the first Professor of Arabic and Hebrew at Paris. On his death he bequeathed his extensive library to the state of Genoa. He edited, supervised and financed the present edition and also wrote the commentary. - His book is the first multilingual edition of any part of the Bible. Aldus Manutius had planned a Psalter in three languages as early as the late 15th century, but his project was not realised. Printed in eight parallel columns on double pages, Giustiniani’s work comprises the text in Hebrew, a literal Latin translation thereof, the Latin Vulgate, the Greek Septuagint, Arabic, Aramaic (Chaldee), a literal Latin translation from the Aramaic, and scholia in the same languages. While Giustiniani aimed to edit the entire Bibel in this form, no further sections were published. He described his difficulties in selling the edition in his History of Genoa (1537), recording an edition size of 2,000 paper copies and 50 copies on vellum. - Giustiniani’s extensive commentary includes a long note to Ps. 19:4 ("et in fines orbis omnia verba eorum"; C7r-D1r), about the Genoese Christopher Columbus, who had died in 1506, containing previously unpublished information on his second voyage: "In this interesting sketch of the life and voyages of his fellow-townsman, Bishop Giustiniani gives an interesting account of the discovery of the new world, and states some facts not mentioned elsewhere" (Sabin). - This edition is also the only book printed at Genoa in the 16th century. The Milanese printer Pietro Paulo Porro maintained a press at Turin with his brother Galeazzo. Giustiniani summoned Porro to Genoa especially for the production of this edition, and had set up a press in the house of his brother Nicolo Giustiniani Paulo. The types were designed and cut for this edition under Porro’s direction. - Mild browning throughout, with some occasional waterstaining (more pronounced near beginning). Adams B 1370. Darlow/Moule 1411, 1634 & 2401. Smitskamp, PO, 236. Alden-Landis 516/4. Harrisse, BAV no. 88 (pp. 154-158). Sabin 66468. Sander 5957. G. Roper, Early Arabic Printing in Europe, in: Middle Eastern Languages and the Print Revolution. A Cross-Cultural Encounter (Westhofen 2002), pp. 129-150, at p. 132, with colour ill. IV. StCB 25. Vinograd Genoa 1.
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[Biblia syriaca - NT].
Diyatheke hdatta. London, British and Foreign Bible Society, 1816.
4to. (4), 552, (2) pp. Contemporary half calf. The first complete New Testament printed by the BFBS entirely in Syriac, edited by Samuel Lee. "The editor based his text upon Schaaf's edition; but he collated an ancient Syriac MS. belonging to Adam Clarke, a MS. from the Lebanon, dated 1523, now at Cambridge, and a third MS. (without vowel-points) brought by Claudius Buchanan from Travancore, as well as the Commentaries of Ephrem Syrus, and also made some use of the collations of R. Jones. The printing of this edition was completed in 1816" (Darlow/M.). This copy has the "extensive obliterations [...] in the section headings, made by means of a stamp and violet ink", which were "made by order of the BFBS Committee, on the ground that the headings contravened the rules of the Society" (ibid.). - Binding rubbed and bumped; occasional marginal scribblings in red crayon (more extensive on p. 5). Traces of worming in the upper margin of the final two leaves overpasted with brown paper. In all a good copy of a rarely seen edition. Darlow/Moule 8979. NUC LVI, 13. BM XVIII, 1449. OCLC 921205405.
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[Biblia syro-latina].
Liber psalmorum Davidis regis et prophetae. Ex idiomate Syro in Latinum translatus. Paris, [A. Vitré], 1625.
4to. (24), 315, (12) pp. With two printer's devices in prelims. - (Bound with) II: [Barhebraeus, Gregorius]. Veteris philosophi Syri de sapientia divina. Poema aenigmaticum. Ibid., 1628. 4 ff. (incl. final blank), 35, (1) pp. With printer's device to title-page. Calf binding (ca. 1800), covers and spine gilt, leading edges and inner dentelle gilt. First complete edition of the Psalter in Syriac. "The text, which includes Ps. CLI, is based on three manuscripts, one of which had been sent to the editor by George, the Maronite Archbishop of Nicosia. The Latin version professes to be as literal a translation as possible of the Syriac text" (Darlow/M.). The present Paris edition and the one published at Leiden in the same year by Erpenius are the first two European editions of the Psalter in the Syriac language. While both are printed in Syriac and Latin, Erpenius's edition omits psalm 151 (cf. Smitskamp 80). Edited by the Maronite Gabriel Sionita (1577-1648), principally involved in the 1645 Paris polyglot Bible, printed with the types of Savary de Brèves. - Bound with the sole edition of Barhebraeus's Syriac poem. "Sionite édita et traduisit ce poème syriaque de Barhebraeus, mais sans en avoir identifié l’auteur. Pour lui c’est un auteur inconnu qui a composé ce poème sur la sagesse divine" (Le livre et le Liban). Even library catalogues frequently fail to identify the author (or cite the editor Sionita). - Catalogue clipping mounted on front endpaper. Psalter title has ms. ownership and several stamps. Title of Barhebraeus stamped; all edges remargined to page dimensions of Psalter. Of the utmost rarity, only a single, incomplete copy at auction within the last decade (Sotheby's, Dec 7, 1993, lot 315, lacking 6 prelim. leaves). I: Goldsmith B 848. Darlow/Moule 8961. - II: Le livre et le Liban 143.
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[Biblia turcica - NT - Actus, Epistulae, Apocalypsis].
Turkish translation of the New Testament. Secretarial manuscript with Ali Ufki Bey's autograph annotations. (Constantinople, 1665).
4to (160 x 214 mm). (80), (4 blank), (32), (4 blank), (19), (1 blank), (13), (1 blank), (81), (1 blank) leaves. Contemporary full calf with cover borders ruled in gilt and prettily gilt spine. All edges gilt. Considered lost: a volume of Ali Ufki Bey's famous Bible translation, "the lineal ancestor of today’s Turkish Bible" (Privratsky), the last manuscript in private hands. - A project born of Protestant disappointment with the outcome of the 30 Years' War, the 17th century enterprise to translate the Bible into Turkish was informed by Christian eschatological hopes that Protestantism and Islam might form a political alliance to defeat the common enemy, idolatrous Catholicism, and bring about world peace. To advance this cause, the Czech-born educator John Amos Comenius championed a Turkish translation of the Holy Scripture, whose power alone, it was assumed, would soon convert the Muslim world to Christianity. Enjoying financial backing from the wealthy arms dealer Laurens de Geer and the academic support of Jacob Golius, professor of Turkish at Leiden, Comenius's venture was entrusted to the Dutch ambassador in Constantinople, Levinus Warner. - Though himself proficient in Turkish, Warner chose to contract a translator rather than perform the arduous task himself. After his first recruit, the Jewish dragoman Hâki (Yahya bin Isaak), delivered a manuscript version around 1661 which was found deficient, Warner in 1662 entrusted the work to Ali Ufki Bey, a talented linguist and former servant of the Sultan's. Born Wojciech Bobowski in Lwów around 1610, he had been captured by Tatars as a young man, sold into Ottoman slavery, and given the name Ali. He subsequently served at the Topkapi Palace as a respected musician and translator for about 20 years, eventually gaining his freedom in 1657. - Ali Bey completed his task in December 1664; in 1665 he then proceeded to have a few fair copies produced under his supervision. One of these, in 5 volumes, is very nearly complete; another contains only Isaiah and several books of the Apocrypha. These copies, sent to Golius together with Ali Bey's rough draft in four volumes, today form part of the Warner Collection at Leiden University Library. - Only in 1888 did the Leiden Library accession an additional manuscript copy (Cod. Or. 3100), containing part of the New Testament in the hand of one of Ali's secretaries, with interlinear and marginal corrections by Ali Bey himself. The present volume is the missing part of this New Testament copy, comprising Acts, Romans, Philippians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, Hebrews, James, 1 & 2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude, and Revelation. Written under Ali Bey's direction and copied from his personal draft, it, too, contains marginalia and corrections in his own hand (we thank Dr Arnoud Vrolijk, curator of the Warner collection, for his kind confirmation). - Ali Bey's translation, aimed at Muslims as a target audience and full of popular Islamic cultural references, did not find favour with Golius and his colleagues. After Warner, de Geer, and Golius all died in quick succession between 1665 and 1667, the Turkish Bible project ground to a halt, in spite of the fact that Ali Bey was anxious to continue it. Not until 1819 would the New Testament alone be published in a revision of his translation (in Paris), and only eight years later would Ali Bey's entire Turkish Bible see print. A critical edition of his manuscript is still outstanding, and there is ample material for research. It remains unknown from what language Bobowski translated the Bible: "A study of Ali Bey's spellings of proper names, e.g. Petro, Se’mun, Filipo, Pilato, could reveal much about his connections with Christian tradition. Several of these are Italian spellings and suggest a Catholic connection. The fact that Ali Bey refers to St John the Baptist as Yuhanna Ma’madant, a Christian construction of John’s name in Arabic, suggests that he was in contact with the Oriental churches also, perhaps the Syrian Orthodox Church” (Privratsky, p. 19f.). - Provenance: early 18th century autograph ownership of the Hamburg theologian Johann Friedrich Winckler (1679-1738), professor of theology in Hamburg, on the title-page, and successive ownership of the Dutch theologian and orientalist Hendrik Sypkens (1736-1812) below. Subsequently owned by Nicolaus Wilhelm Schroeder (1721-98), professor of oriental languages at Groningen, and sold as no. 24 of his estate auction by van Boekeren in 1835. Purchased in the 1960s from Wrister's bookshop (Utrecht) by a Dutch theologian and acquired from him directly. Pars altera bibliothecae Schroederianae (Groningen 1834), p. 6, no. 24. Cf. Bruce Privratsky, A History of Turkish Bible Translations, v. S (2014), pp. 18-26. Darlow/Moule 9453 (the 1819 printed NT).
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[Biblia turcica - NT].
Kitab ül-ahd il-cedid el-mensub ila rabbina Isa el-mesih [The Book of the New Testament of Our Lord Jesus Christ]. London, William Watts, 1853.
Small 8vo (108 x 156 mm). (4), 589 pp. Contemporary calf binding with gilt spine title in Osmanli and label "Watkins Binder" on the inner side of the rear cover. An exceedingly rare edition of Ali Ufki Bey's Turkish translation of the New Testament, almost unknown to bibliography. - Revised by Türabi Efendi from the text produced by the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1827, the original translation into Ottoman Turkish was prepared by the Polish musician and linguist Wojciech Bobowski (ca. 1610-75), known under his Muslim name Ali Ufki, as an attempt to present the Christian text to the Muslim world. The 17th century Turkish Bible translation had been informed by Christian eschatological hopes that Protestantism and Islam might form a political alliance to defeat the common enemy, idolatrous Catholicism, and bring about world peace. A Turkish translation of the Holy Scripture was to advance this cause: the word of God alone, it was assumed, would soon convert the Muslim world to Christianity. Although Ali Bey, who had been hired to the task in 1662, completed his translation in 1664/65, the first printed edition was not published until 1819, by the Imprimerie impériale in Paris. - Türabi Efendi, who carried out the new revisions for this edition, had in his youth been sent to Britain by the Egyptian administration, learned English and may have even married a British woman; in 1865 he would publish a Turkish cookbook in English. A more common version of this text, further revised by James W. Redhouse, was published in 1857. Possibly the new edition became necessary after the present 1853 edition sold out in the Crimean war (cf. Privratsky, p. 48). - Light brownstaining to beginning and end; sporadic underlined words and annotations in Ottoman Turkish in the margins. Binding professionally repaired at extremeties; overall in a good condition. A single institutional example could be traced (Tübingen University Library). Darlow/Moule 9468. OCLC 313135237. Bütün baskilarin listesi, tarihsel açiklamalar ve arastirma önerileriyle (2013), s.v. 1857 - Kitâb ül-'Ahd el-Cedîd. Cf. Bruce Privratsky, A History of Turkish Bible Translations, v. S (2014), p. 47.
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[Biblia turcica - NT].
Kitâb ül-Ahd il-Cedîd el-mensûb ilâ Rabbinâ Îsâ el-Mesîh. Istanbul, Hartun Minasyan, 1866.
8vo. (2), 6, 637, (3) pp. Contemporary full red morocco on 4 raised bands with giltstamped spine, covers with ornamental blindstamps and gilt rules; leading edgesgilt, inner dentelle gilt. All edges gilt. Luxuriously bound Turkish New Testament, newly translated from the Greek by the German-born William Gottlieb Schauffler (1798-1883). This is the first Constantinople-printed complete New Testament in Osmanli Turkish ever printed in Arabic characters: previous editions had been printed in Greek or Armenian characters only. - "Ordained a missionary [..., Schauffler] reached Constantinople in 1833. His linguistic gifts and missionary experience fitted him for translation-work [...] In 1858 the British and Foreign Bible Society commissioned him to transcribe into Arabic character W. Goodell's Armeno-Turkish version of the Bible, slightly adapting it to meet the needs of the Moslems. When this proved impracticable, he was authorised to make an independent version in simple, idiomatic Osmanli" (Darlow/M., p. 1641). - This copy was bought in Constantinople on 9 August 1879 by J. Gies for 25 silver piastres, as noted by the collector in ink on the title-page. Later in the library of by Karl Schäffeler (his ownership, dated 20 Sept. 1927, on the flyleaf and his bibliographical note on the pastedown). - Occasional light browning, but a well-preserved, pretty copy. Darlow/Moule 9488. Özege 10984. OCLC 42824525
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[Biblia turcica].
Kitab al-Ahd al-Atiq. [Paris, British and Foreign Bible Society], 1827.
Large 4to (220 x 266 mm). 2 parts in one vol. (4), 7, (1), 984, (4), 3, (1), 318 pp. Contemporary brown calf with ornamental blind-tooling; gilt title to spine. Well-preserved copy of the first complete edition of the Bible in Ottoman Turkish, printed in a vocalized Arabic typeface. Based on the manuscript of Ali Ufki Bey (Albert Bobovius), this version became the basis for further Turkish translations used by Armenian and Greek Christians. The New Testament had appeared separately in 1819. "In 1820 J. D. Kieffer [...] began a thorough revision of Ali Bey's translation of the Bible by comparing it with the original texts, as well as with the standard English, French, and German versions. He also collated it with W. Seaman's Nogai NT of 1666, with T. Erpenius' Arabic version, with H. Martyn's Persian version, with H. Brunton's Nogai NT of 1813, and with the London Polyglot. The translation of the NT was also carefully revised in view of the criticisms passed on the first edition. On crucial questions he had the advice of Baron Silvestre de Sacy. The complete Bible (without the Apocrypha) appeared in 1827, printed in Arabic character with full vocalization. The edition consisted of 5,000 copies of the Bible, and 2,000 copies of the NT issued separately" (Darlow/M.). - Binding insignificantly rubbed at extremities, very slight brownstaining due to paper. An excellent copy. Darlow/Moule 9456. Bruce Privratsky, A History of Turkish Bible Translations, v. S (2014), pp. 43ff. OCLC 61141750.
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[Bidpai - Panchatantra].
[Kalilah wa-Dimnah - French]. Les Fables de Pilpay philosophe indien; ou la Conduite des Rois. Paris, Claude Barbin, 1698.
8vo. (20), 352 pp. Contemporary full calf with giltstamped edges, spine and spine-label. Marbled endpapers. All edges sprinkled red. Very rare, early French edition of the Fables of Bidpai, here comprising the prologue and the first four chapters of the "Anvari Suhaili". This Persian fable first appeared in French in 1644 in a translation prepared by David Sahid d'Ispahan. The year 1698 saw a joint edition by the Paris publishers Barbin and Delaulne, copies published by the latter being slightly more common. Not a single copy bearing Barbin's name on the title-page is traceable in libraries internationally. - The ancient Sanskrit Panchatantra fables, a classic of the genre, are thought to have been assembled ca. 200 BC out of stories from an even older oral tradition. The stories became known in Europe through Hebrew translations of Arabic versions under the name Bidpai. Featuring animals as a mirror for human behaviour, the fables were intended to educate people, especially young rulers. - Handwritten ownership of E. Bouzerand to lower flyleaf, dated 1802. Extremities professionally repaired. Paper shows occasional light spotting. A good copy of this classic work. Barbier II, 413. Brunet I, 937 (Delaulne issue). Graesse I, 422. Chauvin II, p. 33, no. 55B. This edition not in OCLC.
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[Bidpai].
Livre des lumières ou la conduite des roys, composé par le sage Pilpay Indien. Paris, Simeon Piget, 1644.
8vo (101 x 171 mm). (16), 286 pp., final blank leaf. Near-contemporary full red morocco binding, flat spine with gilt title and elaborate ornamentation, both covers bordered with triple rules, leading edges gilt, inner dentelle gilt. Marbled endpapers. All edges gilt. Extremely rare first French edition of the oriental tales known as "Kalila wa-Dimna" or "Anvari Suhaili", being the Persian version of the Fables of Bidpai (here comprising the prologue and the first four chapters). Translated by the great French linguist Gilbert Gaulmin (1585-1665) and his student and collaborator David Sahid d'Ispahan (whose is the only name given on the title). Bidpai (or "Pilpay") is the name of the Indian philosopher to whom the Arabic and Persian tradition attributes this famous collection, known in the Sanskrit tradition as "Panchatantra". It was translated into Latin as early as the 13th century. - This first French edition is of particular importance for popularising the fables in France and providing Jean de La Fontaine with themes for many of his later and most beautiful stories in his own fable collection, first published in 1678-79 (cf. Le Roux). - Volume ends with the note "Fin de la premiere partie", but all published. Provenance: old ink ownership "Bouhon or. de S. Sac" to title-page. Later in the library of the Lebanese-born entrepreneur Charles Kettaneh (1904-85) with his etched bookplate to the front flyleaf. Together with his brothers, Charles Kettaneh developed the export business of cars and other American luxury goods to the Middle East, where he established licenced dealerships. Passionate about travel, a fine scholar and knowledgeable about art, Kettaneh was a great collector and bibliophile; his library was remarkable for the rarity of the books rather than for their number. - Binding very slightly rubbed in places, but finely preserved. Contemporary bibliographical notes and the odd penstroke to the margin. A superb copy, not in trade records. Chauvin II, p. 33, no. 55A. Brunet I, 937. Graesse I, 421f. Barbier II, 1329. Le Roux de Lincy, Essai sur les fables indiennes et sur leur introduction en Europe (1838), p. 23f. OCLC 457066815.
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[Bidpai]. Ali Chelebi ibn Salih / [Abramovicz-]Adelburg, Ed[uard] von (ed.).
Auswahl türkischer Erzählungen aus dem "Humajun-namé oder Kaiserbuch" [Kalila wa-Dimna] [...]. Mit Urtext, Aussprache, deutscher Worterklärung und vollständiger Uebersetzung [...]. Erstes Heft (= All published.) Vienna, Mechitaristen, 1855.
8vo. XIV, (2), 80 pp. Original printed wrappers. First edition. The fables of Bidpai after the Turkish version by Anwari Souhaili in a German translation. Intended as a "handbook for prospective German orientalists", it contains the original text of the first fable of the "Humayun Nameh" in Ottoman Turkish script, a German translation as well as exhaustive philological and etymological material. The present edition was compiled and edited on the occasion of the centenary of the Vienna Oriental Academy by the Austrian orientalist and diplomat Eduard Adelburg (1804-56), himself a graduate of the Academy. - The title-page identifies this volume as an introduction to a much larger editorial project; however no further parts were published. - Binding somewhat loosened; front wrappers slightly creased. Occasional light foxing. Uncut copy. Kalemkiar 357. Chauvin II, p. 51, no. 75. OCLC 255154353.
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[Bidpai]. Stewart, Charles / Kashifi, Husayn Va`iz.
An Introduction to the Anvari Soohyly of Hussein Vaiz Kashify. London, W. Bulmer & W. Nicol, for the author, 1821.
Large 4to. (4), III, (3), 29, (1) pp; (2), 32, 42, 6 pp. Modern wrappers. Rare edition of the seventh chapter of the "Anvari Suhaili", a Persian fable, in Farsi, English and Arabic, with Arabic tables, analysis of the Arabic words, and the "Kalila Dumna", the Arabic version of the same chapter by 'Abd Allah ibn al-Mukaffa. Designed by Charles Stewart (1764-1837), professor of oriental languages at the East India College at Hailey, Hertfordshire, to help civil servants and military men in the service of the East India Company learn Persian. - A few page corners creased, occasional light soiling. With extensive pencil annotations from contemporary use; contemporary ink ownership of H. L. Dick to the title-page. As vol. 7 of Alexander's East India Magazine and Colonial and Commercial Journal reports under the Company's civil appointments, in January 1834 "Mr. H. L. Dick, writer [= administrator], has exceeded the period allowed for the Study of the Native Languages, and has been directed to return to England" (p. 103). Chauvin II, p. 27, no. 47. OCLC 891514783.
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[Blisset, Captain].
Travels in South-Western Asia. Dublin, J. Jones, 1823.
12mo. 180 pp. Rebound in green buckram. Title page with engraved vignette of a Kangaroo and three full page engraved plates. First edition. - A third hand account of the travels of one Captain Blisset, "an Englishman of birth and large fortune", in company with William Walsh, from Bombay, to the Arabian Gulf, having toured which they pass on to Muscat and Mecca, thence to the Holy Land. Nothing seems to be known of Blisset. Possibly a fictitious account, but the detail seems firmly based on fact, save for the incongruous Kangaroo on the title page.
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[Bolizza, Mariano (Marijan Bolic), Serbian-Venetian nobleman (fl. 1614)].
Relazione e descrizione del sangiacato di Scutari [...]. Venice, October 1856.
Folio. Italian manuscript on paper. 51, (1) pp. Sewn. Authentic 19th century copy of the manuscript in the Biblioteca Marciana. A public servant of the Republic of Venice, Bolic was assigned to provide information on the Ottoman Sanjak of Scutari (Shkodra), established after the Sultan acquired Shkodra in 1478/79. Bolic's work, delivered in 1614, contains the earliest description of the people and geography of modern Montenegro. - Wrappers slightly dustsoiled; a few small edge tears (no loss of text).
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[Bongars, Jacques].
[Orientalium expeditionum historia.] Gesta Dei per Francos, sive Orientalium expeditionum, et regni Francorum Hierosolimitani historia [...]. Hanau, typis Wechelianis, apud heredes Joan. Aubry, 1611.
Folio (240 x 352 mm). (56), 1203 (instead of 1207, properly 1205), (1) pp. (p. 623f. blank, wants pp. 231f. & 237f.). - (Includes, as part 2:) Sanudo, Marino. Liber secretorum fidelium crucis super Terrae Sanctae recuperatione et conservatione [...] Orientalis historiae tomus secundus. Ibid., 1611. (12), 361, (3) pp. (283f. printed as a double-page-sized folding table). Both parts with engraved printer's device to title-page. With 3 double-page-sized folding engraved maps and 2 engraved plans as well as a woodcut printer's device at the end. Slightly later full calf, spine elaborately gilt. Only edition of this early, important source book for the history of the crusades and the Kingdom of Jerusalem and its vassal states. The second parts contains the first printing of the much sought-after 14th century maps and plans by the Genoese cartographer Pietro Vesconte, previously available in manuscript copies only. "Four of the maps from Marino Sanudo's early fourteenth-century manuscript atlas were reprinted by Johann Bongars in 1611. Sanudo's planisphere [...] is one of the few examples of medieval maps based on portolano sources in printed form. It is a circular map centered on Jerusalem with the Mediterranean relatively well defined. The ocean surrounds the whole of the known world, the outer parts of which are represented by conjecture. The authorship of Marino Sanudo is not definitely established and the original manuscript has also been attributed to Pietro Vesconte" (Shirley). - One of two title variants differing only in slight changes in the typesetting (here: "Expeditionum" begins between the "O" and the "R" of "Orientalium"). Binding somewhat rubbed, hinges starting. Rather severely browned throughout due to paper stock, some waterstaining to margins, more pronounced near the end, sometimes reaching into the printed text. Stains to first title-page; the second title and its counter-leaf *6 are printed on different paper stock. Some light worming, mainly confined to margins but also touching the text near the end; occasional edge defects. A copy in modern half vellum (severely browned, with some worming, but otherwise complete) commanded 13,000 Euros at Reiss's spring 2009 auction. VD 17, 1:069728C. Atabey 127. Ioannou 49 (variant). Potthast I, 105. Tooley I, 162. Cf. Tobler 12. For the maps: Shirley 276 (with plate 217); Nordenskiöld 51 (with fig. 28); Laor 783 & 1145f. as well as Lex. Kart. 576 & 860f.
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[Bonnart, Henri & La Chapelle, Georges de la].
Marchand arabe. [Paris, 1750].
290 x 210 mm. Hand-coloured lithograph. Matted. Plate from "Recuel [!] de divers portraits des principales dames de la Porte du Grand Turc. Tirée au naturel sur les lieux". "Pour bien vendre sa marchandise / Il est adroit il est rusé / Fait argent de vielle chemise / Et rend neuf un habit usé".
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[Breviary in Arabic].
Al-Urulugiyun, ay al-sawa`i al-mustamil `ala salawat al-fard al-qanuniyya. Dayr al-Shuwayr, Kisrawan, Lebanon, St. John the Baptist Monastery, 1822.
8vo. (10), 736 pp. Printed in red and black throughout. Contemporary blindstamped black calf binding. The Arabic Horologion (following the Byzantine rite), containing the breviary, canonical prayers and hymns for the feast days of the Saints throughout the year. From the printing office of the Melkite monastery of St. John the Baptist at al-Shuwayr in the Lebanese Kisrawan mountains, operative between 1734 and 1899, during which time it produced in all 69 Arabic books, including re-editions (cf. Silvestre de Sacy I, pp. 412-414; Middle Eastern Languages and the Print Revolution. A Cross-Cultural Encounter, Westhofen 2002, pp. 179-181). Occasional insignificant brownstaining; slight chipping to extremeties of the appealing original binding. Rare: OCLC lists two copies only (at the University of Leiden and the Veech Library, Catholic Institute of Sydney, Australia). OCLC 68525490, 224329156.
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[British Falconers' Club].
The Falconer. December. Volume III. No. 1. (Arbroath, T. Buncle & Co.), 1954.
4to. 36 pp. With 5 black and white photographic plates in the text. Original printed wrappers. Rare issue of the periodical of the British Falconers' Club, the first issue of which appeared in 1937, including tributes to the late Vice-Presidents George Edward Lodge (1860-1954) and Guy Aylmer (1887-1954), as well as several book reviews. The contributors make observations on the Ovampo sparrowhawk, the African goshawk, and the red-headed merlin, as well as on partridge hawking, hacking, and the Dutch Falconers' Hut in "De Hoge Veluwe" National Park. The editorial discusses the 1954 Protection of Birds Act, which established the necessity of a licence when taking, selling, or importing live birds of prey for the purposes of falconry, stating that "it is most satisfactory that falconry has been recognised in this way, which gives it, potentially, a very much more favourable status than it has enjoyed for many years" (p. 10). The illustrations show the two former vice-presidents, G. E. Lodge painting, G. Aylmer with his hawk, hawks and merlins, and the Dutch Falconers' Hut surrounded by several hooded birds on perches. - Upper right corner of front cover slightly creased. A good copy. U.S. Air Force Academy Library, Special Bibliography Series 81, p. 91, 2. OCLC 52319876.
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[British Royal Navy photo album].
[The British Royal Navy in the Arabian Gulf and Indian Ocean]. [Various places, 1931-1932].
Oblong folio (335 x 245 mm). 188 silver gelatin photographs, one hand-tinted, mostly 105 x 80 mm, mounted in photo corners with handwritten captions. Original green cloth binding with hand-drawn map of Africa, Europe, and Asia on the front pastedown labelled "England to Aden 4643 miles" and four small maps of Kuwait, Ceylon, Iraq, and India mounted on rear pastedown with hand-coloured borders in blue and orange. A previously unknown collection of unique photographs by an anonymous British serviceman, documenting an interwar deployment to Aden and featuring one of earliest known photographs of Sheikh Juma bin Maktoum bin Hasher Al Maktoum (b. 1891) and Sheikh Saeed bin Maktoum bin Hasher Al Maktoum (1878-1958) of Dubai. Early photographs of Dubai or its rulers are quite uncommon, making this an exceptionally important piece. Here, the brothers are shown touring a British Royal Navy cruiser. Sheikh Juma (on the left) was the founder of the Al Maktoum branch of the Dubai royal family; his brother, Sheikh Saeed (on the right), was the longest-tenured ruler of Dubai, and presided over many of the huge economic changes of the first half of the 20th century. Both were deeply important to the formation of Dubai as it is today, but relics of their lives are extremely scarce. - Another rare photograph captures the Sultan of Oman Said bin Taimur (1910-72) as a young man touring a British light cruiser no more than a few months after the start of his reign in 1932. At only twenty-one, Said inherited both the sultanate and the difficulties faced by his predecessor. Though his reign was not easy, he was famously successful in uniting the warring factions within the sultanate. - The photographer behind this collection was likely a serviceman based on the H.M.S. Emerald, an Emerald-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy which would go on to provide support service during the D-Day landings at Gold Beach in WWII, but spent much of her career in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf. The serviceman has snapped a shot of a Fairey Flycatcher pontoon plane with the registration number N9670 - the Flycatcher known to have been assigned to the Emerald - photographed from the deck, and the Emerald appears repeatedly throughout the collection. Though the Emerald had a long tenure in the Gulf, photographs of the crash of the same ill-fated Fairey Flycatcher N9670 date the collection to circa December 1931, and the appearance of the young Sultan of Oman can only have been taken after the start of his reign on the 10th of February, 1932, covering a reasonable span of six months or more. Additionally, the Hawkins-class heavy cruiser H.M.S. Effingham appears in tow at the East Indies Station Trincomalee, Sri Lanka, which could only have occurred in early 1932, as later that same year she was sent back to Britain as part of the Reserve Fleet. - The photographs of ship life are full of action: men bathing over the side in the warm waters off Gibraltar, views of the Suez Canal, the use of a "smoke box" on the ship to generate a smokescreen, and torpedo drills, one capturing a launched torpedo in motion. However, no small part of the collection is dedicated to rare early views of Bahrein, Oman, and Iran. Bahrain is introduced by the Flycatcher plane crash; the British desired to impress their allies among the local dignitaries in Bahrain with a demonstration of military power, and sent Flight Lt. Peter Dabney Heinemann out in the Flycatcher to machine-gun targets which had been floated in the sea just off Bahrain. Heinemann reportedly lost control and spun out, and was killed when the plane crashed into the sea. Seven photographs show the British retrieving the wreckage, and the following photographs show a funeral procession in Manama, the bed of a military truck laid out in carpets acts as a hearse, and the burial in the Old Christian Cemetery. Two more photographs show a cityscape view of Manama and the clock tower of the Church of Christ in Bahrein. - Photographs of Old Muscat show the al-Jalali and al-Mirani forts, the former then still in use as a prison, and a view of the city "from hill top". Rounding out the tour of the Gulf, two photographs show the Abadan oil refinery in Iran. - The photographer spent some time in the Indian Ocean, and made port at Columbo, Trincomalee, Anuradhapura, Kandy, and Diyatalawa in Sri Lanka, as well as Karachi, Negapatam, Visakhapatnam, Kolkata (Calcutta), Sittwe (Akyab), and Port Blair. In Karachi, several photographs show the city's newly constructed airship mast and the cavernous airship shed, built as one of the main "terminals" of Britain's Imperial Airship Communications Scheme. The mast and shed were never used: a decade before the more famous Hindenburg disaster, the inaugural flight of the Scheme saw the R101 Airship leave London bound for Karachi, only to crash over France, killing all but six of the fifty-four crew and passengers and effectively ending the Scheme. Also of interest are several photographs of the large prison at Fort Blair, and include a photograph of an inmate strapped onto a "flogging board". - A touch of light wear; a few photographs are apparently missing as shown by their empty mounts; however, in excellent condition. Altogether a tour de force, featuring incredibly rare portraits of dignitaries and numerous photographs of cities of the Arabian Gulf.
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[Broadsheet].
Hanoch, die Erste Statt der Welt. [Prague, J. Hiller, c. 1730?].
Folio (271 x 493 mm). Broadsheet with 5 engravings and two columns of letterpress. Extremely rare, uncommon print describing the legendary Biblical city of Enoch, the "first city of the world", founded by Cain and named after his first son (cf. Gen. 4:17). The centre of the sheet shows a large (264 x 152 mm) view of the city (workmen erecting the walls in the background; Cain's family farming in the foreground), with numerous animals including elephants and lions. The smaller engravings to the left and right (130 x 85 mm each) show pumpkins ("Pepones"), a white falcon, a crane, and several marine animals (including a seal, dolphin, and sand flea). To the left and right of these are columns of letterpress text describing the city in eight twelve-line verses. - The style of the view is obviously closely related to the illustrations familiar from the Prague engraver Jan Hiller (active 1716-46, cf. Dlabacz, Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon für Böhmen I, 628-631), who also provided the plates for Myller's "Peregrinus in Jerusalem", a work that not only contains several topographical views, but also botanical and zoological illustrations. The Myller plate "La Ragna, die Meer-Spinne" shows several of the marine creatures depicted here in exactly the same fashion: clearly, Hiller re-used his work for the present broadsheet. This conclusion is further supported by the fact that the five plates evidence varying degrees of wear: while the large, central illustration shows good, strong contrast, the other four are markedly fainter. - Mounted on sturdy paper, probably by a near-contemporary collector; trimmed close to the plate edges. Slight brownstaining.
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[Bronze doré].
A matching pair of an Arabian stallion and English racehorse. Paris, ca. 1830.
French bronze reliefs gilt, both preserved in their original frame. Each 43 x 39 x 4.5 cm. Showing two horses facing each other. Both bronze reliefs are very intricately detailed and mounted on a base of red velvet in two strictly contemporary frames of the French Empire period.
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[Bublay, Ferdinand].
Aden harbor. Aden, 12 Oct. 1893.
Photograph panorama, taken from the Austrian corvette "Fasana". Two conjoined albumen prints on backing cardboard, with Bublay's autogr. caption. 490 x 180 mm. Impressive view, photographed near the beginning of the two-year expedition of the Austrian "Fasana", in which the later Rear Admiral Bublay participated as ensign. This Austrian circumnavigation of the world, begun in Pola on Sept. 1, 1893, was completed in March 1895. - Includes a group photograph of the "Fasana" officers during a "Picknik im Middle-Harbour (Sydney) 9./5. 1894" (Bublay's caption).
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[Buckingham, James Silk (ed.)].
The Oriental Herald, and Journal of General Literature. Vol XIII. April to June, 1827. London, for the editor, 1827.
8vo. (2), 210, (2), 211-422, (2), 423-664 pp. With a wood-engraved title vignette. Contemporary half calf over marbled boards. Brown marbled endpapers. A volume from James Buckingham's important journal which he founded in January 1824 under the significant title, "The Oriental Herald and Colonial Review", though the subtitle was renamed "Journal of General Literature" the following year. Several pieces are of direct relevance to the Arab world and the Gulf region: the transcript of a Debate at the East India House on the Bombay Marine (pp. 146ff.) variously discusses the "pirates in the Persian Gulph", the climate and various mishaps befalling ships there, while a review of the 1826 book "Sketches of Persia" (pp. 77ff.) gives an account of the "burning sandy plain which skirts the gulf". Johann Gottfried Eichhorn's "Historical Sketch of the Trade with India Before the Age of Mohamed" (pp. 437ff.) includes a discussion of Arabian and Gulf-region trade in the third century, and literature is represented in reviews of the Arabian tales "Abassah" (pp. 239ff.) and "Karmath" (pp. 557ff.). - "Except for 'The Asiatic Journal', the official publication of the East India Company, England had no paper devoted to colonial affairs. 'The duty of nations to enlighten and improve the condition of the people they subjugate,' he said in an introductory essay, 'can scarcely be required to be enforced by argument.' From this point of view he proposed to treat colonial problems in terms of colonial interests and at the same time to show the English people that conditions in the colonies were related to their own welfare" (R. E. Turner, James Silk Buckingham, 1786-1855: A Social Biography [1934], p. 226). - Binding rubbed; extremeties bumped; occasional wrinkles to pages. Armorial bookplate of Richard Archdall on pastedown. Stamps of the Caesarean Dramatic Literary Society of the Royal Hall, Jersey.
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[Burgermeister, Johann Stephan].
Compendium bibliothecae equestris continentis ex consortio & ministerio equestri praecipuos [...]. [Probably Ulm, ca. 1720].
4to. (4), 68, 60 pp. (without 16 pages of preliminaries). - (Bound with) II: Manuale equestre, oder Compendium der Reichs-Ritterschafftlichen alt-hergebrachten Rechten [...]. Ulm, Johann Gassenmeyer, 1720. (8), 120, 144, 48, (18) pp. - (Bound with) III: Harpprecht zu Harpprechtstein, Stephan Christoph. Speculi Suevici et praesertim iuris feudalis Amamannici [...]. Kiel, Johann Christoph Reuther, 1723. (10), 240, (2), 154, (6) pp. Contemporary full vellum with handwritten spine label. All edges coloured. Collection of three 1720s manuals on the Holy Roman Empire's legal foundations of the Imperial Knightage and Swabian feudal law. The second part of the first work contains a condensement of Georg Rüxner's famous tournament book, first published in 1530. Burgermeister (1663-1722), who compiled the first two works, was the legal counsel of the Swabian free knights in the Neckar-Schwarzwald district and later served as Imperial councillor in Ulm. "He was the most fervent apologist for the privileges of the free baronetage, and this is the subject of almost all his writings, composed in German. While conceived without plan or discrimination, they do contain valuable source material for the history of the lower nobility of the Empire" (cf. ADB). - The German jurist Harpprecht (1676-1735), a native of Sindelfingen near Stuttgart, taught at the University of Tübingen, later serving in Vienna and then as professor in Kiel in Northern Germany, where he published the present study of his native Swabia's feudal law. - Occasional light browning, but altogether a good, tight copy. VD 18, 1050284X. Pütter (Staatsrecht) I, 320. ADB III, 601. VD 18, 12892033.
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[Burgess, Thomas].
The Arabick Alphabet; or, an easy introduction to the reading of Arabick. For the use of Hebrew students. Newcastle, S. Hodgson, and sold by W. H. Lunn, London, 1809.
Large 12mo. V, (3), 20 pp. Modern half calf over marbled boards with black morocco label to spine, gilt. Padded at the end with 22 sturdy blank leaves with binder's ticket of "Period Binders, Bath". First edition of this rare introduction to Arabic. As the author writes in his dedication to the Rev. John Frederick Usko, "The object of the following pages is to put the Hebrew student in possession of just so much Arabick as may enable him to profit by the illustrations of Hebrew words in the Lexicons of Simonis and others." He proceeds to explain and justify his methods in the face of the many difficulties encountered by students. The text looks at the construction of the alphabet itself, compares Hebrew and Arabic letters, and similarly verbs and their tenses. - Attributed to Thomas Burgess (1756-1837), who served successively as Bishop of Salisbury and St. David's. He was educated at Winchester college and gained a scholarship to Corpus Christi College, Oxford, where he spent most of his time studying Greek. He was ordained in 1784 and at this time he became interested in Hebrew and theology. A prolific author, he published over a hundred works - the first while at Oxford. Early in his career, he came under the patronage of the Bishop of Salisbury. In his spare time, he helped increase the number of Sunday schools and contributed in writing primers for the students. The present work is an obvious fruit of these interests. - No copies listed in auction records of this unusual Newcastle imprint, which also names the London bookseller and dealer in continental books, W. H. Lunn. Some contemporary handwritten annotations in ink & ownership inscription to title-page "A Bertiz / August 5, 1829". - Rare. OCLC 55524381.
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[Burton, Richard Francis].
The Kasidah (couplets) of Hâjî Abdû El-Yezdî: A Lay of the Higher Law [...]. London, [Bernard Quaritch, 1880].
4to. (4), 33, (1) pp., final blank leaf. Bound with the original yellow printed wrappers. Contemporary giltstamped half calf over green cloth boards with giltstamped spine-title. Marbled endpapers. First edition. Rare English-language poem by Burton, purporting to be a translation of an original Persian Sufi text. In an attempt to bring Sufist ideas to the West, Burton claims to be the translator of a Persian poem, to which he gives the English title "Lay of the Higher Law". It is thus a pseudo-translation, pretending to be based on an original Persian text which never existed. - The Kasidah is essentially a distillation of Sufi thought in the poetic idiom of that mystical tradition. Both first and second issues were published by Bernard Quaritch in 1880 for the use of the author and his friends. The present first issue omits the Quaritch name and the date from the title. Few copies of the first issue were sold (possibly fewer than 100), and the remainders were returned to Burton or members of his circle. - Cloth slightly soiled; original wrappers a little duststained. A good copy. Penzer 97. Casada 84. OCLC 57537856.
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[Cairo Ware - Islamic Judaica].
Copper gilt tray. Probably Egypt, late 19th century.
Diameter: 31 cms. A beautiful copper gilt tray in a rounded flat form, engraved with geometric designs in the Mamluk revival style, the Star of David and Hebrew and Arabic lettering. - Exceedingly well preserved.
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[Camel Race].
"Minieh, Février 20, 1914". Photograph album of an important camel racing and horsemanship event. Minya, Upper Egypt, 1914.
Oblong folio (455 x 365 mm). 28 matte photographs (195 x 280 mm or the reverse), individually mounted on cards, recto only. Contemporary sewn red half morocco gilt, flat spine, upper cover titled in gilt and with the photographer's name in gilt. Marbled endpapers. Fine album of 28 black/white mounted photographs showing officials and dignitaries, horse and camel trainers, riders, and races at an unknown celebration or festival during the last days of the Khedivate and Ottoman rule in Egypt. A similar album, comprising merely 24 photographs, is kept at the UC Santa Barbara, Special Research Collections (Bernath Mss 185). - Several mounts loosened or detached. Binding worn at extremeties, some waterstaining to covers.
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[Camels].
Chameau coureur (méari). Algier, Claude-Joseph Portier, no date.
54 x 90 mm. Black-and-white photographic print on cardboard backing (62 x 104 mm). Captioned in French. Rare photograph of two mounted camel couriers in a desert landscape, by the celebrated French photographer Claude-Joseph Portier (d. 1910), active in Algeria in the 1860s. The picture shows one camel resting on the ground, the other standing. Featuring a bedouin tent in the background, as well as 2 bedouins sitting on the ground near the left side of the image. - Small scratch mark near the centre.
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[Camels].
Grandmamma Easy's Pretty Stories About the Camel. [London], Dean & Co., [1854].
Large 8vo. (16) pp. (including original illustrated wrappers; 6 leaves printed on one side only). With 8 hand-coloured woodcut illustrations and a woodcut tailpiece. Sewn. Children's book about the various types of camels, their habits and uses, issued within the series of "Grandmamma Easy's new pictorial colored toy books". Includes pictures of a Bedouin camp, a desert caravan, the Holy Camel bearing the Qur'an on the pilgrimage to Mecca, a camel fight, and a two-humped camel exhibited on the streets of London. - Sewn with large stitches; tear to front cover mended by stiching; slight edge defects. Rare. OCLC 16800959.
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[Camels].
Uncle Joseph's Pretty Stories About the Camel. New York, J. Q. Preble, [ca. 1840s].
Large 8vo. 8 ff. (including original illustrated wrappers; 6 leaves printed on one side only). With 8 hand-coloured woodcut illustrations and a woodcut cover illustration. Sewn with cloth spine. Scarce children's book about the various types of camels, their habits and uses, issued within the series of "Uncle Joseph's Pretty Stories". Includes pictures of a Bedouin camp, a desert caravan, the Holy Camel bearing the Qur'an on the pilgrimage to Mecca, a camel fight, and a two-humped camel exhibited on the streets of London. - Numerous repaired tears, some chipping to wrappers with slight loss to title. Rare; OCLC lists a single holding library (University of Chicago). OCLC 41203190.
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[Canter, Frans].
Deductie gedaan maken en den Hogen Rade in Holland [...] uit den name ende van wegens Bewindhebberen van de Oostindische Compagnie ter Kamer Amsterdam, eerst requiranten van appointctement van anticipatie, en nu gedaagdens by mandament van revisie, ter eenre, op ende jegens aaltje Fransse, weduwe van Cornelis Canter, Jan Canter, en Hendrik van Greuningen, als in huwelijk hebbende Anna Canter, seggende te zyn moeder, broeder, en zwager respective, van Frans Canter, alle wonende te Amsterdam [...]. [Amsterdam, 1752].
Folio. 28 (misnumbered: 29) pp., 1 blank f., (2) pp. 19th century marbled wrappers. Amsterdam legal injunction against the mother, father, and brother-in-law (formerly defendants and now counterclaimants) of Frans Canter, manager of the VOC factory at Basrah from 1746 till 1750, who had infamously fled his post when he was to be replaced by Tido Baron Kniphausen. Fearing exposure for having embezzled Company funds, Canter had escaped to nearby Grain (Kuwait): "Sig van Bassoura door de vlugt heeft geretireert naar Green" (p. 4, no. 46). He continued his flight by caravan to Aleppo, then to Iskenderun, and finally by ship to Amsterdam, "where the East India Company was unable to get him prosecuted by the autonomous government of this town. - Canter's flight to Grain is a typical manifestation of a basic characteristic of Kuwait. Its essential function in the life of the Gulf at that time was that it was an area outside the sphere of influence of the Ottoman Government of Basra. In this way, it could serve as a refuge for both persons and trade when, for one reason or another, there was risk of trouble in Basra. This little desert trading town was born and continued to grow because of the simple fact of its being outside the troubled area of Ottoman Iraq" (Slot, The Origins of Kuwait, p. 117). Canter is also memorable for having composed, in the course of his escape, the first known letter written in Kuwait. While the original is lost, a contemporary copy made by an Amsterdam notary during these legal proceedings now rests in the General State Archives of the Netherlands (cf. Slot, p. 117-121). - Slight duststaining to the wide margins. A rare survival. Landwehr, VOC, 1020. OCLC 71711399. Not in Knuttel.
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[Carriage Horses]. Fölsch, Michael, Vienna strapmaker (fl. c. 1800).
Eighteenth-century illustrated manuscript sample book of harness designs and other elaborate and decorative carriage horse tack. [Vienna, c. 1800].
2 vols. Oblong small folio (23.5 x 36.8 cm and 25.4 x 39.4 cm). 66 pen-and-ink, watercolour and gouache drawings of horses, mostly highlighted with silver and gold (one folding), all signed, each within a black ruled border, most trimmed and mounted onto larger sheets at a period date. Early marbled paper spines. Housed in an early calf-backed marbled paper covered faux-book box, metal clasps. Unique illustrated manuscript trade catalogue, with each image depicting a horse in elaborate carriage tack. The drawings were executed by Michael Fölsch himself, one of the foremost Viennese makers and sellers of luxury tack in the early 19th century, to show prospective clients possible designs for their carriage horses. Every single drawing is signed by the artist: Fölsch's talent for draughtsmanship and colouring was hitherto unknown and is remarkable for a leather craftsman who probably never received training as a painter. The breadth and complexity of the designs, and the use of gold and silver, is impressive, underlining the fact that such bespoke equipment was intended for the wealthy elite. - Provenance: first in the equestrian library of the Imperial stablemaster Franz Wenzel Schleichart von Wiesenthal (engraved bookplate on verso of box), who came from a great dynasty of stablemasters and horsebreakers that included his father as well as his two younger brothers Anton Philipp and Johann Joseph; latterly in the collection of Franz Josef II, Fürst von und zu Liechtenstein (1906-89, armorial bookplate).
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[Cassas, Louis François].
Historisch-mahlerische Reise durch Syrien, Phönicien und Nieder-Ägypten. Vienna, J. V. Degen, 1805.
12mo (96 x 138 mm). Engraved title-page, 1 letterpress leaf, 15 engraved plates (of which 3 are double-page-sized). In a pretty red leather wallet binding with fore-edge flap and tab. Marbled endpapers. Edges gilt. Pretty German issue of engravings showing views from Levantine journeys. The set was published by Degen between 1803 and 1809 in the "Wiener Taschenbuch". The plates were engraved after the monumental, never-completed "Voyage pittoresque de la Syrie, de la Phénicie, de la Palestine et de la Basse Égypte" by L. F. Cassas (Paris 1799, 180 plates in-folio: cf. Cohen/Ricci 204; Tobler 134). The travels during which the illustrations were made largely took place in the years 1778-87; Cassas was one of the engravers whom Choiseul-Gouffier had hired for his "Voyage Pittoresque". The plates show cities, landscapes, ancient and modern buildings in the Near East. - Binding rubbed, interior somewhat brownstained, but an attractive volume.
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[Catechism - Arabic - Roman Rite].
Catechismus Romanus: ex decreto Concilii Tridentini iussu S. Pii V editus. [Rome], Propaganda Fide, 1786 [= 1787]-1787.
8vo. 2 volumes. (40), "976" [= 980] pp. (8), "855" [= 847], (1) pp. Pages progress from right to left like a normal Arabic book. With an Arabic title-page on the second page of each volume, each with the Propaganda Fide's woodcut Jesus and apostles device and each preceded (on the back of the same leaf) by a Latin half-title. Further with woodcut tail-pieces, 1 woodcut decorated initial, and tailpieces and factotums built up from cast fleurons. Set in 2 sizes of nashk Arabic type, with the 13-page dedication to Pope Pius VI and a few other preliminary pages also in Latin on the facing pages, set in roman and italic type. Early 19th-century half sheepskin parchment, sewn on recessed cords with a hollow back, hand-lettered spine titles, shell-marbled sides, brown sprinkled edges. First unabridged Arabic edition of the catechism translated from the Latin version authorized by the Council of Trent and the most extensive Arabic catechism ever published, comprising 1827 pages plus preliminaries. It follows the Roman Catholic rite and was printed and published by the Propaganda Fide in Rome. It is based on the Latin text authorized by the Council of Trent under Pope Pius V, first published in Latin in 1566. While some small Arabic catechisms of a few dozen pages had been printed as early as 1580, only a few more extensive ones had appeared, with Bellarmino's growing from 86 pages (not including the parallel Latin text) in 1613 to 411 pages in 1770 and De Beauvais and Richelieu's 1640 Paris edition comprising 415 pages. The present edition is probably the most extensive Arabic work that the Propaganda Fide ever published. Volume 1 is dated 1786 on the Latin half-title and it may have been issued without the dedication (quires *-2*) in that year, but the dedication is dated 22 December 1787 and volume 2 is dated 1787 on the half-title. The Vatican established the Propaganda Fide in 1622 to promote Catholic missionary work, especially in the Middle and Near East, and it set up its own printing office in Rome in 1626. The printing office acquired many types for exotic languages from various earlier Roman printing offices that had operated under the authority of or in close cooperation with the Vatican and also had many new types cut for them, mostly by their own in-house punchcutters. In this way they assembled what was probably the largest collection of exotic printing types in the world, most of them exclusive to their press. The press had declined in the 18th-century, but began to flourish again when the future cardinal Sefano Borgia took chage of the Propaganda Fide and Giovanni Cristoforo Amaduzzi of the press in 1770. The type used for the main text of the present catechism was cut for the Propaganda Fide, probably in-house, and first used for Tommaso Obizzino, Thesaurus Arabico-Syro-Latina, 1636. With a nineteenth-century library stamp, apparently from the Propaganda Fide's own college, in the unprinted areas on both Arabic title-pages (only partly legible, but apparently reading "Pont. Univ. de Propaganda Fide"). With occasional minor and mostly marginal foxing and an occasional quire slightly browned, but otherwise in very good condition, with only an occasional tiny hole or small marginal chip. Only slightly trimmed, preserving an occasional deckle. The most ambitious Arabic catechism produced to this date. Schnurrer 308. WorldCat (2 copies); not in Smitskamp, Philologia orientalis.
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[Catechism in Arabic].
Al-Ta`lim al-masihi. Jerusalem, Franciscan Order, 1853.
Small 8vo. 51, (1) pp. Contemporary yellow wrappers. Catholic catechism (Talim) published by the Fransciscans of Jerusalem, printed in Arabic throughout except for colophon "Reimprimatur + J. Patriarcha Hierosolymitanus". Rare; a single copy (with variant ending) recorded in library catalogues (Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, shelfmark A. or. 1771 - "gift from Jerusalem"). OCLC 163278889.
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[Caussin de Perceval, Armand Pierre.
Essai sur l'histoire des Arabes avant l'islamisme, pendant l'époque de Mahomet, et jusqu'à la réduction de toutes les tribus sous la loi musulmane. Paris, Didot, 1848].
Tables only: 11 genealogical tables on 15 folding sheets. Contemporary red half morocco; marbled covers and endpapers. Slightly foxed throughout. From the library of Richard C. Hodges (his etched bookplate on front flyleaf); later in the library of Sidney Edward Bouverie-Pusey (1839-1911), only son of the agriculturist Philip Pusey (cf. DNB XLVII, 64), with his bookplate on front pastedown.
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[Century of Progress].
Photographs from the Chicago Century of Progress. Chicago, 1933.
A group of 71 photographs of A Century of Progress, held in Chicago in 1933-34. They are by Kaufmann-Fabry, Official Photographers of the fair, and are so marked. The "Century of Progress International Exposition", also known as the Chicago World's Fair, was held from 1933 to 1934. The fair buildings were multi-coloured and generally had a "Moderne" design to them in contrast to the neoclassical themes used at the 1893 fair. One of the more famous aspects of the fair were the performances of fan dancer Sally Rand. Other popular exhibits were the various auto manufacturers, the Midway (filled with nightclubs such as the Old Morocco, where future stars Judy Garland, The Cook Family Singers, and The Andrews Sisters performed), and a recreation of important scenes from Chicago's history. The fair also contained exhibits that would seem shocking to modern audiences, including now-offensive portrayals of African Americans, a "Midget City" complete with "sixty Liliputians", and an exhibition of incubators containing real babies.
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[Chappuzeau, Samuel].
Histoire des joyaux, et des principales richesses de l'orient & de l'occident. Geneva, pour J. H. Widerhold, 1665.
12mo. (10), 180 pp. With engraved additional pictorial title and small woodcut ornament to printed title; woodcut head- and tail-pieces and decorative initials. Contemporary full vellum. Extremely rare first edition of this history of gemstones, corals and pearls, with plentiful references to the Arabian Gulf ("ou Mer d'Elcatif"), and specifically to Bahrain, Al-Qatif, Muscat, and Ormus, including separate chapters on pearls, their valuation, and the process of pearl-fishing. Carter lists Chappuzeau's work, which draws strongly on Tavernier, under the "key European accounts", quoting his mention of the Gulf as a major source of pearls: "The most significant pearl fishing ground is on the coast of Arabia Felix, between the towns of Julfar and Catif" (p. 94). - Chappuzeau's "text is in two parts, the first, of six chapters, describes gemstones beginning with diamond, then those of color, pearls, coral, amber yellow stones, the metals, ambergris, bezoar, indigo and other 'rich productions' of the East and West Indies, and including salts. The second part describes the places referred to in the first part, from Abyssinia to Visapur [...] Chappuzeau provides information on places in India where diamonds are found, how they are mined, and prices demanded for diamonds and other gemstones. The method of pricing pearls is also given along with a table of values [... This chapter] is famous for its perpetuation of the story that pearls generate from dew drops falling into the gaping shells of the pearl oysters" (Sinkankas). Also includes references to mining in Peru and trade from the West Indies and Americas. - Spine somewhat dust-soiled; interior shows some browning throughout. Provenance: Contemporary ink ownership "F. Baker" (?) to title-page. Latterly removed from the Library of the Birmingham Assay Office, one of the four assay offices in the United Kingdom, with their inconspicuous library stamp to the flyleaf. Vastly rarer than the 1671 English edition: no other copy seen in the trade. Sinkankas 1251. Sabin 12010. Cioranescu (17th c.) 18639. OCLC 78250964. Carter, Sea of Pearls, pp. 94 & 106. Cf. Hoover 217; Roller/Goodman I, 222; Macclesfield 512 (for the 1671 English translation).
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[Charles de Valois-Bourgogne, le Téméraire (the Bold), Duke of Burgundy (1433-1477)].
Letter of safe conduct for an embassy to Persia. Mechelen, 11. II. 1474.
Latin ms. on vellum. 378 x 210 mm. Papered seal. Signed by Charles Soillot (1434-93?), secretary to Charles the Bold. Letter of "sauf conduit" (safe conduct) for the merchant and diplomat Anselm Adornes (1424-83) for a Burgundian embassy to Persia: "[...] Universis principibus baronibus militibus et plebeis quibus hec nostre littere fuerint ostense, benivolenciam nostram et salutem universitatem vestram et vestrum quemlibet. Rogamus quatenus dilectum et fidelem consiliarium, oratorem et cambellanum nostrum dominum Anselmum Adornes militem, dominum de Corthuy, harum latorem, quem ad nonnullas orientales partes impresentiarum mittimus cum penes vos venerit seu per terras et dominia vestra iter fecerit benevole recipere, amoreque nostri et contemplatione favorabiliter tractare et tractari mandare velitis eumdem unacum viginti personis et totidem equis seu aliis equitaturis aut inferius, permittendo transire sine pedagio, gabella, fundonavis, datia aut alia exactione quacunque [...]". - From March to June 1474, Adornes, Lord of Cortachy, led an embassy in the name of Charles the Bold to the Shah of Persia Uzun Hassan (1423-78), whom the Duke of Burgundy sought to persuade to engage in a new military expedition against the Ottomans, following a campaign in the previous year which had ended in Uzun Hassan's defeat by Mehmed II. Adornes was chosen for this mission due to his knowledge of Muslim territories; he had made a pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem in 1470/71 (the account of his journey written by his son Jan is still preserved). - One of the most illustrious members of the Adornes-Adorno family, of Genoese origin, and a wealthy patron, Anselm was closely involved in international trade (mainly in alum and cloth from Tournai and England). He maintained commercial relations with Genoa as well as Spain and played an important role in Burgundian diplomacy. - Some wrinkling as common; traces of folds. Well preserved. Messager des sciences historiques ou Archives des arts et de la bibliographie de Belgique (1881), pp. 41-42. Cf. Nationaal biografisch woordenboek XII, 2/25. C. van Hoorebeeck, Livres et lectures des fonctionnaires bourguignons (Turnhout, 2014), passim.
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[Chmielenski, Constant; Pseud.:] Constant de Tours.
Le Train d'Orient et les voyages par terre et par mer de Paris a Constantinople. Paris, Societé Francaise d'éditions d'art, [1903].
Large 4to. 272 pp. Publisher's original illustrated red cloth, stamped in gold and black. All edges gilt. Second edition of this popular, profusely illustrated guide through the countries and places visited by the Orient Express, which took up service in 1883. The elaborate art nouveau binding recalls that of the first edition, published by Émile Gaillard in 1894. - Some browning throughout, but well-preserved. OCLC 457665773.
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[COMMERCE DU LEVANT]
Arrest du Conseil d'Estat du Roy portant imposition d'un droit d'avarie d'un pour cent, pendant trois ans, sur les marchandises qui seront portées pendant cet espace de temps dans les Eschelles de Levant. Du 25 février 1736
Paris, Imprimerie royale, 1736 in-4, 4 pp., en feuille.
Bookseller reference : 203474
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[collectif]
Bulletin d'études orientales. Tome XX - Année 1967.
Damas, Institut français de Damas, 1967. In-4 br., en partie non coupé, 213 pp., qqes fig. in-t., 12 pl. hors-texte de reprod. photog. en noir, index. Textes en français et arabe.
Bookseller reference : 593159
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[collectif]
Bulletin d'etudes orientales. Tome XV - Années 1955-1957.
Damas, Institut français de Damas, 1958. In-4 br., en partie non coupé, 184 pp., index. Textes en français et arabe.
Bookseller reference : 593160
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[collectif]
Bulletin d'etudes orientales. Tome XIX - Années 1965-1966.
Damas, Institut français de Damas, 1967. In-4 br., non coupé, 339 pp., index. Textes en français et arabe.
Bookseller reference : 593202
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[collectif]
Bulletin d'études orientales. Tome XVII. Années 1961-1962.
Damas, Institut français de Damas, 1962. In-4 br., 265 pp.
Bookseller reference : 593203
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[collectif]
Bulletin d'études orientales. Tome XVIII. Années 1963-1964.
Damas, Institut français de Damas, 1964. In-4 br., 301 pp., planches en noir h.-texte.
Bookseller reference : 593204
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[collectif]
Bulletin d'études orientales. Tome XXVIII. Année 1975.
Damas, Institut français de Damas, 1977. In-4 br., 266 pp., qqes fig. in-t., planches en noir h.-texte.
Bookseller reference : 593205
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[COLLECTIF]
Bulletin d'études orientales. Tome XXI. Année 1968.
Damas, Institut Français, 1968. Grand in-4 br., 436 pp., 14 planches de fac-similés en noir.
Bookseller reference : 593206
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