‎Middle east‎

‎[collectif]‎

‎Iran. Les sept climats.‎

‎P., Publications orientalistes de France, 1972. In-4 carré br., 153 pp., ill. phot. en noir dans le texte, 4 pl. en couleurs.‎

‎Bonne condition. - Frais de port : -France 4,95 € -U.E. 9 € -Monde (z B : 15 €) (z C : 25 €)‎

Bookseller reference : 595493

‎[Collection of treaty articles relating to commercial transactions of subjects of the Austrian state in the Ottoman Empire].‎

‎Avusturya devleti tebaasinin Memalik-i Osmaniyede ticaretlerine ait mevadd-i ahdiyye mecmuasidir. Vienna, Dar tiba' al-imberaturiyy (k. k. Hof- und Staatsdruckerei), 1846.‎

‎Large 8vo. 88 pp. Printed in black with red headings, within printed gilt rules. Illuminated head-piece and 'unwan printed in three colours and gilt, in imitation of manuscript illumination. Gilt tail-piece. (Bound with:) Raccolta dei trattati e delle principali convenzioni concernanti il commercio e la navigazione dei sudditi Austriaci negli Stati della Porta Ottomana. Ibid., 1844. (4), VIII, 224 pp. Contemporary green morocco binding with fore-edge flap, covers giltstamped with an oriental design. All edges gilt. The full text of 19 trade treaties, in Ottoman Turkish throughout, closed between the Austrian and the Ottoman Empire between 1110/1699 (Peace of Karlovac) and 1259/1844. Bound in the same volume is the 1844 Italian-language edition, containing the texts of the various treaties in their respective original European language, with an Italian translation on the opposite pages. - Ownership "C Fr Jelinek 1855" signed to endpaper. The Turkish text shows occasional insignificant foxing, as common; altogether very well preserved. A splendidly bound copy. Zenker, BO II, 805.‎

‎[Compagnie des Indes].‎

‎État actuel de l'Inde, et considérations sur les établissemens & le commerce de la France dans cette partie du monde, sur les ameliorations don't ils sont susceptibles, & sur la meillure manière d'y faire le commerce. London & Paris, chez Madame veuve Laurent Prault, 1787.‎

‎8vo. IV, 224 pp. Contemporary half calf over marbled boards. Very rare sole edition of this defense of the newly-reformed Compagnie des Indes and its commercial activities in the Far East, apparently written by a shareholder, with chapters ranging from West Africa to the Arabian Gulf, India, China, Japan, and even Australia (cf. Ferguson). Spectacularly unsuccessful compared to its European rivals, the French East India Company was suppressed in 1769 but a new charter was granted in 1785 to a "Nouvelle Compagnie des Indes". The avant-propos identifies the anonymous author as an "investor, not a speculator" in this newly-founded Compagnie, and aside from his observations on commercial trade with each nation, he also offers broad arguments supporting the monopoly of the Compagnie and even state-sponsored aid for its activities. The French Revolution brought a swift end to the Compagnie in 1790, and its liquidation in 1793 caused a scandal which involved many deputies of the revolutionary government. - In the author's chapter concerning the west coast of Africa, we find a typically pragmatic Enlightenment approach to the atrocities of slavery: "At the present moment, the slave trade on this coast is a very interesting object for our commerce, due to the abundance and the cheapness of these unfortunate victims of the barbarism of these climes, the need for them in our Ile de France [Mauritius] & Bourbon [Réunion] for the development of agriculture, and due to the ease of selling the excess slaves beyond the needs of those two islands to our colonies of America, & even to those of the Spanish. They [the Spanish] have been forced to depend on the English to provide them with blacks. We could enjoy a preferential treatment [...]". - Again on pp. 22f., in a discussion of Madagascar, he makes his position clear: "The slave trade requires a great deal of caution in its conduct, so as not to alienate the goodwill of the natives. If we buy the prisoners taken in wars from the small nations that share control of this island; and if the advantage of fetching a price from the sale of these unfortunate prisoners spares them the cruel death to which, without this resource, the barbarian victors would subject them, then the expectation of fetching a price from [their sale] need not ever be the cause of war between these small nations [...]". - Elsewhere the author discusses trade with Japan (p. 133), the Philippines (pp. 121f.); China (pp. 134-139); Macao (pp. 140f.), and even Australia ('Nouvelle Hollande", pp. 142-146: "dans nul pays de la terre les hommes ne sont moins avancés en civilization [...]"). - Spine extremely worn and rubbed, but holding perfectly; contents clean and fresh. Very rare: OCLC shows three US copies at Harvard, the Cleveland Public Library, and Minnesota. No copies are recorded at Anglo-American auctions. Goldsmiths'/Kress 13332.3. Ferguson IV, 466 ("pp.142-6 contains a description of New Holland, and of the sailing of the First Fleet").‎

‎[Confidential British Government Memoranda on the Trucial Coast].‎

‎Memorandum of information received during the month of January [-December] 1911, regarding affairs in Arabia, the North-East Frontier and Burma. [Calcutta], Foreign Office Press; Simla, G.M. Press, 1911.‎

‎Folio (216 x 342 mm). 12 parts in one volume. (4), 23; (2), II, 30; (4), 19, (1); (4), 23, (1); (4), 19, (1); (4), 12; (4), 12; (4), 20; (4), 22; (4), 15, (1); (4), 23, (1); (4), 10 pp. Printed in single columns with blank space left at inner margins for notes. Half sheep over red cloth boards, rebacked, gilt-lettered spine. A full year's worth of confidential memoranda issued by Edward Henry Scamander Clarke (1856-1947), Deputy Secretary to the Government of India, providing a detailed picture of British relations in Arabia and Asia throughout 1911. The memoranda encompass Arabia (including Aden, Baghdad, Kuwait, Muscat, Bahrain, the Gulf, and the Trucial Coast), Tibet, Bhutan, Assam, and Burma. The numerous and frequently extensive paragraphs dedicated to the "Arabian littoral of the Persian Gulf" not only discuss problems of charting and navigating the coastal waters, but also focus on defending British commercial interests in the region at a moment when the international trade was scrambling to access the Arabian pearl banks, while at the same time British authority was taking a dramatic plunge in the aftermath of the notorious "Dubai Incident" of 24 December 1910, a botched gun raid operation that led to rising tensions between Britain and the people of the Trucial Coast. Items include notes on the desire of the "Wahabi Amir of Nejd", Abdulaziz ibn Saud, to "come into closer relations with His Majesty's Government"; proposed hydrographical surveys of possible approaches to Kuwait and Bahrain; a proposed enquiry into the causes of the depletion of the pearl banks in the Gulf, and the possible attitude of the local Arab tribes as well as foreign agents in the area; an investigation into possible business residences of Rosenthal Frères in Dubai and Bahrain, and the question of British firms entering into the local pearling business; a proposal to secure written assurances from the Sheikhs of the Gulf not to extend pearl fishing concessions to foreigners; policy differences between Britain and the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Butti bin Suhail Al Maktoum; piracy committed on a Dubai boat; the proposed establishment of British banks at certain port town along the Gulf coast; a discussion of the need for a treaty with the Qatar Sheikhs; the "question of the sovereignty over Katar"; the cancellation by the Sheikh of Sharjah of an excavation concession granted on Abu Musa island; the replacement of lost light buoys off the Arabian Gulf coast; negotiations with Turkey over territorial differences; Kuwait and the Baghdad Railway; and the Ottoman occupation of Jazirat az Zakhnuniyah (off the Saudi Arabian coast, between Bahrain and Qatar). - Further sections discuss treaties and trade agreements; expeditions and scientific missions; irrigation, shipping and railways, telegraph and postal networks, trade; arms trafficking; disturbances and risings; and British relations with Turkey and China. Also covered are the murder of Noel Williamson, assistant political officer, Sadiya, and his party in the Panga Hills, Assam, and the subsequent Abor Expedition; the Chinese Revolution of 1911 (Xinhai Revolution) and its impact in Tibet and Burma; and the Italo-Turkish War. - A few marks to text. Binding rubbed and marked at extremeties, spine recently rebacked. Extremely rare: no copy traceable in library catalogues internationally.‎

‎[Conquest of Oran] - Monterroyo Mascarengas, Jose Freire de.‎

‎Oran conquistado ou relaçam historica, em que se dà noticia desta Praça, da sua conquista, e da sua perda, e restauraçao, colhida de varios avizos [...]. Lisbon, Pedro Ferreira, 1732.‎

‎4to. 20, (3) pp., final blank page. With a woodcut illustration. - (Bound with) II: The same. Oran conquistado, e defendido, relaçam historica [...] Parte II. Ibid., 1733. 16 pp. Later full vellum. First editions. Both separately published parts of this rare work on the Spanish expedition against Muslim Oran. After a survey of the history and geography of Oran (in modern Algeria), the author describes the preparations for the expedition to recapture the city, enumerates the Spanish leaders, and gives details of the Spanish naval and military attacks on sites in and around Oran in June and July 1732. The captain-general of the expedition was José Carrillo de Albornoz, first Duke of Montemar, who had fought in the War of the Spanish Succession and the War of the Quadruple Alliance; at this time he was viceroy of Sicily. Facing p. 20 is the plan of battle for the Spanish forces. The woodcut on the verso shows the harbour at Oran, the town, and the half-dozen fortresses surrounding it, as well as the position of the Spanish navy during the battle. The final leaf has the key to the map on its recto, with the verso blank. Freire de Monterroyo Mascarenhas explains in the dedication that he compiled this account from many shorter ones, because the public was eager to learn about the reconquest. Oran, which was in Spanish hands since 1509, had been captured by the Turks in 1708, while Spain was preoccupied with the War of the Spanish Succession. Spain then held the city from 1732 until 1792, when it suffered a massively destructive earthquake and King Charles IV handed the city back to the Ottoman Empire. - First part uncut. Second part slightly wormed near the gutter. Occasional light brownstaining. The two parts are very rarely encountered together. Inocêncio IV, 348. Barbosa Machado II, 856. BGUC Misc. 3, 80.‎

‎[Conquest of Oran].‎

‎Nova relaçam da famoza, e admiravel batalha, que tiverao os castelhanos com os mouros, em que triunfarao delles na praça de Orao [...]. Lisbon, Pedro Ferreira, 1754.‎

‎4to. 8 pp. With woodcut title vignette. Printed sheet folded into a pamphlet, unsewn and unbound. Rare Portuguese account of one of several unsuccessful 18th century attempts by Muslim forces to recapture Oran. This operation took place in March of 1754, more than two decades after the Spanish conquest of the city in 1732. Oran was repeatedly attacked by Algerian and Ottoman forces, but remained under Spanish rule until 1792. - Uncut and untrimmed. BGUC Misc. 24, 459. OCLC 27754498.‎

‎[Constantinople - Plague].‎

‎Della peste di Costantinopoli del MDCCLXXVIII. Osservazioni sulla medesima e riflessioni dell’autore. Yverdun, no publisher, 1779.‎

‎8vo. V, (1), 117, (1) pp. Contemporary half calf over marbled boards. Very rare study of Constantinople's plague epidemic of the year 1778, by an anonymous eyewitness. Though not himself a medical man (as he confesses in the preface), he feels that most of Europe's learned physicians lack a practical understanding of the illness, for which reason he here sets out his own experiences in writing. - Only six copies in libraries worldwide, mostly in specialized medical research institutions (Wellcome, Institut Pasteur, New York Academy of Medicine, National Library of Medicine etc.). - Binding rubbed and chipped in places, but a very good copy. Wellcome II, 446. Blake 114.‎

‎[CONSULATS]‎

‎Edit du Roi, portant règlement sur les fonctions judiciaires & de police qu'exercent les consuls de France en pays étrangers. Donné à Versailles au mois de juin 1778. Registré au Parlement d'Aix le 15 mai 1779‎

‎Paris, Imprimerie royale, 1779 in-4, 23 pp., dérelié.‎

‎Important édit de 85 articles, qui réglemente les pouvoirs judiciaires concédés aux consuls français, notamment dans les Echelles en vertu des capitulations, et qui consituent une dérogation notable au principe de souveraineté territoriale. Le cas le plus fréquent est celui d'un procès d'un régnicole avec un autre régnicole, voire un sujet étranger : le Français ne peut recourir à la justice locale, et la compétence du consul est générale en matière civile, partielle dans le cas où les tribunaux mixtes sont reconnus.‎

Bookseller reference : 203390

‎[Corancez, Louis Alexandre Olivier de].‎

‎Histoire des Wahabis, depuis leur origine jusqu'a la fin de 1809. Paris, Crapelet, 1810.‎

‎8vo. (4), VIII, 222, (2) pp. Remains of original grey temporary wrappers. Stored in gilt modern quarter morocco box. First edition of this fundamental study of Wahhabism, not translated into Arabic until 2005 ("Tarih al-wahhabiyin mundu naš'atihim hatta 'am 1809 m.", published in Riyadh by Darat al-Malik 'Abd-al-'Aziz). Corancez had lived in Aleppo for eight years as French consul. He married a Syrian and had first-hand information about the Wahhabi movement in Egypt, Syria, and Baghdad. He published his book soon after the followers of the Moslem reformer Abd-el Wahhab conquered the holy cities of Mecca and Medina in 1805, an event that fueled a strong interest in the movement throughout Europe. "This sect, which abhorred all loose living, attracted the attention of a number of travellers. Corancez' account of the Wahabis precedes by many years that of Burckhardt, which was published posthumously in 1830, although both men were living and travelling in Syria at the same time, and presumably knew each other" (Atabey). As Burrell comments, "the final merits - and challenges - of this book are [... that] Corancez was prepared to reflect upon a range of issues which remain relevant and controversial, for many people in the Middle East today. These include the nature of Islam and its apparent resistance to self-doubt and the challenge of change, the complex attitude adopted by Muslims to Christians and Jews, the status of the Prophet Mohammed within Islam, the reasons for the enduring nature of despotic rule in the Middle East, the significance of the different status afforded men and women [...]". - Includes the sometimes-lacking errata final leaf. Slight brownstaining as common; untrimmed as issued with the publisher's temporary grey-blue wrapper largely preserved. Spine chipped; upper cover frayed and partly pasted to half-title. The Atabey copy (in contemporary half morocco) sold for £3,800 at Sotheby's in 2002. Macro, Bibliography of the Arabian Peninsula, 750. Atabey 282. Gay 3461. Quérard I, 143. Not in Blackmer.‎

‎[Costumes].‎

‎Neu-eröffnetes Amphitheatrum [...] aus dem Gantzen America [...] Asia [...]. Neu-eröffnetes Amphitheatrum Turcicum. Erfurt, Johann Michael Funcke, 1723-1728.‎

‎Folio (214 x 342 mm). 3 vols. bound in one. (4), 120 (instead of 124) pp. (2), 142 pp. 172, (4) pp. Two title pages printed in red and black. With a total of 97 (instead of 98) half-page woodcuts in the text. Period style dark brown calf, elaborately gilt decorated spine and boards, red morocco spine label, raised bands, marbled endpapers. First editions of three separately issued parts of the very scarce "newly-opened amphitheatre", comprising the America, Asia, and Turkey volumes. The exceptional large woodcuts show the native inhabitants of the various parts of the world. Of special interest is the rare volume dedicated only to Ottoman society, as well as that on Asia: together, they cover the Islamic countries of the early modern period, including details on the Arabian Peninsula. Among the illustrations are various Muslim clerics, Northern Arabians and desert Arabians in Bedouin costume, coffee salesmen, sweetmeats salesmen, and a Turkish gentleman carrying the Qur'an on his head, as well as Persians, the Sultan, Janissaries, archers, dancers, etc. The Asia volume, produced later, repeats a single illustration but contains much new matter on Arabia, including a discussion of the Muslim religion, the Qur'an, ablutions performed with sand, and the trade in incense, coffee, and spices, as well as pearl fishing in Bahrain (p. 54). The America volume covers the discovery and exploration of America, with woodcut illustrations including portraits of Columbus, Vespucci, Magellan, and 30 depictions of Native Americans from throughout the New World, including Virginia, California, Pennsylvania, Maryland, etc. - This present set omits the parts on Europe and Africa, which were published first, and thus contains parts 3 (America) and 4 (Asia) of the four-part "Neu-eröffnetes Amphitheatrum" (the final part of which was produced only after a five-year hiatus), along with the "Neu-eröffnetes Amphitheatrum Turcicum", separately issued in 1723, from which the 1728 volume on Asia drew freely. Severely browned throughout due to paper. Title page of "America" vol. remargined; edge-wear to first and last few leaves only; wants quire G (pp. 25-28, including one illustration). Quire K in "Turkey" vol. (pp. 37-40) with expert paper repairs. In a highly appealing modern binding. Lipperheide Ac 5. Colas 2187. Hiler 652. Sabin 52360. Palmer 364. Not in Atabey or Blackmer. Not in Hünersdorff (Coffee).‎

‎[Cyanea].‎

‎Cyanea. Oder die am Bosphoro Thracico, ligende hohe Stein-Klippen. Von welchen zu sehen seyn, gegen Mittag das Vor-Meer Propontis, mitternachts das Schwartze-Meer, Pontus Euxinus, mit denenselben umbligenden Ländern, wie auch den Insulen Cypern und Candien. Augsburg, Astaler f. Enderlin, 1687.‎

‎8vo. (4), 74, (2) pp. With 27 (17 folding) engr. plates and folding engr. map. Contemp. vellum (wants ties). One of several descriptions of the Mediterranean published by Enderlin. Includes reports of Constantinople, Moscow, and Kiev as well as the islands of Cyprus, Crete, and the Crimean. The plates show views of Candia, Canea, Famagusta, Kaminiek and Constantinople, as well as plants and animals. - Index to illustrations cropped and mounted on reverse of title. Some browning and brownstaining. Formerly in the Ottoman collection of the Swiss industrialist Herry W. Schaefer. VD 17, 23:279658Z. Blackmer 1303. Cf. Atabey 402.‎

‎[Damascus - Venetian taxes].‎

‎Document on vellum. Venice, 22 Feb. / 5 March 1488.‎

‎Italian manuscript on vellum (445 x 160 mm). Written space ca. 270 x 140 mm. In a fine cursive handwriting by two hands. Written by a notary public of the Much Serene Republic of Venice: a statement of debt for 3,300 ducats owed to the main commissioner of Venice by the gentleman Francesco Marcello, for the collection of custom taxes in Damascus. The creditor renounces all other claims, and the debt is to be paid in annual instalments of 300 ducats, beginning the year following the drafting of this document, but after a deposit has been paid the following month: "Parendo debitor ser Thadio Polo del Cothimo de Damasco et general de la soria de certa suma de denari, de i qual ser Francesco Marcello se ne chiama piezo: et per i magnifici siori de le raxon vechie el fo sententiando volontarie in ducati tremillia et trexento per parte. Et perchè per le grande sue adversità come publicamente ognuno intende, non è possibele che senza qualche axeveleza el possi pagar et essendo visto et cognossudo questo per li comessi del dicto Cothimo, misier Francesco Falier, misser Zuan Bembo et misser Benedeto Sanudo, azoché scorando el tempo senza qualche conclusion de haverse con qualche habilità a pagar per nome del dicto Cothimo sono venuti a questa ultima conclusion et acordo chel dicto ser Francesco se chiama come piezo debitor per resto de tute raxon de Cothimo, et de le uxure seguide computando la sententia tolta ut supra de ducati tremillia et trexento da esser pagadi per el dicto ser Francesco ducati trexento alanno et sia obligato dar bona et sufficiente piezarìa over caution de paga in paga. Et comenza el tempo anno uno da poi concluso tal acordo: et die mexe uno da poi tal acordo dar dicta piezarìa over caution, et cussi de paga in paga fin integra satisfatction havendoli isoproducti per nome del Cothimo a pregar Carta de Segurtà de non li haver ni poder altro domandar [...]". Immediately underneath this statement is a confirmation by the Damascus consul, ser Giovanni Mocenigo, of the obligation to pay the sum of 3,300 ducats in 11 annual instalments, by the Venetian gentleman Francesco Marcello and his son. - A remarkable early Renaissance document concerning a legal agreement set up by the three commissioners of the council of the Venetian court known as "Quarantia Civil Vecchia", commissioned to oversee the correct collection of the customs tax which was to be paid by merchants on goods imported from or exported to Egypt and Syria. - Perfectly preserved.‎

‎[Description de l'Égypte].‎

‎Description de l'Egypte, ou recueil des observations et des recherches, qui ont été faites en Égypte pendant l'expédition de l'armée Française. Paris, C. L. F. Panckoucke, 1820-1829.‎

‎A total of 36 vols.: 26 text vols. (4to) and 10 atlas vols. (elephant folio). With coloured frontispiece and 899 engraved plates and maps, many double-page-sized and folded. Slightly later English half calf, professionally repaired in places. Second edition of this monumental work (the first was published from 1809 onwards), the first comprehensive description of ancient and modern Egypt. Commissioned by Napoleon during his Egyptian campaign between 1798 and 1801, this encompassing historical, archaeological, art-historical, and natural-historical account of the country was realised through the efforts of the Institut d'Egypte in Cairo. Its influence was enormous, establishing Egyptology as an intellectual discipline and nurturing a passion for Egyptian art throughout the Western world. Edited by some of the leading intellectual figures in France, the Description also includes contributions from celebrated artists such as Jacques Barraband, Pierre-Joseph Redouté, Geoffrey Saint-Hilaire, Jules-César Savigny and others. More than 150 scholars and scientists and some 2000 artists, designers and engravers were involved in its preparation. The success of the publication was such that work on the second edition (known as the "Pancoucke edition") began before the first was completed. The text was expanded into a greater number of volumes, now printed in a smaller format; new pulls were taken from the plates, and these were bound with many of the large-format plates folded into the new, reduced dimensions. - A splendid, clean copy, complete with all the plates. An incomplete copy of the second edition of the Description de l'Egypte sold at Sotheby's for £68,750 in 2016. Blackmer 526. Gay 1999. Brunet II, 617. Graesse II, 366. Cf. Monglond VIII, 268-343 (for the first edition). Nissen, BBI 2234. Nissen, ZBI 4608. Heritage Library, Islamic Treasures, s. v. "Art" (illustration).‎

‎[Dhahran].‎

‎Autograph Christmas card and autograph birthday card. Dhahran, no date.‎

‎(Oblong) 8vo. 2 folding billets. With 2 autograph envelopes. To Mrs. Honeycutt in Tulsa, Oklahoma, signed by Velma, Tommy and Pam. A birthday card with good wishes: "Sorry you are not well. Hope you will feel better soon. I sent a check [...]". - With illustrations featuring a camel caravan and a flower bouquet. Margins slightly creased.‎

‎[Dow, Alexander / Bergier, Claude François (transl.)].‎

‎Dissertation sur les moeurs, les usages, le langage, la religion et la philosophie des Hindous, suivie d'une exposition generale et succincte du Gouvernement & de l'etat actuel de l'Hindostan. Paris, Noel-Jacques Pissot, 1769.‎

‎8vo. XXIV, 213, (1) pp. With 2 folding engraved plates. Contemporary full mottled calf with giltstamped red morocco label to prettily gilt spine. Marbled endpapers. All edges red. First edition thus. Very rare French translation of two essays by the Scottish-born East India Company officer and orientalist Alexander Dow (1735-79), first published within his "History of Hindostan, translated from the Persian of Ferishta" (1768). The present edition omits the text of the world history of Firishta that Dow had presented in his book, giving only his "dissertation concerning the religion and philosophy of the Brahmins" as well as an outline of the then-current state of India, partly taken from Dow's preface. Contains two folding plates, engraved by P. L. Charpentier, showing the Sanskrit alphabet and the metre employed in the Vedas. Re-issued in 1780. - Early 19th century bookseller label of A. Claudin, Paris, pasted head-over-heels to lower pastedown. Binding very attractively preserved. Excepting the Sir Thomas Phillipps copy, sold at Sotheby's in 1977, this is the second copy known in trade records. Lanson III, 8161. OCLC 34570575.‎

‎[Dromedarus].‎

‎Dromedarus, Arabisch post. - Il Dromedario, il corriere in Arabie. - Dromedar, Arabische Post. - Le Dromedare, Post en Arabie. - Dromedary, Arabian - Post. Mainz, Joseph Scholz, ca. 1880.‎

‎Lithographic plate. 432 x 345 mm. A fine popular print depicting a dromedary running through the desert, mounted by an Arab.‎

‎[Dubai - Royal Family].‎

‎Photograph album. Pakistan, early 1970s.‎

‎40 photographs (29 in colour and 11 black-and-white). Various sizes (300 x 207 mm to 125 x 125 mm). Stored in large, six-leaf self-adhesive tan leather album (oblong folio, 43 x 34 cm). Includes 51 original colour slides. A privately assembled photo album showing the ruling family of Dubai during a state visit to Pakistan, apparently in the early 1970s. Pakistan was the first country to accord formal recognition to the United Arab Emirates after the state's emergence in 1971. - Nearly half of the images show HH Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum (1912-90), the father of the modern Emirate of Dubai, in conversation, at dinners, and relaxing in the garden. Other photos show his sons, the crown prince and later ruler HH Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum (1943-2006), the present ruler HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. The collection was assembled by Azhar Abbas Hashmi, a high-ranking officer of the Pakistani UBL bank (United Bank Limited), founded in 1959 by Agha Hasan Abedi (1922-95), who is seen in seven photographs with HH Sheikh Rashid as well as with his two older sons. While several pictures show the members of the royal family in negotiations with the Karachi banking officials, there are also fascinating images of a falconry tour to the Pakistani countryside (including a fine portrait of HH Sheikh Ahmed with a falcon perched on his arm). The more than fifty original colour slides show other scenes of the same visit; only four of the images are among the prints included in the album. - Some occasional creases and even the odd tear, but in general finely preserved. Three photos printed by Karachi's "Eveready Studio", some inscribed in ballpoint with identification on the reverse ("Mr. S. L. Anwar, HH, Mr. Masood Naqvi, Mr. Iqbal Khateeb / Mr. Hashmi showing the prospect drawings"), one in Arabic, another with ownership stamp: "Azhar Abbas Hashmi, Vice President Gulf Operations, International Division, UBL, HO, Karachi". An unpublished set, entirely unknown and without counterparts in the online Keystone or Hulton/Getty press photo archives, from the estate of Azhar Abbas Hashmi (1940-2016), Pakistani financial manager and eminent literary patron with close ties to Karachi University. Long with UBL, Hashmi would serve as the bank's vice-president before founding several important cultural organisations and becoming known as a man of letters in his own right. It was because of Hashmi’s close connections to the Gulf states that Abu Dhabi provided funds to build the Karachi University’s faculty of Islamic studies, along with Sheikh Zayed Islamic Centre and Jamiya Masjid Ibrahi.‎

‎[Dubai Camel Market].‎

‎Dubai Camel Market. No place, [ca. 1930].‎

‎2 photos (ca. 85 x 110 mm) mounted on backing cardboard. In black picture frame (220 x 270 mm). Showing scenes from the camel market in Dubai, depicting resting camels on the ground as well as several customers and cameleers on foot or riding mules. - Rare.‎

‎[Dubai].‎

‎Eight original 1960s photographs of Dubai. Dubai, Studio Al-Andalus, [ca. 1963].‎

‎6 original gelatin silver photographs, the smallest measuring 90 x 139 mm and the largest 106 x 148 mm. - (Includes): 2 gelatin silver postcards of Dubai (Noor Ali, Photo-Press International, Dubai), ca. 90 x 139 mm, [ca. 1960s]. Framed and glazed. Rare photographs of Dubai in the early 1960s, showing Al Fahidi Fort, Dubai Old Town, Dubai Creek, Al Maktoum Bridge and the British Bank of the Middle East. They were published by "Studio Andalus", a photographic studio which (according to the stamp) was based on "New Street, near the National Library". Four are captioned in blue ink (another has an unfinished caption) and two have an Arabic studio stamp to their versos. Includes two contemporaneous postcards of Dubai, both also original photographic prints, showing principal views of the town. - A few corners bumped and creased, otherwise very good. A fine ensemble of rare photographs showing Dubai as a "Trucial State", shortly before the oil era and its development into what is today the largest city in the United Arab Emirates.‎

‎[East India Company].‎

‎Anno decimo tertio Georgii III. Regis. An Act for establishing certain Regulations for the better Management of the Affairs of the East India Company, as well in India as in Europe. [Fi al-sanath al-salisah `ashar min julus al-Malik Jurj al-Salis. Dasturi bara-yi istihkam-i bandubast-i mushakhkhas banabar bihbudi intizam-i mu` amalat-i Inglish Kampani dar Hindustan chunankih dar Firangistan]. London, Charles Eyre and William Strahan, 1774.‎

‎Small folio (232 x 280 mm). 36 ff. Contemporary marbled wrappers. All edges gilt. The Regulating Act of 1773, published in Persian and English on opposite pages. - British interest in Persia and the Arabian Gulf originated in the 16th century and steadily increased as British India’s importance rose in the 18th century. In the beginning, the agenda was primarily of a commercial character: realizing the region's significance, the British fleet supported Shah Abbas in expelling the Portuguese from Hormuz in 1622. In return, the British East India Company was permitted to establish a trading post in the coastal city of Bandar 'Abbas, which became their principal port in the Gulf. The Company became responsible for conducting British foreign policy in the region, and concluded various treaties, agreements and engagements with Gulf states. In 1763 the EIC established a permanent residency at Bushehr, on the Persian side of the Gulf. By the early 1770s, the East India Company was in severe financial straights due both to corruption and nepotism as well as from steeply declining tea sales to America and heavy annual payments made to maintain the trading monopoly. When approached for assistance, the government enacted legislation to supervise ("regulate") the activities of the Company. This "Act for establishing certain Regulations for the better Management of the Affairs of the East India Company" constituted the first step toward eventual British government control of India, thus radically limiting the role of EIC in the administration of India. In 1784, little more than a decade later, Pitt's India Act would take reforms even further. - Another issue in the same year is known, with identical typesetting, but in which each page of text is enclosed within an engraved frame (these copies are printed in a taller folio format ). Slight edge repairs; spine restored. From the library of William Aldersey, president of the board of trade in Bengal, with his ownership (dated 1774) to recto of f. 1. ESTC T145421. OCLC 560572771.‎

‎[East India-Company].‎

‎The Law, Relating to India, and the East-India Company; With Notes and an Appendix. London, Wm. H. Allen & Co., 1855.‎

‎Small folio (240 x 296 mm). (4), 563, (1) pp. Modern half calf over marbled boards with giltstamped red label to spine. The most comprehensive and relevant edition of "a work which may almost be regarded as the standard one on the subject to which it is devoted" (Preface), i.e., the legal code in force within the provinces ruled by the British East India Company - a rule which would last until 1858, when, following the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the British Crown would assume direct control. Numerous statutes concern the slave trade in the Arabian Gulf or regulate relationships with the local Arab Sheikhdoms, such as 12 & 13 Victoriae, Cap. LXXXIV: "An Act for carrying into effect Engagements between her Majesty and certain Arabian Chiefs in the Persian Gulf", citing the chiefs "Sultan Bin Sugger, Shaik of Ras-el-Khyma and Shargah in the Persian Gulf, the chief of the Joasmee Arabs", "Muktoom Bin Buttye, Shaik of Debaye", "Abdool Azeez Bin Rashid, Shaik of Eginan", "Shaik Abdullah Bin Rashid, Shaik of Amulgavine", and "Saeed Bin Tahnoon, Shaik of the Beni Yas, chief of Aboothabee", as well as "Shaik Mahomed Bin Khuleefa Bin Subman, chief of Bahrein", and the engagements they concluded with the British crown (pp. 414ff.). Other acts relate to engagements with "Syed Syf bin Hamood, the Chief of Sohar, in Arabia" (p. 437), with Seid Saeed bin Sultan, the Imaum of Muscat (pp. 220, 383), etc. - Very well preserved, in a modern binding in contemporary style. OCLC 3062490.‎

‎[Education].‎

‎[The Gardens of Arabic Reading. Gardens Street]. Jerusalem, Holy Land Press, 1945.‎

‎8vo. 32 pp. Arabic text. Numerous small illustrations in blue ink. Original green pictorial wrappers, stapled. Later issue of Part I, Section I. A very attractive Arabic ABC, printed in Jerusalem, apparently a re-issue of the first booklet in an educational series titled "The Gardens of Arabic Reading". The title-page states it was developed by a French monk. - Extremities sunned, a little wear to spine around the staples, otherwise very good. Rare: this edition and part do not appear in LibraryHub or OCLC. Cf. OCLC 236006704 (Part 2-3, 1946, in the National Library of Israel)‎

‎[Egypt - British engineering].‎

‎Three Years in Cairo (1910-1913). Things Egyptian and otherwise. Cairo, 1910-1913.‎

‎Oblong small folio (238 x 320 mm). Photo album with 197 albumen prints, mounted between 3 and 6 per page on 49 cardboard leaves. Various sizes, typically 70 x 100 mm. Some larger small-format panoramas. Captioned in ink. Contemporary full cloth with handwritten title-label. An interesting album recording the construction of new British military barracks at Abbassia, Cairo, shortly before World War I. Compiled by James Frazer Annan (1887-1957), a British engineer working for the contractor Henry Lovatt Ltd. in Abbassia between 1910 and 1913. Some 40 photographs depict construction at its various stages, showing workers and equipment, including a concrete mixer, details of walling blocks, column caps and shells, scaffolding, and a consignment of cement, as well as a panoramic view of the construction site from July 1910. - Other images show memorable events including the coronation ceremonies for King George V in 1911, Lord Kitchener presenting prizes at a Rifle Meeting, and the Mahmal passing through Cairo during the annual pilgrimage to Mecca. City views of Cairo and Heliopolis, street scenes "in the Mousky district" and "among the Bazaars", the Eshekieh Gardens, the Pyramids, the Nile barrage and dam, tombs of the Khalifs and "typical Mosque tombs": A few more personal scenes such as Christmas dinner 1910 and a picture of baby "James junior" complete this appealing collection. - Occasional light spotting and duststaining. Provenance: Peter Johnstone, whose paternal grandmother, Elsie Amelia Johnstone, was housekeeper to James Frazer Annan. Peter Johnstone numbered the pages and loosely inserted an autograph description of the album, dated 13 May 1996.‎

‎[Egypt - Suez].‎

‎Égypte. Atlas annexé au mémoire sur la communication de la Mer Rouge à la Méditerranée. [Paris, l'Imprimerie Imperiale], 1802.‎

‎Folio (354 x 526 mm). (2) pp., 5 engraved folding maps and plans. In the publisher's original blue marbled wrappers. (Includes:) Le Père, [Jacques-Marie]. Mémoire sur la communication de la Mer des Indes à la Méditerranée, par la Mer Rouge et l'Isthme de Soueys. [Paris, l'Imprimerie Imperiale, 1809]. 21-186 pp. (With:) Bois-Aymé, [Aimé] du. Mémoire sur les anciennes limites de la Mer Rouge. 187-192 pp. Modern white boards with giltstamped black spine label. Folio (290 x 442 mm). The five-plate atlas to accompany the mémoire regarding the possibility of constructing a modern canal from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea via the Isthmus of Suez, which J.-M. Le Père, chief engineer of the Ponts et Chaussées, would submit to Napoleon in 1803. The plates include a hydrographical map of Lower Egypt and the Isthmus, a plan of the port of Suez, a plan and view of the "Fontaine de Moïse", a synoptic chart of the (supposed) various water levels along the Isthmus, and a plan of the city and ports of Alexandria. Even here, in their earliest publication, dated 1802 on the title page, the plates already bear the numbers under which they would be published in 1809 and 1817 within the monumental "Description de l'Égypte", bearing witness to the accuracy with which the editors had planned their famous work. Indeed, the commission to distil into a publication the enormous amount of data accumulated in Egypt by Napoleon's savants had only been established in February 1802, and the table of contents (on the reverse of the title page) specifies that "ces planches font partie du grand Atlas de l'ouvrage de la Commission d'Égypte, état moderne". - Le Père's mémoire itself was not published at all before it formed part of the "Description": a copy of this first publication, removed from part II: État Moderne, volume 1, is included with this set (it would be published independently, with the atlas, in 1815). - During the 1798 campaign in Egypt, Napoleon's officers had discovered remnants of the ancient "Canal of the Pharaohs", a west-east waterway built under Darius I of Persia that linked the Nile and the Red Sea. Napoleon contemplated the construction of a north-south canal to connect the Mediterranean with the Red Sea, and Le Père was commissioned to investigate the possibility of building such a canal. While the plan was abandoned because it wrongly concluded that the sea levels were different and the waterway would require locks, the report was important as a basis for Ferdinand de Lesseps' successful plans for the Suez Canal many decades later. - Occasional foxing to margins of plates, binding somewhat loosened in places, but in excellent condition altogether. Very rare. Ibrahim-Hilmy I, 374. OCLC 492528366. Gay 1999.‎

‎[Egypt and Sudan].‎

‎Collection of 30 photographs of Port Said, Cairo, and Southern Egypt. Egypt, c. 1890.‎

‎Albumen prints on cardboard, mostly captioned on the reverse. Measurements c. 265 x 220 to 285 x 225 mm. The photographs depict the harbour of Port Said (6), ships on the Suez canal (3) and a lithograph of the canal (1), the shady oases of Ismailia halfway to Suez (2), the streets and harbour of Suez (2), the pyramids of Gisa (with tree-lined avenue beside the railroad and with four natives on camels; 2) and 3 photos of the Gezireh Palace Hotel near Cairo and of the splendid hotel fountain. To these are added 11 pictures of natives in traditional dress: 2 images of Bisharin warriors from northern Sudan, six natives capturing a ten-foot Nile crocodile, a Bedouin next to a resting camel, a Nubian from Khartum, the portrait of a "professeur arabe" (in semi-profile), 4 images of fellah women (some with little children), as well as the portrait of a semi-nude café waitress. The photographs, many of which bear captions and the name of the studio, are principally taken by the Greek photographer Zangaki; others are issued by Arnoux, G. Massaoud, Schroeder & Cie. in Zurich, Lekegian & Co., etc. Some fading.‎