‎Moyen orient‎

‎[Mecca].‎

‎Photograph of the Kaaba. [Mecca, ca. 1885].‎

‎Black-and-white photograph, 130 x 180 mm. On cardboard backing. An early photograph of the Hajj showing pilgrims around the Kaaba in Makkah. - Some fading, browning and staining.‎

‎[Medical manuscript].‎

‎Tazkirah 'ata’ tabib Dari’sh-Shifa’. Eastern provinces of the Ottoman Empire, early 18th century [ca. 1720].‎

‎8vo. Ottoman Turkish manuscript, with medical terminology mostly in Arabic. 50 pp. Black (and occasional red) ink on polished paper. 19th century marbled wrappers. A traditional pharmacological essay or pharmacopoeia, as well as a description of several ailments and medical conditions (including earache, infection of the larynx, uvular edema, malaria, jaundice, and yellow fever), with their treatment indications. Interestingly, there is a specific reference to opium ("afyon" in Turkish). The anonymous scribe was very probably a physician or medical practitioner with an imperfect knowledge of Arabic, most likely a Turk. No colophon, but likely written in the early 18th century in an Arabic-speaking Eastern province of the Ottoman Empire. - Occasional stains and smudging; some corner and edge flaws throughout with chipping to wrappers.‎

‎[Mehmed VI].‎

‎Ottoman travelling firman. [Constantinople, ca. 1918-1922.‎

‎Ca. 560 x 800 mm. Ottoman Turkish manuscript with large Tughra. 1 page. Black ink on single sheet of sturdy, polished laid paper. A scarce example of a Levantine manuscript firman granting permission to travel. In the lower corner of the verso are the words "Circassian" and "Black Sea Papers". The tughra appears to be that of Mehmed VI (ruled 1918-1922).‎

‎[Mesopotamia & Syria]. Kiepert, Richard.‎

‎Syrien und Mesopotamien zur Darstellung der Reise des Dr. Max Freiherrn von Oppenheim vom Mittelmeere zum Persischen Golf, 1893. II. Öestliches Blatt. Berlin, Dietrich Reimer (Ernst Vohsen), 1915.‎

‎Colour-printed map. Ca. 92 x 70 cm. Constant ratio linear horizontal scale 1:850,000. Relief shown by hachures and spot heights. German map of Mesopotamia printed during the early years of the First World War, showing the travel route of Max Oppenheim during his 1893-94 journey from Cairo through the Syrian desert and Mesopotamia to Basra. Eastern sheet, reaching from Diyarbakir in south-eastern Anatolia to Kerbala and Babylon in Iraq. Includes populated places, roads, and trails, with the railways updated to 1915. - Folded; a few edge tears. Formerly in the collections of the Geographical Institute of the University of Berlin with their stamps and shelfmarks. Well preserved. OCLC 179717182.‎

‎[Mesopotamia].‎

‎Photograph album of Iraq, the Arabian Gulf, and the Red Sea. [Middle East, ca. 1914].‎

‎Oblong 4to (ca. 215 x 167 mm). 103 original photographs (ca. 40 x 58 to 53 x 78 mm), mounted under grey paper mattes with rectangular, oval, and circular windows on 24 cardboard pages. Captioned in English. Bound in contemporary blindstamped full cloth with giltstamped cover title "Photographs". Private photo album composed by a British soldier or engineer active during the Mesopotamian Campaign of the First World War. It contains not only pictures of landmarks like the Baghdad railway station, the British Residency, the Abu Hanifa Mosque in Baghdad, and the Whiteley Bridge in Basra, as well as street and river scenes, but also shows the military aircraft of the Entente (frequently after a crash), as well as portraits of pilots and the collector's comrades, including two lieutenants resting on a blanket in a meadow. Other motifs include more sinister themes such as the gallows on the Baghdad market square, but also a group of smiling soldiers bathing in the Gulf of Aden, the shorelines of Kut al Amarah and Kurnah, the Arabian Gulf, and the Red Sea. - With round green pagination labels. Album produced by W. Johnson & Sons in London. Binding slightly rubbed. Occasional traces of glue; a few marginal tears; the paper pasted on the cardboard loosened in places.‎

‎[Middle East].‎

‎Mapah carta shel ha-mizrah ha-tikhon. (Carta's Map of the Middle East). [Jerusalem], Carta, 1973.‎

‎121 x 92 cm. Colour-printed map (folded). Scale 1:20,000,000. A large wall map of the Middle East shortly before the Yom Kippur War, showing the Arabian Peninsula, north-eastern Africa with Libya, Egypt and Sudan as well as Turkey and Iraq pictured in their entirety. A separate inset shows Israel, others show statistics such as population and trade, oil production, etc. - A few large tears to folds, some adhesive tape reinforcements to reverse, but well preserved.‎

‎[Middle Eastern Oil Resources].‎

‎Neft ba-mizrah ha-tikhon. Zikaynot, shadot, tzinorot, batei zikuk. (Oil in the Middle East. Concessions, Oilfields, Pipelines, Refineries). Tel Aviv, Israel Defense Forces, General Staff, (1957).‎

‎560 x 827 mm. Chromolithographic map of the Arabian Peninsula, from Turkey in the north to the Indian Ocean in the south, and covering Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Oman, North and South Yemen. Scale 1:5,000,000. Folded. Extremely rare Israeli strategic map of the Arabian Peninsula showing oilfields and associated infrastructure. Printed in black, red and blue, the map demarks the political boundaries of the time along with the areas covered by oil companies' concessions. Pipelines form a web across the northern part of the Arabian Peninsula (shown in uncommon vertical orientation), while oilfields and refineries, large and small, are also marked. The map was most probably created by the IDF in reaction to the Suez Crisis and its associated geopolitical shifts. With the Egyptians operating the Suez Canal, and Britain and France being forced by the USA to abandon their post-imperial plans, Israel now counted in both U.S. and Soviet plans for their control of Middle Eastern politics. Britain was forced to anchor its Middle Eastern influence in Cyprus, Aden and Iraq, while the increased American influence can be seen in the huge swathe of territory assigned to Aramco. We have only been able to trace a single institutional copy of this map in the National library of Israel. - Scale and key in Hebrew inset to top-right, inset explanatory panels in Hebrew and English, compass rose in Saudi Arabia. A couple of small light stains, some uneven creasing and edge tears along creasefolds with a couple of tiny holes at fold joins. Traces of pins from former wall mounting.‎

‎[Monterroyo Mascarenhas, José Freire de].‎

‎Relaçam da solemne procissam de preces, que por ordem da Corte Ottomana fizeraô os Turcos na Cidade de Meca, para alcançar a assistencia de Deos contra as armas do Augustissimo Emperador de Alemanha, & mais potencias Christãas. Lisbon, na Officina de Pascoal da Sylva, 1716.‎

‎4to. 8 pp. Marbled boards. Account of a pilgrimage to Mecca ordered by the Ottoman court to invoke divine assistance against the Christian forces in the Austro-Turkish War of 1716-18. In fact, the practical value of this pilgrimage turned out to be limited: in August that same year, Prince Eugene of Savoy defeated the Turks at Petrovaradin; in 1717 he recaptured Belgrade, defeating the Turkish forces with an overwhelmingly outnumbered army; in 1718 the Treaty of Passarowitz was signed, in which the Ottomans had to surrender large areas to Habsburg Empire, which now reached its greatest territorial expanse in history. - Translated into Portuguese and published by José Freire de Monterroyo Mascarenhas (1670-1760), the polyglot editor of numerous travel accounts and topical pamphlets. Rare; OCLC lists only two copies in America (Yale, Toronto). OCLC 222370772. Cf. Apponyi 2402, 2405.‎

‎[Moroccan-Portuguese Treaty of 1774].‎

‎Tractado de paz, de navegacao, e de commercio entre o Senhor Rey D. Jozé I° eo Imperador de Marrocos assignado em 13 de Novembro de 1774. Palacio de N. S.a da Ajuda (Lisboa), 13. XI. 1774.‎

‎4to. Title and 24 pp., all inset into folio leaves. Marbled spine. Rare contemporary manuscript copy of the peace treaty, in 22 articles, concluded between King José I of Portugal and the Sultanate of Morocco. After the Reconquista, Portugal had expanded into Africa, starting with the territory of Morocco, by occupying cities and establishing fortified outposts along the Atlantic coast. The Portuguese seized numerous Moroccan cities and built coastal fortresses there, but most of these had to be abadoned soon. When Tangier was ceded to England in 1661 and Ceuta finally handed over to Spain in 1668, Portugal's direct involvement in Morocco had essentially come to a close, and when King Juan I abandoned Mazagan under the pressure of Mohamed ben Abdallah in 1769, Moroccan reconquest was complete. Five years later, in 1774, the Governments of Morocco and Portugal concluded a Peace and Friendship Agreement, one of the oldest bilateral agreements of both nations. Ever since his accession in 1757, Sultan Mohamed had sought to adopt the European trading system, while simultaneously safeguarding the spirit of Islam amongst his peoples. To this end, he ratified earlier peace treaties with Great Britain and with the Netherlands, then went on to sign several more, beginning with Denmark, Sweden and Venice; similar treaties were closed with France and Spain (both 1767) and Tuscany (1782). A fundamental principle that was enshrined in all of them was rooted in the annual payment of a fee in cash or in kind. - Slight browning to inset leaves. Apparently removed from a 19th-century document collection, with the original leaves remargined to folio size. A principal document of Luso-Moroccan relations.‎

‎[Morocco].‎

‎Carte du Maroc à l'échelle de 1:2,500.000e. Tirée en cinq couleurs en lithographie. Paris, Librairie Hachette & Cie., 1907.‎

‎Chromo-lithographed map, c. 60 x 48 cm, folded in original printed wrapper (with portrait of Sultan Abdulaziz). With text and 9 engr. illustrations printed on the reverse. Louis Vivien de Saint-Martin's map of Morocco, drawn by Chesneau and Weinreb. With topographical notes by Franz Schrader. - Edges slightly frayed; some tears to folds; wrapper dusty and waterstained. OCLC 163347954.‎

‎[Mosques]. Bonfils, Félix.‎

‎[Large photographs of mosques in Palestine, Istanbul, and Egypt]. [Egypt, Palestine, Turkey and Greece, ca. 1870s].‎

‎Large folio (620 x 508 mm). A total of 31 albumen prints (of an average size of 390 x 280 mm), individually mounted on card. Contemporary red half morocco and pebbled red cloth, titled in gilt on spine. A fine album of large-format photographs mainly of Egypt and Palestine, including numerous fine and early views of mosques, all by the most famous 19th century photographer of the Arab world, Félix Bonfils (1831-85). Among the famous locations captured in his high-quality albumen prints are the Mosque of Sultan Hassan, the newly-built Great Mosque of Muhammad Ali (one image showing the fountain of ablution), the Sultan Qaytbay Mosque and funerary complex, as well as the Tombs of the Caliphs, the Fountain of the Valide Sultan, and the so-called Chair of Omar (Membar) in the Temple Square. Ancient Egypt is well represented, as well. In Jerusalem, the collection includes views of the Mosque of Omar (that is the Dome of the Rock, or Qubbat al-Sakhrah), the Church of Saint Anne with the Dome of the Rock, as well as Zion Gate and several street scenes in the older districts of the city, but also the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (Kanisatu al-Qiyamah), with Christian priests posing on a balcony, some standing on a ladder which is famously permanent - by rumour due to the Status Quo agreement between the numerous Christian sects which use the church. In Istanbul (Constantinople), the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque is pictured. A few additional images show the tidewater at Jaffa and two sites in Athens. All photographs are signed and titled in plate by Bonfils. - Some exterior wear; the large-sized photographs are well preserved.‎

‎[Muhammad].‎

‎Historie van den oorsprongh, geslacht, geboorte, opvoedinge, en leere des grooten valschen propheets Mahomets. Amsterdam, Broer Jansz, 1640.‎

‎4to. (6), 119, (1) pp. With separate engraved title and 9 engravings in the text. - (Bound with) II: Prophetien, of voorseggingen der beyde Keyseren Severi en Leonis, die beyde in Orienten geregeert hebben. Ibid., 1640. (4), 41, (3) pp. 19th century vellum with calligraphed title to spine; covers ruled in red. Marbled endpapers. All edges gilt. Very rare, prettily illustrated biography of the Prophet Muhammad. Second edition, previously published in 1627 and based on de Bry's "Acta Mehmeti" from 1597. The engraved title page shows ten different scenes which enframe the worlds of the title. Nine of these are taken directly from de Bry and are repeated throughout the book, enlarged and with much greater detail; only the Ottoman army train at the top is likely based on a different source. The book also comprises the divinations of the Byzantine Emperors Leo and Severus about the fall of Constantinople. - An appealing and well-preserved copy from the library of the adventurer, linguist, diplomat, and collector Charles Schefer (1820-98) with his bookplate on the front pastedown. Schefer, who held a chair at the Ecole des Langues Orientales, was perhaps best known in his day as the most prominent Orientalist of his generation. I: Chauvin XI, 572. Theunissen, p. 39f. OCLC 65527830. II: Knuttel 3725. Waller 1389. OCLC 914266113.‎

‎[Murad IV, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire].‎

‎Copia di due commandamenti del Gran Turco in favore della serafica religione de' Capuccini per poter propagare la Santa Fede Catholica per tutto il di lui regno. Tradotti dalla lingua Turchesa in Francese, e poi in Italiana. Milano/Bologna/Ravenna, per gli Stamp. Cam., 1628.‎

‎8vo. 8 pp. With woodcut title vignette. Wrappers. First (and only?) printing of the letter by the Capuchin friar Pacifico Scaliger, leader of his order's mission to Persia and Armenia, written to the Capuchin Guardian of Leghorn (dated 21 May 1627), with the two mandates received from Sultan Murad IV: the first a permit to found a hospital at Aleppo, Syria (12 April 1627); the other granting the Capuchins free passage and permission to reside and teach throughout the Ottoman Empire, wherever there are Christians (26 April 1627). - Some brownstaining; old pagination in manuscript and stamped (apparently removed from an old collection). Of special interest is the title woodcut, showing a round moon within the oriental crescent. The round moon bears a crudely drawn face, incorporating the western notion of a "man in the moon", but the heavily structured lunar surface also provides a curious counterpiece to the famous woodcuts which had appeared in Galileo's groundbreaking "Sidereus Nuncius" but eighteen years previously. - Excessively rare: a single copy in library catalogues (HAB Wolfenbüttel); no records via WorldCat or in Italian libraries via SBN. OCLC 258074666 (no holding records). HAB Wolfenbüttel shelfmark M:Gv Kapsel 7 (46).‎

‎[Muslim North Africa]. Dutertre, André, French painter (1753-1842), and others.‎

‎Album with orientalist and military themed drawings. No place, mid-19th century.‎

‎Oblong folio. (15) ff. With 5 ink wash drawings, 4 pencil drawings, 4 coloured pencil drawings, 1 pen drawing painted with watercolours, 1 pen drawing, 1 coloured lithograph and 1 photograph, all in various formats, on (12) pp. Contemporary green morocco binding, cover giltstamped with crowned monogram "PA". All edges gilt. Includes a loose pencil portrait of a young lady (192 x 262 mm) and a photograph of a castle pasted on the free endpaper. Charming collection of sketches and watercolours, including a pen-drawn genre piece with soldiers (ca. 222 x 174 mm) by the French painter André Dutertre, member of the Institut d'Égypte, and the portrait of a soldier in pencil (ca. 138 x 194 mm) by Claude Vaulot (1818-42), both signed. Dutertre is best known for his portraits of military men, especially in connection with Napoleon's campaign in Egypt, in which he participated. Of particular interest are four orientalist landscape drawings and four character studies of portraits from Kabylia (Algeria). These unsigned pieces are probably connected with the 1830 "Éxpédition de Médéa", part of the French conquest of Algeria. They include a pencil drawing of a road near Medea, a pencil drawing of a source near Mouzaïa, where a battle took place on 21 November 1830, an ink wash drawing of a military encampment in Kabylia, and the portrait of a Kabylian marabout, or holy man. This small portrait is arranged on one page with the other three portraits, two Kabyle women and one man, and a well-executed ink wash drawing of a landscape in Kabylia with the tombs of two marabouts. The collection is completed by a charming lithographed invitation to a puppet play "Theatre de Polichinelle", signed "Nouvian", a photo collage of political caricatures with a written legend, an ink wash of a peasant woman, signed "J. Chastenet", and a watercolour of a group of soldiers marching to war, their wives wringing their hands. - The photo collage is strongly faded, some pages with minor tears and foxing but all drawings and the lithograph well preserved. Spine and edges of binding scuffed.‎

‎[Napoleon].‎

‎Aufgefangene Originalbriefe von der Armee des Generals Bonaparte in Aegypten, nebst der Einleitung und den Anmerkungen des englischen Herausgebers. Nebst einer Charte von Aegypten. No place or printer‎

‎8vo. Pt. 1 (of 2) only. XXIV, 170 pp. With folding engraved map. Contemporary blue wrappers. Probably a pirated version of the first German edition (Hamburg, Villaume); translated from the English "Copies of original letters from the Army of General Bonaparte in Egypt". Also published in French ("Correspondence interceptée de Bonaparte et de son armée en Egypte"). The map shows the Nile delta from Giza to the Mediterranean estuary. - Untrimmed copy; some defects to spine. Ibrahim-Hilmy 245. Cf. Gay 1990. Not in Kainbacher.‎

‎[Naval Chronicle].‎

‎The Naval Chronicle (for 1799-1818). London, Bunney & Gold / Joyce Gold, 1799-(1819).‎

‎Large 8vo (165 x 240 mm). 40 volumes, prettily gilt to covers and spines. With more than 400 engraved and aquatint plates, maps, charts and portraits (many by Nicholas Pocock). Marbled endpapers. The complete 40-volume run of the "Naval Chronicle", the most influential maritime publication of its time and today a key source for British maritime and military history. Founded by the Royal Navy chaplain James Stanier Clarke and the naval officer James Stanier Clarke, the monthly periodical ran for two full decades from January, 1799 to December, 1818. It contains a wealth of information about the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom, including biographies, histories, anecdotes and news, essays on nautical subjects, as well as poems and ballads on a variety of related topics. - Several volumes include material on events in the Arabian Gulf and Sea, often recounting episodes of "piracy" against British vessels, such as the capture of the East India Company's ships "Shannon" and "Trimmer" on 1 Dec. 1804 (an account is found in vol. XV, pp. 24f.) or the Arab raid on the "Minerva" on 29 May 1809, during which the crew were massacred and the vessel converted into the Al-Qasimi flagship (reported in vol. XXIII, p. 281f.; vol. XXIV, p. 30f.). Such events provoked the British "Persian Gulf" campaign of 1809, in which a large British force was deployed to destroy Al-Qasimi bases and ships. The Battle of Ras al-Khaimah, fought on 11-13 Nov. 1809, is reflected in reports printed in vol. XXIV (pp. 73 and 363), and renewed interest in the region and its history, customs and religion prompted a lengthy article on "The Wahebite Arabs" (vol. XXIV, pp. 293ff.; 371ff.), or "the Wahebbi, whose name is much connected with the Iowassimi pirates". A decade later, the British Navy would return in another massive operation against Ras Al Khaimah, which would lead to the signing of the General Maritime Treaty of 1820 between the British and the Sheikhs of the coast which today comprises the United Arab Emirates. - Bindings variously rubbed and bumped, some quite severely with hinges split and extremeties chipped; some spines rebacked, some labels lost. Occasional brownstaining throughout, but largely confined to tissue guards and opposite pages. In all a worn but still appealingly bound set, often encountered in separate volumes only. Sabin 52076. ZDB-ID 1053834-3.‎

‎[Nicolay d'Arfeuille, Nicolas / Artus, Thomas].‎

‎Plusieurs descriptions des accoustremens, tant des magistrats et officiers de la porte de l'Empereur des Turcs, que des peuples assujectis à son Empire. [Paris, Guillemot, 1632].‎

‎Folio (240 x 376 mm). 65 ff., 66-114, (4) pp. With 79 (incl. 1 repeat) engravings in the text. Contemporary leather binding over wooden boards (restored) with 8 brass bosses to corners. Remains of clasps. These explanations of the Ottoman and Arabian costume engravings based on the account of Nicolas Nicolay d'Arfeuille and on the Byzantine prophecies of Thomas Artus, Sieur d’Embry (c. 1550-after 1614), who is known for his satirical take on the French court, "Les Hermaphrodites", were variously published throughout the 17th century as an appendix to the history of the Ottoman Empire of Chalkokondyles, but were also issued separately, as is the case with the present copy. The repeated plate 60/61 and the duplicated plate number 64 identify this as Guillemot's 1632 Paris edition. Among the plates are an "Arabic merchant", an "Emir, descended from Muhammad", "Pilgrims returning from Makkah", a "Persian gentleman", a "Turkish lady dressed for going to town" etc.; at the end: prophecies foretelling the downfall of the Ottoman Empire. - Occasional insignificant brownstaining; some slight worming (also touching text and images); some repaired edge defects. Formerly in the Ottoman collection of the Swiss industrialist Herry W. Schaefer. Colas 2207 (note). OCLC 83490314. Cf. Hage Chahine 860. This edition not in Hiler or Lipperheide.‎

‎[Niebuhr Expedition.] Ödmann, Samuel.‎

‎Sammandrag af Justitiae-Radets Herr Casten [!] Niebuhrs Resa i Levanten och Beskrifning om Arabien. Stockholm, Kongl. Ordens-Tryckeriet, 1787.‎

‎8vo. (24), 455, (23) pp. With 4 engr. plates. Contemporary half calf with gilt title label on spine. Extremely rare sole edition of this account of the Niebuhr expedition to Arabia in the 1760s. Produced as a cheaper alternative to the hefty 3-volume sets which appeared in German, Danish, French, and other languages, the present work was printed by the Royal press and gives a summary of the journey intended for a popular audience. Swedish interest in the expedition was elicited by the presence of the Swedish botanist and explorer Peter Forsskål in Niebuhr's caravan. After studying Arabic dialects, Forsskål was the first to scientifically describe many plants of the Arabian Peninsula, before dying in Yemen of malaria in 1763. - The plates, modeled after those of the German edition of 1772, depict a Turkish Pilgrim to Mecca; an Arab woman in a hijab, with an inset detail of a burkha; an Arab farm-girl from the 'Coffee Mountains' of southern Arabia; and an Arab nobleman of Yemen. - Binding rather rubbed; some chipping to spine; blank margin of first few leaves a little toned, otherwise a very good copy, clean and fresh. OCLC shows just 3 copies worldwide: the University of Texas, the Swedish National Library, and the Danish National Library. No copy seen at Anglo-American auction since 1999. OCLC 156793368. James Ford Bell 340.‎

‎[Oil - Middle East].‎

‎The Petroleum Times. [Drop-title]: Review of Middle East Oil. A comprehensive illustrated review of all aspects of current developments based on a recent extended tour by Dr. C.T. Barber [...]. London, Brettenham house, June 1948.‎

‎Small folio (30 × 23.5 cm). With many reproductions of photographs, ground plans, maps, and cross-sections. Later cardboard binder. Extract from the periodical "The Petroleum Times", containing an extensive article on oil in the Middle East. It opens with a list of Middle East oil companies and their concessions, accompanied by a map showing their oil fields, followed by a section on the future of Middle East oil. Individual chapters are devoted to the oil industry in Iran, Iraq, Bahrein, Saudi Arabia, Haifa (Israel) and Kuwait, describing the area's geology, oil fields, reservoirs, and more, illustrated with photographs and cross-sections of the soil. The first 25 and last 16 pages consist of advertisements. - Lacking the first 4 leaves of the preliminaries (probably advertisements), but the article itself complete, some leaves slightly creased, otherwise in very good condition.‎

‎[Oman - Hunter, Frederick Fraser].‎

‎Arabia and the Persian Gulf. S.E. Section. [Map of Arabia and the Persian Gulf with additions and corrections to 1916]. Dehra Dun, Survey of India Offices, published under the direction of Colonel Sir S. G. Burrard, Surveyor General of India, 1916.‎

‎Large folding heliozincographed colour map, 1 sheet (of 4), measuring 940 x 700 mm. Original printed covers. Separate section of Hunter's large and extremely detailed map of the Arabian Peninsula and Gulf, showing southern Oman with the eastern tip of Yemen. - The Canadian-born Hunter later became a major figure in British India's Intelligence Service. He initially compiled the map between 1905 and 1908, to accompany J. G. Lorimer's "Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf". As the author recalls in his 1919 "Reminiscences", "a great deal of the information on the map was from sources considered secret at the time" (p. 357). Special surveys of the country's interior areas were carried out to achieve a hitherto unprecedented degree of accuracy: "The map was a distinct advance on anything which existed, as in 1908 no general map of Arabia on such a large scale existed" (p. 360). The "Hunter" map was used (and praised) by St John Philby during his journey across Arabia. - Such was the detail of Hunter's map that the Survey of India reissued it, with corrections, several times during the First World War and interwar period. As the maps were issued in parts and used on active service it is not unusual for sections to be missing. Many of the surviving copies show signs of official use; this issue bears a flight route, sketched out in red ink, from Ghaidhah (Al Ghaydah) in southeast Yemen toward Muscat. - Some light browning, several small tears to folds, otherwise very good. Ownership inscription in red ink to cover, "H. R. Tidd. F/O", by Flight Officer Herbert Richard Tidd (1912-42), proving that the maps were still issued to RAF personnel in the early 1930s. - Scarce. OCLC locates complete copies at the Library of Congress, University of Wisconsin, National Library of Israel and the BNF. Cf. Macro 1228.‎

‎[Oman navigation logbook]. McKinnell, Thomas, Assistant Master.‎

‎Log of the proceedings. HMS "Cyclops". W. J. S. Pullen Esq. Captain. Commencing Monday 7th February 1859, ending Wednesday 22nd of May, 1861. Kept by Thos. McKinnell, Mast. Asst. HMS Cyclops: Oman, Khuriya Muriya Islands, Yemen, Egypt, Red Sea, Arabian Sea, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and other places, 1857-1861.‎

‎Folio (ca. 200 x 315 mm). Over 360 pp. with manuscript entries and 16 blank leaves. Brown ink on blueish watermarked laid paper. With 13 ink-drawn charts and sketches (8 on the logbook pages and 5 on separate thick album leaves). Period-style black half calf with original brown cloth boards; spine with gilt-lettered title "Log H.M.S. Cyclops". Overall an important, finely illustrated logbook, written in a legible hand. Historically significant manuscript logbook, containing a detailed record of the first attempt at laying a submarine telegraph cable to connect London with British India. The expedition took place from May 1859 (the Red Sea leg from Suez to Aden) to February 1860 (from Aden to the Khuriya-Muriya Islands, Muscat and Karachi). The two specially designed cable ships, Imperador and Imperatrix, were supported by HMS Cyclops, which surveyed the coastlines and reported on the depth and structure of the ocean floor. - The entries from February 1859 to May 1860, documenting the ship's Red Sea and Arabian Sea mission, span over 200 pages. We first find the Cyclops near Cape Ras al Hadd on the eastern coast of Oman, at the entrance to the Gulf of Oman: "Cape Ras al Hadd ... terminates in a low sandy spit at the head of which is a village and mud fort. There is an inlet about 4 miles to the northward of the cape, but inaccessible to large vessels. There is a heavy surf on the beach during northerly winds" (9 February 1859). The ship then plied in the Red and Arabian Seas between Egypt, Yemen and Oman, eventually finishing in Bombay. - During its expedition, the Cyclops visited and moored in Quseer and Zabardag Island (Egypt), Suakin (Sudan), Perim Island (Strait Bab-el-Mandeb, Yemen), the Hanish Islands (Yemen), Palinurus Shoal and Cape Fartak (Yemen), Al-Hallaniyah and Al-Qibliyah (Khuriya Muriya Islands, Oman), Ras Madrakah and Ras Al Hadd (Oman), Charna Island and Karachi (Pakistan). The logbook entries record the conducting of soundings and the laying of cable, along with quotidian ship activity. Brief entries touch on the death of crew members; discharging coal; punishing men for wrongdoings; maintenance of the ship; making notes of other ships in company; visits on board by local notables, etc. Six larger entries, occupying up to two pages of text, describe the topography, landmarks, soundings and economy of Karachi, Zabargad Island, and Muscat Cove, which latter harbour is said to be "formed by Muscat Island on the east and Ras Muscat on the West, it is one mile deep by half a mile wide with 12 fms at entrance, decreasing to 3 fathoms ahead of the town. It is defended by two ... batteries on the island, one on the height to the seat of town and two on Ras Muscat. They are all in a stay of decay. The entrance to the cove is difficult to make out when coming from the eastward ... The exports of Muscat are wheat, dried fish, dates and cattle, the imports being European and Indian manufactured goods, sugar, etc. The revenue is about £100,000. The Imaum's Palace faces the water, his army generally consists of from 10 to 12,000 men, and the fleet of 2 frigates, 2 corvettes, a transport and brig, the greater part of the Navy having been removed to Zanzibar, the Captains of these vessels being educated at Bombay or Calcutta. Supplies of all kind are cheap and plentiful. Boats may be hired thro' the medium of the Agent of the Indian Government for the shipment of coals" (26 November 1859). - Illustrated with eight well-executed ink-drawn charts, showing the tracks of Cyclops in the Red and Arabian Seas, as well as the harbours of Muscat Cove and other places. Five beautiful ink sketches show the city of Muscat, "Hallani Bluff from Addington Cove" (Al-Hallaniyah, the largest of the Khuriya Muriya Islands, Oman), Ras Fartak (Yemen), Karachi harbour, and Colombo. - Lightly armoured and laid with too little slack, the cable soon failed: indeed, the 1859 section had already broken down by the time the route was completed in 1860. Messages were passed over individual sections, but the entire cable never worked as a unit. Communication to India would not be established until the 1864 Persian Gulf cable was laid. The captain of the Cyclops, William Pullen (1813-87), was a noted British navigator and Arctic explorer who took part in John Franklin's search and in 1849 became the first European to sail along the north coast of Alaska from the Bering Strait to the Mackenzie River in Canada. - A final part of log, comprising some additional ca. 150 pp. (May 1860-May 1861), covers the Cyclops's survey of the south-eastern coast of Ceylon and her return voyage to England. Overall, an important content-rich source on the early history of the submarine telegraph cable around the Arabian Peninsula to British India.‎

‎[Oman].‎

‎The Journal of Oman Studies. [Muscat], Ministry of Information and Culture / Ministry of National Heritage and Culture, Sultanate of Oman, 1975-1985.‎

‎8 issues bound in 11 volumes. Each volume with a frontispiece photographic portrait of Sultan Qaboos bin Said, one in colour. With numerous black-and-white and colour photographic illustrations, maps, plans and charts in the text or as plates. Original printed wrappers. Scholarly journal on aspects of natural and cultural heritage relevant to the Sultanate of Oman. Includes occasional remarks on neighbouring countries, such as a list of documents relating to foreign relations between 1790 to 1970, and mentioning the 1896 treaty between Oman and Abu Dhabi which invested the latter with an annual payment of 3,000 dollars to keep the peace in the al-Buraimi area. For the most part the research focuses on prehistoric times and on early settlements along the Gulf. Interestingly, one paper points out a scarcity of prehistoric communities in large areas of the present-day United Arab Emirates, as "a paucity of suitable anchorages such as can be found at Abu Dhabi, Umm an-Nar, or Jazirat Yas [...] and a lack of fresh water along the coast from Abu Dhabi to Qatar probably restricted prehistoric settlement in the area" (vol. 4, p. 32). Apart from prehistoric sites and archaeological findings, the journal addresses matters of social history, discussing the diminishing Shawawi population of Northern Oman, many members of which migrated to more prosperous areas such as Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Bahrain, as well as questions of biology, including papers on falcon breeding as well as the life of the Arabian tahr on the Musandam Peninsula. - Vol. 3 part 2 has an additional title-page loosely inserted. Wrappers occasionally slightly worn; interior in excellent condition. An academic publication of great scientific value drawing attention to the rich cultural heritage of Oman. OCLC 263595432.‎

‎[Oriental album - Bahrein, Oman, Basra and other places].‎

‎A collection of 847 original photographs documenting a British gentleman's oriental tour, assembled chronologically in five massive albums and captioned by hand throughout. Various places, 1900-1901.‎

‎Five oblong albums (445 x 315 mm), consecutively numbered with 847 vintage albumen prints (various formats, 115 x 85 to 280 x 205 mm) laid down and captioned on thick cream card. Contemporary red half sheepskin, title and year stamped in gilt lettering to front covers of each volume. Spine and edges ruled in gilt, silk-watered endpapers, album sheets edged in gilt. An exceptional trove of early exploration and travel photographs, documenting a two-year tour around the coast of Africa and Yemen, through the Gulf from Muscat to Bahrein, then on by the Arabian Sea to Karachi and finally back to Syria and Jerusalem. The collection is preserved in its original massive oblong albums with each of the partly large-format photographs meticulously captioned in the traveller's own hand. Numerous photographs of himself are included within the albums and witness the transformation of a well-groomed English gentleman at the beginning of the tour in East Africa, in early 1900 ("being carried to small boat at Majunga"), into a bearded explorer camping with the Bedouins in 1901(showing him in front of "My camp at El Bagdadi on the Euphrates"). - The unidentified traveller was hosted by local dignitaries and had an obvious special interest in architecture and archeological excavations. His photographs provide extraordinary insights into the social and cultural life of the British protectorates he visited. Indeed, his journey to the Gulf, documented here, pre-dates Hermann Burchardt's 1903/04 expedition, famed for providing the first visual records of many places in the region, and the numerous previously unrecorded photographs of Muscat, Bahrein and other places in the Gulf contained in the present albums are therefore a particularly important find. - Apart from the views of Muscat castle and port there are highly unusual snapshots of street life both outside and within Muscat's city walls, a stunning double portrait of "Men with Hawks belonging to the son of the Sheikh of Bahrein", a view of Bahrein harbour, captioned the "Head Quarters of Pearl Fishing", the Bahrein Post Office, the market in Bandar Abbas, the Quarantine Station at Basra, as well as photos of horse dealers, women selling salt or just date palms. The 1901 photograph of the Arch of Ctesiphon is captioned "Left wing fell in April 1887 the rest will probably soon follow", also recording height and length of the remaining structure, as well as the width of the entrance. A photo of the "British Residents Wife's Bay Arabian" documents the rare occasion of a "Ladies' nomination Race", also recording the names of the winners of this race held in Bagdad. "Dr. Robert Koldewey from the German expedition" is met and photographed in Babylon at the Temple of the Venus. Visits to several ships at sea are documented in photos of the vessels themselves, as well as by group portraits of their captains and crews on board. A remarkable photograph shows the warship Persepolis returning from its campaign under Daria Begi against the shores of the Trucial States. - Bindings a little rubbed, boards partly stained, some of the album leaves affected by minor waterstaining and some foxing. Photographs mostly unfaded with good, strong contrast and in excellent condition throughout. An extraordinary record and a unique collection.‎

‎[Oriental Porcelain and Ceramics].‎

‎Sammlung von Abbildungen aus dem Nahen und Fernen Oriente. Vienna, Orientalisches Museum, 1885.‎

‎Large folio (approx. 33 x 49 cm). (4), 41, (3) pp. With 58 plates (all with tissue guards; all edges gilt). Contemporary cloth portfolio. A fine set of plates, with extensive scholarly commentaries by three specialists, showing not only a wealth of Chinese and and Japanese, but also Arabic ceramics from Austrian princely and noble collection. The Middle-Eastern works are mainly in the Hispano-Mauric tradition of mediaeval Spain. Includes an illustrated essay by Josef Karabacek on Muslim ceramics. - Occasional slight foxing to wide margins of plates, otherwise well-preserved.‎

‎[OSPAAAL]. Martinez, Olivio.‎

‎Unity of the Arab peoples - Nationalization of oil. [Cuba, 1972].‎

‎Poster (ca. 52.5 × 32.5 cm) printed in black and red, with an image of four armed Arabian horsemen, with Arabic text above and below, and with the title in Spanish, French and English at the foot of the poster, together with the logo of the OSPAAAL. Rare propaganda poster of the OSPAAAL, the Organization of Solidarity with the People of Asia, Africa and Latin America, designed by Olivio Martinez. The poster depicts four Arabian (Bedouin?) men on horseback, holding guns and galloping towards the viewer, with the text "Unity of the Arab peoples - Nationalization of oil" in Arabic above and below the image. At the foot of the poster is the logo of the OSPAAAL, flanked by the same text, given English, Spanish and French. OSPAAAL is a socialist Cuban political movement against imperialism and to defend human rights. The organization was founded in 1966 and was especially active in less developed countries. The posters were often stapled into copies of Tricontinental, the organization's magazine. - With only a small fold in the lower right corner, otherwise in very good condition. R. Frick, The Tricontinental Solidarity Poster (2003).‎