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Bahya ibn Yosef ibn Paquda / Yahuda, A[braham] S[halom] (ed.).
Al-Hidaja ´ila Fara´id al-Qulub. Leiden, E. J. Brill, 1912.
Large 8vo. XVIII, (1), 113, (1), 407, (3) pp. With 3 lithogr. plates. First modern edition of the original Arabic text of "Al Hidayah ila Faraid al-Qulub" ("Guide to the Duties of the Heart"), written in 1080 by the Jewish philosopher Bahya ibn Paquda, who lived at Zaragoza, in Muslim Spain. The work offers the first Jewish system of ethics and was translated into Hebrew by Judah ibn Tibbon in 1161-80 ("Chovot ha-Levavot"). It is based on numerous non-Jewish sources, including writings of Islamic mysticism and Arabic neo-Platonism. Yahuda's edition uses mss. in the libraries of Oxford, Paris, and St Petersburg. - In excellent condition. OCLC 68138636.
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Bajironde Zallaku, Ethiopian statesman.
Autograph Quotation signed. In Amharic. [Paris]., 27 Sept. 1927.
Folio. 1 page. On uncut wove paper, bearing the Schoellers-Parole blind embossed seal, margins uncut. The original autograph contribution of Bajironde Zallaku to the Committee of the World League for Peace (Ligue Mondiale pour la Paix), a remarkable organization formed in 1925 with close ties to the League of Nations. The Committee itself was composed of such notaries as Queen Elizabeth of Belgium, King Carol II of Romania, John D Rockefeller, Marie Curie, and Albert Einstein, who personally gathered the present manuscripts over the course of seven years (1925-32). Among the public figures who contributed to the project were dignitaries from the newly-created League of Nations' member states. "The League of Nations acts for peace and security for the whole world". With French inscription in his hand "Premier Deleguè de l'Empire d'Ethiopie, Bajironde Zallaka". Zallaka was the former Ethiopian Minister of Finance. - The Ethiopian Empire's relationship with the League of Nations is of particular interest during this period. In 1923 Haile Selassie I had secured entry into the League as the only remaining independent African state. In 1936 the Italian delegation withdrew from the League after their brutal invasion of Ethiopia, and Haile Selassie made his famed journey to Geneva to plead his country's case in person. Although the Empire was by now in Italian hands, Selassie's entry to the hall of the League of Nations was sympathetically accompanied by an introduction as "His Imperial Majesty, the Emperor of Ethiopia". His speech on the occasion, given amids the jeers of the Italian journalists present, is sometimes considered among the most stirring of the 20th century. Pax Mundi. Livre d'or de la paix. Enquete universelle de la Ligue mondiale pour la paix sous le haut patronage de son comite d'honneur avec l'approbation de la Societe des nations, du Bureau international du travail et de la Cour permanente de justice internationale. Geneve, Societe paxunis, 1932.
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Barsinaeus, Elias (Elija bar Shinaja) of Nisbis / Obicini, Tommaso (transl.) / Dominus Germanus de Silesia (ed.).
Thesaurus Arabico-Syro-Latinus. Rome, typis Sac. Congregationis de Propaganda Fide, 1636.
8vo. (8), 447, (1) pp. (48, last 4 blank), 66 pp. (last p. misnumbered 70, lacks last blank). Title with woodcut device. Contemporary reversed sheep, blank spine in five compartments. An Arabic-Syriac-Latin glossary arranged by subject, originally compiled in the 11th century by the Nestorian Elias bar Shinaja of Syria (known as Barsinaeus in the Latin tradition) as "Kitab at-targuman fi ta'lim lugat as-suryan". The present text and translation, prepared by the Franciscan Obicini, was posthumously published by the monk's student and successor Dominicus Germanus de Silesia, "himself also the author of an Arabic grammar, and an Italian-Arabic dictionary" (Smitskamp). "Not actually a thesaurus, but rather a nomenclator, arranged not by alphabet, but by subject" (cf. Schnurrer). The French punchcutter Robert Granjon cut the Arabic type used for the glossary. - Binding somewhat worn; minor foxing. Ownership stamp (Germain: Jacobins P.B.S.) and signature of De la Roche (marquis) on title, last page with another owner's inscription. From the library of Swedish antiquarian bookdealer Björn Löwendahl (1941-2013). Schnurrer p. 38 f. Smitskamp 223. Fück 77. NUC 425, p. 564. ICCU VEAE\003127.
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Barthel, Carl Friedrich, German painter (fl. c. 1803).
Drawing of a camel with bedouins in the desert. No place, 1803.
Pencil drawing, 175 x 104 mm on an oblong sheet of laid paper (200 x 132 mm, no watermark discernible). Fine drawing of a pack camel in the desert, accompanied bedouins and an Arab horseman. Signed and dated by the artist, Barthel, who is possibly a member of the large family of Leipzig-based goldsmiths active around the late 18th and early 19th century. - Old vertical fold, otherwise perfect.
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Bayley, Edward Clive.
The history of India as told by its own historians. The Local Muhammadan Dynasties. Gujarat. London, W. H. Allen and Co., Publishers to the India Office, 1886.
Large 8vo. XX, 519, (1) pp., with 44, (4) pp. of ads. With a folding map. Original green cloth with giltstamped spine. First edition of the "Gujarat" volume in the series, a sequel to Sir H. M. Elliot's "History of the Muhammadan Empire of India". Partially based on a translation (by John Dowson) of the 16th-century "Mirát-i-Sikandarí" of Sikandar ibn Muhammad (Manjhu Akbar). Also includes the "Mirá-i-Ahmadí" of Ali Muhammad Khan (p. 1-23). - Binding slightly rubbed, generally in excellent condition. OCLC 5842649.
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[Bedouins].
Sheikh el Rachid, Chief of the Escorts and greatest Bedouin of Palestine. Washington, DC, J. F. Jarvis, 1900.
2 stereoscopic images, c. 80 x 80 mm each, mounted on cardboard (177 x 88 mm) with printed captions. The portrait shows the seventy-odd-year-old Sheikh, wearing numerous medals on his burnous, before a door. Significantly superior specimen compared to the only other known set, that in the Keystone-Mast Collection of stereoscopic views in the California Museum of Photography.
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Bellarmin, Robert, SJ.
Doctrina christiana. Nunc primum ex Italico idiomate in Arabicum, iussu S.D.N. Pauli V. Pont. Max. translata. (Rome, Stefano Paolini f. Typographia Savariana, 1613).
8vo. (16), (88) pp. With woodcut arms of the Pope on first and engraved arms of Savary de Brèves on final leaf of prelims. Contemporary blindstamped brown full calf with ornamental central and cornerpiece decorations. Marbled endpapers. The first book ever printed with the fine Arabic types of the Roman Typographia Savariana: the first Arabic edition of Robert Bellarmino's catechism, an abridgment of his "Dichiarazione piu copiosa della dottrina christiana" (1598). Translated by the Maronites Vittorio Scialac (d. 1635) and Gabriel Sionita (1577-1648). "Les traducteurs disent qu'ils ont ponctué l'arabe, changé et ajouté quelque chose au texte primitif de Bellarmin, mais avec son consentement. Ce volume rare est le premier publié avec les beaux charactères arabes de Savary" (de Backer/S.). The present copy does not contain the Latin text at all, hence it has only 88 unnumbered pages of text instead of the 171 numbered pages usually cited. This catechism and the Arabic-Latin Psalter produced the following year would remain the only works to leave the Typographia Savariana; the types have survived and are now in the archives of the Imprimerie Nationale in Paris. - Stains and traces of moisture. Old shelfmark labels to spine, cover and final flyleaf; bookplate of the Dutch Jesuit Seminary on final pastedown. Contemp. ms. notes to endpaper. Rare; only two copies in auction records (the last in 1999). Schnurrer 242. Smitskamp, PO 181. De Backer/Sommervogel I, 1188f. OCLC 491559247.
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Bellarmin, Robert, SJ.
Dottrina Cristiana [...]. Tradotta prima dalla lingua Italiana nell'Araba, ed ora per ordre della Sag. Congr. di Propaganda Fide tradotta, e stampata anche in lingua Etiopica. Rome, nella stamperia della Sag. Congr. di Propaganda Fide, 1786.
Large 4to (184 x 243 mm). (2), 3-97, (1) pp. With 4 woodcuts on 3 plates, 1 full-page woodcut on the reverse of the title page, and a few woodcut vignettes. Contemporary vellum with giltstamped spine title. All edges sprinkled in red. Later edition of the famous Arabic version of Robert Bellarmino's catechism (an abridgment of his 1598 "Dichiarazione piu copiosa della dottrina christiana"), translated by the Maronites Vittorio Scialac (d. 1635) and Gabriel Sionita (1577-1648) and first published in 1613 by the Roman Typographia Savariana as their first book printed with Arabic types. The present edition is the first to include an Ethiopian version, making this the only Ethiopian version published (printed with the Arabic and Italian text in three columns). "Les pages 94, 95 et 96 sont un syllabaire éthiopien et hébraique" (de Backer/S.). The woodcuts show Christ's annunciation, birth, resurrection, and crucifixion. - Insignificant paper defect to title page repaired; binding slightly warped. From the library of Swedish antiquarian bookdealer Björn Löwendahl (1941-2013). Sacy 1274. De Backer/Sommervogel I, 1195.
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Belon, Pierre.
Les observations de plusieurs singularitez et choses memorables, trouvées en Grece, Asie, Judée, Egypte, Arabie et autres pays estranges. Paris, (Benoist Prévost for Gilles Corozet and) Guillaume Cavellat, 1555.
4to. 3 parts in 1 volume. (12), 212, (1) ff. With title in woodcut border with Cavellet's device and initials at the foot, each part-title with Cavellet's woodcut device, 1 folding woodcut map (315 x 350 mm) showing Mount Sinai, 44 woodcuts in the text (including a portrait of the author by Geoffroy Tory), and numerous fine decorated initials. Main text set in italic, with preface and commentary in roman. Overlapping vellum (ca. 1600?), sewn on 5 cords, laced through the joints. Third edition of Belon's "Observations", the fruit of his extensive travels in Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon and Syria from 1546 to 1549. The naturalist Pierre Belon (c. 1518-64), famous for his works on ornithology, was attached to the French embassy to the Ottoman Empire, led by Gabriel de Luetz (Luez, Luels) d'Aramont, who aimed at convincing Suleiman the Magnificent to join forces against Charles V. The envoy sailed for Venice in December 1546 and proceeded to Croatia. Here Luetz continued overland to Adrianople (Edirne), while Belon sailed for Istanbul by way of Greece, visiting Lemnos, Macedonia, Crete and Kavala en route. He reached Istanbul in August 1547, explored the city and continued to Alexandria, while Luetz accompanied Suleiman to Persia. Belon's journey continued to Cairo, Mount Sinai, Jerusalem, Damascus, Baalbek, Aleppo, and again to Turkey. - Unlike many contemporary travel writers, Belon does not elaborate on extraordinary adventures, but rather limits himself to detailed observations on mammals, fish, snakes, birds, plants and the manners and customs of the peoples he encountered, commenting only on what he himself had witnessed. The fine woodcuts, attributed to Arnold Nicolai and Pierre Goudet (Gourdelle), include a map of the Dardanelles (Hellespont), a folding map of Mount Sinai, a view of Alexandria, coins with Arabic inscriptions, 3 illustrations of Egyptian costumes, a giraffe, chameleon and, surprisingly, a flying dragon and an armadillo. - The first edition was published in 1553, illustrated with 35 woodcuts only, followed by a second, augmented edition in 1554. The present edition was a joint publication of Guillaume Cavellat and Gilles Corrozet, comprising two issues with either Corrozet's or Cavallet's name in the imprint. - With printed description from a sales catalogue on pastedown, slightly browned, some light waterstains, folding plate mounted. Overall in very good condition. Adams B 564. Aboussouan 94. Ibrahim-Hilmy 61. Gay 10. Nissen, ZBI 304. Tobler 72f. USTC 6761. Cf. Macro, Bibliography of the Arabian Peninsula, 505 (1st ed. 1553). Atabey 93 (2nd ed.). Blackmer 115 (same copy). Weber II, 153 (1st ed. 1553). Henze I, 237 (first edition). Hage Chahine 393 (later ed.). For the author: Dictionnaire des orientalistes, 75f.
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Benigni, Rudolf.
Österreichische Botschaftsberichte über arabische Länder. - Austrian Embassy Reports on Arab Countries. Wien (Vienna), Österreichisches Institut für Bibliotheksforschung, Dokumentations- und Informationswesen, 1974.
8vo. 130 pp., 1 bl. f. Publisher's original printed wrapper. The "Austrian Embassy Reports on Arab Countries": a catalogue of and guide to all relevant documents in the Vienna State Archives formerly kept at the Imperial Internuncio and later the Embassy in Constantinople from 1750 to 1918. The documents relative to Arabia include numerous pieces on the Sherif of Mecca, the Wahhabites, the Pacha of Jeddah, Sheikh Faisal's threat to Hajj pilgrims, and British interests in the region; others relate to the Wahhabite movement in Syria, the English blockade of Mocha and various insurgencies in Yemen, as well as events in Arabic countries from Iraq and Kuweit to Algier and Morocco. "Old Austria, beyond suspicion of imperialistic designs or ambitions of colonialism, was vitally interested in preserving the Ottoman Empire and protecting both its own chartered rights and the rights of man in this enormous territory, as well as in advancing the local economic development, a process, indeed, in which the Habsburg Empire itself played an important part. The diplomatic reports reflect this situation. Striving as they did to represent the facts without any political bias, strictly according to facts, they are of especial interest to the historian. They comprise a vast area stretching from the Arabian Gulf to Morocco on the Atlantic" (introduction). - Insignificant bumping to extremities; altogether very well preserved copy of this indispensable and rare volume of reference. Biblos-Schriften 77. OCLC 1700363.
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[Bergk, Johann Adam].
Arabien und Syrien in historischer, geographischer, wissenschaftlicher, artistischer, naturgeschichtlicher, merkantilischer, religiöser, sittlicher und politischer Hinsicht. Berlin & Leipzig, Verlagshandlung der neuen compendiösen Bibliothek und in Commission bei W. Heinsius in Gera, 1799.
8vo. (2), XVI, 512 pp. With engraved title vignette, folding engr. map, and 4 engr. plates. Contemporary half calf with remains of spine labels. First edition, conceived as a continuation of Bergk's volume on Egypt. This copy includes the frequently lacking half-title "Aegypten. Erste Fortsezzung, enthaltend Arabien und Syrien [...]". - The map shows Syria; the plates depict Arabic costumes, household tools, and views of Haleb and Palmyra. The title vignette shows Mt. Sinai. Also discusses the history , topography, climate, illnesses etc. of the Arabian Peninsula (with chapters on the Nejd, Arabia Felix and Yemen, etc.) - Extremeties rubbed and bumped; some spine defects. Interior somewhat browned as usual. Contemp. ms. ownership "Ernst Hanns Dönig" on front flyleaf. Kayser I, 32. Holzmann/B. I, 2892. Hamberger/Meusel XXII/1, 216. OCLC 257668994. Not in Macro, Atabey or Blackmer.
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Berquen, Robert de.
Les merveilles des Indes orientales ou nouveau traitté des pierres precieuses & perles, contenant leur vraye nature, dureté, couleurs & vertus: chacune placée selon son ordre & degré, suivant la cognoissance des marchands orfévres, le tiltre de l'or & de l'argent, avec augmentation à plusieurs chapitres, les raisons contre les chercheurs de la pierre philosophale & souffleurs d'alquemie, et de deux autres chapitres du prix des diamans, & des perles. Paris, C. Lambin, (1668-)1669.
4to. (8), 152 pp. With engr. portrait frontispiece of Anne Marie Louise d'Orleans and numerous pretty woodcut initials and tailpieces. Contemporary richly gilt calf, gilt dentelle central cover decoration showing the Sacred Heart of Jesus, gilt spine on five raised bands (upper spine-end and corners repaired). Marbled pastedowns. Second, enlarged edition of this rare work on precious stones and pearls found in the East and West Indies, written by a Parisian "marchand orphèvre" in Paris and first published in 1661. Both editions are dedicated to "La Grande Mademoiselle" Anne Marie Louise d'Orléans, Duchess of Montpensier and niece of Louis XIII, with her finely engraved portrait, which is here more delicately executed (by Nicolas de Larmessin, in 1664). The large chapter devoted to pearls and pearl fishing cites the Gulf and several specific places there as among the main locations of pearl fishing: "on pesche les perles en divers endroits du monde. Dans le Golfe Persique, principalement aux environs de l'Isle d'Ormus & Bassora: aupres de Baroyn [i.e., Bahrain], Catiffa, Iuffa, Camaron, & autres lieux de ce Golfe [...]" (p. 68). This chapter is here "augmented with an appendix which recounts the history of the Spanish conquest in the New World and additionally gives remarks on pearl fisheries, natural history, and production [...] New chapters comprise Ch. 17, on the pricing of diamonds according to size and quality, and Ch. 18 on pricing of pearls. In tems of substance, this edition [the second one, here offered] is considerably superior to the first; both are rare" (Sinkankas p. 97f.). It is these new, additional chapters in particular for which this second edition is sought after: "Du prix des Diamans" and "Du prix des Perles", as well as one entitled "Raisons contre les chercheurs de la Pierre Philosophale & souffleurs d'Alquemie. Et ne sera pas mal à propos de parler de Nicolas Flamel sur ce sujet". - Lower spine-end and corners somewhat bumped, otherwise fine. A good copy in an appealingly decorated contemporary French binding. Sinkankas 593. Duveen 71. Sabin 4957. Brunet VI, 4780. Graesse I, 348.
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Berreby, Jean-Jacques.
Le Golfe Persique. Mer de Légende - Réservoir de Pétrole. Paris, Payot, 1959.
8vo. 228 pp. With 4 maps and 11 photo illustrations on plates. Original printed wrappers. Deals with numerous aspects of the Gulf States such as history, economy and social studies, especially in the context of the area's rapid economic development through oil exploration. Provides a good overview of the Gulf states' geopolitical role up to the late 1950s. - Untrimmed copy.
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[Biblia arabica - VT].
Al-`Ahd al-qadim wa-al-hadit [Biblia sacra in lingua Arabica]. [Rome], Matba`at Malak [i.e. Angelo] Rutili, 1752.
Small folio (218 x 290 mm). 2 pts. in 1 vol. 688 pp. Near-contemporary half vellum with red label to gilt spine. New edition of the text published in 1671 in the Propaganda College's three-volume Arabic-Latin Bible, which is considered the editio princeps of the complete Bible in Arabic (disregarding the Paris and London polyglots). The version was prepared over a period of many years by Philip Guadagnolo and revised by Louis Maracci. First received with hesitation, it "eventually won general acceptance among Arabic-speaking Christians" (Darlow/M. 1652). Edited by Raphael Tuki, Bishop of Arsinoe, this present edition (usually issued in two volumes but here bound in one) contains the books of Genesis through Nehemiah and Tobit only. - Occasional worming to margins, otherwise a good, well-preserved copy. OCLC cites eight copies worldwide, none in America. Darlow/Moule 1660. OCLC 398605651.
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Blundeville, Thomas.
The Foure Chiefest Offices Belonging to Horsemanship: That is to Say, the Office of the Breeder, of the Rider, of the Keeper, and of the Ferrer. London, Humfrey Lownes, 1609.
4to. 2 pts. in 1 volume. (232) pp., including two title pages with fine woodcut borders. With 50 nearly full-page woodcut illustrations in the text. Bound to style in modern blindstamped brown calf with giltstamped red spine label and sparsely gilt spine. Early edition of the first comprehensive book in the English language about the care, breeding, and riding of horses. The "Four Offices" are those of the breeder, rider, keeper, and ferrer: this volume contains the first two offices. Among the illustrations are 43 full-page examples of bits and bridles. Some 17th- or 18th-c. ink annotations. Blundevill(e) (1522-1606) was, according to the Arabian Jockey Club, "one of the founders of the thoroughbred industry." He originally translated Gisone's "Gli Ordini di Cavalcare" (1550) as "The Art of Rydynge" (1560), which was the first modern treatise on classical dressage and later incorporated as one of the chapters of this book. First published in 1565/66; all editions published prior to 1650 are considered uncommon. DNB V, 271.
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Bocthor, Ellious / Caussin de Perceval, Armand Pierre.
Dictionnaire Français-Arabe. Paris, Firmin Didot, 1828.
Large 4to. 2 vols. VII, (1), 461, (1) pp. (4), 435, (1) pp. Near-contemporary sprinkled gold-tooled tanned sheepskin, sewn on 4 recessed cords, gold-tooled board edges, shell-marbled endpapers and matching marbled edges. First edition, edited by Caussin de Percival. One of the first complete French-Arabic dictionaries. The Copt Ellious Bocthor (1784-1821) held a chair for Vulgar Arabic at the École des Langues Orientales in Paris. - Some foxing throughout, otherwise an excellent copy. From the library of the Ducs de Luynes at the Château de Dampierre: their bookplate reproducing the arms of Charles Marie d'Albert de Luynes (1783-1839), 7th Duc de Luynes, on pastedown in both vols. Fück 151. Vater/Jülg 457. OCLC 493558888. Cf. Gay 384 (1864 third ed.).
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Bode, Baron C[lement] A[ugustus] de.
Travels in Luristan and Arabistan. London, J. Madden and Co., 1845.
8vo. 2 vols. XX, 404 pp. XII, 398, (2) pp. With 15 lithographed and wood engraved plates (two folding) and 2 folding engraved maps. Recent period style brown gilt tooled half calf with marbled boards and black gilt morocco labels. A very good set. First edition. - An important account of Persia with detailed descriptions of the antiquities, archaeological sites, and the ancient history of the country. In 1841, de Bode travelled from Tehran to Isfahan, Persepolis, Shiraz, Kazeroun, Shushtar, Susa, Khorramabad and back to Tehran. "Luristan" (modern "Loristan"), or the land of the Luri people, is a western province of Persia; its main city is Khorramabad. "Arabistan" (now "Khuzestan") is located in the Eastern Persia and the main city is Ahwaz. - De Bode provides a detailed account of the ancient cities of Persepolis, the ceremonial capital of the Ahaemenid Empire, and Susa, which used to be the capital of the legendary civilisation Elam, mentioned in the Bible. In his narrative he describes numerous archaeological sites, lists the names of settlements, describes the history of the local tribes and their manners and customs. In a supplement he published his observations on the routes of Timur and Alexander the Great, who crossed south-western Persia during their conquering marches. "It is with the view of rescuing from a second oblivion this once classical ground that the Author has endeavoured to draw aside a corner of the veil which still covers this mysterious region" (preface). One of de Bode's advisors whom he acknowledges in the preface was the renowned assyriologist Sir Henry Rawlinson (1810-95), an expert in Persian and Indian vernacular languages who explored Susiana and Persian Kurdistan and was called by Budge, in "The Rise and Progress of Assyriology" (1925), "the father of Assyriology" (ODNB). - "Clement Augustus de Bode, a member of the Russian legation in Tehran, filled some empty spaces in existing maps" (Howgego). "It is mostly a travel book [...] the author gives a good picture of tribal life and especially the political situation in Fars; principally the hostility between the Qashqai tribe which controlled Shiraz. There are also descriptions of historical sites and monuments along the way" (Ghani, p. 93). Abbey, Travel, 391. Howgego II, G2. Henze I, 281. NYPL Arabia coll. 165.
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Böckh, August.
Erklärung einer aegyptischen Urkunde auf Papyrus in griechischer Cursivschrift. Berlin, G. Reimer, 1821.
Large 4to. 36 pp. With a folding lithographed plate. Original wrappers with handwritten label on upper cover. Treatise on a papyrus document concerning the sale of land, found in an Egyptian grave and dated 104 BC. - August Boeckh (1785-1867), who did important work on ancient poetry, particularly Pindar, is regarded as the founder of modern Epigraphy. - Slightly brownstained. Covers worn. From the library of Joseph Baron Lassberg (1770-1855), his autogr. ownership "Villae Eppos ad Bibliothecam Laßbergii" on inside of front cover; stamp of the Fürstenberg Court Library at Donaueschingen on title page. Ibrahim-Hilmy I, 78. Not in Kainbacher.
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Bogolubow, Andrei.
Tapis de l'Asie Centrale. St. Petersburg and Leipzig, Karl W. Hiersemann, 1908.
Large folio (680 x 500 mm). 43 plates (36 of which are in colour), 2 double-page coloured maps. XXVI, (2) pp. Original wrappers. German text in wrappers and loose plates in original grey cloth portfolio with giltstamped titles. First edition of "the first great book on turkoman rugs" (Arntzen/Rainwater). The magnificent plates in full colour are printed on special paper, each sheet bearing the label of the St. Petersburg "Manufacture des Papiers de l'État". - Title page of the text volume shows a closed tear, otherwise fine. Cf. Arntzen/Rainwater P618 (the 1973 reprint only).
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Botero, Giovanni.
La seconda [terza, quarta] parte delle relationi universali. Brescia, appresso la Compagnia Bresciana, 1599.
4to. 3 parts in one vol. (8), 227, (1) pp. (12), 268 pp. (8), 112 pp. With 3 woodcut printer's devices to title pages and 9 engraved maps in the text of part one. 17th-century vellum mit ms. spine title. First Brescia edition. - Second, third and fourth volume of this famous geographical treatise by Giovanni Botero (1544-1617), with the map of Arabia on p. 173 and a map of Persia (including the north-eastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula) on p. 133. Originally conceived as a statistical examination of the ecumenical propagation of Christianity, in subsequent editions the work gradually expanded until it formed a comprehensive repertory of anthropology and geography, with systematic accounts of the physical properties, demographics, economic resources, military power, and political constitution of all states of the world. - Wants the first part, which would have formed a separate volume (536 pp.). Vellum damaged at lower edge. Interior shows some browning with occasional worming to margins; a few contemporary marginalia. BM-STC Italian 122. Adams B 2559. Edit 16, CNCE 7301.
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Botero, Giovanni.
Relationi universali. Arricchite di molte cosse rare, e memorabili. E con ultima mano dell'autore. Venice, Giunta, 1640.
4to. (8), 800, (36) pp. With 4 folding engr. plates (Europe, Asia, Africa, America). - (Bound with) II: The same. Della ragioni di stato, libri dieci. Ibid., 1640. (8), 264 pp. Contemporary vellum with ms. spine title. Famous geographical treatise by Giovanni Botero (1544-1617), with Arabia pictured on both the Asia and the Africa plate, and discussions of the Arabian Peninsula (pp. 120 ff.), the Middle East (pp. 123 ff.), "Arabia troglodotica" [!] (p. 130 f.), Egypt (pp. 131 ff.). Originally conceived as a statistical examination of the ecumenical propagation of Christianity, in subsequent editions the work gradually expanded until it formed a comprehensive repertory of anthropology and geography, with systematic accounts of the physical properties, demographics, economic resources, military power, and political constitution of all states of the world. - Appended to this is Botero's famous treatise "Della ragion di Stato" (The Reason of State), in which Botero argues - against Machiavelli - that a prince's power must be based on some form of consent of his subjects, and princes must make every effort to win the people's affection and admiration. - Some browning throughout; occasional insignificant edge defects and small tears; traces of old library stamps. Graesse I, 504. Cf. Cox I, 71.
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Boulainvilliers, Henri de.
The Life of Mahomet. London, W. Hinchliffe, 1731.
8vo. (8), VIII, 400 pp. Modern half calf with giltstamped title to spine. First English edition. Book 1 contains a description of Arabia, as well as of Mecca and Medina; books 2 and 3 contain Mohamed's genealogy and biography. The historian Henri de Boulainvilliers (1658-1722), translator of Spinoza's "Ethics", wrote on topics so diverse as astrology, physics, philosophy and theology, though many of his writings were not printed until after his death. For his neutral reasoning, his works were cited by subsequent writers who would prove influential in the development of Western political thought and historical research. - Short tear to title page repaired; some browning and brownstaining throughout. From the library of the British philosopher of religion, David Arthur Pailin (b. 1936), with his bookplate and copious notes laid in. Chauvin XI, p. 149, no. 477. BMC 3:1075.635. Cf. Aboussouan 153 (Amsterdam, 1731). NYPL Arabia coll. 164.
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Bradley-Birt, F[rancis] B[radley].
Persia. Through Persia from the Gulf to the Caspian. (Oriental Series vol. XX). Boston/Tokyo, J. B. Millet Co., (1910).
8vo. XI, (1), 323, (1) pp. With coloured frontispiece and 5 photo plates; title within colored ornamental border. Original boards with illustrated spine. An account of travel through the "Land of the Lion and Sun" in an age redolent of the Tales from the Arabian Nights and the Rubaiyat. First published in 1909 (by Smith Elder & Co., London), under the title "Through Persia, from the Gulf to the Caspian". The frontispiece shows a group of Persian shepherds. - Spine tanned, otherwise well preserved. OCLC 2226672. Cf. Wilson 29.
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Brodtmann, Carl Joseph.
Ein Spanisches Pferd. Equus Hispanicus. [Lindau, c. 1816].
Hand-coloured lithograph, matted (460 x 600 mm). Fine, large-format lithograph of a white Spanish horse with a finely costumed rider, no. 34 in Brodtmann's series of animals within his "Naturhistorische Bilder-Gallerie". Winkler 105.4.
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Brown, William Robinson.
The Horse of the Desert. New York, The Derrydale Press, 1929.
Folio. XXVII, (3), 218 pp. Richly illustrated throughout. Original giltstamped blue cloth. Rare first edition, one of 750 copies. The Derrydale Press was founded by Eugene V. Connett, III, after his family’s beaver hat-making company was liquidated in 1925. He soon became an expert printer, and produced his first publication, "Magic Hours", the first book to bear The Derrydale Press imprint. For the next fourteen years, The Derrydale Press would publish 169 titles, most in limited editions, written by the best sporting authors and illustrated by the best sporting artists of the day. With the outset of World War II, Connett was forced to close the business due to the unavailability of quality materials during wartime and the firm’s increasing debts. - A good copy, privately inscribed. Macro, Bibliography of the Arabian Peninsula, 596. Boyd/P. 21. Frazier B19A. Siegel 25.
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Brun, C.
De redding der bemanning van het Nederlandsch brikschip Nijverheid, verbrant in de Indische zee benevens de beschrijving eener reis op de kust en in de binnenlanden van Oost-Afrika. Rotterdam, Mensing van Westreenen, 1818.
8vo. XXIII, (1), 389, (3) pp. With woodcut vignette on title-page. Original cloth with spine rebound in modern giltstamped calf. First edition. - Detailed report of the homeward journey of the crew of the Dutch ship "Nijverheid", wrecked in the Indian Ocean. In addition to the account of the loss of the ship and the rescue of the crew, Brun provides a comprehensive description of the states of Oman, Mosambique and Madagaskar. The account of Mascate includes comments on the great abilities of the Arabian seamen in operating nautical instruments, as well as on the beauty of Arabian women. Two tribes are mentioned specifically: the Harthy clan ruled by Sheikh Abdalla Ben Djemo, Governor of Zanzibar, and another under the rule of Emir Saleh. In the ensuing short history from the sixteenth century onwards, the Al Qasimi play a prominent role. - Half-title clipped and remargined. Occasional slight browstainning, but altogether very well preserved. Rare.
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Buckingham, James Silk.
Travels among the Arab Tribes Inhabiting the Countries East of Syria and Palestine. London, printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green, 1825.
4to. XV, (1), 669, (1) pp. With a folding engraved map and 28 wood-engraved vignettes as chapter headings. Half brown calf over marbled boards, spine compartments ruled and decorated in gilt, burgundy morocco gilt lettering label. First edition. James Silk Buckingham (1786-1855), founder of the Calcutta Journal, Oriental Herald and Colonial Review, The Sphynx, and The Argus, social reformer and founding member of the British and Foreign Institute, travelled in the Middle East as a sea captain and merchant. This work relates the part of his travels which took him through Nazareth, the plains of the Hauran, Damascus, Tripoli, Lebanon and Balbec to Aleppo. An appendix refutes the charges of plagiarism brought by Burckhardt and Bankes against his Travels in Palestine. - Occasional light foxing and staining, slight offsetting from the engraved map to the titled. A very good copy. Blackmer 232. Tobler 143. Röhricht 1650. Howgego II, B69, p. 78.
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Buffon, George Marie Leclerc, Comte de.
Illustrated manuscript copy of part of the Histoire Naturelle. [France, ca. 1800 / late 18th or early 19th c.].
4to (215 x 165 mm). 6 vols. 252 pp. (2), 440 pp. (2), 613 pp. 475 pp. (1), 332 pp. (8), 132 ff. With 322 pencil illustrations after the original engraved plates. Contemporary boards with original ties. An unusual manuscript rendition of parts of Buffon's monumental "Histoire naturelle", containing many fine pencil drawings after Buffon's plates, the subjects almost all mammals, including monkeys, hoofed quadrupeds, bats, seals, stoats and shrews, etc. The volume concerning working animals also features an extensive description of horses (pp. 109-235), including 4 drawings (showing a hunter, anatomic details and the skeleton of a horse) as well as a report on horse breeding in the Arab World: "[…] les arabes du desert et les peoples de libye élevent une grande quantité de les cheveaux pour la chatte; ils ne s'en servent ni pour voyager ni pour combattre, ils les font paître lorsqu'il y a de l'herbe; et lorsque l'herbe manqué, ils ne les nourissent que de dattes et de lait de chameaux, ce qui leur rend nerveux, légers et maigres […]" (p. 181). - Some dampstaining, mainly to the text.
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Callenberg, Johann Heinrich (praes.) / Vockerodt, Ludwig Christian (resp.).
Iuris circa Christianos Muhammedici particulae. E codicibus Moslemorum [...]. Halle, Christian Henckel, (1729).
4to. (4), 18, (2) pp. Papered spine. Considered Callenberg's probably most scholarly work, a Halle disputation about Muslim laws respecting Christians. The respondent was Ludwig Christian Vockerodt, the son of Callenberg's former teacher in Gotha, Gottfried Vockerodt. With numerous notes in Arabic. The German orientalist and Lutheran professor of theology and philology Johann Heinrich Callenberg (1694-1760) tried to promote conversions among Jews and Muslims. For this purpose he founded (in 1728) the "Institutum Judaicum et Muhammedicum", which also produced oriental-language translations of Christian tracts. - Well preserved. GAL S I, 347.
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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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Castell, Edmund.
Lexicon Syriacum, ex eius lexico heptaglotto. Göttingen, Johann Christian Dieterich, 1788.
2 parts in 1 vol. (2), VIII, (2), 393, (2), 393-980 pp. With half-title. 19th century marbled half calf with giltstamped title to gilt spine. Marbled endpapers. 4to. First separate edition of Castell's Syriac-Latin dictionary, taken from the author's great "Lexikon heptaglotton" (1669) and here edited by the German Biblical scholar Johann David Michaelis. The English orientalist Edmund Castell (1606-85) was appointed Professor of Arabic at Cambridge in 1666. - Insignificant browning; upper spine-end chipped, otherwise a well-preserved, prettily bound copy. From the library of the Ducs de Luynes at the Château de Dampierre: their bookplate reproducing the arms of Charles Marie d'Albert de Luynes (1783-1839), 7th Duc de Luynes, on pastedown. Zaunmüller 372. Vater/Jülg 387. Graesse II, 65. OCLC 4683081.
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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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Centorio degli Hortensi, Ascanio.
Commentarii della guerra di Transilvania. (With:) La seconda parte de' commentarii delle guerre. Venice, Gabriel Giolito de' Ferrari, 1566-1569.
4to. 2 vols. in 1. (40), 266, (2) pp. (32), 298, (2) pp. With woodcut printer's devices on both titles, and different device on reverse of final leaf. Contemporary limp vellum. First edition (part 1: second issue) of Centorio's memoirs, here complete with both parts, comprising the years until 1553 (pt. 1) and then continued to 1560 (pt. 2). The author's principal work. Centorio lived in Milan around the middle of the 16th century. "Commentaries on the wars against the Turks from Mohács in 1526 onwards. Offers a detailed account of the conflict between Ferdinand and John Zápolya, as well as of the battles of Castaldo. Although the title of pt. 1 mentions 'Re Lodovico XII', this is about Louis II of Hungary, who drowned after the Battle of Mohács, not about Louis XII of France" (cf. Göllner). Dedications to Ottavio Farnese, duke of Parma and Piacenza, and Consalvo Ferrante di Cordova, duke of Sessa. Includes four sonnets by the author and Lodovico Dolce. "Fine woodcut initials and headpieces" (cf. Apponyi). - Slight waterstain near beginning; front pastedown stamped by the Madrid bookseller Gabriel Sanchez. Edit 16, CNCE 10794/10799. Göllner 1061 (pt. 1 only). Adams C 1269. BM-STC Italian 165. Atabey 211. Jöcher I, 1804. Cf. Apponyi 381 (pt. 1, 1st issue only). Not in Blackmer.
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Chatelain, (R. J.).
Mémoire sur les chevaux Arabes. Projet tendant à augmenter et à améliorer les chevaux en France. - Notes sur les différentes races qui doivent être préférees à ce sujet. - Réflexions sur l'adminstration des Haras, leur utilité. - Instruction pour les propriétaires qui sont des élèves. - Connoissance nécessaire pour faire un bon choix d'étalons et de chevaux de guerre. - Beautés et défectuosités. - Tableaux, recettes, dépenses et réformes. Paris, Madame Huzard (née Vallat la Chapelle), 1816.
8vo. 158 pp. With frontispiece of a 'Cheval Arabe' after C. Vernet. Contemp. red half morocco with giltstamped spine and covers. Interesting work on the Arabian breed of horses, especially the military horses in France. - A fine copy. Boyd 26. Mennessier de la Lance I, 263. OCLC 4337831.
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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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Chronographus, Philo.
Arca Temporum Mundi Reserata, Oder: Der Welt eröffnete Zeit- und Geschicht-Beschreibung. Begreiffend: Perspeculatum [...]. Augsburg, Jakob Koppmayer for Jakob Enderlin, 1693.
Folio (305 x 190 mm). 2 parts in 1 volume. (4), 31, (1), 64 pp. With 12 (instead of 16) plates containing 24 copper engravings. Modern boards. Fascinating, little-received chronographical study focusing on the history of the Eastern Mediterranean and Asia Minor, then under Ottoman rule. The anonymous late 17th-century German author hides behind the name of "Philo Chronographus" and is evidently identical with the "Philo Cosmographus" who produced the similarly themed geographical work, "Trinum Marinum", which is announced on the title page and was often issued together with this, though produced by a different publisher and catalogued separately. The first part of the work contains a general introduction which relates the 24 hours of the day to the time from Creation to the year 1800 (which is conceived of as the end of the world, leaving another mere 107 years of history to come!). The second part features a chronicle of the "Rule of the Ottoman Porte", from Sultan Osman to Suleyman II. - Numerous pages of plates (each page containing two copper engravings) depict costumes, animals and plants, maps and views of towns (Sultan Osman, the Ottoman Residence and a view of Constantinople, dolphins and cranes, Turkish ladies in their various garments, a cypress and a mastix tree, etc.). - The number of plates, and indeed even the arrangement of engravings on a single page, varies from copy to copy, but this wants 4 plates as compared to the table of plates. Well-preserved. VD 17, 12:645730N. Weller, Pseud. 439.
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Churi, Joseph H.
Sea Nile, the Desert, and Nigritia. Travels in Company with Captain Peel, R.N. 1851-1852. [...] With Thirteen Arabic Songs, as Sung by the Egyptian Sailors on the Nile. London, published by the author, 1853.
Large 8vo. XII, 331, (1) pp. With wood-engraved frontispiece of the Homra tree. Original publisher's brown boards with title in gilt to spine. First edition. - The Lebanese Maronite Churi trained at the Congregation of Propaganda in Rome from 1842 to 1849. He later left Rome and made his way to London, where he gave lessons in Arabic, Latin, Italian, and Hebrew. Captain W. Peel was amongst his pupils and persuaded him to accompany him on a tour of the Middle East between October 1850 and February 1851. The present work is an account of a second journey the pair undertook to Egypt and the Sudan between August 1851 and February 1852. - Some wear to spine and boards. Mild occasional foxing, otherwise in very good condition. Nice original, unblemished yellow endpapers. Rare. Ibrahim-Hilmy I, 135 (erroneously s. v. "Chusi"). OCLC 4709982. Not in Gay.
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Collingwood, William, R.I.N. surveyor (fl. 1840s-1860s).
Journal of a voyage from London to Bombay. On board the "Oriental", 1846.
8vo. English ms. in blue ink on paper. 69 pp., interleaved with pink blotting paper. With several coloured ink sketches. Bound in red morocco with inscribed cover "Journal of the proceedings on board the ship Oriental from London to Bombay". Marbled endpapers, inscribed "W. Collingwood. Journal Book". A passage journal kept aboard the ship "Oriental" from London around Africa to Bombay between 6 January and 30 May 1846, written in a neat and clear hand with occasional coloured ink sketches. The varied content includes weather observations, poetry, and day-to-day commentary: "March 31st 1846 Tuesday: A large shoal of porpoises playing about the bows the mate went out on the dolphin striker to harpoon one but was unsuccessful [...]", "May 11th 1846 Monday: This morning we sighted Coëtivy, it is a low rocky shore sprinkled with Cocoa nut trees etc., before 12 it was out of sight [...]" (includes a panoramic sketch of the coastline). - Lieutenant William Collingwood, a distant cousin of the Admiral, was an R.I.N. surveyor who did much valuable work in Iraq, including the large-scale, though surreptitious, mapping of Baghdad in 1855. During this same expedition, Collingwood also surveyed the Shatt-ul-Arab, the city of Bussorah (also by stealth) and much of the country between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, and he was undoubtedly one of the most gifted and productive R.I.N. surveyors of his day. - Binding slightly rubbed at extremeties; in good condition altogether.
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Cordeiro, Luciano.
Batalhas da India. Como se perdeu Ormuz. Processo inedito do seculo XVII. Lisbon, Imprensa Nacional, 1896.
8vo. XV, (1), 297, (1) pp. Original printed wrappers. First edition. Classic, minute account by Luciano Cordeiro (1844-1900) of the events that led to the fall of Hormuz to the Anglo-Persian forces in 1622. Based on contemporary documents, many of which are reproduced here. - Slight edge chipping; evenly browned throughout as common. A good copy. Wilson 48. OCLC 27860289.
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Cosmographus, Philo.
Trinum Marinum: oder: Die an einander hangende Drey Meer Pontus Euxinus, Propontis, cum Archipelago: oder: Das Schwartze, Weisse, und Egeische Meer. Augsburg, Anton Nepperschmid for Jakob Enderlin, 1693.
Folio (305 x 190 mm). (2), 61, (1) pp. Title page printed in red and black. With 11 (instead of 18?) plates containing 22 copper engravings. Modern boards. Fascinating, little-received geographical study focusing on the Eastern Mediterranean and Asia Minor, then under Ottoman rule. The anonymous late 17th-century German author hides behind the name of "Philo Cosmographus" and is evidently identical with the "Philo Chronographus" who produced the similarly themed chronographical work, "Arca Temporum", which was often issued together with this, though produced by a different publisher and catalogued separately. The present work features an overview of the geography of the Ottoman Empire, including the Aegean, the Sea of Marmara, and the Black Sea region - the "three seas" to which the title refers. Numerous pages of plates (each page containing two copper engravings) depict maps and views as well as animals (a hyena and sheep, Iraklion and Chania, Nauplia, Koroni, Rhodes, Thessaloniki, Belgrade, Izmir, etc.). - The number of plates, and indeed even the arrangement of engravings on a single page, varies from copy to copy, but this wants 8 plates as compared to the table of plates provided in "Arca Temporum". Occasional inkstains, but well-preserved. VD 17, 7:688727L; 3:605737C. Weller, Pseud. 439.
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Creighton, R.
A New Historical Map of Palestine, With Part of Egypt & Arabia. Ancient & Modern Geography of those Countries with the Routes of Several Celebrated Travellers. London, William Colling Hobson, 1833.
Large hand-coloured folding engraved map (ca. 103 x 82 cm). Scale ca. 1:1,000,000. In contemporary red morocco slipcase. Rare 1833 edition of a historical map of Palestine, with a part of Egypt and Arabia. This map is of particular interest for showing the principal roads and travel routes through the desert, with the old Roman road and the route of the Hajj, as well as the route taken by Eyles Irwin in 1777. Occasional browning; slipcase rubbed and bumped, but well preserved on the whole. Cf. Röhricht (Palästina) 633 (London, 1831). Laor, Maps of the Holy Land (1839 edition). Not in Al Ankary or Al-Qasimi.
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Creswell, Sir Keppel Archibald Cameron.
Masagid Misr (The Mosques of Egypt from 21 H. [A.D. 641) to 1365 H. [A.D. 1946]). Giza, Ordnance Survey, 1948.
Royal folio. 2 vols. V, 76 pp. III, 148 pp. Arabic text printed in red and black. With 2 chromolithogr. frontispieces, 2 chromolithogr. title pages, 243 phototype plates (27 in colour), 2 folding maps, folding table, and numerous text illustrations. Original blind- and giltstamped green cloth. First, original Arabic edition; much rarer than the English edition, which appeared a year later. "The finest piece of book production achieved in Egypt" (Creswell). A history of Islamic architecture in Egypt, containing several beautiful views of the principal mosques, with plans and notes. Both volumes include the double page with the preface by the Minister for Religious Foundations as well as Creswell's introduction (dated 1954), which supplanted the original pages 1-2 (probably a dedication to King Farouk). An unusually good, clean copy from the library of Tarek Wahby (his bookplate on the flyleaf).
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[Crnka, Fran / Alfonso de Ulloa?].
Historia di Zighet, ispugnata da Suliman, re de' turchi, l'anno MDLXVI. Nuovamente mandata in luce. Venice, Bolognino Zaltieri, 1570.
4to. 24, (2) pp. With woodcut printer's device to t. p. 18th century marbled wrappers. Rare second Italian edition (published a year after the almost unobtainable first Turin printing) of this historically important account of the events of the Battle of Szigetvár, fought between the Turkish and the Habsburgian forces. The final page treats the number of Turkish soldiers killed in the battle. - On 8 September 1566, after a month-long siege, the Ottoman army captured the fortress of Szigetvár and beheaded the defender, Miklós Zrínyi; more than 20,000 soldiers died. Shortly before the decisive battle, Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent, who personally led the campaign, died of old age after a reign of 46 years - the longest in Ottoman history. In spite of the Turkish victory, the death of their leader, the heavy losses suffered during the siege, and an early winter caused the Ottoman army to withdraw to Istanbul. Only in 1689 did the Hungarians re-capture the city. - The first edition ("Historia Sigheti") was published in Latin by Caspar Stainhofer in Vienna in 1568. It was purportedly a translation from the Croat language, prepared by Samuel Budina (cf. Apponyi 422). The supposed author, Fran Crnka (Ferenc Czerno), was Zrínyi's surviving chamberlain. According to Göllner, the actual author (though more likely, the editor) may have been Alfonso de Ulloa (d. 1580), who also published "Commentari della Guerra" and "Historie di Europa", both appearing at Zaltieri's press in the same year as the present work. - Extremely rare; a single copy at auctions internationally since 1950. Edit 16, CNCE 13812. Apponyi 439. Göllner 1270. BM-STC Italian 652. Hammer 761. Szabó 603. Ballagi 718. Hubay 277. OCLC 64419121. Not in Adams.
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Cureton, William.
Ancient Syriac documents relative to the earliest establishment of Christianity in Edessa and the neighbouring countries from the year after our Lord's ascension to the beginning of the fourth century. London, Williams and Norgate, 1864.
Folio (232 x 295 mm). (2), XIV, 196, 112 pp. Contemporary blindstamped cloth with giltstamped title to spine. First edition. - In 1837, Cureton (1808-64), assistant keeper of manuscripts in the British Museum and the only oriental scholar in the department, was commissioned to prepare a catalogue of the Arabic manuscripts, the first part of which appeared in 1846. "But a new study had already engaged Cureton's attention. During his official occupation at the British Museum immense additions had been made to the collection of Syriac manuscripts. When he entered the department these numbered about eighty; but the accession of numerous manuscripts of the highest importance from the Nitrian monasteries, which were purchased and brought over partly by the mediation of Dr. Tattam in 1841 and 1843, raised the total to nearly six hundred. Cureton, who knew nothing of Syriac when he came to the department, set himself zealously to work to conquer the not very serious difficulties of the language, and to set in order and classify the new acquisitions from the Nitrian valley. His labours while drawing up an outline catalogue were amply rewarded by the discovery of many manuscripts of the highest interest" (DNB). The present work was published, after his death following a railway accident, by William Wright (1830-89). - Occasional slight foxing; on the whole an excellent, unusually wide-margined copy. From the library of the Ducs de Luynes at the Château de Dampierre: their bookplate reproducing the arms of Charles Marie d'Albert de Luynes (1783-1839), 7th Duc de Luynes, on pastedown. DNB XII, 326. OCLC 4774167. Cf. Fück 190.
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Curione, Celio Augustino.
Sarracenicae historiae libri III. In quibus Sarracenorum, Turcaru[m], Aegypti Sultanorum, [...] origines & incrementa, septingentorumq[ue] annorum res ab illis gestae, brevissimè explicantur. Basel, Johannes Oporinus, (August 1567).
Folio. 163, (19) pp., final blank f. With woodcut printer's device to title-page. - (Bound with) II: Hoffmeister, Johann. In XII priora capita actuum apostolicorum commentaria [...]. Cologne, Arnold Birckmanns heirs, 1567. (6) pp., 1 blank f., 225, (1) pp. With woodcut printer's device to title-page. Contemporary limp vellum with ms. spine title. Traces of ties. First edition of the history of the Saracens and Turks, dedicated to Emperor Maximilian II. The humanist C. A. Curio (1538-1567) thinks it likely that the Turks are descended from the Huns and shows skepticism toward theories that they might be descended from the Twelve Tribes of Israel, or, as Pliny had surmised, from the Tartars. Curio describes the Saracens as a people wrought by internal strife, often defeated and fragmented by the Arabs. - Bound within the same volume is a rare commentary on the first 12 chapters of the Acts of the Apostles by the Augustinian and theologian J. Hoffmeister (c. 1509-47). - Binding slightly loosened; some reinforcements to gutters; second word rather browned in places with occasional waterstains. A good copy of an important, early work on the Turkish people. I: VD 16 C, 6410 (D 2655). Göllner 1211. Adams C 3078. BM-STC German 232. Schottenloher 51906. Kutter A14, 1. - II: VD 16. H 4266. Not in Adams or BM-STC German.
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Danvers, Frederick Charles.
The Portuguese in India. Being a history of the rise and decline of their eastern empire. London, W. H. Allen & Co., 1894.
2 vols. 8vo. LIII, (1), 572 pp. XV, (1), 579, (1) pp. With 2 frontispieces and numerous folding maps and views; a large folding map inserted into a pocket at the back of vol. 2. Publisher's original armorial gilt blue cloth. First edition. - Modern, encompassing history of Portuguese India, including an extensive account of the campaigns and operations of Afonso de Albuquerque in the Arabian Gulf, which he entered as the first European. "In 1506 Albuquerque was despatched from Lisbon on an expedition, intended to consolidate Portuguese supremacy in the Indian Ocean. His instructions were to monopolize trade with East India for portugal, and to exclude both Venetians and Saracens from Indian waters [...] Attacks were made on the Arab ports at Malindi, Hoja, Lamu and Brava, before continuing to Socotra [...] Sailing from Socotra with six ships, Albuquerque coasted the Arabian peninsula, sacked Muscat and Sohar, and then launched an attack on Hormuz during the months of September and October 1507. In spite of the overwhelming forces assembled against him by the island's twelve-year-old ruler, Albuquerque mounted a successful siege, with the result that the ruler become a vassal of the Portuguese crown" (Howgego I, 19ff.). - Signed "A. J. Whittle" on half-titles (but struck out in vol. 1). Slight rubbing to extremeties, fine altogether.
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(Day, A. / Shearme, F. N. [eds.]).
Persian Gulf Pilot. Comprising the Persian Gulf and its approaches, from Ras al Hadd, in the South-West, to Cape Monze, in the East. Tenth edition. All bearings are true. London, Hydrographic Department, Admiralty / Lowe & Brydone, 1955.
8vo. (2), L, 312, (2) pp. With several maps and plates. Original cloth. "The Persian Gulf Pilot contains sailing directions for the Persian gulf and the approaches thereto, from Ras al Hadd, in the south-west, to Cape Monze, in the East". - Also includes copious information on politics, population, languages, trade, currencies, pearl fishery, meteorological information (climate, winds, weather, temperature, humidity), as well as currents, tides, communications and other miscellaneous information. - Binding rubbed and faded. Only two copies in auction records of the past decades (Peter Hopkirk's copy fetching £1,300 at Sotheby's, Oct 14, 1998, lot 1043). Hydrographic Office Publication 158. OCLC 709448977. Cf. Wilson 171.
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(Day, A. / Shearme, F. N. [eds.]).
Persian Gulf Pilot. Comprising the Persian Gulf and its approaches, from Ras al Hadd, in the South-West, to Cape Monze, in the East. Tenth edition. London, Hydrographic Department, Admiralty / Lowe & Brydone, 1955.
8vo. (2), L, 312, (2) pp. With several maps and plates. Original cloth. "The Persian Gulf Pilot contains sailing directions for the Persian gulf and the approaches thereto, from Ras al Hadd, in the south-west, to Cape Monze, in the East". - Also includes copious information on politics, population, languages, trade, currencies, pearl fishery, meteorological information (climate, winds, weather, temperature, humidity), as well as currents, tides, communications and other miscellaneous information. - Binding slightly rubbed. Only two copies in auction records of the past decades (Peter Hopkirk's copy fetching £1,300 at Sotheby's, Oct 14, 1998, lot 1043). Hydrographic Office Publication 158. OCLC 709448977. Cf. Wilson 171.
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Dickson, H. R. P.
The Arab of the Desert. A Glimpse into Badawin Life in Kuwait and Sau'di Arabia. London, Allen & Unwin, 1951.
Original publisher's red cloth. Second edition of this classic work. With frontispiece portrait of HH Sheikh Sir Ahmad al Jabir al Sabah, contemporary Ruler of Kuwait. - In very good condition. OCLC 6947893. Cf. Macro, Bibliography of the Arabian Peninsula, 840 (1st ed.).
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Dickson, Violet.
Forty Years in Kuwait. London, Allen & Unwin, 1971.
With original dustjacket in excellent condition. First edition, first printing. Violet was the wife of H. R. P. Dickson, author of 'The Arab of the Desert' and 'Kuwait and her Neighbours'.
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