‎Middle east‎

‎Ibn Saiyid an-Nas / Kosegarten, Johann Gottfried Ludwig.‎

‎Carminum orientalium triga. Arabicum Mohammedis ebn seid-ennas Iaameritae Persicum Nisami Kendschewi Turcicum Emri. Stralsund, Carl Löffler, 1815.‎

‎8vo. 144 pp. Contemp. marbled boards. All edges sprinkled in red. Only issue of this edition of the text, with commentary, Latin translation and a loose German version of an Arabic poem by Ibn Saiyid an-Nas, a Persian one by Nizami, and a Turkish one by Emri. Following his dissertation, this was the first great scholarly publication by Johann Gottfried Ludwig Kosegarten (1792-1860), who later assisted Goethe with his "Diwan". In 1817 he was made professor of oriental languages at Jena. - Some browning due to paper; inscribed to a "Dr. Vermehren" (dated 1816) on front pastedown. Although the print shop used by the publisher was equipped with Arabic, Persian and Greek types, no types were available for the passages in Sanskrit and Armenian: these few words, on p. 48-49, had to be supplied in manuscript (possibly by the author himself?). GAL II, p. 85. Brunet VI, 15940. Graesse IV, 45. Goedeke XVI, 605, 1 & XVII, 749, 1. Hamberger/Meusel XVIII, 420.‎

‎Imray, James F[rederick].‎

‎Gulf of Suez. (Compiled from recent British surveys). London, James Imray and Son, 1877.‎

‎Engraved map, ca. 675 x 1040 mm. Constant ratio linear horizontal scale. Engraved chart, including tidal information, compass roses, soundings, seabed notations, currents, sandbanks and four inset maps of Suez Bay, Ashrafí Reefs, Túr, and the Strait of Jubal. Lighthouses and beacons picked out in yellow and red. - Stamped "Imray & Son, London, 1878". Some browning and stainig; signs of contemporary use with several pencil markings. OCLC 557577123 (1870 edition). Cf. Tooley II, 407. Not in the Al Ankary or Al-Qasimi collections.‎

‎[Islamic Holy Sites].‎

‎Islamic Holy Sites. No place or date, first third of 20th century.‎

‎255 x 364 mm. Colour print. Showing several holy Islamic pilgrim sites in Saudi Arabia. The Baitullah Sharif in Mecca in the centre of the print is surrounded by eight illustrations, including Mount Arafat, Al-Masjid an-Nabawi in Medina, the mosque of Ta'if, and the cemeteries Jannatul Mualla and Al-Baqi'. The outer part of the oval shows by 24 illustrations of landscapes and architecture near Mecca (Jabal al-Nour, Muzdalifa, etc.). The corners are filled in with calligraphy. - Some chipping; edges professionally repaired. Cf. Murat Kargili, The Holy Journey. The Hajj Route through Postcards, Istanbul 2014, p. 277.‎

‎Jones [Commander James Felix, I.N.].‎

‎Selection from the Records of the Bombay Government. Memoirs by Commander James Felix Jones, I.N. Bombay, for the Government at the Bombay Education Society's Press, 1857.‎

‎Large 8vo. XXII, (2), 500, (folding leaf of appendix) pp. With 27 (of 32) plates, mostly folded and coloured. Modern half calf with marbled paper boards. Red morocco label to gilt spine. First edition, very rare. The volume includes seven important historical, archaeological and geographical essays covering Baghdad, the Nahrwan canal and large parts of Kurdistan, the topography of Nineveh and the old course of the River Tigris. Also included are some 30 maps and plates, many in colour, most notably the ground-plan of Baghdad. Felix Jones first saw service on the Palinurus, surveying the northern part of the Red Sea, whilst a later commission found him engaged on the Arabian survey under Haines. In 1839 he surveyed the harbour of Graine (Kuwait) and this led to an almost continuous period of service in Mesopotamia and the Gulf, ending in 1862 as Political Agent in the Persian Gulf, in which capacity he planned the British invasion of Persia. - Lacks the large maps of the Katul es Kesrawi and River Tigris. Labels to spine chipped, spine faded, occasional blue pencil markings between pages 259 & 288, and between pages 364 & 368. Generally text and plates very clean and fresh, map at page 136 torn at fold with no loss. - No pocket is present in the rebinding nor are the 3 maps which the pocket should contain. Paper slightly browned, otherwise in good condition.‎

‎[Katib Chelebi]. Khalifeh, Mustafa ben Abdullah Haji / Mitchell, James (transl.).‎

‎[Tuhfat al-kibâr fi asfâr al-Bihâr.] The History of the Maritime Wars of the Turks. Chapters I to IV. London, A. J. Valpy for the Oriental Translation Fund, 1831.‎

‎Folio. XIII, (1), 80, (4) pp. Orange cloth with giltstamped spine title, boards blindstamped "Foreign Office". First English translation of Kâtib Çelebi's great work on the history of the Ottoman navy, "The Gift to the Great Ones on Naval Campaigns". Written in 1657, the book was the second to be printed at Ibrahim Müteferrika's famous Constantinople press (in 1729). It emphasises the importance of the Turkish activities in the seas and the Ottoman contribution to the navigational history, long a strangely neglected subject. Kâtib Çelebi, who is one of the outstanding names of the Ottoman world of scholarship in 17th century and one of the most prolific authors in terms of the number and types of his works during that period, was a man of knowledge, ideas and culture who was widely spoken about in the Ottoman period of the Islamic World. - Withdrawn from the Foreign Office Library with their engraved armorial bookplate and withdrawal stamp. OCLC 29073533.‎

‎Kirk, John, British administrator in Zanzibar (1832-1922); co-explorer with David Livingstone.‎

‎Autograph letter signed. Zanzibar, 3. VIII. 1884.‎

‎4to (240:190 mm). 8 pp. on two double-leaf stationery, watermarked "Original Malling Mill Kent". To "my dear Smith": "It is most pleasing to see here the S[lave] T[rade] is driven back [...] In fact Kilwa now seems the saintly place [...] If this scarcity of food and failure of crops extends far inland we shall have the population begging to be sold. Mafia [Island] may take in slaves but it is so near the mainland that no person on earth could prevent it while the institute exists - but is their demand enough on Mafia for any great number of slaves? Boette and coconuts are its chief exports. When you go there visit Kisiwani [...] where corals are washed out of the bank in thousands [...] The Kilwa ruling family fled at one time it is mentioned in the old Kilwa chronicle. Did these old Kilwa kings [grow?] nothing but coffee & do the Bavarians buy up the silver and gold? Native traders are no fools and if gold & silver is ever found I would gladly pay a little over the value of the metal to settle a few permits [...] If you see your way I think a trip south should may be time well spent. I daren't visit the Kilwa people (Indians) [...] I feel sure the end of the land S[lave] T[rade] is further south and the local demand must be very great. I have little faith in estimates made on short experience, so often a man takes the one month or two when slaves are brought down and multiplies it by twelves for the year's estimate. One thing is to find out the caravan men [...]". - Written during the Berlin Conference of 1884/1885 which regulated European colonisation and trade in Africa during the New Imperialism period, and coincided with Germany's sudden emergence as an imperial power, Kirk discusses trade of slaves, as well as gold and silver, the latter mainly in reference to Germans. He suggests that slave trade activity is diminishing near Kilwa due to British abolition efforts, though not as much further south. He then presents theories on estimating the numbers of slaves captured. Also interesting and infrequently documented, he presents concern respecting slavery on Mafia Island. [In the mid-1820s, the town of Kua on Juani Island, the southernmost of the Mafia archipelago, was attacked by Sakalava cannibals arriving from Madagascar with 80 canoes, who ate many of the locals and took the rest into slavery. Under a treaty of 1890, Germany took control of Mafia and constructed the buildings still evident on Chole Island.] - The recipient of the letter, identified as 'Smith', may be Sir Charles Euan-Smith, a Colonel in the British Army who in 1887 he would be appointed Her Majesty's Agent and Consul-General for the Dominions of the Sultan of Zanzibar. [In February 1890 the Sultan died and Euan-Smith took advantage of the situation to persuade the new Sultan, Ali bin Said, that Zanzibar should be a British protectorate. This resulted in the so-called Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty of July 1890 in which Germany and the United Kingdom agreed on territorial interests in East Africa.]. - By 1868 Omani traders of Zanzibar had long since driven the Portuguese out and Kilwa had been a leading Arab center of the East African slave trade for more than a century. Thriving European plantation economies as close as Mauritius and as far away as Brazil perpetuated the nefarious trade. Kilwa was eventually absorbed into the Sultanate of Zanzibar (1841-1884) which controlled the lion's share of the East African trade. Zanzibar attracted the attention of European imperial and anti-slavery interests which forced the Sultan to close its then-famous slave market in 1873. To this end, the Sultan Bargash signed an edict making slavery illegal and imprisoned the Governor of Kilwa. Even so, the trade for a time remained brisk and a slave was allegedly sold there as late as 1935. Kilwa was part of the colony of German East Africa from 1886 to 1918. - Sir John Kirk (1832-1922) was a Scottish physician, naturalist, explorer, and British administrator in Zanzibar. He accompanied David Livingstone on his second Zambesi expedition from 1858 to 1863. In 1873 Kirk was made the first British Agent and Consul General of Zanzibar, where he eventually convinced the Sultan of Zanzibar to ban the highly lucrative slave trade. He held this post until he returned to England in 1887. He was also a keen botanist, highly regarded by Sir William Hooker, Joseph Dalton Hooker and William Thistleton-Dyer. After the death of Livingston, Kirk pledged to continue Livingston's work to end the East African slave trade. For years he negotiated with the ruler of Zanzibar, Sultan Bargash, gaining his confidence and promising to help enrich the East African domain through legitimate commerce. The Sultan officially banned slave trading in 1873, but it would continue. In 1881 Kirk decided to post a vice-consul, Mr. Jack Haggard to Lamu, Kenya. By 1885, the region was larger and more profitable, his endeavours becoming ever more challenging. Unfortunately, after the Berlin Conference, the British Government forced Kirk as British Consul in Zanzibar to drop the Sultan as part of the "Scramble for Africa". - In 1873, British agent John Kirk by threatening to blockade Zanzibar got Sayyid Barghash ibn Sa'id to sign a treaty banning the slave trade by sea and promising to protect all liberated slaves. On 5 March, the Sultan passed a decree prohibiting the export of slaves from main land and closing of slave market at Zanzibar. Zanzibar slave market was to be closed within 24 hours. In 1875 Sayyid Barghash visited Queen Victoria in England, and in 1876 he proclaimed that conveyance of slaves by land was prohibited nor could slave caravans approach the coast from the interior. Riots broke out in Mombasa against the freed-slave work of the missions, and at Kilwa slave-traders hid 6,000 slaves near the coast. In 1876 the Sultan decreed that no slaves were to be transported overland. Kirk persuaded Barghash to raise an army, and in 1877 Lt. William Lloyd Mathews was appointed to drill the recruits. Slave-trading continued until the Sultan put the Governor of Kilwa in prison. Kirk estimated that during the 1870s about 10,000 slaves a year crossed the Juba River into Somaliland. As the slave trade eventually declined, the export of rubber, cloves, and ivory greatly increased. In 1907 slavery was finally abolished entirely in Zanzibar and Pemba. Kirk died in 1922 at the age of 90.‎

‎Labillardière, Jacques Julien Houton de.‎

‎Relation du voyage a la recherche de la Pérouse, fait par ordre de l'Assemblée Constituante, pendant les années 1791, 1792, et pendant la 1ère. et la 2de. année de la République Françoise. (Including:) Atlas pour servir à la Relation du voyage à la recherche de la Pérouse [...]. Paris, H. J. Jansen, an VIII [= 1799/1800].‎

‎3 vols. 4to (2 text volumes) and folio (atlas). XVI, 442 pp. 332, 113, (1) pp. Atlas with engr. title page, large folding map (590 x 865 mm) and 43 full-page engr. plates (numbered 2-44), including 14 botanical plates drawn or completed by Pierre-Joseph Redouté. Modern mottled half calf, each spine with gold decorated rules and 2 green sheepskin labels, decorated paper sides ("schrottel"/sprinkled pattern over a paste wash), text volumes with sprinkled edges. First edition of Labillardière's famous and finely illustrated narrative, a classic work of travel literature. The mysterious disappearance of the great French explorer Jean François Galaup de La Pérouse led to much speculation in France. On 9 Feb. 1791 the Constituent Assembly passed a decree ordering, among other things, that the King be petitioned to order the fitting out of one or more ships equipped with naturalists, scientists and draughtsmen, with the twofold mission of searching for M. de la Pérouse and of making inquiries relative to the sciences and to commerce. Two ships, La Recherche under the command of Rear-Admiral D'Entrecasteaux and L'Espérence under the command of Captain Kermadec, were fitted out. Proceeding via the Cape of Good Hope to Tasmania, they made extensive investigations of its coastline. They also visited New Caledonia, the Solomon Islands, the Admiralty Islands, Tonga, New Britain and other groups, making extensive inquiries, but found no trace of the missing navigator (cf. Ferguson). The voyage, however, yielded a vast amount of new and valuable information on Australia's natural history and the aboriginal people of Tasmania. - Plates include views of the Admiralty Islands, Tasmania, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Tonga and impressive portraits of their inhabitants, while other plates show ethnographical objects, birds and plants. Most plates were engraved by Copia or Perée after Piron. The botanical plates were engraved after drawings by the celebrated Belgian botanical artist Pierre Joseph Redouté (10 plates) and after Piron, completed by Redouté (4 plates). Three of the four ornithological plates were engraved after Jean Baptiste Audebert. - In the same year Janssen also published an 8vo edition, followed by several editions in French, German and English. In 1826 some materials from La Pérouse's ships were traced back to the island Vanikoro, and a 1964 expedition identified the remains of one of his ships there. Further investigations concluded that both both ships were wrecked there and that most of the men who survived the wreck were killed by natives. A few eventually left the island, but their fate remains unknown. - Each text volume has the library stamp of the British Admiralty Office on the title and final page, those on the title pages with cancellation stamp. Plates mounted on new stubs, a few plates slightly frayed along the edges, some mostly marginal foxing and occasionally other spots or smudges, more serious in the title pages and half-titles, otherwise in very good condition. Nissen, ZBI 2331. Ferguson 307. Hocken, New Zealand, 28f. Kroepelien 697. Sabin 38420. Stafleu/C. 4070. Cf. Hill 178 (8vo ed.). Not in Catalogue of Redoutéana.‎

‎Laporte, [Joseph] de.‎

‎Le Voyageur François, ou La Connoissance de l'Ancien et du Nouveau Monde. Tome III. Paris, Vincent, 1766.‎

‎Large 12mo. (4), 545, (1) pp. Contemporary full calf with two giltstamped labels to gilt spine. Marbled endpapers. All edges red. The only volume of Joseph de Laporte's epistolary travel report to deal with Ormuz, "le golfe Arabique", "la Mecque", Socotra, Qeshm Island, and Portuguese India. - Slight traces of worming to lower cover, but a good, appealingly-bound copy. Brunet III, 836. Graesse IV, 106. OCLC 833064851.‎

‎Léon des Avanchers, Père (born Michel Rey-Golliet), explorer and missionary (1825-1879).‎

‎Autograph letter signed ("F. Léon des Avanchers, religieux capucin, Missionnaire apostolique aux Gallas [Affrique centrale]"). Aden, Arabie Heureuse, 22. IX. 1850.‎

‎4 pp. on folded bifolium. On blue paper. 4to. Long, interesting and unpublished letter, closely written over four pages, to the French minister Gustav Armand Henri, Comte de Reiset (1821-1905). The twenty-five-year-old missionary, writing from the south-western tip of the Arabian peninsula, describes himself as "perdu au milieu des déserts et dont toute l'imagination est absorbée par l'étude des langues". The capucin friar travelled along the coast of the Red Sea, visiting Tor, Yambo, Medina and Jeddah; the settlements he encounters are wretched hamlets on the edge of the desert. "À Gedda les musulmans font voir le tombeau de notre grande mère Ève. Selon eux, nos premiers parens après leurs chutes vinrent faire pénitence de leurs fautes à La Mecque. Ève mourut à Gedda. La tête de notre première mère repose sur une montagne et ses deux pieds sur deux autres collines voisines et sur son nombril ils ont élevé une pyramide [...]". Léon writes that he feared he would end up eaten by the fish, but finally did arrive in Abyssinia after a 20-day voyage. He continues to describe a beautiful mountaineous landscape peopled by a few Bedouin tribes and evokes their hard life, the cry of the jackals, and the devastation of crops by soldiers and by apes. He states the price of wheat, horses, and farming animals, describes the mining of gold, silver and iron and summarizes the situation in Abyssinia, since the former empire was overthrown by "la lance du farouche Gallas". He describes the savage manners of a country at war: the enslavement of women and children, the emasculation of men, and the rampant diseases. He also explains how the country first seized by the Turks passed to France, and provides his minister with first-hand geopolitical intelligence: "L'Anglais travaille ce pays. Un consul britannique y rôde en tout sens. Mais les Anglais y sont détestés à cause de leur religion. Mais cependant que l'on y fasse attention. L'Abyssinie plutôt que de vouloir subir le joug turke se mettra à la disposition de la première puissance qui voudra l'exploiter. La Sardaigne a envoyé ici un ancien missionnaire pour déterminer Oubié ou un roi de l'Abyssinie à lui donner une partie de la côte pour y colliniser fiat lux [...]". - Léon des Avanchers, friend of the French explorer Antoine d'Abadie, was a missionary in Abyssinia, a geographer, cartographer and explorer of East Africa, and a correspondent of the Società Geografica Italiana. He is known to have bought many slaves to free them and was the founder of the first Catholic church in the Seychelles. - Some original corrections and insertions. Traces of original folds. Well-preserved.‎

‎Lepsius, [Karl] R[ichard].‎

‎Das allgemeine linguistische Alphabet. Berlin, Hertz, 1855.‎

‎Large 4to. (4), 64 pp., partly printed in red and black. Modern brown half cloth. First edition. - Rare work by the Egyptologist and linguist Carl R. Lepsius (1810-84), leader of the 1842/45 Prussian expedition to Egypt. In this treatise, he presented what must be regarded as one of the earliest attempts at a standardised phonetic alphabet for all languages - a function today fulfilled by the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), which is still based primarily on the Latin alphabet. Among the many alphabetical systems which Lepsius takes into account are also Egyptian hieroglyphs as well as Hebrew, Arabic, Farsi, Sanscrit, Bengali, Armenian, Malay, Chinese, etc. - Somewhat browned and brownstained throughout with a noticeable waterstain. Some edge flaws. Title page shows library stamp of the Gymnasium of Venray, Netherlands. Kayser XIV, 24.‎

‎Lotti, Lotto.‎

‎Ch' n' ha Cervel hapa gamb. O sia la liberatione di Vienna assediata dall' armi Ottomane. Poemetto giocoso. In lingua popolare Bolognese consecrato. Parma, heredi di [Mario] Vigna, 1685.‎

‎8vo. (16), 121, (3) pp. With engr. frontispiece and 5 engr. plates by Giovanni Giuseppe Cosattini. Contemp. Italian vellum. First edition of Lotto Lotti's (1667-1714) poem celebrating the liberation of Vienna from the 1683 Turkish siege, written in the Bologna dialect. "Divided in 5 cantos of 30 to 40 eight-line verses each" (Kábdebo). Among the pretty engravings are scenes of the siege and battle. - Somewhat browned and (finger-)stained throughout; worming to blank margin near beginning; vellum on lower board and spine-end restored professionally. Sturminger 1971. Kábdebo II, 290. British Library (17th c. Italian books) I, 503. ICCU VEAE\001923. Graesse IV, 264.‎

‎Makin, Jirjis ibn al-'Amid (Georgius Elmacinus) / Vattier, Pierre (transl.).‎

‎L'histoire Mahometane, ou les quarante-neuf Chalifes du Macine divisez en trois livres [...]. Paris, Remy Soubret, 1657.‎

‎4to. (8), 9-44, 332 pp. - (Bound with) II: Ibn 'Arabshah, Ahmad ibn Muhammad / Vattier, Pierre (transl.). L'histoire du grand Tamerlan divisée en sept livres. Ibid., 1658. (24), 248, (4) pp. - (And) III: The same. Portrait du grand Tamerlan, avec la suite de son histoire iusques à l'establissement de l'Empire du Mogol. Paris, Vattier, Augustin Courbé & Jean Huart, 1658. (8), 146, (2). Contemporary vellum. All edges sprinkled in red. A milestone of French Arabist scholarship in the 17th century. I: First French edition of the "General History of the World" ("Kitab al-Magmu' al-mubarak") by Girgis al-Makin ibn al-'Amid, known in the Latin tradition as Georgius Elmacinus. Born in Cairo in 602 AH (1205 AD) to a Coptic civil servant in the War Ministry, he later served in a similar function in Syria. His chronicle had previously been translated into Latin (by Erpenius) and English (by Purchas); the work "for the first time provided wider circles in the west with an overview of Islamic history from its beginnings to the Crusades and acquainted them with the prime of the Baghdad Califate, previously almost unreceived, through an account ultimately based on Tabari" (cf. Fück). - II/III: First French translation (issued in two parts) of this important critical, at times even satirical eyewitness account of the life of Tamerlane (Timur Lenk), the great Turkish conqueror of the 14th century. "A frequently malicious account, in spite of the panegyrical form in which it is couched" (cf. GAL). Based on the original Arabic text written in 1437-38 by the Syrian author Ahmad lbn 'Arabshah who was secretary to Sultan Ahmad of Baghdad. In the late 16th century Timur was made famous in Europe through Christopher Marlowe's play "Tamburlaine" (published in 1590). The 17th century Western translations of Ibn Arabshah's work "for the first time acquainted the occident with a model of Arabic rhyming prose which also had the power to captivate the reader by its subject, as well as with the elaborate rhetorical style so characteristic of the literary taste of the Orient" (cf. Fück). Pierre Vattier (1623-67), physician to the Duke of Orleans, was the author of several treatises and translations on various aspects of Middle Eastern or Muslim culture. - Some browning and occasional inkstaining throughout. Top spine-end repaired. A good copy. The Macclesfield copy commanded £3,400 at Sotheby's in 2008. I: GAL I, 348. Schnurrer, p. 115, no. 155. Gay 3568. Fück 73. Aboussouan 449 ("1558" in error). OCLC 1811219. - II/III: GAL II, 29. Schnurrer, p. 137, no. 167. Fück 82. OCLC 29069177/29069426.‎

‎Mandelslo, Johann Albrecht von.‎

‎Morgenländische Reyse-Beschreibung. Hamburg, Christian Guth (printed by Johan Holwein, Schleswig), 1658.‎

‎Folio. (32), 248, (36) pp. With engraved frontispiece by Christian Rothgiesser, full-page engraved author's portrait, double-page engraved map, and 21 large engravings in text, mostly signed by Rothgiesser; woodcut initials and head- and tailpieces. Contemporary blind-ruled leather, remnants of ties. First complete German edition of an important and entertaining travel account by Johann Albrecht von Mandelslo, edited by Adam Olearius. Mandelslo was attached to the diplomatic mission of Frederick III, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, to Moscow and Persia. Frederick's aim was to negotiate a new trade route for Persian silk and to make his small duchy an important centre of European silk trade. After visiting Moscow, the mission continued along the Volga to Astrakhan and from there to Persia, crossing the Caspian Sea near Shamakhi. Via Ardabil, Qazvin and Kasan the party finally reached the capital, Isfahan. The ambassadors remained in Persia for several months (only to return without concrete results), but Mandelslo travelled further to the east. He sailed from Hormuz to Surat and proceeded through Gujarat to Agra, Lahore, Goa, Bijapur and Malaba, visiting Ceylon, Madagascar, the Cape of Good Hope and St. Helena on his return voyage in 1639. Before his death 5 years later, he had entrusted his rough notes to Olearius, who subsequently published them with a third part containing descriptions of the Coromandel coast, Bengal, Siam, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Bantam, the Philippines, Formosa (Tai-wan), China and Japan. Small contemporary owner's entry ("Jos[eph] Baudler"?). Some foxing and brownstaining; slight tears in lower margin of pp. 31 and 137. A very good copy of an important account of an embassy to Persia and further to the East. VD 17, 23:233226D. Lipperheide Ld 1. Adelung II, pp. 306-308. Alt-Japan-Katalog 943. Bircher A 6927f. Cordier, Japonica, cols. 362-368. Cox I, 271f. Dünnhaupt, pp. 293-294, 30.1. V. Gelder, Het Oost-Indisch avontuur, pp. 77, 99, 263. Howgego I M38. Commissariat, "Mandelslo's Travels in Western India", in: The Geographical Journal, 78 (1931), pp. 375ff.‎

‎Markham, Gervase.‎

‎Markham's Maister-Peece, Containing all Knowledge Belonging to the Smith, Farrier, or Horse-Leech, Touching the Curing of all Diseases in Horses [...] Now the seventh time newly imprinted, corrected and augmented [...]. London, William Wilson, 1651.‎

‎4to. (14), 591, (23) pp, final blank. With additional engr. title page (frontispiece), 4 full-page text woodcuts (2 folding) and several smaller woodcuts in the text, as well as 1 folding woodcut plate, latterly backed with cloth. Sumptuous mid-19th-century three quarter morocco binding with gilt spine. Extremely rare and early edition of this great English hippiatric manual, first published in 1615, by one of the earliest Western owners of and dealers in Arabian horses. A distinctly modern touch is provided by the small woodcut pointing hands scattered about the margins, denoting new cures and "medicines that are most certaine and approved; and heretofore never published". Gervase (Gervais, Jarvis) Markham, as well as his father Robert, a Nottinghamshire MP and Sheriff, was the owner of valuable horses, and "is said to have imported the first Arab. In a list of Sir Henry Sidney's horses in 1589 'Pied Markham' is entered as having been sold to the French ambassador [and it, or a horse of the same name, may have been given to Markham by Sir Francis Walsingham], and Gervase sold an Arabian horse to James I for £500" (DNB). - Variously browned; occasional corner faults (no loss to text). From the library of Sir Robert Throckmorton, Bt. (1800-62), member of an eminent Anglo-Catholic noble family who sat in the House of Commons from 1831 to 1835 (his bookplate on front pastedown; a later bookplate is opposite on the flyleaf). Wing M659. Poynter 20.7. Wellcome IV, 56 (incomplete). Cf. Mennessier de la Lance II, 156. Huth p. 17 (other editions).‎

‎[Martin, F(redrick) R(obert)].‎

‎Morgenländische Stoffe in der Sammlung F. R. Martin. Stockholm, Gustaf Chelius, 1897.‎

‎Folio (280 x 374 mm). 12 pp. With 15 phototypes. Printed original boards. Fine, beautifully illustrated and extensively annotated catalogue of Martin's collection of Islamic textiles, including the fragment of a 19th century Kiswah: the elaborately embroidered cloth curtain that covers the Kaaba in Mecca, replaced every year. Translated from Swedish by C. O. Nordgren. A perfect copy. Rare. OCLC 9140858.‎

‎Mayr, (Heinrich von) / Fischer, Sebastian.‎

‎Genre-Bilder aus dem Oriente. Gesammelt auf der Reise seiner Königlichen Hoheit des Herrn Herzog Maximilian in Bayern. [Stuttgart, Ebner, 1846].‎

‎Folio (490 x 375 mm). (2), 70 pp. With lithographed title-page and 48 lithogr. plates. Contemporary giltstamped half calf. Rare, elaborately produced publication about Maximilian's journey to Egypt, Nubia, Palestine, Syria, and Malta, on which he was accompanied by the artist Heinrich Mayr. The harem and market scenes are obviously indebted to the French orientalist tradition; several plates show details of architecture, costumes, camel and horse care, etc. They are not identical with the better known plates in Mayr's earlier "Malerische Ansichten aus dem Orient" (Leipzig 1839). - Spine professionally rebacked. Foxing throughout, mainly confined to the plates' margins. Blackmer 1101 (French ed.). Ibrahim-Hilmy II, 26. Tobler 161. Rohricht 1871. Lipperheide Ma 28 (French ed.). Thieme/B. 477 (citing 36 plates only). Kainbacher 299, 2 ("RR").‎

‎Mildenhall, John / Cartwright, John; [Purchas, Samuel (ed.)].‎

‎Oost-Indise voyagien van Johan Mildenhal, en Johan Cartwright, onder veel avontuuren en opmerkelijke waarnemingen, (in de jaren 1599 en 1606) te water en te lande, gedaan na de landen van Persien en den Grooten Mogol. Leiden, Pieter van der Aa, 1706.‎

‎8vo. (2), 54, (6) pp. With engraved title vignette, folding engr. map of Persia and northern Arabia, and 2 double-page-sized engraved plates. Papered spine. First Dutch translation of "The travailes of John Mildenhall" and "Observations of Master John Cartwright" (from "Purchas his Pilgrimes", London, 1625, vol. 1, bk. 3, pp. 114-116, and vol. 2, pp. 1422-1437). The merchant adventurer John Mildenhall, "probably the first Englishman to travel overland to India" (Howgego I, 719), spent six months in Constantinople before, in July 1600, departing for Aleppo, proceeding to Bir, Urfa, Diabekr, Sultanieh, Qazvin, and ultimately Lahore. He returned to England in 1605/06. The English preacher John Cartwright accompanied him from Aleppo to Kashan in Persia, then proceeded to Esfahan alone "and travelled widely in the Middle East. The account of his journeys is one of the most valuable of the period" (Howgego I, 197). Tiele 5. Muller (Books, maps, plates on America) 1890f. Alden 707/2. J. C. Brown cat. III, 88. OCLC 746499809, 69110890.‎

‎Mittwoch, Eugen.‎

‎Proelia Arabum paganorum (Ajjâm al 'Arab) quomodo litteris tradita sint. Berlin, Mayer & Müller, 1899.‎

‎4to. 44, (4) pp., interleaved throughout. Contemporary marbled half cloth with giltstamped spine label. Dissertation of Eugen Mittwoch (1876-1942), the groundbreaking German scholar who is considered one of the founders of modern Islamic Studies, about the chronicles of the Arabic wars. This constitutes the author's first academic foray into Arabic studies. - Old ink library shelfmark on verso of title page, otherwise fine. NDB XVII, 591. NYPL Arabia coll. 32. Cf. GAL S I, 162.‎

‎Mohammed Ben Youssef, first king of independent Morocco (1911-1961).‎

‎Autograph Quotation signed ("Mohammed ben Youssef"). In French and Arabic. [Paris]., 12 Aug. 1931.‎

‎Folio. 1 page. On uncut wove paper, bearing the Schoellers-Parole blind embossed seal, margins uncut. The original autograph contribution of Sultan Mohammed V 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 Prophet of God, may He be blessed by God, said 'War is sleeping. May he be cursed who awakens it'. [Signed] Mohammand ben Youssef]". Mohammed V was chosen by the French regime as Sultan of Morocco, but secretly collaborated with the underground nationalist movement in his country, stirring deep and violent tensions with the French government. In 1953 he was deposed, but refused to formally abdicate and was exiled to Madagascar for 3 years. In 1955 he returned in triumph to a new, independent Morocco and took office once again as chief of state. 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.‎

‎[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.‎

‎Morse, Edward George.‎

‎"A Journal of Remarks and Observations as Kept by E[dward] G[eorge M[orse]. Remarks on board the Sarah Barque of London" [Journal of a Voyage to Seychelles, Madagascar, Mauritius, St Helena and Ascension Island on board the Barque "Sarah" out of London]. Mostly at sea, on board the barque "Sarah" of London, April 1831-14 March 1833 (with additions to 1835).‎

‎4to (195 x 165 mm). (191) ff., including paste-downs and about 55 blanks. The journal with an engraved view as frontispiece, 15 full-page, 1 nearly full-page and 1 smaller manuscript maps and coastal profiles, plus a small engraved view mounted on 1 page. The lecture notes with a matching pair of engravings of a scull on and facing the title-page, and 27 pencil and/or ink anatomical drawings (including 2 full-page), some also with red. - Including: [Anatomical manuscript]. Morse, Edward George. Lecture Book [notes on anatomical lectures by Joseph Constantine Carpue]. [London], November-December 1828. Contemp, sheepskin parchment. A manuscript ship's journal kept by Edward George Morse (Bromyard 1805?-Deal post 1850?), who no doubt served, among other functions, as the ship's surgeon. Morse reflects on Arabian navigation and Arabian explorers, including the deservedly famous Ibn Battuta. "The Arabians like the Chinese are said to have employed the compass to guide them through the trackless sands of the desert or to enable them at the hours of prayer to direct their faces with precision towards the city of Mecca and tomb of the prophet. In the sixteenth century moreover when the Portuguese first visited the Indian seas they found that the Arabians are the chief navigators of those seas [...]". - Morse made his earliest dated entries in April 1831 at the island Mauritius in the Indian Ocean and others at Madagascar and its surrounding islands from May to August 1831. Those around Madagascar indicate he was on the barque Manchester, but from at least 11 December 1831 to his arrival back in England on 14 March 1833 he was on the barque Sarah, a 600 ton ship sailing out of London. In it he spent a year in the Seychelles 11 December 1831-15 December 1832, including Make Island, Bird Island, Praslin Island and La Digue. - In very good condition. The binding is soiled and rubbed, and the boards slightly warped, but it remains structurally sound. A fascinating and unusual ship's journal with numerous maps, kept in the unused leaves of the author's illustrated anatomical lecture notes of a few years earlier.‎

‎Murphy, C[harles] C[ecil] R[owe].‎

‎Soldiers of the Prophet. London, John Hogg, 1921.‎

‎8vo. 233, (1) pp. Giltstamped green half calf. Top edge gilt. Only edition. First-hand account of military and intelligence operations in the Gulf area prior to and during World War I, including chapters on "The Arab Revolt in Kermak", "The Rebellion in Oman", "The Persian Gulf in 1913-14", etc. Lt.-Colonel C. C. R. Murphy, 30th Punjabis, from the Suffolk Regiment, wrote several works of military history. - Slight browning; minor chipping to top edge near beginning of volume. OCLC 13460560. Not in Macro, Bibliography of the Arabian Peninsula.‎

‎Mustafa Ibn Yusuf al-Bursawi.‎

‎Kitab Khuwguha Zada. N. p., [1540 CE] = 948 H.‎

‎8vo (18,4 x 12,6 cm). 14 ff., riq'a script, 17 lines on a page, black ink, text markers (Qala-aqulu) in red ink. Dark brown, half-leather binding. "Gloss on a Philosophical Work" by Mustafa Ibn Yusuf al-Bursawi, a Turkish theologian. He also wrote an important refutation on Ibn Rushd (Averroes) and his "Tahafut al-Tahafut". Greek philosophy had entered the Islamic society through the adoption of the neo-platonic worldview by the great philosophers of Muslim Spain. - Minor worming (not affecting text), some glosses near beginning; ff. 5-10 loose.‎

‎Najjar, Husayn Fawzi.‎

‎Ahmad Lutfi al-Sayyid. Ustadh al-Jil. [Cairo], al-Dar al-Misriyah lil-Talif wa-al-Tarjamah, [1965].‎

‎301 pp. Original wrappers. Ahmad Lutfi al-Sayyid (1872-1963) was a leading spokesman for Egyptian modernism in the first half of the 20th century. Throughout his career he held a number of political and nonpolitical positions, including several academic posts. Owing to his career in education and his influence upon young Egyptians, he came to be known as Ustadh al-Jil (“Educator of the Generation”). - With ms. notes. Covers a little worn, otherwise in excellent condition. OCLC 18299627.‎

‎Niebuhr, Carsten.‎

‎Reize naar Arabië en andere omliggende landen. Amsterdam & Utrecht, (J. J. Besseling for) S. J. Baalde / J. van Schoonhoven & Co. (I) / Bartolomé Wild (II), 1776-1780.‎

‎4to (285 x 233 mm). 2 vols. VIII, (6), 484, (2) pp. (16), 455, (1) pp. With engraved vignette by N. van der Meer to each title-page, 94 plates (30 folding, 64 full-page), and 31 maps and plans (7 folding, 24 full-page, of which the folding map of Yemen handcoloured in outline), engraved by C. Philips, Th. and C. H. de Koning, C. J. de Huyser, C. F. Fritsch, O. de Vries and others. 19th-century half calf. Untrimmed. First Dutch translation of this important and famous account of the Royal Danish Expedition (1761-67) to the Middle East, Egypt, Persia and India, the first scientific expedition to this area. The original German edition was published in Copenhagen in 1744-1778 under the title "Reisebeschreibung nach Arabien und anderen umliegenden Ländern". - ''In volume II, p. 317 he [Niebuhr] begins his description of the journey from Beit el Fakih in the coffee mountains. This is accompanied by three engravings'' (Hünersdorff). There are some 40 other references to coffee in this work, including the journey from Sana'a to Mocha. The plates, the same as used for the first German language edition, include many views of cities, antiquities and statues, natives in traditional dress, hieroglyphs, Arabic script, musical instruments, a reception with the Iman of Sana'a (Yemen), and views of the mosque in Meshed Ali. The 31 maps and plans are of Constantinople, the Nile, Jeddah in the province of Mecca, Bombay, the palace of Persepolis, Muscat, the Arabian ("Persian") Gulf, Baghdad, Mosul, etc. Niebuhr's map of Yemen, the first exact map of the area ever, remained the standard for the next 200 years. - "The expedition had been proposed by the Hebrew scholar Johann David Michäelis of Göttingen for the purpose of illustrating certain passages of the Old Testament, and initially envisaged only a single traveller, possible an Arabic scholar. However, the idea rapidly blossomed into a fully-fledged scientific expedition. The team eventually assembled, for which there was no appointed leader, included Niebuhr as surveyor, along with Friedrich Christian von Haven, Peter Forskall, Christian Carl Kramer, Georg Baurenfeind, and a Swedish ex-soldier named Berggren" (Howgego). Carsten Niebuhr (1733-1815) was the sole survivor, and his work represents an important contribution to the study of the Middle East. - Bindings used. Large-margined copy of this famous account of the Middle East, Egypt, Persia, and India in fine condition. Howgego I, N24. Hünersdorff, Coffee, p. 1081. Van Hulthem 15024. Nyon 21018. Tiele, Bibl. 796. Cf. Atabey 873-874. Cox I, pp. 237-238. Gay, Bibl. de l'Afrique et Arabe 3589. Macro, Bibliography of the Arabian Peninsula, 1700. Carter, Robert A. Sea of Pearls, p. 116. Not in Atabey or Blackmer.‎