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Saudi Arabia - Mineral Investigations.
Mineral Investigations Maps. Jeddah, Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources [Mudiriyah al-'Ammah lil-Tharwah al-Ma'diniyah], 1966-1967 and 1969.
Collection of 14 maps (nos. MI 1-13 and MI 18). Mostly in full colour; various sizes but mostly ca. 70 x 100 cm; scale mostly 1:100,000 (MI 3: 1:250,000; MI 6: 1:2,470 [b&w]; MI 7: ca. 1:1,600 [b&w with red overlays]; MI 8: 1:800 [b&w with red overlays]; MI 9: set of 2 maps [ca. 1:2,340 and 1:1,200] and 1 cross-section [all b&w, maps with red overlays]). All folded in original brown printed envelopes. 14 maps of the 25-map series published between 1966 and 1971, including the complete set of the first 13 maps. Many photomaps based on aerial reconaissance and photomosaics, showing geological or geochemical information. Some sheets include location diagrams, text, notes, cross sections, charts, index map, and insets. The mapped resources also concern ancient gold mines. Among the credited cartographers are some Arabian scientists, but mainly Americans: James Mytton, Robert F. Johnson, Virgil A. Trent, C. W. Smith, J. Kouther, M. Q. Asad, Gerrit Eijkelboom, Mohammed Gendi, Bernard Henry, Xavier Leca, Mohammed Shanti, Phillippe Delange, and Jean Pflaum. Abdullah O. Ankary contributed to the text of several maps, and much of the geology is based on work done in the 1950s and early 1960s by Glen F. Brown, one of the pioneers of the partnership between the U.S. Geological Survey and the Saudi government which began in the 1940s, spanned the next five decades and played such an important role in the development of the kingdom. The map and envelope design closely match that of the geological maps of Saudi Arabia issued by the USGS since the 1950s. - Perfectly preserved. OCLC 977893902.
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Schlegel, Hermann / Verster van Wulverhorst, Abraham Henrik.
Traité de Fauconnerie. Leiden & Düsseldorf, Arnz & Co., 1844-1853.
Folio (556 x 735 mm). (6), VI, 90 pp. Tinted lithographed title with a pictorial border comprising 11 scenes of hawking by J. B. Sonderland, 2 hand-coloured lithographed plates of falconry equipment by Portman and von Wouw, and 10 (of 12) hand-coloured lithographed plates of hawks by Wendel after Joseph Wolf (8 of which mounted on board). Stored loosely in original cloth-backed printed boards. First edition of "the finest work on falconry that has ever been produced; not only on account of the beauty of the plates, wherein the hawks are depicted life-size and of the natural colours, but also for the general accuracy of the letterpress" (Harting). Schwerdt concurs that "the life size illustrations of birds are by far the finest ever produced in any book on falconry. It is impossible to describe the mellowness and beauty of the colourings." The "Traité de fauconnerie" is the rarest, most beautiful and most desirable book on falconry ever published. According to the exhibition catalogue documenting the falconry books in the Dutch Royal Library (The Hague, 1993), probably no more than 100 copies were printed, of which no more than 50 can be located today. - Covers of portfolio somewhat rubbed and stained; spine cloth and extremeties professionally restored. Some foxing and browning to plates; several marginal tears and chips professionally repaired and rebacked. Lacking 2 lithographed hawking scenes by J. Dillmann after Sonderland. Still an attractive set, uncommonly encountered in the original portfolio as issued. Harting 194. Schwerdt II, 150. Thiebaud 833. Nissen IVB 832. Fine Bird Books, p. 105. Zimmer p. 554.
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Sourbets, Georges / Saint-Marc, Camille de.
Précis de Fauconnerie [...] suivi de l'Éducation du Cormoran. Niort, L. Clouzot, 1887.
8vo. Half-title and title, (4), 123, (1) pp. With 4 lithographed plates. Contemporary red morocco-backed cloth. One of 150 copies, rare. "A neat summary of nearly all that is necessary to be known in order to tame, train, and fly a hawk successfully" (Harting). - Cloth rubbed, a very good copy. Harting 217. Schwerdt II, 168.
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Thou, Jacques-Auguste de.
Il Falconiere. Venice, Giambatista Albrizzi, 1735.
4to. 2 parts in one volume. (34), 50, (18), 223 pp. With engraved frontispiece, title vignette, portrait, and 9 vignettes. Contemporary vellum. Author's presentation copy, later in the Harting library. First Italian edition, including the Latin original and another instructional poem by P. A. Bargeo. "First and best Italian edition of de Thou's famous Latin poem on hawking with an Italian translation" (Schwerdt). - The famous statesman and bibliophile J. A. de Thou (1553-1617) was a great enthusiast of falconry. His poem, in hexameters, is based on his own observations; it was written during the author's travels through France, Italy, and Germany. Among the nine engraved vignettes are four large falconry-themed headpieces. The portrait shows Cardinal de Beauveau (engraved by R. Pozzi after A. David). Finely printed in two columns on untrimmed laid papier. - Provenance: James Edmund Harting (engraved armorial bookplate to front pastedown), "ex dono Auctoris" (contemporary ink inscription to first title). - Some waterstaining and foxing. Harting 284. Schwerdt p. 261. Thiébaud 898 ("Belle édition").
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[View - Optics - Mecca].
Vue du Port et de la Ville de Lamekk dans Larabie heureuse a 5 lieues de la Mer Rouge. [Paris, Louis Mondhare, 1750].
Optica-print view of Mecca on laid paper (32 x 46 cm), with some parts highlighted in contemporary hand colour. An imaginary view of the port of Mecca, showing the supposed harbour connected to the Red Sea, published by Louis Mondhare, a well-known publisher of so-called optica prints. The print, meant for viewing through a "zograscope" - a viewer with a large lens and mirror giving an illusion of depth - emphasizes perspective and shows the straight lines characteristic of optica prints. In good condition, crudely hand-coloured.
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Whigham, H[enry] J[ames].
The Persian Problem. An examination of the rival positions of Russia and Great Britain in Persia with some account of the Persian Gulf and Bagdad Railway. London, Isbister and Co., 1903.
8vo. XVI, 424 pp. Folding map frontispiece and 2 full-page maps to the text, 2 as plates, 23 plates. Original sand buckram, title gilt to spine and upper board, top edge gilt, others uncut. First and only edition. Important regional study of the Arabian Gulf, published in response to the grant of the Baghdad Railway concession by the Ottoman Government to a German-backed consortium. Assesses the economic, military and political implications of rival claims in the various states of the area. - Whigham was a well-connected Scottish author who emigrated to America and worked as drama critic on the Chicago Tribune, and as a war correspondent at the Spanish-American and Russo-Japanese Wars. A close friend and correspondent of British Persian Gulf opinion-makers Lord Curzon and Sir Percy Cox, Whigham wrote the book, based on his extensive travels in the region, at the request of Lord Curzon, who had "advised [him] to go to the Gulf [and] instructed his subordinate officials in that part of the world to give me all the assistance in their power." Whigham is probably best remembered as a prominent amateur golfer, winner of the second and third US Amateur Championships, and author of "How to play Golf", the first golf instruction manual illustrated from action photographs. - Ink ownership stamp of Charles C. Sterrett, an American Presbyterian missionary to the Christian population in the region, to the front pastedown. Binding a little rubbed and spotted, endpapers foxed. Small inked library stamp and cancellation to the title page, otherwise very good. Diba Collection 1978, 227. Wilson 243. OCLC 2987283.
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[Air Ministry].
The Approach Towards a System of Imperial Air Communications. Memorandum by the Secretary of State of Air, laid before the Imperial Conference, 1926, together with the Report of the Imperial Air Communications Special Sub-Committee. London, HMSO, 1926.
Folio (212 x 333 mm). (2), XIII, 91 pp. With 29 full-page plates (of which 20 folding) including dozens of coloured maps, as well as a very large folding "Map of the world showing existing and proposed air transport routes" housed in a custom pocket on the inside rear board, as issued. Original printed grey boards with blue cloth spine. Sole edition of this large-format, pivotal early document in the development of international air travel - complete with all 29 plates and the often-lacking loose map. The principal concern of the British during this period was accelerating air transport between the vast reaches of their empire - and chief among these was the lengthy journey to India, via the Middle East. As noted on p. 5, the maximum range of commercial aircraft in 1926 was a mere 400 miles; perhaps partly for this reason, the existing and proposed air routes include numerous stops for refueling in the oil-rich regions of Syria, Iraq, and Iran. - The stated aim of the Air Ministry was in fact to reduce the journey to India to just 5 days (p. VI), and although bold proposals are put forward and illustrated for giant "airships" with a range of 4,000 miles, the then-current technology limited aircraft to a designated route along the northern coast of the Arabian Gulf. Facing the challenge of "the extreme heat and the height of the Arabian Plateau, both of which tend to reduce the load with which an aeroplane can rise from the ground" (p. 9), the route is amply illustrated on numerous folding maps, from Cairo via Gaza, Rutbah Wells (Iraq), Baghdad, Basra, Bushire, Bandar Abbas, Chahbari, Pasni, Karachi, Hyderabad, etc. - Other chapters cover fascinating proposals for "major air routes" between Ottawa, London, and Kingston, Jamaica; "the use of wireless in air traffic communications" (p. 62); early air routes in Australia and the United States; and so on. The plates include designs for proposed experimental "airships"; photographs of early airports, and maps of meterological phenomena. Particularly interesting is the "Map Showing Areas in Which Main Imperial Airship Routes Will Probably Develop" (facing p. 74), which indicates that alongside the Transatlantic route, the coasts of the Arabian Gulf (but not the interior) as well as the coasts of Africa will be the next targets of development.
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Fourier, Charles / Dain, Charles.
De l’Abolition de l’Esclavage [...]. (Extrait de La Phalange, Journal de l’École Sociétaire). Paris, au Bureau de la Phalange, 1836.
8vo. (4), 54 pp, (1 integral blank leaf). Purple wrappers. Extremely rare sole edition of these definitive statements on slavery by both Fourier and his disciple, the Guadeloupe-born créole lawyer Charles Dain. Both Fourier’s article (“Remède aux Divers Esclavages”, pp. 43-54) and Dain’s “De l’Abolition de l’Esclavage” had also appeared in the impossibly rare "Première Serie" of the journal La Phalange (1836-40). Giving up his legal career in Paris, Dain (1812-72) turned to Fourier and the proto-Communists and was elected Representative for Guadeloupe by the newly-emancipated slaves there in 1848. - “Charles Fourier denounced British apprenticeship [an intermediate solution for emancipated slaves] and the compensation for slave owners embedded in the parliamentary emancipation bill of 1833: ‘And the fruit of this gigantic donation? Nothing other than a vicious circle, as we see in England, where […] one finds […] legions of poor, both theoretical and real” (Jennings, French Anti-Slavery, p. 44). “As far as the indemnity was concerned, Fourier opposed the need for it from the very first words of his [Remède aux Divers Esclavages]. He believed it was madness to spend millions on freeing the slaves, as the English government had done and as the anglophiles among the French advocated […] On the other hand, for Fourier, slavery was the same kind of problem as poverty […] The cause was the excessive fragmentation of landholdings which prevented small landowners from supporting the costs needed to work the land productively” (Simona Pisanelli, Economic Thought and Institutional Change in France, p. 69). - Fourier (1772-1837) and Dain thus believed in a ‘gradualistic’ approach to emancipation and considered slavery as just one of many ‘servitudes’ inflicted upon humanity by corrupt and immoral social strictures. Here, Dain comments that “what we especially call slavery is only the culminating and pivotal point where all of the suffering of society comes together”. These concepts ultimately made their way to America, influencing Albert Brisbane and the American Associationists (cf. Guarnerip, The Utopian Alternative: Fourierism in 19th-Century America, pp. 252f.). - OCLC shows just a handful of copies worldwide, including just one in the US – at the George Washington University Law Library (an apparently physical copy noted on OCLC with 26 holdings is in fact a digital reproduction). As noted above, examples of the Première Serie of La Phalange (1836-40) are of the utmost rarity (we can find no copies in auction records of the last 50 years). - The present copy sounds very similar to (and may well be) the copy sold at Pierre Bergé in 2013 for €1,180 (“la plaquette est rare. Exemplaire en partie debroche, manques de papier au dos”). - Traces of old block-stitching in the gutter; pages clean and fresh. A good copy. Goldsmiths' Library of Economic Literature II, 29695. Cf also Schmidt, Abolitionnistes de l'esclavage et réformateurs des colonies: 1820-1851, p. 199; Andrews, “Breaking the Ties: French Romantic Socialism and the Critique of Liberal Slave Emancipation”, The Journal of Modern History 85 (2013), pp. 489-527.
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Abbondanza, Vincenzo.
Dizionario storico delle vite di tutti i monarchi ottomani [...]. Rome, Luigi Vescovi & Filippo Neri, 1786.
Large 4to (ca. 210 x 273 mm). XXXII, 392 pp. Unsophisticated modern full calf. Only edition of this rare work on the history of the Ottoman Empire. Includes biographical entries for sultans and other leading figures, topographical references, as well as architectural and religious entries. - Occasionally, illustrated copies containing a frontispiece, plates, plans and maps have been known to appear, but these do not seem to form part of the regular issue but rather were inserted in specially prepared copies, and "neither the British Library nor the Gennadius copies have them" (Atabey). - An untrimmed, wide-margined copy, occasionally a little stained but altogether well preserved, with a 19th century armorial stamp to the title-page. Atabey 2 (extra-illustrated copy). OCLC 35682561. Not in Blackmer.
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['Abd Allah 'Abd al-Ghani Khayyat].
The five Pillars of Islam (Ministry Of Hajj and Wakf Publications Saudi Arabia 4). [Mecca?], Ministry of Hajj and Wakf, [1964 CE] = 1384 H.
8vo. 102, 2 blank, (8) pp. With 9 photographic prints, included in pagination. Original printed wrappers with a coloured illustration of the Kaaba on the lower cover. An explanatory pamphlet aiming to "enlighten and guide every Muslim pilgrim about the sacred message of Islam and the rules of Hajj". The five pillars are laid out in 14 chapters, including instructions for pilgrimage, prayer, almsgiving and fasting. With a portrait of Sheikh Abdullah Khayyat. The other illustrations show Al Tan'eem near the Mosque of A'isha, a pilgrims' camp at the Al Rahma Mountain of Arafat, a view of the Taraf around the Kaaba, as well as the Al Khaif Mosque in Mona, the ritual "stoning the devil" at Al Aqaba, the Al Safa Palace before its enlargement, a view of the mosque, water and electrical stations at Muzdlifa, and the Mosque of the Prophet in Medina before the beginning of the Saudi rule in 1925. - Slightly duststained. A good copy of this compact introduction to Islamic faith, traceable in a mere 5 libraries worldwide, only one of which in Europe (Leiden University Library). OCLC 80175743.
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Abdurrahman b. Abdullah Bagdadî Efendi.
Tercüme-i seyahatnâme-i Brezilya. Istanbul, Matbaa-yi Âmire, [1871 CE =] 1288 H.
8vo. 44 pp. Ottoman Turkish in Arabic type. Original red printed wrappers. First and only edition. - A rare copy of what likely is the only extant written record of the situation of Muslims in Brazil in the 19th century, a minority formed mostly by former African slaves and their descendants. Abdurrahman was a crew member of one of two Ottoman warships thrown off their course to Basra by a storm on the Atlantic near Cape Verde, which dragged them in the opposite direction, to Rio de Janeiro. While his companions continued their voyage to the Arabian Gulf, Abdurrahman remained in Brazil, and his account focuses entirely on his religious work there. He describes the lessons he gave and a Portuguese booklet he prepared to outline the basics of Islam, which was memorized by most of his students, and he criticizes their way of life, including their former religions, their practice of fasting in the month of Saban instead of Ramadan, and the frequent baptism of Muslim children. The book includes geographical descriptions of Brazil and Rio de Janeiro and mentions tropical fruits unfamiliar to the author, who finishes with the route he took home to Istanbul a few years later, including stops at Lisbon, Cordoba, Tangier, Mecca, and Damascus. - While it discusses the voyage to the New World only briefly, this is in fact the second of two known accounts of the first voyage ever made to the American continent by the Ottoman navy, published only three years after the other travelogue (by Faik Bey). Abdurrahman wrote his account in Arabic and had it translated into Ottoman Turkish by Antepli Mehmed Serif. - A small waqf stamp to the final page. Covers slightly faded, else very good. Several copies in libraries worldwide, mostly in the United States, but none in auction records. Özege 20671. Baysal, Osmanli türklerinin bastiklari kitaplar, 2641. OCLC 68231927. Cf. Snowden, Accidental Turks in Brazil and Beyond. Kabacali, Gezi edebiyati seçkisi (2004).
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Abu-Lughod, Ibrahim.
Arab Rediscovery of Europe: A Study in Cultural Encounters. (Oriental Studies Series, 22). Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press, 1963.
4to. X, 188 pp. Publisher's cloth. Dustjacket. Traces Arab awareness of the West, which began in embryonic form when the French forces under Napoleon occupied Egypt in 1798. Examines the works of Arab writers who helped to formulate a new image of the West and to shape Arab response to the challenge raised by cultural contact between disparate worlds. Treats developments up to 1870. - Excellent copy in very good price-clipped dustjacket.
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Amin, Camron Michael / Fortna, Benjamin C. / Frierson, Elizabeth (eds.).
The Modern Middle East. A Sourcebook for History. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2006.
4to. XL, 657, (1) pp. 3 blank ff. With several illustrations and maps in the text. Publisher's cloth. Dustjacket. A compilation of translated sources covering the period from 1700 to the present. Sources include official and private archives, the periodical press, memoirs, Western journalists and travellers' accounts, literature, and official reports (including statistical data). Each document has been prefaced, translated and annotated by a specialist in the history and culture from which it was drawn. Enough information is provided so that every student can appreciate the value of a document and begin further exploration either of its historical context or its relationship to broader themes in modern Middle Eastern history. Themes include expansion of state power, changing gender roles, religious revival, nationalist mobilization, increasing participation in a wider global culture and economy, and the redefinition of traditions and identities. - With publisher's dustjacket. In excellent condition.
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Arnold, Thomas Walter.
The Caliphate. London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1967.
4to. 267, (1) pp. Publisher's cloth. Dustjacket. First published in 1924, during Arnold's professorship for Arabic and Islamic Studies at the School of Oriental Studies at the London University, a position he assumed after teaching in Aligarh, Lahore and Punjab for several years, as well as acting as Adviser to the Secretary of State for India from 1917 to 1920. The 1967 re-edition includes an additional chapter by the historian and editor of the academic journal "Middle Eastern Studies", Sylvia Haim: "The abolition of the Caliphate and its aftermath". - Small nick to lower edge of top cover, else very good in edge-worn and slightly scuffed dustjacket.
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Brégeon, Jean-Joel.
L'Egypte francaise au jour le jour 1798-1801. Paris, Perrin, 1991.
4to. 409, (1 blank), (16), 427-442, (3), (1 blank) pp. With numerous illustrations. Paperback. First edition. - Meticulous work by the French historian Brégeon, whose research focuses mostly on the French Revolution and the Napoleonic era, especially on the campaign in Egypt. The 1911 article "Les Graffiti de l'Expédition" by the Egyptologist Georges Legrain, who contributed to the first volume of Jacques de Morgan's "Catalogue des Monuments et Inscriptions de l’Egypte" (1894) by discussing graffiti in the area of Aswan, comprises the 16 unnumbered pages; pagination continues at 427. - Signs of use, but a very good, firm copy.
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Durand, Algernon [George Arnold].
The Making of a Frontier. Five Years Experiences and Adventures in Gilgit, Hunza, Nagar, Chitral, and the Eastern Hindu-Kush. London, John Murray, 1899.
8vo. XVI, 298 pp., (4) pp. of ads. With the author's photo portrait frontispiece, 35 plates, and a folding colour map. Publisher's gilt blue cloth. First edition. "The book is a plain and unvarnished tale of the experiences of a frontier officer in times of peace as well as in those of war" (preface, p. IX). - Algernon Durand (1854-1923) was military secretary to the Viceroy of India and one of the earliest members of the Central Asian Society. He "found his métier as a soldier when he was appointed to command the troops in the brilliant little Hunza Nagar campaign in 1891, when he was wounded. He was then district commander at Gilgit. His [...] much read book, 'The Making of a Frontier', [...] is just a thrilling tale of happenings in that remote corner of the Empire at that time. He possessed the family gift or writing a clear and graphic account of his experiences, and it may be doubted whether any book written since is of greater value in describing the singularly wild nature of the country and people with whom he had to deal" (Obituary, JRCAS 11 [1924], p. 114). - Binding somewhat rubbed. Light brownstaining throughout; a faint waterstain to the portrait; inner hinges professionally repaired. Untrimmed copy with blindstamped presentation by the publisher on title-page. With accurate pencil underlinings and French annotations throughout, as well as numerous additions to the index, expanding the number of references to "Slave trade" from two to ten. - Provenance: ink ownership of the British officer H[enry] L[indsay] Archer Houblon (1877-1954), dated May 1904, to pastedown; somewhat later ownership "Fremont" on first blank. OCLC 8454039.
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Fleurat, Georges Constantin Louis, French diplomat (1767-1837).
Document signed ("G. C. Fleurat" and "Kieffer"). [Istanbul], 28 Vendémiaire XI [20 Oct. 1802].
4to. 1 p. on bifolium. A unique account documenting the restoration of Turko-French relations after Napoleon's campaign in Egypt and Syria between 1798 and 1801, describing how several unspecified objects confiscated during the campaign were returned by the Ottoman press to the French. Fleurat, who served as chancelier provisoire to the French legation, here reports that he was accompanied by the orientalist and linguist Jean-Daniel Kieffer (1767-1833), who counter-signs the document, to the Aynalikavak palace in Istanbul. Here they were handed over the items by Müderris Abdurrahman Efendi, the first manager of the Mühendishane printing house (opened in Istanbul in 1797, the house that would publish the famous Cedid Atlas in 1803). The objects, Fleurat reports, were then transported to the French embassy for safekeeping. His account also mentions that the diplomat Jacques Argyropoulo, appointed by Ibrahim (Müteferrika) Effendi, the pioneer of printing in the Muslim world, was present at the handover, and refers to a list of the received objects which has probably not survived. - From the collection of the Turkish author, journalist, and publisher Sevket Rado (1913-88), founder of "Tifdruk" printing house. - Small tears to the left and right margins along the centrefold, not touching the text; a few minor edge flaws.
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Galib, Mehmed Esad Sheikh.
Divan-i Seyh Galib kuddesu sirreh. Ibtida-i gazeliyyât - Hüsn-ü âsk. Bulaq (Cairo), Bulaq Matbaasi, [1836 CE =] 1252 H.
4to. 120 (instead of 124), 164, 92 pp. Ottoman Turkish in Arabic type. Contemporary blindstamped full calf with fore-edge flap. First edition. - A miscellancy of the two principal works of the classical Turkish Mevlevi poet known as Sheikh Galib. As merely 506 copies were published, it can be considered the rarest divan book produced by the Bulaq printing house, the first official and governmental printing press in Egypt, founded in 1820. The "Divan" reflects Galib's preoccupation with mystical religious themes, his poems being characterized by highly symbolic language, complex conceits and wordplay, while his magnum opus, the allegorical mathnawi "Hüsn ü Ask" ("Beauty and Love"), consists of 2101 verses with a strong Sufi theme. It tells the tale of two lovers, Hüsn and Ask, and the tribulations imposed on Ask by the elders of their clan, in order to be granted Hüsn's hand in marriage. All names used in the story, including those of characters and places, are Sufi terms. The story is ripe with symbolism and is meant to be taken not literally but for its symbolic meaning: man's journey towards God. - Wants bifolium 10 (pp. 37-40) of the Divan. Vertical crack to spine, heavily rubbed at lower edge, binding loosened in places. Internally well preserved. - A pioneering work of symbolism in Turkish literature. Özege 4233. Bulaq, The Checklist 47. BM 14472, e.29. Cairo FKT 143. DornCO 196. Bulaq MK 9,9. Bianchi CG 49. Ridwan 467.
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Gran, Peter.
Islamic Roots of Capitalism. Egypt, 1760-1840. Foreword by Afifi Lutfi Al-Sayyid Marsot. (Modern Middle East Series, 4). Austin, University of Texas Press, 1979.
4to. XVII, (1), 278 pp. Publisher's cloth. Dustjacket. First edition. - Prominent work by the professor at Temple University, Philadelphia, who lived in Egypt for a number of years and whose career has been occupied with attempting to write and teach a kind of Middle Eastern history free from the eurocentric biases inherited from the colonial period. - A little fading at head and foot of backstrip, otherwise a well-preserved copy in frayed and rubbed dustjacket.
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Huart, Clément.
A History of Arabic Literature. (Short Histories of the Literatures of the World XI.). London, William Heinemann, 1903.
4to. VII, (1), 478 pp. Giltstamped dark blue cloth with spine title. First edition. - A nice solid copy of this useful reference book by the French orientalist and translator Huart, who spent several years as a student-dragoman for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Damascus, followed by his appointment as Consul in Istanbul, before assuming a position as professor for Persian language at the Paris "École de langues orientales" in 1898. Translated from French by Mary Lloyd. As part of the 15-volume series "Short Histories of the Literatures of the World", edited by the literary historian Edmund Gosse and launched in 1898, it saw 8 reissues up to 1990. - Untrimmed, uncut copy. - A little fraying and scuffing to edges but remains a firm, clean copy.
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[Israel Defense Forces].
Ha’Mizrach Ha-Tichon (The Middle East) Ha’Liga Ha’Aravit (The Arab League). Kfar Monash, IDF Cultural Service, 1949.
667 x 580 mm. Scale 1:7,500,000. A large folding map of the Middle East, with the states of the Arab League indicated in red and the Hashemite states shown in green. - Rare; a single copy known in the National Library of Israel as part of the Eran Laor Cartographic Collection.
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[Israel Defense Forces].
Ma’Rechet Sinai “Mivza Kadesh” (The Sinai War "Operation Kadesh"). Tel Aviv, Hotsa'at Matkal, Ketsin hinukh rashi, 'Anaf hasbarah, 1957.
4to. 3-36, (2) pp. With 1 folding map of the Sinai Peninsula (450 x 692 mm) in rear pocket. Original printed wrappers. Rare contemporary account of the 1956 Israeli "Operation Kadesh" in Sinai during the Suez Crisis, under the chief of staff of the IDF, Moshe Dayan, in Hebrew. Israeli military planning for this operation hinged on control of four main military objectives: Sharm el-Sheikh, Arish, Abu Uwayulah (Abu Ageila), and the Gaza Strip. Moshe Dayan's plan put an emphasis on air power combined with mobile battles of encirclement. Israeli forces would in a series of swift operations encircle and then take the main Egyptian strong points in the Sinai. Reflecting this emphasis on encirclement was the "outside-in" approach of "Kadesh", which called for Israeli paratroopers to seize distant points first, with those closer to Israel to be seized later. Thus, the 202nd Paratroop Brigade commanded by Colonel Ariel Sharon was to land in the far-western part of the Sinai to take the Mitla Pass and thereby cut off the Egyptian forces in the eastern Sinai from their supply lines. The map shows the main troop movements on the peninsula, highlighting military objectives such as Sharm-el-Sheikh as well as the landing points of the Paratroop Brigade. - Only 6 copies worldwide, 4 of which in the United States, and one in the Jewish National Library in Jerusalem. - A little worn at the edges, otherwise very well preserved. OCLC 763138388.
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[Kingdom of Saudi Arabia / Ministry of Information].
Address by H.M. King Faisal Ibn Abdul Aziz to Pilgrimage Missions for 1393 A.H.-1974 A.D. [Mecca], printed by Dar Al-Asfahani & Co. Jiddah, 1974 CE = 1393 H.
8vo. 15, (1) pp. With 6 photographic illustrations and decorative borders. Original stapled green wrappers with a photographic portrait of King Faisal and gilt title. A scarce, appealing booklet commemorating King Faisal's speech at a banquet in honour of notable pilgrims and heads of official Hajj missions, given at the Bat-Haa Palace in Mecca on 30 December 1973. Includes the full speech as well as several illustrations showing the king kneeling in prayer, during his speech behind an array of microphones, and seated among the audience. - Spine slightly rubbed. Ballpoint initials to upper cover. Very rare, no copy traced in libraries worldwide.
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[Litany].
Litaniae, et preces recitandae ad divinam opem contra Turcas implorandam, & pro aliis ecclesiae necessitatibus. Rome, ex typographia Rev. Cam. Apostolicae, 1687.
4to. (8) pp. With woodcut Papal arms and the Saints Peter and Paul on the title-page. Modern wrappers. Rare pamphlet of litanies and prayers invoking Divine assistance against the Ottoman threat during the Great Turkish War of 1683 to 1699. Previously issued in 1683, and again in 1716, during the Ottoman-Venetian War. OCLC lists a single copy at the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Roma. - A waterstain throughout, else fine. OCLC 954866405.
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[Loubet, Émile].
Voyage présidentiel. M. E. Loubet en Algérie et Tunisie. 15 Avril 1903. [Algeria and Tunisia, 1903].
4to. (2), 750 pp. French manuscript on paper. Contemporary gilt and blindstamped full green cloth with giltstamped title to spine and cover. Appealing, unpublished handwritten travelogue commemorating the French president Émile Loubet's tour of Algeria and Tunisia. Each page is enclosed within blue, white and red borders, with chapter titles and first initials also in tricolour. Apparently a presentation manuscript prepared for Michele Modica, vice-consul of Italy in Algeria, whose name is giltstamped on the front cover, it is signed - and probably written - by the prefecture's huissier Roche. In very neat handwriting, the account describes Loubet's two-week tour of French North Africa from Algiers to Oran, on to Tunisia and back to Marseille, mentioning visits to palaces, hospitals and race tracks, local delegations received by the president, as well as feasts and banquets held in his honour. - Extremities lightly scuffed. Ink corrosion along the left vertical blue border affecting the final 20 pages; slightly foxed in places. - An exceptional manuscript befitting the high rank of its recipient.
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MacGahan, Januarius Aloysius.
Hive seyahatnamesi ve tarihi: musavver. Istanbul, Basiret Matbaasi, [1875 CE =] 1292 H.
4to. 459, (1) pp. Ottoman Turkish in Arabic type. With 1 folding map and 32 woodcut plates. Contemporary half calf with giltstamped spine and spine title (partly oxydized). First edition. - Exceedingly rare Turkish translation (by Ahmed Sükrü) of the popular account of the 1873 Russo-Khivan war and the fall of the Khivan Khanate by the American war correspondent MacGahan (1844-78), first published in New York in 1874 as "Campaigning on the Oxus and the fall of Khiva". After a daring journey through the Kyzil Kum desert, MacGahan joined the Russian commander Konstantin von Kaufmann’s army on the banks of the Amu Darya. In his report he vividly describes the fall of the Khanate to three Russian columns reaching it from North and East. The book discusses the situation of Kazakh (misleadingly called "Kirghiz") and Yomuk Turkmen nomads, Uzbek and Sart settlers, as well as of Persian slaves, and includes a report on earlier failed Russian attempts to conquer Khiva. While MacGahan is impressed by the beautiful gardens and orchards of the Khanate, he is disappointed by the city of Khiva, the capital and main residence of its ruler. Even the Khan's palace, in which he is allowed by the Russian authorities to spend a few days, including a visit to the treasury room, strikes him as unspectacular. The illustrations, based on designs and paintings by artists and Russian officers, including Vereschagin and Feodoroff, show portraits, scenes of rural and nomad life, somewhat stereotypical depictions of locals, as well as buildings, army generals, and battle scenes. - While the original English edition occasionally appears at auction, the Turkish edition has never been seen on the market. - A few crayon annotations and underlinings in a contemporary hand. Binding slightly bumped at extremeties. Paper evenly browned and brownstained throughout; a few pages somewhat waterstained in the second half of the volume. OCLC 1014870496. Özege 7682. Cf. Atabey 744 (English ed.).
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(Mason, Kenneth; A. N. Sherwin-White et al.).
Iraq and the Persian Gulf. (Oxford, University Press for the) Naval Intelligence Division, 1944.
8vo. XVIII, 682 pp. With 236 photo illustrations, 97 maps and text-figures (some folding), and folded full-colour map of the Arabian Peninsula, Iraq, and Iran; map of "Communicationd of Iraq" in lower cover pouch. Original giltstamped green cloth. Geographical Handbooks Series (for official use only) B.R. 524 (Restricted). In-depth, profusely illustrated discussion of Iraq and the Arabian Gulf region, with a close description of what was then referred to as the "Trucial Coast" between Abu Dhabi and Qatar. Produced during WWII for use of the Naval Intelligence Division, "to provide, for the use of Commanding Officers, information in a comprehensive and convenient form about contries which they may be called upon to visit, not only in war but in peace-time". The book's contents are, "however, by no means confined to matters of purely naval interest. For many purposes (e.g. history, administration, resources, communications, etc.) countries must necessarily be treated as a whole, and no attempt is made to limit their treatment exclusively to coastal zones" (1942 preface). - Spine faded to yellow, interior sound. Ink ownership of M. H. Parry-Williams to front pastedown. OCLC 220468550.
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Niebuhr, Carsten.
Description de l'Arabie, d'après les observations et recherches faites dans le pays même. Nouvelle édition, revue & corrigée. Paris, Brunet, 1779.
Large 4to. 2 vols in one. (6), 56, 252 pp. (4), 315, (5) pp. (pages 153-216 of part 2 transposed after p. 88). With 1 folding genealogical table and 25 engraved plates (6 folding), including maps, plans, costumes, views, and 2 showing Arabic text with vowel points, as well as 2 engraved headpieces. Contemporary full calf with giltstamped red spine label. Marbled endpapers. All edges sprinkled red. Third French edition (first published in German in Copenhagen, 1772). "Édition revue par de Guignes" (Gay). "Niebuhr (1713-1815) participated as astronomer and naturalist to the royal Danish expedition to Arabia in 1763-1767. Together with the naturalist Forskal, the philologist Van Haven and two others, he travelled up the Nile to Suez and Mount Sinai, and from there to Jeddah and Mocha. By the end of their stay in Mocha, all the memebers of the expedition but Niebuhr had died, and Niebuhr travelled on alone to India, returning via Persia, Syria, Cyprus, and Constantinople. The only surviving member of the hazardous expedition, he returned to an indifferent reception in Copenhagen [...] Niebuhr's comprehensive description, particularly of the Yemen region, was the best and most authentic of the day. Many subsequent travellers have acknowledged their debt to him, and only on a few minor points have they shown him to be in error. He was scientifically and philosophically minded, cautious and steady, and hardly the man to masquerade in Mekkah or wander with the Bedouins, but few contributed more solidly to the study of Arabia" (Atabey). - Extremeties a little bumped, hinges repaired. Occasional light browning or staining, more pronounced near beginning. Contemporary handwritten "Avis au Lecteur" bound before title-page, alerting the reader to the transposed quires in part 2. - Rare. Gay 3589. Howgego I, N24 (p. 752). Brunet IV, 74 (note). Cf. Atabey 873. Macro 1699. Not in Blackmer.
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Quataert, Donald (ed.).
Ottoman Manufacturing in the Age of the Industrial Revolution. (Cambridge Middle East Library 30). Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1993.
4to. XVII, (1), 224, (2) pp. With 5 photographic full-page illustrations and 4 maps. Hardbound. Dustjacket. First edition. - Providing the first comprehensive history of manufacturing in the Ottoman Empire and its Turkish successor state through case studies of manufacturing activities in their social and political contexts, by integrating first-hand research with surveys of the literature. Quaetaert was a Middle East/Ottoman historian teaching at Binghamton University in New York. He resigned as board chairman of the Institute of Turkish Studies in 2006, following his statement that scholars should not avoid researching the Armenian Genocide, which displeased the Turkish government, thus endangering the Institute's funding. - In excellent condition.
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Rosen, Georg.
Elementa Persica. [Hikayat-i Parsi] id est narrationes Persicae. Berlin, Veith, 1843.
8vo. XIX, (1), 197, (3) pp. Contemporary blindstamped green cloth. First published edition. "A translation of Persian narratives from the posthumous papers of his half-brother, Friedrich Rosen, including a glossary and grammar of modern Farsi" (NDB). - The doctoral dissertation of the Prussian oriental scholar and diplomat G. Rosen (Ballhorn, 1820-91), who studied in Berlin and Leipzig. In 1844 he was a dragoman at the Prussian embassy in Constantinople before becoming Prussian consul in Jerusalem in 1853. From 1867 he served as German Consul General in Belgrade. - Some browning and brownstaining throughout due to paper stock. Binding a little rubbed with traces of a library label to spine. NDB XXII, 52.
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Rosen, Georg.
Elementa Persica. [Hikayat-i Parsi] id est narrationes Persicae. Berlin, Veith, 1843.
8vo. XIX, (1), 197, (3) pp. Modern orange cardboard binding with spine label clipped from original printed wrappers. First published edition. "A translation of Persian narratives from the posthumous papers of his half-brother, Friedrich Rosen, including a glossary and grammar of modern Farsi" (NDB). - The doctoral dissertation of the Prussian oriental scholar and diplomat G. Rosen (Ballhorn, 1820-91), who studied in Berlin and Leipzig. In 1844 he was a dragoman at the Prussian embassy in Constantinople before becoming Prussian consul in Jerusalem in 1853. From 1867 he served as German Consul General in Belgrade. - Some browning and brownstaining throughout due to paper stock. Noticeable wrinkling and edge defects as well as ink smudges to beginning and end. NDB XXII, 52.
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Roux, Daniel.
Album de l'arabisant ou recueil choisi d'autographes arabes. Suivis d'une transcription textuelle pour initier à la lecture des manuscrits [...]. Algiers, de Guende, 1856.
Oblong 4to. 48, 32, (2) pp. Original printed wrappers. A wide-ranging and painstakingly reproduced ensemble of Arabic handwriting specimens, lithographed throughout and entirely in Arabic save for the title and preface, which are in French. Comprises letters (part 1) as well as legal documents (part 2). Published as a manual and workbook for self-instruction in reading Arabic, this includes a section with the author's transcriptions in normalised Arabic script, headed by brief captions and synopses in French. Daniel Roux was "directeur de l'école arabe-française de la rue des Pyramides". - Preserved in the original printed wrappers. Very scarce. OCLC 458780296.
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[Slave trade].
Sales document of an Ottoman slave trader. No place, [11 May 1864 CE =] 4 Zilhicce [1]280 H.
4to. 1 page. Extraordinary record of slave trade in the Ottoman Empire, confirming the sale of "a Caucasian, roughly ten or twelve years old, virgin and Circassian female slave" to an Ottoman woman. Stamped and signed by a slave trader named Kozpaha, probably himself of Circassian origin. The girl had probably come to the Ottoman Empire with the Great Circassian Migration following the Russo-Circassian war (1763-1864). Despite political efforts to ban slavery in the late 19th century, the practice continued largely unabated into the early 20th century. As late as 1908, female slaves were still sold in the Ottoman Empire. - On stationery with the tughra of sultan Abdülaziz. Several marginal tears, mostly along the folds, 2 of them slightly touching the text; a small hole in the lower quarter. 4 marginal tears and a tiny hole in the centre rebacked with tape by a previous owner. Surface nicks and punch marks all over the page, most prominent in blank areas. - A unique survival and an upsetting testimonial of child slavery.
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Süleyman, Faik.
Rehber-i derya: Sevâhil ve Cezâyir-i Bahr-i Sefîdin ta'rifatini havîdir. Istanbul, Mihran Matbaasi, [1881/82 CE =] 1299 H.
4to. 171, (1) pp. Ottoman Turkish in Arabic type. Modern full red cloth with giltstamped spine-title, with the original front wrapper bound before the title-page. First and only edition. - Early pilot guide to the Aegean Sea by an admiral of the Ottoman navy, describing the shores of the Vilayet of the Archipelago, an administrative division of the Ottoman Empire extant from 1867 to 1912/13. At its maximum extent it included the Ottoman Aegean islands, Cyprus, and the Dardanelles Strait. Admiral Süleyman Faik (1845-1909) had in 1864 travelled the shores of the African continent, which earned him the position of captain, and served in the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-78. - Paper evenly browned throughout. Small tear to front wrapper, a second small tear rebacked with paper; minor edge flaws to final leaf, not touching the text. Özege 16579. Not in Askerî Tarih Yayinlari Bibliyografyasi [= Bibliography of Turkish History of Military Books].
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[Turkey and the Middle East].
Der Nahe Osten. Tornisterschrift des NS.-Führungsstabes der Wehrmacht. Heft 97. Berlin, Deutscher Verlag, 1944.
580 x 850 mm. 1 topographic and 4 political colour-printed folding maps on one sheet. Scale: 1:4,000,000; 1:10,000,000; 1:1,500,000. Published by the German Wehrmacht for use in the field: a large map of Asia Minor, reaching from Eastern Europe in the west to Iran in the east, showing the whole of Turkey, parts of Russia, the Caspian Sea, and the far north of the Arabian Gulf, identifying Kuwait city. The northern parts of Libya, Egypt, and Palestine are visible, including cities such as Cairo, Jerusalem, Jaffa, and Tel-Aviv. The furthest point to the west is the Italian town of Brindisi. The captions include translations of common Arabic, Persian, Russian and Turkish geographical terms into German, as well as instructions for the pronunciation of Turkish letters. - Smaller maps of the Gulf, including parts of Russia and India, as well as of the Mediterranean, Rhodes and the Dodecanese, and Cyprus verso. - Very well preserved. Cf. Biester/Wurm, Archiv für Geschichte des Buchwesens Bd. 70, 196.
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Willmet, Johannes.
Oratio de retinenda antiqua Batavorum in literis orientalibus gloria. Publice habita die 26 Novembris a. 1804. Amsterdam, ex typographia Civitatis Amstelaedamensis, 1805.
Large 4to (210 x 250 mm). (4), VII, (1), 64 pp. Original half calf over marbled boards and giltstamped spine and title lable. Only printing of this oration on the great contributions made by Dutch scholars to the study of oriental languages, delivered by the Amsterdam professor Willmet (1750-1835) on 26 November 1804. A student of Everard Scheidius, Willmet also produced a valuable Arabic dictionary in 1784 (cf. Smitskamp, PO 317). - Old library shelfmarks to upper cover and front pastedown. A little browned and brownstained near the end, otherwise well preserved; a good, wide-margined copy. OCLC 64504237.
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[Abadan]. Burrard, S[idney] G[erald] (ed.).
Turkey in Asia and Persia. Iraq & Arabistan Provinces. No. 10.B [Muhammareh]. Calcutta, Survey of India, 1912-1915.
Heliozincograph in colour, 590 x 465 cm. Scale: 1 inch to 4 miles (1:253,440). Exceedingly rare and classified at the time of release: one of the first maps to depict clearly the Abadan Petroleum Refinery, the first oil refinery in the Middle East. The map of the Khorramshahr-Abadan area of Iran and the lower Shatt al-Arab waterway at the head of the Arabian Gulf was published in the early days of World War I, when protecting the refinery was Britain’s primary objective in the region. Published in Calcutta by the Survey of India, predicated on the best and most recent surveys. Labelled "For Official use only". - Some creasing; some stains to upper margin. An abrasion to upper neatline with old repair on verso; an old tear with minor loss to upper left blank margin with old repair from verso.
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Abu al-Fida Isma`il ibn `Ali (Abulfeda).
[Mukhtasar tarikh al-Bashar - Latin]. Abilfedae annales moslemici [...]. Tomus primus (= all published). Leipzig, Christian Gottlob Hilscher, 1778.
4to. XXVIII, (6), 329, (1) pp. With engraved printer's device to title-page. Contemporary unsophisticated boards. All edges sprinkled blue and red. Second printing of Reiske's Latin edition of Abulfida's great historical work, the "Concise History of Humanity". Written in the form of annals extending from the creation of the world to the year 1329, it is divided into two parts, one covering the history of pre-Islamic Arabia and the other the subsequent history of Islam. This translation, first published in 1754, reaches up to the year 406 H (1015 CE). - The brilliant scholar Reiske (1716-74) is regarded as the father of Arabic studies as an independent discipline. In sharp contrast to his teacher Schultens, he was one of the first Arabists whose work was unfettered by the constraints of Biblical exegesis. - Browned throughout due to paper stock. Binding rubbed and stained, extremeties bumped. From the library of the Gregorio Speciale (1738-1820), Nicosian nobleman, canon, and director of the Stamperia Reale (Royal Printing House) of Palermo from 1791 until his death, with his engraved bookplate ("Garofalo sc.") on the verso of the title-page. GAL II, 45f. Schnurrer p. 119f. OCLC 49478817. Not in Rita Loredana Foti's catalogue of Speciale's library (Catalogo della libreria del cavaliere don Gregorio Speciale); see Libri e biblioteche in Sicilia tra tardo settecento in primo ottocento. Il caso del catalogo di Gregorio Speciale, in: Archivio di Stato di Palermo: Quaderni IX (2014), at pp. 99ff. (with an illustration of his bookplate on p. 100).
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[Alf layla wa-layla]. MacNaghten, W. H. (ed.).
The Alif Laila or Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Commonly Known as The Arabian Nights' Entertainments; now, for the first time, published complete in the original Arabic [...]. Calcutta & London, W. Thacker & Co., Wm. H. Allen & Co., 1839-1842.
Tall 8vo (172 x 252 mm). 4 vols. Arabic text throughout apart from titles in English (lacking in second volume) and 4 pp. subscribers' list in vol. 4. Modern half calf over marbled boards with blindstamped spine title. The rare and celebrated first complete edition of the Arabic text, printed in Calcutta at the Baptist Mission Press. Also known as the "Calcutta II" version, this is described on the title as "now, for the first time, published complete in the original Arabic, from an Egyptian manuscript brought to India by the late Major Turner Macan, editor of the Shah-Nameh". - The original scattered Arabic texts were collected in four corpora: the so-called Calcutta I or Shirwanee edition (1814-18, 2 vols.), the Bulaq or Cairo edition (1835, 2 vols.), the Breslau edition (1825-38, 8 vols.), and the present one, the "Calcutta II" or the "MacNaghten" edition. Considered the most comprehensive text of the Arabian Nights, this is also the basis for the best-known translations including the English editions by John Payne and Richard F. Burton. - "Première édition complète du texte arabe [...] Elle a été donnée d'après un manuscrit égyptien pris dans l'Inde par le major Turner Macan, et elle a eu pour éditeur sir W.-H. Macnaghten" (Brunet). "It was only in 1839-1842 that the Arabic text [of the 1001 Nights] was edited in its entirety, by Macnaghten" (cf. Fück). - Browned and brownstained. Intermittent worming throughout, occasionally with extensive loss and stabilized with translucent paper, especially concerning the beginning and end of vol. 2. An extraordinary survival. Chauvin IV, p. 17, 20B. Brunet III, 1715. Graesse IV, 523. Fück, p. 139, n. 365.
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Cozzonis Effendi.
Rapport sur la manifestation pestilentielle a Djeddah en 1898 suivi d'une esquisse sur les conditions générales de la dite ville [...]. Constantinople, Imprimerie Osmanié, 1898.
4to. 29, (1) pp., final blank leaf. With a folding plan of Jeddah. Contemporary printed wrappers. Stapled. Rare contemporary account of the plague outbreak in Jeddah, written by the chief sanitary inspector, documenting disease control in the Ottoman Empire. The treatise puts forward nine suggestions on how to prevent future outbreaks, including an urgent recommendation to establish a strictly isolated hospital for plague patients only, a reminder to look out for a sufficient supply of dumpcarts to get rid of dirty laundry and rags, and an appeal to disinfect all clothes, either chemically or by means of boiling, and to burn immediately all textiles coming in from Bombay or other infected places. The plan shows the Yemen, Chami and Mazloum quarters as well as the city's sewage system. With 7 pages of general information on Jeddah, discussing its climate and population, as well as the Sambuk, a traditional wooden sailing vessel. - Spine somewhat worn; small tear to the plan. A good copy of an uncommon work, never seen at auction. OCLC 44403162.
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Drusius, Johannes.
Apophthegmata Ebraeorum ac Arabum, ex Avoth R. Nathan, Aristea, libro selectarum margaritarum, & aliis auctoribus collecta, latineque reddita, cum brevibus scholiis. Editio altera melior & auctior. Franeker, Aegidius Radaeus (Gilles van den Rade), 1612.
(8), 92 pp. With woodcut vignette to title-page. Modern green marbled wrappers. 4to. Second, expanded edition of this rare linguistic treatise by the Dutch oriental scholar Johannes van den Driesche (Drusius, 1550-1616): a collection of Hebrew and Arabic wisdom literature in Latin translation. The first edition had been produced by the same publisher in 1591; the present edition preserves the dedication to Thomas Bodley, dated 1 August 1591. - "In 1577 the University of Leiden entrusted Driesche with the chair of Hebrew, Chaldaean, and Syriac, which he relinquished in 1585 in favour of the better-endowed chair in Franeker. For thirty years he discharged his duties with great assiduity" (cf. ADB V, 489). - Occasional insignificant browning. OCLC 45974008.
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Maxwell, William John Leigh.
Letters of an Engineer While on Service in Syria. In Connection with the Proposed Euphrates Valley Railway and the Beyrout Waterworks. London, Marcus Ward & Co., (1886).
8vo. XI, (1), (5)-343, (1) pp. With a photogravure portrait frontispiece. Publisher's stamped full cloth with gilt title to spine. Rare first and only edition: a collection of vivid letters by the Belfast-born engineer Maxwell (1838-80), written from Syria in 1870-73 to friends while he was performing surveys for a railroad through the valley of the Euphrates and planning the water supply of Beirut in Lebanon. - Maxwell travels via Brindisi and the Greek islands through Smyrna, Rhodes, Antioch, and Beilan, where he describes the difficulty of designing a railroad due to the lack of proper mapping of the area: "On many occasions I was tripped up, and sent rolling down amongst other unfriendly plants" (p. 50). He also gives an account of his visit to "the finest house of Aleppo" (p. 101) and a flood in Smyrna, describes the cities of Tripolis, Beirut, Jerusalem, and Port Said, and expresses his disappointment over the Sublime Porte interrupting his survey, which indeed was never carried out completely, on several occasions. - The second and third period of letters were prompted by Maxwell's engagement in providing the city of Beirut with a water supply. They give an account of Cairo and the pyramids as well as of Alexandria before going on to describe negotiations with the council in Beirut and the obstacles met there: "As a last hope, we determined, and I think wisely, to try and obtain by means of the Consuls and public opinion what cannot be obtained by polite asking" (p. 273). The letters from the second period include a trip to Cyprus as well as descriptions of Damascus and the ancient waterworks, while those from the third period show the works on the Nahr-al-Kalb in full swing and describe an inspection of the site by Rustem Pasha, Governor-General of the Lebanon. - The frontispiece shows a portrait of Maxwell with his reproduced signature. Binding discreetly rebacked, modern cloth hinges. Light foxing near the beginning; otherwise in excellent condition. Rare: OCLC lists only five copies internationally (2 in the US, 3 in the UK). OCLC 24929041.
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Michaelis, Johann David.
Arabische Grammatik, nebst einer Arabischen Chrestomathie und Abhandlung vom Arabischen Geschmack, sonderlich in der poetischen und historischen Schreibart. Zweite, umgearbeitete und vermehrte Ausgabe. Göttingen, (Johann Christian Dieterich for) Victorius Boßiegel, 1781.
8vo. 2 parts in one volume. CXII, 256, (2), 136 (Arabic) pp. (2nd part interleaved). Contemporary papered boards with giltstamped spine label (chipped). All edges red. A Göttingen student's hand-annotated copy: the final edition of the venerable Arabic grammar first published by Erpenius in 1613, the work that dominated Western instruction in the Arabic language for two centuries. This copy was owned by the poet and pastor Hermann Bredenkamp (1760-1808), a native of Bremen, who had taken up his studies of theology and oriental languages at Göttingen in 1780. Among his teachers was not only Michaelis himself, but also the great Swedish orientalist Matthias Norberg (1747-1826), who in 1781 passed through Göttingen on his return journey from Constantinople, visiting Michaelis. Bredenkamp's annotations in the book's margins frequently refer to Norberg's personal comments on the grammatical matter and especially on the pronunciation of modern vernacular Arabic of Morocco. On the interleaves of the Arabic chrestomathy, Bredenkamp has occasionally noted vocabulary and word references, but this part does not appear to have been worked through in detail, and it is the grammar in which the most extensive annotations occur, all written in ink in Bredenkamp's meticulous and minute hand. - By the 18th century, Erpenius's grammar had seen several re-issues (with various amendments) by Deusing (1636), Golius (1656), and Schultens (1748 and 1767), before the Biblical scholar Michaelis produced a German translation in 1771. The present second edition, published a decade later, entirely omits the name of Erpenius: "owing to the many additions (for the greater part unneccessary according to Schnurrer) the work may now be called Michaelis' own" (Smitskamp, p. 278). This, of course, was the grammar of choice at the University of Göttingen under Michaelis' tutelage. It was not until 1810 that Silvestre de Sacy's "Grammaire Arabe" would produce an actual advance in the field. - Binding rubbed, extremeties severely bumped. Bredenkamp's handwritten ownership (dated 1781) to front flyleaf; title-page has early 19th century stamped ownership of G. J. Lorent. Schnurrer p. 83f., no. 120. Smitskamp, PO 283. Fück p. 65 & cf. 119f. For Norberg's stay in Göttingen cf. Chatzipanagioti-Sangmeister, p. 80.
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[Muslim North Africa]. Dutertre, André, French painter (1753-1842), and others.
Album with orientalist and military themed drawings. No place, mid-19th century.
Oblong folio. (15) ff. With 5 ink wash drawings, 4 pencil drawings, 4 coloured pencil drawings, 1 pen drawing painted with watercolours, 1 pen drawing, 1 coloured lithograph and 1 photograph, all in various formats, on (12) pp. Contemporary green morocco binding, cover giltstamped with crowned monogram "PA". All edges gilt. Includes a loose pencil portrait of a young lady (192 x 262 mm) and a photograph of a castle pasted on the free endpaper. Charming collection of sketches and watercolours, including a pen-drawn genre piece with soldiers (ca. 222 x 174 mm) by the French painter André Dutertre, member of the Institut d'Égypte, and the portrait of a soldier in pencil (ca. 138 x 194 mm) by Claude Vaulot (1818-42), both signed. Dutertre is best known for his portraits of military men, especially in connection with Napoleon's campaign in Egypt, in which he participated. Of particular interest are four orientalist landscape drawings and four character studies of portraits from Kabylia (Algeria). These unsigned pieces are probably connected with the 1830 "Éxpédition de Médéa", part of the French conquest of Algeria. They include a pencil drawing of a road near Medea, a pencil drawing of a source near Mouzaïa, where a battle took place on 21 November 1830, an ink wash drawing of a military encampment in Kabylia, and the portrait of a Kabylian marabout, or holy man. This small portrait is arranged on one page with the other three portraits, two Kabyle women and one man, and a well-executed ink wash drawing of a landscape in Kabylia with the tombs of two marabouts. The collection is completed by a charming lithographed invitation to a puppet play "Theatre de Polichinelle", signed "Nouvian", a photo collage of political caricatures with a written legend, an ink wash of a peasant woman, signed "J. Chastenet", and a watercolour of a group of soldiers marching to war, their wives wringing their hands. - The photo collage is strongly faded, some pages with minor tears and foxing but all drawings and the lithograph well preserved. Spine and edges of binding scuffed.
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[Oppenheim, Max von].
Tell-Halâf-Stadt 1913. [Tell Halaf], 1913.
92 x 126 cm. Scale: 1:1,000. Whiteprint on thick paper. Title, scale and compass executed in manuscript in blue pen. Impressive plan of the excavation site of Tell Halaf (now on the Syrian-Turkish border), the location of the great ancient Aramaean town of Guzana, and one of the most important archaeological revelations of the modern era. Then in the Ottoman Empire, it was discovered in 1899 by the German diplomat Max von Oppenheim (1860-1946) while travelling through northern Mesopotamia on behalf of Deutsche Bank, working on establishing a route for the Bagdad Railway. - This is a working copy of the official, authoritative plan of the site produced during the 1911-13 excavation led by Oppenheim, printed at Tell Halaf for the use of the senior archaeological team. Signed in the upper right-hand corner by Theodor Dombart (1884-1969), a professional architect and one of Oppenheim’s principal associates, later an esteemed professor of ancient Middle Eastern architecture and an authority on Munich history. - A little worn, slight toning along old folds, else very good.
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[Persian Empire].
Stamp collection. Tehran, Farahbakhsh & Sons, Azizian and Apadana, 1971 and undated.
25 stamps (42 x 50 to 52 x 65 mm) mounted on 6 printed album sheets (250 x 170 mm). Loosely inserted within an envelope in a full cloth album with the name and insignia of the Persian Gulf Command. Jubilee stamps issued on the occasion of the celebration of the Persian Empire's 2,500-year anniversary, from a collector's album. Including portraits of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and his father, Shah Reza Pahlavi, they also feature architectural landmarks and artefacts such as the Pahlavi crown, the Cyrus Cylinder, and a section of the Bishapur mosaic, as well as the coronation of Shahinshah Aria Mehr of the Kingdom of Yemen. The festivities were to celebrate Iran's ancient civilization and history and to showcase the country's contemporary progress under Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. - Album slightly rubbed at extremities. Vertical tear to 4 sheets, not touching stamps. A few stamps with traces of postmarks; one stamp loose. An appealing set.
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Raczynski, Edward.
Dziennik podrozy do Turcyi odbytey w roku MDCCCXIV. Breslau, Grass, Barth & Co., 1821.
Royal folio (375 x 488 mm). VII, (1), 204, VIII pp. With 64 plates (46 full-page, 17 half-page and 1 folding), mostly engraved after Ludwig Christian Fuhrmann, some after drawings by the author; 8 engraved text vignettes, 1 engraved tughra as headpiece; lithographed dedication. Modern half calf over contemporary marbled boards with printed title label on spine. First edition. - The very rare original edition of this important account of a journey through Turkey and Asia Minor. According to Brunet the finest publication ever to leave a Polish press, it was soon translated into German as "Malerische Reise in einigen Provinzen des Osmanischen Reichs" (last sold for £20,400 at Sotheby's 2004 Natural History and Travel Sale; no copy of the present original edition has appeared at German auctions during the last decades). - The Polish statesman Count Edward Raczynski (1786-1845), a patron of the arts and founder of the Raczynski Library in Poznan, travelled to Constantinople by way of Odessa during the months of July through November 1814. He was accompanied by the artist Ludwig Christian Fuhrmann (1783-1829), and most of the plates are engraved after his drawings. Raczynski also visited the Troad, the peninsula containing the ruins of Troy, of which a detailed description is given. This beautifully illustrated work is highly sought after for its many detailed engravings, including a folding map of Istanbul, illustrations of the ruins of Troy and Assos, the bay of Lesbos, a portrait of Sultan Muhammad IV, the mosque of the Sultan, etc. - In the present set, most of the plates are early or proofs prints, still lacking numbers and/or captions, which are frequently supplied in meticulous pencil calligraphy (in Polish and English). Leaves of pp. 1/2 and 3/4 transposed; the former bound showing page 2 before 1. Interior severely browned throughout as common. Tears to title and dedication repaired; a few edge flaws due to brittleness of paper. Only 5 copies of this original edition listed in library catalogues internationally (BL, BnF, LoC, Stabi Berlin, NL Sweden). Brunet IV, 20412. Weber 133 (note). Not in Atabey. Cf. Blackmer 1375 (1824 German edition).
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Russell, Alexander.
The Natural History of Aleppo. London, printed for G. G. and J. Robinson, 1794.
4to. 2 vols. XXIV, 446, XXIII, (3) pp. VII, (1), 430, XXXIV, (26) pp. With engraved frontispiece and 20 numbered engraved plates (5 of which folded) on 19 sheets. Contemporary full calf with giltstamped spine labels. All edges red. Second edition of this authoritative account of Aleppo and Ottoman life and manners, based on Russell's experience as physician to the British factory in Aleppo from 1740 to 1753. Enlarged with 3 additional plates compared to the 1756 first edition. Includes an engraved frontispiece with a view of the city, a plan by Carsten Niebuhr (vol. I, plate I), and an additional plate showing fish (vol. II, plate VI). Apart from the Syrian flora and fauna as well as the local climate, Russell's monograph discusses the everyday life of the local population, including that of European merchants living in Aleppo, the organisation of their trade activity, and their social life. Also includes a section on the plague and other epidemic diseases in the 1740s. The descriptions of the education system, of the production of manuscripts, and of the commercial activity in Syria are unusually detailed and can be considered unique in contemporary travel literature on the Ottoman Empire (cf. Chatzipanagioti-Sangmeister). The botanical plates were produced by G. D. Ehret, and one plate of fish bears the name of W. Skelton, while the remainder of plates, including the ones depicting birds and domestic life, are unsigned, but were probably produced by Russell himself. - Binding lightly scuffed; interior fresh and extremely well preserved. A charmingly bound set documenting an era of scientific and economic prosperity in Syria. Blackmer 1458. Nissen BBI 3534. Navari 1458. Cox I, 227. Chatzipanagioti-Sangmeister 893. ESTC T149605. Cf. Atabey 1064 (1762 Dutch edition).
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[Tunisian criminal law].
Code pénal Tunisien. [Tunis, Socété Anonyne de L'Imprimerie Rapide], [1913 CE =] 1331 H.
Small 4to. 93, (1); 8 pp., 1 blank leaf, (2), 111, (1) pp, 1 blank leaf. Contemporary half calf with handwritten spine-label. Marbled endpapers. First edition of the reformed Penal Code of Tunisia according to the "decret du 9 Julliet 1913 (5 Chabân 1331)", parts of which remain in force to this day. Includes the Arabic text. - Occasional light fingerstaining; a few pencil annotations. Binding rubbed; extremeties somewhat bumped. Very rare: only 3 copies listed on OCLC (Harvard; Tübingen; Beit el Bennani Collection Tunis), all records noting the French text only and apparently without the Arabic section. OCLC 80710987.
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Yemenite Jewry in Israel.
Collection of Yemenite documents and publications in Hebrew. Israel, first half of the 20th century to the 1970s.
A total of some 50 items, in all over 300 handwritten, typescript and printed pages. Various sizes, but mostly 4to. Extraordinary corpus of Hebrew records reflecting the struggle of the Yemenite Jews to emigrate and settle in Israel following Operation Magic Carpet in 1949/50. Includes several letters from the early 1960s written to Eretz Israel by members of the Yemeni community in Aden, regarding the arrangement of their emigration, as well as an important document related to protests by Yemenite Jews living in the Nordia neighborhood of Tel Aviv against the construction of the Dizengoff Center and the demolition of their homes. Additional documents relate to the slum organization in Israel, as well as to author Zvi Medina, giving the names and addresses of Medina family members and recording the 1960 construction of the synagogue in the Hatikva neighborhood for the Jews of Aden. - Printed publications include a Passover Haggadah according to the text of the Yemenite Jews, with ink stamp of "Ein Shemer Camps", as well as the version approved by Saadia Gaon and Maimonides (Jerusalem 1951), its title-page designed by Haim Ben Shalom Mahbbub. Also, a donation printed for Hanukkah 1944 by the Yemenite Jewish Unity Committee, titled "Raising your candles remember your brother's darkness", compiled by Rabbi Shalom, son of Rabbi Yichya Yitzchak Levi, as well as New Year's songs and two Kol Koreh texts regarding the election of the new Yemeni commission committee, as well as the strengthening of the independent educational institutions for the Yemenite Community. - A well-preserved survival.
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