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Ardoynis, Santes de.
De venenis. Venice, Bernardino Rizzo for Johannes Dominicus de Nigro, 19. VII. 1492.
Folio (420 x 280 mm). (4), 101, (1) ff. Later calf with gold- and blind-tooling. First edition of a work on poisons, compiled by Sante Arduino (or Ardoini) of Pesaro. "[T]he elaborate compendium on poisons in eight books which Sante Ardoini of Pesaro compiled in the years, 1424-1426, from Greek, Arabic and Latin works on medicine and nature, and which was printed at Venice in 1492, and at Basel in 1518 and 1562 [...] Although Ardoini quotes previous authors at great length, his work is no mere compilation, since he does not hesitate to disagree with such medical authorities of Peter of Abano and Gentile da Foligno, and refers to his own medical experience or observation of nature at Venice and to what fisherman or collectors of herbs have told him. He also seems to have known Arabic, and his occasional practice of giving the names of herbs in several Italian dialects is of some linguistic value" (Thorndike). Arduino makes extensive use of the works by Avicenna (Ibn Sina), who "held a high place in Western European medical studies, ranking together with Hippocrates and Galen as an acknowledged authority" (Weisser). Among the numerous other sources he used are Galen, Avenzoar (Ibn Zuhr), Rasis (al-Razi), Andromachus, Albucasis (Al-Zahrawi), Serapion the Younger and Dioscorides. - A very good copy, with only a few marginal waterstains. Binding slightly rubbed along the extremities and with a few scratches on boards. Hain-Copinger 1554. Goff A-950. Ohly-Sack 233. Walsh 2186. Proctor 4963. BMC V, 403. GW 2318. Thorndike III, 545. ISTC ia00950000.
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Armillary sphere with celestial globe.
Rotating celestial globe, surrounded by four pivotable concentric rings, the uppermost with ornamental mount. Arabic, [1713 CE] = 1125 H.
Engraved and etched gilt brass with lettering in Arabic. Total height from ring to base 53 cms. Exceptionally large armillary sphere with rich calligraphical and ornamental decoration as an image of the universe. The celestial sphere is surrounded in the centre by rings with the signs of the zodiac (outside) and various planet symbols. The names of the zodiac signs and months are engraved in Arabic. Signed and dated by the artist, an "Alexander", in the year H 1125. A nearly identical object is kept at the Globe Museum of the Austrian National Library at Vienna (item GL. 214), there classified as "Persian/Arabic". While simple celestial globes are not uncommon in the trade, elaborate specimens of the present size (53 cms) are very rare. - Slightly soiled and corroded, but almost not rubbed.
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Assemani, Simone.
Globus caelestis Cufico-Arabicus Veliterni Musei Borgiani [...] illustratus. Praemissa ejusdem De Arabum astronomia dissertatione et adjectis duabus epistolis Cl. Josephi Toaldi. Padua, typis Seminarii, 1790.
Small folio (216 x 294 mm). (16), CCXIX, (9) pp. With 3 large folding engraved plates. Contemporary green half calf with gilt spine and marbled covers. Only edition of this rare study decribing a celestial globe with Cufic lettering in the Borgia Museum at Velletri. The book also contains a dissertation on the astronomy of the Arabs, with Arabic excerpts from the works of Ahmed al-Farghani (Alfraganus; cf. GAL I, 221), one of the most famous mediaeval Muslim astronomers. Simone Assemani (1752-1821), a great-nephew of Joseph Assemani, the cataloguer of the oriental manuscripts in the Vatican library, is best known for his catalogue of the manuscripts and Cufic coins in the Naniana in Venice (cf. Fück 125). - Calf somewhat worn at spine-ends and hinges. Old library shelfmark label pasted on inside of upper cover. A fine copy. Brunet VI, 8185. DG 7.9265. M. H. Fikri, Treasures from the Arab Scientific Legacy in Europe, no. 13 (with full-page illustration).
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[Astronomical manuscript].
Three Persian treatises on astronomy. [Probably Iran], [1844 CE =] 1260 H.
4to (180 x 220 mm). Persian manuscript on polished oriental paper. (16), 1 blank, (23), 1 blank, (13), 1 blank ff., 17-20 lines, per extensum, text enclosed by red and black rules. Black ink with red emphases. With numerous ink diagrams in the text. Contemporary blindstamped full calf, restored and spine rebacked. A mid-19th century Persian manuscript comprising three treatises on astronomical matters, illustrated throughout with diagrams in red and black ink and containing several tables. - Some worming throughout the text but not affecting legibility. Corners bumped. A loose slip of paper inserted at the beginning mentions three titles which do not appear to correspond to the works here contained.
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[Astronomy].
Astronomical manuscript in Arabic. No place, ca. 1790, or late 18th century CE / ca. 1200 H.
4to (170 x 227 mm). Arabic manuscript on polished paper. 42 written pp., 19-24 lines, per extensum, black and occasional red ink with red underlinings. With several astronomical diagrams in the text. Modern brown cloth binding with the original 18th century blindstamped leather covers pasted on the boards. An Arabic astronomical manuscript on quadrants in three parts, comprising: 1. Muhammad ibn al-Sheikh al-Hamid, Risalat al-kura (dhat al-kursi). - 2. Sabat Al-Mardini, Risalat mukhtasirat fi aleamal bialrabe alshamalii almaqtue (A brief treatise on the work in the northern quadrant). - 3. Sabat Al-Mardini, Risalat fi aleamal bialrabe almajib al-risalat al-fathiat fi al'aemal al-jibia (A treatise on work in the responding quadrant). All parts include detailed astronomical tables and diagrams in ink. - Well preserved manuscript in a professionally restored modern binding.
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[Austrian Toy Theatre].
The Caravan to Mecca. The Halt in the Desert. Vienna, M. Trentsensky / London, A. N. Myers & Co., [before 1856].
Folio (387 x 242 mm). 49 hand-coloured illustrations on 6 plates and hand-coloured folding lithographed backdrop (desert scene; ca. 580 x 224 mm). Original blue wrappers with lithographed cover label. Charming Mignon Theatre of the kind popularized by the Viennese publisher Trentsensky around the mid-19th century and distributed throughout England by their London agent Myers, & Co. on the corner of Oxford and Berners Street. The desert landscape backdrop is to be populated by the pilgrims, camels, resting horses, etc., with plants, a large tent, a cooking fire, and many other details, all to be cut out from the present set of plates. Issued as "Exercises in Colouring", this set was clearly coloured by a trained contemporary artist rather than a dilettante. - The front cover is stained, spine splitting, but the plates are clean and well-preserved. Rarely encountered complete, well-coloured, and in the original state. Another example, prominently featured in the 2012 Hajj exhibition at the British Museum, was cut and mounted. Hajj. Journey to the heart of Islam. London, British Museum 2012, p. 125 (fig. 125).
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Azpeitia de Moros, Luis.
En busca del caballo árabe. Comisión á Oriente. Turquia. - Siria. - Mesopotamia. - Palestina. Madrid, Sucesores de Rivadeneyra, 1915.
Large 8vo. 297, (7) pp. With photographic illustrations in the text throughout and a lithographed map showing the sailing route in blue. Original publisher's printed paper wrappers. Rare first edition in Spanish, in the original publisher's paper wrappers, of this important work on Arabian horses, describing a voyage made in 1904 of a Spanish commission to Turkey, Syria, Mesopotamia and Palestine, to observe thoroughbred Arabian horses. The party returned to Spain with 33 Percherons, of which 27 were considered to be first-class horses. In the present work, the Spanish cavalry commander Luis Azpeitia de Moros describes their journey, their contact and negotiations with the people there, and the horses they bought. Azpeitia's account is lavishly illustrated with photographs, all with Spanish captions printed below, of not only the areas they visited and their inhabitants, but also of the several horse specimens they bought, with their name and place of purchase in the printed captions. - The present work was used as reference source by Gladys Brown Edwards in her work on the history of the Arabian horse (The Arabian: War Horse to Show Horse) (Boyd/Paul, p. 11); an English translation of the work appeared in 2001 (In Search of the Arabian Horse), and an Arabic one was published in Riyadh in 2007 (Al-Bahth `an al-husan al-`Arabi). Altogether the very rare first edition of an important work on Arabian horses, even more rare when offered with its original wrappers, as the present copy, which are illustrated with drawings of scenes of the voyage. - Wrappers a little browned and somewhat foxed (including the edges), spine slightly damaged (especially at the head) and partly cracked. Some very minor foxing throughout, but otherwise still in good condition. A very rare work on Arabian horses.
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Baha'addin al-'Amili.
Tashrih al-aflak [Anatomy of the celestial spheres]. [Central Asia, 18th century].
8vo (160 x 252 mm). Arabic manuscript on polished oriental paper. 12 pp. on 7 ff., ca. 18 lines, per extensum. Black ink with red emphases. With numerous red and black ink diagrams in the text. Contemporary blindstamped full calf, restored and spine rebacked. The "Tashrih al-aflak", known as "general outline of astronomy" or "anatomy of the celestial spheres", is a summary of theoretical astronomy. The philosopher, architect, mathematician, astronomer and poet Baha' al-Din (953-1030 H / 1547-1621), a native of Baalbek, relocated to Iran with his father. Having completed his studies, he is said to have travelled for 30 years before settling in Isfahan, where he was highly respected as Sheikh al-Islam at the court of Shah Abbas. In the present treatise he affirmed a view in support of the positional rotation of the Earth. Baha' al-Din was one of the first Islamic astronomers to advocate the feasibility of the Earth's rotation in the 16th century, independent of Western influences. - Noticeable duststaining throughout; edges remargined. The restored binding uses the stamped original cover material. GAL II, 415, 6.
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[Bahrain].
Taqrir muqtarah an insha’ Quwwa Bahariyya li-Dawlat al-Bahrayn [Sketch proposal to build a Naval Force for the country of Bahrain]. [Bahrain, mid-1970s].
Hand-drawn military map and organizational flowchart, 1.37 x 1.45 m. Coloured ink and watercolour on paper. Accompanied by 9 original photos. Unique hand-drawn chart of Bahrain's naval force as it was projected in the early and mid-1970s, including two large maps: firstly, of the island's location in the Gulf showing the Navy's planned 200-mile range as well as strategic points throughout the Gulf, and secondly, a smaller scale map showing the defensive coastal artillery firing range and radar ranges reaching out to the north and east of Qal'at al-Bahrain, Galali, and East Sitra bases around Manamah. An inset flowchart shows in detail the organization of Bahrain's Navy, to be headed by the Commander of Naval Forces, presiding over the branches of Supplies and Exercises (Engineers, Supplies, Medical Office), of Operations, Planning, and Signals (all commanded by the Chief of Staff), as well as the Naval Armed Forces proper (Fleet, Special Forces, and Coastal Artillery). The extensive annotation describes the maritime theatre of war around Bahrain, identifies vital targets (Port Sulayman, oil terminal, national airport, oil wells and storage tanks, refinery) and crucial points to be observed, and sketches the projected scope of the navy: initially a small fleet of armoured motor vessels with radar-guided automatic ordnance, later to be upgraded with surface-to-surface rocket launchers with a tactical range of ca. 180 nautical miles. The planning stage is to encompass some 2 to 3 months, followed by a development stage of about 3 years and an implementation phase of another year. - The chart is accompanied by a set of nine original mid-1970s photographs of members of the Egyptian General Staff who assumedly were closely involved in advising the government of Bahrain on the structure and implementation of their new Naval Forces, which became fully operational in 1979. - A fine survival, undocumented and at the time undoubtedly a closely guarded military secret.
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Barros, João de.
Decada primeira (-terceira) da Asia. Lisbon, Jorge Rodriguez for Antonio Gonsalvez, 1628.
Large 4to. 3 vols. (7), 208 ff. (2), 238 ff. (10), 262 ff. Title vignettes (royal arms of Portugal). Without the folding plan present in some copies. Uniform contemporary limp vellum with Iberian handwritten spine titles and traces of ties. All edges red. Second edition of the first three "Decades" on Portugal's Middle Eastern enterprises, all that was published during the lifetime of the author (a fourth volume was produced posthumously in 1615, and the set was continued by other hands). "This is considered by Du Fresnoy as being a good edition of the three first decades" (Clarke, The Progress of Maritime Discovery, p. 132). The writer de Barros (1496-1570), head agent for the Portuguese overseas trade authority "Casa da Índia", managed to persuade King João III to commission from him a history of the Portuguese in India (including Asia and southeast Africa). The result, published between 1552 and 1563, earned him renown as one of the first great Portuguese historians, and the the title of a "Portuguese Livy". The 'Decades' contain "the early history of the Portuguese in India and Asia and reveal careful study of Eastern historians and geographers, as well as of the records of his own country. They are distinguished by clearness of exposition and orderly arrangement. They are also lively accounts" (Enc. Britannica). Books 2 and 3 of the "Decada Segunda" (fols. 21 ff.) offer a detailed narrative of Afonso de Albuquerque's expedition to the Arabian Gulf and his conquest of Ormuz in 1507; the island remained under Portuese occupation from 1515 to 1622. As vassals of the Portuguese state, the Kingdom of Ormuz jointly participated in the 1521 invasion of Bahrain that ended Jabrid rule of the Arabian archipelago. - From the library of the Spanish Dukes of Medinaceli y Santisteban (their engraved armorial bookplate on the pastedowns); olf shelfmark on flyleaves. Occasional slight browning, but a very good set. Palau I.181b. Howgego I, B34, p. 91. Arouca B 56-58. Löwendahl, Sino-Western Cultural Relations I, p. 42, no. 75. OCLC 4507939. Cf. Macro 474.
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Barros, João de / Couto, Diego de.
Da Asia. Nova ediçâo. Lisbon, na Regia Officina Typografica, 1777-1788.
Large 12mo. 24 vols. With engraved portraits of Barros, Couto, Henry the Navigator, and Afonso de Albuquerque and 5 folding maps. Uniformly bound in contemporary full calf, spines with titles and number of volume on giltstamped red labels. Edges lightly sprinkled red. A fundamental travel work: the best and most complete edition of what is considered the most comprehensive publication on Portuguese exploration and colonial history by João de Barros (decades I-IV) and Diego de Couto; the first edition to include decades X and XI. Books 2 and 3 of the "Decada Segunda" offer a detailed narrative of Afonso de Albuquerque's expedition to the Arabian Gulf and his conquest of Ormuz in 1507; the island remained under Portuguese occupation from 1515 to 1622. As vassals of the Portuguese state, the Kingdom of Ormuz jointly participated in the 1521 invasion of Bahrain that ended Jabrid rule of the Arabian archipelago. - This is "the best edition of this famous work on Portuguese colonial history. The first edition appeared at Lisbon, Madrid and Paris from 1552 to 1645. It consists of 12 "Decadas" (decades), comprising the history of the years 1420-1600. Only Decadas I, II, III and a part of IV are by J. de Barros, the rest is by D. de Couto, who begins his part also with Decada IV, so that there are two Decadas IV" (Laures). De Barros (1496-1570), head agent for the Portuguese overseas trade authority "Casa da Índia", managed to persuade King João III to commission from him a history of the Portuguese in India (including Asia and southeast Africa). The result earned him renown as one of the first great Portuguese historians, and the the title of a "Portuguese Livy". The 'Decades' contain "the early history of the Portuguese in India and Asia and reveal careful study of Eastern historians and geographers, as well as of the records of his own country. They are distinguished by clearness of exposition and orderly arrangement. They are also lively accounts" (Enc. Britannica). - A crisp, uniform set with a contemporary ink note by L. Quesnel on the front pastedown of the index volumes and 19th century collector's blue monogram labels (JCQ?) to flyleaves. Cordier, BJ, 34 and BS, 2309. Innocencio III, 322. Laures 642. Streit IV, 667 (with extensive list of contents) & VI, 630. This edition not in Borba de Moraes. For the maps cf. Gole, India, 8.
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Beato, Antonio.
Vues d'Egypte. Photograph album. Cairo, ca. 1865.
Oblong folio (510 x 385 mm). 25 albumen prints (ca. 260 x 370 mm), loosely mounted on grey leaves, each captioned in French. Green half morocco. Early, uncommonly well-preserved album of photographs showing the monuments of Egypt. Having arrived in Egypt as early as 1859, Antonio Beato (1835-1906) was among the first commercial photographers to make their way to the Middle East in order to capitalise on the increasing demand for souvenir photographs. Beato's images of Egypt were distinctly different from those of other photographers working in the region (cf. Hannavy). - Binding a little rubbed. Most of the photos signed in the negative, showing fresh and crisp contrast. Hannavy, J. (ed), Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-Century Photography (Routledge, 2013), pp. 127f.
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Béchard, Henri.
Égypte et Nubie. No place, (ca. 1880).
60 photographs on albumen paper, measuring 28 x 22 cm each, signed and captioned in the plate, numbered 1 through 68. Contemporary green half calf with gilt spine and title "Égypte & Nubie", initialed "B.C.D." on first plate. Large and beautiful photographs by Bechard: excellent vintage prints, mostly in superior condition. They represent the popular Egyptian and Nubian types, frequently in close-ups. Nissan N. Perez states that this part of the work of a photographer specializing in views of sites and monuments "has escaped general attention" (cf. Focus East, p. 123, reproducing the photograph of water carriers resting). Includes: a scribe; a sheikh reading the Qur'an, merchants and grocers, a group of ulemas (religious scholars) reading the Qur'an, an Arab drawing water, whirling dervishes, Arab peasants (a fellah carrying water), a sheikh going to the mosque, a game of Mangala, water carriers, mat manufacturers, Sheikh Sadad, a descendant of Mohammed, a falconer, washerwomen, an Arabic singer, a young fellah, a Darabouka player, labourers, a public fountain, a beggar, Arabs at prayer, Arabic coffee, etc. - Béchard was active between 1869 and ca. 1890. "His work is distinguished by the superb quality of his prints and the generally spectacular presentation of even the most common sites, such as the pyramids. His studies of people and costumes are even more interesting and point to a very personal involvement of the photographer in the life and customs of the country. His cityscapes and urban scenes were mostly taken from unusual angles in an attempt to cope with the narrow and confined spaces" (Nissan N. Perez). - Binding repaired in places.
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Beck, Matthias Friedrich.
[At-Taqwim sana 609] sive Ephemerides Persarum per totum annum, juxta epochas celebriores orientis, Alexandream, Christi, Diocletiani, Hegirae, Jesdegirdicam et Gelalaeam [...]. Augsburg, Jakob Koppmayer for Lorenz Kroniger and the heirs of Gottlieb Göbel, 1695-1696.
Folio (222 x 346 mm). (9) pp. of text with an engraved headpiece, (27) pp. of engraved astrological charts, (32) pp. of tables with 37 engraved diagrams, 80 pp. of text with 4 engravings in the text, 1 folding engraved plate. Title-page printed in red and black. Marbled boards. Only edition of this rare treatise on the astronomy, astrology and allied sciences of the Arabs, Persians and Turks. Once "said to be the first book printed with Persian characters" (Anderson, The library of the late George H. Hart of New York City, Part II [1922], no. 471), it remains an impressive achievement, even if the oriental languages are here in fact rendered in Hebrew letters, while the Persian specimens are engraved. (The first book in Persian characters was produced at Leiden more than a half-century earlier.) - The Swabian theologian Beck (1649-1701) studied history and oriental literature at Jena, soon surpassing his teachers. "The principal object of his studies always remained the oriental languages; and his great knowledge of Hebrew, Samaritan, Chaldaic, Syriac, Ethiopian, Persian, Arabic, and Turkish gained him such renown that he even drew a pension from the Prussian crown for them" (ADB II, 218). - Somewhat browned and stained throughout; edges untrimmed, paper somewhat limp. Includes the frequently lacking 12 double-page tables with additional engraved diagrams. - Provenance: from the library of the French oriental scholar Abraham Hyacinthe Anquetil-Duperron (1731-1805), the founder of Persian studies in Europe, with his handwritten ownership on the title-page. VD 17, 39:125183T. Caillet 901. Lalande p. 330. Gardner II, 102.
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Berquen, Robert de.
Les merveilles des Indes orientales ou nouveau traitté des pierres precieuses & perles, contenant leur vraye nature, dureté, couleurs & vertus: chacune placée selon son ordre & degré, suivant la cognoissance des marchands orfévres. Auquel est adjouté une petite table fort exacte, pour connoitre en un instant à quel tiltre les marchands orphevres de Paris, & les autres dans toutes les principalles villes presque de toute l'Europe, travaillent l'or & l'argent. Paris, C. Lambin, 1661.
4to. (12), 112 pp. With engraved portrait frontispiece of Anne Marie Louise d'Orleans and numerous pretty woodcut initials and tailpieces. Contemporary richly gilt calf, leading edges and spine gilt (tiny defect to upper spine-end and hinge). Marbled pastedowns. First edition of this rare work on precious stones and pearls found in the East and West Indies, written by a Parisian "marchand orphèvre". Dedicated to "La Grande Mademoiselle" Anne Marie Louise d'Orléans, Duchess of Montpensier and niece of Louis XIII, with her finely engraved portrait by L. Boissevin (which, according to Graesse, is frequently lacking). This "very early, and important treatise on gemstones, gold & silver" (Sinkankas) includes a chapter dedicated exclusively to pearls, a subject with which the author was especially familiar (cf. ibid.), and the Gulf is stated as one of the main locations of pearl fishing: "on pesche les perles en divers endroits du monde. Dans le Golfe Persique, principalement aux environs de l'Isle d'Ormus & Bassora: aupres de Baroyn [i.e., Bahrain], Catiffa, Iuffa, Camaron, & autres lieux de ce Golfe [...]" (p. 74). "The first chapter attempts to reconcile differing views of various writers, as cited by Berquen, on the origin of gemstones and precious metals, with following chapters taking up the principal gemstones, and some minor ones, as diamond, sapphire, topaz, ruby, spinel, emerald, amethyst, aquamarine, hyacinth, opal, chrysolite, iris, vermeille, garnets, carnelian, turquoise, quartz varieties, pearl, coral and amber, and lastly, a chapter on gold and silver [...] Both [the first and the second edition] are rare" (Sinkankas, p. 97f.). - Insignificant waterstain and occasional slight worming, mainly confined to upper margin. A good copy in an elaborately decorated contemporary French binding. Sinkankas 592. Sabin 4957. Brunet VI, 4780. Graesse I, 348. Ferguson II, 295 (note). Cf. Duveen 71 (1669 second ed.).
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Bertherand, E[mile]-L[ouis].
Médecine et hygiène des Arabes. Études sur l'exercice de la médecine et de la chirurgie chez les musulmans de l'Algérie, leurs connaissances en anatomie, histoire naturelle, pharmacie, médicine légale etc. leurs conditions climatériques générales, leurs pratiques hygiéniques publiques et privées, leurs maladies, leurs traitements les plus usités, précédées de Considérations sur l'état général de la Médicine chez les principales nations Mahométans. Paris, London, Madrid, New York, Germer Baillière, 1855.
8vo. 574, (2) pp. Contemporary full red leather binding, finely stamped and gilt with rules and the supralibros of the Husainids of Tunis to both covers. All edges gilt. First edition of this widely received study of medical and sanitary standards in the Arabic countries. The principal work of Bertherand (1821-90), a French physician and medical-legal expert active in Algeria, written in the context of a discussion over assimilation within the French colonial empire. In contrast to Montesquieu's traditional theory, which explained cultural differences with the climatic zones of their origin, Bertherand attributed them to moral conditions which, in the case of contemporary medicine in the Muslim countries, he associated directly with Islam. His suggestions for colonial politics are informed by the racist and eugenic theories of his age (cf. Ellen Amster [2014], Medicine and the Saints: Science, Islam, and the Colonial Encounter in Morocco, p. 59ff.). - Light browning and occasional foxing as common. A splendidly bound copy from the library of Muhammad II ibn al-Husayn (1811-1859), the Bey of Tunis. The Husainid dynasty ruled the Beylik of Tunis from 1705 until 1957. OCLC 7369595. Gay 739; Playfair 1806 (both erroneously citing an edition Lille, 1854). Not in Tailliart.
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[Biblia arabica].
[Al-Kutub al-muqaddasa wa-hiya kutub al-`ahd al-`atiq wal-`ahd al-gadid]. The Holy Bible, Containing the Old and New Testaments, in the Arabic Language. Newcastle upon Tyne, Sarah Hodgson, 1811.
Large 4to (ca. 220 x 272 mm). (4), (306), (98) ff. Original blindstamped full calf over heavy boards with rubbed remains of gilt border. First edition. Arabic text (without vowel points) throughout, save for the English title-page. "This edition, produced under the patronage of the Bishop of Durham (Shute Barrington), was at first undertaken by Joseph Dacre Carlyle (1759-1806), Cambridge Professor of Arabic in 1795, and vicar of Newcastle in 1801. On Carlyle's death Henry Ford, Lord Almoner Reader in Arabic at Oxford, took up the work, and saw the book through the press in 1811. The text is based, apparently, on the London Polyglot. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts contributed £250 for 1000 copies to be distributed in Africa and Asia. The British and Foreign Bible Society also gave £250, and in addition purchased, or received for distribution, over 1000 copies" (Darlow/M.). - Binding rubbed, front hinge professionally repaired. Undecorated spine shows traces of a removed library label. Old ink shelfmarks and stamp of Grüssau Abbey at Bad Wimpfen's St Peter's Church on verso of title-page. Handwritten ownership of "Eug. Breitling, parochus in Hamburg" (dated 1909) and note "Left by the wish of the Rev. A. Lehmann" at the end. Darlow/Moule II, 1663. OCLC 165689213.
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[Biblia arabica - Psalmi].
Kitab mazamir Da'ud al-Nabi [...] malik 'ala´ sha'b Bani Isra'il. Padua, Typis Seminarii [Zuanne Manfré], 1709.
8vo. (16), 220, (12) pp. With full-page woodcut illustration at the end of the preliminaries. Contemporary blindstamped calf over wooden boards with two clasps. Exceptionally rare Arabic Psalter, the first of several reprintings of 'Abd Allah ibn al-Fadl al-Antaki's translation which had first appeared in Aleppo in 1706. Translated from the Greek Septuaginta Version, with the kathismata interspersed between the Psalms and with the Canticles following them. Edited, with a Paschalion for the years 1709-39 at the end, by Philipp Ghailán. - Only two copies known in institutional collections; collation agrees with that of the British Library copy (Biblioteca Marciana collation omits 116 pp. of preliminary matter). Binding professionally repaired; noticeable worming, mainly confined to margins. Some browning throughout; slight waterstaining near end. A few early 19th century inked notes in Hebrew. Provenance: 18th-century bookplate "Ex bibliotecha Johannis Marchioni Plebani Veneti" on final endpaper. Darlow/Moule I, 1653 (note). BL shelfmark: Asia, Pacific & Africa 14501.a.31. Marciana shelfmark: 133-C-176. OCLC 945484585 (digital reproduction only).
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[Biblia arabica - VT - Pentateuch]. Erpenius, Thomas (ed.).
Turat Musa al-Nabi alayhi al-salam id est Pentateuchus Mosis Arabicè. Leiden, Thomas Erpenius for Johannes Maire, 1622.
4to. (16), 458, (2) pp. With the title in a woodcut architectural frame. Contemporary vellum. "First printing of the Pentateuch in Arabic characters" (Smitskamp). Edited by Thomas Erpenius and printed with his influential nashk Arabic types, cut under his direction by Arent Corsz. Hogenacker in Leiden. It gives the text of a 13th-century translation of the Pentateuch in the Maghreb dialect (spoken in Mauritania). Erpenius was one of the most distinguished orientalists and by far the best Arabist of his day. He published an influential Arabic grammar and several excellent critical editions. His own private printing office, equipped with Hebrew, Arabic, Syriac, Ethiopic and Turkish type, produced its first works as early as 1615. - With bookplate, owner's inscription and library stamp of Verplanck Colvin (1847-1920). Occasional spots, some leaves with a minor waterstain in the upper or lower margin, nor affecting the text. A good copy, with generous margins. Binding slightly soiled and with a restoration to the front inner hinge, but otherwise good. Breugelmans 1622-2. Darlow/Moule 1645. Smitskamp, PO 86.
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[Biblia arabico-latina - NT].
Arba`at Anajil Yasu` al-Masih Sayyidina al-Muqaddasah. Sacrosancta quatuor Iesu Christi D. N. Evangelia. Arabice scripta, Latine reddita, figurisq[ue] ornata. Rome, Typographia Medicea, (1591)-1619.
Folio (260 x 366 mm). (4), 9-462, (2) pp. Title-page printed in red and black, with the Medici arms. With 149 text woodcuts by L. N. Parassole after Antonio Tempesta. Contemporary Italian flexible boards with ms. title to spine. The rare first re-issue, with new preliminary matter only, of the first Gospel printing in the interlinear Arabic and Latin version, prepared at the same time and printed by the same press as the first Arabic-only Gospel. These were the first works ever produced by Ferdinando de' Medici's "Medicea" press, founded by Pope Gregory XIII to spread the word of Christ in the Orient. Supervised by the able scholar Giovambattista Raimondi (1536-1614), its strength lay in oriental, especially Arabic, printing. After Raimondi's death, the press relocated to Florence. - The Arabic text is printed in Robert Granjon's famous large fount, generally considered the first satisfactory Arabic printing type; as all early printed editions of the Arabic Gospels, it is based on the Alexandrian Vulgate (cf. Darlow/M. 1636). The Latin version is by Leonardo Sionita. As issued in 1591, the work began with page 9, without a title page or any preliminary matter at all: "the intended prefatory matter was apparently never published" (Darlow/M.). The 1619 re-issue contains 4 pages of preliminary matter (title page and a note "typographus lectori"); there exist copies with two additional leaves of dedications not present here. Another re-issue, much more common, was released in 1774. - Occasional browning; a good, untrimmed and hence wide-margined copy in its original temporary binding. Darlow/Moule 1643. Mortimer 64 (note). Streit XVI, p. 866, no. 5138.
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[Biblia arabico-latina - NT].
Evangelium Sanctum Domini nostri Jesu Christi conscriptum a quatuor evangelistis sanctis. Rome, Typographia Medicea, 1591.
Folio (220 x 334 mm). 9-462, (2) pp. With 149 text woodcuts by Leonardo Parassole after Antonio Tempesta. Early 20th century half vellum. The first Gospel printing in the interlinear Arabic and Latin version, prepared at the same time and printed by the same press as the first Arabic-only Gospel. These were the first works ever produced by Ferdinando de' Medici's "Medicea" press, founded by Pope Gregory XIII to spread the word of Christ in the Orient. Supervised by the able scholar Giovambattista Raimondi (1536-1614), its strength lay in oriental, especially Arabic, printing. After Raimondi's death, the press relocated to Florence. - The Arabic text is printed in Robert Granjon's famous large fount, generally considered the first satisfactory Arabic printing type; as all early printed editions of the Arabic Gospels, it is based on the Alexandrian Vulgate (cf. Darlow/M. 1636). The Latin version is by Leonardo Sionita. The work begins with page 9, without a title page or any preliminary matter at all: "the intended prefatory matter was apparently never published" (Darlow/M.); these first eight pages were not supplied until the 1619 re-issue. - Light browning as common; a light waterstain to the margin of the first leaves, but a good, fairly wide-margined copy. Provenance: handwritten ownership "C. R. Lies" (?), dated Rome, 1931, on upper pastedown; later bookplate of Guy Evans. Darlow/Moule 1637. Mortimer 64 (note). Streit XVI, p. 866, no. 5138. Ebert 7198. Graesse II, 531. Nagler XX, 326. Not in Adams.
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[Biblia polyglotta - Psalmi].
Psalterium Hebreum, Grecu[m], Arabicu[m], & Chaldaicu[m], cu[m] tribus latinis i[n]terp[re]tat[ion]ibus & glossis. Genoa, Pietro Paulo Porro, 1516.
Folio (binding 250 x 335 mm, inner book 236 x 327 mm). 200 leaves, complete. Title printed in red and black within woodcut arabesque border, printer's device on final leaf. With parallel text in Hebrew, Latin, Greek, Arabic and Chaldaean (in their respective types), 4 columns to a page, 41 lines. 13 woodcut floriated initials (5 Latin, 4 Hebrew, 2 Greek and 2 Arabic). Rebound in near contemporary brown calf, carefully restored, edges and corners repaired, spine fully rebacked in seven compartments with modern gilt title and date. First edition. - The first polyglot edition of any part of the Bible, and also the first polyglot work ever published. It is of the utmost importance in several further respects, constituting the second book printed in Arabic from movable type (following Gregorio de Gregorii's "Kitab salat as-sawa'i", a Horologion for the Lebanese Melchites, printed in 1514), as well as the earliest Arabic printing of any portion of the Bible. It also contains the first edition of the Aramaic text of the Psalter and offers for the first time Kabbalistic texts from the Zohar. Furthermore, Giustiniani’s commentary provides the first substantial biographical reference to Columbus, and is thus noted as an Americanum. - The learned Dominican Agostino Giustiniani (1470-1536) was Bishop of Nebbio in Corsica from 1514 and later became the first Professor of Arabic and Hebrew at Paris. On his death he bequeathed his extensive library to the state of Genoa. He edited, supervised and financed the present edition and also wrote the commentary. - His book is the first multilingual edition of any part of the Bible. Aldus Manutius had planned a Psalter in three languages as early as the late 15th century, but his project was not realised. Printed in eight parallel columns on double pages, Giustiniani’s work comprises the text in Hebrew, a literal Latin translation thereof, the Latin Vulgate, the Greek Septuagint, Arabic, Aramaic (Chaldee), a literal Latin translation from the Aramaic, and scholia in the same languages. While Giustiniani aimed to edit the entire Bibel in this form, no further sections were published. He described his difficulties in selling the edition in his History of Genoa (1537), recording an edition size of 2,000 paper copies and 50 copies on vellum. - Giustiniani’s extensive commentary includes a long note to Ps. 19:4 ("et in fines orbis omnia verba eorum"; C7r-D1r), about the Genoese Christopher Columbus, who had died in 1506, containing previously unpublished information on his second voyage: "In this interesting sketch of the life and voyages of his fellow-townsman, Bishop Giustiniani gives an interesting account of the discovery of the new world, and states some facts not mentioned elsewhere" (Sabin). - This edition is also the only book printed at Genoa in the 16th century. The Milanese printer Pietro Paulo Porro maintained a press at Turin with his brother Galeazzo. Giustiniani summoned Porro to Genoa especially for the production of this edition, and had set up a press in the house of his brother Nicolo Giustiniani Paulo. The types were designed and cut for this edition under Porro’s direction. - Mild browning throughout, with some occasional waterstaining (more pronounced near beginning). Adams B 1370. Darlow/Moule 1411, 1634 & 2401. Smitskamp, PO, 236. Alden-Landis 516/4. Harrisse, BAV no. 88 (pp. 154-158). Sabin 66468. Sander 5957. G. Roper, Early Arabic Printing in Europe, in: Middle Eastern Languages and the Print Revolution. A Cross-Cultural Encounter (Westhofen 2002), pp. 129-150, at p. 132, with colour ill. IV. StCB 25. Vinograd Genoa 1.
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[Biblia syro-latina].
Liber psalmorum Davidis regis et prophetae. Ex idiomate Syro in Latinum translatus. Paris, [A. Vitré], 1625.
4to. (24), 315, (12) pp. With two printer's devices in prelims. - (Bound with) II: [Barhebraeus, Gregorius]. Veteris philosophi Syri de sapientia divina. Poema aenigmaticum. Ibid., 1628. 4 ff. (incl. final blank), 35, (1) pp. With printer's device to title-page. Calf binding (ca. 1800), covers and spine gilt, leading edges and inner dentelle gilt. First complete edition of the Psalter in Syriac. "The text, which includes Ps. CLI, is based on three manuscripts, one of which had been sent to the editor by George, the Maronite Archbishop of Nicosia. The Latin version professes to be as literal a translation as possible of the Syriac text" (Darlow/M.). The present Paris edition and the one published at Leiden in the same year by Erpenius are the first two European editions of the Psalter in the Syriac language. While both are printed in Syriac and Latin, Erpenius's edition omits psalm 151 (cf. Smitskamp 80). Edited by the Maronite Gabriel Sionita (1577-1648), principally involved in the 1645 Paris polyglot Bible, printed with the types of Savary de Brèves. - Bound with the sole edition of Barhebraeus's Syriac poem. "Sionite édita et traduisit ce poème syriaque de Barhebraeus, mais sans en avoir identifié l’auteur. Pour lui c’est un auteur inconnu qui a composé ce poème sur la sagesse divine" (Le livre et le Liban). Even library catalogues frequently fail to identify the author (or cite the editor Sionita). - Catalogue clipping mounted on front endpaper. Psalter title has ms. ownership and several stamps. Title of Barhebraeus stamped; all edges remargined to page dimensions of Psalter. Of the utmost rarity, only a single, incomplete copy at auction within the last decade (Sotheby's, Dec 7, 1993, lot 315, lacking 6 prelim. leaves). I: Goldsmith B 848. Darlow/Moule 8961. - II: Le livre et le Liban 143.
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[Biblia turcica - NT].
Kitab ül-ahd il-cedid el-mensub ila rabbina Isa el-mesih [The Book of the New Testament of Our Lord Jesus Christ]. London, William Watts, 1853.
Small 8vo (108 x 156 mm). (4), 589 pp. Contemporary calf binding with gilt spine title in Osmanli and label "Watkins Binder" on the inner side of the rear cover. An exceedingly rare edition of Ali Ufki Bey's Turkish translation of the New Testament, almost unknown to bibliography. - Revised by Türabi Efendi from the text produced by the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1827, the original translation into Ottoman Turkish was prepared by the Polish musician and linguist Wojciech Bobowski (ca. 1610-75), known under his Muslim name Ali Ufki, as an attempt to present the Christian text to the Muslim world. The 17th century Turkish Bible translation had been informed by Christian eschatological hopes that Protestantism and Islam might form a political alliance to defeat the common enemy, idolatrous Catholicism, and bring about world peace. A Turkish translation of the Holy Scripture was to advance this cause: the word of God alone, it was assumed, would soon convert the Muslim world to Christianity. Although Ali Bey, who had been hired to the task in 1662, completed his translation in 1664/65, the first printed edition was not published until 1819, by the Imprimerie impériale in Paris. - Türabi Efendi, who carried out the new revisions for this edition, had in his youth been sent to Britain by the Egyptian administration, learned English and may have even married a British woman; in 1865 he would publish a Turkish cookbook in English. A more common version of this text, further revised by James W. Redhouse, was published in 1857. Possibly the new edition became necessary after the present 1853 edition sold out in the Crimean war (cf. Privratsky, p. 48). - Light brownstaining to beginning and end; sporadic underlined words and annotations in Ottoman Turkish in the margins. Binding professionally repaired at extremeties; overall in a good condition. A single institutional example could be traced (Tübingen University Library). Darlow/Moule 9468. OCLC 313135237. Bütün baskilarin listesi, tarihsel açiklamalar ve arastirma önerileriyle (2013), s.v. 1857 - Kitâb ül-'Ahd el-Cedîd. Cf. Bruce Privratsky, A History of Turkish Bible Translations, v. S (2014), p. 47.
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[Bidpai]. Ali Chelebi ibn Salih / [Abramovicz-]Adelburg, Ed[uard] von (ed.).
Auswahl türkischer Erzählungen aus dem "Humajun-namé oder Kaiserbuch" [Kalila wa-Dimna] [...]. Mit Urtext, Aussprache, deutscher Worterklärung und vollständiger Uebersetzung [...]. Erstes Heft (= All published.) Vienna, Mechitaristen, 1855.
8vo. XIV, (2), 80 pp. Original printed wrappers. First edition. The fables of Bidpai after the Turkish version by Anwari Souhaili in a German translation. Intended as a "handbook for prospective German orientalists", it contains the original text of the first fable of the "Humayun Nameh" in Ottoman Turkish script, a German translation as well as exhaustive philological and etymological material. The present edition was compiled and edited on the occasion of the centenary of the Vienna Oriental Academy by the Austrian orientalist and diplomat Eduard Adelburg (1804-56), himself a graduate of the Academy. - The title-page identifies this volume as an introduction to a much larger editorial project; however no further parts were published. - Binding somewhat loosened; front wrappers slightly creased. Occasional light foxing. Uncut copy. Kalemkiar 357. Chauvin II, p. 51, no. 75. OCLC 255154353.
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[Bidpai - Panchatantra].
[Kalilah wa-Dimnah - French]. Les Fables de Pilpay philosophe indien; ou la Conduite des Rois. Paris, Claude Barbin, 1698.
8vo. (20), 352 pp. Contemporary full calf with giltstamped edges, spine and spine-label. Marbled endpapers. All edges sprinkled red. Very rare, early French edition of the Fables of Bidpai, here comprising the prologue and the first four chapters of the "Anvari Suhaili". This Persian fable first appeared in French in 1644 in a translation prepared by David Sahid d'Ispahan. The year 1698 saw a joint edition by the Paris publishers Barbin and Delaulne, copies published by the latter being slightly more common. Not a single copy bearing Barbin's name on the title-page is traceable in libraries internationally. - The ancient Sanskrit Panchatantra fables, a classic of the genre, are thought to have been assembled ca. 200 BC out of stories from an even older oral tradition. The stories became known in Europe through Hebrew translations of Arabic versions under the name Bidpai. Featuring animals as a mirror for human behaviour, the fables were intended to educate people, especially young rulers. - Handwritten ownership of E. Bouzerand to lower flyleaf, dated 1802. Extremities professionally repaired. Paper shows occasional light spotting. A good copy of this classic work. Barbier II, 413. Brunet I, 937 (Delaulne issue). Graesse I, 422. Chauvin II, p. 33, no. 55B. This edition not in OCLC.
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[Illustrated broadsheet - Medina].
Bird's-eye view of the Prophet's Mosque in Medina. [Weißenburg, Burckardt, c. 1880/88].
Stencil-coloured lithograph. 33.7 x 42.8 cm. One of the very rare Weißenburg illustrated broadsheets showing oriental motifs. These were published under the fictitious address of Hassan Uwais (Auvès) in Cairo. The actual publisher, Camille Burckardt, was head of the Weißenburg company from 1880 until 1888. - Slight crease with minor edge damage; occasional browning. All of these prints are very rare; a different print commanded £21,250 at Sotheby's in 2012.
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[Illustrated broadsheet - Hajj].
Pilgrimage from Cairo to Mecca. [Weißenburg, Burckardt, c. 1880/90].
Stencil-coloured lithograph. 42.5 x 63.7 cm. Framed (77:63 cm). An extremely rare illustrated broadsheet showing the procession of the Egyptian Mahmal en route from Cairo to Mecca, with a colourful reception of a group of pilgrims in an Egyptian desert village. The Arabic caption states that the print was made from a drawing made on the spot by Sheikh Yunus, citing Hassan Uwais in Abidin Road, Cairo, as the publisher. The true publisher, Camille Burckardt in Weißenburg, is not named: it was company policy to obscure the European provenance of these broadsheets so as to to improve their sale potential in the Middle East. All of these prints are very rare; another copy of this print commanded £21,250 at Sotheby's in 2012. Des Mondes de Papier 120.
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Binyamin ben Yonah, mi-Tudelah / L'Empereur, Constantijn (ed. & transl.).
[Masa'ot shel rabi Binyamin]. Itinerarium D. Beniaminis cum versione & notis. Leiden, Elzevir, 1633.
8vo. (48), 234, (22) pp. With woodcut printer's device to title-page, woodcut initials and headpieces. Contemporary full vellum with handwritten spine title. First Hebrew edition: printed in Latin and Hebrew parallel text, with some passages in the notes in Arabic. "A pretty edition, and the only one to unite the text with a Latin translation" (cf. Brunet). Two duodecimo editions, in Hebrew only and in Latin only, were also published by Elzevier that same year. - Benjamin of Tudela, the "Wandering Jew" or "Wandering Rabbi", made a particular ethnographic study of the Jewish population of the various lands he visited on his travels. Setting out from Spain around 1160, he included Greece and the Aegean Archipelago, Constantinople, Jerusalem, Damascus, Baghdad, and Alexandria in his thirteen-year peregrination. Returned from his travels, he wrote his book in 1178. "One feature of his narrative is its division into what he actually saw and what he heard" (Blackmer). In Cyprus, for instance, he is stinging in his criticism of those who are "nempe Epicurei [...] Sabbathi vesperam profanant". - A clean and well-preserved copy. Willems 377. Pieters 122. Blackmer 120. Weber II, 67. Brunet I, 774 ("Belle édition"). Cf. Cobham-Jeffery p. 4. OCLC 122871307. Not in Atabey.
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Blunt, Anne.
A Pilgrimage to Nejd, the Cradle of the Arab Race. A Visit to the Court of the Arab Emir, and "Our Persian Campaign" [...]. London, John Murray, 1881.
8vo. 2 vols. XXXI, (3), 273 pp., final blank page; IX, (3), 283 pp., 1 blank page, 24 pp. of adverts. With 2 woodcut frontispieces (included in pagination), 13 woodcut plates, and several woodcut illustrations in the text, as well as 1 folded map of Northern Arabia. Contemporary full cloth, decorated in black and gold on covers and spine. First edition. A true classic of travel literature, describing the 1879 expedition across the Nejd from Beirut, south into the Great Nefud, north to Baghdad and east to the Arabian Gulf, undertaken by Anne Blunt and her husband Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, a prominent couple of British explorers. Conveying "an ideal of an Arab aristocracy of the desert" (Nash), the travelogue describes the Blunts' interaction with sheikhs and emirs, but also their fascination with Arabian horses, including an account of the stables at Hail. Lady Blunt was, along with her husband, the founder of the Crabbet Arabian Stud, and the first European woman to journey to Central Arabia. Furthermore, the Blunts were the first Europeans to enter the Jebel Shammar in the Nejd "openly and at leisure", free to map and record geographical and physical features. - Apparently received as a gift from the author, with pencil inscription by the recipient on the flyleaf of volume I: "Lady Anne Blunt to Stephen Pearse" (?), additional pencil ownership of Flawn E. Thomas (?); a previous ownership erased. A few annotations and reading notes, also marking the date of beginning and ending each volume, between 6 and 13 October 1928. Later pencil acquisition note referencing Heffers bookshop in Cambridge (for 1/5/-), dated 11 January 1940. - Bindings a bit stained and slighty rubbed. Paper slightly foxed throughout; small tear to inner margin of the map (not touching image), small tear in the lower margin of the map repaired; tear to the contents page of vol. II repaired. Overall a good copy. Macro 555. Nash, Travellers to the Middle East 73. Howgego III, B49. Boyd/P. 16. NYPL Arabia Coll. 164. Henze I, 277.
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[Bongars, Jacques].
[Orientalium expeditionum historia.] Gesta Dei per Francos, sive Orientalium expeditionum, et regni Francorum Hierosolimitani historia [...]. Hanau, typis Wechelianis, apud heredes Joan. Aubry, 1611.
Folio (240 x 352 mm). (56), 1203 (instead of 1207, properly 1205), (1) pp. (p. 623f. blank, wants pp. 231f. & 237f.). - (Includes, as part 2:) Sanudo, Marino. Liber secretorum fidelium crucis super Terrae Sanctae recuperatione et conservatione [...] Orientalis historiae tomus secundus. Ibid., 1611. (12), 361, (3) pp. (283f. printed as a double-page-sized folding table). Both parts with engraved printer's device to title-page. With 3 double-page-sized folding engraved maps and 2 engraved plans as well as a woodcut printer's device at the end. Slightly later full calf, spine elaborately gilt. Only edition of this early, important source book for the history of the crusades and the Kingdom of Jerusalem and its vassal states. The second parts contains the first printing of the much sought-after 14th century maps and plans by the Genoese cartographer Pietro Vesconte, previously available in manuscript copies only. "Four of the maps from Marino Sanudo's early fourteenth-century manuscript atlas were reprinted by Johann Bongars in 1611. Sanudo's planisphere [...] is one of the few examples of medieval maps based on portolano sources in printed form. It is a circular map centered on Jerusalem with the Mediterranean relatively well defined. The ocean surrounds the whole of the known world, the outer parts of which are represented by conjecture. The authorship of Marino Sanudo is not definitely established and the original manuscript has also been attributed to Pietro Vesconte" (Shirley). - One of two title variants differing only in slight changes in the typesetting (here: "Expeditionum" begins between the "O" and the "R" of "Orientalium"). Binding somewhat rubbed, hinges starting. Rather severely browned throughout due to paper stock, some waterstaining to margins, more pronounced near the end, sometimes reaching into the printed text. Stains to first title-page; the second title and its counter-leaf *6 are printed on different paper stock. Some light worming, mainly confined to margins but also touching the text near the end; occasional edge defects. A copy in modern half vellum (severely browned, with some worming, but otherwise complete) commanded 13,000 Euros at Reiss's spring 2009 auction. VD 17, 1:069728C. Atabey 127. Ioannou 49 (variant). Potthast I, 105. Tooley I, 162. Cf. Tobler 12. For the maps: Shirley 276 (with plate 217); Nordenskiöld 51 (with fig. 28); Laor 783 & 1145f. as well as Lex. Kart. 576 & 860f.
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Books from the library of Sultan Abdul Hamid II.
A collection of nine books formerly in the library of Sultan Abdul Hamid II, mostly presentation volumes inscribed by the authors. Constantinople, Florence, Berlin, and Paris, 1841-1891.
A set of nine volumes, 8vo and 4to. A rare survival: an ensemble of books, mainly medical, formerly in the library of Sultan Abdul Hamid II of the Ottoman Empire, whose famous collection was dispersed following his deposition in 1909. - Of the nine volumes in the present collection, more than half a devoted to medicine. They include a rare account of Turkish military and civil hospitals by the French physician Paul Aubry (1887), constituting an exceptional documentation of health care infrastructure in the Ottoman world. Further, there is a detailed account of the outbreak of the plague in the Levant by the Swedish polymath Jacques Graberg (1841), also describing the situation in Tangier in 1818 and 1819, which the author had witnessed himself. Finally, the collection comprises three rare volumes from the Ottoman Turkish translation of Adolf von Strümpell's medical textbook on internal diseases (1888-91), here focusing on diseases of the heart and the arteries, diseases of the brain, and diseases of the kidneys and bladder. - Additional volumes discuss the political and religious history of Japan, or the Greek Ten Thousand and their march to the Battle of Cunaxa and back in 401 BC. Other titles are more immediately connected with Turkey, giving a capsule history of the Ottoman Empire in French and Turkish verse, or and extremely rare political analysis of the Turkey's position in the critical months preceding the outbreak of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877/78. - The volumes bear the requisite traces of the Sultan's library marks. All are presentation volumes inscribed to the Sultan by the author (some even inscribed in Turkish and Arabic), or are bound in special presentation bindings, or the in Sultan's personal library bindings with his tughra on the covers. - Sultan Abdul Hamid (Abdülhamid) II (1842-1918) was the last Sultan of the Ottoman Empire to exert effective contol over the fracturing state and also remembered as a poet, translator and one of the dynasty's greatest bibliophiles. While his passion for books is memorialized by the many precious donations he gave to libraries all over the world and which mostly have remained intact to this day (including the 400-volume "Abdul-Hamid II Collection of Books and Serials" gifted to the Library of Congress), his own library was dispersed in the years following his deposition: books were removed to other palaces and even sold to Western collectors; the greatest part of his collection is today preserved in the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin. - Detailed catalogue available upon request.
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Breton [de la Martinière, Jean-Baptiste Joseph].
L'Égypte et la Syrie, ou moeurs, usages, costumes et monumens des Égyptiens, des Arabes et des Syriens. Précédé d'un Précis historique. Paris, A. Nepveu, 1814.
12mo. 6 vols. With 84 engraved plates, mostly aquatints, in contemporary hand colour, several folding. Contemp. red grained morocco, blindstamped and giltstamped, spine gilt, leading edges and inner dentelle gilt. All edges gilt. First edition, the rare coloured issue in contemporary French master bindings. - Contains a large number of very pretty views and charming genre scenes, also showing costumes, arms, tools, etc. Accompanied by notes by Jean Joseph Marcel (1776-1854), director of the French imperial printshop at Cairo. Immaculate, sumptuously bound copy from the library of Mary Lecomte du Noüy with her gilt morocco bookplate on all pastedowns. Uncommonly well preserved; most copies in the great travel collections were incomparably the worse for wear: the Atabey copy was described as "rubbed, upper joint of vol. VI wormed" and was uncoloured, as were most of the press run and all recent copies showing up in trade or at auction. Atabey 148. Blackmer 200. Ibrahim-Hilmy I, 87. Röhricht 1631. Lipperheide Ma 10. Colas 438. Hiler 113.
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Breydenbach, Bernhard von.
Peregrinatio in terram sanctam. Mainz, Erhard Reuwich, 11 Feb. 1486.
Folio (226 x 312 mm). 147 (instead of 148) unnumbered ff. (lacking the final blank). With numerous red and blue Lombardic initials (some up to eight lines high), full-page title woodcut, 8 woodcuts and 6 woodcut alphabets in the text, 2 woodcut initials (1 armorial), small woodcut printer's device, and 7 folding woodcut views (some with text or woodcut illustrations on verso). Finely gilt maroon shagreen binding, ca. 1820, with giltstamped title and decorations to spine; covers stamped in gilt and blind with pretty floral borders and gilt decorations to corners; leading edges and inner dentelle gilt. Red endpapers. All edges gilt. Editio princeps of the first modern travelogue of a journey from Venice to the Holy Land, and "the first illustrated book of travel ever printed [...] [T]he folding panoramic views [...] are the first authentic representations of the famous places depicted, i. e., the ports usually visited by every pilgrim of the period [... The] artist was Erhard Reuwich [..., who] graphically record[ed] the impressions of the voyage" (Davies). The splendid panoramic folding views show Venice (ca. 160 cms long!), Porec and Corfu (both ca. 40 cms), Methoni, Crete and Rhodes (all ca. 80 cms) as well as Jerusalem (ca. 130 cms). - This work is considered the first authentic Western source for the Near and Middle East, as the illustrations were prepared from actual observation of the lands and people described. Breydenbach travelled to the Holy Land in 1483/84 with a large party including the artist Reuwich from Utrecht. Following the traditional route, they travelled from Venice to Corfu, Modon, Crete, Rhodes and Jaffa before arriving in Jerusalem, and then through the Sinai desert to Mt. Sinai, Cairo, and Alexandria on the return journey. The book quickly became extremely popular and was translated into French, Dutch and Spanish before 1500. It includes illustrations of Middle Eastern and Bedouin costume, a glossary of common Arabic words, and pictures of animals encountered on the journey (including a crocodile, a camel, and even a unicorn), as well as an Arabic alphabet - the latter of especial importance for being the first of its kind ever to see print: "The first representation of Arabic letters in a printed book was done in Germany; this was the woodcut of the Arabic alphabet in Bernhard von Breydenbach's 'Peregrinatio'" (Toomer). - Title-page trimmed to the neatline, remargined on all sides, a narrow strip along the left edge as well as a tiny ornament at the bottom supplied in meticulous ink. A témoin to upper corner of a single leaf (not touching text), another leaf showing a short tear near the gutter and traces of old glue; lower corner of final leaf remargined. Dry-cleaned throughout very carefully, the paper retaining light browning and occasional fingerstains. The views are very well preserved throughout and present as entirely complete, although some have small portions supplied from other copies of the same edition or are professionally retouched: some 22 cms in the middle section of the view of Venice are barely noticeably supplied in ink, and three segments are from another copy; tiny flaws in the folds. One fold in the view of Methoni is rebacked with a tiny gap. One half of Crete and Rhodes each supplied from another copy, seguing into each other in professionally drawn ink retouchings measuring ca. 2 cms. Right half of the view of Rhodes trimmed to neatline and remargined; a few professionally restored edge tears. The spectacular view of Jerusalem, frequently lacking, is complete and uncommonly well preserved, showing only are few well-restored edge tears. Altogether an outstanding copy on strong, unusually wide-margined paper, splendidly bound in the early 19th century. - The present first edition is extremely rare in the trade, usually appearing only in severely mutilated copies or even in fragments comprising no more than a few leaves. The only similarly complete copy in auction records since 1900 was the Perrins-Wardington copy (complete), sold at Sotheby's in 2005 for £265,600 (today, ca. EUR 500,000), while the Consul Smith copy sold at Christie's in 2018 lacked one quire consisting of the Jerusalem view and 2 woodcut scenes, as well as about half of Venice and Rhodes views. - From the library of the great English bibliophile Thomas Edward Watson, 1st Bart. (1851-1921) with his engraved bookplate ("St. Mary's Lodge, Newport Monmouthshire") on the front pastedown; old bookseller's catalogue clipping mounted to flyleaf and pencil annotation: "This is a far finer copy than the B[ritish] M[useum] Copy ..., that being badly coloured & much wormed". Last in a noted German private collection and acquired directly. HC 3956. Goff B-1189. GW 5075. Proctor 156. Pellechet 2979. BMC I, 43. BSB-Ink B-909. Klebs 220.1. Schreiber 3628. Bodleian B-552. Hubay 468. Schäfer 84. Oates 52. Davies, Breydenbach, no. I. Fairfax Murray 92. Campbell (Maps) 65. Hillard 486. Aquilon 181. Arnoult 366. Parguez 275. Péligry 226. Torchet 228. Zehnacker 577. ISTC ib01189000.
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Brown, Edward Hoagland.
The Saudi Arabia Kuwait Neutral Zone. Beirut, The Middle East Research and Publishing Center, 1963.
8vo. XIV, 150 pp. Black full calf with giltstamped spine title. A history of the creation of the Neutral Zone between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, discussing the historical and legal background of both countries, a comparison with the Trucial Sheikhdoms, the establishment of the Neutral Zone, and the ongoing oil operations in the Zone, with an appendix of legal documents. Based on an unfinished manuscript left by the author upon his death in 1959, the volume was completed posthumously by staff of the Middle East Research and Publishing Center. Dedicated to John Paul Getty. - The Neutral Zone, a 5,770 km² area between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, had been left undefined when the border was established by in 1922. Partitioning negotiations finally commenced when the rulers of both countries met and decided, in October 1960, that the Neutral Zone should be divided. On 7 July 1965, the two governments signed an agreement, which took effect on 25 July 1966, to partition the Zone adjoining their respective territories. Ratification followed on 18 January 1970. - Quite rare; traced to 19 institutions including 6 on COPAC. OCLC 32070547.
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Brünnow, Rudolf Ernst / Domaszewski, Alfred von.
Die Provincia Arabia. Strasbourg, Trübner, 1904-1909.
Small folio (320 x 246 mm). 3 vols. XXIV, 532, (2) pp. with heliogravure frontispiece, 548 illustrations, 40 plates and maps in the text, and 2 extra maps on 4 ff. XII, 358, (4) pp. with 315 illustrations and 9 plates. XIV, 403, (1) pp. with 257 illustrations and 4 plates. Publisher's original half vellum and green boards. First edition: rare. A remarkably well-illustrated archaeological survey of sites in Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon, particularly valued for its account of Petra and of the palace of Mshatta in Jordan, a great monument of early Islamic art. With over 1100 half tone illustrations, many full-page, and numerous splendidly produced plates (some folding or double-page, a few coloured). The outstanding feature of the Mshatta palace was the intricately carved decoration on its facade. Today the complete facade, built in the mid-eighth century, exists only in Brünnow's photographs (see vol. II). - Bindings slightly rubbed; upper joints of vol. III slightly split; stamp of the Meadville Theological School library to title page. A good, clean copy. NYPL Arabia Coll. 166. OCLC 24223621.
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Bruyn (Le Brun), Cornelis de.
Reizen van Cornelis de Bruyn, door de vermaardste deelen van Klein Asia, de eylanden Scio, Rhodus, Cyprus, Metelino, Stanchio, &c. Mitsgaders de voornaamste steden van Aegypten, Syrien en Palestina. Delft, printed by Hendrik van Kroonevelt [engravings printed by Petrus Schenk and Gerard Valck?], 1698.
Large folio (260 x 395 mm). (20), 398, (8) pp. With engraved frontispiece, engraved author's portrait, large engraved folding map of the Mediterranean Sea, 103 engraved plates (many double-page and folding, and often containing more than one illustration) and 18 engravings in text (totally containing 218 illustrations, numbered A & 1-210). The engraved plates are all after drawings by De Bruyn and contain 15 plates engraved by Jan Luyken and 1 by Casper Luyken, all but one unsigned. 18th-century, gold-tooled, tanned goatskin, marbled edges; rebacked, with original backstrip laid down and modern endpapers. First edition, large-paper copy, of this beautifully illustrated account of De Bruyn's first journey through Egypt, Syria, the Holy Land, Rhodes, Cyprus, Scio and Turkey. - The Dutch traveller and painter Cornelis De Bruyn (1652-1726/28) left the Netherlands in 1674 to travel through the Levant by way of Italy. He stayed in the Levant for seven years before settling in Italy in 1685 and returning to the Netherlands in 1693. The work is especially valued for its engravings after De Bruyn's own drawings, executed by such well-known artists as Jan and Caper Luyken, including folding panoramas of Alexandria, Sattalia, Constantinople, Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Rhodes and Chios. The publication was soon followed by editions in English and French. - The present copy is printed on large paper from a single stock, watermarked: fleur-de-lys on a crowned shield above 4 and WR = WK, with a trimmed leaf size measuring 396 x 259 mm (not in Heawood or Laurentius). - With some occasional spots, some folds and edges of the plates reinforced or mounted on new stubs; a very good copy. The binding rebacked as noted and with some wear to the tooling. Atabey 159. Howgego, to 1800, B177. Klaversma & Hannema 311. Tiele, Bibl. 207. Cf. Gnirrep, De Levant in een kleur (1997).
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Brydges, Harford Jones.
An account of the transactions of His Majesty's Mission to the Court of Persia, in the Years 1807-11 [...] To which is appended, a brief history of the Wahauby. London, James Bohn, 1834.
8vo. 2 vols. VIII, 472, XXXIV. (4), V, (6)-238 pp. With 2 lithogr. frontispieces, 9 lithogr. plates on Chine appliqué and 1 folding lithogr. map of Central Arabia and Egypt. Contemporary tan calf bindings, spines renewed in period style. First edition. The second volume - and the map - are devoted entirely to the so-called "Nedjed Country". - "The first political and commercial treaty between Great Britain and Persia was concluded in 1801, when the East India Company sent John Malcolm to the Court of Fath Ali Shah. Persia undertook to attack the Afghans if they were to move against India, while the British undertook to come to the defence of Persia if they were attacked by either the Afghans or the French. When the Russians intensified their attacks on the Caucasian Provinces in 1803 annexing large territories, Fath Ali Shah appealed to the British for help, but was refused on the grounds that Russia was not included in the Treaty. The Persians thus turned to the French and concluded the Treaty of Finkenstein in 1807. It was against this background that Harford Jones, who was the chief resident at Basra for the East India Company, was sent to Persia by the Foreign Office in 1809 [...] The French who had now entered into a treaty with Russia (the Treaty of Tilsit in 1807) had lost interest in Persia and removed their political and military missions. Thus the British were able to conclude another treaty with Persia (the Treaty of Friendship and Alliance, also called the Treaty of Tehran) which bound Britain to assist Persia in case any European nation invaded her (even if Britain had a treaty with that nation). This treaty was not honoured by the British after the first Persian-Russian War" (Ghani). Volume 2 is devoted exclusively to the Wahhabis, tracing their history from the mid-eighteenth century to their defeat by Egyptian Ottoman forces at the site of the Wahhabi capital, Dariyah (Dereyah), in 1818. - Rare: the only other copy in a contemporary binding on the market within the last 30 years was the Burrell copy (wanting half titles and rebacked; Sotheby's, Oct 14, 1999, lot 127, £8,000). Only slightly browned and foxed (occasionally affecting plates), but altogether fresh, in an appealing full calf binding. Macro, Bibliography of the Arabian Peninsula, 606. BM IV:457 (941). Wilson 33. Cf. Ghani 53f. (reprint). Diba 79.
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Bukhari, Muhammad ibn Isma'il al-.
[Al-Jami as-sahih]. Les Traditions Islamiques. Traduites de l'arabe avec notes et index. Paris, Imprimerie Imperiale, 1903-1914.
Small folio (190 x 272 mm). 4 vols. (4), 682 pp. (4), XXV, (1), 649, (1) pp. (4), 700 pp. VIII, 676 pp. Modern green half leather over marbled boards with giltstamped title to spine. Monumental French translation of the great hadith collection known as the "Sahih al-Buchari", "in later times esteemed almost as highly as the Koran itself" (Brockelmann). It ranks as the first in importance of the six major canonical hadith collections, its authority and holiness surpassed only by the Holy Qur'an. - The French Arabist Octave Victor Houdas (1840-1916) taught at the École des langues orientales. His translation, the first complete edition, appeared within the "Publications de l'École des langues orientales vivantes", IVe série, vols. III-VI. - A few insignificant edge flaws, but on the whole a finely preserved set, uniformly bound in green half morocco. A milestone in French Islamic scholarship. Rare. GAL S I, 261. OCLC 493784348.
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Burckhardt, Johann Ludwig (John Lewis).
Notes on the Bedouins and Wahabys, collected during his travels in the East. London, (A. J. Valpy for) Henry Colburn & Richard Bentley, 1830.
Large 4to (220 x 277 mm). IX, (3), 439, (1) pp. With an engraved map. Near-contemporary brown half calf (giltstamped spine recently rebacked). First edition, posthumously edited by William Ousely. With this work, Burckhardt submitted what was at the time the fullest and most thorough account of the various nomadic tribes of Arabia, including a history of the Wahhabis from their first appearance until 1816 (cf. Henze). A two-volume octavo edition followed immediately, as did a German translation. - The Swiss explorer Burckhardt (1784-1817) travelled through Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Nubia, and the Arabian Peninsula. Under the name "Sheikh Ibrahim", he crossed the Red Sea to Jeddah, passed an examination on Muslim law, and participated in the pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina. He died in Cairo and is buried there in the Muslim cemetery. He left his 350-volume library to Cambridge University; his diaries were acquired by the Royal Geographical Society. - Light waterstain to the lower corner of the map, otherwise a very good, wide-margined copy of this rare work. Embacher 57. Howgego II, p. 83, B76. Gay 3606. Ibrahim-Hilmy I, 106. Engelmann 104. Brunet I, 1401f. Graesse I, 575. Cf. Macro 626; Henze I, 406f.; Hiler 127 (two-volume edition).
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Burckhardt, Johann Ludwig (John Lewis).
Travels in Arabia, comprehending an account of those territories in Hedjaz which the Mohammedans regard as sacred. London, Henry Colburn, 1829.
Large 4to (278 x 228 mm). XVI, 478 pp. With five lithographed maps (one folding). Contemporary full calf with gilt spine, two labels, and cover borders. Gilt inner dentelle, marbled endpapers. All edges marbled. First edition (the second of the same year was in two volumes, octavo). Burckhardt travelled disguised as an Arab, making his notes clandestinely. This work deals primarily with his travels to Mecca and Djidda, Medina and Yembo. The Lausanne-born Burckhardt (1784-1817) was a remarkable character, the first Westerner to visit the Holy Cities. In the guise of a pilgrim "he proceeded to perform the rites of pilgrimage at Mekka, go round the Kaaba, sacrifice, &c., and in every respect acquitted himself as a good Muslim. No Christian or European had ever accomplished this feat before; and the penalty of discovery would probably have been death. [...] Burckhardt possessed the highest qualifications of a traveller. Daring and yet prudent, a close and accurate observer, with an intimate knowledge of the people among whom he travelled, their manners and their language, he was able to accomplish feats of exploration which to others would have been impossible" (Stanley Lane-Poole, in DNB VII, 293f.). - Extremeties quite severely rubbed and bumped. Spine shows traces of early repairs, using the original material. Several tears to the half-title, light foxing to beginning and end, otherwise internally a very good copy from the library of the Rev. Thomas Thurlow (1788-1874), Rector of Boxford, Suffolk, with his engraved bookplate to the front pastedown. Rare. Macro 627. Howgego II, p. 82f., B76. Weber I, 168. Henze I, 407. Gay 3606. Graesse I, 575. Cf. Blackmer 239. Ibrahim-Hilmy I, 106. Not in Atabey.
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Burckhardt, Johann Ludwig (John Lewis).
Travels in Syria and the Holy Land. London, (William Nicol for) John Murray, 1822.
Large 4to (282 x 230 mm). (4), XXIII, (3), 668 pp. With lithographed portrait frontispiece, 3 engraved maps (2 folding), and 3 engraved plans. Contemporary full calf with gilt spine, two labels, and cover borders. Gilt inner dentelle, marbled endpapers. First edition. Posthumously edited by William Leake, these journals describe Burckhardt's various journeys between 1810 and 1816. It was at Aleppo that he studied Arabic in preparation for his later travels (clandestinely, in Arab guise under the cognomen Sheikh Ibrahim) and he toured Syria, the Lebanon and Palestine. Burckhardt had been recruited by Sir Joseph Banks on behalf of the African Association to carry out these explorations, but unfortunately he died in 1819 before he was able to complete the entire project. - Binding somewhat rubbed along extremeties; hinges and upper spine-end repaired. A little browning and foxing near the beginning, otherwise internally fine. The portrait shows Burckhardt "in his Arab Bernous, sketched at Cairo Feb. 1817 by H. Salt, Esq.". Macro 628. Blackmer 237. Atabey 166. Aboussouan 174. Tobler 141. Röhricht 1627. Weber I, 107. Howgego II, p. 82, B76. Henze I, 406. Brunet I, 1401. Graesse I, 575. Ibrahim-Hilmy I, 106.
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Burton, Isabel.
AEI. Arabia Egypt India. A Narrative of Travel. London, William Mullan & Son, 1879.
8vo. VIII, 488 pp. With coloured frontispiece map and 12 plates. Original dark grey decorated cloth with bevelled edges, ruled and lettered in silver and gold. First edition. - Lady Burton's second book, detailing a journey made with her husband Sir Richard Francis Burton to India via Arabia and Egypt between 1875 and 1876. Although the work is predominantly focused on India, there is a chapter devoted to Jeddah and some notes on Trieste, where this particular voyage began. - Provenance: Georgiana Seymour, Duchess of Somerset, with the author's presentation inscription on the half-title: "The Duchess of Somerset with affecti[onate] love from Isabel Burton / 21 Feb 1879". The beautiful Jane Georgiana Seymour, Duchess of Somerset (1809-84), was the granddaughter of the Irish playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan. - Neat restoration to extremities and inner hinges. A fine association copy. Ibrahim-Hilmy I, 108. OCLC 64763306.
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Burton, Sir Richard Francis.
Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to El-Medinah and Meccah. London, Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans, 1855-1856.
3 volumes. 8vo. XVI, 388 pp. (2), IV, 426 pp. XII, 448 pp. Half-title in vol. 3, without publisher's ads. 4 maps & plans (3 folding), 5 colour lithographed plates, 8 tinted lithographed plates. Later half morocco over marbled paper covered boards, bound by Zaehnsdorf, spine with raised bands in six compartments, lettered in the second and fourth, the others with a repeat decoration in gilt, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt. First edition of Burton's classic account of his journey across the Arabian peninsula. In the fall of 1852, Burton first proposed to the Royal Geographical Society an expedition to central Arabia with the intent on visiting the holy cities. His request was denied by the RGS and the East India Company as being too dangerous for a westerner, though he was funded to study Arabic in Egypt. Upon arrival there, in April 1853, disguised as a Pashtun and travelling under the pseudonym Mirza Abdullah, Burton made the pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina. "The actual pilgrimage began with a journey on camel-back from Cairo to Suez. Then followed twelve days in a pilgrim ship on the Red Sea from Suez to Yambu, the port of El-Medinah. So far the only risk was from detection by his companions. Now came the dangers of the inland road, infested by Bedawin robbers. The journey from Yambu to El-Medinah, thence to Meccah, and finally to the sea again at Jeddah, occupied altogether from 17 July to 23 Sept., including some days spent in rest, and many more in devotional exercises. From Jeddah, Burton returned to Egypt in a British steamer, intending to start afresh for the interior of Arabia via Muwaylah. But this second project was frustrated by ill-health, which kept him in Egypt until his period of furlough was exhausted. The manuscript ... was sent home from India, and seen through the press by a friend in England. It is deservedly the most popular of Burton's books ... as a story of bold adventure, and as lifting a veil from the unknown, its interest will never fade" (DNB). Indeed, the work would be described by T.E. Lawrence as "a most remarkable work of the highest value." Abbey, Travel 368. Penzer, pp. 43-50. Macro, 640. Howgego IV, B95.
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Cailliaud & Drovetti / Jomard, M. (ed.).
Voyage à L’Oasis de Syouah. Rédigé et publié par M. Jomard [...] d’aprés les matériaux recueillis par M. le Chevalier Drovetti, Consul Général de France en Égypte, et par M. Frédéric Cailliaud, de Nantes, pendant leurs voyages dans cette oasis en 1819 et en 1820. Paris, 1823.
Folio (45 x 29 cm). (2) (half title and title), (4) (description of plates), 28 pp. With 20 plates (including a map of Northern Africa and the region around Siwa). Very nice contemporary half calf, spine richly gilt. Map slightly cropped in right-hand margin, but only touching frame, no loss of picture. A fine, very attractive copy of a particularly scarce work. - (Bound after:) Cailliaud, Frédéric. Voyage a l'Oasis de Thèbes et dans les Déserts situés a l'orient et a l'occident de la Thébaide, fait pendant les années 1815, 1816, 1817 et 1818. Contenant: 1. Le Voyage à l'Oasis de Dakel, par M. le Chevalier Drovetti. 2. Le Journal du premier Voyage de M. Cailliaud en Nubie. 3. Des recherches sur les Oasis, sur les Mines d'émeraude, et sur l'ancienne Route du commerce entre le Nil et la mer Rouge. Paris, l'Imprimerie Royale, 1821. XVII, 120 pp. With 24 (1 colour) plates (including 2 maps). I) Voyage y l'oasis de Syouah: An important work on Siwa and at the same time the only source on Drovetti's research in the oasis - a particularly rare book! - In September 1819, Cailliaud travelled from Fayun westward to Siwa, where he carried out important research which was the foundation of the scientific discovery and exploration of Siwa oasis. In 1820 Bernardino Drovetti arrrived in Siwa together with Mehmed Ali's expedition. Accompanied by 2 draughtsmen and protected by the Egyptian troops, Drovetti was able to explore the oasis and to have plans and views drawn. Thus, he managed to supplement the picture Cailliaud had given of Siwa. He was also the first European to visit the village of Agharmi. Drovetti's and Cailliaud's reports were sent to Jomard who edited and published them. - II) Voyage à l'oasis de Thèbes: In 1815, Cailliaud travelled to Nubia together with B. Drovetti. When he had returned, Mehmed Ali advised him to explore the adjacent desert regions near Egypt. First he went east through the Arabian desert to the Red Sea. After seven days he reached the diamond mines at Djebel Subara. From Djebel Kebrit, his easternmost point, he went back to the Nile. In June 1818 he went east of Esna to the Great Oasis (Kharga), which, although Poncet und Browne had already seen it, had still remained unexplored. - The plates show Sekket, Douch El Qualah, Chargeh, El Gabouet, the ruins of Chargeh, etc. Also contains the only publication of Bernardino Drovetti's 'Le Voyage à l'Oasis du Dakel'. Drovetti was, after Edmonstone, the second explorer to reach Dakel. - A separate second volume of the Voyage a l'oasis de Thèbes was issued in 1824. I: Henze I, 474/475 (Cailliaud) and II, 97/98 (Drovetti). Ibrahim Hilmy I, 113. Not in Blackmer. - II: Cf. Henze I, 474 ff. Blackmer 268. Gay 1967. Ibrahim-Hilmy I, 113. Embacher 66.
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Castro, Dom João de.
Naauwkeurig verhaal van een reys door Portugiejsen uyt Indien gedaan na Soez, in de jaaren 1540 en 1541. Leiden, Pieter van der Aa, 1706.
8vo. (2), 78, (6) pp. With an engraved folding map of the Arabian Peninsula, 3 engraved folding plates, and an engraved title-vignette. Later full cloth. Rare first Dutch edition of the travelogue of a 16th-century sea voyage around the Arabian Peninsula. Castro's voyage took him from Socotra up the Red Sea. He landed on both the African and the Arabian coast before reaching Suez; his account includes descriptions of the various ports he encountered en route as well as observations on the naming of the Red Sea. - Dom João de Castro (1500-48) was a naval officer and later Viceroy of Portuguese India. In 1538 he embarked on his first voyage to India, arriving at Goa and immediately proceeding to the defense of Diu. Castro was responsible for the overthrow of Mahmud, King of Gujarat, whose interests threatened Portuguese control of the Goan coast. Castro died in Goa in 1548 and was initially buried there, but his remains were later exhumed and transferred to Portugal. - Traces of glue near the gutter of the title-page, but a good copy in a modern binding. Only three copies traceable in auction records. BMC V, 168:149. OCLC 224637211. Cf. Scholberg, Bibliography of Goa & the Portuguese in India, DC7. Avila Perez 1562. Welsh 4780 (other eds.).
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(Central Narcotics Intelligence Bureau). Russell, Thomas Wentworth (or Russell Pasha).
Annual report for the year 1932. Cairo, Government Press, 1933.
Small folio (27 x 18 cm). XVIII, 170 pp. (pp. VI and XVIII blank). With 14 sepia photographic plates, 1 folding facsimile letter, 2 folding graphs, a plate with 6 pie charts and 1 illustration (also in red) showing schematically a smuggling box. Original pink paper wrappers. Exceptionally rare work on drug trafficking in Egypt in the 1930s and an important example of the "war on drugs" of the author, who was director of the Central Narcotics Intelligence Bureau. Thomas Wentworth Russell (1879-1954), sometimes better known as Russell Pasha, was a police officer in service of Egypt who was appalled by the increasing drug trafficking in Egypt and the high amount of drug addicts in the country. He founded the Central Narcotics Intelligence Bureau (CNIB), making it his mission to rid Egypt of especially what he called "white drugs" (cocaine, morphine, heroin), but also of "black drugs" (hashish, opium). Russell can be considered as one of the most important anti-drug campaigners in Egypt in his time and after, as he really raised awareness for the rising problem. In this work, Russell describes how drugs are smuggled in large quantities from abroad to Egypt. In many chapters, he extensively describes the foreign sources of supply (discussing not only important drug barons, but also mentioning specific ships and other means of transport which smuggled drugs), cases in which weapons were used by traffickers, on people involved in the trade, on traffickers and their methods of smuggling (among others in shoes, camel saddles, etc.), on addiction and the social effects and death rates, and many more. It is a scarce and outstanding example of Russell's anti-drug campaign, extensively describing drug trafficking in Egypt in the 1930s, being well-illustrated with photographs of drug barons, users, traffickers and methods of concealment. - Presentation copy to the English poet and dramatist John Drinkwater with an inscription by Russelll on the front wrapper ("John Drinkwater / With compliments from the director / Tho Russell / 24/3/33" / [Arabic script]") and his red stamp next to the inscription. - Spine worn, front wrapper detached, covers with light residual dampstain. A highly uncommon survival. Not in WorldCat.
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Chanlaire, Pierre Gregoire & Mentelle, Edme.
Carte du théâtre de la Guerre en Orient. Paris, Chanlaire & Mentelle, 1798-1799.
Original outline colour. Dissected and laid on linen in two sections, together 940 x 1540 mm. A two-sheet wall map showing Prussia, Turkey, Egypt and Abyssinia in the west, and the Aral Sea in Kazakhstan, Persia, Arabia and Somalia in the east. Two inset maps show the routes from Siré to Gondar and from Gondar to the sources of the Nile. According to the inscription, the map is based on that of "the late J. B. Laborde" (Jean-Benjamin de Laborde [1734-94], a traveller and musician), with amendments; however we have been unable to trace a map of the region by him. - The vast map was published to satisfy French interest when their seemingly-unstoppable General Bonaparte turned his attention to the conquest of Egypt in 1798. Napoleon had captured Malta en route to Egypt, and the oval title vignette shows him overseeing the burial of the French dead under Pompey's Pillar after the capture of the important port city of Alexandria (July 1798). - After the defeat of the Mameluk army at the Battle of the Pyramids it was Napoleon's intention to subdue the rest of the Ottoman Empire before moving to threaten British interests in India. However, as the political situation in Paris was deteriorating, Napoleon decided to leave his army in Egypt in 1799, returning to France to become First Consul. His army was less fortunate, surrendering to the British at Alexandria in 1801. - This map is very scarce: the French citizens' interest in maps of the Orient evaporated as quickly as Napoleon's.
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[Chappuzeau, Samuel].
Histoire des joyaux, et des principales richesses de l'orient & de l'occident. Geneva, pour J. H. Widerhold, 1665.
12mo. (10), 180 pp. With engraved additional pictorial title and small woodcut ornament to printed title; woodcut head- and tail-pieces and decorative initials. Contemporary full vellum. Extremely rare first edition of this history of gemstones, corals and pearls, with plentiful references to the Arabian Gulf ("ou Mer d'Elcatif"), and specifically to Bahrain, Al-Qatif, Muscat, and Ormus, including separate chapters on pearls, their valuation, and the process of pearl-fishing. Carter lists Chappuzeau's work, which draws strongly on Tavernier, under the "key European accounts", quoting his mention of the Gulf as a major source of pearls: "The most significant pearl fishing ground is on the coast of Arabia Felix, between the towns of Julfar and Catif" (p. 94). - Chappuzeau's "text is in two parts, the first, of six chapters, describes gemstones beginning with diamond, then those of color, pearls, coral, amber yellow stones, the metals, ambergris, bezoar, indigo and other 'rich productions' of the East and West Indies, and including salts. The second part describes the places referred to in the first part, from Abyssinia to Visapur [...] Chappuzeau provides information on places in India where diamonds are found, how they are mined, and prices demanded for diamonds and other gemstones. The method of pricing pearls is also given along with a table of values [... This chapter] is famous for its perpetuation of the story that pearls generate from dew drops falling into the gaping shells of the pearl oysters" (Sinkankas). Also includes references to mining in Peru and trade from the West Indies and Americas. - Spine somewhat dust-soiled; interior shows some browning throughout. Provenance: Contemporary ink ownership "F. Baker" (?) to title-page. Latterly removed from the Library of the Birmingham Assay Office, one of the four assay offices in the United Kingdom, with their inconspicuous library stamp to the flyleaf. Vastly rarer than the 1671 English edition: no other copy seen in the trade. Sinkankas 1251. Sabin 12010. Cioranescu (17th c.) 18639. OCLC 78250964. Carter, Sea of Pearls, pp. 94 & 106. Cf. Hoover 217; Roller/Goodman I, 222; Macclesfield 512 (for the 1671 English translation).
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Chérif, Ahmed.
Le Pélerinage de la Mecque. Essai d'histoire, de psychologie et d'hygiène sur le voyage sacré de l'Islam. Beirut, Angelil, 1930.
8vo. (4), VI, 71 pp., final blank page. With folding map in colour and 10 black-and-white photo illustrations and maps on plates. Original illustrated wrappers printed in red and black. Only edition, rare. - Report on the Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, with spectacular views of the holy city and the Kaaba, as well as the Beirut quarantine hospital. The French-trained Lebanese physican and medical historian Ahmed Chérif discusses not only the history and rituals of the Hajj, but also focuses on aspects of health and hygiene during the week-long mass gathering. - Occasional foxing to margins. Two temporary block-stitches to gutter; a few pages and plates loose. Untrimmed copy much in the original condition as issued, awaiting its first proper binding. Macro 16. OCLC 936820237.
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