‎Moyen orient‎

‎Ibrâhim Haqqi, Erzurumlu.‎

‎Marifetname [The Book of Knowledge and Skills]. [Ottoman Empire, early 19th century - ca. 1820 CE].‎

‎4to (ca. 175 x 230 mm). Ottoman Turkish manuscript on paper. 11-277 numbered leaves (lacking the first 10 ff. from the front of the volume, all likely from the Fihrist), per extensum, 16 lines in black Naskh, words and headings in red throughout, over ten leaves with full-page illustrations and diagrams, some of these in colour, including the double-page illustration of the globe as spheres, many tables and diagrams also appearing throughout the text. Contemporary leather-backed cloth boards, cloth with stamped tughra of sultan to covers (head-over-heels). A fine early 19th century manuscript copy of the famous scholarly encyclopedia, not printed until 1835 (in Bulaq). The "Marifetname", or "Book of Gnosis" is a compilation of astronomical, astrological, mathematical, anatomical, psychological, philosophical as well as mystical religious texts. It is famous for containing the first treatment of post-Copernican astronomy by a Muslim scholar, placing the sun at the center of the universe. - Ibrahim Haqqi Erzurumi (1703-80) is considered an outstanding figure of 18th century Ottoman Turkey. Based on an immense knowledge of the Sufi branch of Islam as well as his studies in Western science, he devoted himself to the domains of both religion and science, considering both a means of approaching God. - Although Ibrahim Haqqi completed his work in 1756, very few surviving manuscripts predate the first quarter of the nineteenth century. The British Library holds a copy (MS.Or.12964) compiled in 1235 H (1820 CE), and the earliest known manuscript copy was long thought to be that in the Khalili collection, dated 1226 H / 1811 CE (J. M. Rogers, Empire of the Sultans, 1995, no. 74, pp. 121 & 123), but a copy predating this by seven years was sold by Bloomsbury in 2014 (7 December sale, lot 123), and a manuscript dated to ca. 1760 was offered by Inlibris. - While this copy of the text is in a relatively informal hand, the diagrams have been executed to an excellent standard. The text and drawings were likely executed in different workshops, as the scribe allocated far more space than necessary for the illustrator, resulting in numerous blank pages throughout the text. - Leather spine worn with slight loss to leather at extremities, cloth also worn with loss. Contemporary foliation throughout, a few scuffs and smudges. Spine cracked with a few individual gatherings becoming loose. Overall a clean copy.‎

‎[Iraq. - Warren, Christopher (attrib.)].‎

‎A collection of photographs, taken by a British Intelligence Officer in Iraq. [Iraq, but some printed in London, ca. 1930s].‎

‎36 vintage small format silver gelatin photographs, plus a photographic postcard of Faisal II as a boy. A small collection of highly accomplished amateur photos of inter-war Iraq. With a handful of exceptions, the photographs show the local population, often children, recorded with a sensitive and sympathetic eye. - Though there is no material evidence to support the attribution, they came from a collection of similar material said to belong to Christopher Warren, who worked as an Intelligence Officer in Iraq, Lebanon and Kuwait in the 1930s. Other photographs, offered for sale at the same time as these, show that he was active in those locations and was, at one point, based at Dar Al Qamar (Moon House), Karradat Mariam, Baghdad. - The many intimate and beautiful portraits would suggest the photographer spoke Arabic and understood enough about his subjects to foment the mutual comfort necessary for such candid images. Several show young people from both the city and the countryside: the sons of shop-owners at ease in the hustle and bustle of Baghdad and children gathering crops, hunting and playing reed flutes in the open expanse of the desert. Some, such as the portrait of a suited young man in a local boat, potentially imply a professional relationship. Viewed together, the images express a peacefulness far removed from the tensions of the interwar period, in which protests against British influence were common, even after the independence of the country in 1932. Only a photographic postcard, present with the images, reminds one of the broader historical context: a portrait of Faisal II, still a child but standing upright in military dress. - All photographs clearly removed from an album, with residual scraps of brown album paper to versos.‎

‎Irwin, Eyles.‎

‎A Series of Adventures in the Course of a Voyage up the Red-Sea, on the Coasts of Arabia and Egypt; and of a Route Through the Desarts of Thebais, Hitherto Unknown to the European Traveller, in the Year MDCCLXXVII. In letters to a Lady. London, J. Dodsley, 1780.‎

‎4to. XVI, 400 pp. With 3 folding maps and 3 plates. Contemporary full calf, spine elaborately gilt, leading edges gilt, red morocco label. Second edition (the earliest mentioned). Irwin relates the series of misadventures which occurred on his journey back from India after his dismissal from the East India Company. Following the near wreck of his ship he was taken prisoner by Arabs who took him to the Nile, whence he travelled to Cairo on his release. - The East India Company servant Eyles Irwin, born in Calcutta in 1751, was appointed to survey the Black Town in 1771 and "was made superintendent of the lands belonging to Madras [...] In 1776 he became caught up in the political storm that overtook the governor of Madras, George Pigot, who was placed in confinement by members of his own council. Irwin supported Pigot, and in August he was suspended from the company's service. Early in 1777 he left India in order to seek redress in England. Irwin later published an account of his journey home, which was entitled 'A series of adventures [...]'. In this he displayed his classical education and described his experiences and observations during the journey, which lasted eleven months [...] Irwin returned to India in 1780 as a senior merchant and his route was again overland, but this time via Aleppo, Baghdad, and the Persian Gulf" (ODNB). The author recounts his imprisonment in Yanbu, Arabia, and further voyage to Jeddah, as well as his adventures in Egypt, his journeys through the Peloponnesus and Balkans as well as Persia. He includes an "Ode to the Persian Gulf", which extols the beauties of Bahrain. In 1802, Irwin was to produce a musical play, "The Bedouins, or Arabs of the Desert: a Comic Opera in Three Acts" (1802), which played in Dublin for three nights. - The plates include views of the town of Mocha (al-Mukhah) on the shore of the Red Sea in Yemen, including its early mosques, and of the Straits of Bab al Mandab ("Babelmandel"). Also shown is a detailed view and chart of Yanbu, the port giving access to al Medina. - Macclesfield bookplates to front pastedown and free endpaper. Plates somewhat toned and offset, otherwise an excellent copy, sumptuously bound. Macro 1293. Ibrahim-Hilmy I, 325. Gay 66. Brunet III, 459. Blackmer 865. Cf. Weber II, 576 (3rd ed.).‎

‎Jacquesson, Ernest, French civil engineer (1831-1860).‎

‎"Voyage en Égypte et en Palestine: notes et souvenirs". Autograph manuscript. N. p., 1856-1857.‎

‎Folio (ca. 200 x 292 mm). French manuscript on lined paper with calligraphed title. (174) pp. on 90 ff. in two loose fascicles (45 ff. each). Stored together with a 1920s typescript copy of the same text, (2) + 39 + 20 pp. on 62 ff., in modern half-calf portfolio with gilt title to spine in a cardboard slipcase. The original manuscript of Jacquesson's travelogue of Egypt and the Levant, written in connection with the preparations for the building of the Suez Canal (1859-69) and published in 1857. The civil engineer Ernest Jacquesson had travelled to Egypt together with Ferdinand de Lesseps, the father of the Suez Canal, and other members of the "Commission Internationale pour le percement de l'isthme de Suez" founded in 1855. In the preface, Jacquesson announces that he shall not write about the Canal project, as his friend, the politician and journalist Jules Barthélemy-Saint-Hilaire, has already published "a series of highly interesting articles" on the subject, but will rather focus on "observations of the country, the mores and customs of its inhabitants, and on gathering interesting peculiarities" that he personally witnessed. The subsequent trip to Palestine is set in a context with the Crimean War: "At the current moment all eyes are directed towards Egypt [...] and towards Palestine considering the reforms that the new state of affairs, resulting from the Crimean War, will bring there imminently". - The journey lasted from November 1855 to April 1856, leading from Alexandria to Cairo, Upper Egypt, Nubia, via Alexandria to Jaffa, Ramla, Jerusalem, Jericho and back to Paris via Jerusalem and Marseille. Jacquesson and his company visited the most important monuments of Egypt and the Holy Land. On 30 November 1855 they enjoyed an audience in Cairo with Mohamed Sa'id Pasha of Egypt, who held a military parade in honour of his French guests. According to Jacquesson, de Lesseps introduced him and his companions individually to Sa'id Pasha. - As Jacquesson states in the preface, his notes had been previously published in the "Journal de la Marne" between June and September 1856, dating the present fair copy to between late 1856 and 1857. - Both covers somewhat dusty and soiled. The first fascicle shows a very minor waterstain affecting the right margin of a few pages; the cover leaf has several tears (partly affecting the title), some of which are restored. Some browning and stains overall, minor tears to the margins. The accompanying typescript is on French typewriter paper watermarked "Johannot et Cie Extra Strong", produced between ca. 1913 and 1936, showing punched holes and occasional light staining. Altogether in excellent state of preservation. E. Jacquesson, Voyage en Égypte et en Palestine: notes et souvenirs (Paris, J. Best, 1857).‎

‎Jaghmini al-Khwarizmi, Mahmud bin Muhammad bin Omar al- / Qadizade al-Rumi, Musa ibn Muhammad.‎

‎Sharh al-mulakhas fi al-hay'a [Commentary on the Summary of Astronomy]. No place, [1684/85 CE =] 1096 H.‎

‎8vo (124 x 192 mm). Arabic manuscript on paper in black (and occasional red) Naskh script. 322 pp., frequently interleaved with extensive comments on later paper, prefixed with 6 ff. (some blank). 13 lines, text enclosed within black and gilt rules, gilt headpiece to first page. Numerous coloured diagrams throughout. Contemporary black calf with fore-edge flap, gilt cover borders and central stamped ornaments. Marbled pastedowns. Illustrated commentary by Qadizade al-Rumi on Al-Jaghmini's famous astronomical treatise "Mulakhas" ("Summary on the Science of the Authority"), completed in 808 AH. Al-Rumi (1364-1436), known under the name of Salah al-Din Musa Pasha, was one of the principal astronomers at the famous Samarkand observatory. - Binding rubbed and chipped along extremeties. A paper flaw to the colophon, repaired with some loss. Some leaves loosed, a few edge defects (more prominent to first leaf) and occasional duststains and fingerstains, but on the whole very well preserved. A valuable copy owned and annotated by Mustafa bin Khalil. Cf. GAL I, 473.‎

‎Jeffries, David.‎

‎A treatise on diamonds and pearls. In which their importance is considered; and plain rules are exhibited for ascertaining the value of both. The fourth edition, with large improvements. London, E. Lumley, [1871].‎

‎8vo. XVI, 116 pp. With 30 plates. Contemporary blue cloth, covers blindstamped and upper cover gilt, title gilt to spine. A 19th century edition of the "first book in English to describe how diamonds and pearls can be evaluated on the basis of the factors of size (or weight) and style of cut" (Sinkankas). The London jeweller Jeffries is also the first author to provide "a clear statement of the principle that the value of pearls should be calculated to the square of their weight [...] This principle is implicit in the valuation tables given by earlier authors, including Tavernier and others, but Jeffries is the first to state it explicitly. At the back of his book, he provides tables allowing the calculation of the value of individual and batches of pearls of different size or quality. This is effectively a 'chau' book, as used by merchants in the Gulf and India until the mid-20th century, and fulfils exactly the same function" (Carter). - "The text explains the [diamond] cutting procedure, how the evaluation rules were derived, the importance of imperfections and flaws as affecting price, notes on rough diamonds [...] and finally, a somewhat similar procedure for the valuation of pearls, with highest values accorded to pearls of closest approach to spherical perfection, luster, etc. The mathematical rule used for the pearl is known as the 'square of the weight' multiplied by a per-carat base price" (Sinkankas). - Insignificant browning. Removed from the Library of the Birmingham Assay Office, one of the four assay offices in the United Kingdom, with their library stamp to the flyleaf. OCLC 31561438. Cf. Sinkankas 3195. Carter, Sea of Pearls, p. 83, 125f., 251. Goldsmiths' 8500. Hoover 453 (note). Roller/G. II, 10.‎

‎Jode, Cornelis de.‎

‎Secundae Partis Asiae [...]. Antwerp, 1593.‎

‎20 x 13 inches. Hand-coloured. Fine example of De Jode's modern map of the Middle East, from his Speculum Orbis Terrae, published in Antwerp in 1578 and engraved by Joannes & Lucas van Deutecum. The complete title reads: "Secundae partis Asiae: typus qua oculis subijciuntur itinera nautarum qui Calecutium Indiae mercandorum aromatum caufa fre quentant, ac eorum quoqz qui terrestri itinere ade unt Suacham, Laccam, in domino Praeto Iani, nec non eorum qui Aden et ormum inuifunt, et Balsaram quoque castrum, supra Euphratem fluuium situm, omnia suis gradibus subiecta, cum longitudinis tum latitudinis / Iacobo Castaldo pedemontano authore; Gerhardus de Iode excudebat". As noted in the title, the map was prepared by Gerard De Jode's and is largely identical to Giacomo Gastaldi's highly influential map of 1559. De Jode's delineation of Arabia is vastly superior to the contemporary maps of Ortelius, showing far more accuracy and detail. Extending from the Nile to Afghanistan and centered on the Arabian Peninsula and the Gulf, the map depicts what was then still among the most important trading centers of the commercial world. The present example is from the first edition of De Jode's work, which can be distinguished from the second edition by the pagination on the verso (VII for the 1578 edition; 9 for the 1593 edition). The map is drawn from the rare first edition of De Jode's Speculum Orbis Terrarum. At least one commentator has opined that as few as 11 known examples of the first edition are known to have survived, making separate maps from this first edition very rare on the market. - Giacomo Gastaldi (fl. 1542-1565) is widely considered to be the most important and influential of all of the Lafreri School mapmakers. Born in Piedmont, Gastaldi worked in Venice, where he become Cosmographer to the Venetian Republic. Karrow described him as "one of the most important cartographers of the sixteenth century. He was certainly the greatest Italian mapmaker of his age..." While his achievement is obvious, it is hard to quantify. A large number of maps were published throughout this period with the geography credited to Gastaldi, but it is often difficult to know what role Gastaldi played in their creation. As a practice, he did not sign himself as publisher, although his name may be found in the title, dedication, or text to the reader. Frequently where there is no imprint one may assume that Gastaldi was the publisher. A further clue may be that many of the maps attributable to Gastaldi as publisher seem to have been engraved by Fabius Licinius. In other cases, where publication is credited to another, it is not always certain whether Gastaldi was commissioned by the publisher to compile the map, whether another less-enterprising publisher merely copied his work and attribution, or simply added Gastaldi's name in the title to add authority to the delineation. His name clearly commanded the same sort of respect that the Sanson name had in the last years of the seventeenth century, and as Guillaume de L'Isle's had in the first half of the eighteenth century. Gastaldi's first published map was of Spain, engraved on four sheets, and issued in 1544. The following year he published a map of Sicily, among the most widely copied of all his maps. In the course of a prolific career, Gastaldi subsequently produced a number of maps of Italy, and individual parts of the peninsula, with his general map of Italy, and the map of Piedmont also being very influential. Among the most important of his maps, however, were of areas outside Italy. Principal among these was his map of the World, published in 1546, a four sheet map of the countries of south-eastern Europe, published in 1559, and his series of three maps of the Middle East, Southern Asia, and South-East Asia with the Far East, issued between 1559 and 1561. In 1562, Gastaldi issued a two-sheet map of the Kingdom of Poland, and in 1564, a magnificent eight-sheet map of Africa. Karrow, Mapmakers of the Sixteenth Century, 30/91.2. Tibbetts, Arabia in Early Maps 38.‎

‎Karabacek, Joseph Maria von.‎

‎Das arabische Papier. Eine historisch-antiquarische Untersuchung. Vienna, Kaiserl. Königl. Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, 1887.‎

‎4to. (4), 92 pp. Printed on thick paper with 2 text illustrations and 1 plate (counted as III). Contemporary brown half cloth over marbled covers with old paper label pasted on the spine. First edition of this important study of Arabic papyrology, exceedingly rare. With quotations and interspersions in Arabic. The orientalist Joseph Maria von Karabacek (1845-1918) was professor at the University of Vienna and director of the Imperial Court Library. This is the first and only independent, monographic edition in German, an offprint (with separate pagination) from vols. II and III of the "Mittheilungen aus der Sammlung der Papyrus Erzherzog Rainer" (1887). The book was translated into English in 1991 (republished in 2001); it remains a classic textbook referenced by specialized literature such as Adam Gacek's handbook on Arabic manuscripts (Leiden: Brill, 2009). - In very good condition: title-page showing light foxing; contemporary library stamp of the Brünn German Technical University on the cover, their bookplate on the pastedown. Binding slightly rubbed; extremeties bumped. A wide-margined copy. OCLC 17791658. Cf. Gacek, Arabic Manuscripts, pp. 191f., 306 (citing the serialized edition and the English translation).‎

‎Katib Chelebi (Haji Khalifa/Mustafa ibn Abdallah).‎

‎Cronologia historica scritta in lingua Turca, Persiana, & Araba, da Hazi Halifé Mustafá, e tradotta nell'idioma Italiano da Gio. Rinaldo Carli [...]. Venice, Andrea Poletti, 1697.‎

‎4to. (8), 206 pp. (wanting final blank). With woodcut printer's device on title. - (Bound after) II: Pirhing, Ehrenreich, SJ. Facilis, et succincta S.S. canonum doctrina [...]. Venice, Nicolo Pezzana, 1693. (12), 350, (14) pp. Title printed in red and black with two-coloured woodcut vignette. - (And) III: Moretto, Bernardo. Propugnacolo della cattolica, apostolica, e universale Santa Romana Chiesa alle false obiettioni de scismatici, & heretici contra la parola Romana nella dottrina Christiana [...]. Venice, Andrea Poletti, 1685. (14 [instead of 16?]), 112 pp. With engraved armorial vignette on title. Contemporary blindstamped leather over wooden boards with 2 clasps. All edges red. First Italian edition of the "Taqwim al-Tawarikh", an annalistic chronicle from the creation of Man to the year 1648, when it was composed by the famous Turkish polymath Katib Chelebi (1609-57). This is, at the same time, the first printing of any work of Katib Chelebi's in any language: the chronicle was not published in the original mixture of Persian and Ottoman Turkish until 1733, by Müteferrika. "[T]he work originated as an excerpt of [Chelebi's previous effort,] 'Fazlakat aqwal al-ahyar', but continued up to Chelebi's own time [...] Becoming highly popular as an easy reference work, it was continued after Chelebi's death by several authors, including Hüseyin Hezarfenn, Seyhi, and Ibrahim Müteferrika, who published it as the twelfth product of his press [...] Equally popular in Europe as a reference work, it was translated into Latin, Italian, and French. Today, the afterword is the main part of interest, as it contains a brief discussion of the regularities or laws of history, and an initial elaboration of his ideas of causation in history, which are later copies by Na'ima (d. 1128/1716) in his theoretical discussion" (Kafadar, Karateke, Fleischer: Historians of the Ottoman Emprire, s.v.). - Bound before this are two other rare Venetian works of the late 17th century, namely a single-volume reduction of the "Jus Canonicum" (1674) by the Bavarian Jesuit Pirhing (1606-79), and the second edition of an instructional dialogue between a Catholic and a heretic by the Venetian jeweller Moretto (first published in 1647). Some brownstaining and waterstaining; a few edge and corner flaws. Last leaves rather wrinkled, lacking lower flyleaf. I: Babinger, GOW, 197. BN XXIII, 990. Encyclopaedia of Islam² IV, 761. OCLC 563174142, 457543094. - II: De Backer/Sommervogel VI, 854.‎

‎Kirsten, Peter.‎

‎Notae in Evangelium S. Matthaei ex collatione textuum Arabicorum Aegyptiac[orum] Hebrae[orum] Syriacor[um] Graecor[um] Latinor[um] quae non modo studiosis linguarum, sed et cuilibet vero Christiano erunt utilissimae. Breslau, typis Arabicis ac sumptibus authoris in Officina Baumanniana, 1611.‎

‎Small folio (204 x 306 mm). (10), 140 pp. Text in Latin and Arabic, with some Hebrew and Greek, woodcut initials and tail-pieces. Tasteful modern sheep-backed marbled boards with giltstamped spine label. First edition of the "notes on the Gospel of Matthew" by the pioneering Arabist and physician Peter Kirsten (1577-1640), who started a private press in Breslau (Wroclaw) in 1607 (cf. Reske 130). His Arabic type, the first to be cut in Germany (by Peter von Selau), shows the influence of the Medicean types. - This is the issue with the letterpress title; another issue has an engraved title. Some copies lack the fifth preliminary leaf (present here): a singleton printed on different paper and in a different typeface, containing a 26-line laudatory poem in Hebrew by Jakob Ebert of Frankfurt, with the Latin translation on the recto. - Kirsten's notes on Matthew's Gospel "are mainly a comparison of the Arabic with the Greek version, and serve to explain the Arabic text. The Coptic and Syriac versions mentioned in the title are no more than marginal readings indicated as such in the Arabic manuscript which he used. These versions, as well as the Hebrew version, are mostly given in Latin translation, but occasionally a slight 12 pt Hebrew type-face is employed" (Smitskamp). - "One of the earliest non-Dutch scholar-typographers in [the] post-Medici tradition was the German Peter Kirsten (1575-1640), a physician of Breslau (Wroclaw), who had travelled and studied in both Italy and Leiden. He created a superior type-face, with some calligraphic qualities" (Roper). - Some very light browning and spotting, but a good copy. OCLC records two copies in the US (New York Public Library and University of Pennsylvania, both apparently with only four preliminary leaves). VD 17, 1:071605E. Smitskamp, PO 113. Fück 58, note 143. Waller 19836. Not in Schnurrer. Cf. Geoffrey Roper, "Early Arabic printing in Europe", in: Middle Eastern Languages and the Print Revolution (Mainz 2002), pp. 129-150, at p. 143.‎

‎Knorr, Georg Wolfgang.‎

‎Deliciae naturae selectae oder auserlesenes Naturalien-Cabinet welches aus den drey Reichen der Natur zeiget, was von curiösen Liebhabern aufbehalten und gesammlet zu werden verdienet [...] fortgesetzt von dessen Erben, beschrieben von Philipp Ludwig Statius Müller und in das Französische übersetzt von Matthäus Verdier de la Blaquiere. Nuremberg, (1754-)1766/67.‎

‎Large folio. 2 vols. in one. (26), VIII, 132 pp. (4), XX, 144 pp. With coloured engraved title-page (dated 1754), large engraved vignette by Andreas Hoffer after Gottfried Eichler, and 91 (1 folding) coloured or colour-printed engravings by Knorr, J. A. Eisenmann, A. Hoffer and others. Contemporary calfskin binding gilt. First edition of this monumental work of natural history, one of the most splendid zoological works ever produced in Nuremberg. Begun by Knorr as early as 1751, it was continued by his heirs after his death in 1761. The book describes items from the great contemporary natural history collections, including the magnificent white falcon (with hood) from the collection of the famous physician and botanist Christoph Jakob Trew. The illustrations, occasionally printed in colours but mostly hand-coloured in radiant hues, depict birds, exotic mammals, fishes, corals, butterflies and other insects. - Occasional insignificant waterstaining to the wide blank margins of the text; a few plates show unobtrusive fingerstaining. A beautiful, very wide-margined copy in excellent state of preservation, printed on good, strong paper. Plates show clean, distinct colours and superior contrast. Nissen, ZBI 2227. Horn/Schenkling 12038. Hagen I, 426. Dean I, 696. Graesse IV, 35.‎

‎[Qur'an].‎

‎Separate leaf from a Kufic manuscript on vellum. Abbasidic (Near East or Northern Africa), ca. 850 CE / 9th century.‎

‎170 x 263 mm. With gilt rosette and numerous gilt floral ornaments between the letters and in the margins. Vocalisation marks (dots) in red. 5 lines. Illuminated leaf from a once-magnificent Quran manuscript with fine gilt flower and leaf illustrations as space fillers and ornamental border around the large Kufic script written in black ink (line height ca. 25-30 mm). The ornamentation mainly consists in leaf designs with the occasional blossom. Illumination of this type is exceedingly rarely encountered among the preserved Abbasid Kufic manuscripts pre-dating the year 1000. The script style belongs to subgroup D.I, according to Déroche's classification. Manuscripts in this style are normally dated to the 9th century CE (cf. François Déroche, The Abbasid Tradition, London 1992. The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, Vol. I, nos. 19-23, pp. 67-71). The red dots are vocalisation marks: diacritic marks were not used until later. - Some browning and staining. Brittle in places due to ink corrosion (slight loss to individual letters). Verso rubbed, but still legible. Cf. Fingernagel (ÖNB 2010), p. 33.‎

‎[Kufi, `Ali Ibn-Hamid al-] / Kalichbeg Fredunbeg, Mirza (transl.).‎

‎The Chachnamah, an Ancient History of Sind, Giving the Hindu Period down to the Arab Conquest [...]. Karachi, at the Commissioner's Press, 1900.‎

‎8vo. (4), XI, (1), 198 pp., 1 blank leaf, (199)-207, (1) pp. Original cloth-backed printed wrappers. First complete English edition. - One of the few written sources about the Arab conquest of Sindh (now in Pakistan) and the origins of Islam in India, translated from a 13th century Persian text by Ali, son of Muhammad Kufi, itself the translation of an undated Arabic manuscript. A chronicle of the Chacha dynasty, following the demise of the Rai dynasty and the ascent of Chach of Alor to the throne, down to the Arab conquest by Muhammad bin Qasim, it narrates the Arab inclusions into Sindh of the 7th to 8th centuries, concluding with an epilogue on the tragic end of the Arab commander Muhammad ibn al-Kasim and of the two daughters of Dahir, the defeated king of Sindh. Co-opted by various interest groups for centuries, the Chach Nama has significant implications for modern imaginings about the place of Islam in South Asia, that remain disputed to this day. - Handwritten ownership in ink to upper wrapper. Light foxing to covers and variously throughout. Altogether a good copy of a rare work; no copy in auction records. OCLC 315332365. Not in Ghani or Wilson. Cf. Asif, A Book of Conquest (2016); Friedmann, The origins and significance of the Chach Nama, in: Islam in Asia: South Asia (1984), pp. 23-37.‎

‎[Kuwait - Saudi Arabia].‎

‎Final map of dividing line of the Kuwait - Saudi Arabia Neutral Zone. N. p., Pacific Aero Survey Co. Ltd., August 1968.‎

‎565 x 780 mm. Scale 1:250,000. Showing the future border, then the dividing line through the Saudi-Kuwaiti Neutral Zone, a 5,770 km² area between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait that was 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. "This map has been prepared from the results of the survey according to the agreement between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia for the Neutral Zone Division on 7/4/1386 corresponding to 25/7/1966". The Gulf is labelled "Arabian Gulf". - An indistinct stamp on verso. A tear to one fold; lower edge irregular. Rare; not in OCLC.‎

‎Laborde, Léon [Emmanuel Simon Joseph] de.‎

‎Voyage de l'Arabie Pétrée. Paris, Giard, 1830.‎

‎Imperial folio (420 x 596 mm). (8), 87, (1) pp. With large lithographed title vignette and coat of arms of Wilhelm II on dedication leaf. 69 lithographed plates, maps and plans after Laborde and Linant de Bellefonds, mostly mounted on India paper (3 of which folding or double-page and 1 coloured). Period-style half calf with gilt title to spine. First edition of "an important work" (Blackmer), complete with all the magnificent views in large folio format. All subsequent editions, including the English one, were published in octavo and retained only a few plates of the original edition, all in considerably reduced format. Laborde made the journey to Petra with the engineer Linant de Bellefonds in 1828, travelling from Suez via St. Catherine's and through Wadi al-Araba to Akabah. Although Burckhardt, Irby and Mangles had explored Petra before Laborde, he was the first to make detailed drawings of the area. Dedicated to the Elector Wilhelm II of Hesse (1777-1847). - Slight browning and foxing, occasional waterstaining and tears to folds; a small tear in the map repaired, but in all a good, wide-margined copy. Rare: the last complete copy came up for auction in 2009 (Christie's, 3 June, lot 120: £23,750). Blackmer 929. Gay 929. Henze III, 101. Brunet III, 714. Vicaire IV, 758f. Nissen ZBI, 2335. Not in Atabey. Cf. Macro, Bibliography of the Arabian Peninsula, 1386 (2nd ed. only). Howgego 335, L2 (1830-33 ed.).‎

‎[Limes arabicus].‎

‎15 fragments of a Roman military diploma for an equestrian soldier named Bithus of the ala praetoria singularium. [Roman Syria, 7 Nov. 88 CE].‎

‎Varying sizes (ca. 60 x 55 mm to 20 x 14 mm). Engraved bronze. Set within a modern frame (36,4 x 30,4 cm). Rare document of the Roman presence on the Arabian Peninsula, comprising 15 fragments in good condition. The diploma was issued for an equestrian named Bithus of the ala praetoria singularium, an auxiliary cavalry unit stationed in Syria, under the command of Aulus Furius Saturninus during the reign of Emperor Domitian (81-96). It can be dated with a high degree of certainty, as Aulus Furius Saturninus is only traceable to military diplomas issued as part of an imperial military constitution for 5 alae and 2 cohorts in Syria from 8 November 88. The name Bithus is probably of Thracian origin. - The ala praetoria singularium was one of 14 alae and 33 cohorts stationed in the province of Syria between 88 and 157. These troops built and defended the almost 1500 kilometre Limes Arabicus, a system of streets, watchtowers, and forts that had its origin in the Roman conquest of Syria in 64 BCE and reached its greatest extent in the second century. Palmyra and Damascus were among the fortified cities along the Limes Arabicus. - From the German collection of Peter Weiß, acquired before 1980. Published: P. Holder, Roman Military Diplomas V (London: University of London, Institute of Classical Studies, 2006), p. 771 f., no. 330. P. Weiß, Neue Militärdiplome, in: Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 117 (1997), pp. 229-231.‎

‎Lumsden, Thomas.‎

‎A Journey From Merut in India, to London, Through Arabia, Persia, Armenia, Georgia, Russia, Austria, Switzerland, and France, During the Years 1819 and 1820. London & Edinburgh, Black, Kingsbury, Parbury & Allen; Oliver & Boyd, Mecredie, Skelly & Co., 1822.‎

‎8vo. VII, (1), 272, 12 pp. With a folding hand-coloured map and a plate (view of Mount Ararat). Contemporary polished calf, spine gilt, rebacked retaining original spine. Marbled endpapers. First edition. - Rare travel report by the British lieutenant Thomas Lumsden, who journeyed from Meerut near Delhi down the Ganges to Calcutta, then onwards by boat to the Arabian Gulf and by land through Persia (Iran), the Caucasus, and southern Russia. A German translation appeared in the same year (and was republished in 1824). The author gives a detailed account of his voyage through the Gulf from Muskat to Bushire immediately after the British Navy's controversial 1819 campaign against Ras al-Khaimah, and notes approvingly the Arabs' kindness and hospitality toward their foreign guests ("which could hardly have been the case, had their detestation of Christians been in reality as great as the Koran tends to inspire"), as well as the entire absence of the cruel mistreatment of the sailors so common on European ships. - Plate slightly browned; a fine copy. Wilson 131. Salmaslian 135. Miansarov 3022 Lowndes 1413. Western Travellers in the Islamic World AR-2028. Cf. Griep/L. 840. Engelmann 124. Not in Macro.‎

‎Luynes, Honoré d'Albert de.‎

‎Voyage d'exploration à la mer Morte, à Petra et sur la rive gauche du Jourdain. Oeuvre posthume. Paris, Arthus Bertrand, [1874].‎

‎3 vols. and 1 vol of plates. (2), II ff., 388 pp. (6), 222, (6) pp. (4), VI, 326 pp. With 14 lithogr. plates (4 in colour). Printed original wrappers. Folio (390 x 295 mm). Atlas: (4) pp., 85 plates (some double-page-sized), including 65 photogravures by Charles Nègre after Louis Vignes. Original half cloth portfolio. Ties. Rare travel report describing the scientific expedition to Palestine undertaken by the French archaeologist de Luynes (1802-67) in 1864. First edition, very rarely encountered complete: only two copies sold at international auctions during the past decades (both incomplete; the last set wanting plate 44: Sotheby's, 15 Oct. 2003, lot 676, GBP 8500; only 40 plates from the set, including glass and collodium negatives, fetched 21,450 EUR at Sotheby's Paris, 22 March 2003, lot 583). - The work is sought for its splendid illustrations based on photos by Henri Sauvaire and the Naval Lieutenant Louis Vignes. Vol. 1 contains the Duke's travel diary; vol. 2 contains the reports "De Petra à Palmyre" by L. Vignes and "Voyage de Jérusalem, à Karak et à Chaubak" by Mauss and Sauvaire; vol. 3 contains the "Géologie" by L. Lartet (with its own set of plates at the end). The atlas is divided into two parts with a total of 85 plates (thus complete): 67 plates pertain to the Duke's report (3 unnumbered and 64 numbered: 1 map and 1 itinerary in colours, 1 engr. double plate, and 64 photogravures by Charles Nègre after photos by Vignes (views of sites, towns, ruins, etc.); Mauss's report is illustrated by 18 numbered plates: 1 double-page-sized itinerary, 3 plans (2 in colour), and 14 lithogr. plates by Cicéri after photos by Vignes and Sauvaire (views of Karak, Zat-Raz, etc.). - Occasional slight foxing (esp. in vol. 3); plates clean and spotless throughout. A fine, complete set in the original printed wrappers as issued; text vols. are uncut and wide-margined. Röhricht (Bibl. Pal.) 515f., no. 2824. Röhricht (Pilgerreisen) 637, no. 872. Henze III, 312. Parr/Badger, The Photobook I, 33.‎

‎Mandeville, John.‎

‎The voyages & travels of Sir John Mandevile, Knight, … to the Holy Land, and to Hierusalem: as also to the lands of the Great Caan, and of Prestor John: to Inde, and divers other countries. London, Richard Chiswell, Benjamin Walford, Matthew Wotton, George Conyers, [printing probably shared by 2 printers, one possibly Samuel Roycroft], 1696.‎

‎4to (19.5 x 15.5 cm). (4), "139" [= 135], (5) pp. With a woodcut ship on the title-page (with a griffin on the sail) and about 60 woodcut illustrations in the text (mostly about 55 x 80 mm) plus about 10 repeats, each with a thick-thin border. Set in textura types with incidental roman and italic. Gold-tooled, red goatskin morocco by Robert Riviere in London (ca. 1875/80), with 5 (false?) bands on the spine, each board with a double frame of double and triple fillets and 2 different sets of 4 corner pieces, author and title in gold in 2nd and 3rd of 6 spine compartments, the others with gold-tooled decorations and the date and place of publication at the foot, gold-tooled turn-ins, gold fillets on board edges, straight-combed endpapers, gilt edges, stamped on the back of the free marbled endleaf in sans-serif capitals: "Bound by Riviere". A rare 17th-century English edition, with about 60 different woodcut illustrations, of a classic and partly fictional 14th-century account of travels presented as voyages of Sir John Mandeville through Turkey, Egypt, Ethiopia, Syria, Persia, Arabia, India and the East Indies. According to the story he set off on his travels in 1322 from Saint Albans in England, returned in 1343, wrote the present account in 1364 and died in 1371. It was originally written in French and is thought to have been compiled from various sources by Jehan d'Outremeuse (1338-1400) of Liege. A 1371 manuscript survives and it first appeared in print under the title Itinerarius in Dutch (ca. 1477), French (1480), German (1480) and other languages, and in English in Richard Pynson's edition of ca. 1497/98. It includes many well-known stories and illustrations of monstrous people and animals in exotic lands: a man with only one enormous foot that he can use as a parasol, a dog-headed man, a man with his face in his chest, a girl who turns into a dragon, griffins, nine-metre giants, ants that gather gold, diamonds that mate and give birth to baby diamonds and much more that spoke to the imagination (though the ox-headed man is presented as an idol that was worshipped, rather than a fantastic beast). The book also includes genuine descriptions of the regions covered and gave many Europeans their first notions of the Near East, Middle East, India and East Indies. It shows carrier pigeons, an elephant and other recognizable or plausible scenes. It also incorporates and illustrates some biblical stories. The part on Arabia includes an account of the birth of Mohammed. Most of the present woodcuts are loosely and indirectly based on those in the 1481 Augsburg edition, partly in mirror image. The book went through dozens of editions in English and other languages. It reached more or less the present form with the 1650 London edition, which may have used the same woodblocks (we have not had an opportunity to compare them). The imprint of the present edition names four London publishers, and one of them (Conyers) also advertises his edition of William Lithgow's Nineteen years travels (1692) at the foot of the last page. The book was registered for these four publishers in the term catalogue for Trinity 1696, issued in June. The printing was probably shared between two different anonymous printers: exactly half way through the book, between quires I and K, the running heads, the textura type used for the main text and the roman drop capitals opening the chapters change. The 1684 edition by four London publishers (none named in the present edition) not only uses the same woodblocks but is also typographically almost identical to the first half of the present edition and no doubt came from the same printer. The drop capitals differ, but those in the present edition have not been recorded before 1688. Samuel Roycroft and James Orme both used them, and Roycroft used at least several of the other types in the first half. The book is printed on coarse laid paper with no watermark. Halliwell, in his 1869 edition of Mandeville, noted the present edition for its woodcuts and reproduced at least many of them from the Grenville copy now at the British Library. Only 5 other copies are known, all in U.S. libraries. Robert Riviere (1808-82) established his famous bindery in Bath and moved it to London in 1840, gaining a reputation as one of England's best binders for the quality of his materials and workmanship. He signed his bindings "Bound by Riviere" from 1860 to 1880 (thereafter Riviere & son). - With an early owner's inscription faded on the title-page and 2 armorial bookplates on the paste-down: Sir Edward Sullivan (1822-85), Lord Chancellor of Ireland, and Allan Heywood Bright (1862-1941) in Liverpool, a member of Parliament, along with a loosely inserted signed autograph letter (ca. 1900) from Bright's brother Hugh Bright (1867-1935) in Leeds, giving him the book and noting that he bought it at Young's "some years ago". With 8 leaves with their margins extended at the fore-edge and foot ( N2-O4, Q1, probably sophisticated from another copy of the same edition), sometimes shaving a catchword or quire signature, the title-page and last page somewhat worn and dirty, but further in good condition, with a few minor marginal chips and tears restored or repaired and 3 leaves with minor water stains in one corner. The spine is slightly faded but the binding is still very good. A rare edition of Mandeville's voyages, illustrated with about 60 woodblocks cut ca. 1650. Arber, Term catalogues II, p. 593, item 8; ESTC R217088 (5 copies); J. O. Halliwell (ed.), Voiage and travaile of Sir John Maundevile (1866), p. xvi (item 2, from the Grenville library); Wing M417 (same 5 copies); for the story in general: Cambridge History of English Literature (1976), pp. 78-87.‎

‎[Manuzio, Antonio, ed.].‎

‎Viaggi fatti da Vinetia, alla Tana, in Persia, in India, et in Costantinopoli: con la descrittione particolare di città, luoghi, siti, costumi, & della porta del gran Turco: & di tutte le intrate, spese, & modo di governo suo, & della ultima impresa contra Portoghesi. Venice, sons of Aldus Manutius, 1545.‎

‎8vo. 163 ff. (without final leaf, blank except for anchor on verso). Aldine anchor device on title page. 18th-century English polished calf. Second edition (first published in 1543) of this collection of Venetian voyages to the Near and Middle East, edited by Antonio Manuzio, son of Aldus. "Tana was the name which the Genoese gave to their factory at Azov at the mouth of the river Don. This volume contains voyages by Giosafat Barbaro (Tana in 1436, Persia 1471), Ambrogio Contarini (Persia 1473-77), and Luigi Roncinotto (Ethiopia 1532, Persia and India in 1529). It also includes Benedetto Ramberti's account of the Turkish Sultan's campaign against the Portuguese settlement of Diu in northern India in 1538" (Atabey). "This appears to be one of the very few travel books from the Aldine press" (Blackmer). - Extremities rubbed and bumped, short cracks in joints. Light dampstain to first few leaves. Contemp. ink ownership to title page, further ownership trimmed away at lower edge (remargined without loss); further contemp. ownership "Gioseppe Custodi" under the colophon. Modern ownership inscription "J. W. S. M. / Caius. / Cambridge. / Jan. 1899" on front pastedown - very likely the Caius-educated English entomologist John William Scott Macfie (1879-1948). Later himself a traveller to the East, he served as director of the Medical Research Institute in Accra between 1914 and 1923, having undertaken the same responsibilities in an acting capacity at Lagos in 1913. Adams V 624. Blackmer 1071. Göllner 861. Renouard 134 (noting that of the two editions the present is "bien mieux imprimée"). Cf. Atabey 761 (first edition).‎

‎[Map - Arabian Gulf].‎

‎Persian Gulf. ONC-H-6/7. Operational navigation chart. St. Louis, Aeronautical Chart and Information Center, U.S. Air Force, 1969.‎

‎Two copies of two folding maps colour printed on both sides of a sheet of silk (103 x 78.5 cm) on a scale of ca. 1:1,000,000. The two maps (ONC-H-6 & ONC-H-7) show one continuous area. Rayon pilot's map of the Arabian Gulf region focusing on the Trucial States (modern United Arab Emirates), Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Iran and Saudi Arabia, including the main oil installations. Items of specific interest to aircraft, such as airfields and even seaplane bases, are particularly listed. Warnings to stay within the specific flying routes while in Iran are placed on multiple locations. While the map depicts a continuous area on both sides of one sheet, it actually consists of two maps, originally published separately. We here include two copies so the whole area can be displayed at once. The maps are reproduced after the third and fourth edition. - In very good condition.‎

‎[Marcel, Jean-Joseph?‎

‎Islamic coins and medals. Paris?, ca. 1791-1817?].‎

‎Mostly folio (315 x 210 mm). A manuscript compilation of loose leaves and bifolia, with about 104 drawings (some in ink; some in coloured gouaches, many including gold, silver and other metallic colours) and about 53 engravings (some black on white; some white on black), each drawing and engraving showing the obverse and reverse of an Islamic coin or medal (except for about 3 that show only one side). Most of the drawings and engravings are on slips attached to leaves with notes in Arabic and French. An extensive study of Islamic coins, medals, and seals prepared on loose leaves and bifolia, with about 104 drawings (in ink or coloured gouaches, many with gold and/or silver and occasionally copper or metallic blue) and about 53 engravings, most drawings and engravings with manuscript notes in Arabic and French. Nearly every drawing and engraving shows both the obverse and the reverse of the coin or medal, some shown at the original size and some enlarged, so the diameter of the coins in the drawings ranges from about 1½ cms to about 10 cms, though even some of the larger ones note that they are drawn at the original size. Some of the ink drawings were made directly on the leaves, but nearly all of the colour drawings and engravings are on separate slips mounted on the leaves (some pasted, some with sealing wax, some with pins). The notes on these leaves usually give the dates of the coins (whether or not the coins themselves are dated) following the Islamic Hijri calendar and sometimes also following the Christian calendar. They often give a transcription of the inscriptions in a naskh Arabic hand (though they appear on the coins in several styles of Arabic script, including Kufic). A few include longer notes in French. The coins come from Egypt, the Ottoman Empire, Morocco, Algeria, Tunesia, Tripoli and elsewhere. - The dates given for the coins range from at least AH 93 to at least AH 1203 and probably to AH 1219 (712-1788 CE and probably to 1804/05 CE). The compilation of these drawings, engravings and notes probably began in the 1790s and may have spanned two or three decades. A few of the leaves (including some with drawings made directly on the leaves) show a paper stock with a watermark date "1791", and many leaves show a distinctive kind of watermark that was used in 1805. They frequently include abbreviated references to Jacob Georg Christian Adler, Museum Cuficum Borgianum velitris, Rome, 1782; Denis Samuel-Bernard, Mémoire sur les monnaies d'Egypte, Paris, 1809; and Description de l'Égypte ... État moderne, plates vol. II, Paris, 1817 (plates h-k show 127, 123 and 178 coins and medals), the last giving the earliest possible date for the completion of the compilation. Many of the engravings in the present compilation are taken from these three sources, and there is even what may be a proof of an unfinished plate from Bernard. One leaf has a mounted letterpress fragment with a biography of Ahmed ben Mohammed Khan, clipped from p. 67 of the 1776 Maastricht edition of Barthelemy d'Herbelot de Molainville, Bibliotheque orientale. - Although the manuscript nowhere names its compiler(s), Jean Joseph Marcel (1776-1854), grandnephew of the Consul Général in Egypt, was a brilliant student at the University of Paris, where he received many prizes in 1790 and 1791 and began his study of oriental languages. He came into contact with the orientalist Louis-Mathieu Langlés, who arranged for him to accompany Napoleon on his 1798 Egyptian Campaign (1798-1801), where he took charge of the Campaign's printing office (printing an Arabic type specimen in 1798), made the first steps toward deciphering the Rosetta Stone, and collected medals, manuscripts and inscriptions. Back in Paris he became director of the Imprimerie Impérial, a post he held until 1815. He wrote, compiled or translated numerous works concerning Arabic and other oriental languages. He may have planned to produce a publication based on the present compilation, but no such publication appeared. The compilation in any case shows Europe's new interest in Islamic studies after Napoleon's Egyptian Campaign, with Paris as its most important centre. - About 3 small drawings appear to have been made on oiled paper, probably in order to trace coins or engravings of coins, and a few are drawn on tissue paper. Many of the larger drawings are in colour, and a few are enlarged copies of the smaller drawings or engravings. Some leaves are tattered along the edges and a few have had their corners cut off, none of this affecting the illustrations or text. In a very small number the ink has corroded in the paper, more severely in 2 leaves, and one of the drawings on oiled paper has been cut up with 3 (of 4?) pieces surviving, but most of the leaves remain in good condition. A remarkable record of Islamic coins and medals, compiled ca. 1791-1817, with about 157 illustrations. For Marcel: Alain Messaoudi, Les Arabisants et la France coloniale (2015), pp. 239-240.‎

‎Martin, F[redrik] R[obert].‎

‎Miniatures From the Period of Timur in a Ms. of the Poems of Sultan Ahmad Jalair. Vienna, (Adolf Holzhausen), 1926.‎

‎Folio (294 x 394 mm). (8), 29, (3) pp. With XVI plates. Contemporary half vellum over papered boards with floral design heightened in gold; title-label to spine. One of 300 copies. Presentation copy inscribed by the author to the Viennese printer Adolf Holzhausen on the half-title. - Lavishly appointed collection of miniatures from a Persian illuminated manuscript from the early 15th century comprising the collected works of Sultan Ahmad Jalayir (1382-1410). With a description of the manuscript by the British orientalist and historian of Islamic art, Sir Thomas Walker Arnold (1864-1930), crediting Jalayir with "a not inconsiderable skill in the use of the verse forms commonly found in Persian poetry" (p. 6). The present work features reproductions of some of the most splendid folios of the Persian manuscript and its giltstamped leather binding, as well as a few miniatures originating from similar manuscripts. - Extremities very slightly rubbed; spine-label somewhat worn. Interior in excellent condition. Bound with Florentine silk. OCLC 3499905.‎

‎Maspero, Gaston / Brugsch, Emil.‎

‎La Trouvaille de Deir-El-Bahari [...]. Cairo, F. Mourés, 1881.‎

‎Folio (240 x 319 mm). 36 pp. of text and 20 mounted black-and-white photographs with paper guards. Contemporary half calf with giltstamped covers, spine, and spine-title. Marbled endpapers. Rare first edition of the first report on the Royal Cache, an ancient Egyptian tomb near Deir el-Bahri in the Theban Necropolis, officially discovered in 1881. Including 20 impressive photographs of sarcophagi and mummies, this account convinced authorities to expand the Boulaq archaeological Museum. - The cache at Deir el-Bahri was first discovered in 1871 by the Abd el-Rassul brothers, who ended up selling items from the tomb on the black market. Eventually the Director of the Boulaq Museum, Gaston Maspero, who had succeeded Auguste Mariette in 1881 as director general of excavations and antiquities for the Egyptian government, became suspicious and had two of the brothers arrested. One of them revealed a tomb secreted in a cliff near Deir al-Bahri. Upon arriving on-site, the delegation of the Museum discovered an extraordinary collection of mummified remains and funeral equipment of more than 50 kings, queens, and other members of the royalty (including the mummies of Thutmose I and Ramesses II), suggesting that the tomb was used for safekeeping royal mummies during the Twenty-first Dynasty. In only 48 hours the entire cache was cleared and all contents, including the mummies, were transported to Luxor and then Cairo. The present work constitutes Maspero's first study of the objects. It served as the basis for a more elaborate study of the findings he published eight years later ("Les Momies royales de Deir-el-Bahari", Paris, 1889). - Extremities somewhat rubbed, occasional light foxing. A pretty copy. Rarely seen at auction. Provenance: from the private library of the American diplomat and collector Elbert Eli Farman (1831-1911), Consul General of the US at Cairo from 1876 to 1881, with his bookplate to the front pastedown. Ibrahim-Hilmy I, 93 & II, 21. OCLC 8670353.‎

‎[Medical manuscript].‎

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

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