|
|
|
[Qur'an]. Beck, Matthias Friedrich.
Specimen arabicum, hoc est, Bina capitula Alcorani XXX de Roma & XLIIX de Victoria [...]. Augsburg, Jakob Koppmayer for Lorenz Kroniger & Gottlieb Goebel's heirs, 1688.
4to. (12), 66, 41, (1) pp. Title-page printed in red and black. With a coin engraving in the text. 19th c. wrappers. Only edition thus: the 30th and the 48th sura (Ar-Rum and Al-Fath) in the original Arabic and with Latin parallel translation. An early and scholarly specimen of Qur'an translation in the West, with extensive commentary. The Arabic text is rendered in Hebrew letters, as Arabic types were unavailable to the printer. M. F. Beck (1649-1701) had studied history and oriental literature at Jena. In 1677 he settled in Ausgburg as a preacher, but kept his focus on the oriental languages. His linguistic proficiency ultimately earned him a pension from the King of Prussia (cf. ADB II, 218). - Some browning; title insignificantly dust- and waterstained, but altogether well preserved. VD 17, 12:128711C. Schnurrer 374. OCLC 13610797.
|
|
|
[Qur'an - English].
The Koran, Commonly Called the Alcoran of Mahomet. First American edition. Springfield, MA, Henry Brewer for Isaiah Thomas, Jun., October 1806.
8vo. VIII, 524 pp. Contemporary full sheepskin with giltstamped spine title. First American edition of the Qur'an, produced by Isaiah Thomas, founder of the American Antiquarian Society and the largest and most important Massachusetts publishing house during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Thomas adapted a translation of the French orientalist André Du Ryer for the American market, with occasional notes, including Turkish traditions. Du Ryer had been the envoy of the French king at Alexandria and Constantinople in the 17th century. His translation was the best available, and was frequently reprinted and translated into other European languages throughout the 18th century. - Some browning and light foxing throughout. Small hole slightly affecting text to leaf Aa6; quires Ff and Gg transposed; a tear in leaf O4 professionally repaired. Provenance: From the collection of the Massachusetts businessman Henry E. Call (fl. 1860s) with his ink ownership to title-page and oval stamps to flyleaf; front pastedown has mid-19th century note of acquisition for $2.00 from E. P. Dutton's Boston bookshop, founded in 1852. Shaw & Shoemaker 10684. Europe and the Arab World 32. OCLC 3548445. Not in Chauvin.
|
|
|
[Qur'an - Latin].
Mohammedia filii Abdallae pseudo-prophetae Fides Islamitica, i.e. Al-Coranus. Ex idiomate Arabico, quo primum a Mohammede conscriptus est, latine versus per Ludovicum Marraccium [...]. Cura et opera M. Christiani Reineccii. Leipzig, Lanckisch, 1721.
8vo. (12), 114, (2), 558, (34) pp. Title-page printed in red and black. Contemporary full vellum with ms. title to spine. First printing thus. - The edition of Christian Reineccius (1668-1752) contains the Latin text of Luigi Marracci (1612-1700), to which are added a history of the Qur'an and an account of the Muslim faith. Marracci's text, published in 1698, constituted the first accurate Latin translation, the first scholarly printed Qur'an (including a much more accurate Arabic text than any previously printed). "It was a considerable progress that the Qur'an, much maligned by so many in the West possessing no familiarity at all with its content, now was made generally available" (cf. Fück). - Some browning throughout, as common; old ownership "Steph. Manno" stamped to title page. Altogether very well-preserved in an immaculate contemporary full vellum binding. Schnurrer p. 413f. Fück 95, n. 251. BM Arabic I, 896. Enay 164. Zenker I, 1396. Woolworth p. 286.
|
|
|
[Qur'an]. Lydis, Mariette.
42 Miniaturen zum Koran. Berlin, Brandussche Verlagsbuchhandlung, (1924).
Oblong 8vo. (4), 42 mounted colour printed plates, some of which heightened in gold, (4) pp. Each plate matted with the corresponding letterpress Qur'an verse with red border to versos opposite. Title-page printed in red and black. Contemporary green full calf with giltstamped title to cover and spine. Top edge gilt. Original stapled plain card slipcase. Only edition. A collection of 42 exquisite illustrations for selected suras from the Qur'an inspired by Persian miniatures. One of the earliest works by the Austrian-born painter and illustrator Lydis (1887-1970), a self-taught artist influenced by Islamic art as well as by the Japanese artist Tsuguharu Foujita. Lydis settled in Paris in 1926 and escaped the Nazis during the occupation, living briefly in England before emigrating to Buenos Aires. Today she is best known for her illustrations in de luxe editions of Boccaccio, Louÿs, Baudelaire, Mirbeau and Valéry. - The plates, in colours and gold, were printed by Ganymed in Berlin, the text by Proeschel & Trepte in Leipzig. - Extremities slightly rubbed. Interior in mint condition. Vollmer III, 278. OCLC 187048571.
|
|
|
[Qur'an - Swedish].
Koran öfversatt från arabiska originalet, jemte en historisk inledning af Fredrik Crusenstolpe, konsulat-sekreterare vid kongl. konsulatet i Marocko. Stockholm, P. A. Norstedt & söner, 1843.
8vo. V, (1), 158, 783, (1), 26, (2) pp. Near contemporary green half calf over marbled boards, flat spine elaborately gilt. First Swedish edition: the pioneering, first complete version of the Holy Qur'an in any Scandinavian language. The translator Fredrik Crusenstolpe (1801-82) was secretary to the Swedish consul in Tanger and a philhellene who had fought against the Ottomans in the Greek War of Independence. - The publication was privately funded by the translator himself: Crusenstolpe, who detected in the Swedish mentality an ignorance and tendency toward superstition which he resented, "felt personally compelled to furnish the Swedish audience with material to rectify some of the misconceptions about the Prophet Muhammad in Swedish popular imagination [...] He described the Prophet as a rational 'Arabic founder of law' (p. iii), in compliance with a common imagery of the Prophet which emerged in the European Enlightenment" (N. S. Eggen, "On the Periphery: Translations of the Our'an in Sweden, Denmark and Norway", in: The Routledge Handbook of Arabic Translation, ed. Sameh Hanna et al.). - Covers a little rubbed, corners slightly bumped. Some browning and occasional foxing throughout. From the library of Swedish linguist Hans Hultqvist (1943-2019) with his discrete shelf mark in pencil to title-page. Very rare: OCLC lists only four holding libraries (NY Public Library, Library of Congress, Cleveland Public Library, Ohio State University). Chauvin X, 238. OCLC 2011410.
|
|
|
Quran.
A fine illuminated Qur'an manuscript. [Ottoman Empire], [1862 CE].
8vo. 307 ff. Naskh calligraphy, 15 lines. Black ink on polished paper; borders in red and gold; sura headings in white ink on gilt; gilt discs for verse divisions. Double-page 'unwan on first two pages shows elaborate gilt ornamentation; colophon shows floral ornamentation in green and gilt. Coloured floral decoration to margins. Later cloth. Colophon in Arabic: "Finished Thursday afternoon 3 o'clock. The scribe is the son of Mehmed Halil Ibrahim, what is done is determined by Allah". - Provenance: acquired in Istanbul, Turkey, in the 1960s.
|
|
|
[Qur'an].
A fine illuminated Qur'an manuscript. Probably modern Afghanistan or Pakistan, ca. 1830s (first half of the 19th century CE).
8vo (ca. 110 x 160 mm). Arabic manuscript on paper. 260 ff. with 3 double-page 'Unwan headpieces in colours and gilt. 17 lines in meticulous black ink Naskhi, text within black, blue and gilt rules, verse divisions marked by black-bordered gold discs, red orthoepic markers and diacritics, sura beginnings in red on gilt background, line separators in black and gilt, marginal medallions (Juz' and Hizb markers) in colours and gilt, marginalia in red. Contemporary lacquer binding, covers elaborately painted with floral designs on outsides and insides. Later black morocco spine with stamped title. Stored in contemporary giltstamped leather slipcase with flap. An exceptionally pretty early 19th century Qur'an manuscript probably written in the Pashtunistan or Balochistan region of British India. Occasional insignificant edge flaws or various instances of light browning, but generally a very clean and well-preserved example in a pretty floral lacquer binding (corners bumped, spine repaired in more recent times). Slipcase a little rubbed and worn along extremeties.
|
|
|
[Qur'an].
An Ottoman Qur'an manuscript. [Ottoman Empire, [1810 CE =] 1225 H.
8vo (105 x 149 mm). Arabic manuscript on polished paper. 306 ff., 2 flyleaves, 15 lines to the page. Written in fine Naskh script in black ink, verses separated by small gold roundels pointed in red, illuminated floral marginal devices throughout surah headings written in white thuluth script within gold-ground floral panels. Double-page illuminated 'unwan frontispiece elaborately decorated with interlacing polychrome flowers against a punched gold ground. Contemporary full gilt leather with fore-edge flap and gilt floral designs to covers. Endpapers covered with cornflower-blue, relief-stamped floral paper. Edges mottled in red. Stored in matching leather slipcase with flap and bellows-style cloth sides. A beautiful Qur'an manuscript from the early years of the era of Sultan Mahmud II, written in modern-day Turkey by Omar Al-Shawqi, student of Ismael Shawqi. - A small hole in the text of the second leaf, sewing a little loosened in places, otherwise a very attractively preserved example of a pocket-sized Qur'an.
|
|
|
[Qur'an].
Illuminated, complete Qur'an manuscript. [Ottoman Empire], ca. 1770 / 18th century.
8vo (208 x 150 mm). Contemporary blind- and goldstamped calf with fore-edge flap, decorated with corner stamps. Illuminated Arabic ms. on paper, 305 ff., single 15-line column, Naskh script on polished paper. Double-page 'unwan on first two pages shows elaborate gilt and coloured ornamentation. Text framed by three parallel golden and black lines. Gold discs between verses, sura headings written in gold.
|
|
|
Quran.
Illuminated, complete Qur'an manuscript. [Kashmir], ca. 1770 / 18th century.
8vo (149 x 94 mm). Illuminated Arabic ms. on paper, 211 ff., 20 lines, Naskh script. Double-page 'unwan on first two pages shows elaborate gilt and coloured ornamentation. Framed by strings of three gold and black lines. Gold discs between verses, sura headings written in gold. Original lacquer binding decorated with flowers. Traces of use, otherwise in good condition. Binding restored.
|
|
|
Quran.
Illuminated Qur'an manuscript. [Ottoman area], [1848 CE] = 1265 H.
8vo (129 x 83 mm). Illuminated Arabic ms. on paper, 303 ff., 15 lines, Naskh script. Double-page 'unwan on first two pages shows elaborate gilt ornamentation; colophon shows coloured ornamentation. Text framed by three parallel golden, black and red wires. Gold discs between verses, sura headings written in gold. Contemporary blind- and giltstamped binding with fore-edge flap, decorated with borders and corner stamps. Some slight restoration to first leaves, otherwise in very good condition.
|
|
|
Quran.
Illuminated Qur'an manuscript. [Ottoman Empire], [1852 CE] = 1269 H.
8vo (124 x 180 mm). Illuminated Arabic ms. on polished paper. 301 ff., final blank. 15 lines, Naskh script. Black ink on polished paper. Double-page 'unwan on first two pages shows elaborate gilt ornamentation. Borders in red, black and gold. Gold discs between verses, sura headings written in red. Contemporary blindstamped gilt calf. Complete Quran ms. with occasional coloured floral decoration to the margins. First leaf remargined; some fingerstaining and occasional browning; a very few ink smudges. Spine rebacked in different leather. Altogether a good example.
|
|
|
[Qur'an].
A splendid illuminated Qur'an manuscript. Iran, [1783 CE] = 1204 H.
8vo (148 x 90 mm). Illuminated Arabic manuscript on paper, 243 leaves plus 2 fly-leaves, complete. 19 lines per page, written in a neat Naskhi script in black ink with diacritics in red, margins ruled in gold and colours. Gold discs or florets between verses, sura headings written in white within gilt cartouches flanked by panels with alternating floral motifs in gold and various colours. Brown morocco with flap and giltstamped borders and central ornaments. Splendid pocket-size Qur'an. Marginal section markers in white naskh on gold ground within polychrome flower blossom, opening double-page frontispiece richly illuminated in lapis lazuli blue, green, red, pink, and gold, the text within cloud bands in gold. - Hinge tender between the first two pages, some light marginal fingering, otherwise in perfect condition. From the library of the scientists and collectors Crawford Fairbanks Failey (1900-81) and Gertrude Van Wagenen (1893-1978), who performed research at Yale and Johns Hopkins in the fields of medical chemistry and biology.
|
|
|
[Qur'an].
Manuscript Qur'an commentary. Sultanate of Delhi, [ca. 1490 CE, or 15th century].
Folio (244 x 345 mm). Arabic manuscript, Bihari script on paper. 287 (instead of 292) ff., foliated 364-655 (lacking 550-551 and 622-624). Surah headings in gilt and colours, verse divisions marked by gold and black ink rosettes, numerous circular and tear-shaped markers in the margins, elaborately ornamented in gold and colours. Bound in modern oriental-style full leather with fore-edge flap and recessed cover decorations. Part four of a pre-Mughal Qur'an commentary, treating the text from Surah XXI, Al-Anbya (The Prophets) to Surah LXXV, Al-Qiyamah (The Resurrection). - Lacks five leaves according to the foliation; some dampstaining; several edge flaws (more severe near the end of the volume), often remargined. Traces of dust in the gutter throughout. In all a fine example of an early Qur'anic manuscript. - Provenance: 1950s private ownership stamp of the "Mohd. Halim Salimi Library", Kandahar, Afghanistan, on fol. 490v. Mohammed Halim Salimi of Kandahar worked in an administrative capacity for the USA's International Cooperation Administration (ICA) Mission to Afghanistan in 1959. In 1960 Salimi applied to the ICA for reimbursement of a lost sum of $123.88; the application was refused on the grounds that Salimi was not in fact an ICA employee but was sub-contracted by the agent Herman Klee (see report B-144148-O.M., 1 Nov 1960). Acquired from Hampel Auctions, Munich. Cf. S. A. Blair, Islamic Calligraphy (Edinburgh 2006), pp. 386-390; Qur‘an, exhibition catalogue (Istanbul 2010), pp. 350f., no. 92.
|
|
|
[Qur'an - English].
The Koran, commonly called the Alcoran of Mohammed, translated into English [...] by George Sale. London, C. Ackers for J. Wilcox, 1734.
Large 4to. (4), IX, (3), 187, (1), 508, (16) pp. With folding engr. map, folding engr. plate, and 3 (2 folding) engr. genealogical tables. Modern half calf with marbled covers, gilt. First printing of this important translation. "Showered with praise from the start" (cf. Enay). "The classic translation of the Quran [...] Sale worked from the original Arabic, but also used Marracci's Latin version, about which he said it was very precise, but too literal [...] Sale's translation is marked by a rather sober tidiness. Sale himself saw his work as a sort of defence of a much-maligned book [...] The translation's dispassionate, dry objectivity was an enormous step forward for western Quranic studies. Its deserved success was based to no little extent on the 'Preliminary Discourse', which provides a general introduction to the Quran as well as an overview of the most important Muslim denominations [...] For a century this account remained one of the principal sources from which the European educated elite drew its knowledge of all matters Quranic" (cf. Fück). - Title page slightly wrinkled and dusty. A good, very unobtrusively browned copy in an appealing modern binding. Chauvin X, 146. Schnurrer 429. Fück 104f. Enay 169. Graesse IV, 44. Ebert 11524.
|
|
|
[Quran - Dutch]. Ryer, André du.
Mahomets Alkoran, door du Ryer uit d'Arabische in de Fransche en door I. H. Glazemaker in de Nederlantsche taal vertaalt. Amsterdam, Timotheus ten Hoorn, 1696.
8vo. (10), 547, (1) pp. With additional engraved title page and 6 engraved plates. Contemporary vellum with handwritten spine title. Uncommon Dutch edition of du Ryer's version, in a translation by J. H. Glasemaker (previously published in 1658), with a Life of the Prophet and numerous engravings by Caspar Luyken (1672-1708). Du Ryer's 1647 French version served as the basis for further translations of the Qur'an (including English, German, and Russian), and was instrumental in introducing Europeans to the tenets of the Muslim faith. - Block somewhat loosened, but still a good copy. Chauvin X, p. 129 (phi). Cf. Schnurrer 428.
|
|
|
[Quran - French]. Ryer, André du.
L'Alcoran de Mahomet. Translaté d'Arabe en François. Paris, Antoine de Sommaville, 1647.
4to. (10), 648 [but: 598], (4) pp. Contemporary half calf with giltstamped spine. Rare first edition of "the oldest complete translation of the Qur'an into a European vernacular" (Encylopedia of the Qur'an). Du Ryer's work served as the basis for further translations of the Qur'an into English, German, Dutch, and Russian, and was instrumental in introducing Europeans to the tenets of the Muslim faith. Du Ryer was a celebrated linguist and had lived in Egypt and Turkey, where he studied classical Arabic. His introduction briefly summarizes the Muslim religion for Christian readers, noting customs such as Ramadan, circumcision, the practice of having as many as four wives, the significance of Mecca and Medina, Sufi brotherhoods and wandering ascetics, and finally the Islamic recognition of Jesus as a prophet but not the son of God. A prayer printed in Arabic is included on the verso of leaf e2. - "Du Ryer's translation of the Qur'an [...] became an unparalleled literary success [...] The easy availability of the Qur'an accompanied a newfound interest in the Orient; additionally, du Ryer's translation lacked the polemical tone of previous editions, an orientation which arose mainly in ecclesiastical contexts. Du Ryer used Islamic commentaries such as al-Bayawi's Anwar al-tanzil, the Tafsir al-Jalalayan by al-Mahalli (d. 864/1459) and al-Suyu i (d. 911/1505), or an excerpt from al-Razi's (d. 606/1210) great commentary made by al-Raghi al-Tunisi (d. 715/1315) entitled al-Tanwir fi l-tafsir, quite casually in his translation, merely noting them in the margins. The deprecatory tone present in the introductory chapter, 'Sommaire de la religion des Turcs,' can be understood as an attempt at camouflage (cf. Hamilton and Richard, André du Ryer, 94f)" (Encyclopedia of the Qur'an). - Some waterstaining throughout; occasional worming; more pronounced edge damage near end. Provenance: 1714 ms. ownership (partly stricken out) of the Castelnaudary Capuchins, dissolved in 1789; acquired by the notary J. L. E. Bauzit of Castelnaudary (his ownership on title and flyleaf). Chauvin X, p. 126. Schnurrer 427. Fück 74. Brunet III, 1309. Encyclopedia of the Qur'an V, 347.
|
|
|
[Quran - German]. Boysen, Friedrich Eberhard (ed.).
Der Koran, oder Das Gesetz für die Moslemer, durch Muhammed den Sohn Abdall. Nebst einigen feyerlichen koranischen Gebeten, unmittelbar aus dem Arabischen übersetzt [...]. Halle, J. J. Gebauers Wwe. und Johann Jakob Gebauer, 1775.
8vo. 42 (but: 40), 678 pp. With engraved frontispiece. Near-contemporary half calf with giltstamped red spine label. All edges red. Second edition of this German Qur'an translation, previously issued in 1773. Following Megerlin's ill-received effort of 1772, this is the second German translation to have been based immediately on the Arabic original. - Pagination of preliminaries agrees with NUC, with pp. 15f. skipped. Includes the frequently lacking engraved frontispiece depicting a Muslim in prayer. Contemporary ownership to flyleaf. Slightly browned as usual; a good, tighly bound copy. Zenker I, 1400. Schnurrer, p. 431. Graesse IV, 44. Woolworth 285. VD 18, 90017838. Not in Enay.
|
|
|
Ramusio, Giovanni Battista.
Delle navigationi et viaggi in molti luoghi corretta, et ampliata, nella quale si contengono la descrittione dell' Africa, & del paese del Prete Ianni, con varii viaggi, dalla citta di Lisbona, & dal Mar Rosso à Calicut, & infin' all' isole Molucche, dove nascono le spetierie, et la navigatione attorno il mondo. Venice, heredi di Lucantonio Giunti, 1554-1574.
3 parts in 3 folio volumes (302 x 205 mm). (4), 34, 436 ff. 30, 248 ff. 6, 34, 455 (not 456) ff. With a total of 51 engravings in the text (7 full-page) and 12 double-page maps and plans (2 full-page). 20th-c. full brown morocco, double-gilt fillet on the covers, spine ribbed and decorated with gilt fleurons, mottled edges. Stored in custom-made calf-edged slipcases. Perfectly complete copy of this superb collection of travels, composed of the first edition of the 3rd part and the second edition of the 1st and 2nd part. The second edition, widely enlarged, of the 1st part, is the first and only one to present the 3 double-page maps representing Africa and India that had not been printed in the first edition of 1550, and which would not be reprinted in the 3rd edition of 1563 since the wood plates of these 3 maps had been destroyed in the fire that ravaged Giunti's workshop in 1557. - "This work, which served as a model to Hakluyt, was the first systematical collection of voyages that had so far appeared [...] It [...] is carefully and intelligently done" (Cox). "All authors are unanimous of their praise of Ramusio's choice of published narratives. Locke, the English philosopher, states that it is 'the most perfect work of that nature in any language'. Harrisse writes, 'The publication of Ramusio's "Raccolta" may be said to open an era in the literary history of Voyage and Navigation. Instead of accounts carelessly copied and translated from previous collections, perpetuating errors and anachronisms, we find in this valuable work original narratives which betray the hand of a scholar of great critical acumen'" (Borba de M.). The first volume, mainly dedicated to Africa and South Asia, happily includes several travel reports of the utmost importance for the exploration of the Arabian Peninsula and the Gulf region. Lodovico Varthema's travel report, famous for detailing the first recorded visit of a Westerner to Mecca, indeed the first western encounter with the Arab world, contains accounts of the holy cities of as well as of the port of Jeddah, information on Bedouin life and costume, etc. (ff. 162-166). - The account of Vasco da Gama's voyage to India is comparable in importance only to Columbus’s in the west, as it “opened the way for the maritime invasion of the East by Europe” (PMM 42). Da Gama’s pioneering sea voyage ranks amongst the greatest historic events of the second millennium and as “one of the defining moments in the history of exploration” (BBC History, online). It is also considered the turning point in the political history of the Arabian Gulf region, followed as it was by a prolonged period of east-west commerce, conquest and conflict. Critically, the excerpt here published includes details on "una isola [i. e., Julfar] verso il colfo Persico dove altro non si fa che pescar perle" (I, f. 132). - Duarte Barbosa's report includes accounts of Mecca and Medina (f. 323), the ports of Jeddah (ibid.) and Aden (f. 324), the Arab kingdom of Hormuz (ff. 324-327), Julfar and the islands in the Arabian Gulf (f. 325, with reference to pearl-diving), etc. Also, we find the very early and highly influential, albeit imprecise data on the Kuwait region: place names such as Lorom, Gostaque, Bacido, Conga, Menahaon (p. 325) etc. which Slot discusses at some length: "Much of the toponymic information in the Kuwait region on the maps from the Gastaldi group is based on an erroneous interpretation of Duarte Barbosa's text. From this text come the strange names of places in the area of Kuwait like Costaqui (Kuhistaq) which should in fact be placed on the other side of the Gulf [...] Loron [...] might be an error for the Karun River which is on the Persian side just east of the Shatt al-Arab. Then follows inside the inlet of the Gulf of Kuwait the name Manahon. Then follows around this 'Gulf of Kuwait' three names which are cased by erroneous plotting [...]: Congo (Bandar Kong), Costaqui (Kuhistaq) and Bacido (Basaidu) with the offshore island of Queximi (Qism). These are names taken from [...] Duarte Barbosa's book and erroneously plotted on this coast" (Origins of Kuwait, p. 15). - The volume also includes a set of three woodcut maps by Gastaldi: the first showing Africa, the second showing the Indian subcontinent, the Strait of Hormuz, the Eastern half of the Gulf, and the Indian Ocean, while the third shows Southeast Asia and the East Indies. These were a great advance on earlier maps, including even Gastaldi's own, taking into account new information provided by Portuguese explorers. Many of the topographic names in the Gulf region derive from the forms used by these navigators and can be identified, sometimes tentatively, from their place on the first two of these maps and from the early accounts of the voyages: "Cor. Dulfar" (Dhofar), the island "Macira" (Masirah), "C. Resalgate" (Ras al Had?), "Galatia" (the ancient site Qalhat), "Mazcate" (Muscat), the island "Quexumo" (Qeshm), "Ormus" (Hormuz), and there is even an unlabelled city close to the present-day Abu Dhabi. - Occasional handwritten ink notes. Waterstain on the lower part of vol. 2, ff. 31-35; some browned leaves; otherwise fine, a washed copy. Provenance: Professor Eva G. R. Taylor (1879-1966), historian of science and the first woman to hold an academic chair of geography in the UK, presented to Birkbeck College, University of London (bookplate) and sold through Sotheby's in 1990. Sabin 67731, 67737, 67740. Harrisse 304. Church 99. Borba de Moraes² 698f. Bosch 46. Cox I, 28. Cordier, BS 1939. Fumagalli (Bibl. Etiopica) 83 (note). Gay 258. Adams R 135, 137, 140. Brunet IV, 1100f. Slot, The Origins of Kuwait (1998), p. 15 & 187.
|
|
|
Rashdan, A. M.
Arab World Highways Map. Road Map of the Arab World. [Egypt], Arab Tourist Union, [1971].
42 x 100 cm. Five-tone lithographic map with illustration by Harraz. Constant ratio linear horizontal scale 1:7,500,000. Road map also showing railways, populated places, boundaries, rivers, wadis, and possible flood areas. Includes inset map: Diagrammatic map of the Arab world. Folded. First edition of this large, decorative map, showing the highways that linked countries under Arabian influence in the early 1970s. It stretches as far north as Turkey, south to the Sudan, west to Mauritana and east beyond the Strait of Hormuz, capturing the whole of the Arabian Gulf including Kuwait, Bahrain, Muscat, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the People's Republic of Southern Yemen. The verso contains an index of main travel routes through these various countries. - The United Arab Republic, as it is here referred to, was formed through a political union of Egypt and Syria. It was instigated by the Egyptian Prime Minister Gamal Abdel Nasser (1918-1970) and was seen as an expression of pan-Arab sentiment. Syria broke aways from the union in 1961 (and is here shown as an independent country), but Egypt continued to use the name until 1972. The People's Republic of Yemen, the only communist state to be established in the Arab world, was formed in late 1967, to last until 1990. - Some nicks and small tears, a single mark to the covers, a 1 cm tear on the left side of the map. In very good condition for a fragile map. Scarce: LibraryHub does not locate any holdings whilst Worldcat adds just eight institutional copies worldwide. OCLC 5403988.
|
|
|
Rauwolf, Leonhard.
Beschreibung der Reyß [...], so er [...] gegen Auffgang in die Morgenländer, fürnemlich Syriam, Judeam, Arabiam, Mesopotamiam, Babyloniam, Assyriam, Armeniam, etc. nicht ohne Mühe und grosse Gefahr selbst vollbracht [...]. Frankfurt a. M., Christoph Rab, 1582.
4to. 3 parts in 1 vol. Title-page printed in red and black. With 3 woodcut title vignettes (including one showing a camel). (8) ff. (incl. final blank), 123, (1) pp. (2), 161, (1) pp., 1 bl. f. 176, (6) pp. Contemporary blindstamped brown calf with 2 clasps. Rare second edition, printed in the year of the first edition: a German description of a three-year journey to Palestine and the Near East by the botanist Rauwolf (1535-96), with many authentic and reliable observations, also about the people and customs and of the difficulties of travel. His description of the preparation of coffee in Aleppo was the first such report by a European. "Highly influential travel account by the learned Augsburg physician and botanist who journeyed to Jerusalem in the years 1573 to 1576. The 8th chapter of part I contains the celebrated descriptions of the coffee drink and of the coffee berry [...] Rauwolf's account of coffee as a social drink of the East is thought to be the earliest in a printed book" (Hünersdorff/H. II, 1221). "Rauwolf [...] made a hazardous journey in many parts of the East to collect foreign plants; his herbarium is now carefully preserved at the Rijksherbarium in Leiden" (Hunt 146). "He was the first modern botanist to collect and describe the flora of the regions east of the Levantine coast" (Norman). An illustrated edition expanded by a fourth part was published at Lauingen the following year. - Binding professionally repaired at extremeties. Title page remargined, showing some fingerstaining; occasional slight brown- and waterstaining; a few contemporary marginalia near the end. VD 16, ZV 12969. Adams R 188. Pritzel 7430. Cf. Norman 1782. Not in BM-STC German.
|
|
|
Rebello da Silva, Luis Augusto, et al. (eds.).
Corpo diplomatico portuguez. Contendo os actos e relações politicas e diplomaticas de Portugal com as diversas potencias do mundo, desde o seculo XVI até os nossos dias. Lisbon, Typographia da Academia Real das Sciencias / Imprensa Nacional, 1862-1959.
Small folio (224 x 284 mm). 15 vols. (final vol. in 2 parts), uniformly bound in half tan sheep over decorated boards, spines gilt with raised bands in five compartments, decorated endleaves. Some original printed wrappers bound within. All edges sprinkled. First editions; all that was published of this massive project. The "Corpo diplomatico" deals with the relations between Portugal and the Roman Curia, presenting a chronologically arranged sequence of documents from the 16th and 17th centuries. The Portuguese Empire was the first global empire in history, and the sources here edited - frequently citing the significant Portuguese royal title of "King of Portugal and the Algarves, on this side of the sea, and on the other side in Africa, lord of Guinea and of the naval and commercial conquest of Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia, and India" - provide substantial information on the principal world issues and conflicts during that vast Empire's first era. Much of the diplomatic correspondence concerns conflicts between the worlds of Christianity and Islam: in one letter, King Manuel describes his attacks on and victories over the local Muslim rulers ("the Saracens are thrown into confusion"; "our men attacked and burned maritime towns belonging to the Saracens, situated on the mainland"; cf. vol. I, p. 116f.), and in a Papal Breve, Pius V praises the strengthening of the Maltese fortifications after the Great Siege of Malta ("erit opportunissimum adversus Turcas, et praedones Afros totius christiani populi propugnaculum", vol. X, p. 226). Many volumes, but VII through XI in particular, contain material on the Arabian Gulf (Basra, Bahrain, Muscat, and Ormuz): "Ormuz, que he cabeça de todo o Reino de Ormuz [...] e na dita Cidade de Ormuz fortaleza minha com muita gente de christâos portuguezes" (vol. II, p. 374); "o vejo, que se se faz guerra ao Turco e Vossa Alteza quer, sem despesa de quasi nada, o Egipto e Suria e Arabia seraom vossos" (vol. III, p. 243); "e asy mandou que se reteuessem todas as naos, que viessem da India a Judá e a Meca" (p. 397); "se entende hum muito boom socedimento pella armada de Vossa Alteza na ilha de Banrrehem [= Bahrain] de que se deve ter muito contentamento assi pella reputaçâo" (vol. VIII, p. 372); "e depois em Ormuz poderia saber o acontesimento de Baharem" (p. 468); "toda a costa de Melinde ate Moçambique e assi da outra de Adem ate Ormuz quererâo por alguma d aquellas tentar ardis [...] A Baçora vai tambem muita somma de especiaria" (vol. IX, p. 110f.); "O negocio he grave e de muita consideraçâo e em ser muita a somma da speciaria que vem pello mar Roxo ao Cayro e pello de Ormuz a Bacora" (p. 135); "Andre Ribeiro que com Joâo de Lisboa foi cativo em Mazcate" (p. 175); "creo tambem que elles lá ou nos quá nâo sabemps o que passa em Bacora porque se n aquella ilha creserem galees sem hirem do mar Roxo, como as que ali vierâo quando de caminho tomarâo Mascate nâo sey por onde viessem as outras" (p. 305); "pera o resgate dos portugueses que estam cativos no Cayro, e forom presos em Mazcate" (p. 382; cf. p. 485); etc. - Furthermore, there are reports on the Portuguese in Suez, Africa (including Angola, Mozambique, Guiné, Sofala, Morocco, Arguin, Cabo Verde, Congo, São Thomé, Ethiopia), Brazil (Bahia, Maranhão, Rio de Janeiro, Pernambuco), the Azores, India (in nearly every volume, including Goa, Cochin, Damão, Malabar), and the Far East (Malacca and the Moluccas, with a few sections on Macau, China, and Japan scattered in vols. X-XIV). The work also provides a wealth of detail about the Inquisition and "cristãos novos" (both discussed in almost every volume), the Jesuits (vols. V-XV), the Council of Trent (vols. VI-X), Protestant activity (particularly in England), the Restauração, the Dutch in Brazil, the wars with the Turks on land and sea, and the activities of D. Sebastião and St. Charles Borromeu, the Order of Malta, and Cardinal Mazarin. Among the most notable texts are Ambassador Martinho's 1533 letter describing the forces defending Christianity in India and Africa, Bishop Lourenço Pires de Tavora's account of monasteries in India in 1561, and 25 letters written by P. Antonio Vieira from 1671 to 1675 (vol. XIV). - Marginal spotting in vol. XV, part 1; last 5 leaves remargined. Very discreet library markings on rear pastedown of each volume. Overall a very good set. Innocêncio IX, 95. OCLC 55783574.
|
|
|
[Reinaud, (Joseph-Toussaint)].
Extraits des historiens arabes, relatifs aux guerres des croisades, ouvrage formant, d'après les écrivains musulmans, un récit suivi des guerres saintes, nouvelle édition, entièrement refondue et considérablement augmentée. [Paris], Imprimerie royale, 1829.
8vo. XLVIII, 582 pp. Contemporary dark green half sheepskin, gold-tooled spine, marbled endpapers. First edition of a work on Islamic texts about the Christian crusades, by the French orientalist Joseph Toussaint Reinaud (1795-1867). It gives a French translation of numerous texts and extracts relating to the crusades originally written in Arabic from the 11th to the 15th century by Arab historians, with occasionally some passages in Arabic in the notes. Most of the texts deal with major battles and sieges, Saladin, and victories and deaths of important leaders. The preliminaries include brief biographies of some of the major authors, including Ali ibn al-Athir, Baha ad-Din ibn Shaddad, Imad ad-Din al-Isfahani, Ibn al-Adim and many more. The texts are arranged into different chapters, each devoted to a different stage of the crusades. - The book is in fact the publication of a part of the extensive manuscript by Georges-François Berthereau (1732-94), who collected numerous Arab texts on the crusades, but the publication was prohibited during years following the French Revolution. The book was published as a part of the Biblithèque des croisades, as an addition to the well-known Histoire des croisades, written by Joseph François Michaud (1767-1839). - With a stain on the half-title and some staining throughout, otherwise in very good condition. Hage Chahine 3963. Not in Blackmer.
|
|
|
Renan, Joseph Ernest.
Mission de Phénicie. Paris, Imprimerie Impériale/Nationale, 1864-1874.
Folio (ca. 275 x 365 and 370 x 555 mm). Altogether 13 volumes (7 text volumes and 7 issues of plates in 6 volumes). (4), 884, (4) pp. With 70 engraved and lithographed numbered plates, including 1 folded plate, 1 folded map, and 8 plans, 3 of which folded; a few in original hand colour. Contemporary wrappers. Plates stored in two half cloth portfolios. First edition. - A rare complete set of this monumental description of the 1860/61 archaeological expedition to Lebanon and Syria, commissioned by Napoleon III and led by the renowned scholar of Semitic languages, Joseph Ernest Renan. The text volumes give a vivid account of the expedition, its route and findings, and include several illustrations within the text, while the plates provide additional documentation of the visited archaeological sites. Engraved by Jules Penel (b. 1833), Georges Erhard Schièble (1821-80), and others, they include a map of the expedition area, Phoenician monuments at Amrit, Arwad, Byblos, Sidon and other places, as well as a folded plate showing the Kabr Hiram mosaic and 3 folded plans depicting Sidon and the Sidon necropolis. This important work documents the state of the excavations at that time and triggered further research on the Phoenicians. A facsimile edition appeared in 1998. - Text volumes uncut. Some wrappers faded, extremities bumped. Paper somewhat browned as common; plates fresh and clean.
|
|
|
Ricoldus de Monte Crucis.
Confutatio Alcorani seu legis Saracenorum, ex graeco nuper in latinum traducta [per Bartholomeus Picenus de Montearduo]. [Basel, Nikolaus Kessler], ca. 1507.
Small 4to (140 x 187 mm). 68 ff. (but title is fragmentary, preserving the letterpress only, laid down to old paper). Near-contemporary full leather binding, spine rebacked. All edges red. Rare edition of this famous and scare refutation of the Qur'an. The Dominican Ricoldus (ca. 1243-1320) was sent to the orient as a missionary in 1288. He visited the Holy Land and travelled to Baghdad via Cilicia, Erzurum, and Tabriz. During his stay in Baghdad, Ricoldus studied the Qur'an and other works of Islamic theology, for controversial purposes, arguing with Nestorian Christians. He is said even to have begun a translation of the Qur'an about 1290, but it is not known whether this work was completed. - Ricoldus returned to his native Florence around the year 1300 to compose or edit several works about the Middle East. While many of his writings praise the Muslims' social behaviour, hospitality and sense of honour, his best-known work, the "Contra legem Sarracenorum", is a notorious refutation of the Islamic doctrines. Largely a compilation from William of Tripolis, Marcus of Toledo and the "Contrarietas alpholica", and probably an early effort written in preparation of Ricoldus's mission, it contends that the Qur'an's self-contradictory passages, confused arrangement and want of miracles prove that Islam cannot be a true revealed religion. Despite Ricoldo's hostility towards Islam his work shows specific knowledge of the Qur'an and overcomes one important prejudicial error common to other medieval criticisms of Islam: the perception that Muhammad introduced a christological heresy. The work was widely received; a Greek translation was prepared as early as 1385 by Demetrius Kydones, which was re-translated into Latin by Bartolomeo Piceno as "Improbatio" or "Confutatio Alcorani". A Spanish version appeared at Toledo in 1502, and Luther translated parts into German in 1530 (his "Verlegung des Alcoran" appeared in 1542). It influenced Pope Pius II, John of Segovia and Nicolaus Cusanus (cf. LMA VII, 808). - Binding worn but professionally repaired; spine rebacked. Some fingerstaining and browning with occasional slight worming to gutter. Trimmed rather closely with printed marginalia cropped in places, title fragment torn out and mounted, preserving some old handwritten annotations. Provenance: Mehmed V (1844-1918), Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1909, with his his Arabic bookplate on the pastedown. VD 16, R 2328. BNHCat R 296. This edition not in Panzer.
|
|
|
Roberts, David / Croly, George / Brockedon, William.
The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt & Nubia. London, Day & Son (vol. 3: New York, D. Appleton & Co.), 1855-1856.
Large 8vo (300 x 220 mm). 6 vols. bound as 3. With 250 numbered plates (image size 120 x 170 to 150 x 220 mm), including a tinted lithographed portrait of the artist, 6 tinted lithographed title-pages, 2 stone-engraved maps and 239 tinted and double-tinted lithographed and 2 chromolithographed views. Contemporary, richly gold-tooled reddish-brown morocco, side-stitched and oversewn, then sewn on 5 recessed cords, with a hollow back, 5 false bands on the spine, gold-tooled turn-ins, combed and curled marbled endpapers, headbands in red and yellow, gilt and gauffered edges. With thin paper guard leaves facing each plate. Second edition, with reduced illustrations but with more of them double-tinted or chromolithographed, of one of the most splendid and historically important visual records of the Middle East, after drawings by David Roberts (1796-1864) from the sketches he made from life during his travels through what is now Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Lebanon in 1838 and 1839. In Egypt he ventured up the Nile as far as the Nubian temples at Abu Simbel, near the present border with Sudan and travelled by camel through the Sinai to the extraordinary carved-rock buildings of Petra. These had been unknown to Europeans until Burckhardt discovered them in 1812 and 1813, so Roberts's views are among the earliest and are in many ways better than the few predecessors. In Lebanon he ventured as far as Baalbek, which had seen few European visitors before Egypt annexed it in 1832. Other sites he visited and drew include Cairo, Suez, Gaza, Jerusalem and Beirut. He was one of the first Europeans allowed to make drawings of the interior of mosques, so even in well-known cities these too opened a new world to European eyes. His views also provide a very detailed visual record of many sites that were afterward destroyed or disturbed. He drew them during the infancy of photography, before it reached the Middle East and long before it reached maturity there. His views of the modern cities also preserve records of both their architecture and their daily life and he shows spectacular landscapes in the mountains, around the Dead Sea and along the Nile and the Jordan. Roberts, born to a poor (Welsh?) family in Edinburgh, was apprenticed as a house painter, moved to London and worked his way up to paint sets for the Drury Lane Theatre and others. Thanks to patrons who appreciated his talents and hard work he was able to make the expensive and dangerous voyage through the Middle East. George Croly (in volumes 1-3) and William Brockedon (in volumes 4-6) provided explanatory and historical notes on the sites shown in Roberts's views. - Roberts's views were originally published in two separate works, issued in parts in the years 1842 to 1849 and often found together. One centred on the Holy Land, though also including views in other parts of the Middle East, while the other was devoted to Egypt and Nubia. The views in the former were made with only a single tint block and even the latter used fewer tint blocks than the present second edition and only one chromolithograph. The present edition, with sometimes very intricate double tints and two chromolithographs (with black and three tint blocks) is a masterpiece of tinted lithography. Since the lithographers used photographic reductions of the lithographic views of the first edition as an aid to their work, the book also pioneered the use of photography in graphic reproduction. The lithographed title-pages are dated 1855 except for those of vol. 3 (from the simultaneous New York issue, undated) and 6 (1856) but volumes 2-6 include plates dated 1856. The dates of the plates in all six volumes range from 16 April 1855 to 15 December 1856. - The title-page of volume 3 was intended for the simultaneous New York issue, but appears to have always been part of the present copy. In very good condition, with occasional light foxing, mostly on the backs of the plates, and with a faint marginal water stain in the lower outside corner of many plates in volumes 3 and 4, not approaching the printed image. The inside front hinge of the second volume as bound has separated from the book block and the bindings show some wear at the hinges and extremities, but they are otherwise also very good. 250 mostly tinted and double-tinted lithographs providing stunning early views of the Middle East, including Petra, Abu Simbel and the interiors of several mosques. Abbey, Travel 388 (lacking vols. 5-6). Blackmer 1432 (note). Gay 25. Hiler 205. Cf. Hamilton, Europe and the Arab world 66 (1842-49 ed.); Lipperheide, Lc 12 & Ma 27 (1842-49 ed.); Tooley 401f. (1842-49 ed.); not in Colas.
|
|
|
Roberts, Frederick.
Egypt to Hedjaz and Hedjaz To-Day. (Cairo, 1931).
8vo. 36 ff., printed on rectos only. Original printed wrappers with oval portrait of the author in Arabic costume. Stapled. First edition, very rare. Extraordinary guide to the Kingdom of Hejaz, "the most frequented pilgrim country in the world" (f. 36). It comprises accounts of Jeddah and Mecca and includes a chapter on King Abd al-Aziz ibn Saud (1875-1953), "undoubtedly the strongest and ablest ruler Arabia has produced for many many years" (f. 29). - Describing the journey from Egypt across the Red Sea, the booklet discusses the travel documents required to enter Hejaz, as well as the enormous economic benefit of the pilgrimage to the Kingdom, and gives a report of the crossing from Suez to Jeddah including stops at El Tor, "the most attractive and beautiful of the Red Sea towns" (f. 11), Wedja and Yambo. It includes a description of the Mount Sinai monastery as well as the wrecked pilgrim ship "Asia", which caught fire in the Jeddah port in 1929. On the one hand deeming Jeddah "a place for work and no play" (p. 24), the guide laments the prohibition of alcohol, cigarettes and gramophones, as well as the lack of hotels, cafés, restaurants, cinemas, and fresh water, and criticises the general state of many houses in the city. On the other hand, the booklet admires the low crime rate of Hejaz as well as recent improvements in public transportation. An uncommonly frank account of a Westerner's stay in Hejaz, not hesitating to speak out on the hardships of pilgrimage. - Covers loosened; somewhat soiled. A few pages slightly wrinkled. Contemporary ownership inscribed to title-page in blue ballpoint. Not a single copy traceable in libraries worldwide.
|
|
|
Rothschild, Maurice Edmond Charles de.
Voyage de M. le baron Maurice de Rothschild en Éthiopie et en Afrique orientale anglaise (1904-1905). Resultats scientifiques. Animaux articulés [...]. Paris, Imprimerie nationale, 1922.
Folio (ca. 280 x 365 mm). 3 vols. XVII, (3), 482 pp. (2), 483-1041, (2) pp. With 2 folding maps and illlustrations in the text. Vol. III (atlas): half-title and 100 engraved plates, 84 of which in original hand colour, with descriptions. Original printed wrappers; vol. III in contemporary half cloth. Stored in decorative full cloth slipcases. First edition. Signed presentation copy, inscribed by the author to the entomologist and carcinologist Eugène Louis Bouvier (1856-1944), who wrote the introduction to this elaborate entomological work: "A Monsieur le Professeur Bouvier, à qui je dois toute ma reconnaissance pour avoir mené à bonne fin cet important ouvrage faisant le plus grand honneur à sa haut compétence et à son grand dévouement à la sciene [...]". - Between the years of 1904 and 1905 Maurice de Rothschild (1881-1957) led and financed a collecting expedition in East Africa, travelling from Djibouti, across Eritrea to Ethiopia and Kenya. The collected specimens were presented to the Paris Natural History Museum. A large number of entomologists, including Charles Rothschild (1877-1923), worked on the specimens, their descriptions - some in Latin - being published in the first two volumes. A total of 68 specimens were named 'rothschildi', although not all of them are today known by this name. The third volume, containing exquisite colour illustrations of the insects, occupied a similarly large number of artists. - Uncut. Bindings somewhat worn; interior crisp and clean. A very well preserved copy of this elaborate work. Rare: a single copy in auction records. BM (NH) VIII, 1096. Not in Nissen or Pankhurst.
|
|
|
Said-Ruete, Rudolph.
Said bin Sultan (1791-1856). Ruler of Oman and Zanzibar. His Place in the History of Arabia and East Africa. London, Alexander-Ouseley, (1929).
Large 8vo. XVIII, 200 pp. With half-title, frontispiece portrait, 5 black-and-white plates, folding map and "Genealogical table of members of the Al Bu Said dynasty". Publisher's original blue cloth, title gilt on spine & upper cover, Said bin Sultan name gilt in Arabic on upper cover. Rare first edition: presentation copy from Said-Ruete to Sir Saleh bin Ghalib Al-Qu'aiti, Sultan of Shihr and Makalla (ruled 1936-56), inscribed in green ink: "To / His Highness The Sultan / of Shiher and Makalla / Saleh bin Galib Alcaity / a token of sincere esteem / by the Author. / London, May 7th 1937". Below this is pasted a printed bookplate in Arabic. - The Qu'aiti Sultanate of Shihr and Mukalla, in the Hadhramaut region of the southern Arabian Peninsula (now Yemen), was the third largest kingdom in Arabia after the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Sultanate of Oman. While the monarchy was toppled by communists in 1967 and Sultan Ghalib II was forced to abdicate, the Qu'aiti royal family still thrives in exile. - Said-Ruete was the son of Princess Salma (1844-1924), daughter of Sayyid Sai’id ibn Sultan (1791-1856), ruler of Oman and Zanzibar. The Princess married Friedrich Ruete, a clerk at the German embassy, and lived for 52 years as a widow in Germany. Their son Rudolph produced this remarkable survey of his grandfather’s life and times, considered as important as Vincenzo Maurizi‘s "History of Seyd Said, Sultan of Muscat" (London 1819). Sayyid Said ibn Sultan became the ruler of Oman in 1806, when he was about 15 years of age. After defeating the opposition with British help he determined to reassert Oman's traditional claims in East Africa. He eventually succeeded, and in about 1840 shifted his capital to Zanzibar, where he introduced the cloves that became the foundation of the island's economy. He also controlled the Arab traders that brought back slaves and ivory from the African interior. In this monograph the author highlights the early history of Oman, the rise of Said ibn Sultan to power in Oman and Zanzibar, and his relations with foreign powers (France, England, and the United States). In his foreword to this work, Major General Sir Percy Cox identifies the establishment of an Arab dominion in Zanzibar as Sultan Said's most lasting achievement. - Minimal wear to extremeties; insignificant spotting to first few leaves as common. Upper spine-end professionally repaired. A beautiful copy. Macro 1986. OCLC 5705061.
|
|
|
Said-Ruete, Rudolph.
Said bin Sultan (1791-1856), Ruler of Oman and Zanzibar. His Place in the History of Arabia and East Africa. London, Alexander-Ouseley, (1929).
Large 8vo. XVIII, 200 pp. With half-title, frontispiece portrait, 5 black-and-white plates, folding map and "Genealogical table of members of the Al Bu Said dynasty". Publisher's original blue cloth, title gilt on spine & upper cover, Said bin Sultan name gilt in Arabic on upper cover. Rare first edition. - Said-Ruete was the son of Princess Salma (1844-1924), daughter of Sayyid Sai’id ibn Sultan (1791-1856), ruler of Oman and Zanzibar. The Princess married Friedrich Ruete, a clerk at the German embassy, and lived for 52 years as a widow in Germany. Their son Rudolph produced this remarkable survey of his grandfather’s life and times, considered as important as Vincenzo Maurizi‘s "History of Seyd Said, Sultan of Muscat" (London 1819). Sayyid Said ibn Sultan became the ruler of Oman in 1806, when he was about 15 years of age. After defeating the opposition with British help he determined to reassert Oman's traditional claims in East Africa. He eventually succeeded, and in about 1840 shifted his capital to Zanzibar, where he introduced the cloves that became the foundation of the island's economy. He also controlled the Arab traders that brought back slaves and ivory from the African interior. In this monograph the author highlights the early history of Oman, the rise of Said ibn Sultan to power in Oman and Zanzibar, and his relations with foreign powers (France, England, and the United States). In his foreword to this work, Major General Sir Percy Cox identifies the establishment of an Arab dominion in Zanzibar as Sultan Said's most lasting achievement. - Covers a little soiled (lower cover more so); light wear to extremeties; insignificant spotting confined to flyleaves. A fine copy with ticket of The Times Book Club to lower pastedown. Provenance: from the library of Christopher Palmer Rigby (1820-85), who served as the East India Company's agent and British Consul in Zanzibar from 1858 to 1861. Macro 1986. OCLC 5705061.
|
|
|
Sale, Sir Robert H. (et al.).
The Defence of Jellalabad [...] drawn on stone by W. L. Walton. London, Joseph Hogarth, Henry Graves & Co., and sold by Hullmandel & Walton, [1845/1846].
Folio (full-sheet leaves, 54 x 36.5 cm). Lithographed frontispiece, title-page & dedication plus 5, [1 blank] pp. plus plates. With a lithographed frontispiece portrait of Sale by Thomas Fairland after a painting by Scarlet Davis, a lithographed illustrated title-page, a lithographed dedication to Queen Victoria (reproducing Sale's hand-written and signed dedication), a double-page "Plan of Jellalabad" (51.5 x 60 cm, lithographed by S. Leith in Edinburgh) and 34 tinted lithographic views of the city and its fortifications (in landscape format) on 22 leaves (10 full-page, 2 half-page and 11 pair of oblong half-page, numbered 1-11, showing the fortifications before and after repairs and improvements). All leaves are unwatermarked wove paper, the frontispiece on fine "India" paper mounted on thick paper, the plan on thin paper and all other lithographs on thick paper, that of the title-page grey. With a guard-leaf bound in facing each plate. All lithographs were probably printed by Hullmandel & Walton, though only the frontispiece and title-page name them. Gold-tooled red goatskin morocco, on 5 recessed supports (not aligned with the 6 false bands on the spine), each board with a frame of 3 gold double fillets alternating with 2 blind single fillets, with the title and author on the front board and the 2nd and 4th of 7 spine compartments, richly gold-tooled turn-ins, gold-tooled board edges, yellow endpapers, gilt edges, blue and white headbands. The first and only edition of a grand and spectacular visual presentation (there are only five pages of text) of the city of Jalalabad and its fortifications in eastern Afghanistan and related sites as far away as Kabul. The illustrated title-page (image size 45 x 35 cm) shows the tower known as Alexander's Column, with mountains and clouds in the background and several people at its foot (including two on horseback in the foreground: a British officer and turbaned man), the whole framed by palm trees, other plants and military attributes, with the title in grey sans-serif and slab-serif capitals with a white drop-shadow. The first 11 leaves of views (2 half-page and 10 full-page, the latter mostly with image size 26.5 x 37 cm) offer meticulously detailed views of sites in and related to Jalalabad, including four in and around Kabul. These show the architecture (including minarets, fortifications and the building where the British were held prisoner) as well as British and Afghan people engaged in military activities and trade. The 11 numbered plates that follow show two panoramas each (nos. 1 and 10 reproducing a hand-written caption) showing Jalalabad's fortifications before (below) and after (above) the repairs and improvements undertaken by Sale. A red line in the upper views indicates the parts that had been destroyed by an earthquake. - Although the title-page attributes the entire work to Robert Sale, the text begins with an account of the city and battle by Hamlet C. Wade, who served under him, followed by "Lady [Florentia] Sale's narrative of her prison & fellow prisoners" and eight short texts giving an account of the view on the title-page and those in the first 10 leaves of views (the 4th to 6th together and the 9th and 10th together), that for the third signed by Florentia Sale. - The grand presentation, the portrait of the author (Major General Robert Sale, who commanded the troops at Jalalabad during the 1842 battle) and the dedication to Queen Victoria suggest this volume commemorates a great success, but in fact it was only a minor and short-lived reprieve in Great Britain's foolish and disastrous First Anglo-Afghan War (1839-1842). In 1839 Great Britain hoped to put Afghanistan back under colonial control by invading it and taking Kabul, ignoring the Duke of Wellington's prescient warning that it was a foolish move, and that they would find it much more difficult to hold Kabul than to take it. The British grossly underestimated the strength of the opposition, the difficulty of the terrain and the country's anti-colonial sentiment. Forced to abandon the city after an uprising in 1841 they tried to retreat to Jalalabad but nearly all the British troops and their entourage were slaughtered in the treacherous mountain passes. Sale's troops, who futilely awaited them in Jalalabad, were surrounded and attacked by the Afghans but managed to defeat them and drive them back to Kabul. - Various sources speculatively date the present publication from ca. 1842 to ca. 1846, but at least in the present copy a footnote on the first page of the letterpress text says, "Since this has been put to press … Sir Robert Sale has gloriously fallen in the battle of Moodkee, fought 18 December, 1845 ... he was struck by a grape shot which ... proved mortal shortly after he received the wound". He died on 21 December, so the book must have been published in the last 10 days of 1845 or early in 1846. Although printed on unwatermarked wove paper, the letterpress leaves show point holes in the centres of the fore-edge and gutter margins, showing that each leaf was separately printed and each is almost certainly a whole sheet, probably of Demy format. - With an armorial bookplate showing the crest and motto ("sans changer") of the Earls of Derby, probably the 14th Earl, Edward George Geoffrey Smith-Stanley (1799-1869), Conservative Prime Minister three times in the years 1852-68. With minor foxing, slightly more in the frontispiece and much more in one full-page plate (Baba's garden, whose paper is not as thick as the others), but otherwise in very good condition. The frontispiece (together with the 2 preceding free endleaves) has separated from the bookblock, the hinges have been restored and the binding shows a few scuff marks, but the binding remains in good condition. Magnificent and detailed tinted lithographs of buildings, fortifications, terrain and life in and around Jalalabad (and Kabul) in Afghanistan ca. 1845. Thomson, The exotic and the beautiful (Bobins coll.) 268. WorldCat (3 copies?). Not in Abbey, Travel.
|
|
|
Salzmann, Auguste.
Jérusalem. Etude et reproduction photographique des monuments de la ville sainte depuis l'époque judaïque jusqu'à nos jours. Planches. Paris, Gide & Baudry, 1856.
Folio (335 x 432 mm). 3 ff. of letterpress matter (half-title, title and list of plates). With 40 mounted calotypes. Contemporary marbled half morocco on five raised bands with giltstamped spine title; marbled endpapers. Second, "better known" (Parr/Badger) edition of this pioneering work, first published in 1854: only the plate volume with the 40 magnificent calotypes, wanting the separately published 90 pages of text. - Wishing to support L. F. J. Caignant de Saulcy in the controversy concerning the dating of the wall of Jerusalem that followed his journey to the Dead Sea, Auguste Salzmann set out for the Holy Land on 12 December 1853. With the help of his assistant Durheim, he prepared some two hundred waxed-paper negatives of the Jerusalem monuments during his four-month stay. While his findings were first published in a monumental volume in 1854 (the copy of the Duke de Luynes commanded 463,500 Euros at Sotheby's Paris in 2013), the present reduced edition, with prints by Blanquart-Evrard, is better known. "It was an expensive book, a livraison, or fasicle of three prints costing 24 gold francs. A single print was 10 francs [...] Salzmann was acutely attentive to both patina and pattern in attempting to define the architectural strata of a city in which building was built upon building, thus leaving a vertical record of the various cultures that had occupied the city and left their remains on the foundations built by earlier conquerors [...] Salzmann himself described his pictures as having 'a conclusive brutality', but to modern eyes their poetic aspect seems paramount. It would appear that Salzmann was at one and the same time both expert and layman, dispassionate observer and enthusiast. His pictures have this dual quality, flickering rapidly between documentary and poetry. This, one might suggest, is the ideal goal for any photographer". - Binding slightly rubbed and chafed in places. Marginal foxing throughout, affecting only a few photographs; insignificant waterstain to edge; old ownerships erased from title, leaving slight traces. Parr/Badger, The Photobook I, 25. Tobler 181f. Röhricht 440f. Baier, Geschichte der Fotografie 452f. Gernsheim, History of Photography 186. Witkin/London, Photograph Collector's Guide 86f.
|
|
|
Samlali, Ahmed bin Abdullah bin Yaqub al-.
Astronomy and agriculture. [Northern Africa?, 19th century].
4to (154 x 194 mm). Arabic manuscript on paper. 120 pp. Black and red ink, 25 lines, per extensum, with several pen-and-ink diagrams in the text, some full-page. Bound in 19th century full leather with blindstamped borders and ornaments. Two works in a single manuscript by a single scribe: one a book on astronomy by Ahmad bin Abdullah bin Yaqoub al-Samlali (d. 1093 H), the other a commentary on Al-Senussi the younger. The astronomical work, extensively illustrated with detailed diagrams, also contains horoscopes and information on the best times of the year for cultivating the soil. - Binding rubbed; extremeties bumped, chipped and frayed; some traces of worming to upper cover; old repairs to spine. Paper browned and brittle; some brownstaining and occasional worming (mainly confined to margins), a few paper repairs in the margins.
|
|
|
Sani-zade Mehmed Ataullah.
[Hamse-i Sânizade]. Kostantiniye (Istanbul), Tabhane-yi Sahane / Dar üt-Tibaat ül-Amire (Imperial School of Medicine), [1820 CE] = 1235 H.
Folio (208 x 289 mm). 3 parts in 1 volume: 4 (instead of 8?) pp. of preliminaries (blank, alif, ba, gim); 131, (1 blank) pp. and 80 pp. (bound alternatingly), with 56 etched plates; 39, (1 blank) pp.; 283, (1 blank) pp. Contemporary half calf with gilt-stamped spine and marbled covers. The first edition of the first illustrated medical book ever printed in the Muslim world: the pioneering Ottoman physician Sanizade's (1771-1826) medical compendium, the first three books (on anatomy, physiology, and internal medicine) of what would later be known as "Sani-zade's Canon of Five", "Kitâb ül-evvel fi t-tesrihât" ("Mir'âtül-ebdân fî tesrih-i a'zâil-insân"), "Kitab üs-sânî fi 't-tabîyat", and "Kitâb üs-sâlis Miyâr ül-etibbâ". This was one of the earliest Turkish medical works to draw thoroughly on western, Paracelsian and Vesalian science: indeed, it is modelled on and partly translated from Italian and German sources, such as Anton Störck, Bartolomeo Eustachi, Gabriele Fallopio, and Costanzo Varolio, reproducing anatomical illustrations from a variety of sources including Vesalius. - "[B]y and large Ottoman medicine remained [...] attached to its Galenic roots. [...] Real paradigmatic change began to appear only with the upheavals of 19th-century reforms, when translations and adaptations of new European knowledge made their way to the core of the medical profession. One of the first books to spark this revolution was Ataullah Sanizade's compendium 'Hamse-i sanizade', a series of five books published in Ottoman Turkish from 1820 onward, incorporating new medical knowledge from Europe. Sanizade was a brilliant and innovative physician and theorist (as well as musician, astronomer, and historian) who did much to integrate new medical knowledge with the old. His views on medicine encountered much opposition, mainly because of his support for surgery-based study of anatomy. As a result his request to dedicate his chef d'oeuvre to Sultan Mahmud II was denied. In time, however, the compendium came to replace the earlier canonic texts, and was fondly named 'kanun-i sanizade' (Sanizade's canon), referring, of course, to the old master's 'Qanun'. Although the compendium formally adhered to the humoral system and other concepts of ancient medicine, it was here that blood circulation was mentioned for the first time as a scientific concept and as part of a different medical theory. Some of the terminology included in this book formed the basis for a new medical profession that was beginning to take shape" (D. Ze'evi, Producing Desire [2006], p. 20f.). A five-volume Arabic edition appeared at Bulaq in 1828 by direct order of Mehmet Ali. - Part 1 bound as follows (agreeing with the copy in the BSB Munich): 4 pp. of prelims (blank, alif, ba, gim); 3, (1) pp., (2 plates), 2 pp. [index], 5-34 pp., (17 plates), 3-22 pp. [index], 35-68 pp., (9 plates), 23-35 pp. [index; pp. 25-28 numbered 3-6 in error], 1 bl. p., 69-94 pp., (12 plates), 37-48 pp. [index], 95-100 pp., (6 plates), 49-55 pp. [index], 1 bl. p., 101-106 pp., (3 plates), 57-60 pp. [index], 107-120 pp., (5 plates), 61-70 pp. [index], 121-128 pp., (2 plates), 71-80 pp. [index], 129-131 pp., 1 bl. p. Some dampstaining throughout, more prominently so in several plates. In all, a good copy of this rare work, the only edition published during the author's lifetime. OCLC 608102180.
|
|
|
Sarre, Friedrich / Trenkwald, Hermann.
Alt-orientalische Teppiche. Vienna & Leipzig, Anton Schroll & Co. and Karl W. Hiersemann for the Österreichisches Museum für Kunst und Industrie, 1926-1928.
Imperial folio (440 x 605 mm). 2 vols. bound as four. 21, (3), (29) pp. (31) pp. 43, (28) pp. (32) pp. With 120 collotype plates (67 colour and 53 black & white, 7 of the latter double-page) by Max Jaffé, and 14 wood-engraved full-page illustrations on the integral leaves. Later half calf with cloth sides. First and only edition of "the most important recent publication with wonderful reproductions of the best known carpets" (Ettinghausen 1936), here in very good condition, rebound in four high-quality half calf volumes. The project was initiated by the Austrian Museum for Art and Industry, which had previously published two other works on carpets: "Orientalische Teppiche" (1892) and "Altorientalische Teppiche" (1908). The present work by Sarre & Trenkwald has far more and better illustrations than the earlier works, with 120 fine collotype plates. The authors were highly regarded authorities in the field of Islamic art, especially Friedrich Sarre (1865-1945), "without doubt one of the most influential figures regarding the scholarly formation of Islamic art" (Kadoi/Szanto). He was the director of the Museum für Islamische Kunst in Berlin and responsible for the formation of the "most comprehensive collection of Islamic art outside the Islamic world". - The work is characterized by an emphasis on the technique of production. The plates that depict carpets in colour and black & white are preceded by a descriptive page that is sometimes illustrated with a schematic explanation of the knotting technique used for making the carpet. The first part, by Hermann Trenkwald, with 60 plates, is entirely devoted to carpets in the world-renowned collection of the Austrian Museum. The second part, by Sarre, also comprising 60 plates, covers the greatest carpets in other collections throughout the world, including private collections such as that of Baron Maurice Rothschild. - Corners slightly bumped, but in very good condition. R. Ettinghausen, Kali (1936), p. 110. Kadoi & Szanto, The Shaping of Persian Art (2014), p. 227.
|
|
|
[Saudi Arabia].
Photograph album of a British or American family in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia, 1955.
Small oblong folio album. 21 original silver-gelatin photographs. Various formats, most captioned on the mount. Contemporary blue cloth with wrap-around clasp, ms. title "Saudi Arabia 1955" to spine in white ink. An interesting album of photographs taken by a British or American engineer working on a construction project in Saudi Arabia. Though the project and specific location are not named, it was probably based somewhere in the Eastern Province on the Gulf coast. It was there that Saudi Arabian oil was first discovered and, as a result, the province became the focus of the growing oil industry. Thus is it quite likely the photographer's project was part of the infrastructure supporting the industry's rapid expansion. - The images show the building site, the completed buildings, the surrounding coastal area, a traditional house, old ceramic vessels and local people. Several photographs capture the photographer's family at work and play, exploring the beaches, going shopping ("Sue wasn't happy") and riding donkeys and camels. - A few photos stained at corners.
|
|
|
Secret. G.H.Q. M.E.F.
Weekly Military Intelligence Review. [Jerusalem, General Headquarters Palestine], 17 May 1946 - 28 Feb. 1947.
Folio (210 x 345 mm). 22 issues. Together (58), 388 pp. With 2 photographs, 1 plate of graphs showing incidents in Egypt, June-July 1946, 1 folding plan of Persian Azerbaijan, 1 folding plan of Greece and Western Turkey, and 1 folding map of Middle East Intelligence. Original printed stapled wrappers. An intriguing specimen of British post-war intelligence documentation rarely seen in the trade, focussing on but not limited to the Middle East. Based on the Middle Eastern Intelligence services' zones of major responsibility and their spheres of interest (see the map in vol. 100), their reviews cover a vast range of topics. They not only outline the Anglo-Egyptian treaty negotiations and the political situation in Libya, Palestine, and Syria, but also discuss the Arab League (photograph of a meeting of the League in vol. 90), terrorist attacks carried out by Jewish illegal forces in Palestine, the struggle with illegal immigration (a photograph showing a boat of immigrants in vol. 74), and political Zionism. However, the reviews also cover the political and economic situation in Germany, the problem of former Nazi sympathisers regaining positions of power and security (sketched out in the case of "Dr. Drecksacker"), and include an eye-witness report by an SS man employed at the Auschwitz concentration camp, translated into English. British views on Russia make up another significant part, including the reprint of an article by the American journalist Brooks Atkinson, published in the U.S. magazine "Life", accusing Soviet leaders of "group paranoia", as well as analyses of Russian broadcasts with respect to Middle Eastern countries. Moreover, the reviews outline British relations with Greece and the Balkans, France, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Italy, Turkey and Kurdistan, Romania, and India, while also discussing the organisation and functions of the U.N. - Despite the imprint indicating a print run of 400 copies, none can be traced on WorldCat. A 12-volume set was sold at Christie's in 2018. - Wrappers have stamps of the "Assistant Director of Medical Service 3rd Divisions". Traces of rust near the staples. The first two pages of vol. 100 loose; a small tear on pp. 9f. of vol. 90, as well as a small flaw to the title-page of vol. 98, neither touching the text. - A rare window into the issues that concerned the British military intelligence following WWII.
|
|
|
Seton, Claud Ramsay Wilmot (ed.).
Legislation of Transjordan 1918-1930. Translated from the Arabic, including the Laws, Public Notices, Proclamations, Regulations, etc. Transjordan, for the Government of Transjordan by the Crown Agents for the Colonies, [1931].
Large 8vo. VIII, 844 pp. Original buff buckram, leather labels to spine. "The law of Transjordan is Turkish law as it existed on the 23rd of September, 1918, except in so far as it has been superseded or modified since that date. To indicate the extent to which it has been so superseded and modified is the purpose of this volume […]" (from the Compiler's Preface). - Seton was President of the District Court, Jaffa from 1920 to 1926, after which he took on the post of Judicial Adviser Transjordan, in which role he produced this digest. He was subsequently President of the District Court in Haifa, 1931-35, before moving on to become Puisne Judge, Jamaica. This was his sole publication. - This copy is unmarked as such, but is from the Library of Glubb Pasha, and is the Arab Legion Head Quarters copy, with ink stamp to the front pastedown and inscription, "Not to be taken from the Head Quarters of the Arab Legion" in Peake Pasha's hand, signed by him. - Endpapers lightly foxed, otherwise very good in the original buckram, labels a little rubbed and lifting at the corners.
|
|
|
Seyffarth, Gustav.
Beitraege zur Kenntniss der Literatur, Kunst, Mythologie und Geschichte des alten Aegypten. Erstes Heft: Bemerkungen ueber die Aegyptischen Papyrus auf der Koeniglichen Bibliothek zu Berlin. Leipzig, J. A. Barth, 1826.
4to (225 x 264 mm). X, 42 pp. With 4 lithogr. folding plates. (And:) Beitraege [...] Zweites, Drittes, Viertes, Fünftes Heft. Systema Astronomiae Aegyptiacae Quadripartitum. Ibid., 1833. XXX, 445, (10) pp. (series titles and separate half-title for no. 2). With hand-coloured frontispiece and 10 large folding plates, lithographed throughout. Contemporary polished red morocco, spine, leading edges, inner dentelle and covers richly gilt and blind-tooled in the Romantic style. Glazed green endpapers; all edges goffered and gilt. Bound by the Leipzig master Anton Stumme with his label on the first flyleaf. A fine morocco volume comprising the first five of Seyffarth’s monographic "Contributions" to Egyptology (apparently all published at the time of binding; two more were to follow by 1840). While the first fascicle contains the earliest catalogue raisonnée of the substantial Berlin collection of papyri, fascicles 2-5 (published with continuous pagination) constitute a bold investigation into early Egyptian astronomy and its all-pervading cosmological cult. This section includes a hand-coloured frontispiece of astronomical animal forms and ten large folding plates, all lithographed, showing important pieces of archeological evidence: the Navicula astronomica (Paris), Zodiacus Tentyriticus (Paris), Zodiacus Taurinensis (Turin), Sarcophagus Sethi (London), Sarcophagus Ramsis (Paris), Monolithus Amosis (Paris), Mensa Isiaca (Rome), and a Papyrus funeralis formerly in the d'Hermand collection. The final part is an astronomical lexicon, a typographical masterpiece that fits more than 1300 lithographed hieroglyphs precisely into their letterpress explanations. - Seyffarth, an opponent of Champollion's, emigrated to the U.S. in 1855. His thousands of transcriptions and sketches are preserved in the Brooklyn Museum as the "Bibliotheca Aegyptiaca Manuscripta". - A luxury copy printed entirely on wove paper and bound in elaborate morocco with finely goffered edges (unusual for a secular binding of the time) by the Leipzig master Anton Wilhelm August Stumme (1804-67), who also worked for Robert Schumann. Minor wear to binding, occasional foxing as typical for wove paper. Coloured frontispiece browned evenly; largely insignificant gutter tears to four folding plates. A crisp, unused copy in a magnificent binding. Ibrahim-Hilmy II, 229f.
|
|
|
Sheets, G[len] S[cott].
The Arabian Peninsula and Adjoining Areas. B-1237. [Dhahran / Jeddah / San Francisco], Arabian American Oil Company, Producing Department, Geological Division, March 1942.
895 x 945 mm. Polyconic projection, constant ratio linear horizontal scale 1:4,000,000. Blue-line print. Framed. The only known example: a highly detailed map of the Arabian Peninsula, published by the "Arabian American Oil Co." in March 1942, two years before the company was formally so renamed, and the first effort to produce a large-scale map of the entire Peninsula that satisfied modern technical needs. Clearly produced in a very limited edition for internal use at the crucial, transitional moment in Arabian oil exploration, this is the earliest known map to use the name that still survives in "Saudi Aramco", issued at a time when the company was still officially Standard Oil of California. - The legend identifies railways, primary and secondary roads as well as "explorers' routes", oil pipelines, intermittent streams, airports, towns, "Arab wells", oases, "sand areas", "sabkhas", and "marsh". The Maidan-i-Naftun and Naft Safid oilfields in Iran (and the pipelines that link them to the A.I.O.C. Refinery at Abadan) are illustrated, as are the Kirkuk oilfield and the pipelines running from there to Haifa and Tripoli. Dammam and Dhahran, the sites of the first commercial oil wells in Saudi Arabia, also feature on the map. Aside from that, however, there is no illustrated oil development in the Middle East: the map effectively illustrates the blank slate that was Arabian oil exploration in the early 1940s. On the coast of what was then Trucial Oman, Sharjah, Dubai (with airfield) and Abu Dhabi are identified; the areas to the southwest of Abu Dhabi City are labelled "Sabkha es Salmiyah" and "Taff". Shows adjoining areas from the Bosporus to Somaliland and the USSR. - The "compiler and tracer" (cartographer and draughtsman) is identified as the Aramco engineer G. S. Sheets; separate fields to indicate "checked by" and "revisions" remain blank. Sheets had joined Aramco's predecessor, the California Arabian Standard Oil Company, in 1939 and immediately began work in Dhahran as a geological draftsman in the Production (Exploration) department. Upon his return to the U.S. he prepared several geological maps including the present one and acted as liaison with the Army Map Service. In 1942 he became attached as a civilian to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Army Map Service, but he returned to Arabia in 1944 and in 1955 became staff assistant to the director of Concession Affairs. - In excellent state of preservation. Extremely rare: OCLC locates only two examples, both of which appear to be photocopies (Library of Congress and American University of Beirut). While the large 1963 map of Arabia that succeeded this, also produced by Aramco geologists, has occasionally appeared in the trade, no other original of this early map could be traced in libraries or in auction or trade records. A unique survival. OCLC 1048657705.
|
|
|
Silva y Figueroa, Garcia de.
L'ambassade [...] en Perse. Paris, Jean du Puis, 1667.
4to. (12), 506, (30). With woodcut title-vignette and headpiece. Near-contemporary giltstamped full calf with giltstamped spine-title. Leading edges gilt, sumptuously gilt inner dentelle bordering silk pastedowns. Later marbled flyleaves. All edges gilt. First edition of the travelogue of the Spanish diplomat Silva y Figueroa (1550-1624), who embarked on an embassy to Persia in 1614, hoping to secure from Shah Abbas exclusive trading rights in Persia and its dependencies. As the Latin manuscript was not published and a Spanish translation did not appear until the 20th century, this French translation published by de Puis (as well as the one issued by Louis Billaine the same year) long remained the only available version of the itinerary. - In 1619, Figueroa was granted an audience in Isfahan with the Shah, who sought to conclude a trading agreement with the Spanish but would not subscribe to the ambassador's demands for the restoration of Gombroon and other Portuguese enclaves, nor to the exclusion of the English and other nationalities. Negotiations were suspended and Figueroa ended up returning to Spain, where he arrived in 1624 after an absence of ten years. His account describes Lar, Shiraz, Kašan, Qazvin, and Qom as well as other places including the caravansaries where he stayed, and gives interesting ethnographic data on the non-Muslim communities, such as the Armenians in Jolfa or the Zoroastrians, as well as a precise description of Persepolis and its cuneiform inscriptions. Although Antonio de Goueva (1602) and Giambattista and Girolamo Vecchietti (1606) had already recognized cuneiform as a type of writing, Figueroa was the first person to describe the cuneiform characters as shaped like "pyramids" and "obelisks", thus anticipating Pietro della Valle. Of the Persian dependencies, Ormuz and Bahrain were considered of particular importance, the former for its trade in silks, the latter for pearls: "Mais ce Golfe [...] qui est beaucoup plus long que large, ayant au milieu cette fertile Isle de Baharen [...] si celebre par tout l'Orient, à cause de sa riche & precieuse pesche de perles" (p. 59). Furthermore, Figueroa mentions falcons "larger and stronger than in Europe" (p. 105) as well as "excellent horses" (p. 426), and "the best dates of all of Persia" (p. 94). - Covers slightly scuffed. Interior occasionally browned and waterstained; a few small marginal tears, not touching text. Several handwritten marginal annotations, particularly in the index. Bookplate of the bibliophile and horse enthusiast Joseph Guilhem de Lagondie (1809-79) to flyleaf, who sold the book in March 1878 (handwritten note of acquisition by the new owner to flyleaf). Shelfmark label and catalogue description mounted to flyleaf. Palau 313613. Wilson 70. Diba 3. Howgego I, S105. Encyclopaedia Iranica IX, 612f. OCLC 166132497. Not in Blackmer, Atabey or Weber.
|
|
|
[Slave Trade].
Class A. Correspondence with the British commissioners at Sierra Leone, Havana, Rio de Janeiro, Surinam, the Cape of Good Hope, Jamaica, St. Paul de Loanda, and Boa Vista, relating to the Slave Trade. From January 1 to December 31, 1843, inclusive. London, William Clowes and Sons, for H.M.S.O., 1844.
(III)-XV, (1), 478 pp. Modern boards. With a folding map of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. Edges sprinkled green. Rare, early British parliamentary papers and correspondence with British agents and residents regarding the slave trade. Includes communications relevant to slavery in Africa and India, with reports by the Agent at Muscat on the landing of slaves in that city's harbour (p. 383) and the kidnapping of children by Muslim slave dealers and their conveyance to "Arabia and the Persian Gulf" (p. 426f.), as well as instructions to the Resident in the Persian Gulf "immediately to communicate with the Arab Chiefs" to pursue the objective of suppressing the slave trade in the Arabian seas (p. 382). - Well preserved, with additional page numbers in a contemporary hand. OCLC 25471335.
|
|
|
[Slave Trade].
Class B. Correspondence with British Ministers and Agents in Foreign Countries, and with Foreign Ministers in England, relating to the Slave Trade. From April 1, 1852, to March 31, 1853. London, Harrison & Son, 1853.
Folio. XVIII, (2), 579, (1) pp. Modern blue wrappers with cover label. Top edge gilt. British papers and correspondence with local agents on the international slave trade, including missives exchanged between Colonel Sheil and Earl Granville about steps to be taken against slave trade by Persian vessels in the Arabian Gulf, plans to intercept slaving vessels in the Gulf, the continued slave trade by the "Arabs of the coast" (p. 324) and importation of slaves by Gulf sheiks and a discussion of the penalties to be inflicted on the sheikhs who persist in importing slaves. - Well-preserved.
|
|
|
[Slave Trade].
Slave Trade (East India). Slavery in Ceylon. Return to an Order of the Honourable The House of Commons, dated 1 March 1838; for, Copies or abstracts of all correspondence between the directors of the East India Company and the Company's government in India, since the 1st day of June 1827, on the subject of Slavery in the territories under the Company's rule; also respecting any Slave Trade therein; also of all orders and regulations issued, or any proceedings taken, by order or under the authority of the Company, with a view to the Abolition of Slavery and the Slave Trade, since the above date; also of any correspondence between the Board of Control and the Court of Directors on the said subjects. Also, Return to an Address of the Honourable The House of Commons, dated 1 March 1838; for, Copies or extracts of all communications relating to the subject of Slavery in the Island of Ceylon, and to the measures there taken for its Abolition. [London], ordered, by The House of Commons, to be Printed, 31 July 1838.
Small folio (222 x 334 mm). VIII, 615, (1) pp. Later 19th c. buckram-backed marbled boards, labels lettered in gilt. Rare but frequently-cited British parliamentary papers with "Correspondence on the Slave Trade, and Measures Taken for its Abolition". Includes a printed sketch of the southern coast of Yemen, illustrating the area in possession of the "Boo-Mehree-Buddooee (Bedouin) Arabs" and identifiying the tribal chiefs as the Sultans of Qishn, Sayhut, and Dhofar (p. 156); also, correspondence between the Imaum of Muscat and the British Resident in the Gulf, in which the latter congratulates the Imaum on the recent peace made between "Tahnoon and Sultan Bin Suggur [the al-Qasimi ruler of Sharjah and Ras al-Khaimah], and that there was a prospect of the poor people of this Gulf enjoying a quiet pearl fishing season, free from the scourge of war, that affliction of mankind" (p. 86). Also, detailed reports on the slave trade at Muscat, Bahrein, Ras al-Khaimah and Sharjah ("Last year Shaik Sultan Bin Sugger's own buggalow brought from the coast of Africa 30 slaves to Rasul Khyma, but this is a rare occurrence, vessels seldom going there from the Joasmee states", p. 90). In all, the volume contains a significant number of references to the Arabian Gulf, Muscat, "Arabs", etc. - Labels and lettering worn; a good clean copy. Formerly in the library of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society; ultimately withdrawn from the British Library of Political and Economic Science (cancellation stamp).
|
|
|
[Slave Trade].
The Parliamentary Register; or History of the Proceedings and Debates of the House of Commons [...] During the Fourth Session of the Seventeenth Parliament of Great Britain. Vol. XXXVII. London, J. Debrett, 1794.
Large 8vo. (16), 759, (1) pp. Heavily worn contemporary quarter calf over original boards. Register of proceedings containing the records of numerous important debates in the Commons on the French Revolution and Slavery, with the abolitionist William Wilberforce tirelessly campaigning and arguing for abolition through the promotion of a number of bills. In February 1793 he had narrowly lost a vote in the Commons where he had been hoping to put pressure on the Lords, and during the sessions of 1793 and 1794 he promoted his Foreign Slave Bill, which would have prohibited the use of British ships to carry slaves to the territories of other countries. The debates in this year also centre on the ongoing situation in France after the Revolution, with concerns that radical agitation would spread to Britain, and Wilberforce believing that insufficient efforts were being made to avoid war with France. - Partially unopened. Spine chipped and worn, boards slightly stained, worn and creased; minor dampstaining.
|
|
|
Snouck Hurgronje, Christian.
Mekka. (And:) Bilder-Atlas zu Mekka. Haag, Nijhoff, 1888-1889.
2 vols. of text (4to) and one volume of plates (folio, 284 x 378 mm). Text: XXIII, (1), 228, (2) pp. With 3 genealogical tables and 2 folding maps. XVIII, 397, (1) pp. Half calf with gilt-stamped morocco label to spine. Atlas: 4 chromolithogr. plates (conjoined as 2), 6 (1 double-sized) toned lithogr. plates, and 65 mounted photographs on a total of 40 plates; 1 letterpress leaf of contents. Cloth portfolio with gilt cover title. Remarkable set, rarely encountered complete with the plates volume. The Dutch orientalist Snouck spent a year in Mecca and Jeddah during 1884/85 and was married to a Mecca woman. He was the first non-Muslim to visit the city outside the annual pilgrimage. The photographs, taken by himself and an Arabic physician, are among the earliest to show Mecca and its pilgrims. - Very nicely rebound, in matching period style portfolio and half calf. An unusually crisp and clean copy throughout: text volumes spotless; the plates with the vintage photographs, much sought after as the earliest photographic documents of the city, its dignitaries and its pilgrims, are backed on thin linen and preserved in perfect condition. Macro 1239 (omitting mention of the Atlas). Henze V, 177. Dinse 443.
|
|
|
Snouck Hurgronje, Christian.
Mekka. (And:) Bilder-Atlas zu Mekka. Haag, Nijhoff, 1888-1889.
2 vols. of text (4to) and one volume of plates (folio, 284 x 378 mm). Text: XXIII, (1), 228, (2) pp. With 3 genealogical tables and 2 folding maps. XVIII, 397, (1) pp. Atlas: 4 chromolithogr. plates, 5 (of 6) toned lithogr. plates (one folding), and 65 mounted photographs on a total of 39 (of 40) plates; 1 letterpress leaf of contents. Includes original printed upper board cover, loosely inserted. Modern black library cloth with gilt title to spine; atlas portfolio uniform with books. Contemporary black half roan, spines in five compartments with raised bands gilt, original atlas-portfolio of black cloth-backed printed cream boards. First edition, a complete set with both text volumes and the portfolio with all the photographic plates, but lacking one of the lithographs. The Dutch orientalist Snouck spent a year in Mecca and Jeddah during 1884/85 and was married to a Mecca woman. He was the first non-Muslim to visit the city outside the annual pilgrimage. The photographs, taken by himself and an Arabic physician, are among the earliest to show Mecca and its pilgrims. - Spines of both text volumes and portfolio professionally restored. Atlas lacks plate XVII (detail of Kiswah fabric), some light scattered spotting, minor creasing to mounts. Macro 1239 (omitting mention of the Atlas). Henze V, 177. Dinse 443.
|
|
|
[Soviet General Staff Maps] - Iran, Iraq, Levant 1:200,000.
General'nyí shtab. (Iran, Iraq, Levant 1:200,000). [Moscow, General Staff], 1963-1991.
A total of 350 topographic maps, colour-printed, ca. 52 x 47 cm. Constant ratio linear horizontal scale. In Russian (Cyrillic). The Soviet Union's 1:200,000 General Staff map quadrangles showing Iran, Iraq and the countries of the Levant: Palestine and Israel, southern Lebanon, parts of Syria and Jordan. From the Russian series of maps produced during the Cold War, based on high-quality satellite imagery, but usually also ground reconnaissance. Nearly complete, only a few quadrangles missing along the south-western border regions and two lacunae on the very north-eastern fringe. Assembled continuously, the quadrangles would form an enormous map spanning nearly 14 x 9 metres!. - Products of a massive, clandestine cartographic project begun under Stalin and ultimately encompassing the entire globe, the Soviet General Staff maps are today noted for their extreme precision. Indeed, even in post-Soviet times they provide the most reliable mapping for many remoter parts of the world: "Soviet-era military maps were so good that when the United States first invaded Afghanistan in late 2001, American pilots relied on old Russian maps of Afghanistan. For almost a month after the United States began a bombing campaign to help oust the Taliban government, American pilots were guided by Russian maps dating back to the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s" (Davies/Kent, p. xi). - Although the details of the cartographic programme evolved over the decades, its overall system and plan remained remarkably constant. "The basic quadrangle is the 1:1,000,000 sheet spanning 4° latitude by 6° longitude. The quadrangles are identified by lettered bands north from the equator and by numbered zones east from longitude 180° [...] Each 1:1,000,000 sheet is subdivided into four 1:500,000 sheets (from northwest to southeast), labeled [by] the first four letters of the Russian alphabet" (ibid., p. 19-21). "Printing such large-format plans in so many colors with near-perfect print registration itself testifies to the skill of the printers in the military map printing factories across the former Soviet Union. The quality of printing reflects the level of training and the reliability of humidity-control equipment and the electricity supply at the time" (ibid., p. 6f.). - The 1:200,000-scale maps are specifically labelled "Secret" or "For Offical Use". Indeed, all General Staff maps de facto constituted closely guarded military material, none of which became available in the West before the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s. - Light traces of folds and occasional wrinkles and small edge flaws, but altogether in excellent condition. Cf. J. Davies / A. J. Kent, The Red Atlas (Chicago/London, 2017).
|
|
|
[Soviet General Staff Maps] - Iran, Iraq, Levant 1:500,000.
General'nyí shtab. (Iran, Iraq, Levant 1:500,000). [Moscow, General Staff], 1964-1989.
A total of 49 topographic maps, colour-printed, ca. 70 x 60 cm. Constant ratio linear horizontal scale. In Russian (Cyrillic). The Soviet Union's 1:500,000 General Staff map quadrangles showing Iran, Iraq and the countries of the Levant: Palestine and Israel, southern Lebanon, parts of Syria and Jordan. From the Russian series of maps produced during the Cold War, based on high-quality satellite imagery, but usually also ground reconnaissance. Nearly complete, with only a few lacunae at Iran's easternmost fringes and at Bandar Abbas. Assembled continuously, the quadrangles would form an enormous map spanning roughly 6 x 3.5 metres!. - Products of a massive, clandestine cartographic project begun under Stalin and ultimately encompassing the entire globe, the Soviet General Staff maps are today noted for their extreme precision. Indeed, even in post-Soviet times they provide the most reliable mapping for many remoter parts of the world: "Soviet-era military maps were so good that when the United States first invaded Afghanistan in late 2001, American pilots relied on old Russian maps of Afghanistan. For almost a month after the United States began a bombing campaign to help oust the Taliban government, American pilots were guided by Russian maps dating back to the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s" (Davies/Kent, p. xi). - Although the details of the cartographic programme evolved over the decades, its overall system and plan remained remarkably constant. "The basic quadrangle is the 1:1,000,000 sheet spanning 4° latitude by 6° longitude. The quadrangles are identified by lettered bands north from the equator and by numbered zones east from longitude 180° [...] Each 1:1,000,000 sheet is subdivided into four 1:500,000 sheets (from northwest to southeast), labeled [by] the first four letters of the Russian alphabet" (ibid., p. 19-21). "Printing such large-format plans in so many colors with near-perfect print registration itself testifies to the skill of the printers in the military map printing factories across the former Soviet Union. The quality of printing reflects the level of training and the reliability of humidity-control equipment and the electricity supply at the time" (ibid., p. 6f.). - Two of the maps carry the Russian air defense grid ("setka PVO") printed in pink. Although the general terrain evaluation maps and operational maps produced at the smaller scales of 1:1,000,000 and 1:500,000 were not usually marked as classified (larger-scale maps were routinely labelled "Secret" or "For Offical Use"), all General Staff maps de facto constituted closely guarded military material, none of which became available in the West before the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s. - Light traces of folds and occasional wrinkles and small edge flaws, but altogether in excellent condition. Cf. J. Davies / A. J. Kent, The Red Atlas (Chicago/London, 2017).
|
|
|
[Soviet General Staff Maps] - Red Sea 1:200,000.
General'nyí shtab. (Red Sea 1:200,000). [Moscow, General Staff], 1975-1991.
A total of 86 topographic maps, colour-printed, ca. 58 x 45 cm. Constant ratio linear horizontal scale. In Russian (Cyrillic). Nearly all of the Soviet Union's 1:200,000 General Staff map quadrangles showing the Red Sea coast of the Arabian Peninsula: from the Russian series of maps produced during the Cold War, based on high-quality satellite imagery, but usually also ground reconnaissance. While there are a few lacunae in Yemen near the south-western tip of the Peninsula, most of the area is well-covered. Assembled continuously, the quadrangles would form an enormous map spanning ca. 8 x 4 metres. - Products of a massive, clandestine cartographic project begun under Stalin and ultimately encompassing the entire globe, the Soviet General Staff maps are today noted for their extreme precision. Indeed, even in post-Soviet times they provide the most reliable mapping for many remoter parts of the world: "Soviet-era military maps were so good that when the United States first invaded Afghanistan in late 2001, American pilots relied on old Russian maps of Afghanistan. For almost a month after the United States began a bombing campaign to help oust the Taliban government, American pilots were guided by Russian maps dating back to the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s" (Davies/Kent, p. xi). - Although the details of the cartographic programme evolved over the decades, its overall system and plan remained remarkably constant. "The basic quadrangle is the 1:1,000,000 sheet spanning 4° latitude by 6° longitude [...] Each 1:1,000,000 sheet is [...] subdivided into 36 1:200,000 sheets in a six-by-six grid [... They] normally contain on the reverse side a detailed written description of the districts (towns, communications, topography, geology, hydrology, vegetation, and climate) together with a geological sketch map" (ibid., p. 19-21). "Printing such large-format plans in so many colors with near-perfect print registration itself testifies to the skill of the printers in the military map printing factories across the former Soviet Union. The quality of printing reflects the level of training and the reliability of humidity-control equipment and the electricity supply at the time" (ibid., p. 6f.). - The 1:200,000-scale maps are specifically labelled "For Offical Use". Indeed, all General Staff maps de facto constituted closely guarded military material, none of which became available in the West before the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s. - Light traces of folds, occasional wrinkles and a few odd edge flaws, but altogether in excellent condition. Cf. J. Davies / A. J. Kent, The Red Atlas (Chicago/London, 2017).
|
|
|
Receive by email
Download as PDF document
RSS feed
Permanent link
