‎Middle east‎

‎[Maghreb travel].‎

‎Photo album. [Libya and Tunisia as well as Italy, ca. 1930].‎

‎Oblong 4to (280 x 204 mm). 112 vintage black-and-white photographs (ca. 13 x 18 cm), frequently captioned in German in white ink, on 56 black paper leaves (plus two blank leaves at the end). Contemporary green card boards, block-bound with string. A fine album of excellent original travel photographs, assembled by a party of young men from Germany, Austria and Hungary travelling through Northern Africa in the late 1920s or very early 1930s. A total of 36 photos show scenes from Libya: the cave dwellings in the jebels, the Arab and especially Jewish population, a Bedouin tent, Italian officers in Aziziya, but also a group portrait of the travellers leaning on their motorcar. A few pictures show the European tourists laughingly taunting the local children with cigarettes for which they let the youngsters grapple. The strong focus on the fairly large Jewish community (then constituting nearly 4% of the Libyan population, as compared to less than 0.8% in Germany) is poignant before the background of the increasingly virulent antisemitism in the visitors' central European homeland, apparently revealing a particular fascination with the "otherness" of the Jews who are here shown and described as a people living as they supposedly did in Biblical times. - Via Malta (6 photos, some depicting warships in the harbour) the party sailed on to Tunis, where no fewer than 32 photographs cover the port, the Al-Zaytuna Mosque, Spahis and French officers on horseback, and a wealth of street scenes: the old town with its souks, Bab Souika square, gypsies, veiled women, water salesmen, men in coffee houses, and a Christian butchery. The remainder of the album shows scenes from the return journey through Italy: Cagliari and Sardinia (6), Civitavecchia (3), Livorno (5), Genoa (1), and Milan (23, including many from the Cimitero Monumentale and some showing off then-modern architecture). - A well-preserved ensemble of amateur travel photographs from a region more frequently captured in military photography but rarely visited at the time by affluent European tourists with high-quality cameras.‎

‎[Oman].‎

‎The Journal of Oman Studies. [Muscat], Ministry of Information and Culture / Ministry of National Heritage and Culture, Sultanate of Oman, 1975-1985.‎

‎8 issues bound in 11 volumes. Each volume with a frontispiece photographic portrait of Sultan Qaboos bin Said, one in colour. With numerous black-and-white and colour photographic illustrations, maps, plans and charts in the text or as plates. Original printed wrappers. Scholarly journal on aspects of natural and cultural heritage relevant to the Sultanate of Oman. Includes occasional remarks on neighbouring countries, such as a list of documents relating to foreign relations between 1790 to 1970, and mentioning the 1896 treaty between Oman and Abu Dhabi which invested the latter with an annual payment of 3,000 dollars to keep the peace in the al-Buraimi area. For the most part the research focuses on prehistoric times and on early settlements along the Gulf. Interestingly, one paper points out a scarcity of prehistoric communities in large areas of the present-day United Arab Emirates, as "a paucity of suitable anchorages such as can be found at Abu Dhabi, Umm an-Nar, or Jazirat Yas [...] and a lack of fresh water along the coast from Abu Dhabi to Qatar probably restricted prehistoric settlement in the area" (vol. 4, p. 32). Apart from prehistoric sites and archaeological findings, the journal addresses matters of social history, discussing the diminishing Shawawi population of Northern Oman, many members of which migrated to more prosperous areas such as Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Bahrain, as well as questions of biology, including papers on falcon breeding as well as the life of the Arabian tahr on the Musandam Peninsula. - Vol. 3 part 2 has an additional title-page loosely inserted. Wrappers occasionally slightly worn; interior in excellent condition. An academic publication of great scientific value drawing attention to the rich cultural heritage of Oman. OCLC 263595432.‎

‎[Palestine] - Bennet, Ernest.‎

‎Photograph album. Palestine, ca. 1945-1947.‎

‎Oblong folio (255 x 203 mm). Photograph album containing 223 photographs (from 47 x 65 to 178 x 240 mm) mounted on 18 leaves, with 23 loosely inserted photographs, mostly with handwritten annotations in blue ink to versos. Contemporary metal-ring leatherette binding. With a quantity of relevant ephemera. Interesting collection of photographs by a participant in the closing stages of British rule in Palestine. Assembled by Lance Sergeant Ernest Bennet serving in 3rd Battalion of the Grenadier Guards in Palestine, the photographs depict British servicemen on military exercise (Exercise "Bustard"), with Arab inhabitants, riots in Jaffa, military convoys, and troops on patrol. Significant photographs include the British soldiers with a captured Irgun flag and ships docking at Haifa with Jewish Displaced Persons. Bennett often identifies himself with an ink manuscript cross on the photographs. - Extremities of binding lightly rubbed. Includes a small collection of personal papers such as correspondence and payslips.‎

‎The Republic of Iraq.‎

‎Haqiqat al-Kuwayt [The Truth about Kuwait] (2). [Baghdad], Wizarat al-Kharijiyah (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), 1961.‎

‎8vo. 46, (2) pp. Arabic text. Original printed wrappers, stapled. First edition. The second of two rare pamphlets published by the Iraqi government, opposing the independence of Kuwait. The first pamphlet, published in English and Arabic, outlined Kuwait's historical connection to Iraq and analysed its "imperialist relations" with Britain. This second one, in Arabic throughout, prints the minutes of the Political Affairs Committee of the Arab League, which met in Cairo on 20 July 1961 to consider Kuwait's request to join the League. - Kuwait emerged as an independent state in June 1961, after sixty-two years as a British protectorate. With a new constitution, it held its first parliamentary elections in 1963, thereby becoming the first Arab state in the Gulf to establish a parliament. Such political developments, married with growing wealth and modernisations in health, culture and finance, helped to make Kuwait the most prosperous state in the Arabian Peninsula. - The Iraqi government argued that the move toward independence was a continuation of Kuwait's relationship with Britain, albeit under a new guise. Furthermore, they felt that the historical links between Iraq and Kuwait entitled the former to control over the latter and, one suspects, a share of its growing wealth. This position, partly detailed in the pamphlet, led to a point of crisis, with Iraq threatening invasion. To the relief of Kuwait, the Iraqis were eventually deterred by the Arab League's promise of military opposition. - Wrappers a little dusty, two thick black lines to upper wrapper, seemingly erasing stamp, another stamp partially visible to lower wrapper (most likely a bookseller's name and address, "Baghdad" is legible). Interior clean and bright. - Rare: LibraryHub locates one copy in the UK at the British Library; OCLC locates copies in Harvard, the University of Toronto, and the NYU Abu Dhabi. OCLC 219629380.‎

‎Zierer, Otto.‎

‎Arabien. Wüste im Herzen der Welt (Lux Lesebogen 179). Murnau, München, Innsbruck & Olten, Sebastian Lux, [1955].‎

‎8vo. 31, (1) pp. With 4 black-and-white photographic illustrations and a double-page map of the Arabian Peninsula. Original printed wrappers. Stapled. Rare Arabian-themed issue of the popular "Lesebogen" series. It provides a brief introduction to Saudi Arabia and its history, focusing on the ascent of Abdulaziz Ibn Saud. With a portrait of Ibn Saud as well as images of the Ka'aba, an oil refinery, and a group of watchmen in the desert. The map shows international boundaries, pipelines and railroads, as well as several major cities including Riyadh, Medina, Mecca, Dhahran, Damaskus, Kuwait and Tehran. - Founded by the German publisher Sebastian Lux in 1946 as a series for young readers, the "Lesebogen" booklets quickly proved a sought-after collectible, reaching 4 million copies in the first 3 years of publication alone. When the final issue appeared in 1964, the Lux publishing house had sold a total of 25 million copies. The immense success of the series is considered the result of a demand for well-edited material on complex matters of the world after the intellectual vacuum of World War II among the German public. The writer Otto Zierer (1909-83) was the author of no fewer than 50 such booklets. - Extremities slightly rubbed. Interior in excellent condition. OCLC 804813770.‎

‎Ali ibn al-Abbas al-Majusi.‎

‎Kitab Kamil as-Sina'a at-Tabbaiya [The Complete Book of Medical Art]. [Safavid Persia, [1582-1584 CE] = 990-991 H.‎

‎4to (180 × 240 mm). Arabic manuscript on cream paper. Two books, each with 10 chapters or Maqalahs, bound in one volume. (614) leaves, lacking one leaf from Book 2 (Maqalah 8, Bab 23) and another leaf from Book 2 (Maqalah 10, Bab 23) replaced in 19th century manuscript facsimile. 21 lines, per extensum, written in black naskh, chapter headings and important sections in red, catchwords throughout, each of the 20 chapters with an index of the ‘bab’ within and each with a separate colophon. Later brown lacquered leather over pasteboards, faintly pressed central medallions to covers, rebacked. One of the few existing complete copies of this medical milestone. Exceptionally rare: a fundamental medical work from the Golden Age of Islamic scholarship, preceding and influencing Avicenna's Qanun. Monumentally influential not only in Islamic medicine, this work even had profound impact in the West. It was first translated into Latin by Constantinus Africanus in the 11th century for use as a primary text at Salerno's medical school, and then again in 1127 by Stephen of Antioch. By the 14th century knowledge of the work was so widespread that Al-Majusi is mentioned as one of antiquity's great medical scholars in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. - The text is divided into two distinct books, each of which comprise ten "maqalas" (sections), subdivided into "babs" (chapters). The first section deals with the theory of medicine, including anatomical structures and they body's physiology; the second examines the practical treatment of medicine, the application of medical treatments and surgery. Indeed, this is the earliest known Arabic medical work to provide detailed instructions on surgical procedure. - Ali ibn al-Abbas al-Majusi was a 10th century Persian physician and psychologist, known in the Latin tradition as "Hali Abbas". Born in Ahvaz in southwest Persia, he was perhaps the most celebrated physician in the Eastern Caliphate of the Buwayhid dynasty, becoming physician royal to Emir 'Abdul al-Daula Fana Khusraw (reigned 949-983). The present treatise was compiled under the patronage of Emir Khusraw and is therefore also known as "Al-Malikiyya" ("The Royal Book"). Emir Khusraw founded a hospital in Shiraz and the al-Adudi Hospital in Baghdad to show his support for medical science, and Al-Majusi probably worked at the latter around 981 CE, where he must have composed this, his chief work. He is thought to have died in either 990 or 1010 CE. - The manuscript was produced for a wealthy and important patron in 16th century Persia, written on fine paper by a single scribe who names himself as Salam'ullah bin Habib'ullah bin Muhammad in colophons at the end of the various sections. Many of these colophons also record the date of their completion, showing that the entire codex took two years to produce. - Complete manuscript copies of this text are exceptionally rare: its vast encyclopedic nature made it an expensive commodity in the Middle Ages, and its sheer size usually necessitated it to span several volumes. The present example appears to have been bound as two separate books at the time of copying before being joined together in a single large volume in the 19th century. - Edges a little scuffed; some very minor marginal staining to a few sections, occasional light mottling. A few outer edges repaired (only affecting the text of two leaves). Overall a very clean and attractive specimen. Provenance: sold at Sotheby’s, Arts of the Islamic World sale, 23 October 2019, lot 119 (described without mention of the facsimile leaves).‎

‎Barron, J[ohn] B[ernard].‎

‎Mohammedan Wakfs in Palestine. Jerusalem, at the Greek Convent Press, 1922.‎

‎8vo. (2), 73, (1) pp. Original green printed wrappers. First edition. The author was Director of Revenue and Customs for the Government of Palestine and was put in charge of supervising the religious endowments. Finding no European work on the subject of wakfs, he was compelled to publish his notes on the subject. - A few small splits to spine, small area of loss to rear wrapper, otherwise good. Duplicate stamp and partially erased reference stamp to front wrapper. OCLC 42828458.‎

‎Grohmann, J[ohann] F[riedrich] Reinhold.‎

‎Das Pest-Contagium in Egypten und seine Quelle, nebst einem Beitrage zum Absperr-System. Vienna, (v. Ghelensche Erben für) Kaulfuss Witwe, Prandel & Comp., 1844.‎

‎8vo (150 x 230 mm). (2), XVIII, 257, (3) pp. Contemporary green full calf, spine prettily gilt with title and ornaments, cover with gilt rules and border decoration enclosing a blind-tooled Rocaille centrepiece. Leading edges gilt, gilt inner dentelle, all edges gilt. Red silk divider. First edition of this important study of the plague in Egypt and the quarantine laws to prevent its spread; the "principal work" (Hirsch) of the German physician J. F. Reinhold Grohmann (1784-1867). Educated in Leipzig and Vienna, Grohmann was travelling to Constantinople when the Russo-Turkish War of 1806 stopped short his journey in Bucharest. He remained there and witnessed a particularly severe plague epidemic in 1813. He spent much of his subsequent career in the East before settling in Vienna; from 1831 to 1833 he was a member of a committee convened to formulate new standards for plague epidemics. In his medical work he described the plague as a nervous fever affecting the brain, little influenced by the climate. His son Paul Grohmann would go on to be one of Austria's most famous mountaineers of his age. - Very well preserved in a splendid Austrian master binding. Removed from a baronial library with a crowned monogram stamp "MK" to title-page. Ibrahim-Hilmy I, 278. Hirsch II, 661. OCLC 14832432. Not in Wellcome.‎

‎[Hanafite school].‎

‎[Hanafite jurisprudential manuscript compendium]. [Ottoman Empire?], [1422 CE =] 825 H.‎

‎Small folio (ca. 190 x 270 mm). Ottoman manuscript in Arabic on paper. (282) ff. Contemporary 15th-century Ottoman overlapping wallet-type binding, blind-stamped front-board with a blind-tooled frame and a blind-tooled centrepiece. Highly interesting 15th century Hanafite manuscript compendium on Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh), dated 14 Rabi' al-awwal 825 AH, corresponding to 14 March 1422 CE. Although the manuscript contains popular and widespread Hanafite commentaries, a manuscript of this age is a rare survival. It includes the "explanation of hermetic subjects" (Hall al-mawadi' al-mughlaqa) by 'Ubayd Allah ibn Mas'ud Sadr al-Shari'a al-Thani al-Mahbubi (also known as Sadr al-Shari'a al-Asghar; d. 1347 CE) and a commentary by him on "Wiqayat al-riwaya fi masa'il al-Hidaya" by his grandfather Mahmud ibn Sadr al-Shari'a al-Awwal al-Mahbubi (13th century). Also included is a summary of the legal manual "Al-Hidaya" by 'Ali ibn Abi Bakr al-Marghinani (d. 1197), which is considered one of the most influential compendia of the Hanafi jurisprudence (fiqh). "Al-Hidayah" is actually a concise commentary on another work of him titled Bidayat al-Mubtadi'. The work contains many contemporary marginal and interlinear glosses in Arabic, making this 15th-century jurisprudential handbook with influential texts by some of the most important scholars from the Hanafite school of fiqh even more important. - The manuscript contains many marginal and interlinear glosses in Arabic. Binding a little worn around the edges and with a few scratches on the boards, rebacked spine and some other restorations to the binding in the Ottoman style, some inactive moulding and waterstaining in the last approximately third part of the book (without loss of text), paper edges slightly frayed, but an interesting 15th-century manuscript on Islamic law in acceptable condition and still in its contemporary binding.‎

‎Jabarti, 'Abd al-Rahman.‎

‎Merveilles biographiques et historiques; ou, Chroniques du Cheikh Abd-el-Rahman el Djabarti [...]. Cairo, Imprimerie nationale, 1888-1896.‎

‎Small folio (188 x 278 mm). 9 volumes. X, 334; 309, (3); 276, (2); 298, (2); 235, (3); 328, (2); 429, (3); 382, (2); 335, (1) pp. Contemporary half leather over marbled boards. First French edition. Translation of the "'Aja'ib al-athar fi al-tarajim wa-al-akhbar" by 'Abd al-Rahman Jabarti (1754-1822): an important chronicle and source collection for the period of Ottoman rule in Egypt, an era largely marked by a dearth of historical sources from the inhabitants of the country. Jabarti's history is of particular importance for the early 19th century and the time of the French expedition, of which he gives a comprehensive account, as well as for the beginning of the regency of Muhammad Ali Pasha. Because of Jabarti's severely critical view of Muhammad Ali and his reign, the work was long banned in Egypt, and only after the accession of the Khedive Tewfiq did it see its first complete publication and translation (by Chefik Mansour bey, Abdulaziz Kalil bey, Gabriel Nicolas Kalil bey, and Iskender Ammoun effendi). - "The Cairo gentleman Al-Jabarti provides a remarkable, lucid and nuanced account on the French occupation in Egypt" (Fierro, 2). - A few insignificant edge tears or chips; a few paper flaws professionally repaired. Spines rubbed and scuffed; spine-ends chipped or repaired. Generally a very finely preserved set of this rare and important work on Egypt. OCLC 2513833. Not in Ibrahim-Hilmy.‎

‎Oliveira, Custodio José de.‎

‎Diagnosis typografica dos caracteres gregos, hebraicos, e arabigos, addiccionada com algumas notas sobre a divisão orthografica da linguage latina, e outras da Europa [...]. Lisbon, Impressão Regia, 1804.‎

‎4to. 72, (14), VIII pp.; (2) ff. with engravings. Text set in roman, Hebrew, Greek and Arabic type. With a small Portuguese woodcut coat of arms on the title-page and 4 engraved plates on 2 leaves bound at the end of the book. Later blue paper wrappers. First and only edition of an instruction manual for the compositors of the Portuguese Impressão Regia on the proper setting of Greek, Hebrew and Arabic type. It was written by Custodio José de Oliveira (d. 1812), professor of Greek at the Colégio Real dos Nobres in Lisbon and one of the Directores Litterarios of the Impressão Regia, serving until 1807, for which he wrote the present work. The present work is identified as "very useful" by Innocencio and according to him, it was the only Portuguese manual on typesetting he knew so far ("Trabalho mui aproveitavel, para o tempo em que sahiu, e o unico que sobre o assumpto temos até agora escripto orginalmente em portuguez"). Oliveira shows in both the tables and inserts within the text the alphabets and numbers in Greek, Hebrew and Arabic with their roman equivalents. The last four plates (printed on both sides of two leaves) show common ligatures and abbreviations in Greek. The present copy of this very rare work is complete with all plates, the "Prefação aos compositores typograficos" (numbered I-VIII) and the seven-leaf dedication, all bound at the end of the book. An important work on the subject of typesetting and the only work on this topic known in Portuguese. - With the bookplate of Américo Cortez Pinto (1896-1979) on the front wrapper, a Portuguese physician, writer, poet and historian who also wrote some works on the art of printing. Front wrapper half loose and back wrapper loose, spine partly gone, wrappers a little frayed, discoloured and slightly stained. Paper edges slightly frayed as it is an untrimmed copy, sometimes with the bolts unopened. Some marginal staining, very minor foxing, but overall a very rare work on printing and typography which is still in fine condition. Bigmore/Wyman II, 90. Innocencio II, 461. The literature of printing: a catalogue of the library illustrative of the history and art of typography, calcography and lithography of Richard M. Hoe, p. 85. Not in Porbase.‎

‎[Royal Air Force].‎

‎Air Route Book. Cairo to Karachi via North Arabia and Persian Gulf (Cairo to Karachi via Habbaniya). [Cairo, Navigation Branch H.Q. 216 Group], The Printing and Stationery Services, MEF, 1943.‎

‎Small folio (208 x 284 mm). (2), 115, (1) pp. With 2 folding charts, 1 full-page sketch map, 84 small sketch maps and 48 b/w half-tone photo illustrations. Original black cloth printed with purple type. First edition. A confidential air route book, compiled for the use of pilots flying from Cairo to Karachi during WWII, covering the main air route of the time that passed through the Arabian Gulf at staging posts in Palestine, Iraq, Pakistan, Bahrain, Sharjah, and India. - The handbook covers all aspects for flying within the Middle East including distress signal code tables, tips for forced landings, colour-printed route maps, radio beacon maps, emergency airfield maps, and double-sided airfield leaves dedicated to single airfields along the designated route. Inserted stapled updates and small corrections show the importance of up-to-date information for navigation within the shifting sands of the country where the pilots were operating. - It is presumed that these hardbound versions were either used for office reference or as early print runs. Later, cord-bound copies were created for pilots' use in active service, presumably to minimise costs of production and tailor the information to strictly which flight the pilot was completing. - This edition is stamped number 498, suggesting a limited print-run. Boards a little water-stained and warped, two white stains to front board, otherwise good. Interior exceptionally clean and fresh. Institutionally rare: LibraryHub locates just a single holding at the IWM.‎

‎Snouck Hurgronje, Christian.‎

‎Bilder aus Mekka. Leiden, E. J. Brill, 1889.‎

‎Folio (282 x 372 mm). 20 collotype prints mounted on 18 sheets loose in red gilt cloth portfolio as issued, complete with half-title, list of plates, title and preface. One of the earliest photographic documents of Mecca and the Hajj, preceded only by the photographs of Muhammed Sadiq Bey published in 1881 (Sotheby's, 4 June 1998: £1,250,000). Much rarer than the author's similarly titled "Bilder-Atlas zu Mekka", a portfolio of lithographs to accompany the "Mekka" books which Snouck had published after his return from the Arabian Peninsula. - "Following the publication of 'Bilder-Atlas zu Mekka', Hurgronje received a letter from his doctor in Makkah, whom he had taught the art of photography. The letter contained new photographs of the hajj which were of such great interest that he decided in 1889 to publish his 'Bilder aus Mekka' [...] The photographs provide an insight into the world of Makkah's inhabitants, pilgrims from all over the Islamic world, in addition to the sharif of Makkah, the Turkish governor, and various religious and secular figures" (Badr el-Hage, p. 46f.). - "In 1981 F. H. S. Allen and C. Gavin first identified the earliest Arabian photographer by deciphering his elaborately calligraphed signatures, which without exception had been erased from the plates reproduced by Snouck Hurgronje: 'Futugrafiyat al-Sayyid 'Abd al-Ghaffar, tabib Makka' (The Photography of the Sayyid Abd al-Ghaffar, physican of Mecca). This princely eye surgeon had been host to the young Snouck in Mecca immediately after the Dutchman's conversion to Islam. Snouck claimed to have taught his host how to use a camera and attributes to him (without ever mentioning his name) the pictures reproduced in 'Bilder aus Mekka'". - Light spotting, title and text leaves frayed at inner edge (not affecting text), occasional minor stains or wear to edges of mounts, covers rather marked and stained. Very rare: only two copies at auctions internationally during the past decades (the last, at Sotheby's in 2006, was incomplete, lacking all the text leaves). Macro 1233. Badr el-Hage. Saudi Arabia Caught in Time. Reading, 1997. F. E. Peters. The Muslim Pilgrimage to Mecca and the Holy Place. Princeton University Press 1996.‎

‎[The Sack of Ras Al-Khaimah].‎

‎HMS Chiffonne. Persian Gulf 1809-1810. [Probably England, early 19th century].‎

‎A pair of original watercolours with traces of pencil, measuring 333 x 485 mm each. Framed and matted, captioned on the mat in Indian ink. Exceptionally rare: a pair of near-contemporary watercolours reflecting the English popular imagination of a crucial event in UAE history, the disastrous first sack of Ras Al-Khaimah in late 1809. - The punitive expedition was carried out by a 16-ship fleet of the British navy headed by HMS Chiffone under the command of Captain Wainwright, allegedly in retaliation for repeated acts of piracy against British ships perpetrated by the Qawasim, but certainly a convenient means for the British to expand their power in the Gulf on behalf of the East India Company. The battle, a massacre that is still locally remembered in story and song, was the beginning of a new era: that of British control in the Gulf. - The fleet sailed from Bombay on 14 September 1809, reaching Muscat on 11 November and descending on Ras Al-Khaimah in the dawn of the 12th. All day long the British ships bombarded the town’s defences and homes. In the early morning of 13 November, 600 of the more than 1,300 British soldiers landed on the beach and, after bitter fighting, soon breached Ras Al-Khaimah’s defences. Having demolished the town, the Chiffonne and the rest of the fleet sailed along the coast, wrecking additional fortresses. - The atmospheric watercolours depict the landing operation, with the Chiffonne firing its cannons and the British soldiers reaching the beach, in one picture setting fire to a pirate ship. The set of drawings at hand, apparently the work of a talented enthusiast, may even pre-date the publication of the aquatints by Richard Temple in his famous “Sixteen Views of Places in the Persian Gulph Taken in the Years 1809-10”, published in 1813 from his own drawings made on location as a private in the 65th Regiment. - Provenance: once sold through the London rare book and autograph dealer Frank T. Sabin (1846-1915), with his labels on the back. Latterly in a private UK collection. Cf. Sultan Muhammad Al-Qasimi, The Myth of Arab Piracy in the Gulf (London, 1985). Charles E. Davies, The Blood-Red Arab Flag (Exeter, 1997).‎

‎Tremaux, Pierre.‎

‎Exploration archéologique en Asie Mineure comprenant les restes non connus de plus de quarante cités antiques. [Paris, Louis Hachette, ca. 1858-1863].‎

‎Oblong folio (560 x 370 mm). 101 plates (72 lithophotographs "Procedé Poitevin", 2 lithographs, and 27 plans, of which 10 folding) and 4 leaves of letterpress text. Stored loosely in contemporary marbled boards with original printed cover label; cloth spine professionally renewed. Cloth ties. Rare, early photobook on the archaeological excavations in Turkey and the Levant during the 1850s, a work which assured the architect-explorer Pierre Tremaux (1818-95) an eminent place in the history of photography. Includes views of Aphrodisias, Corycus, Ephesus, Hierapolis, Jerusalem, Magnesia, Milet, Perga, Priene, Seleucia, Smyrna, Tarsus, etc. - The calotypes here reproduced are among the earliest photographs taken in Asia Minor and are thus of great documentary interest. They were lithographed using the process discovered in 1855 by Alphonse Poitevin (1811-82), later awarded the Grand Prix du Duc de Luynes; Trémaux's work was one of the first to use this method. - "Pierre Trémaux was an architect who trained at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. He was also interested in travel, ethnology, architecture and geography. He is known for one epic series of voyages to Asia Minor, Egypt, Libya and Tunisia. The fruits of these travels were published in a series of books" (Jacobson). Having set out in 1847, Trémaux began taking photographs around 1853-54. While the results of his efforts were technically uneven, obliging him to substitute his salt prints with lithographs, the rare images that survive have ensured the photographer's lasting reputation. The entire subscription was announced for a series of 215 plates provisionally titled "Atlas de vues pittoresques, scenes des moeurs, types de vegetation remarquable", but the publication was interrupted in 1864, never to be completed. - Some edge flaws and duststaining to margins. Scattered foxing, more pronounced in some examples, others nearly flawless. Exceptionally rare: the work has appeared at auction only three times in 25 years; it was missing from the two great orientalist collections of Atabey and Blackmer. Provenance: from the collection of the French engineer and archaeologist Paul Gaudin (1858-1921), a major patron of the Asia Minor collections in the Louvre, the Istanbul Museum, British Museum, and other institutions. Ken Jacobson, Odalisques & Arabesques: Orientalist Photography 1839-1925 (Quaritch, 2007), p. 273. Goldschmidt & Naef, The Truthful Lens: A Survey of the Photographically Illustrated Book 1844-1914 (New York, 1980), p. 225. Andre Jammes & Eugenia Parry Janis, The Art of French Calotype (Princeton, 1983), p. 251.‎

‎[D'Arcy, William Knox].‎

‎Typescript draft of the D'Arcy Concession. Tehran, May 1901.‎

‎Folio (210 x 330 mm). 5 pp. on 5 ff. French draft of the historic business deal between Britain and Persia that would initiate the era of oil in the Middle East. - The chain of events leading to Persia entering the international oil scene began with Antoine Ketabci Khan, the Persian commissioner general at the Paris Exhibition of 1900. Ketabci Khan, of Armenian descent, had held several posts in the Persian government, including the directorship of the customs service. Although the ostensible reason for Ketabci’s visit was the opening of the Paris Exhibition, his main purpose was to find an investor in Europe willing to take up the petroleum concession in Persia. In Paris, Ketabci sought the aid of Sir Henry Drummond Wolff, formerly (1887-90) the British minister in Tehran, who suggested William Knox D’Arcy, an English entrepreneur and financier who had made a fortune in gold mining in Australia and was eager to examine the proposition. On 28 May 1901 the prodigal Mozaffar-al-Din Shah granted D’Arcy an oil concession valid for sixty years, with exclusive rights to oil exploration in the entire country apart from the five northern provinces of Azerbaijan, Gilan, Mazandaran, Astarabad, and Khorasan. These provinces were excluded to avoid offending Russia, which regarded the northern part of Persia as its own sphere of influence, in the same way that Britain saw southern Persia as falling in its own orbit. In return, D’Arcy agreed to pay the Persian government twenty thousand pounds in cash, with another twenty thousand pounds worth of shares, as well as an annual royalty which was defined somewhat vaguely as equal to 16 percent of “annual net profits”. - Small rust stains to first leaf; slightly creased.‎

‎National Iranian Oil Company.‎

‎Iran Oil Journal. No. 146. Tehran, N.I.O.C., November 1970.‎

‎4to. 36 pp. With several photographic prints and tables. Original printed wrappers. Stapled. Bulletin of the National Iranian Oil Company featuring several images of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran, during three inauguration ceremonies. He is depicted opening the 1,200 kilometre Iranian Gas Trunkline, the offshore installations of the Iranian Marine International Oil Company (IMINOCO), and the newly erected Shahpur Chemical Complex in Bandar Shapur. Apart from commemorating these inaugurations in text and image, the present issue includes an English translation of article 11 of the 1957 Petroleum Act as well as tables and statistics of Iranian oil production and "world oil news". - Extremities minimally worn.‎

‎[Soviet General Staff Maps] - Arabian Peninsula 1:200,000.‎

‎General'nyí shtab. (Arabian Peninsula 1:200,000). [Moscow, General Staff], 1975-1991.‎

‎A total of 382 topographic maps, colour-printed, ca. 58 x 45 cm. Constant ratio linear horizontal scale. In Russian (Cyrillic). Most of the Soviet Union's 1:200,000 General Staff map quadrangles showing 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 the eastern and central part of the Peninsula, mainly concerning Oman and the UAE, and a few Saudi Arabian quadrangles are lacking, most of the area is well-covered. Assembled continuously, the quadrangles would form an enormous map spanning ca. 13 x 11 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).‎

‎[Alf layla wa-layla]. Cherbonneau, A[uguste] (ed.).‎

‎[Qissat Shams al-Din wa-Nur al-Din]. Histoire de Chems-Eddine et Nour-Eddine, extraite des Mille et une nuits. Paris, Imprimerie nationale / L. Hachette & Cie., 1852.‎

‎8vo. VI, (7)-69, (1) pp. Publisher's original green printed wrappers. First edition of the story of Nur al-Din and Shams al-Din, edited by the French oriental scholar (Jacques-)Auguste Cherbonneau (1813-82), professor at the Collège Arabe Française in Algier. Arabic text with French notes. - Well preserved. Chauvin VI, 102, no. 270, 2. OCLC 4432899.‎

‎[Arabian Peninsula and India].‎

‎Südwest-Asien. 1:5,000,000. Grundlage: Stielers Handatlas. Gotha, Justus Perthes, 1942.‎

‎117 x 78 cm. Constant ratio linear horizontal scale: 1:5,000,000. Relief shown by hachures, contours, and spot heights. Depth shown by soundings. Loosely stored within printer wrappers. Third edition of this German wartime map of the Middle East, parts of Asia, and India, first published thus in 1940. Based on "Stielers Handatlas" and issued within Perthes' "Ubique terrarum" series (no. 20). - In excellent state of preservation, detached from its original wrappers. OCLC 164843864.‎

‎Baignieres, Paul de / Abou Naddara.‎

‎L'Égypte Satirique. Album d'Abou Naddara, illustré de 48 pages de gravues. Les deux affreux tyrans du Nil, Tewfik et son père Ismail. Vision du Cheikh Abou Naddara. Conférences: l'Egypte au xixe siècle, l'invasion anglaise, le mahdi. Paris, Lefebvre, 1886.‎

‎8vo (170 x 253 mm). 38, (2), 112 pp. With a wood-engraved portrait of Abou Naddara and numerous illustrations. Modern marbled half calf with gilt-stamped spine. Silk divider. Inscribed to Paul Leclerc, "ami de l'Égypte, hommage respectueux du Cheikh Abou Naddara", also signed in Arabic. - "Abou Naddara" was the first Arabic magazine to feature cartoons (with captions in French and Arabic), as well as the first work to use in the press a form of colloquial Arabic, radically different from the literary form. - The Egyptian journalist James Sanua ("Ya'qub Rufa'il Sanu'" in Arabic, but usually known simply by his pseudonym, Abou Naddara, "father of spectacles") was born into a family of Sephardic Jews in Cairo. He played an important role in the development of the Arabic theatre in the 1870s, but it was as a satirical journalist that he became best known, targeting the Khedive as well as the British interlopers. He founded the satirical magazine "Abou Naddara" in 1877, which immediately enjoyed a broad appeal and was quickly suppressed; of the 15 issues that appeared between March and April 1877, no copies are known. Sanua went into exile in 1878, but his celebrated journal, reproduced lithographically from manuscript in Arabic and French, continued to appear, printed in Paris at a shop aptly located in the Passage du Caire in the 2e arrondissement. Within Egypt, where the magazine's smaller format allowed it to be smuggled inside other larger newspapers, its circulation was considerable, with possibly over 3000 copies of each issue printed. There is evidence of its presence in the highest echelons of Egyptian society, and its content focused on the political and financial turmoil in Egypt, as Sanua was undoubtedly privy to information from friends and informants well-placed inside administrative circles. - Extremely rare. Loosely inserted is a folded original issue of the "Journal Oriental" ("Directeur & Rédacteur en chef: J. Sanua Abou Naddara"), no. 8, dated 25 September 1886 (entirely lithographed in Arabic). OCLC 25737746.‎

‎[Biblia turcica - NT - Actus, Epistulae, Apocalypsis].‎

‎Turkish translation of the New Testament. Secretarial manuscript with Ali Ufki Bey's autograph annotations. (Constantinople, 1665).‎

‎4to (160 x 214 mm). (80), (4 blank), (32), (4 blank), (19), (1 blank), (13), (1 blank), (81), (1 blank) leaves. Contemporary full calf with cover borders ruled in gilt and prettily gilt spine. All edges gilt. Considered lost: a volume of Ali Ufki Bey's famous Bible translation, "the lineal ancestor of today’s Turkish Bible" (Privratsky), the last manuscript in private hands. - A project born of Protestant disappointment with the outcome of the 30 Years' War, the 17th century enterprise to translate the Bible into Turkish was informed by Christian eschatological hopes that Protestantism and Islam might form a political alliance to defeat the common enemy, idolatrous Catholicism, and bring about world peace. To advance this cause, the Czech-born educator John Amos Comenius championed a Turkish translation of the Holy Scripture, whose power alone, it was assumed, would soon convert the Muslim world to Christianity. Enjoying financial backing from the wealthy arms dealer Laurens de Geer and the academic support of Jacob Golius, professor of Turkish at Leiden, Comenius's venture was entrusted to the Dutch ambassador in Constantinople, Levinus Warner. - Though himself proficient in Turkish, Warner chose to contract a translator rather than perform the arduous task himself. After his first recruit, the Jewish dragoman Hâki (Yahya bin Isaak), delivered a manuscript version around 1661 which was found deficient, Warner in 1662 entrusted the work to Ali Ufki Bey, a talented linguist and former servant of the Sultan's. Born Wojciech Bobowski in Lwów around 1610, he had been captured by Tatars as a young man, sold into Ottoman slavery, and given the name Ali. He subsequently served at the Topkapi Palace as a respected musician and translator for about 20 years, eventually gaining his freedom in 1657. - Ali Bey completed his task in December 1664; in 1665 he then proceeded to have a few fair copies produced under his supervision. One of these, in 5 volumes, is very nearly complete; another contains only Isaiah and several books of the Apocrypha. These copies, sent to Golius together with Ali Bey's rough draft in four volumes, today form part of the Warner Collection at Leiden University Library. - Only in 1888 did the Leiden Library accession an additional manuscript copy (Cod. Or. 3100), containing part of the New Testament in the hand of one of Ali's secretaries, with interlinear and marginal corrections by Ali Bey himself. The present volume is the missing part of this New Testament copy, comprising Acts, Romans, Philippians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, Hebrews, James, 1 & 2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude, and Revelation. Written under Ali Bey's direction and copied from his personal draft, it, too, contains marginalia and corrections in his own hand (we thank Dr Arnoud Vrolijk, curator of the Warner collection, for his kind confirmation). - Ali Bey's translation, aimed at Muslims as a target audience and full of popular Islamic cultural references, did not find favour with Golius and his colleagues. After Warner, de Geer, and Golius all died in quick succession between 1665 and 1667, the Turkish Bible project ground to a halt, in spite of the fact that Ali Bey was anxious to continue it. Not until 1819 would the New Testament alone be published in a revision of his translation (in Paris), and only eight years later would Ali Bey's entire Turkish Bible see print. A critical edition of his manuscript is still outstanding, and there is ample material for research. It remains unknown from what language Bobowski translated the Bible: "A study of Ali Bey's spellings of proper names, e.g. Petro, Se’mun, Filipo, Pilato, could reveal much about his connections with Christian tradition. Several of these are Italian spellings and suggest a Catholic connection. The fact that Ali Bey refers to St John the Baptist as Yuhanna Ma’madant, a Christian construction of John’s name in Arabic, suggests that he was in contact with the Oriental churches also, perhaps the Syrian Orthodox Church” (Privratsky, p. 19f.). - Provenance: early 18th century autograph ownership of the Hamburg theologian Johann Friedrich Winckler (1679-1738), professor of theology in Hamburg, on the title-page, and successive ownership of the Dutch theologian and orientalist Hendrik Sypkens (1736-1812) below. Subsequently owned by Nicolaus Wilhelm Schroeder (1721-98), professor of oriental languages at Groningen, and sold as no. 24 of his estate auction by van Boekeren in 1835. Purchased in the 1960s from Wrister's bookshop (Utrecht) by a Dutch theologian and acquired from him directly. Pars altera bibliothecae Schroederianae (Groningen 1834), p. 6, no. 24. Cf. Bruce Privratsky, A History of Turkish Bible Translations, v. S (2014), pp. 18-26. Darlow/Moule 9453 (the 1819 printed NT).‎

‎Blackwell, Eric.‎

‎Cairo to Bagdad. Egypt, Syria, Arabia, Iraq and other places, 1919].‎

‎Oblong 4to. Album with 148 small original black and white photographs on 18 ff. Contemporary giltstamped full cloth with printed title and 2 silhouette images. Extremley rare photographs from the first successful motor crossing of the desert from Damascus to Baghdad in 1919, preceding by four years the well-known efforts by the Nairn brothers, which resulted in the establishment of the overland mail service between Damascus and Baghdad. The photographs were taken by the 18-year old Eric Blackwell, who had planned to enlist as a pupil pilot in the RAF, had his training cut short by the Armistice, and decided instead to volunteer for the projected desert expedition. Carried out by a military convoy of 10 Model T Fords and some 15 men under the command of Lt. Col. Keeling, the aim of the expedition was to set up a chain of whitewashed stone markers to aid the pilots of an air mail service between the eastern Mediterranean and India, cutting out the lengthy Suez-Aden-Bombay sea route. - The photographs document the journey from Cairo to Haifa by train, then on to Damascus on established roads, up to the expedition's last outpost before the open desert, Dumair. The following pictures show the men setting up the stone signs, repairing their vehicles, sometimes having to push them forward (a total of six Fords had to be abandoned along the way), posing for group pictures, and travelling through the vast desert landscape, stops along the way including Abu Kamal, Ana, Ramadi and Fallujah, before reaching Baghdad, and going on to the ruins of Babylon, Basra, Bombay, Aden, and Suez. - Photographs are mounted in groups, with captions in English. Enclosed is an envelope containing seven loose photographs torn from the album, as well as a brief typewritten account of the journey, and correspondence relating to the loan of photographs for a magazine article, referring to it as a "grand trip". - Extremities lightly bumped. A few photographs loose; traces of photographs torn away in places. Impressive visual material of this little-known epic journey. Cf. Aramco World July/August 1981, vol. 32, nr. 4.‎

‎[Farasnama].‎

‎Farasnama [The Coloured Book of Horses]. Hippiatric manuscript. India, ca. 1800.‎

‎Tall 8vo (150 x 246 mm). Persian manuscript on sturdy cream paper. 254 (instead of 264) ff., 15 lines per extensum, paginated by later hands (lacking pp. 35-42 and 45-46; pp. 43-44 transposed after p. 30). Cursive nasta'liq calligraphy in black ink, catchwords in red. Illustrated with 56 (instead of 77) coloured horse drawings in the text (numbered in pencil by a later hand). Later illustrated binding with black leather spine and lacquered wooden boards with coloured floral designs. A late 18th century Indian manuscript copy of a celebrated treatise on horsemanship, the "Farasnama" ("The Coloured Book of Horses"). Constituting a Persian translation of the Sanskrit "Salihotra", its topics include horse-breeding, grazing, dressage, veterinary advice and horseracing. - The "Salihotra" is attributed to Durgarasi, son of Surgarasi, who is believed to have composed it for Mahmud Ghaznavi (d. 1030). A note on p. 2 of the present manuscript indicates that the text was translated from Sanskrit into Persian during the reign of Shah Jahan (d. 1666); other traditions give credit to 'Abdullah bin Safi, who was active under the earlier reign of Bahmanid ruler Ahmad Shah Wali (d. 1436). The present manuscript contains numerous coloured drawings of thoroughbred horses, along with observations on their salient traits, the illnesses to which they are prone, and prescriptions for their treatment. Their execution is an interesting illustration of the iconoclastic tendencies characterising painting under the later Mughal emperors. - Occasional slight traces of worming; some waterstaining to margins; some leaves remargined by an early owner. In spite of the loss of five leaves that would have contained an additional 21 horse illustrations, a fine manuscript in an attractive illustrated lacquer binding.‎

‎Hatifi, 'Abdallah.‎

‎Timur-nama [The History of Timur]. Herat, Khorasan (Eastern Persia, now Afghanistan), [1569 CE =] 977 H.‎

‎4to (170 x 240 mm). Persian manuscript on polished paper. 137 (instead of 143) ff. (lacking ff. 97-102) in elegant black nasta'liq script, 14 lines, 2 columns. With an illuminated shamsa on fol. 1r (specifying the name of the sponsor Khawaja Nasir as well as the place and date of production) and an illuminated 'unwan headpiece on fol. 1v. Light brown full morocco with blindstamped borders, corners and central ornaments. An elegantly executed Eastern Persian manuscript that chronicles the epic life and victories of one of history's most famous emperors and military leaders, Timur Leng (Tamerlane), from his birth near Samarqand in modern-day Uzbekistan in 1336. "Certainly the most famous of Hatefi’s poems [... The work] extols Timur’s deeds in accordance with the main works of Timurid historiography such as Sharaf-al-Din Yazdi's Zafar-nama [...] Hatefi’s Timur-nama became a model for subsequent poems. It certainly introduced a new genre which was developed further by Hatefi himself [...] Written in 1498, the Timur-nama has been published twice in India (1869, 1958)" (Encyclopaedia Iranica XII, 55-57). - Abdallah Hatefi (Hatifi) was the nephew of 'Abd-al-Rahman Jami, one of the greatest Persian poets and composers of Sufi mystical works. The Timur-nama, modeled after Nizami's "Iskandar-nama", appears to be his only completed work. The oldest extant copy was completed the year after Hatifi's death, 927 H (1521 CE), and was stored in the India Office Library. - Descended from the Mongol hordes of Genghis Khan, Timur participated in various military campaigns from a young age, and his victories quickly made him known as a highly skilled military leader. After a decade of internal political wrangling, he became ruler of the Timurid Empire in 1369. For the next 35 years, until his death in 1405, Timur continued to lead a number of great expeditions and wars; his conquests stretched as far west as Baghdad and the Black Sea, the shores of the Arabian Gulf, and far into modern Afghanistan and northwestern India; he took Herat, where this manuscript is written, in 1381. Timur began military campaigns against the Ottoman ruler Bayezid I and the Mamluks in Syria, as well as expeditions to Armenia and Georgia. His final campaign was in the winter of 1404, but he was stricken with fever and plague and died in February of the following year. His line continued through the glory of the Timurid period under his direct descendants, including Babur (1483-1531), the famous founder of the Mughal dynasty in India, who continued to rule until 1857. - An beautiful manuscript containing an illuminated headpiece of the greatest refinement; the illuminated border of the shamsah on fol. 1r. is a hallmark of Herati work. Surrounding the shamsa are several stamped waqf seals and various inscriptions by previous owners; fol. 140v has an inscription by Muhammad Taqi Qarakuzlu, dated 1237 H (1821 CE). - Provenance: Arts of the Islamic World, Sotheby's, 5 April 2006, lot 30. Sam Fogg, 2009.‎