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[Slave Trade].
Slave Trade. No. 5 (1880). Correspondence with British representatives and agents abroad, and reports from Naval Officers and the Treasury, relative to the Slave Trade. Presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of Her Majesty. 1880. [C.-2720]. London, Harrison and Sons, 1880.
Folio. XVIII, 336 pp. Publisher's printed blue wrappers. Rare British parliamentary papers and correspondence with local agents and officers on the slave trade, including much material relating to the Hejaz, to Jeddah and the Red Sea, as well as Rear-Admiral Corbett's "Report on the Slave Trade on the East Coast [of Africa] and Mozambique, and the Persian Gulf" (pp. 315-318), stating that "No sea traffic in Slaves appears to exist in this region" (i.e., the Arabian Gulf). - Wrappers a little dust-soiled, spine slightly worn with loss. A very good copy. Bennett 507.
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[Slave Trade].
Slave Trade (Zanzibar). - Return to an Address of the Honourable The House of Commons, dated 22 February 1859; - for, "Copies or extracts of the letters of the Government of Bombay to Her Majesty's Secretary of State for India, or the Court of Directors, forwarding letters written in August and September 1858, by Captain Rigby, the Company's Agent at Zanzibar, on the subject of the slave trade at Zanzibar and along the Mozambique coast." India Office, 3 March 1859. - J. W. Kaye, Secretary in Political and Secret Department. [H. of C.] 111. [London], The House of Commons, 7 March 1859.
Folio. 14 pp. Top edge gilt. Sewn. Rare British parliamentary papers containing extracts from government correspondence regarding the Zanzibar slave trade of the later 1850s under Sultan Sayyid Majid bin Said Al-Busaid. - Extracted from bound volume of parliamentary papers but otherwise as issued, very lightly browned but a good copy.
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Hammer-Purgstall, Joseph von.
Memnon's Dreiklang, nachgeklungen in Dewajani, einem indischen Schäferspiele; Anahid, einem persischen Singspiele; und Sophie, einem türkischen Lustspiele. Vienna, Wallishausser, 1823.
8vo. XXI, (3), 319, (1) pp. Contemporary calf with giltstamped cover borders, gilt spine, giltstamped red spine label; leading edges gilt; all edges gilt. First edition. - Hammer's German translations of the Indian pastoral play "Dewajani", the Persian musical play "Anahid", and the Turkish comedy "Sophia". - From the library of the Swedish diplomat Ulf Torsten Undén (1877-1962) with his ownership "U. T. Undén" signed twice to endpapers. Goedeke VII, 764, 64. Wurzbach VII, 276, 43. WG² 29. OCLC 19226414.
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Belvallette, Alfred.
Traité de Fauconnerie et d'Autourserie suivi d'une étude sur la pêche au cormoran. Evreux, Imprimerie de Charles Hérissey, 1903.
Large 8vo. (12), 269, (3) pp. With 35 plates and numerous illustrations in text. Modern red half sheepskin, with the original publisher's printed wrappers bound in. Rare first and only edition of a work on falconry, followed by a short treatise on cormorant fishing by Alfred Belvallette, "well known in France as a skilful falconer, and he writes with a thorough knowledge of his subject [...] French falconers apply the term fauconnerie only to flights with the long-winged hawks (Peregrine, Merlin, Hobby, and Jerfalcon), flights with the short-winged Goshawk (autour) and Sparrow-hawk (épervier) coming under the expressive and very convenient term 'autourserie'" (Harting). The work partly contains original illustrations, including many photographs of falconers in action, but also copies after Schlegel and others. - Belvallette is best known for his earlier work "Traité d'autourserie" (1887), the present work includes this topic as well, but is not included in Bibl. accipitraria or Schwerdt. - With only a couple of spots, otherwise in very good condition. Thiebaud 66. Cf. Harting 219; Schwerdt I, 59. WorldCat (9 copies).
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Colomb, Philip Howard.
Slave-catching in the Indian Ocean. A record of naval experiences. London, Longmans, Green & Co. (colophon: printed by Spottiswoode & Co.), 1873.
8vo. VIII, (4), 503, (1) pp. With 8 steel-engraved plates including the frontispiece (the 5 signed ones engraved by Pearson) and a folding map of the Indian Ocean, Red Sea and the Gulf, hand-coloured in outline (lithographed by Edward Weller). Red cloth. First edition (only edition until a 1968 facsimile) of a very detailed and well-illustrated account of a British naval campaign to suppress the East African slave trade in the years 1868 to 1870, published only eight years after the end of the United States' Civil War and the abolition of slavery there. Slavery was not outlawed in the Ottoman Empire (which at the time of publication included Egypt and what is now Iraq) until 1882, and in Iran and most of the Gulf States not until the 20th century. The author, Captain Philip Howard Colomb (1831-99), was Commander of the HMS Dryad from 1868 to 1870 and led the campaign. He operated primarily in and around the Gulf, Oman and Zanzibar and captured seven slave ships during those two years. The illustrations show the Dryad and some of the slave ships, individual and group portraits of slaves encountered during the campaign, and views of ports where slave trading occurred. One of the group portraits was engraved after a photograph made by one of the Dryad's officers and other illustrations after drawings by other officers. The map ("The slave trading waters of the Indian Ocean") shows the Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea, Red Sea and the Gulf, including Madagascar and the other islands. The first chapter relates Colomb's voyage to Aden, where he took command of the Dryad, and the next two chapters provide extensive background information to place the account of the campaign in context. Colomb's account of his own campaign includes chapters on individual regions (Bombay, Muscat and Oman, the Gulf, Madagascar, Zanzibar, etc.) and on various topics (slaves on board ship, the slave market, etc.). Colomb was promoted to Admiral after his retirement from active duty. The book is sometimes mistakenly ascribed to his younger brother, John Charles Ready Colomb. - Bookplate "HW". Spine sunned; insignificant foxing in the folding map, but otherwise in fine condition. Garrick, "Indian Ocean, post-exploration", in: Speake, Literature of travel and exploration (2003), pp. 608-610. WorldCat (4 copies). Zeitschrift für Ethnologie 5 (1873), p. 117.
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Hammer-Purgstall, Joseph von.
Falknerklee, bestehend in drey ungedruckten Werken über die Falknerey. Pest, Conrad Adolf Hartleben (verso of title-page: [Vienna], printed by the widow of Anton Strauß), 1840.
Frontispiece plus (8), XXXII, (2), 115, (3) pp.; 48 ff. 8vo. With a lithographic frontispiece line drawing of a stone-cut falcon; the Turkish title-page with the title in a double-ogive decoration with arabesques, a braided border, flowers and 3 falcons; the opening page of the Turkish text in a border and its title in a kufic inscription in an elaborately decorated panel; and a woodcut white-on-black Turkish inscription on the back of the main (German) title-page. Set in fraktur, Arabic and Greek types with incidental roman. The main Turkish text is bound at the end of the book, with the pages progressing from right to left like a normal Arabic book, so that the book can be opened from either side.With a modern index of ornithological, zoological and botanical names of animals and plants mentioned in the Turkish treatise, citing both the page and the chapter numbers, reproduced from manuscript. Later 19th-century half tanned sheepskin, sewn on 3 recessed cords (but with 5 false bands on the spine), title in gold in the 2nd of 6 spine compartments, marbled sides, endpapers printed in a Spanish-marbled style. With the publisher's original tinted lithographed wrappers bound in (printed in black with a blue tint-block), with a falcon on the front and back, the white silhouette of a falcon inside back and a white panel for an owner's name inside front. The modern index is separately bound in modern goatskin, marbled sides, designed to match the main volume. First printing in any language of three important manuscripts on falcons and falconry: a 12th-century Turkish treatise on falconry by Mahmud Ibn Mehmed al-Bargini, "Baz nama" ("Falcon book"), in the original Turkish and in German translation; the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I's ca. 1515 (?) "Über die Falknerey" in the original German; and a shorter Greek treatise on hawking, "Hierakosophion" ("Hawking apprenticeship") in the original Greek and in German translation, a variant form of part of a 13th-century work by the Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII (1223-82). Little is known about the author of the Turkish treatise, but he came from Anatolia on the southeastern coast of what is now Turkey, where he apparently worked in service of the Bey of Mentese. He cites another work from 597 AH (1200/01 CE). - Hammer-Purgstall (1774-1856), a leading Austrian orientalist with an extensive knowledge of languages, took up a diplomatic position at the Austrian embassy in Constantinople in 1799 and remained in Turkey and the Middle East until 1807. He found the Turkish manuscript on falconry at the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan in 1825 and the other two manuscripts at the Hofbibliothek in Vienna. He not only translated and edited the present texts but also contributed a 32-page introduction and a list of 63 works on the subject of falconry, from the 15th century to his own day. The book, printed in only 300 copies, has been largely overlooked in the literature on ornithology and Islamitica, but Schwerdt notes that it is "particularly important to lovers of falconry, its origin and history". It also provides insights into the Turkish language and Islamic culture. Although published in what is now Budapest, it was printed in Vienna. The printing office had its own typefoundry, stocked with matrices for various non-Latin types, giving the book a special typographic interest as well. The decoration on the Turkish title-page departs from Islamic tradition by incorporating pictorial images of three falcons. The book collates: frontispiece + [pi]4 a-b8 [c]1 [= 84] 1-78 84 (-84); 2[1]8 2-68 = 128 ff., with the second series of numbered quires (containing the Turkish text) progressing from right to left. - With some modern pencil notes on the flyleaf and in the margins. Somewhat foxed throughout, as usual, but otherwise in very good condition and nearly untrimmed, preserving many deckles and point holes and with most bolts in the main Turkish text unopened. The original publisher's illustrated wrappers, rarely preserved, show a few small chips, tears and scrapes but are still in good condition. The binding is chipped at the foot of the spine and slightly worn, but still generally good. First edition (in Turkish and German) of an important 13th-century Turkish treatise on falconry, with the publisher's illustrated wrappers bound in. Harting 112. Jahrbücher der Literatur XCIX (1842), pp. 59-62. Wolfgang Menzel, in: Literaturblatt XCI (9 September 1840), pp. 361-362. Schwerdt I, 228. Not in Anker; Atabey; Ayer; Blackmer; Nissen; Strong.
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Leusden, Johannes.
Scholae Syriacae libri tres. Una cum dissertatione de literis & linguae Samaritanorum. Utrecht, Meinard à Dreunen, 1688.
8vo. (24), 255, (1) pp. Contemporary calf with gilt spine; leading edges gilt. All edges sprinkled in red. First edition of this Syriac textbook, including one of the earliest investigations of the Samararitan language and script. "It is the least developed among the Semitic languages, closest to Syriac, but coarser, even less sophisticated. The Samaritan population has greatly dwindled; their capital is Nablus in Palestine, but there are also some in Damascus, Cairo, Acre and other places. Their common language is Arabic" (cf. Vater/J.). The Utrecht philologian J. Leusden (1624-99) studied philosophy in his hometown, then focused on theology and the oriental languages. He was ordained as a preacher in 1649. He subsequently moved to Amsterdam, where he took instruction in Hebrew and Talmudic scholarship from various Jewish teachers, including one of Arabian descent, and thus acquired such learning that he succeeded to the Utrecht chair of Hebrew and Jewish Antiquities in 1651 (cf. Jöcher 2409). - Binding somewhat rubbed. Ownership "J. Venturi" (dated 1805) on title page. Vater/Jülg 323. Jöcher II, 2410. Jöcher/Adelung III, 1728, 4.
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Lokman.
[Amthal Luqman al-hakim]. Locmani sapientis fabulae et selecta quaedam Arabum adagia. Cum interpretatione latina & notis Thomae Erpenii. Leiden, Jean Maire, 1636.
4to. 60, (2) pp. Woodcut vignette to title. Text in Latin and Arabic. Early 19th century boards covered with blue brocade paper. Second edition, following Erpenius's 1615 editio princeps. - Lokman was a legendary sage of the pre-Muhammedanian era, occasionally said to have been king of Yemen, a prophet, or an Abessinian slave. This late 13th-c. adaptation of a Syrian translation of Aesop's Fables was attached to his name. Since their first publication in Europe in 1615, the "Fables" constitute an obligatory passage for learning Arabic, which explains the proliferation of versions (including those for school use). The collection was edited by Thomas Erpenius (1584-1624), professor of oriental languages at Leiden. In 1613, after his return from Paris, he set up a private press with types cut specially for him. - Some fingerstaining, waterstaining and duststaining; lower corner of t. p. torn off (no loss to text); an early student's pen scribblings on title page, and a later owner's pencil notes in Arabic in margins and on final flyleaf. Zenker I, 627. Schnurrer 220. Landwehr F137. OCLC 85371352. Cf. Fück 65f.
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Marco Polo.
Historici fidelissimi juxta ac praestantissimi, de regionibus orientalibus libri III [...]. Berlin, Georg Schultz, 1671.
4to. 3 parts in one volume. (6), 26, (16), 167, (51) pp. (8), 115, (13) pp. (4), 107, (9) pp. Letterpress title printed in red and black. With additional engraved title and engr. frontispiece to part 2 (lacking plates of Arabic characters); ornamental head bands and initials. 18th-century calf with gilt spine. All edges red. First edition. "Collated with a manuscript in the library of the Elector of Brandenburg, preface, geographical index, glossary, etc." (Lust). The gifted orientalist Andreas Müller (1630-94) compiled in a single volume this collection of travel accounts and information on China: Part I is an edition of a Berlin manuscript of Marco Polo, including comparisons with editions by Grynaeus (1532) and Ramusio (1559). Part II, often bound last, is an encyclopedia of China by Müller, listing "Chinese peculiarities" based on Chinese and oriental sources (cf. Löwendahl 153). Part III is a Latin version of "Historia orientalis" by the Armenian Hayton of Corycus (d. 1308). - According to Lach, Müller was “one of the most cosmopolitan of [...] world-conscious Europeans” of his time, although he never travelled outside of Europe. He fell out with Kircher over a linguistic issue, and when Chinese writing was described by theologians as a breach of the Second Commandment, his position in Berlin became untenable. Having resigned his position as provost of St. Nicolai in 1685, he relocated to Stettin and spent the remainder of his life with private studies. "By his own ways of publishing he much hampered the production of a bibliography of his works, which would certainly warrant scrutiny. Before his death he destroyed his manuscripts. He negotiated over the sale of his library with numerous universities, but finally, on a whim, gave away a mere 50 books to the Stargard Consistorium in 1692; most of his books and the remainder of his papers he willed to St. Mary's collegiate church in Stettin" (cf. ADB XXII, 513f.). - Some browning and spotting throughout. Still a fine copy from the library of the Ducs de Luynes at the Château de Dampierre: their bookplate reproducing the arms of Charles Marie d'Albert de Luynes (1783-1839), 7th Duc de Luynes, on pastedown; latterly in the library of Jean R. Perrette (his bookplate). VD 17, 12:108208R. Cordier (Sinica) III, 1968. Lust 288. Löwendahl 153. Morrison II, 535. Ebert 17665. Henze IV, 380. ADB XXII, 513. Brunet III, 69 & 1406 ("receuil assez recherché").
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[Murad IV, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire].
Copia di due commandamenti del Gran Turco in favore della serafica religione de' Capuccini per poter propagare la Santa Fede Catholica per tutto il di lui regno. Tradotti dalla lingua Turchesa in Francese, e poi in Italiana. Milano/Bologna/Ravenna, per gli Stamp. Cam., 1628.
8vo. 8 pp. With woodcut title vignette. Wrappers. First (and only?) printing of the letter by the Capuchin friar Pacifico Scaliger, leader of his order's mission to Persia and Armenia, written to the Capuchin Guardian of Leghorn (dated 21 May 1627), with the two mandates received from Sultan Murad IV: the first a permit to found a hospital at Aleppo, Syria (12 April 1627); the other granting the Capuchins free passage and permission to reside and teach throughout the Ottoman Empire, wherever there are Christians (26 April 1627). - Some brownstaining; old pagination in manuscript and stamped (apparently removed from an old collection). Of special interest is the title woodcut, showing a round moon within the oriental crescent. The round moon bears a crudely drawn face, incorporating the western notion of a "man in the moon", but the heavily structured lunar surface also provides a curious counterpiece to the famous woodcuts which had appeared in Galileo's groundbreaking "Sidereus Nuncius" but eighteen years previously. - Excessively rare: a single copy in library catalogues (HAB Wolfenbüttel); no records via WorldCat or in Italian libraries via SBN. OCLC 258074666 (no holding records). HAB Wolfenbüttel shelfmark M:Gv Kapsel 7 (46).
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Petronio, Riccardo.
Invitto a' religiosi contro dell'armi Ottomane. Ad' istanza di Gioseppe Madi detto il Musico Toscano. Venice & Bassano, Giovanni Antonio Remondini, [ca. 1715].
8vo. 8 pp. With woodcut device on title page. Wrappers. An appeal, written in verse, to all religious orders and Christian laymen to take arms against the Ottomans. Apparently an early product of the Turkish-Venetian War of 1714-18, in which the new Grand Vizier Silahdar Damat Ali Pasha re-conquered Morea (the Peloponnesus) from the Venetians, who had held the peninsula since 1699. A different version (kept at the Biblioteca Civica Bertoliana in Vicenza), published by Giovanni Berno "in Venetia, Bassano, & in Verona", is dated 1715; this date of publication is also supported by the mention of Pope Clement XI (1700-21). However, the Marciana in Venice keeps an earlier publication of the same work produced for the Venetian Alessandro Cortesi, bearing the date 1663. Yet another, undated version in the Biblioteca Universitaria di Padova bears the imprint "In Venezia, per Domenico Lovisa à Rialto". No other copy with Remondini's imprint is known. - Some browning and waterstaining; old pagination in manuscript and stamped (apparently removed from an old collection).
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[Rycaut, Paul].
(Histoire de l'Etat Présent de l'Empire Ottoman.) Histoire de l'Empire Ottoman: Contenant les maximes Politiques des Turcs; Les principaux points de la Religion Mahometane [...]. Par Monsieur Briot. Amsterdam, David Mortier, 1714.
12mo. 498, (6) pp. Title page printed in red and black. With separate engr. title page (counted in the pagination), engr. title vignette, 18 folding engr. plates and one engraving in the text. Contemporary full morocco, covers and spine gilt with giltstamped green spine label. Leading edges gilt, gilt inner dentelle, marbled endpapers. All edges gilt. Beautiful French edition of Sir Paul Rycaut‘s famous Turkish chronicle: a page-for-page reprint of the - probably pirated - third edition in French, which had appeared at Amsterdam (under the imprint of Abraham Wolfgangk) in 1670. The 1714 edition, not noted in the relevant bibliographies, omits Rycaut's name, citing only that of the translator, but without the words "traduit de l'Anglois", thus falsely suggesting that the translator Briot is the author. "This work is regarded as one of the best of its kind with respect to the religious and military state of Turkey" (Cox). "[Rycaut's] most important work [...] presents an animated and, on the whole, faithful picture of Turkish manners" (DNB). "Provides an account of the society and political system of the Ottoman Empire with unprecedented thoroughness" (cf. Osterhammel, Die Entzauberung Asiens, 32). "An extremely important and influential work, which provides the fullest account of Ottoman affairs during the 17th century [...] Rycaut was appointed consul in Smyrna, where he resided for eleven years. His information on the Ottoman Empire was taken from several sources: original records, and from a Polish resident of some nineteen years at the Ottoman court" (Blackmer). The attractive engravings depict dignitaries and persons of various ranks in their costumes (several on Arabian horses), also including the illustration of a turban (in the letterpress on p. 115). A beautifully bound copy of a rare and appealingly produced edition. Provenance: removed from the library of the Talhouët family at the Château de la Lambardais in Brittany (armorial stamp to front flyleaf). OCLC 69067803. Cf. Weber II, 330f. Aboussouan 806f. Atabey 1069. Blackmer 1464. Brunet IV, 1275. Graesse VI/1, 108. Lipperheide Lb 19. Hiler 770. Howgego R 92. Cox I, 210. Not in Colas.
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Schraud, Franz.
Historia pestis Sirmiensis annorum MDCCXCV et MDCCXCVI. Buda, sumtibus typographiae Regiae Universitatis Pesthiensis, 1802.
Large 4to. 3 vols. LXVI, 202 pp. (2), 337, (1) pp. (2), 394 pp. With 10 folding engraved plates and numerous foling tables. Contemporary calf with gilt spines. All edges red. Marbled endpapers. Only edition. - Exceptionally rare Latin translation of this history of the 1795 plague epidemic in Syrmia, first published in German as "Geschichte der Pest in Sirmien in den Jahren 1795 und 1796" by the Budapest physician Franz von Schraud (1761-1806). - Titles stamped on reverse. Hinges and extremeties professionally repaired; a good copy. Petrik III, 331. Wurzbach XXXI, 274. ADB XXXII, 453. OCLC 14833959. Cf. Lesky, Kat. der Josephin. Bibliothek, p. 596 (German ed. only).
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Sebah, P[ascal] and others.
Photograph album. Egypt and Switzerland. Egypt and Switzerland., [1880s-1890s].
4to (295 x 235 mm). 50 photographs of Egypt (albumen prints and cyanotypes), and approximately 40 albumen prints of Switzerland. Impressively presented series of original photographs taken at various important sites and cities in Egypt, including Giza, Thebes, Karnak, Luxor, Abydos, Esna etc. The photographs show archaeological sites like the temple of Seti I at Abydos, the precinct of Ahmen-Rah near Luxor, the avenue of Sphinxes at Karnak, the Ramesseum and the Colossi at Thebes, the temple of Khnum at Esna, the Sphinx and pyramids of Giza and many more. Other photographs show the local population, doing a wide variety of activities, such as catching crocodiles on the nile, a Luxor barber shaving the head of a sailor, or a Bedouin camp in the Libyan Desert. - The Istanbul-based Sebah studio catered to the Western European interest in the exotic "Orient" and the growing numbers of tourists visiting the Muslim world who wished to take home images of the city, ancient ruins in the surrounding area, portraits, and local people in traditional costumes. "Sebah rose to prominence because of his well-organized compositions, careful lighting, effective posing, attractive models, great attention to detail, and for the excellent print quality" (Gary Saretzky, Photo history). Jean Sebah (1876-1947) took over the studio from his father Pascal after his death and signed his productions "J. P. Sebah" on the negative, putting his initial in front of his father's. - Some spotting and fading.
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Sturmy, Capt. Samuel.
The Mariners Magazine. [...] Revised, corrected and enlarged by John Colson. London, Richard Mount, 1700.
Folio. (10), 148, 116, (48) pp. (pages 109, 100, 111, and 112 bound out of order). With plates, tables and 3 volvelles. 18th century panelled calf with the binding dated "1734" and with a newer, and heavily buttressed, spine added. A very good copy of this important, influential and rare-to-the-market nautical classic, being the fourth edition with "Useful Additions". - Samuel Sturmy states that he was apprenticed to a Bristol sailmaker and thereafter commanded ships sailing out of Bristol, primarily to Virginia and to the West Indies. His experiences formed the core of the work herein described, a work produced by him to provide his three brothers, his sons, and other young seamen with all of the information they would need - even if their own mathematical abilities were restricted to ordinary arithmetic. Sturmy wrote in a lively fashion, and in the sections pertaining to seamanship the usual commands and responses were set forth as a dialogue between the ship's captain and the crew, parts of which were used verbatim by Jonathan Swift in "Gulliver's Travels". It is from Sturmy's book that Dampier remembered the recipe ("receipt") for gunpowder. Sturmy's work also contains what may be one of the earliest complete explanations of the construction of a polar gnomonic chart, presenting a detailed example of a great circle route from the Lizard to the Bermudas. The Oxford Reference states: "The gnomonic chart became popular with the publication by Hugh Godfray in 1858 of two polar gnomonic charts covering the greater part of the world, one for the northern and the other for the southern hemisphere. Although it was generally believed that Godfray was the original inventor of this method of great circle sailing, it is interesting to note that a complete explanation of the construction of a polar gnomonic chart, with a detailed example of a great circle route from the Lizard to the Bermudas, appeared in Samuel Sturmey's 'Mariners' Mirror', of 1669." - A superior copy of a rare and highly notable book: an early classic of navigation, of which few copies in any edition have come to auction over the last several decades and which constitutes a critical component of any any nautical library.
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[Wasf al-Rusul].
Kitab wasf al-Rusul wa al-Imama. [Near East, no date, but apparently ca. 1820 / early 19th century].
Small folio (ca. 210 x 300 mm). 74 pp. Arabic manuscript in black Naskh, headings and key words in red, ruled in red (often to form tables and geometric patterns). Several diagrams, 2 ff. with circular diagrams, some ruled leaves blank. Contemporary limp leather. A theological manuscript entitled "The book of description (or attributes) of the Prophet and the Leader". - Binding a little rubbed, spine chipped. A few leaves loosened. Some light staining and finger-soiling throughout; a few ink smudges; a number of edge tears (some professionally repaired).
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Andrés, Juan.
Confusione della setta macomettana: dalla quale s'intende l'origine di Macometto, & suoi fatti, et la falsa, et stolta dottrina da lui ritrovata. Venice, Gio. Battista Ugolino, 1597.
8vo. 71 ff. (lacking final blank). All edges sprinkled in red. Contemporary limp blue boards. Last Italian edition of the 16th century: a famous account of Islam (with a life of the Prophet Muhammad) given by a Muslim convert to Christianity, first published in Spanish in 1515 and frequently reprinted and translated. The author gives his former name only as Alfaqui ibn Abdallah from Játiva near Valencia in Spain; he flourished 1487-1515. - Some browning and brownstaining throughout due to paper; a few pages waterstained; old ink notes to title page (some ink corrosion). Rare; only two copies in WorldCat (Paris-BnF and Mazarine); four in Italy (Venice, Prato, Modena, Messina); none in the U.S. Edit 16, CNCE 1728. Chauvin XII, p. 21, no. 83. Göllner 2280. I.A. 105.567. Palau 12175 (note). OCLC 800261833.
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[Biblia arabica - NT].
Kitab al-Ahd al-Jadid, ya'ni Injil Al-Muqaddas li-Rabbina Yasu' al-Masih. London, Richard Watts for the British and Foreign Bible Society, 1821.
Large 8vo. (4), 352 pp. Contemporary calf (spine rebacked). A reprint of the Roman Bible of 1671, already reissued thus by British and Foreign Bible Society in the previous year. The Society adopted this text at the suggestion of the Syrian Archbishop of Jerusalem. - Some browning and edge chipping. Binding rubbed and bumped (professionally repaired, with loss to corners). Darlow/Moule 1667. OCLC 38586842.
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[Biblia coptica & arabica - Psalmi].
[Pi chou de pi Psalterion de Dauid. Kitab Zabur Dawud, al-nabi wa-al-malik]. London, Richard Watts for the British and Foreign Bible Society (al-Majma' al-mu'aiyyin li'ntishar al-Kutub al-Muqaddasah fi jami' al-Atraf), 1826.
4to. (328) pp., final blank leaf. Title page within woodcut borders. Contemporary calf (spine rebacked). Arabic and Coptic Psalter as issued by the British and Foreign Bible Society. Arabic text reprinted from the Risius-Guadagnolo-Ecchellensi-Maracci 1671 Rome edition of the Arabic Bible. The Coptic may be a reprint of the 1744 Rome Coptic-Arabic Psalter edited by Raphael Tuki (cf. Roper/Tait, Coptic Typography, in: Middle Eastern Languages and the Print Revolution [2002], p. 119). - Evenly browned throughout. Punched library ownerships ("Philadelphia Divinity School") and ballpoint shelfmark; old catalogue slip and pouch inserted loosely, with bookplate of the "Library of the Protestant Episcopal Divinity School of Philadelphia". Contemporary bookseller's label (Dondey-Dupré, Paris) to front pastedown. Darlow/Moule 1673 & 3095. OCLC 123078021.
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Erpenius, Thomas.
Arabiae linguae tyrocinium. Id est, [...] grammatica arabica. Cum varia praxios materia, cuius elenchum versa dabit pagella. Leiden, Jean Maire, 1656.
4to. (12), 282 pp. Title printed in red and black with large engraving. - (Bound with) II: Sennert, Andreas. Arabismus, h. e. praecepta arabicae linguae [...]. Wittenberg, Fincelius, 1666. (8), 166 pp. - (Bound with) III: The same. [Mi'a Matal]. Centuria proverbiorum arabicorum. Ibid., 1658. (24) pp. Contemporary vellum with ms. title to spine. I: Third, most encompassing edition of the first scientific Arabic grammar written by a European scholar. Erpenius had published his "Grammatica Arabica" in 1613, having completed it four years earlier while staying in Paris with Casaubon. A second edition appeared in 1636 - edited by Anton Deusing, a pupil of Golius - adding the fables of Lokman and Arabic proverbs earlier edited by Erpenius. The present edition was edited by Golius himself, Erpenius's successor to the chair of Arabic. Repeating Deusing's 1636 edition, it now adds a modest Arabic chresthomathy previously edited by Golius's pupil Fabricius. This copy includes the cancel-slip for two lines of text and a catchword on f. *2v. Interleaved between pp. 200 and 201 with five ms. pages by a Swedish scholar (c. 1915). - II: Second edition of Sennert's Arabic grammar, followed by a concise Arabic dictionary. - III: Only edition of this rare collection of Arabic proverbs with their Latin translations, also prepared by the German scholar Sennert (1606-89), himself a pupil of Golius and in 1640 Jakob Weller's successor as professor of oriental languages in Wittenberg. - Somewhat browned due to paper, but well-preserved altogether. Several old ownerships on flyleaf, including a note of acquisition dated Wittenberg, 1619, and the ownership of Ernst Friedrich Tobias (dated Feb. 1725). I: Smitskamp, BO 72. Schnurrer 81. Juynboll 148f. - II: Schnurrer 82 (note). VD 17, 12:130977S. OCLC 836692815. - III: VD 17, 3:313989Z. OCLC 633598572.
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Fer, Nicolas de.
L'Afrique, divisée selon l'etendue de ses principales parties. Paris, G. Danet, 1730/1746.
159 x 108 cm (conjoined sheets), in hand colour. Scale ca. 1:12,000,000. A magnificent coloured wall map, enclosed within historiated borders showing topographical vignettes, printed on four conjoined sheets with additional running title above and engraved text providing geographical and political information to the sides, all on additional sheets. While it is a map of Africa, it also shows the Arabian Peninsula in its entirety. - The cartographer Nicolas de Fer (1646-1720), son of a Parisian engraver specialising in the colouring and selling of maps, maintained a good relationship with the Academy of Sciences and was Geographer Royal to the Dauphin and the King of Spain. Nevertheless, his productions were not aimed at a university-educated audience, and his work is distinguished by easy accessibility and popularisation of geographical information rather than by scholarly precision. The present rendering of Arabia, apparently based in part on the work of Delisle, shows this posthumous publication (by de Fer's son-in-law Danet) to be a later release of a much early conception of the Middle East, outdated even in the 1740s. In particular, it omits the Sinai Peninsula included in several of de Fer's earlier efforts. "Like Delisle, De Fer had considerable prestige and influence in France and all over Europe" (Historical Atlas of the Gulf, p. 278). Among the toponyms along the coast of the Arabian Gulf are Abadan, Sur, Ahsa, Janama, Bahr, El Catif, Bischa, Borou, Godo, Vodana, Calba, Dadana, and Pinder. - Professionally repaired; some wrinkling, but preserving its impressive wall appearance. Cf. OCLC 71549733. Historical Atlas of the Persian Gulf (16th to 18th c.) 70 (1717 map). Khaled Al Ankary, The Arabian Peninsula in Old European Maps, 112 & 140.
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Gastaldi, Giacomo.
Descrittione dell'Africa. Venice, Paolo Forlani, [1562].
Engraved map on two sheets, joined. 440 x 600 mm. Framed (84:67,5 cm). Rare. Based on the large mural map of Giacomo Gastaldi in the Palazzo Ducale in Venice, in 1550, considered the culmination of his work on the cartography of Africa through the 1540s. (The mural was subsequently lost to overpainting.) Shows the continent with southern Europe and Arabia; large strapwork dedication cartouche to Thomaso Ravenna at lower left; compass rose centre right. Trimmed to the outer neat lines; some wear and repairs to old folds, with loss of a few letters of the dedication. Two small areas of sea supplied in pen facsimile. Faint spotting, a pale uneven wash. Tibbetts p. 47, 31. Not in Sultan bin M. Al-Qasimi, The Gulf in Historic Maps (1st or 2nd ed.).
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Lacroix, A[uguste] de.
Storia privata e politica d' Abd-el-Kader. Bologna, Giuseppe Tiocchi, 1846.
8vo. 277, (3) pp. With engraved portrait and folding lithographed manuscript facsimile. Original printed wrappers. Early study of the Algerian rebel Abd el-Qadir, the Emir of Mascara (1807-83), published at the height of his insurrection against the French invaders. On 21 December 1847, after being denied refuge in Morocco because of French diplomatic and military pressure on its leaders, `Abd al-Qadir surrendered to General Louis de Lamoricière in exchange for the promise that he would be allowed to go to Alexandria or Acre. Two days later, his surrender was made official to the French Governor-General of Algeria, Henri d'Orléans, duc d'Aumale. The French government refused to honour Lamoricière's promise and `Abd Al-Qadir was exiled to France. - Some brownstaining to interior. Rare. OCLC 48656095.
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(Measom, William).
The route of the Overland Mail to India. London, Atchley & Co., [1851].
Folio. 32 full-page wood-engraved plates including pictorial title. Original decorative blueboards gilt, rebacked preserving spine, new endpapers. Views include Jeddah, Mocha, Cairo, etc. This work is published without text. The plates are set on a stone coloured background. A couple of the plates are signed by William Measom. The suggested publication date is taken from an inscription on the original front pastedown (bound in), and is consistent with the dates of other works illustrated by Measom. - Occasional mostly light foxing and soiling. OCLC 23070449.
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Müller, Andreas.
Hebdomas observationum de rebus Sinicis [...]. Berlin, Georg Schultz, 1674.
4to. 4 parts in 1 volume. (8), 47, (1) pp. (38) pp. 63, (1) pp. 18 pp. With 2 title pages, the first and dedication on its verso printed in red and black, 1 botanical woodcut in text, woodcut headpiece, tailpiece and decorated initials, woodcut Chinese characters, decorations built up from cast fleurons. With diamond-head music notes, long passages in Syriac and Arabic type. - (Bound with) II: Müller, Andreas. Monumenti Sinici [...]. Berlin, Christoph Runge, 1672. Including: [drop-title:] De monumento Sinico commentarius novensilis. [drop-title:] Caput Primum. Historia lapidis. [Berlin, Georg Schultz?, 1674?]. Marbled boards (ca. 1800?). A series of works apparently printed and published together (even though the second title-page gives a different publisher and date) on various aspects of China and its culture, by the gifted orientalist Andreas Müller (1630-94). The title-page of part 1 lists seven numbered subjects for its brief observations: history, missionaries in China from the time of the Old Testament to the time of publication, Chinese emperors and other rulers, ginseng and its medicinal uses, astronomy and the calendar, geography and the relation between the names of the planets and the days of the week. Part 2 is devoted primarily to the transliteration in italic type of an extensive Chinese inscription, using special diacritical marks to indicate the tones and representing them also with Western musical notation above the text. It was a 781 "Nestorian" (East Christian) inscription that had been discovered in the 1620s and first published by Athanasius Kircher in 1667. Müller took issue with Kircher's publications on the inscription. It is followed by several shorter texts, including two pages with parallel columns giving an Aramaic text (the language of the Nestorians) in Syriac script with a Latin translation, and a phonetic rendering of the Chinese Lord's Prayer. Parts 3 and 4 contain additional commentaries on the same Nestorian inscription. - Although the title-page to part 2 is dated "1672" and names the "officina Rungiana" as publisher, all four parts appear to be printed on the same paper stock and they share at least some typographic materials. At least the supplements (which have no date or imprint) seem likely to have been printed by Schultz with part 1, and part 2 may have been as well. - The extensive use of Syriac and Arabic type gives the publication special typographic interest, and it also provides a fine example of Reinier Voskens's two largest italic types (the largest in the 6-page dedication), only about a decade after he cut them. Copies with all four parts complete are extremely rare, VD17 recording at most one. - Somewhat browned, but otherwise in good condition, with only some tiny marginal worm holes (affecting 1 letter in the imprint of the second title-page). Parts 2 and 4 each lacks a final blank leaf. A remarkable example of early oriental studies. BLC German (17th cent.) M-1471. Cordier (Sinica) 773f. (parts 2-4 only). Löwendahl 155, 161-163. Walravens, China illustrata 88 (part 1 only).
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Paulino à S. Bartholomaeo.
Sidharubam seu grammatica Samscrdamica. Rome, ex typographia Sacrae Congregationis de Propaganda Fide, 1790.
4to. 188 [i.e. 192] pp. Title printed in red and black. Modern moirée boards. First edition of "the first Sanskrit grammar to be published in Europe" (Smitskamp), produced by the Propaganda Press. The Sanskrit words are printed in Malayalam characters. With excerpts from the Bhagavad Gita ("Textus originalis libri Bhagavadam", 171-186). Paulinus à S. Bartholomaeo (J. P. Wesdin or Werdin, 1748-1806), a Discalced Carmelite from Lower Austria but active in India between 1776 and 1789, was "one of the inaugurators of Indian studies in the 18th century" (ibid.). "His many scholarly works earned him a reputation as an outstanding orientalist" (cf. Streit). "Ces différents ouvrages du P. Paulin étant recherchés, ont quelquefois été payés assez cher dans les ventes" (Brunet). - Slightly browned throughout with occasional professional repairs. A good copy in a modern, somewhat uncommonly coloured binding. Smitskamp, PO 214a (note). Vater/Jülg 332. Brunet IV, 446. Streit VI, 188. Zenker 2832. Wurzbach I, 170. OCLC 17209846.
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Ridinger, Johann Elias.
Türkischer Pferdsaufbuz samt einem die nötigen Anmerkungen hierzu enthaltenden Brief. Augsburg, Martin Elias Ridinger, 1752.
Oblong folio (450 x 336 mm). Letterpress title page (with extensive description on the reverse) and 4 engraved plates. Contemporary blank wrappers, stored in custom-made cardboard portfolio with giltstamped cover label. First edition. A fine series of four elaborately decorated Turkish horses, based on drawings prepared in Constantinople and sent to Ridinger by Baron Gudenus. As stated in the letter from Constantinople, dated 7 March 1741 and printed on the reverse of the title page, the Ottoman dignitaries could be distinguished by the various kinds of luxurious cloths, jewels, and finery they applied to their stables. The officials would vie with each other for the most splendid equestrian adornments, often showering their animals with gold and silver, diamonds, silk, and delicate embroideries. At a state reception in 1740, the Sultan was reported to have shown a parade of 30 horses, each covered in a different kind of precious stone. Such a horse laden with ornament, led into the seraglio by a Janissary, is pictured in plate I: four ostrich feathers adorn the head (a distinction afforded only to the Sultan's personal stable), while the chest bears a splendid rosette belt. Plate II shows a rising "Divani", such as is ridden by the Grand Vizier when dressed in state, with silver chains jingling from its halter and an embroidered blanket under the saddle. Plate III shows another Divani (titled "du coté gauche", but a rare variant imprint from front right), with different bridle and blanket; an elaborately tooled gilt thong is strapped across the chest. The final plate IV shows the "cheval de main d'un Pacha" besides a large kiosk, with a long blanket, rich silver and gemstone decoration and two leopard skins. - Some fingerstaining in the margins, but well preserved. Thienemann 594-597.
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Schubert, Gotthilf Heinrich von.
Bilder aus dem Heiligen Lande. Vierzig ausgewaehlte Original-Ansichten biblisch-wichtiger Orte treu nach der Natur gezeichnet von J. M. Bernatz. Stuttgart, J. F. Steinkopf, 1839.
Oblong folio. (2), 40 ff., title with lithographic vignette, with 40 lithographic plates on India (three composing a large panorama of Sinai, this not on India), tissue guards present. Contemporary German half calf over sprinkled boards, spine ornamented and lettered in gilt. Schubert (1780-1860), originally a theologian, then medical practitioner, was an exponent of Schelling's school of "Naturphilosophie". His text accompanies the illustrations after the landscape painter Johann Martin Bernatz. In 1836 he had accompanied Schubert and another scholar, Michael Pius Erdl, to Constantinople and the Holy Land, the result of which is this finely lithographed work. - Very light spotting in places only, some foxing and browning to title, panorama and one further plate; extremities a little worn. Cf. Tobler 228 and Engelmann 385 (1837 first edition).
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Strabo.
[Geographia.] Rerum geographicarum libri XVII. Paris, typis Regiis, 1620.
Folio. 2 parts in one volume. (12), 843, (112) pp. (4), 282, (8) pp. Title printed in red and black with engraved vignette showing arms of Louis XIII. Double-column text in Greek and Latin. Finely engraved head- and tail-pieces and large inhabited initials throughout. Contemporary English vellum gilt, panelled sides with two double-rule borders enclosing a four-part fan motif centrepiece and surrounded by fan motif cornerpieces, flat spine gilt with foliate motifs and small tools. Enlarged and corrected second edition ("much more accurate and splendid than the first", says Dibdin) of Strabo’s "Geography", one of the earliest and most important scientific treatises of historical geography. Contains the Greek text beside Xylander's Latin translation, with commentaries by Frédéric Morel and Isaac Casaubon. Together with the works of Ptolemy and Solinus, Strabo's "Geography" constitutes the first attempt at a unified treatise of geographical knowledge. Strabo had visited Egypt and sailed up the Nile in 25 BC. Even in the introductory chapters, the author provides important details on the Arabian Peninsula: "Adjoining the Ethiopians, a needy and nomad race, is Arabia: one part of which is distinguished above all other lands by the title of Felix [i.e., Hedjaz and Nejd-ed-Ared], and the other, though not dignified by that name, is both generally believed and also said to be pre-eminently blessed. Though Homer knew of Arabia Felix, at that time it was by no means wealthy, but a wild country, the inhabitants of which dwelt for the most part in tents. It is only a small district which produces the aromatics from which the whole territory afterwards received its name, owing to the rarity of the commodity amongst us, and the value set upon it. That the Arabians are now flourishing and wealthy is due to their vast and extended trade" (bk. 1, p. 39); "Arabia Felix is bounded by the entire Arabian and Persian Gulfs, together with all the country of the tent-dwellers and the Sheikh-governed tribes. [...] Beside the ocean the country is tolerably fitted for habitation of man, but not so the centre of the country: this for the most part is barren, rugged sand desert. The same applies to the country of the Troglodytic Arabians and the part occupied by the fish-eating tribes" (bk. 2, p. 130f.) Furthermore, books 15 and 16 are devoted entirely to the Orient (bk. 16 is on Arabia in particular), while the final book 17 discusses Egypt and Libya. - With 19th c. bookplate of Richard Newcome, and later label of Viscount Mersey, Bignor Park, on the front free endpaper. Short marginal tear and a crease to the titlepage, single minute wormhole in the inner margin through the first half of the text block; a very good copy. Brunet V, 554. Graesse VII, 604. Schweiger I, 303. Hoffmann III, 454. Dibdin II, 433. Moss II, 620f. Ebert 21809.
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[Type specimens].
Regi Gustavo regis federici filio Suecis Gothis Vandalis Imperanti praesides et alumni Collegii Christiano nomini propagando quod linguarum experimenta publicantibus indulgentissime adfuerit interumque ad officinae librariae cognitionem lyceo successerit honoris ergo litterarium formarum omnigenarum specimen laeti libentes dedicant [...]. [Rome], (typis Sacrae Congregationis de Propaganda Fide, March 1784).
Small folio (252 x 336 mm). (1), 23, (1) ff. (lacking first blank). With engraved medallion headpiece to first leaf. Modern marbled boards with giltstamped green title label to upper cover. Only edition. - A set of congratulatory poems in forty-six languages to honour the visit of Gustaf III of Sweden to Rome. This multilingual album of type specimens is a remarkable showcase for the typographical versatility of the Propaganda Press in the later 18th century, shortly before the printing-house was "despoiled unmercifully" (Updike I, 183) in 1798 by the French Directory. Includes versions in Arabic, Armenian, Chaldaic, Chinese, Croatian, Classical and Modern Greek, Hebrew, Malabar, Persian, Serbian, Syrian, Tibetan, and Turkish. - Some browning and foxing throughout; a few edge flaws (with occasional loss of corner) repaired. A wide-margined copy. Rare; OCLC lists eight copies worldwide (six in U.S. research libraries). OCLC 20273705.
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(Victorius, Marianus / Venerio, Achille [ed.]).
[Zentu mashafa temhert zalesam Ge`ez zayessammay Kalédawi haddisa serat tagabra kama yetmahharu ella iya ammeru sannay weetu tagabra]. Chaldeae, seu Aethiopicae linguae institutiones. Opus utile, ec eruditum. Rome, Typis Sac. Congregationis de Propaganda Fide, 1630.
8vo. (8), 86 pp., final blank f. Contemporary vellum. Second edition of Victorius's introduction to the Ethiopian language, first published in 1552. This is the first printing with the newly designed and cut Ethiopic types; an "Alphabetum" appeared one year later. In his preface, Venerius relates how the types were cut after designd received from Jesuit missionaries in Ethiopia. One set of types was sent to them, one was kept for the Propaganda Press. - Front inner hinge broken; title loosened. Some browning throughout. Ms. ownership of Joseph Venturi in Hebrew and Latin on title page, with his note "rara" and date of acquisition "3 Oct. 1785" on pastedown opposite. Smitskamp, PO 218. Vater/Jülg 7. Fumagalli 1173. Leslau 610. De Gubernatis 173. Silvestre de Sacy 2874. OCLC 50572132.
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Zanolini, Antonio.
[Ausra de-lesana surjaja]. Lexicon Syriacum. Padua, Typis Seminarii, 1742.
4to. (10), XVIII, 294 pp. Contemporary unsophisticated wrappers. Uncommon dictionary of Syriac compiled by Antonio Zanolini, professor of oriental languages at the seminary of Padua seminary. - Spine browned; slight waterstain to upper cover, not affecting interior. A wide-margined, untrimmed copy with several Greek, Hebrew and Syriac notes in a contemporary scholar's hand laid in. Vater/Jülg 387. Zaunmüller 372. OCLC 3667168.
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[Arabian Peninsula]. - Craufurd, C[harles Edward Vereker].
The Dhofar District. (From: The Geographical Journal. Vol. LXIII No. 2 [February 1919]). London, The Royal Geographical Society, 1919.
8vo. pp. 97-105. With 2 photoplates. Modern wrappers. Early account of a visit to the seaport of Dhofar (Oman) on the southern coast of the Peninsula, including an interesting account of the local boats and the sailing skills of their owners. The illustrations show Makalla in Hadramaut, a camel drawing water in Dhofar, and the ruins of the temple of al-Bilad. Macro, Bibliography of the Arabian Peninsula, 777. OCLC 49427292.
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Bahya ibn Yosef ibn Paquda / Yahuda, A[braham] S[halom] (ed.).
Al-Hidaja ´ila Fara´id al-Qulub. Leiden, E. J. Brill, 1912.
Large 8vo. XVII, (3), 113, (3), 407, (1) pp. With 3 lithogr. plates. Contemporary red cloth with giltstamped spine title; original blue wrappers bound within. First modern edition of the original Arabic text of "Al Hidayah ila Faraid al-Qulub" ("Guide to the Duties of the Heart"), written in 1080 by the Jewish philosopher Bahya ibn Paquda, who lived at Zaragoza, in Muslim Spain. The work offers the first Jewish system of ethics and was translated into Hebrew by Judah ibn Tibbon in 1161-80 ("Chovot ha-Levavot"). It is based on numerous non-Jewish sources, including writings of Islamic mysticism and Arabic neo-Platonism. Yahuda's edition uses mss. in the libraries of Oxford, Paris, and St Petersburg. - In excellent condition. Herlitz IV/2, 1521. OCLC 3117215.
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Carlyle, J[oseph] D[acre].
Specimens of Arabian Poetry, From the Earliest Time to the Extinction of the Kaliphat, With Some Account of the Authors. The Second Edition. London, W. Bulmer for T. Cadell and W. Davies, 1810.
Large 8vo. XVI, 143, (1), 70 pp. With 1 engr. plate of music. Contemp. full calf with giltstamped cover borders, attractively gilt spine and green gilt spine label. Second, posthumous edition, first published in Cambridge in 1796. Poets include Lebid ben Rabiat Alamary, Hassan Alasady, Abd Almalec Alharithy, Abu Saher Alhedily, Hatem Tai, Jaafer ben Alba, Alfadhel ibn Alabas, Meskin Aldaramy, Nabegat Beni Jaid, Imam Shafay Mohammed ben Idris, Ibrahim ben Adham, Isaac Almousely, Abu Mohammed, Abd Alsalam ben Ragban, Ibn Alalaf Alnaharwany, etc. The Arabic text follows the English translation (with separate page count). J. D. Carlyle (1759-1804) was professor of Arabic in the University of Cambridge. He was appointed chaplain by Lord Elgin to the embassy at Constantinople in 1799, and pursued his researches in Eastern literature in a tour through Asia Minor, Palestine, Greece and Italy, collecting in his travels several valuable Greek and Syriac manuscripts. - Occasional browning to text; covers sunned in places. A handsome copy from the library of John Pulteney with his engr. armorial bookplate to front pastedown. BMC 4:1258.1197. Gay 3436. Graesse II, 49. OCLC 2770074.
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Ibn Sidah, Abu l-Hasan `Ali.
Kitab al-Mukhassas. Bulaq, Al-Matba al-Kubra al-Amiriya, 1898-1903.
4to. 17 parts in 5 vols. Contemp. half calf. Principal work of Ibn Sîdah (1007-1066), the great blind Andalusian lexicographer: the most important Arabic encyclopedia and dictionary. Lemmas are arranged in groups based on different classes of words. Two manuscripts are preserved: one in Cairo (dated 1202) and one in the Escorial. - Occasional edge wear; some browning and brownstaining. A good copy. GAL I, p. 308. EI II, 445. OCLC 20111625.
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Ludolfo, Jobo.
Sciagraphia historiae Aethiopicae, sive regni Abessinorum, quod vulgo perperam Presbyteri Johannis vocatur, deo volente, aliquando in lucvem proditurae. Jenae, ex Officina Orientali Samuelis Krebsii, 1676.
Title page and 38 unnumbered pages of text. Half cloth binding from around 1870 with gilt spine-lettering and marbled boards. This is a preliminary outline of the material to be covered extensively in Ludolf's "Istoria Aethiopica", which was published in three volumes from 1681 to 1693. Job Ludolf, a German German scholar, and the "founder of Ethiopian studies" (Katalog der Eutiner Landesbibliothek) gathered the most important information available about Ethiopia in his time, working for a time in collaboration with one of the Ethiopian monks who stayed in Rome. In addition to his monumental history of the country, he wrote dictionaries and grammars of Ge'ez and Amharic. His intensive studies of Ethiopian culture and life made his work the best 17thcentury source on the region described. "A most important work on Abyssinia" (cf. Paulitschke), "of an importance transcending his own time". Very good condition outside, text shows browning and foxing. Stamp on reverse of title page. A particularly scarce and hardly known work, preceding Ludolf's famous publication on Ethiopia by a full 5 years and at the same time Ludolf's very first publication!
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Markham, Gervase.
Cavalarice, or The English Horseman. [...] Newly imprinted, corrected & augmented, with many worthy secrects not before knowne. (London, Edward Allde for Edward White, 1616-)1617.
8 parts in one vol. Titles within wide woodcut borders and numerous woodcut illustrations throughout. Contemporary speckled calf, rebacked preserving original label on spine, 8vo. Second edition of this important manual of riding, breeding, hunting, farriery and veterinary matters (following the first of 1607), by one of the earliest western owners of and dealers in Arabian horses. Markham praises the virtues of Turkish and Barb horses, which are said to be "beyond all horses whatsoever for delicacie of shape and proportion, insomuch that the most curious painter cannot with all his Art amend their naturall lineaments. They are to be knowne before all horses by the finenesse of their proportions, especially their heades and necks, which Nature hath so well shap'd, and plac'd, that they commonly save Art his greatest labour: they are swift beyond other forraigne horses, and to that use in England we only imploy them [...]". With notes on saddles and bits (several illustrated), as well as numerous cures for horse ailments. - "Divided into eight books with separate titles. The 2nd and 3rd books bear the date of 1616" (Huth). The title page itself bears no imprint, but rather has the word "Cavalarice" sandwiched between the dates "16" and "17". - Occasional slight browning or marginal waterstaining; several small wormholes to margins near end. Title with dated 1745 inscription, 17th century ink annotation to title verso (traced by a later hand), 20th century ink annotation and tipped-in auction catalogue description to front free endpaper. From the library of Francis McIlhenny Stifler with his bookplate to front pastedown. Scarce; only three copies of this edition sold at auction in the last 30 years. BM-STC 17335. Poynter 19.2. OCLC 18813278. Cf. Huth 15. Podeschi/Mellon 18. Graesse IV, 403. Mennessier de la Lance II, 156. Not in Wellcome.
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Pococke, Edward.
Specimen historiae Arabum [...]. Accessit historia veterum Arabum ex Abu'l Feda: cura Antonii I. Sylvestre de Sacy. Edidit Josephus White. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1806.
Large 4to. XV, (1), 573, (3) pp. Title-page with engraved illustration, aquatint frontispiece (author's portrait) by W. N. Gardiner after S. Harding and 1 full-page plate, drawn and etched by J. Storer. Set in roman and Arabic types, with incidental Greek and Hebrew. Contemporary boards, spine with printed label. Untrimmed, leaving all deckles intact. Second edition of Pococke's elaborate "Specimen historiae Arabum", first published in 1650. Based on Bar Hebraeus's "Mukhtasar fî'l-Duwal", it includes detailed essays on Arabic science, literature, religion, and history. The main text set in Richardson's long-bodied English Arabic, with the notes in Caslon's Arabic types. - Slightly browned, otherwise in very good condition and wholly untrimmed. From the library of the Ducs de Luynes at the Château de Dampierre: their bookplate reproducing the arms of Charles Marie d'Albert de Luynes (1783-1839), 7th Duc de Luynes. Schnurrer 140. OCLC 643939358. Cf. Fück 88 (1650 ed.). Graesse V, 373 (1648 ed.).
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Roberts, A.
The adventures of (Mr T. S.) an English merchant, taken prisoner by the Turks of Algiers, and carried into the inland countries of Africa: with a description of the kingdom of Algiers, of all the towns and places of note thereabouts. Whereunto is added a relation of the chief commodities of the countrey, and of the actions and manners of the people. Written first by the author, and fitted for the publick view by A. Roberts. London, (William Wilson and) Moses Pitt, 1670.
Small 8vo. (8), 252 [but 254], (2) pp. (includes final leaf of ads). Contemporary calf, rebacked. First edition of this extraordinary account of an Englishman’s capture by Barbary pirates and subsequent adventures as a slave in Algeria. The narrative is framed as an authentic journal of a deceased traveller, prepared for the press by a friend of the departed. Through this mechanism the reader is taken into a proto-novelistic fantasy, albeit one that must have been informed by genuine experience of Eastern travel. As a slave under numerous masters the author tricks his way variously into employment as the cook to the King of Algiers, is then demoted to Keeper of the King’s Bath and secretly fathers a daughter with one of the King’s wives. After an unsuccessful stint as a gardener’s assistant he journeys in the service of an officer, collecting tribute money with the Algerian army and offers his services as an advisor to the Ottoman governor of Tlemcen. He recounts observations on the various peoples encountered and their customs and peculiarities, marvelling at flying serpents, lions and ostriches and skirmishing with an army of Arabs. Against a backdrop of mosques, minarets and palaces, the narrative is peppered with anecdotes of meetings with Barbary pirates, European renegados, and dalliances with alluring women of the Maghreb. - The author takes particular relish in recounting the details of his sexual adventures: "the women in this country keep much at home, but their minds and affections are more wandering abroad, because they are so recluse; whereas if they had as much liberty as in other countries they would not be so furiously debauch’d: their husbands keep strict guard over them, that when they can escape their eyes, they give the reins to their passion, and labour to satisfy themselves more abundantly; stolen waters are sweet: the more they are forbidden and hindered from variety, the more pleasure and satisfaction they fancy in it [...] had my design been to make conquests in the Empire of Love, I think none could have been more happy [...] this good opinion of my ability spread & increased wonderfully in the town [...]". A separate appended section offers directions for navigating the Barbary coast. The work is of value both as a travel narrative and as a proto-novel reflecting the European fascination with the Orient. This is one of four journeys undertaken by Englishmen in the Ottoman Mediterranean analysed recently by Gerald Maclean in his 2004 study "The rise of Oriental travel: English visitors to the Ottoman Empire, 1580-1720". - Provenance: small stamp of Bibliothèque Generale, Rabat, to title, first leaf of dedication, and first leaf of text. Small ownership stamp of Alexander Gardyne, 1883, to verso of title. Manuscript bookplate of Henry White, Lichfield, 1820, to pastedown. A very good copy. Playfair, Morocco, 244. Playfair, Algeria, 155. Pforzheimer, 846. Wing S152. Not in Blackmer or Atabey.
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[Urquhart, David].
Turkey and its resources: its municipal organization and free trade; the state and prospects of English commerce in the East, the new administration of Greece, its revenue and national possessions. London, Saunders and Otley, 1833.
8vo. First edition. XV, (1), 328 pp. With lithographic map bound as frontispiece. First edition; flyleaf inscribed by the author to "Mr A. Regnaudin". Important overview of Turkish trade, resources, infrastructure and municipal organisation by the diplomat David Urquhart (1805-77). After two and a half years fighting in the Greek war of independence, Urquhart was invited to accompany Sir Stratford Canning to Constantinople in November 1831 as an advisor during negotiations to settle the Greek boundary. In 1832 Urquhart was sent to Albania to cultivate the support of Rechid Pasha, leading advisor to the Turkish sultan. Urquhart became a great supporter of Turkey, spending most of 1834 in the country, and encouraged the British government to ally itself with Turkey against Egypt. This substantial book was written to inform the British political class of the possible commercial benefits of an Anglo-Turkish alliance. - Some negligible toning to first few leaves. Very good, uncut in original grey paper-covered boards, spine with original printed label, light wear to extremities. Scarce, particularly in original condition as here. Goldsmiths’ 27883. OCLC 65261681.
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Segalen, Victor, Gilbert de Voisins and Jean Lartigue.
Mission archéologique en Chine (1914). L'art funéraire a l'époque des Han. Paris, Paul Geuthner, 1923-1935.
1 text volume (4to) and 2 atlas volumes (38.5 x 28 cm). (6), 304 pp. XI, (5) pp. 4 ff. With 121 illustrations in text and 144 collotype plates in atlas. Text volume in original printed paper wrappers. Atlas in original half cloth, printed paper sides. First edition of an art-historical work on Chinese funeral monuments, dating mainly from the Han dynasty. The work is compiled and written by the French archaeologists Gilbert de Voisins (1877-1939), Jean Lartigue (1886-1940) and Victor Segalen (1878-1919), who was in charge of the expedition. The expedition was cut off early due to the First World War. The two atlasses contain 144 loose collotype plates, showing statues, tombs, mausolea, reliefs and monuments as well as some of the sites, covering the area's of Nanjing, Shanxi, and Sichuan. Scientific descriptions of the plates are given in the text volume, along with small maps of the area, plans of the excavation sites and tombs and schematical reproductions of the artefacts. - Binding slightly rubbed along the extremities. Text volume and plates browned. Overall a very good copy. Couling, p.501.
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Amira, Georgius Michaelis.
[Grammatiqi suraya aw kaldayata (...)]. Grammatica Syriaca, sive Chaldaica. Rome, Giacomo Luna, Tipografia Medicea Orientale (in Typographia Linguarum externarum), 1596.
4to. (44), 480 pp. Contemporary limp vellum with ms. spine title. First - and likely only - edition. The first large-scale Syriac grammar, the third ever written (following those of Caninius, 1554, and Widmanstetter, 1555). Composed by the Maronite priest Jiris Ibn Mikha'il ibn 'Amira, it was printed by the Maronite scholar Ya'qub ibn Hilal (Giacomo Luna), who worked at the Medicean Press under Raimondi and was responsible for the Arabic and Syriac publications issued between 1590 and 1594. In 1595 he started printing on his own, and possibly took over some of the types of the Vatican Press. The work is listed as a Propaganda Press imprint ("olim typis nostris impressi") in Amadatius's 1773 "Catalogus", which shows the continuity that was felt to exist between the Medicean Press, the intermediate stage of Luna and Stephanus Paulinus, and the Propaganda Press. In the preface Raimondi is mentioned as the instigator of the work. - The 24 pt Syriac "serto" types were cut in 1590 by Jean Cavaillon for the Medicean Press. In the beginning a Syriac alphabet is presented, in three different scripts: "estrangelo" (this word possibly here used for the first time), "serto", and a Nestorian script possibly in type. This Nestorian script, a cursive form of estrangelo, is introduced here for the first time. In 1633 a slightly different type-face was used for Bellarmino's Catechism. - Some browning and brownstaining throughout, as common; the first few quires loosened. 18th century library stamps to title page; bookplate of Flavio Camillo Borghese, Prince of Sulmona (1902-80), on pastedown. Quite rare; a second edition, supposedly produced in 1645 (cf. Nasrallah, p. 10), is not attested in libraries. Edit 16, CNCE 1541. Adams A 965. BM-STC Italian 356 (s. v. "Jiris"). Brunet I, 231. Zenker, p. 132, no. 1534. Smitskamp, PO 184. Vater/Jülg 388. Nestle 13. Duverdier, Impressions, 198. OCLC 7238840.
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[Blisset, Captain].
Travels in South-Western Asia. Dublin, J. Jones, 1823.
12mo. 180 pp. Rebound in green buckram. Title page with engraved vignette of a Kangaroo and three full page engraved plates. First edition. - A third hand account of the travels of one Captain Blisset, "an Englishman of birth and large fortune", in company with William Walsh, from Bombay, to the Arabian Gulf, having toured which they pass on to Muscat and Mecca, thence to the Holy Land. Nothing seems to be known of Blisset. Possibly a fictitious account, but the detail seems firmly based on fact, save for the incongruous Kangaroo on the title page.
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Constantinople Peepshow.
La Fête du Bairam à Constantinople. / Das Bairams-Fest in Constantinopel. / The bairam ad Konstantinople. [Paris?], ca. 1815.
Oblong 8vo (168 x 228 mm). Hand-coloured lithographed upper cover and 7 hand-coloured lithographed scenes bound concertina-style and extending to approximately 850 mm. A fine example of a peepshow, consisting of six cut away scenes and one back scene on the inside of the lower cover. When viewed through the holes in the upper cover a lively, three-dimensional scene is revealed, a festival crowd in a long street of Constantinople, terminating at the port. An intact example of a fragile piece. No copies recorded in OCLC. - Some soiling and wear to cover, bellows intact, minor damage to a few figures, minor spots of toning.
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Frenzel, F. A.
Joseph wird verkauft. Berlin, A. Sacco, ca 1860.
Toned lithograph. 375:540 mm. From a series of illustrations depicting the Old Testament story of Joseph within oriental scenery of bedouins, palms, and camels. Joseph (Yusuf) is regarded by Muslims as a prophet (Qur'an, suras vi, 84; xl, 34), and a whole chapter Yusuf (sura xii) is devoted to him, the only instance in the Qur'an in which an entire chapter is devoted to a complete story of a prophet. - A few edge flaws, some repaired, with some browning and staining.
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Langren, H. F. van.
Deliniantur in hac tabula, Orae maritimae Abexiae, freti Mecani: al Maris Rubri-Arabiae [...].
Copper engraving (from J. Huygen van Linschoten, Itinerario, 1596). Printed on 2 joined sheets. 385 x 535 mm. Matted. Famous map of the Arabian Sea between Cyprus and northern Sumatra from one of the ed. 1596-1644. "Probably the first detailed navigation chart printed for the Indian Ocean and the Arabian sea" (Al Ankary 148). Tibbetts 46. Al Ankary 148f. Gole, Early Maps 8. Schilder, MCN V, p. 140 & VII, p. 220/1. Clancy 70. Clancy/R. 67 (all illustrated).
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Nunez, Antonio [i. e., Victorino José da Costa].
Relação do admiravel phenomeno, que appareceo na noyte de 5 de Agosto deste presente anno sobre a Cidade de Constantinopla, es do discurso, que sobre à sua observação fez hum Araba, traduzida do idioma Italiano, e escrita no Portuguez. Lisbon, Miguel Rodrigues, 1732.
4to. 8 pp. Early 20th c. wrappers, using a contemporary French print as a dust jacket. Rare account of a celestial phenomenon observed in the early days of August 1732 over the Seraglio in Constantinople, purportedly accommodating information translated from Arabic first into Italian and then into Portuguese. - Some staining; traces of vertical and horizontal folds trat preceded the binding (with a few minor holes in the paper along the folds). Da Silva (Dicc. Bibliogr. Portuguez) VII, p. 445, no. 226 (s. v. da Costa). OCLC 35580751.
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[Slavery].
Der Sclavenhandel. La vente d'Esclaves. No place, ca 1800.
270 x 400 mm. Aquatint in contemporary hand colour, engraved by "J. L. T." after "J. R. P." Three partly exposed women before a large tent, being advertised and inspected by several men dressed in fine oriental garb. On the left is another woman whose price is under discussion, while the background shows date palms and two dromedaries. - Rather severely stained with waterstains and a few small holes in the blank margin; some scuff marks in the image; trimmed closely with loss to lower left corner. A very appealing print in unsophisticated condition. Rare.
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Thomson, Charles.
The History of Mahomet, That Grand Impostor. Glasgow, J. & M. Robertson, 1783.
8vo. 40 pp. Modern marbled wrappers. Third edition, following two editions published in Edinburgh in 1781 and 1782. The pamphlet purports to give "a minute account of his parentage, rise and progress, his miraculous journey to Jerusalem, and from thence, through the seven Heavens. Their distance one from another. His access to the Divine Presence; and what marvellous things he saw and heard. His robberies and wars. His wives and concubines; with a particular account of his death and burial. Also, an account of the principal tenets of religions taught by that impostor and his followers, etc." - Browned throughout; final leaf remargined. Rare in all editions. OCLC 316386491. ESTC T167642. Not in Chauvin or Gay.
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