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Philby, Harry St John Bridger.
Routes in South West Arabia. From surveys made by J. B. Philby. London, 1938.
Colour-printed map (56 x 36 cm). Not in Al Ankary; Al-Qasimi.
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Pinkerton, John.
Arabia. London, Cadell & Davies, 1813.
Engraved map (56 x 77 cm), hand-coloured in outline. Scale 1: 4,300,000. A rather large English map of the Arabian peninsula, with detail starting to appear in the interior, especially around Oman. Al-Qasimi 222. Cf. Alai, General maps E.260 (1811 ed.).
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Pinkerton, John.
Arabia. London, 1813.
Hand-coloured engraved map (775 x 554 mm). Stunning large format map of Saudi Arabia, the Persian Gulf, Red Sea and vicinity. The map is dominated by the Great Desert and Province of Neged. Marvelous detail of the mountains, rivers etc. Highly detailed regional map, one of the best regional maps of the area to appear in an English Atlas during the period. Pinkerton's now rare elephant folio atlas is one of the best engraved works of the period. While lesser known than the more common atlases by Cary & Thomson, it is a superior work, especially in the detail of the maps. Not in Tibbets, Al-Qasimi and Al Ankary.
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Playfair, James.
Arabia, Drawn and engraved for Dr Playfair's Atlas. Edinburgh, MacReadie, Skelly & Co., 1821.
Engraved map (30 x 48 cm), hand-coloured in outline. Scottish map of the Arabian Peninsula. Old library ink stamp on verso. Al-Qasimi 232.
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[R.G.S.].
Rub' al Khali from Dhufar to Doha. London, 1931.
Colour-printed map (56 x 40 cm). The route of Bertram Thomas’s epic traverse of the Empty Quarter from Dhufar to Doha. Al-Qasimi 286.
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Reichard, Christian Gottlieb.
Persien nach seinem neuesten Zustande in das Oestliche und Westliche Reich eingeteilt. Weimar, Geographisches Institut, 1804.
Hand-coloured engraved map (740 x 555 mm). A fascinating 1804 map of Persia by Christian Gottlieb Reichard. It covers from the Black Sea south as far as the Gulf and east as far as Punjab in India, including the modern day nations of Iran, Iraq, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The map identifies numerous towns, villages, deserts, mountain ranges, river systems and a host of other topographical features. The map is color coded according to territories and boundaries. The map curiously divides the country, as the title suggests, into the Eastern and Western Empire, suggesting suspicious political evidence. Furthermore, the islands in the Gulf are also erroneously shown as independent territories, suggesting political aspirations of the time. The map represents Persia under the Qajar Dynasty. In 1794, Aga Muhammad Khan of the Qajar Dynasty overthrew Loft Ali Khan, the last Shah of the Zand Dynasty, and relocated the capital to the new city of Tehran. The subsequent era, the Qajar Dynasty, witnessed numerous military conflicts with the rising powers of Imperial Russia and the loss of much of Persia's territory. Al-Qasimi 218. Not in Tibbetts, Al Ankary.
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Ruscelli, Girolamo.
Arabia Felice nuova tavola. Venice, Vincenzo Valgrisi, c. 1561.
190 x 260 mm. Ruscelli's modern map of Arabia from his 'La Geographi di Claudio Tolomeo'. A feature of this first state is that no map has a platemark at top: two maps were engraved on the same plate and the resulting sheet halved. Tibbetts 27.
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Sanson, Nicolas.
Estats de L'Empire du Grand Seigneur des Turqs ou Sultan des Ottomans en Asie, en Afrique, et en Europe. Paris, 1654.
Engraved map (42 x 56 cm), coloured in outline. Map of the Turkish Empire, showing Ottoman possessions in the Balkans, Eastern Mediterranean, Egypt and Arabia and marking topography and settlements. Al Ankary 59. Al-Qasimi 60. Tibbetts 99.
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Stanford, Edward.
Countries between Constantinople & Calcutta including Turkey in Asia, Persia, Afghanistan & Turkestan. London, 1885.
Large folding map (64 x 86 cm), hand-coloured and mounted on linen. Scale 1:6,969,000. Alai, General maps E.323. Not in Al Ankary; Al-Qasimi.
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Tallis, John.
Persia. London, Rogers, 1851.
Hand-coloured engraved map (272 x 370 mm). Attractive full color example of this decorative map of Persia. Includes decorative vignettes of the Ispahan, Kurds, a Bactian Camel and a Persian on Horseback. Engraved for R. Montgomery Martin's Illustrated Atlas. Tallis was one of the last great decorative map makers. His maps are prized for the wonderful vignettes of indigenous scenes, people, etc. Al-Qasimi 260. Not in Tibbets and Al Ankary.
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[Kitab alf laylah wa-laylah - German].
Tausend und Eine Nacht. Arabische Erzählungen. Zum erstenmal aus einer Tunesischen Handschrift ergänzt und vollständig übersetzt von Max. Habicht, F. H. van der Hagen und Karl Schall. Breslau, Josef Max, 1825.
Small 8vo. 15 vols., uniformly bound in near-contemporary half calf with gilt spine and red spine labels. First printing of this German edition, based on a complete translation prepared by Antoine Galland (1646-1715). The so-called "Galland ms." which he had bought in 1701 is the oldest Arabic text extant (dating from 1450 or later). Maximilian Habicht (1775-1839) lived in Paris for a decade as a member of the Prussian delegation. He knew vernacular Arabic well and separately published an edition of the Arabic text of the "Nights" (cf. Fück). - Slightly browned; bookplates of the Viennese collector Rudolf Jelinek on pastedowns; collector's stamps to titles. Chauvin IV, 248. Hayn/Gotendorf V, 276. Cf. Fück 157.
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Teesdale, Henry.
Persia and Arabia. London, 1847.
Engraved map (41 x 33 cm), hand-coloured in outline. Al-Qasimi 243.
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Thesiger, W.
Southern Arabia. A Journey Through Southern Rub el Khali. October 1945 to February 1946. London, 1946.
Colour-printed map (66 x 46 cm). Not in Al Ankary; Al-Qasimi.
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Tholuck, Friedrich August Gottreu.
Ssufismus sive theosophia Persarum pantheistica quam e mss. Bibliothecae Regiae Berolinensis Persicis, Arabicis, Turcicis [...]. Berlin, Ferdinand Dümmler (typis Haynianis), 1821.
8vo. XII, 331, (1), 40 pp. (appendix printed in Arabic, Persian, and Ottoman Turkish). Contemporary papered boards with ms. spine label. First edition. - Dissertation of the German theologian August Tholuck (1799-1877), a study of Sufism and oriental Pantheism composed because an illness prevented him at the time from accepting the chair of oriental languages and Old Testament exegesis at Dorpat. "Still worth reading" (Nicholson). While Schleiermacher criticised the work as untheological, the University of Jena accorded Tholuck an honorary doctorate in 1822 on the strength of his Persian studies. As professor of Old Testament studies in Berlin and Halle, Tholuck would go on to influence many American theologians, including the Methodist John Fletcher Hurst and Philip Schaff. - A contemporary inkstain to the first few pages. Inscribed by the author on the flyleaf: "Seinem innigst verehrten 'Nomodidaskalos en Kyrio' [Greek], der ihn zu Jesu wieß / der Vf." ("To his dearly beloved Instructor of Law in the Lord, who showed him the path to Jesus, from the author"). The recipient of this gift was likely the church historian Johann August Wilhelm Neander (1789-1850), in whose collection the volume was before the entire library was acquired by the American banker Roswell S. Burrows (1798-1884) for the Rochester Theological Seminary in New York (their printed shelfmark label of "Neander Library" on the front pastedown). A good copy. ADB 38, 55. Herzog/H. XIX, 697. Nicholson, the Mystics of Islam, p. 76. OCLC 7436665.
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Winter, Anthony.
L'Arabie Petree, Deserte, et Heureuse. Utrecht, 1683.
Engraved map (19 x 25 cm), contemporary hand-coloured. Seventeenth century map of Arabia, engraved by de Winter after Sanson.
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Zatta, Antonio.
Imperium Alexandri Magni. Venice, 1785.
Engraved map (38 x 47 cm), partly coloured in outline. Map of the Empire of Alexander the Great stretching from Greece, through Turkey and Persia and into North-West India. Alai, Special maps E.68. Al Ankary 228.
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Abu-'l-Ma`ani al-Bagdadi, Muhammad / Hammer-Purgstall, Joseph von.
Juwelenschnüre Abul-Maani's (des Vaters der Bedeutungen) das ist Bruchstücke eines unbekannten persischen Dichters. Vienna, (van Ghelen'sche Erben für) Anton Doll, 1822.
8vo. XIX, (1), 196 pp. Contemporary calf with giltstamped cover borders, gilt spine, gilt cover dedication; leading edges gilt; all edges gilt. First edition, second impression with corrected title page. Hammer's German translation of verses by a 16th-century dervish residing in Constantinople. - From the library of the Swedish diplomat Ulf Torsten Undén (1877-1962) with his ownership "U. T. Undén" signed twice to endpapers. Goedeke VII, 763, 60. Wurzbach VII, 276, 42. WG² 28. Hayn/Gotendorf III, 498. OCLC 41405611.
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[Après de Mannevillette, Jean-Baptiste d'].
Carte du Golfe Persique, depuis Bassora jusqu'au Cap Rasalgate. [Paris & Brest, Demonville, 1775].
Engraved map, scale ca. 1:1 900,000. 714 x 529 mm. Original outline colour. Includes a smaller inset map: Plan des Isles Karak et Korgo et de la Baye de Bundereek. This fine, rare nautical map of the Arabian Gulf forms part of the famous "Neptune Oriental", a highly regarded collection of maps of the Middle and Far Eastern coasts which the author, the French hydrographer d’Après de Mannevillette (1707-80), had mapped during his time as captain for the French East India Company. The collection was first published in 1745, but redrawn and newly engraved by Guillaume-Nicolas Delahaye for the 1775 edition. The chart (plate 28 in the volume) is stated to be based on information collected by captain René Julien Le Floch de La Carriere and in many respects resembles the roughly contemporaneous works of William Herbert (Al Ankary no. 190) and d'Anville (Al Ankary no. 211). About the present map (in its 1745 version), Zoltán Biedermann writes, "It is interesting to note that, despite the fact that the shape of the Gulf is rooted in the Dutch tradition that we have come to name after Cornelis Roobacker, there are many new place names that were not there in the earlier decades. Like some other items from this period, this map is thus a precious document of the shifting commercial geography of Persia and the Persian Gulf" (Historical Atlas of the Persian Gulf, p. 290). Although the 1775 issue departs but little from its release three decades earlier, there are a number of differences: most notably, the new inset plan of the Kharg and Kharko Islands, and the inclusion of an island near Bahrain identified as "Deh-Rogn" - in fact, an early reference to Qatar; while "deh" means "village", "Rogn" signifies Ras Rakan at the northern tip of the Qatar peninsula, a prominent navigational landmark. - Evenly browned, with traces of insignificant waterstaining. A good copy. Cordier (Sinica) col. 134 ("superbe ouvrage"). OCLC 165808168. Cf. Tooley I, p. 40. Tibbetts no. 265. Historical Atlas of the Persian Gulf (Brepols 2006) no. 74 (the 1745 edition, unidentified, pictured in two sizes: p. 290 and pp. 292f.). Not in Al-Qasimi (2nd ed.). Not in Al Ankary (but cf. nos. 208f. for two other maps by Mannevillette - the Gulf of Aden and the port of Jeddah - hailed as "extremely accurate" and supplying "detailed information").
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[Ibn Sina (Avicenna)]. Arcolani, Giovanni.
De febribus [...] in Avic[ennae] quarti canonis fen primam. Dilucida atque optima expositio [...]. Venice, heirs of Lucantonio Giunta, 1560.
Folio (227 x 317 mm). (18), 191 ff. (without final blank). Printer's device on title page and, in a different version, on the last page. Contemporary vellum. Traces of ties. First issue under this title, previously released as "Expositio in primam fen quarti canonis Avicennae" (1506). A commentary (with the text, in the version of Gerardus Cremonensis) of book four, part (fen) one of Avicenna's systematic "Canon of Medicine", written in Arabic but widely translated throughout the Middle Ages and the basis of medical training in the West as late as the mid-17th century. It continues in use to this day in parts of the Arab world. Through this encyclopedic work, the author exerted "perhaps a wider influence in the eastern and western hemispheres than any other Islamic thinker" (PMM). "The 'Qanun' [...] contains some of the most illuminating thoughts pertaining to distinction of mediastinitis from pleurisy; contagious nature of phthisis; distribution of diseases by water and soil; careful description of skin troubles; of sexual diseases and perversions; of nervous ailments" (Sarton, Introduction to the History of Science). The present part is dedicated to a discussion of feverish illnesses. - 17th century ownership "Bernardinus Statius Phys." on flyleaf. Some brownstaining throughout, as common; some worming to spine. Still a good copy. Edit 16, CNCE 2345. Adams A 1541. Durling 245. Cf. Wellcome I, 387 (only the Venice reprint). PMM 11.
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Benzelius, Erik & Celsius, Olof.
Catalogus centuriae librorum rarissimorum manuscript. & partim impressorum, Arabicorum, Persicorum, Turcicorum, Graecorum, Latinorum, &c. Uppsala, Sparvenfeld, 1706.
Small 4to. (6), 74 pp. With a woodcut garland of fruits, leaves and nuts on the title-page, 1 woodcut headpiece and 1 woodcut decorated initial. Set in roman, italic, Arabic and Greek type. Later paper wrapper. Catalogue of the collection of 126 Persian, Arabian, Turkish, Greek, Latin and other books and manuscripts donated to the Library of the University of Uppsala by the diplomat Johan Gabriel Sparwenfeld (1655-1727). It was compiled by the Swedish scholars Eric Benzelius the younger (1670-1756) and Olaus Celsius the elder (1675-1743). The main series of manuscripts, described in great detail, includes 41 in Arabic, Persian and Turkish, 8 in Greek (one dating back to the eighth century) and 12 in Latin and modern European languages. These are followed by 42 printed books including 2 in Chinese, several in Arabic, the 1581 Ostrog Bible and several other exotic languages, including Irish (set in Anglo-Saxon type). A few more manuscripts (mostly Arabic) are added at the end, plus an unnumbered geographic manuscript in Chinese (3 volumes). This is the earliest catalogue of the Uppsala University Library's collections. The Arabic, Persian and Turkish titles are set in a large Arabic type cut for the physician and orientalist Peter Kirsten by the Swedish punchcutter Peter von Selow (who served his apprenticeship under Tycho Brahe) and first used at Breslau in 1608. Werner, printer to the university at Uppsala since 1701, seems to have been the first Swedish printer to use types by Nicolaus Kis, two of his italics and one roman appearing in the present book, though not the roman used for the main text. After finishing his studies at Uppsala, Sparwenfeld travelled throughout Europe and accompanied the Swedish ambassador to Moscow, where he took an interest in Slavonic languages. On his travels he collected many precious books and manuscripts. In 1687 he returned to Stockholm, where he carried out a study of manuscripts from the ancient Goths. He travelled to Holland, France and Spain, dealing with the Blaeu printing office and mediating in the production of Georgian type cut by Nicolaus Kis for the exiled King of Georgia. In 1691 he travelled to Egypt, Syria and Tunis. Though a Protestant, he presented the manuscript of his Slavonic lexicon to Pope Innocent XII, who granted him access to the Vatican library, a rare honour for a Protestant. He returned to Sweden in 1694. He continued to correspond with scholars throughout Europe even after he retired to his estate 1712. He wrote and spoke 14 languages. - In very good condition, with only occasional very slight foxing, wholly untrimmed, preserving the deckles and point holes and with the bolts unopened. A remarkable catalogue of an extraordinary library, especially rich in Arabic manuscripts. Almqvist, Sveriges bibliogr. litteratur 2838. Smitskamp 113 (note).
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Chrysanthos, Metropolitan of Durazzo, Brusa, and Smyrna.
[Proskynetarion tes hagias poleos Hierousalem kai pases Palaistines]. Vienna, Johanna Schrämbl, 1807.
Folio (215 x 328 mm). (4), 104 pp. With engraved frontispiece and 51 leaves of plates (8 double-page-sized or folded). Near-contemporary red half morocco with gilt rules and marbled covers, spine richly gilt (loss of label). Marbled endpapers. All edges gilt. Rare description of the Holy City of Jerusalem and of the whole of Palestine; a reissue (with changed title) of the edition published by Josef Baumeister in Vienna in 1787. Previous editions had appeared in Venice in 1728, then in 1749 and 1781, while the 1787 edition boasted "a new text and different iconography" (Staikos). This latter edition is here reproduced largely unchanged save for bringing the name of the Patriarch of Jerusalem up to date (from Abraham to Anthimus), as well as that of the editor, Apostolas Boras, on the title page. "The engraving of the Patriarch on his throne is unchanged except for the name; it is signed (in Greek): 'engraved by Schindelmayer in Vienna' [...] A large-sized, impressive book" (Staikos). "A portrait of the Patriarch [Anthimus] forms the frontispiece; also, there is an illustration of the Palace of David, and a plan of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, though the view of its cross-section is quite haphazard [...] The author expands on Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Hebron, and the sacred sites of Galilee. The text is apparently more or less that of the Venice 1728 edition; apart from that, it is generously interspersed with highly appealing illustrations in the true taste of modern Greece" (cf. Tobler 135). The Viennese publisher and printer Franz Anton Schrämbl, whose company was continued by his widow Johanna after his death in 1804, specialised in reprints (often of large sets), maps, and books in Greek. Their production was one of the strongest in Vienna (cf. Frank/Frimmel, Buchwesen in Wien, p. 175f.). - Extremeties bumped; spine-ends chipped. Still a beautiful volume from the library of King George III of the United Kingdom (1738-1820) with his royal cypher on the spine. Staikos no. 28 (note p. 94). OCLC 41651327. Cf. Röhricht 1362, 1515. Tobler 124f., 135. Legrand (XVIII) 1208.
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Danckerts, Cornelis.
Nova Persiae Armeniae Antoliae et Arabiae. [Amsterdam, 1690].
Oblong folio (590 x 500 mm). Engraved map in contemporary hand colour. Decorative cartouche, compass rose. Beautiful example of Cornelis Danckerts’ map showing the Arabian Peninsula, Persia, Turkey, Cyprus, Egypt, and the eastern part of the Mediterranean. Slightly brownstained; otherwise in fine condition. Al Ankary 77.
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Erpenius, Thomas.
Rudimenta linguae Arabicae. Leiden, Boneventura and Abraham Elzevier, 1628.
Small 8vo (150 x 95 mm). (10), 172, (48) pp. With title page printed in red and black. 19th-century green sheepskin. Rare second, corrected edition of Erpenius's influential Arabic grammar. Erpenius, one of the most distinguished orientalists and by far the best Arabist of his day, published his famous "Grammatica Arabica" in 1613, followed in 1620 by the "Rudimenta linguae Arabicae", a slightly abridged version of the "Grammatica". It includes the Arabic text, with Latin transcriptions, of chapter 64 of the Quran. - Removed from the Reims Jesuit College library, with their annotation to title page ("Collegii Remensis / Societatis Jesu / Catalogo Inscriptur"). A fine copy. Aboussouan 309. Smitskamp I, 69. Schnurrer 60. STCN (3 copies). Cf. Hamilton, Europe and the Arab world 18.
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Griffith, John.
Neue Reise in Arabien, die europäische und asiatische Türkey. Nach dem Englischen für Deutsche bearbeitet von K.L.M. Müller. Leipzig, Hinrichs, 1814.
8vo. 2 volumes bound as one. (10), 125, (3) pp. (2), 154 pp. With an engraved folding frontispiece view (of Yedikule fortress in Istanbul) and 3 engraved maps (2 large folding), the view coloured, 1 map with the Ottoman-Persian border coloured in blue and red, and all three maps with the route coloured in red. Further with decorated rules on the title-pages. Set in fraktur types with incidental roman. Mid 19th-century boards covered with chemical-marbled paper, sewn on 3 recessed cords, with the arms of Friedrich Wilhelm IV, King of Prussia (crowned eagle, with the Order of the Golden Fleece) in gold on the front board, printed spine-label in sans-serif type. First and only German edition of Griffith's account of his journey (leaving England in 1785) from Smyrna (Izmir) through the Dardanelles to Constantinople (Istanbul) and back by ship, then from Smyrna overland through Turkey and (after crossing the corner of the Mediterranean) from Antioch via Aleppo and by caravan across the desert in what is now Syria and Iraq to Basra. On his return trip by ship he visited Muscat, which he also describes. For most of the journey he travelled disguised as a "poor Greek", allowing him to see people, especially in the poorer layers of society, with an intimacy not possible for most European visitors. Griffiths, a British (Edinburgh?) medical doctor, first published his account in English in 1805 as Travels in Europe, Asia Minor and Arabia. The author notes that he limits himself to "faithfully describing such things as he saw, the scenes in which he participated, and offering ... reflections which resulted from the impressions", avoiding second-hand accounts, speculations or borrowings from other publications. Although he in fact sometimes borrowed accounts of parts of Turkey published by his friend William Eton in 1798, much is reported first-hand, including his extensive travels in Anatolia and beyond. He is unabashedly critical of the Turks and the French (the English edition was published one year after Napoleon declared himself Emperor and while England and France were at war) but shows admiration for the Bedouins, noting their honesty, "liberality, kindness, and strict regard for their engagements". He describes the use of opium and tobacco, coffee houses, bazars, puppet shows, clothing of the men and women, cookery and the daily life of common people. At Muscat he saw beautiful Indian girls performing a nautch dance, which initially disgusted him, though he notes that more intimate acquaintance with the music and dance turned him into a nautch admirer. Part of the journey was made in the company of David Hays, English merchant and consul at Aleppo, his seven-year-old daughter Marianne (who spoke Arabic, Greek, French, Italian and English fluently) and an Armenian servant. Hays died during the journey around 1786 and Griffiths continued with Marianne to Basra where he arranged for her return to her mother in Aleppo, where she later married the British consul. The three maps show a detail of the Dardanelles, Asia minor, and the regions between the Mediterranean and the Gulf, each with Griffiths' route coloured in red and the last indicating with the boundary between the realms controlled by the Ottoman and Persian Empires (at this date running from the Gulf through Kurdistan) coloured blue on the Ottoman side and red on the Persian side. - With a contemporary black ink owner's stamp (oval with script "Beyer") at the head of the first text page and foot of last text page; arms on the binding of Friedrich Wilhelm IV (1795-1861), King of Prussia from 1840 to 1861; later 19th-century red ink stamp (round) of the Royal Library in Berlin on the back of each title-page; and a blue ink stamp (rectangular, in Russian) of the All-Union State Library of Foreign Literature in Moscow, established in 1921, on the back of the first title-page. With a small gap at the foot of the folding view running 2.5 cm into the image (1.5 mm wide at the edge of the image: fold shaved by the binder), a chip in the gutter margin of the second title-page and occasional minor stains, but otherwise in good condition. Binding somewhat rubbed, and spine damaged at the head and foot. Account of a 1780s journey through Turkey and the Middle East to the Gulf and back via Muscat. Cf. Atabey 530-531 (English & French eds.). Blackmer 755 (English ed.). Gay 3573 (English & French eds.). For Griffiths see also: R. Schiffer, Oriental Panorama: British Travellers in 19th Century Turkey (1999), pp. 376-377.
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[Hammer-Purgstall, Joseph von].
Rosenöl. Erstes (-Zweytes) Fläschchen, oder Sagen und Kunden des Morgenlandes aus arabischen, persischen und türkischen Quellen gesammelt. Stuttgart & Tübingen, J. G. Cotta, 1813.
8vo. XVI, 335, (1) pp. XVI, 324 pp. Modern gilt calf, bound to style, with gilt spine label. Marbled endpapers. All edges red. First edition of this early, anonymously edited and translated collection of oriental tales. A fine, nearly spotless copy. - Provenance: sold by Graupe (Berlin, 1926) in his sale of the "Orient-Bibliothek Hermann Frankl, Wien" (catalogue 63) as no. 1034 (in contemporary boards; since rebound in beautiful full calf with gilt cover rules, preserving Frankl's bookplate). Goedeke VII, 760, 32. FRA 70 (1940), p. 572 ("1814").
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Ignatius a Jesus.
Grammatica linguae persicae. Auctore patre fratre Ignatio à Jesu carmelita discalcato missionario, & vicario residentiae Tripolis, & Montis Libani. Rome, typis Sacrae Congregationis de Propaganda Fide, 1661.
Large 4to. (2), 60 pp., final blank leaf. Near-contemporary blue wrappers. Extremely rare first edition of this valuable Persian grammar printed in Rome on the presses of the "Propaganda Fide". The third work of this kind, preceded only by those of Louis de Dieu (Leiden 1639) and of Greaves (London 1649). Willems notes that G. B. Raimondi, as early as 1614, produced a grammar in Rome for the use of missionaries which remained virtually unknown in the west, but this existed only in manuscript. The grammars of Greaves and of the present author were both "largely based on De Dieu" (Smitskamp). - Ignazio di Gesù (Carlo Leonelli) was a 17th century Italian missionary. He "belonged to the Order of Discalced Carmelites, and preached the Gospel in Turkey, Asia Minor, Armenia, and Persia, where he stayed over a long period. He especially tried to convert to the Catholic faith the so-called sectarians of Saint John (in eastern Mendaï). He returned to Rome in 1650" (cf. Hoefer). An account of his travels was included in the collection of Thevenot. His present small work, though not the work of an orientalist nor indeed a scholar, is still a true grammar based on elements collected during the author's journeys. - Some browning as common, otherwise a very good, untrimmed, wide-margined copy as issued. Brunet III, 405. Schwab 863. Smitskamp 310 c.
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Manger, Samuel Hendrik Sam.
Oratio inauguralis, de incremento philologiae sacrae ab idonea Arabiae atque Palaestinae exploratione sperando. Franequerae, Gulielmus Coulon, 1762.
Folio. (4). 67, (1 blank) pp. With a woodcut coat of arms of the province of Friesland on the title-page, 1 woodcut headpiece, 1 woodcut tailpiece (plus 2 repeats) and 4 woodcut decorated initials (2 series). Set in roman and italic types with a few words of Hebrew. Modern boards, covered with grey paper, red and blue sprinkled edges. First and only edition of an inaugural lecture by Samuel Hendrik Manger (1735-1791), appointed ordinary professor of oriental languages and of Hebrew antiquities at the University of Franeker in 1760. Partly under the influence of the orientalist Albert Schultens, Manger valued Arabic studies for the insights they gave into Old Testament scholarship. In his present inaugural lecture, he discusses the controversial expedition to Palestine that several scholars were planning to make in that year. It shows his interest in archaeological research carried out in expeditions instigated by the German scholar Johann David Michaëlis. Manger believed they would inaugurate a new era in Biblical scholarship. - In very good condition and with very large margins, with only some minor marginal foxing in the title-page and an occasional unobtrusive small stain. STCN (3 copies); for the author: Biografisch lexicon voor de geschiedenis van het Nederlands protestantisme I, pp. 155-156; NNBW IX, col. 644.
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Meurs, Jacob van.
Nova totius Arabiae Foelicis, Petraeae, et Desertae. Amsterdam, c. 1680.
Engraved map (30 x 35 cm), contemporarily hand-coloured. Matted. A copy of the De Witt map of Arabia, with fine cartouches. Al Ankary 79. Tibbetts 137.
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Ortelius, Abraham.
Persici sive Sophorum Regni Typus. Antwerp, Christoph Plantin, 1574.
Engraved map (35 x 50 cm), contemporarily hand-coloured and highlighted in gold. Scale 1:9,000,000. 16th century Dutch map of Persia based on the Gastaldi map, with additional new cartographic information. Van den Broecke 167 (first state). Alai, General maps E.70. Al-Qasimi 30.
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Rodi, Antonio.
Caratteri stranieri, raccolti, scritti ed incisi da Antonio Rodi nell' anno 1836. Milano, Pagani Litografia, 1836.
Oblong 4to (327 x 154 mm). Dedication leaf and 10 engraved leaves of alphabet specimens, lithographed throughout. In the publisher's original lithographed wrappers. Only edition of this collection of alphabet specimens, comprising Arabic, Syriac, Chaldaic, Hebrew (in two versions), Greek, "Illyric", "Egyptian", "Saracen", and "Indian". The author dedicated his effort to Conte Livio Benvenuti Clavello. - Slightly browned and brownstained throughout. Contemporary ink ownership "Biagio G..." on dedication leaf. Rare; only two copies in Italian libraries (Biblioteca statale di Cremona & Biblioteca nazionale Marciana, Venice). ICCU VEA\0176272.
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Russell, M[ichael] / Fraser, James B.
Länder-Gemälde des Orients, zur Verständniß der Begebenheiten unserer Zeit. Erster (-achter) Theil. Pest & Leipzig, C. A. Hartleben, 1840.
Small 8vo. 8 parts in 2 vols. Egypt: VIII, 225, (1) pp.; (4), 163, (1) pp. With 11 plates and a folding map. Palestine: XII, 169, (1) pp.; VI, 194 pp. With 9 plates and a folding map. Persia: XII, 210, (2) pp.; (III)-VII, (1), 222 pp. With 12 plates, one text illustration and a folding map. Barbary: IX, (1), 160 pp.; VIII, 216 pp. With a frontispiece, 10 plates and a folding plate. Illustrations mostly counted in the pagination. Contemporary red marbled boards with giltstamped spine labels. Uncommon, profusely illustrated series of sketches of the Middle East and Muslim Northern Africa (Egypt, Palestine, Persia, and the Barbary Coast), each in two parts, with maps of the respective regions. Translated from English accounts by August Diezmann and Johann Sporschil. The illustrations include the famous portrait of Viceroy Muhammad Ali, after Forbin's 1818 drawing published in Mengin's "Histoire de l’Egypte". The map of Persia (bound head-over-heels) includes the northern coastline of the Arabian Peninsula, showing Bahrein and the Great Pearl Bank. - Some maps rather wrinkled. Occasional foxing due to paper, binding slightly bumped at extremeties, but well-preserved on the whole. From the Library of count Ferenc Széchényi (1835-1908), grandson of the founder of the Hungarian National Library and National Museum in Budapest, with his ownership on the title page; additional bookplate of the Swiss theologian and educator Abraham Emanuel Fröhlich (1796-1865) on front pastedown. OCLC 744721949.
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(Suleiman II, Sultan) / Dominico Di Lardizabal (ed.).
Warhafftige Relation der H. Oerther zu Jerusalem, welche auß ergangenen Befehl deß Groß-Türcken anno 1690 in dem Monat April wiederumb zugestellet worden, denen mindern Brüdern, als Observaten und Reformaten deß Seraphischen Ordens S. Francisci. Vienna, Andreas Heyinger, 1692.
4to. (48) pp. All edges sprinkled in red. Disbound. Exceedingly rare separate "offprint" issue, with Heyinger's imprint and date on title page, of this account usually only encountered bound after a half-title as part of Francisco Caccia's "Monumentum Gloriae Seraphicae" (bibliographically unrecorded thus). Contains the German translation of the Sultan's mandate by which suzerainity over several holy sites in Jerusalem (particularly, two vaults in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, part of Golgotha, the Seven Arches of the Virgin, and the Stone of the Anointing) was restored to the Franciscans. Includes relevant correspondence and indulgences (all in German). - Some browning and staining. Removed from a collection; old number "23" on t. p. An early work from the press of Andreas Heyinger, active in Vienna from 1692 to 1732. Cf. VD 17, 12:113676Z.
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[Horses and Falconry].
Falknerin. Berlin, Gustav Schauer, [ca 1890].
Photo reproduction of a painting, 95 x 130 mm, mounted on studio backboard (107 x 166 mm). Photo reproduction of Josef Arpád Koppay's painting of a lady falconer seated on a horse.
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Mandeville, John.
The Voiage and Travaile of Sir John Maundevile, Kt. Which Treateth of the Way to Hierusalem: and of Marvayles of Inde, with other Islands and Countryes. London, J. Woodman, D. Lyon & C. Davis, 1725.
8vo. XVI, (8), 384, (8) pp. Title page printed in red and black. Contemporary calf with giltstamped cover fillets, rebacked to style with giltstamped red label, leading edges gilt. All edges sprinkled in red. Rare, reliable 18th-century English edition of the classic (though partly fictional) 14th-century account presented as voyages of Sir John Mandeville through Turkey, Egypt, Ethiopia, Syria, Persia, Arabia, India and the East Indies, published from a 15th-century manuscript in the Cottonian Library (MS Titus C XVI). "This is the completest edition up to date" (Cox). According to the story he set off on his travels in 1322 from Saint Albans in England, returned in 1343, wrote the present account in 1364 and died in 1371. It was originally written in French and is thought to have been compiled from various sources by Jehan d'Outremeuse (1338-1400) or Jean de Bourgoigne (d. 1372) of Liege. It includes many well-known stories and illustrations of monstrous people and animals in exotic lands. The book also includes genuine descriptions of the regions covered and gave many Europeans their first notions of the Near East, Middle East, India and East Indies. The part on Arabia includes an account of the birth of Muhammad (p. 169). - Occasional slight browning, but well-preserved. Provenance: Sold as a duplicate by the Bodleian Library (with the Radcliffe Infirmary's armorial bookplate and cancellation stamp); later in the collection of H. C. Gleave (his bookplate). Ibrahim-Hilmy II, 12. Cox I, 319. Cf. Henze III, 363 (1883 reprint of this edition). Gay 2128.
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Moulay Ismail Ibn Sharif, ruler of Morocco (1634-1727).
Diplomatic letter to the English ambassador Charles Stewart, acknowledging the desire of the English for diplomatic relations, and offering a truce and peace treaty. [Meknes?], [4 Dec. 1720 CE] / 3 Safar 1133 H.
Manuscript diplomatic letter in Arabic (total sheet approx. 430 x 575 mm), recto with 8 lines of text framed by ruled compartments incorporating penned decoration of stylised foliage and calligraphic seal in green and blue ink heightened with gold, fraying along two old folds with small losses to border, some negligible foxing and light wear to extremities. Decorated in blue and green ink heightened in gold, this diplomatic letter was sent in December 1720 by the fearsome ruler of Morocco Moulay Ismail Ibn Sharif to Charles Stewart, the English ambassador at the head of a mission sent by King George I to negotiate a peace with Morocco. The small squadron sailed from England on 24 September 1720, commanded by Commodore Stewart, who was authorised with the powers of a minister plenipotentiary to negotiate with Moulay Ismail. A treaty of peace between the two countries was signed on January 1721 at Ceuta, the terms securing the release of 296 British slaves, the free movement of British ships in Moroccan waters, and unhindered access for Moroccan ships wishing to trade with Britain. Before the embassy returned to London a conference was held in May 1721 with Pasha Hamet Ben Ali Ben Abdallah. Stewart was accompanied by John Windus, whose important account of the adventure was published as "A Journey to Mequinez" (London, 1725). - Addressed to "the Christian ambassador of the English" (i. e., Stewart), this letter in Arabic offers greetings from Moulay Ismail, followed by a statement acknowledging the English desire for a truce, close friendship and communication with Morocco, and that the potentate of the English (King George I) has despatched the embassy with this in view. Note is made of previous communications through Pasha Hamet Ben Ali Ben Abdallah and Ibn al Attar and that the content has already been ratified and agreed. He hopes that the agreement will be in accord with the expectations of the ambassador and notes the history of friendly diplomatic relations between the English and the kings of Morocco, citing the relationship between his cousin Ahmad Al Mansour (1549-1603) and Queen Elizabeth I. He continues by advising that if it is the ambassador's wish to renew that covenant and treaty and to encourage the relationship between the two countries then he shall in no way oppose it. The layout of the letter with subdivided frames is characteristic of Moroccan chancellery letters of this period (cf. J. F. P. Hopkins, Letters from Barbary 1576-1774: Arabic documents in the Public Record Office, OUP 1982).
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Al-Qabisi, Abu Al-Saqr Abd al-Aziz Bin Othman Bin Ali (Alchabitius).
[Libellus Isagogicus - Al-madkhal]. Preclarum su[m]mi in astroru[m] scientia principis Alchabitii opus ad scrutanda stellaru[m] [...]. Venice, Petrus Liechtenstein, 1521.
4to. 64 ff. With several diagrams and woodcut initials in the text and the printer's full-page woodcut device on the final page, printed in red and black. Near-contemporary limp vellum with 19th century spine label. "Early edition of Alchabitius' 'Introduction to the Mystery of Judgments from the Stars', with the 'modern' version by Antonius de Fantis. Sessa issued the same work at the same time, but Liechtenstein's edition is superior and especially esteemed for the fine woodcut in black and red (printer's mark) at the end" (Weil). Translated by Joannes Hispalensis (in 1144), with the commentary of Joannes de Saxonia. "Although al-Qabisi's education was primarily in geometry and astronomy, his principal surviving treatise, 'Al-madkhal ila sina'at ahkam al-nujum' ('Introduction into the Art of Astrology') in five sections [...], is on astrology. The book, as the title indicates, is an introductory exposition of some of the fundamental principles of genethlialogy; its present usefulness lies primarily in its quotations from the Sassanian Andarzghar literature and from al-Kindi, the Indians, Ptolemy, Dorotheus of Sidon, Masha'allah, Hermes Trismegistus, and Valens. Although completely lacking in originality, it was highly valued as a textbook [... The] Latin version was commented on by Joannes de Saxonia at Paris in 1331" (DSB). - Some traces of worming throughout, mainly confined to margins and expertly repaired. 17th century ownership "Francois Claret" to title page. Rare; a single copy in auction records since 1975. Edit 16, CNCE 834. Adams A 24. BM-STC 1. BM I, 307. IA 102.864. Essling 301. Sander 223. Houzeau/Lancaster I, 3848. DSB XI, 226. Weil, Cat. VI, 29. OCLC 46413115. Cf. M. H. Fikri, Treasures from The Arab Scientific Legacy in Europe (Qatar 2009), nos. 9f.
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[Alf Layla wa Layla - Portuguese - Gânim].
Historia de Ganem, filho de Abou Aibou, denominado o escravo de amor. Traduzida do arabio em francez, e ultimamente no idioma portuguez, por B. A. E. (Lisbon, Francisco Borges de Sousa, 1792).
Small 4to. Disbound, spine lined with a strip of black paper. Extremely rare second edition of a rare Portuguese translation of the History of Ganem, the slave of love, a story from the Arabian Nights. The story tells of Ganem, a son of a merchant from Damascus, who upon his father's death travels to Baghdad to sell his father's leftover stock. Once in Baghdad, the young Ganem falls in love with the favourite concubine of the caliph. The story is translated into Portuguese from Jean Antoine Galland's early 18th century French translation. - With spots on the first and last leaves, a stain on leaf B1 and a couple tiny holes in the outer margin of the last leaf. In good condition. OCLC 62187442. Cf. Rodrigues, Novelística estrangeira 268. Not in Chauvin (cf. VI, 188).
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Blaeu, Willem Jansz.
India quae orientalis dicitur, et insulae adiacentes. Amsterdam, 1640.
Engraved map of Southeast Asia, showing the area from India in the northwest to the southernmost part of Japan in the northeast, with the Indonesian archipelago in the south and an outline of the western part of New Guinea (now part of Indonesia). The areas depicted also include present-day Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam, as well as Cambodia, Malaysia and the Philippines.
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Butenschön, Andrea.
The Life of a Mogul Princess. Jahanara Begam, Daughter of Sahjahan. London, George Routledge & Sons, 1931.
8vo. XIII, (1), 221, (1) pp., final blank. Publisher's giltstamped black cloth. First edition of this historical novel by the Swedish oriental scholar Andrea Butenschön (1866-1947), who had studied Sanskrit in London and at the Sorbonne (where she was the first woman to be educated in this language): purportedly the translation of an autobiographical Persian manuscript written by Jahanara Begam, daughter of Shah Jahan. Inscribed by Sayajirao Gaekwad III (1863-1939), the reformist Maharaja of Baroda (a princely state in today's Gujarat), to Sultan Muhammed Shah, Aga Khan III (1877-1957), the 48th Imam of the Nizari Ismailis and a founder and the first president of the All-India Muslim League: "To H. H. The Aga Khan with kind regards of Sayaji Rao Gaekwar / Cannes 24-4-32". - Extremeties insignificantly bumped; occasional light foxing, otherwise fine. Encyclopaedia Iranica XIV.4, p. 375.
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Carcano, Francesco Sforzino da.
Tre libri de gli uccelli da rapina. Ne quali si contiene la vera cognitione dell’ arte de stroccieri, & il modo di conoscere, ammaestrare reggere and medicare tutti gli augelli rapaci. Con un trattato de cani del medesimo. Venice, Gabriel Giolito de' Ferrari, 1568.
8vo. (16), 249, (3) pp., 1 final blank leaf. With a full-page woodcut in the text (illustration of hawking instruments), woodcut initials and ornaments, printer's device on title page and different, larger device at the end. Contemporary vellum (spine professionally repaired). First edition - the edition of 1547 mentioned by Harting and Souhart does not seem to exist, propably confused with Federico Giorgi's work - of the best-known and most authoritative of 16th century Italian books on falconry, the breeding and training of falcons, their ailments, etc. "Carcano states in his Preface that this treatise is the result of forty years' experience as a falconer, and the perusal of all the Italian and French books he could find relating to Falconry [...] The author's reputation as a falconer caused this book to become very popular, and it not only passed through several editions [...], but was extensively copied by subsequent writers, as, for example, Raimondi and Turberville" (Harting, p. 142f.). "An interesting treatise on falcons and sporting dogs, with remedies for their diseases" (Schwerdt). The full-page woodcuts shows a set of veterinary instruments for use by the falconer. - Occasional slight brownstaining; a minute paper flaw to margin of fol. P3 (barely touching text). Lacks 2 leaves of dedication in the preliminaries, not bound with all copies, and the second of the two final blanks, otherwise a fine copy. Harting 267 (p. 141). Adams C 644. BM-STC Italian 148. IA 132.009. Bongi II, 271. Souhart 86. Ceresoli 132. Schwerdt I, 94.
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Procksch, [Franz], educator (1838/39-1910).
Meine Pilgerfahrt nach Jerusalem. (1902.) [Probably Vienna], Christmas 1902.
4to. German ms., ink on paper. 180 pp. (on 91 unnumbered leaves). Contemporary half calf over green cloth boards, spine on five raised bands, titled in gilt with giltstamped covers; all edges red. Bookbinder's label of Albert Günther, Vienna, on lower flyleaf. A clean and well-legible manuscript describing the author's six-week pilgrimage to Jerusalem undertaken in February and March 1902 from Vienna via Budapest, Fiume, Ancona, Rome, Naples and Messina to Alexandria, Jaffa, and Jerusalem. Proksch gives an extensive and colourful account not only of the holy sites of Palestine, which he has long wished to visit, but also of various sites in Egypt, including the Al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo and the oriental bazaars. - Dedicated to Princess Marie (Wilhelmine Franziska) "Maritschy" Auersperg (1880-1960), daughter of Prince Franz Joseph Auersperg: "Der Prinzessin Maritschy gewidmet, zur freundlichen Erinnerung an den alten Procksch" ("To Princess Maritschy, so that she may fondly remember old Procksch"). Proksch, a doctor of canon and civil law, had been the private educator of Prince Auersperg and his siblings. In 1905 the princess would marry Karl von und zu Trauttmansdorff. The family acquired Weissenegg Castle (near Mellach in Styria) in 1923; the castle library's bookplate (dated 1935) is affixed to the pastedown. Remains of a pasted shelfmark label to spine; very well preserved.
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[Reflections on Mohammedism].
Reflections on Mohammedism, and the conduct of Mohammed. Occasioned by a late learned translation and exposition of the Koran or Al Koran. London, J. Roberts, 1735.
8vo. (2), 54 pp. (wanting half title). - (Bound with) II: Henley, John. The Lord, He is God: or, The Atheist Tormented, by Sure Prognosticks of Hell Fire [...]. London, J. Roberts, 1730. 29, (1) pp. - (Bound with) III: [Lewis, Thomas. The nature of hell, the reality of hell-fire, and the eternity of hell-torments, explain'd and vindicated. London, J. Hooke & T. Bickerton, 1720]. 38 pp., (2 pp. of ads), wanting 4 pp. of prelimns including the title. - (Bound with) IV: [Oakes, Abraham]. The doctrine of hell-torments distinctly and impartially discussed. London, J. Noon, 1738. 72 pp. - (Bound with) V: [Fludger, John]. The absolute and proper eternity of hell torments fully proved from scripture, from reason, and from the natural attributes of God. London, T. Gardner, 1739. (2), 36 pp. - (Bound with) VI: Phileleutherus Dubliniensis [i.e., Patrick Delany]. Reflections upon polygamy, and the encouragement given to that practice in the scriptures of the Old Testament. London, J. Roberts, 1737. (2), 188 pp. - (Bound with) VII: [Booth, George, Earl of Warrington]. Considerations upon the institution of marriage. With some thoughts concerning the force and obligation of the matrimonial contract. Wherein is considered, how far divorces may, or ought to be allowed. London, John Whiston, 1739. VI, 154 pp. - (Bound with) VIII: [Clarke, Alured]. An essay towards the character of her late majesty Caroline, queen-consort of Great Britain, &c. London, J. & P. Knapton, 1738. (2), 46 pp. - (Bound with) IX: [Hildrop, John]. A letter to a member of Parliament, containing a proposal for bringing in a bill to revise, amend or repeal certain obsolete statutes, commonly called the ten commandments. London, R. Minors, 1738. (2), 61, (1) pp. Contemporary full calf, gilt. Only edition; rare: an apology of Islam and its Prophet, influenced by the writings of Pococke and Reland, and published a year after George Sale's "Koran", the first English Quran to be translated directly from the Arabic. The anonymous author counts among those "interested in revising 'imposture' theories by recasting Mahomet in a positive, Greco-Roman republican mold - a wise 'Arabian legislator' [...]. [This work,] occasioned by Sale's translation of the Qur'an, suggests that Islam anticipates the Protestant Reformation: Mahomet 'laid the foundations of a general and thorough Reformation, Conversion, and Re-Union in ages to come'" (H. Garcia, Islam and the English Enlightenment, 1670-1840 [2011], p. 256). From the beginning the author cautions that "no disputes ought to be conducted with more temper and moderation than those about religion, but, unluckily, none have been managed with such warmth, bitterness, and inequality" (p. 1); he defends the Prophet against unjust accusations levelled against him by his Christian detractors and closes with the admonition that young British scholars of theology would do well "to apply themselves, among their other exercises, to the study of the oriental tongues, which, upon an impartial survey of the present state of religion, seems to claim much of their attention" (p. 53f.). - Bound with this are eight other English theological works (all first or only editions) concerned with hell-fire and heresies, several written with a decidedly free-thinking slant. Binding severely rubbed and bumped; hinges cracked. Variously browned throughout with occasional staining; contemporary handwritten table of contents on loose flyleaf; second flyleaf clipped with a handwritten title "A Vol. of scarce & curious Tracts" on verso; first title page has 19th century ownership stamp "R. Blackwell". ESTC T91614. Chauvin XI, 680 (note).
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[World map].
Ottoman map of the world. N. p., ca. 1868.
Colour lithograph and stencil hand-colour. 335 x 420 mm. This uncommon Ottoman map, printed in black and blue, with original hand colour, shows the world in Mercator projection. The Ottoman Turkish alphabet was used until 1928. - Small tears in margins, with a soft fold, but in very good condition.
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Abu al-Fida Isma`il ibn `Ali (Abulfeda).
Albulfedae tabula Syriae cum excerpto geographico ex Ibn Ol Wardii geographia et historia naturali. Arabice nunc primum edidit, latine vertit, notis explanavit Io. Bernhardus Koehler. Leipzig, Schönermarck, 1766.
Large 4to. (70), 240 pp. Contemporary half calf with giltstamped spine label. First separate edition of this important mediaeval geography of the Middle East, concentrating on Syria. Printed in Latin and Arabic parallel text; edited with an extensive commentary by the versatile oriental scholar J. B. Köhler (1742-1802). Abu'l-Fida, born in Damascus in 1273, was a historian, geographer, military leader, and Sultan. The crater Abulfeda on the Moon is named after him. - Insignificant browning throughout as common; contemp. ownership (1840) to front pastedown. GAL II, 46. Ebert 29. Hamberger/Meusel IV, 189. ADB XVI, 444.
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[Monterroyo Mascarenhas, José Freire de].
Relaçam da solemne procissam de preces, que por ordem da Corte Ottomana fizeraô os Turcos na Cidade de Meca, para alcançar a assistencia de Deos contra as armas do Augustissimo Emperador de Alemanha, & mais potencias Christãas. Lisbon, na Officina de Pascoal da Sylva, 1716.
4to. 8 pp. Marbled boards. Account of a pilgrimage to Mecca ordered by the Ottoman court to invoke divine assistance against the Christian forces in the Austro-Turkish War of 1716-18. In fact, the practical value of this pilgrimage turned out to be limited: in August that same year, Prince Eugene of Savoy defeated the Turks at Petrovaradin; in 1717 he recaptured Belgrade, defeating the Turkish forces with an overwhelmingly outnumbered army; in 1718 the Treaty of Passarowitz was signed, in which the Ottomans had to surrender large areas to Habsburg Empire, which now reached its greatest territorial expanse in history. - Translated into Portuguese and published by José Freire de Monterroyo Mascarenhas (1670-1760), the polyglot editor of numerous travel accounts and topical pamphlets. Rare; OCLC lists only two copies in America (Yale, Toronto). OCLC 222370772. Cf. Apponyi 2402, 2405.
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(Amaduzzi, Giovanni Cristoforo) [ed.].
Catalogus librorum qui ex Typographio Sacrae Congreg. de Propaganda Fide variis linguis prodierunt et in eo adhuc asservantur. Rome, Typis Sac. Congreg. de Propaganda Fide, 1773.
8vo. 55, (1) pp. With woodcut printer's device on title page (Christ sending the Apostles forth to spread the Gospel). Unbound as issued. Very scarce catalogue of oriental books printed by the Propaganda Fide press. Pages 10-12 list no fewer than 28 publications in Arabic, many of which (such as Scialac's and Sionita's 1613 version of the "Doctrica Christiana") are still considered milestones of Arabic typography. Prints in other languages such as Chaldaean, Persian, Syriac, and Ottoman Turkish bear further witness to the unrivalled excellence of the Propaganda Press in the field of Middle Eastern typography. A first such catalogue had appeared in 1765; of this second, expanded edition OCLC lists no more than two copies (Tübingen and Copenhagen). - Well-preserved throughout. OCLC 465974789. Not in Besterman.
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[Arabian Gulf - WWI Operations].
East India (Military). Despatches Regarding Operations in the Persian Gulf and in Mesopotamia. London, Darling & Son, 1915.
Folio (211 x 330 mm). 54 pp. Original blue printed wrappers. Sewn. Detailed official military reports from the war theatre in the Gulf region, issued by Generals W. S. Delamain, A. A. Barrett, and J. E. Nixon between February and August 1915 (covering operations as early as November 1914), in the early months of the British Empire's Mesopotamian campaign against the Ottoman Empire, while T. E. Lawrence was still posted to the military intelligence staff at the Arab Bureau in Cairo. - A few edge and corner flaws to the first few pages.
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(Assemani, Simone).
Spiegazione di due rarissime medaglie cufiche della famiglia degli Ommiadi appartenenti al Museo Majnoni in Milano. Milan, Giulio Ferrario, 1818.
Folio (244 x 341 mm). (12) pp. With 2 engravings (one in the text, one on the title). - (Bound after) II: (Schiepati, Giuseppe / Assemani, Simone). Descrizione di alcune monete cufiche del Museo di Stefano de Mainoni. Milan, Paolo Emilio Giusti, 1820. 136 pp. With 3 engraved plates. - (And) III: Reinaud, [Joseph Toussaint]. Lettre à M. le baron Silvestre de Sacy sur la collection des monuments orientaux de [...] comte de Blacas. Paris, Firmin Didot, 1820. 16 pp. Original pink printed wrappers. 8vo. All three within contemporary green boards with giltstamped red spine label. Collection of three rare studies falling within "the rarely-entered territory of Muslim archaeology" (cf. Fück, p. 153), comprising the two final works of Simone Assemani and the first publication of Joseph Toussaint Reinaud. - In 1818, the orientalist Assemani, well known as an authority on Kufic coins through his "Museo Cufico Naniano" (1787) and, more recently, his treatise "Sopra le Monete Arabe effigiate" (1809), published his "Spiegazione", a discussion of two rare Cufic coins in Stefano de Majnoni's collection. Subsequently, Majnoni called on Assemani to identify several additional coins and in 1820 requested him to check a catalogue of his collection compiled by Giuseppe Schiepati. When Schiepati published the second work here included, "Descrizione di alcune monete cufiche", it was found to contain many unacknowledged contributions by Assemani, as well as extracts from his "Museo Cufico Naniano". Also, Schiepati’s historical comments relied on, and indeed summarized, C. O. Castiglioni’s "Monete Cufiche dell’ I. R. Museo di Milano" (1819). A controversy arose, in the course of which Schiepati was accused of plagiarism - a matter exacerbated by the fact that Assemani had died in early 1821, at the age of 69. - The third work in the volume is a slim octavo brochure, composed by Reinaud as a letter to his teacher Silvestre de Sacy reporting on the Islamic collection of the French antiquarian and diplomat Pierre de Blacas (1771-1839). Eight years later Reinaud would publish his famous, lavishly produced two-volume catalogue "Description des monumens musulmans du cabinet de M. le duc de Blacas", which made his name. - Occasional insignificant browning; Reinaud's work untrimmed, the folio works printed on large paper retaining very wide margins. From the library of Jean-Baptiste Alexandre Billard de Saint-Laumer (1814-92) with his collection drystamp to title page of "Descrizione"; the three plates interleaved with smaller sheets bearing numbered annotations, likely in his hand. I: Leitzmann 5. Achat 11216. OCLC 84477158. - II: Leitzmann 124. Brunet V, 199. Graesse VI, 301; I, 240. OCLC 52651290. - III: Leitzmann 114. OCLC 229903535.
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Bellarmin, Robert, SJ.
[Yulpana meshihaya]. (Dottrina Cristiana breve, syriace). Rome, Typis Sac. Congreg. de Propaganda Fide, 1665.
8vo. (4), 49, (1) pp. With woodcut printer's device on title page (Christ sending the Apostles forth to spread the Gospel). Modern wrappers. Very rare translation of Bellarmino's "Dottrina Cristiana breve" (the abridgement of his abridged catechism) into Syriac, translated by Ya'kubh Binyamin. With the exception of the imprint, the text surrounding the printer's device on title page, and the imprimatur on the t. p. verso, which are in Latin, the text is entirely in Syriac printed in the Estrangelo alphabet. In 1613, the Arabic version of Bellarmino's "Doctrina Christiana" had inaugurated the famous Typographia Savariana as their first book printed with Arabic types. - Only 4 copies listed by OCLC. BL Italian (17th cent.) II, 755. OCLC 792777103. This edition not in de Backer/Sommervogel, Schnurrer, or Smitskamp.
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Bergman, Franz Xaver, sculptor (1861-1936).
Bronze statue of an Arabic Qur'an scribe. [Vienna, ca 1930].
Coloured two-part bronze, cold painted. Ca. 205 x 117 x 105 mm. A scribe in oriental costume, seated on a carpet with a large removable Qur'an on a bookrest. - Recognised for his great attention to detail and use of wonderfully vibrant colours, works from Bergman’s foundry are highly prized today by collectors worldwide. F. X. Bergman was the son of a Bohemian metalwork chaser and finisher who had moved to Vienna in 1860, there founding a small bronze factory. At the turn of the century, his son Franz Xaver inherited the company and opened a new foundry, basing many of his early bronzes on designs from his father’s workshop and producing an eclectic mix of oriental, erotic and animal figure bronzes. Bergman used a cold painted technique, whereby cast bronzes were decorated in several layers of polychrome ‘dust paint.’ These layers were not fired to fix them to the bronzes, hence they are ‘cold painted’. - Very slightly rubbed. An appealing work, likely from the artist's late phase.
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