|
|
|
Galvão, Antonio.
Tratado dos descobrimentos antigos, e modernos. Feitos até a Era de 1550, com os nomes particulares das pessoas que os fizerao. Lisbon, Officina Ferreiriana, 1731.
Folio (202 x 294 mm). (16), 100 pp. Title printed in red and black. With woodcut title vignette and full-page woodcut of the author at the end of the preliminaries. 19th century half cloth. Second edition of Galvao's great history of exploration and voyages, including the Portuguese conquests on the Arabian coast, in the Gulf, and in the Kingdom of Ormus. The first edition, published in 1563, is considered virtually unobtainable, as only some five or six copies are known to exist. "This second edition, says Innocencio, 'has been equally rare for many years, since almost all copies were lost, in the house of a bookdealer, during the Lisbon earthquake'" (Borba de Moraes). Galvao's text was translated in 1601 by Hakluyt, who complained about the rarity of the first edition even then, and had to rely on a copy sent from Lisbon. - Born in 1503, Galvao was sent to India in 1527, and after distinguishing himself there, he was appointed governor of the Moluccas. He maintained a keen interest in military and religious affairs throughout his career, and spent the latter part of his life assembling accounts of the voyages that comprise this collection. He provides a relatively succinct chronological list of ancient and modern discoveries to the year 1550, including those by Columbus, Cabral, Cortés, and Pizarro. "Ce livre est divisé en deux parties: la première traite des premières navigations, y compris celles faites par les Espagnols et les Portugais dans l'océan Atlantique et aux côtes d'Afrique. La seconde partie contient toutes les découvertes faites par les Espagnols et les Portugais en Amérique et aux Indes jusqu'en l'année 1550" (Leclerc). "The author has been styled 'the founder of historical geography'. The book gives a good summary of the geographical explorations of the Portuguese and other important voyagers, including the English" (Hill). - Spine worn. Slight spotting and thumbing throughout, slight worming to lower blank margin of first 6 leaves, minor hole to blank margin of fol. M3. Sabin 26468. Borba de Moraes 289. Bosch 180. Rodrigues 1059. Palau 182.290. Leclerc 225. Innocencio I, 147, 720. Hill 670. Bibliotheca Americana 642. European Americana 731/89.
|
|
|
Hariri, al-Qasim Ibn 'Ali al-.
Kitab Maqamat al-Hariri. Beirut, Matba`at al-Ma`arif, 1873.
8vo. 564 pp. Contemporary half cloth over marbled boards with giltstamped spine. Rare Lebanese printing of the famous "Maqamat" ("Assemblies" or "Sessions") of al-Hariri of Basra (1054-1122): a virtuoso display of Arabic poetry, consisting of fifty anecdotes written in stylized prose which used to be memorized by scholars. "Al-Hariri's Maqamat tie in with the tradition of al-Hamadani. Like he, al-Hariri tells us of the experiences of an educated vagrant, Abu Zaid from Sarug. But his aim is not so much to render vividly this creature of his imagination or even his environment, but rather to invest his accounts with every syntactical and lexical finesse imaginable, and it is these, rather than the content of the narrative, that are to captivate and preoccupy the reader. This is the final flaring of the national Arab spirit: dazzling and, for the moment, pretty as fireworks, but similarly barren, ultimately fizzling out without effect" (Brockelmann). Hariri's masterpiece continued to captivate European Arabists since the 17th century (cf. Fück, 148). - Spine title reads "Fihris / pers.", misidentifying both the language and the title (copied from the pencil transliteration under the heading of the table of contents). A good copy from the library of Horst Wilfrid Brands (1992-98), professor of Turkish Studies and Islamic scholarship in Frankfurt am Main, with his ownership stamp to pastedowns. OCLC 63545591. Cf. GAL I, 276. (S I, 487, cites an 1873 Lucknow edition).
|
|
|
Tarafah ibn al-`Abd / Reiske, Johann Jacob (ed.).
Tharaphae Moallakah cum scholiis Nahas e mss. Leidensibus. Leiden, (Isaac van der Mijn for) Jean Luzac, 1742.
4to. (2), LIV, 130, (2) pp. Title printed in red and black with engraved title vignette. 1 folding genealogical table. Contemporary half calf with gilt spine and spine label (chipped). First edition; "a groundbreaking achievement" (Fück, p. 111). Reiske's unvocalised edition of Tarafah's text, with a Latin translation on opposite pages and the commentary of Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Nahhas. "The appended notes trace the poet's chain of thought and elucidate the various themes with their poetic phraeseology by comparison with parallels in other works [...] A geneaological plate visualizes the kinship between Tarafah and other northern Arabian ports, facilitating the reader's checking the chronological approaches suggested in the prologue" (ibid.). In sharp contrast to his teacher Schultens, the brilliant scholar Reiske (1716-74) was one of the first Arabists whose work was fully independent of the constraints of Biblical exegesis. - The sixth century Arab poet Tarafah was the author of the longest of the seven odes in the celebrated collection of pre-Islamic poetry "al-Mu'allaqat" (Moallakah). Some critics judge him to be the greatest of the pre-Islamic poets, if not the greatest Arab poet. - Very rare. Schnurrer 202. Fück 110. Graesse IV, 554. Van der Aa VI, 69ff. Encyc. Britt. 26, 415. OCLC 22661575.
|
|
|
Burgess, James / Cousens, Henry.
The Architectural Antiquities of Northern Gujarat, More Especially of the Districts Included in the Baroda State. London, Bernard Quaritch et al., 1903.
Colour map and 111 plates and plans, some collotype, one double-page, 4 pp. advertisements at end. Original cloth. First and only edition of this study of mainly Hindu and Jaina architecture in the state of Gujarat on the western coast of India, superbly illustrated with collotypes. Published as volume IX of the Archaeological Survey of Western India. - The Scottish archaeologist James Burgess (1832-1916), founder of "The Indian Antiquary", did educational work in Calcutta, 1856 and Bombay, 1861, and was Secretary of the Bombay Geographical Society 1868-73. He was Head of the Archaeological Survey, Western India, 1873, and of South India, 1881. From 1886 to 1889 he was Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India. - With light foxing to first few leaves, binding slightly rubbed.
|
|
|
Fleischer, Heinrich Leberecht.
(Über Textverbesserungen in al-Makkari's Geschichtswerke). Berichte der Kön. Sächs. Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften, Philologisch-Historische Classe). (Leipzig, Breitkopf & Härtel), 1867-1869.
8vo. 3 parts in 1 volume. 151-220 pp. (1867); 236-309 pp. (1868); 39-118 pp. (1869). (With) II: The same. Abdruck aus den Berichten der philol.-histor. Classe der Königl. Sächs. Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften 1870. Dritte Fortsetzung der Beiträge zur arabischen Sprachkunde. 227-295, (1) pp. Contemporary vellum-backed red marbled boards with handwritten spine-title. Treatise on textual emendations to the history of Muslim Iberia by Ahmed Mohammed al-Maqqari. Offprints from three volumes of reports of the Scientific Society of Saxony. - Bound with this is the sequel to another essay on Arabic linguistics by Fleischer, "Beiträge zur arabischen Sprachkunde". - From the collection of the German librarian and oriental scholar Julius Euting (1839-1913) with his ownership in black ink to the flyleaf and with an inscription on the following blue wrapper, summarising the content and with a small stamp of ownership at top right ("J. Euting, Strassburg").
|
|
|
Hamza al-Isfahani, Ibn-al-Hasan / Rasmussen, Jens Lassen (ed.).
Historia praecipuorum Arabum Regnorum rerumque ab iis gestarum ante Islamismum [...]. E codicibus manuscriptis Arabicis Bibliothecae Regiae Hauniensis [...]. Kopenhagen, Johannes Friedrich Schultz, 1817.
Large 4to. VI, 146, (2) pp. With a folding table. Contemporary half calf over marbled boards with giltstamped spine title. Marbled endpapers. First edition. - Arabic text, with Latin translation, of chapters 6-7, 9-10, part 1-2, of Hamzah al-Isafahani's "Tarikh al-umam"; and extracts from al-Nuwairi's "Nihayat al-arab" (in Latin only). The folded table presents the "Series regum Hirensium, una cum synchronismo regum Persarum, prouti Hamza Isfahanensis eos exhibuit". - Binding rubbed; some browning to interior, old shelfmark label to pastedown. Provenance: handwritten ownership of the Göttingen-based oriental scholar Mark (Mordechai) Lidzbarski (1868-1928) to flyleaf, with additional Canadian library stamps of the Ottawa Commissariatus, Terrae Sanctae. Rare. OCLC 13131770. For the Danish oriental scholar Jan Larson Rasmussen cf. Fück 156.
|
|
|
[India - Army, General Staff Branch].
Operations in Waziristan 1919-1920. Confidential. Compiled by the General Staff, Army Headquarters, India, 1921. Calcutta, Superintendent Government Printing, 1921.
8vo. X, 187, (1) pp. With frontispiece, 31 plates, 7 maps (3 in lower cover pocket), and 8 panoramas, mostly folding. Contemporary quarter calf over green cloth covers with giltstamped red spine labels. First edition. - The British-Indian Army's official account of the 1919-20 Waziristan campaign, marked "Confidential" on the title-page. The operations followed unrest that arose in the aftermath of the Third Anglo-Afghan War; they were conducted in the mountainous region of Waziristan (now in Pakistan) by British and Indian forces against the fiercely independent Waziri and Mahsud tribesmen that inhabited it. Since the 1870s, the British government agencies were assiduous in compiling internally published histories of their military frontier operations, with the intention of providing a "valuable guide" to such British commanders and policymakers as "might have future dealings with these turbulent neighbours" (as the Punjab Government phrased it in 1866). - Serial No. 1235 stamped to title-page. Occasional light marginal staining. A few edge flaws consistent with army use, repaired by a contemporary owner. In all a well-preserved, complete copy. OCLC 11497145. Catalogue No. C.W. 4 - Case No. 8987 N.S.
|
|
|
Intelligence Office [Arab Bureau], Cairo.
Chanak. Cairo, Survey Department, Egypt, 1915.
Colour lithograph, 790 x 625 mm. Mounted on original cloth with maps series key printed on verso. Folded. The finest contemporary map of the Çanakkale sector of the Gallipoli Campaign, the site of the dreaded "Narrows" of the Dardanelles where Allied naval forces made their ill-fated attempt to "force the straits" towards taking Istanbul. Drafted in Cairo under the direction of T. E. Lawrence at the Arab Bureau's Intelligence Office, based on a recently captured Ottoman map. - In the early days of World War I, the Entente sought to knock the Ottoman Empire out of the conflict by taking Constantinople, by way of the Dardanelles. The Gallipoli Campaign (17 February 1915 to 9 January 1916) involved a force of 490,000 British, Indian, Australian, New Zealander and French troops making various landings upon the Gallipoli Peninsula that strategically guarded the mouth of the Dardanelles. The 325,000 Ottoman defenders, backed by German forces, successfully repelled these raids in what was one of the most bloody military contests in world history. - From the outset, the Allies were hampered by a lack of accurate maps of the Gallipoli Peninsula and the adjacent Asian shore of the Dardanelles. They eventually succeeded in capturing a complete six-part set of excellent, newly published Ottoman surveys showing the battle theatre in its entirety. These maps were rushed to the map department of the Intelligence Office (later the famed "Arab Bureau") in Cairo, where they were translated, enlarged and improved by a team headed by Lieutenant T. E. Lawrence, later known as "Lawrence of Arabia". These maps were printed by the Survey Department, Egypt, as a series of six interconnecting maps, although each map was designed to act as a stand-alone work complete in and of itself (a geographic key to all six maps is present on the verso of the present map). - Overall clean and bright, with some very light staining to upper-left quadrant and some light wear at some fold vertices.
|
|
|
Israeli Defence Forces, West Bank Command.
Minsharim, tsavim u-minuyim [Proclamations, Orders and Appointments] shel Mifkedet kohot Tsahal be-ezor ha-Gadah ha-ma`aravit. Mahashir, awamir wa-Ta`yinat sadirah `an Qiyadat Quwat Jaysh al-Difa` al-Israili fi mantaqat al-Diffah al-Gharbiyah. (Jerusalem, Merkaz press), August-December 1967.
Small folio (207 x 311 mm). 295, (1) pp. 26 ff., numbered 1-27. Issues 1 through 7 (of 8) bound together, with an additional booklet is bound at the end of the volume (addendum file no 1., 29 Oct. 1967). Contemporary blue full cloth binding with gilt-printed title label in Hebrew and Arabic to upper cover. The first orders issued by the IDF military authorities in the West Bank after the Six-Day War (Milhemet Sheshet Ha-Yamim, or Harb 1967). Printed in Hebrew and Arabic, the pamphlets include more than a hundred and fifty orders, proclamations and lists of position-holders. - Binding somewhat stained, but generally well preserved. OCLC 20345168.
|
|
|
[Khunsari, Agha Jamal] / Atkinson, James A. (transl.).
[Kitab-e Kulsum Nani]. Customs and Manners of the Women of Persia, and Their Domestic Superstitions. Translated from the original Persian manuscript. London, John Murray et al. for the Oriental Translation Fund, 1832.
8vo. XVIII, (2), 93, (3), 8 pp. (ads). With lithographic frontispiece of "A Persian Girl" sketched on stone by the translator, printed by C. Hullmandel. With an inserted slip. Original boards, rebacked with new spine label. First English edition: a prose version by the British oriental scholar James A. Atkinson (1780-1852). "This is a specimen of Persian humour, a jeu d'esprit, founded upon female customs and superstitions. It pretends to be a grave work, and is in fact a circle of domestic observances, treated with the solemnity of a code of laws" (preface). With a fine lithographic frontispiece drawn by Atkinson, faithfully depicting a "Persian Girl" in traditional dress, with a lute and hookah by her side, her hair adorned. - Provenance: 1) Wilberforce Eames, (1855-1937), U.S. bibliographer and librarian, known as the "Dean of American bibliographers" (his ink ownership to flyleaf); 2) pencil ownership "Wm. Berrian" (?) to flyleaf; 3) bookplate of the Wisconsin Consistory Library to pastedown; 4) Quaritch notation to pastedown (sold by them). A fine copy; scarce. Wilson 10 & 123. Cat. of the Library of Wilberforce Eames (NY, Anderson Auction, 1905), no. 6247 (this copy).
|
|
|
Lagus, Jacob Johan Wilhelm.
Icmal-i ahval-i Al-i Selcuk ber mucib-i nakl-i Oguzname. Seïd Locmani ex libro Turcico qui Oghuzname inscribitur excerpta [...]. Helsingfors (Helsinki), Johann Christoph Frenckell, 1854.
8vo. 2 parts in one volume. (2), 52; 15, (1) pp. With colour-lithographed title to the Ottoman text. Stitched as issued. Lagus's dissertation for the professorship in Helsinki (which he lost to Kellgren). Includes the Ottoman Turkish text. - Some browning. Uncut, untrimmed copy. Henriksson-Puuponen 78. Marklin 34. OCLC 66728813.
|
|
|
[Qur'an studies]. Happel, Justus Helfrich / May, Johann Heinrich (praes.).
Brevis institutio linguae Arabicae. D. Joh. Henr. Maji Hebraicae, Chaldaicae, Syriacae, Samaritanae ac Aethiopicae harmonica. Accedit glossarium arabicum cum reliquis orientis linguis harmonicum, in IV Geneseos capita priora et tres praecipuas Alcorani suratas. Frankfurt, Johann Philipp Andreae, 1707.
4to. (2), (8), (3)-75, (1) pp. With 1 folding table. Contemporary marbled brown boards, spine reinforced with later brown cloth. An orientalist dissertation by the Hessian scholar Happel, incorporating a grammar of the Arabic language and a glossary harmonising Hebrew terms from the first four books of Genesis with Arabic words from three Qur'an suras, namely sura 1 (Al-Fatiha), 12 (Yusuf), and 64 (At-Taghabun), previously edited by Erpenius. - Some browning throughout due to paper. Lacks free endpapers; front hinge reinforced. 19th and 20th century ownerships to pastedown. Schnurrer 87. GV (1700) 56, 6. OCLC 31311242. Not in Fück.
|
|
|
Rasmussen, Jens Lassen.
Annales islamismi, sive Tabulae synchronistico-chronologicae chalifarum et regum orientis et occidentis, accedente historia Turcarum, Karamanorum, Selgiukidarum Asiae Minoris [...]. E codicibus manuscriptis Arabicis Bibliothecae Regiae Hauniensis [...]. Kopenhagen, Jens Hostrup Schultz, 1825.
Large 4to. X, (2), 134 pp. Contemporary green half calf over marbled boards with giltstamped spine title. Marbled endpapers. First edition. - History of the Muslim world and its rulers from Muhammad's flight (AD 622) to the year 1020 AH (AD 1611). The Danish oriental scholar Jan Larson (Jens Lassen) Rasmussen (1792-1826) had studied in Paris with de Sacy (cf. Fück 156). - Binding rubbed and bumped. Some browning and light dampstaining to interior, old shelfmark label to pastedown. Provenance: stamp of the oriental scholar Charles Barbier de Ménard (president of the École des Langues orientales from 1898 to 1908) on title, with additional Canadian library stamps of the Ottawa Commissariatus, Terrae Sanctae. Rare. OCLC 953808200.
|
|
|
Reinaud, [Joseph Toussaint].
Description des monumens musulmans du cabinet de M. le duc de Blacas. Paris, Imprimerie Royale, 1828.
8vo. 2 vols. (4), XV, (1), 400 pp. (4), 488 pp. With 10 engr. plates (2 folding). Contemporary quarter calf over mottled boards on four raised bands. Gilt lettering and decoration to spines. Marbled endpapers and edges. First edition of J. T. Reinaud's (1795-1867) rare catalogue of the famous collection of Islamic Art amassed by the French statesman Blacas. Most copies have title changed to "Monumens arabes, persans et turcs". This copy is inscribed by Reinaud to the Duc de Luynes, another famous French antiquarian. - The French antiquarian and diplomat Pierre Louis Jean Casimir, prince de Blacas d'Aulps (1770-1839) acted as prime minister to Louis XVIII when he succeeded Napoleon in 1814 and later served as French ambassador to the Holy See. Remaining in Rome for many years, he provided Ingres with a commission and became a patron to the German classicist Theodor Panofka. He worked closely with Italian archaeologist Carlo Fea in the excavation of the Roman Forum, supported the orientalist Jean-François Champollion and created the "Musée Egyptien" within the Louvre. In 1866, his descendants sold most of his collection to the British Museum, where it remains to this day. - The plates show beautiful specimens of Arabic calligraphical art (including many seals). Some browning and staining throughout. From the library of the Ducs de Luynes from the Château of Dampierre with bookplate to pastedowns. Ibrahim-Hilmy II, 159. Gay 3592 bis (variant title). Brunet IV, 1198. Graesse VI, 72. Quérard VII, 513. OCLC 39974885. Not in Arntzen/Rainwater.
|
|
|
Romieux, Osmond.
[Watercolour views of sea-coasts in New Caledonia and Peru]. [New Caledonia & Peru, 1855/60?].
21 album leaves with 1 drawing mounted on each recto. Album: full-sheet leaves (oblong folio, 395 x 525 mm); drawings: oblong folio and oblong 4to. An album with 21 watercolour drawings on paper with views of sea coasts from the shore (240 x 310 mm to 295 x 465 mm), one with a 22nd watercolour drawing on the back with a similar view, and one with about 15 human figure drawings in graphite pencil on the back. All bear the artist's stamp on the front (Lugt 3703) and 4 are signed or initialled by the artist. Richly gold- and blind-tooled green goatskin morocco, sewn on 3 recessed cords (not aligned with the six flat raised bands on the spine), each board with a blind-tooled inner oval frame of interlaced abstracted leaves and vines, surrounded by a gold-tooled frame of similar decoration (oval inside and rectangular outside), surrounded by 2 frames of thick-thin fillets, the front board with the owner's initials in textura capitals in the centre: "A.L.", signed at the foot of the spine, "A. Giroux & C:" (last recorded in 1856), white watered silk endleaves (the paste-down in the form of a doublure). The whole in a protective folder lined with thick leather, with green goatskin morocco where it wraps around the 2 short ends, and chemical-marbled paper sides (black papier croise d'Annonay: cf. Wolfe XXI, 1-3: France, 1830s-50s), with remains of a green cloth tie on the flap. A richly gold- and blind-tooled album (ca. 1850/56) containing 22 excellent and detailed watercolour views of rocky sea coasts, all or nearly all in New Caledonia and Peru (plus 1 graphite pencil drawing of about 15 human figures), the coastal views made from the shore. All were executed by Osmond Romieux (1826-1908), a leading amateur artist who made them during his tours of duty as a French naval officer. At least 18 have a pencil note on the back identifying the location: 15 "Nouvelle Caledonie", 2 "Pérou" (drawings 18, 20) and 2 "Callao" in Peru (drawings 17, 18). We have found no location indicated on drawings 3 (with views on both sides), 8 and 19 (with figure drawings on the back). Most of the drawings were made from the sea shore, looking out over both the sea and the nearby coasts, nearly all with rocky cliffs or outcroppings and some with trees or other plants. Many were made along bays or inlets where one can see the coast on both sides and the water in one view. Some show fortifications or other buildings, a few show boats in the water or on the shore and several show people on the shore, all or nearly all in European dress. Drawings 2, 8, 15 and 17 are signed or initialled by the artist. - No drawing in the album bears a date, but the album shows no signs of other items having been removed, so the drawings probably date from before or soon after the album was manufactured. The album leaves are made of wove paper with no watermark, but A. Giroux & Cie is not recorded after 1856 and the binding style suggests the album is not much older. Most of the drawings are made on thick wove paper with no visible watermarks and with a rough surface texture much like many of today's watercolour papers. Drawing 4 is on thinner and smoother wove paper with no watermark visible and drawings 9 and 11 are on laid paper watermarked (in the centre of a half-sheet): grapes on a crowned shield (20 grapes plus stem, rendered naturalistically, with grapes arranged in an irregular pattern rather than a honeycomb and sometimes overlapping), about 118 x 70 mm (chainlines 26 mm apart). Unfortunately, the watermark literature does not cover this period well, but the crown is in the general style of those used much earlier for a fleur-de-lis on a crowned shield, such as Heawood 1822. Drawings 20 and 21 may be on the same stock as 9 and 11 but show no watermark, though 20 was made in Peru and the others in New Caledonia. Drawings 9, 20, 21 and probably 3 and 19 are executed on oblong 4to leaves; at least most of the others are on oblong folio leaves. Drawing 13 may be backed with smoother wove paper. - Prosper Halvor Henri Oscar Romieux, who used the first name Osmond, joined the French navy at Rochefort (less the 30 km from his native La Rochelle) in 1841 and passed his exams at the École Navale in 1843. He made his first tour of duty in Polynesia during the Franco-Tahitian War (1844-47), at least from 1845 aboard the ship "La Virginie". We find no record of Romieux or the ship visiting New Caledonia during this period, although it is "only" 4500 km from Tahiti. Romieux must have shown artistic skill from early childhood, for already on this first tour he made excellent watercolour drawings, and he continued to make watercolour views around the world until he retired from duty in 1891. He was made a chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur in 1863 and later an officier. Other undated drawings also record him in New Caledonia and Peru (including Lima and Callao). He is documented in New Caledonia in 1880 and 1882, but the present drawings are unlikely to be that late, and we have found no date for his visit(s) to Peru. We have little record of Romieux's movements from 1848 to 1850, but if he left the South Pacific he soon returned, for he is recorded in Hong Kong in 1851 and the Philippines in 1852 (in 1851 he was an Enseigne on the ship "l'Algérie"). He must have left in 1852, however, for he is recorded in the Seychelles (in the Indian Ocean) in 1852 and Italy in 1853 and 1854. In this last year he was promoted to Lieutenant, but we have another gap in the records of his movements from that time to 1860. He may have made the present drawings during this period, for he set off for the Levant on the ship "Redoutable", apparently in or shortly before 1860, since he is regularly recorded in Syria, Lebanon, Greece, Algeria and Jerusalem from 1860 to 1864. He was promoted to Capitaine in 1867 and continued his travels, but since the present album was probably bound in or before 1856 we think it unlikely that he made the drawings after 1864. - Although the binding is signed by Giroux, the firm operated primarily as suppliers of artists' materials and Ramsden plausibly suggests that they "commissioned bindings by the best executants of the day". Alphonse Giroux established the firm by 1799, but his son Alphonse Gustave Giroux (1809-86) managed it from at least 1838 and the father died in 1848. - We have not identified the "A.L." who apparently acquired these watercolours and had the album made in the 1850s: Lugt lists several French collectors with those initials active at the time. One watercolour has a small corner torn off at the lower right, another is slightly frayed along the right edge and the one on thin wove paper is very slightly browned, but the watercolours are otherwise in very good condition. The binding may have been expertly rebacked, preserving the original backstrip, but so unobtrusively that one must wonder if the binding was originally made that way. It is further in very good condition and even the folder is olny slightly rubbed.A lovely and finely executed series of large watercolour drawings of the coasts of New Caledonia and Peru, probably made in the 1850s and mounted in a stunning gold- and blind-tooled contemporary album. For Romieux: Lugt 3703. For Giroux: Flety, Dictionnaire des relieurs francais p. 82; Ramsden, p. 94.
|
|
|
Schnurrer, Christian Friedrich von.
Bibliotheca arabica. Auctam nunc atque integram edidit [...]. Halle/Saale, J. C. Hendel, 1811.
8vo. XXI, (3), 529, (1) pp. and pp. 515a-518a. Modern red library cloth. First book edition; very rare. "The first and only comprehensive bibliography of Arabic texts and books on Arabic language and literature by European scholars, printed in Europe 1505-1810" (Breslauer-Folter). "Extremely diligent descriptions, for the most part based on autopsy" (cf. Fück). Dedicated to de Sacy, the bibliography was first published in 1799-1806 as a series of seven university programmes. - Some browning and brownstaining throughout as common, due to paper. Old shelfmark label to spine and title-page, with additional Canadian library stamp of the Ottawa Commissariatus, Terrae Sanctae. A good, tight copy of a standard work almost unobtainable in the original edition. Breslauer-Folter 119. Besterman 152. Breslaueriana 1090. Fück 146. Zenker I, 1755.
|
|
|
Silvestre de Sacy, [Antoine Isaac].
Mémoires sur les antiquités de la Perse et sur l'histoire des Arabes avant Mahomet. Paris, E. Duverger / J. J. Marcel, Imprimerie Impériale, [1808-1809].
Large 4to (220 x 274 mm). (6), 47-58, 483-782 pp. With 4 tables. Later red half morocco over marbled boards with gilt title to spine. Offprints from vols. 47 & 48 of the "Mémoires de l'Académie Royale des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres" with separately printed title-page. The four "mémoires" which make up the first piece were variously read in public between 1787 and 1791, but published for the first time in 1793; the second, much longer part, was first heard on 5 April 1785. Includes long extracts in Arabic from Masoudi, Sirat Alresoul, Kitab Aldjouman, Tabari, and others. - Shelfmark to spine, unobtrusive blind library stamp to title & following 2 leaves. Ownership inscription of Col. S. B. Miles to front free endpaper, and his wife's presentation bookplate (Bath Public Reference Library) to front pastedown. Wilson 197.
|
|
|
Thimm, C. A.
Egyptian self-taught (Arabic) with the English phonetic transliteration of every word. London, E. Marlborough & Co., 1897.
Small 8vo. 71, (1) pp. plus (12) pp. of publisher's ads. Publisher's original printed red cloth. Rare manual of vernacular Egyptian Arabic, intended "for the Navy and Army, Travellers, Missionaries, and Traders on the Nile, in Alexandria, or in the Sudan [...] By the use of this book, students will find they are quite competent to make themselves clearly understood by all classes of Arabs met with in Egypt, the Sudan, and a considerable part of North Africa". Includes "colloquial phrases, travel talk, naval, military and commercial terms, money, weights, and measures", omitting grammar and Arabic characters, instead employing Latin-alphabet transliteration throughout. - Binding loosened; traces of use and moisture. Handwritten ownership of "Alexander Morrison", dated 1897, to front flyleaf.
|
|
|
Abdulmejid I, Ottoman Sultan (1823-1861).
Ottoman travelling firman for Sir Jacob Henry Preston. [Constantinople], ca. 1840.
Ca. 550 x 770 mm. Ottoman Turkish manuscript with large Tughra of Sultan Abdülmecid I (reigned 1839-61). 1 page. Black ink on single sheet of sturdy, smoothed laid paper (watermark: "GFA"; Fratelli Gava manufactory of Lombardy & Venice?). A scarce example of a mid-19th century Levantine manuscript firman granting permission to travel in the Ottoman Empire, issued to Sir Jacob Henry Preston (1812-91), 2nd baronet of Beeston St Lawrence. Preston was educated at Westminster and Trinity College, Cambridge (B.A. 1832); his seat was at Beeston Hall near Norwich in Norfolk. - Traces of old folds. Small stain with related small hole not affecting text; contemporary ink annotation on verso: "Travelling firman for Sir Jacob Henry Preston". In fine condition.
|
|
|
Bresnier, (Louis-Jacques).
Cours pratique et théorique de langue Arabe. Algiers & Paris, Bastide, Challamel, Duprat, 1855.
8vo. XVI, 668 pp. With a frontispiece printed in colours and gilt in the style of an Arabic title (lith. Bastide). Elegant oriental-style red morocco binding with fore-edge flap, covers blindstamped with gilt borders, spine gilt in western style. Marbled endpapers. Widely received introduction to Arabic by L. J. Bresnier (1814-69), a disciple of Silvestre de Sacy and the first professor of Arabic in Algiers. - Some insignificant foxing to margins, but a fine copy in a unique binding, from the library of the Algerian essayist and Muslim leader Mourad Kiouane, a participant in the World Muslim Conference held in Karachi in February 1951 (with his ownership stamps). Even many leaders among the Algerian Muslims of the 1950s, educated by the French colonial system, spoke good French but only Algerian Arabic rather than the standard variety, which hampered their ability to converse with the leaders of other Arab nations. Famously, Algeria's first president Ahmed Ben Bella broke out in tears when invited by Nasser to speak for the first time before an Egyptian audience, but finding himself unable to do so. Partly in response to this, and to promote pan-Arabism, Nasser sent droves of Arabic instructors to Algeria in the 1960s. OCLC 929616431.
|
|
|
[Caussin de Perceval, Armand Pierre.
Essai sur l'histoire des Arabes avant l'islamisme, pendant l'époque de Mahomet, et jusqu'à la réduction de toutes les tribus sous la loi musulmane. Paris, Didot, 1848].
Tables only: 11 genealogical tables on 15 folding sheets. Contemporary red half morocco; marbled covers and endpapers. Slightly foxed throughout. From the library of Richard C. Hodges (his etched bookplate on front flyleaf); later in the library of Sidney Edward Bouverie-Pusey (1839-1911), only son of the agriculturist Philip Pusey (cf. DNB XLVII, 64), with his bookplate on front pastedown.
|
|
|
Hammer-Purgstall, [Joseph von, ed.].
Mahmud Schebisteri's Rosenflor des Geheimnisses. Persisch und Deutsch. Pest & Leipzig, Hartleben, 1838.
4to. VI, 32 pp. With 2 lithogr. plates and 28 ff. of Arabic letterpress with lithogr. borders, toned in various colours. Modern boards with the original wrappers bound within. First edition. - Without any doubt Hammer’s finest work in imitation of an oriental manuscript: the Persian text of the famous Sufi manual ‘Golshan-e Râz’ is printed in seven four-leaf quires of varying colours, each framed by a lithographed sequence of interlaced flowers and animals (pheasants, deer, antilopes, panthers, jackals). The German translation, the unsophisticated typography of which provides a striking contrast to the luxurious Persian text, is illustrated by two plates of topographical interest. The binding preserves the original blue paper wrappers with a large emblematic lithograph of a shell hidden among a bouquet of roses, drawn by Pauline von Koudelka-Schmerling. - Occasional slight foxing. Untrimmed. Goedeke VII, 767, 100. Rabenlechner I, 122. Cf. Brunet III, 34 (Vienna, 1838 ed.).
|
|
|
[Kalila wa Dimna]. Silvestre de Sacy, [Antoine Isaac] (ed.).
Calila et Dimna, ou Fables de Bidpai, en Arabe. Paris, Imprimerie Royale, 1816.
4to. 2 parts in one volume. VIII, 140 pp. (8), 315, (1) pp. 19th century cloth with giltstamped spine title. The complete text of the Arabic version by Ibn al Muqaffa of this collection of animal fables with didactic overtones designed to illustrate wise conduct, printed in the beautiful types of the "Imprimerie Royale", with an introduction and critical notes in French. The typeface, based on Arab or Turkish specimens of calligraphy and cut in Rome in the early 17th century for Savary, "was the mainstay of Arabic typography in France until the late 19th century; it also provided a model for others" (Roper, p. 145). - Spine sunned; occasional browning and foxing, but a good copy. Chauvin II, p. 11f., no. 17. Cf. G. Roper, Early Arabic Printing in Europe, in: Middle Eastern Languages and the Print Revolution. A Cross-Cultural Encounter (Westhofen 2002), pp. 129-150.
|
|
|
Louis XVI / Silvestre de Sacy, [Antoine Isaac] (ed.).
[Al-durr al-manzum fi wasaya al-sultan al-marhum]. Testament de Louis XVI, Roi de France et de Navarre, avec une traduction arabe par M. le Baron Silvestre de Sacy. Paris, de l'Imprimierie Royale, 1820.
8vo. 19, (1), 22, (2) pp. Contemporary grey wrappers. First Arabic edition. "Silvestre de Sacy translated the Last Will and Testament of Louis XVI into Arabic and had the translation printed together with the French original in 1820, in hopes that it might prove a comfort and encouragement to the Christians of the Orient, while giving Muslim readers a demonstration of Christian submission and evangelical meekness" (cf. Fück). Three years previously, de Sacy had published the late King's Testament (together with the last letter of Marie Antoinette) in a luxurious folio edition. "Sacy never let his Christian convictions hamper his work as a scholar, for he saw religion as a personal matter. Although he revealed his faith at times, it was never to pose it as the strongest model against which to judge other religions. He was nevertheless very pious. There is no other way to explain his translation of the guillotined king, Louis XVI, into Arabic [...]. He apparently wished to show how devout, simple and charitable his beloved monarch had been" (Kamal as-Salibi, The Druze [London 2005], p. 20). - The orientalist de Sacy, a monumental figure in the development of oriental studies in France, began his career as professor of Arabic at the École des Langues Orientales Vivantes in 1796. In 1806 he was offered the chair of Persian at the College of France and in 1824 was appointed director of the school of oriental languages. He also acted as advisor to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, translating political propaganda into Arabic, including the "Bulletins of the Grande Armée" (cf. Atabey 1134). - An excellent, untrimmed and wide-margined copy in mint condition, printed on strong paper, the central counter-leaf remaining uncut. Fück 144 (note 377). Bibliothèque de Sacy III, 4781f. OCLC 25217438.
|
|
|
[Ottoman military manual - firearms].
Ta'limat al-Madafi' - al-Shishanah. Cairo, [early May 1864 CE] = awa'il Du'l-Hijja 1280 H.
8vo. 13 [instead of 17, lacking pp. 3-6], (1), 2, 386 pp. Contemporary half leather with coloured paper boards. Fourth volume only of the Ottoman military manual "Ta'limat al-'Askariya al-Mustajadda" ("Instructions for the New Model Army"), discussing firearms, guns and artillery in the Ottoman army. Translated from Turkish into Arabic by Captain Hasan Effendi Muzahhar with the assistance of his fellow officer Mohammed Effendi 'Abi'l Hasan. The title ("Gun Instructions - The Shishana") denotes an old Ottoman lock rifle produced mostly in Syria. - Binding severely rubbed and bumped; spine chipped; remains of old lending label on upper cover. Handwritten English note on flyleaf: "found in a tent at Tel-el-Kebir / 14 September 1882 / T. J. Jones". In the Battle of Tel El Kebir (13 Sept. 1882), fought near the Suez Canal, the British military defeated the Egyptian army led by Ahmed Urabi following an insurrection of Egyptian soldiers during the Anglo-Egyptian War.
|
|
|
Abu-’l Harr al-Mumallih (Pseudo-) / Gliemann, Wilhelm.
Viro pietate doctrina humanitate excellentissimo Christiano Wolterstorff kallikrenaioi [...] Praemissum est Abu’l Charri’l Momallechi ad Abu’l Melchum sapientem carmen arabicum ex duobus codd. mscr. nunc primum editum latine et vernacule conversum adnotationibus criticis et exegeticis instructum. Halle, (Karl August Schwetschke), Gebauer (for the author), 1828.
4to. XII, 23, (5) pp. Arabic letterpress text within red ornamental borders. Contemporary papered spine. Only edition; exceedingly rare. - At first glance, the editio princeps of an ancient Arabic encomium based on two manuscript sources, accompanied by copious notes on the text as well as by German and Latin versions, and published on the occasion of the 50th teaching anniversary of Christian Woltersdorf, the director of the Salzwedel grammar school, by Friedrich Wilhelm Gliemann (1792-1864), teacher at the school. The few holding libraries unanimously cite the author as "Abu-’l Harr al-Mumallih", a poet entirely unknown to oriental literary history. Contemporary reviewers were quick to point out that the publication is, in fact, an elaborate hoax as scholarly as it is witty: "Indeed, the poem constitutes a cento assembled by Mr. Gliemann, in the main based on several poems of the Hamasah genre and on the encomium of Safieddin, edited by Bernstein [in 1816]. Yet the feat of properly conjoining these various pieces to form a whole, in a single, pure and correct metre, reveals no mean knowledge of Arabic. Several of the verses are of Mr. Gliemann's own invention. And so it is evident that the purported editor is none other than Abu’l Charr himself (the 'father of the embers', a pun on the name, 'Glühmann'), and that the variant readings of the second MS are nothing but different readings of the various passages of the original" (cf. Ergänzungsblätter zur A.L.Z. [1829], col. 263f.). - Printed on fine, crisp writing paper with tree watermark. Slight corner flaws to Latin and Arabic title-pages, otherwise a clean and wide-margined copy. Only four copies known in institutional possession (Halle, Leipzig, Göttingen, Greifswald). A rare and highly original piece of Arabic scholarship. OCLC 257626548.
|
|
|
Aubry, Paul.
Mémoires originaux. Les Hôpitaux, les Asiles d'aliéné et les Léproseries en Orient. Grèce, Turquie, Egypte. (Revue Internationale des Sciences Médicales. Tome IV. No 2. 28 février 1887). [Paris], Revue Internationale des Sciences Médicales, 1887.
8vo. (37)-84 pp. Contemporary half calf with giltstamped title to upper cover and spine. Endpapers marbled. All edges gilt. Only edition. - Rare account, by the French physician Paul Aubry, of Turkish military and civil hospitals, describing in detail their design and medical capacities, including accurate numbers of beds. An exceptional documentation of health care infrastructure in the Ottoman Empire, mentioning the Yildiz Ambulance, the Haider Pacha military hospital and the Haseki Hospital in Istanbul. The present offprint also contains a medical bibliography of works in German, Danish and Swedish published in 1886-87 as well as several abstracts, including an article on gonorrhoea by the Ottowa physician Coyteux Prévost, published in the "Union Médicale du Canada" in the same year. - Inscribed and signed by Aubry to Sultan Abdul Hamid II (1842-1918) on the front flyleaf. Binding slightly rubbed. Small marginal tears to pp. 39-42; last few pages somewhat creased. Library stamps erased from flyleaf and first page. From the library of Sultan Abdul Hamid II, the last Sultan of the Ottoman Empire to exert effective contol over the fracturing state and also remembered as a poet, translator and one of the dynasty's greatest bibliophiles. While his passion for books is memorialized by the many precious donations he gave to libraries all over the world and which mostly have remained intact to this day (including the 400-volume "Abdul-Hamid II Collection of Books and Serials" gifted to the Library of Congress), his own library was dispersed in the years following his deposition in 1909: books were removed to other palaces and even sold to Western collectors, the greatest part of his collection is today preserved in the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin. U.S. Army, Index-catalogue of the library of the surgeon-general's office VII, 393. Wohnlich-Despaigne, Les Historiens Français de la Médecine au XIXe Siècle 59.
|
|
|
Azpeitia de Moros, Luis.
En busca del caballo árabe. Comisión á Oriente. Turquia. - Siria. - Mesopotamia. - Palestina. Madrid, Sucesores de Rivadeneyra, 1915.
8vo. 302 pp. With photo illustrations in the text throughout. Red half morocco over cloth boards with giltstamped spine title. Top edge red. Marbled endpapers. Rare first edition of this important work on Arabian horses. "Spanish commission sent to observe Arabian horses in Turkey, Syria, Mesopotamia, and Palestine [...] Used as a reference source by Gladys Brown Edwards in 'The Arabian: War Horse to Show Horse'" (Boyd/P., p. 11). An English translation ("In Search of the Arabian Horse") appeared in 2001; an Arabic one ("al-Bahth `an al-husan al-`Arabi") was published in Riyadh in 2007. A fine copy with the bookplate of José Luis Marín-Sánchez to half-title. Boyd/Paul 10. OCLC 49468733.
|
|
|
[Burgess, Thomas].
The Arabick Alphabet; or, an easy introduction to the reading of Arabick. For the use of Hebrew students. Newcastle, S. Hodgson, and sold by W. H. Lunn, London, 1809.
Large 12mo. V, (3), 20 pp. Modern half calf over marbled boards with black morocco label to spine, gilt. Padded at the end with 22 sturdy blank leaves with binder's ticket of "Period Binders, Bath". First edition of this rare introduction to Arabic. As the author writes in his dedication to the Rev. John Frederick Usko, "The object of the following pages is to put the Hebrew student in possession of just so much Arabick as may enable him to profit by the illustrations of Hebrew words in the Lexicons of Simonis and others." He proceeds to explain and justify his methods in the face of the many difficulties encountered by students. The text looks at the construction of the alphabet itself, compares Hebrew and Arabic letters, and similarly verbs and their tenses. - Attributed to Thomas Burgess (1756-1837), who served successively as Bishop of Salisbury and St. David's. He was educated at Winchester college and gained a scholarship to Corpus Christi College, Oxford, where he spent most of his time studying Greek. He was ordained in 1784 and at this time he became interested in Hebrew and theology. A prolific author, he published over a hundred works - the first while at Oxford. Early in his career, he came under the patronage of the Bishop of Salisbury. In his spare time, he helped increase the number of Sunday schools and contributed in writing primers for the students. The present work is an obvious fruit of these interests. - No copies listed in auction records of this unusual Newcastle imprint, which also names the London bookseller and dealer in continental books, W. H. Lunn. Some contemporary handwritten annotations in ink & ownership inscription to title-page "A Bertiz / August 5, 1829". - Rare. OCLC 55524381.
|
|
|
[Eggermont, Isidore Jacques].
Le Japon. Histoire et religion. Paris, Ch. Delagrave, 1885.
8vo. 156 pp. With one folding map of Japan. Contemporary gilt full red morocco with the giltstamped inscription "A Sa Majesté Impériale Le Sultan. Hommage de l'Auteur" to upper cover, Ottoman crest to lower cover, and giltstamped spine. Leading edges gilt. Marbled endpapers. All edges gilt. First edition of this synopsis of the political and religious history of Japan, by the Belgian diplomat, photographer and writer Eggermont (1844-1923), who was appointed councillor to the legation of Belgium in Japan from 1876 to 1877. Author's presentation copy for the Sultan with the dedication giltstamped to the upper cover. The book's first part discusses Shintoism and Buddhism; the second part presents an overview of Japanese history from the origins of the Japanese people until the 1868 Meji Restoration. - Lacks upper half of the title-page; lower half is transposed before the half-title and glued on top of it, thus omitting the author's name. - From the library of Sultan Abdul Hamid II (1842-1918), the last Sultan of the Ottoman Empire to exert effective contol over the fracturing state and also remembered as a poet, translator and one of the dynasty's greatest bibliophiles. While his passion for books is memorialized by the many precious donations he gave to libraries all over the world and which mostly have remained intact to this day (including the 400-volume "Abdul-Hamid II Collection of Books and Serials" gifted to the Library of Congress), his own library was dispersed in the years following his deposition in 1909: books were removed to other palaces and even sold to Western collectors; the greatest part of his collection is today preserved in the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin. - Extremities insignificantly rubbed; paper somewhat foxed throughout. An appealing copy in a finely gilt presentation binding. OCLC 249076616.
|
|
|
Ferrario, Giulio.
Descrizione della Palestina o storia del Vangelo. Milano, Società Tipografica de' Classici Italiani, 1831.
4to (193 x 258 mm). (4), 171, (5) pp. With 30 hand-coloured aquatint plates, 1 folding engraved map coloured in outline, 1 hand-coloured engraved plan, 1 uncoloured plate. Modern blue cloth with metal corner-pieces. Top-edge gilt. First edition of this fine topography of the Holy Land. "The signing artists include G. Bramati, Citterio, D. Landini, Bonatti, A. Angeli" (cf. Lipperheide). The splendidly coloured aquatints mostly show views (including Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Bethany), costumes, churches, sepulchres, temples, etc. - Some foxing to edges and margins as common; very minor clean tear to outer margin of map. A a wide-margined copy complete of the map and the hand-coloured plates. Tobler 217. Lipperheide Lc 10. Roehricht 1757.
|
|
|
[French Intelligence on Bahrain].
Original typescript compiled by French Middle East intelligence. Probably Beirut or Damascus, 1936.
22 typewritten sheets (4to) in carbon duplicates, revised by hand, with two smaller hand-drawn coloured maps of the Arabian Gulf, showing Bahrain and Qatar with the "Pirate Coast". A closely typed report on Bahrain, written in the autumn of 1936, outlining the country's history, situation, population, government, economy, foreign relationships and influences. This is accompanied by two detailed coloured sketch maps of the Gulf, showing Bahrain off the coast of Qatar and the entire Gulf from Kuwait to Oman, with the British and American spheres of interest and the international air routes marked. - During the two years that followed the end of the Great War, the British held control of most of Ottoman Mesopotamia (now Iraq) and the southern part of Ottoman Syria (Palestine and Transjordan), while the French controlled the rest of Syria, Lebanon, and other portions of southeastern Turkey. In the early 1920s, British and French control of these territories became formalized by the League of Nations' mandate system, and in 1923 France was assigned the League of Nations mandate of Syria. It would last until 1943, when Syria and Lebanon emerged as independent countries. - Occasional insignificant edge flaws; rust stains from old paperclips. Holes punched along left edge. A rare survival.
|
|
|
[French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon].
Recueil des Arrêtés et Décisions de la Z. O. (24 Octobre 1918 - 31 Août 1920). Interessant toutes les branches de l'Administration: Administration Civils, Justice, Finances, Hygiène Publique, Agriculture, Douanes. Beirut, Imp. des Lettres J. G., 1924.
8vo. 188 pp., 2 final blank leaves. Original printed wrappers. First edition. - Collection of laws and regulations for Lebanon (Zone Ouest) passed by the French under their mandate for Syria and the Lebanon from October 1918 until the end of August 1920, two days prior to the declaration of independence of Greater Lebanon. A compact primary source on French administration in the Middle East, this rare manual contains decrees for administrative issues such as the division of Lebanon into three zones, sanitary measures against the plague, but also detailed regulations concerning everything from travel permits and the organisation and surveillance of prisons to the application of the metric system, the trade in carrier pigeons, the prices for ice (2 piastres for 400 grams wholesale, 3 piastres retail), alcoholic drinks (16 piastres for a litre of table wine) and tramway fares, and the circulation of vehicles. - A few marginal flaws to the wrappers, occasional minor edge flaws. A good, clean copy with provenance stamp "Le Chef de Cabinet" on the upper cover.
|
|
|
Hilmi, Ibrahim.
Memâlik-i Osmânîye cep atlasi. Devlet-i `Aliye-i Osmânîyenin ahvâl-i cografya ve istatistikiyesi. Istanbul, Ibrahim Hilmi, [1907 CE =] 1323 Rumi.
Small 8vo. 8, 328 pp. With 64 colour lithographed plates of maps and diagrams. Original light brown cloth bearing elaborate Ottoman Art Nouveau designs. This edition of Hilmi's "Pocket Atlas" captures the Ottoman Empire during the twilight of the Hamidian Era, when it still controlled territories on three continents, extending from Albania to Yemen. With 64 highly attractive colour lithographic plates, the atlas features an especially extensive collation of thematic maps and diagrams, more that we have encountered in other issues, including detailed maps of the empire's various vilayets. Notably, the book's coverage of the Arabian Peninsula is excellent, with a double-page map of the entire peninsula; a custom map of the route of the Hejaz Railway (due to be extended as far south as Medina in 1908); a map of the Basra Vilayet (with southern Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar, as well as parts of today's Saudi Arabia); as well as separate maps of Yemen and Asir. - Ibrahim Hilmi Cigiracan (1876-1963) was one of the most important publishers and cartographers of the late Ottoman Empire. Born in Tulcea (now in Romania), he founded his first printing shop in Istanbul in 1896, under the name "Kitaphane-i Islami" (Islamic Library), largely producing religious books. Subsequently, Hilmi became interested in military affairs, geography and history, and changed the name of his press to "Kitaphane-i Islam ve Askeri" (Islamic and Military Library). He published about 200 military books, and his atlases (especially his "Pocket Atlas") were among the most popular cartographic items throughout the empire. During WWI, Hilmi gained the affection of the public for his charitable programme of sending free books to poor children in Anatolia. - Hilmi's enterprise thrived until Atatürk's Republican regime nationalized the publishing of law and school books in the 1920s, undercutting the most lucrative part of his business. However, Hilmi left an enduring legacy, having published over a thousand books on a wide variety of topics over three decades. - Binding worn with a few chips of minor loss, especially along hinges, but holding firm; old repairs to lower margin of upper cover. Internally light, even toning to text pages and some marginal chips to few leaves and plates, not affecting printed area. Maps generally clean and bright, just some offsetting to 4 maps. A fine edition. OCLC 1014526531.
|
|
|
Lafuente y Alcantara, Emilio.
Inscripciones arabes de Granada, precedidas de una reseña histórica y de la genealogía detallada de los reyes Alahmares. Madrid, Imprenta Nacional, 1859.
4to. XIII, (1), 15-242, (2) pp. With a folding family tree. Near-contemporary full vellum with giltstamped borders and spine title, original 1860 upper wrapper cover bound within. Endpapers with floral pattern. The first (and only early) edition of this detailed study of Arabic inscriptions found in Granada, with the texts of the inscriptions set in naskh Arabic type and also translated into Spanish. It includes many poems, notably those of Ibn Zamrak (1333-93), as well as Lafuente's overview of the history and genealogy of the Moorish Nasrid dynasty (1230-1492) that ruled the Emirate of Granada, the last Islamic realm in Spain. Emilio Lafuente y Alcantara (1825-68), a disciple of Don Pascual de Gayangos and José Moreno Nieto, includes much information from documents he had newly discovered himself. He was "gifted with great erudition and love of scholarship" and condemned mediaeval Christian intolerance of Islam, the destruction of Arabic manuscripts during the Inquisition and the damage done to the Alhambra by rebuilding under Charles V. In his present first major publication, Lafuente attempts to document surviving Arabic inscriptions in Spain before anyone could destroy or incompetently restore them. This quickly established him as one of the leading oriental scholars of the Iberian peninsula, but his work was cut short by his premature death nine years later. The book, reissued in 1860 with no change except for the date on the new wrappers, inspired a new interest in Iberian Arabic poetry, but was largely forgotten by bibliographers of Arabic studies. It was reprinted without revisions in 2000 and remains an important source for Islamic Granada. - Vellum covers slightly warped. Paper evenly browned throughout; slightly foxed in places. Near-contemporary handwritten English annotations in ink and pencil to p. 169, correcting Lafuente's claim that a large vase had disappeared from the Alhambra and probably is to be found "ornamenting the cabinet of some Englishman, passionate for our things": "This is a mistake entirely. The great 2nd jar is in the Museum at Madrid [...]". James T. Monroe, Islam and the Arabs in Spanish scholarship (1970), pp. 119-122. Palau 129800. Harrassowitz, Arabien und der Islam 1932, 2414 ("Rare"). Petzholdt, Neuer Anzeiger für Bibliographie und Bibliothekswissenschaft 1862,140. Abascal/Cebrián, Manuscritos sobre Antigüedades de la Real Academia de la Historia, Madrid 2005, 309. Dodds, Al-Andalus, 404.
|
|
|
[Lawrence, Thomas Edward]. Pirie-Gordon, Harry (ed.).
A Brief Record of the Advance of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force under the Command of General Sir Edmund H.H. Allenby. July 1917 to October 1918. Compiled from Official Sources and Published by the Palestine News. Cairo, Government Press and Survey of Egypt, 1919.
Small folio (227 x 294 mm). (6), 113, (1) pp. With Allenby's portrait frontispiece on cloth and 56 coloured maps (facing explanatory texts printed on versos). Original printed wrappers with printed cloth spine. First edition, edited by Harry Pirie-Gordon as a souvenir album: an account of the 1917-19 campaign in the Middle East. Contains two reports written by T. E. Lawrence, "Sherifian Co-Operation in September" and "Story of the Arab Movement", in which he details the Ashraf contribution to the War effort and narrates his own involvement in a third-person report. - Rubbed and stained, with occasional edge flaws. Endpapers have pencil ownership of O. A. Holstius, attached to Headquarters, 19th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery. Loosely inserted is a typed extract from "The Honourable Artillery Company in the Great War, 1914-1919" by George Goold Walker (1930), detailing living conditions in the Jordan Valley during the Great War (torn and frayed at edges). O'Brien A011.
|
|
|
Slatin-Pascha, Rudolf von, administrator in the Sudan, politician, and adventurer (1857-1932).
Archive of first-hand contemporary documents concerning the escape of Slatin Pasha. Various places, ca. 1895.
Autograph document in Arabic. 8vo. 1 p. Accompanied by the first published account of Slatin's escape: 3 consecutive issues of the Pall Mall Gazette, 23-25 April 1895 (42 x 37 cm each). Wrapped as a parcel within a bifolium of the Times, inscribed "Slatin Bey's Escape" by Sir Reginald Wingate. An archive of first-hand contemporary documents concerning the escape of Slatin Pasha (Major-General Rudolf Anton Carl Freiherr von Slatin, 1857-1932), who was held prisoner for eleven long years by the Mahdi Muhammad Ahmad and his successor. The material was assembled by General Sir Reginald Wingate of the Egyptian Intelligence Department, who facilitated the escape and assisted on the perilous three-week, thousand-kilometre journey across the Nubian desert to Aswan, Egypt. "Probably the most famous European in the history of the Sudan, this Austrian survived as a captive of the Mahdi from 1883 until his escape to Egypt in 1895. His knowledge of the Sudan and its people was unrivalled and after the re-conquest he was appointed Inspector-General, second in authority only to the Governor-General, Reginald Wingate, of whom he was a great personal friend" (H. Keown-Boyd, Soldiers of the Nile [1996], p. 174). - The archive includes an Arabic document presumed to be written by Slatin Pasha (1 p. on thick handmade paper, 16 x 25 cm). Any writing by Slatin Pasha in Arabic is exceedingly scarce. Also, Slatin Pasha's first published account of his captivity and escape in Sudan, in three consecutive "Special Edition" issues of London's Pall Mall Gazette newspapers, preceding his book "Fire and Sword in the Sudan" by an entire year. Dated 23, 24, 25 April 1895 respectively, each contains 1 of 3 parts of Slatin's account entitled "The Story of My Flight". Each issue measures 42 x 37 cm. Wear to extremities and folds, otherwise very good. A scarce contemporary report, complete and in original condition. - Wrapped together within contemporary leaves of the Times, forming a parcel and inscribed by Sir Reginald Wingate "Slatin Bey's Escape", addressed in his secretary's hand to "Miss Campbell, Cawley Priory" - evidently a close friend or relative of Slatin's who Wingate thought would appreciate knowledge of his safety as soon as possible.
|
|
|
Tychsen, Thomas Christian.
Grammatik der Arabischen Schriftsprache für den ersten Unterricht, mit einigen Auszügen aus dem Koran. Göttingen, Dieterich, 1823.
8vo. VIII, 263, (1), 40 pp. Contemporary marbled boards with giltstamped red spine label. All edges red. Only edition. - The principal work of the Göttingen oriental scholar T. C. Tychsen (1758-1834), a grammar of Arabic that replaced that of Michaelis, including a 40-page "Anthologia Coranica" in Arabic which contains suras 1, 68, 91-96 and long excerpts from suras 2, 23, 47, and 5. The instructional text (though not the Qur'anic appendix) of the present copy has been closely studied, corrected and extensively annotated in German, Arabic, and Latin on more than 70 pages by an unidentified contemporary scholar or student of oriental languages, in a manner often consistent with preparatory notes for a revised edition. Sources cited include Scheidius, Reiske's Abulfeda, De Sacy, Rosenmüller, and Gesenius; the latest is the third volume of Freytag's Lexicon Arabico-Latinum, published in 1835. - Binding rubbed, extremeties bumped. Evenly browned throughout due to paper. Formerly in the library of the Gießen-based Arabist Wilfried B. C. Schaum (b. 1943) with his 1970s stamp to the title-page. Kayser V, 484. OCLC 614537916.
|
|
|
Aitchison, C[harles] U[mpherston] (ed.).
A Collection of Treaties, Engagements and Sanads Relating to India and Neighbouring Countries [...]. Vol. XII. Containing the Treaties, &c., relating to Jammu and Kashmir, Sikkim, Assam and Burma. Calcutta, Government of India, Central Publication Branch, 1931.
Large 8vo. (2), XII, 283, (3), XII, XXIII, (1) pp. Contemporary half cloth over buckram boards. Forming part of the fifth edition of this important government-issued series (incorporating revisions to 1929), this 12th volume records the treaties made with the countries on the fringes of the British Raj, most importantly those made with Burma, but also such entered into with Jammu and Kashmir in the northwest as well as with Sikkim and Assam in the northeast. The first of these recorded is a commercial arrangement with the King of Ava in 1795, and those that follow demonstrate the steady progress of English intervention with a Treaty "for the establishment of a Court at Mandalay" and various arrangements between the British and Chinese with regard to the Burmese frontier. - Edges somewhat rubbed, front hinge beginning to split, but still a good, well-preserved copy. Provenance: Foreign and Commonwealth Office stamp (Commonwealth Relations Offfice Library) to title-page and cancellation stamp to verso; "Council Reading Room" stamp to flyleaf with pencil note "Amendments made to to 25. 2. 35". OCLC 454612923.
|
|
|
Al-Shidyaq, As'ad.
Khabariyat As`ad al-Shidyaq alladhi udtuhida li-ajl iqrarihi fi'l-haqq. [Account of As 'ad al-Shidyaq who was persecuted on account of his steadfastness in the truth]. Malta, Church Missionary Society, 1833.
12mo. 52 pp. Wrapper title printed within decorated borders. Extremely rare autobiography of As'ad al-Shidyaq (1798-1830, brother of the writer Faris), who came under the influence of the American Congregationalist missionaries in Beirut when he was employed by them as a teacher and translator, and embraced Protestantism in defiance of the Maronite Patriarch. In retaliation, the Patriarch imprisoned and tortured al-Shidyaq in a convent in the Lebanese mountains, starving him to death in 1830. Al-Shidyaq's autobiography, the story of his conversion and persecution, was published three years later by the CMS press of Malta. "This of course is also anti-Catholic, or rather anti-Maronite. It has been quite erroneously attributed to his brother Faris al-Shidyaq by a number of eminent authorities, who have cited it as the latter's earliest work. In fact it is clearly by As'ad himself, being written in the first person, and his mentor Isaac Bird has recorded that it was written in 1826 at his (Bird's) request, 'that we might make use of it to his advantage in future time'; English translations were published in Boston (USA) in 1827 and 1839 and it was later incorporated into Bird's biography of As'ad, published in 1864" (Roper, p. 239). - A clean copy in very good condition. Copies known only at the British Library and Glasgow University. Zenker I, 1658. Sarkis 1105. Brockelmann S II, 868. Ellis I, 323. Alwan 18. Agius 43f. Roper (Arabic printing in Malta 1825-1845) no. 49.
|
|
|
[Damascus - Venetian taxes].
Document on vellum. Venice, 22 Feb. / 5 March 1488.
Italian manuscript on vellum (445 x 160 mm). Written space ca. 270 x 140 mm. In a fine cursive handwriting by two hands. Written by a notary public of the Much Serene Republic of Venice: a statement of debt for 3,300 ducats owed to the main commissioner of Venice by the gentleman Francesco Marcello, for the collection of custom taxes in Damascus. The creditor renounces all other claims, and the debt is to be paid in annual instalments of 300 ducats, beginning the year following the drafting of this document, but after a deposit has been paid the following month: "Parendo debitor ser Thadio Polo del Cothimo de Damasco et general de la soria de certa suma de denari, de i qual ser Francesco Marcello se ne chiama piezo: et per i magnifici siori de le raxon vechie el fo sententiando volontarie in ducati tremillia et trexento per parte. Et perchè per le grande sue adversità come publicamente ognuno intende, non è possibele che senza qualche axeveleza el possi pagar et essendo visto et cognossudo questo per li comessi del dicto Cothimo, misier Francesco Falier, misser Zuan Bembo et misser Benedeto Sanudo, azoché scorando el tempo senza qualche conclusion de haverse con qualche habilità a pagar per nome del dicto Cothimo sono venuti a questa ultima conclusion et acordo chel dicto ser Francesco se chiama come piezo debitor per resto de tute raxon de Cothimo, et de le uxure seguide computando la sententia tolta ut supra de ducati tremillia et trexento da esser pagadi per el dicto ser Francesco ducati trexento alanno et sia obligato dar bona et sufficiente piezarìa over caution de paga in paga. Et comenza el tempo anno uno da poi concluso tal acordo: et die mexe uno da poi tal acordo dar dicta piezarìa over caution, et cussi de paga in paga fin integra satisfatction havendoli isoproducti per nome del Cothimo a pregar Carta de Segurtà de non li haver ni poder altro domandar [...]". Immediately underneath this statement is a confirmation by the Damascus consul, ser Giovanni Mocenigo, of the obligation to pay the sum of 3,300 ducats in 11 annual instalments, by the Venetian gentleman Francesco Marcello and his son. - A remarkable early Renaissance document concerning a legal agreement set up by the three commissioners of the council of the Venetian court known as "Quarantia Civil Vecchia", commissioned to oversee the correct collection of the customs tax which was to be paid by merchants on goods imported from or exported to Egypt and Syria. - Perfectly preserved.
|
|
|
Furet, Caroline.
Histoire abregee de l'Empire Ottoman. Résumé mnémotechnique complémentaire. Constantinople, Levant Herald, 1880.
4to (192 x 251 mm). 7, (1); 6 pp., blank leaf. Contemporary red morocco with gilt spine and cover borders; upper cover giltstamped "Bibliotheque Imperiale" and lower cover with gilt ornament. Marbled endpapers. Only edition. - A capsule condensement, for the use of students, of the author's 208-page history of the Ottoman Empire (1869), here written in rhyming verse, published in French and Ottoman Turkish (the latter part lithographed). - Binding a little rubbed, mainly at extremeties. Removed from the library of Sultan Abdul Hamid II, with traces of requisite marks and the author's handwritten inscription to front flyleaf: "Á Sa Majesté Abdul Hamid II / Hommage très respectueux de l'auteur C. Furet". - Abdul Hamid II (1842-1918) was the last Sultan of the Ottoman Empire to exert effective contol over the fracturing state and also remembered as a poet, translator and one of the dynasty's greatest bibliophiles. While his passion for books is memorialized by the many precious donations he gave to libraries all over the world and which mostly have remained intact to this day (including the 400-volume "Abdul-Hamid II Collection of Books and Serials" gifted to the Library of Congress), his own library was dispersed in the years following his deposition in 1909: books were removed to other palaces and even sold to Western collectors, the greatest part of his collection is today preserved in the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin. OCLC 613456710.
|
|
|
[Giacometti, Georges].
La situation. Décembre 1876. (Constantinople, Imprimperie Kevkeb-Charki, 1876).
8vo. 37, (1) pp. Giltstamped purple cloth with white moirée endpapers. Extremely rare anonymous pamphlet by the political writer Georges Giacometti about the political position of Turkey during the crisis of December 1876, after the outbreak of the Serbian-Ottoman War that would soon develop into the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78. OCLC lists a single copy in public collections (British Library, not identifying the author). - Extremeties a little rubbed. Removed from the library of Sultan Abdul Hamid II, with traces of requisite marks and the author's handwritten inscription to front flyleaf: "A Sa Majesté Impériale / Hommage Respectueux de l'auteur. G. Giacometti". - Abdul Hamid II (1842-1918) was the last Sultan of the Ottoman Empire to exert effective contol over the fracturing state and also remembered as a poet, translator and one of the dynasty's greatest bibliophiles. While his passion for books is memorialized by the many precious donations he gave to libraries all over the world and which mostly have remained intact to this day (including the 400-volume "Abdul-Hamid II Collection of Books and Serials" gifted to the Library of Congress), his own library was dispersed in the years following his deposition in 1909: books were removed to other palaces and even sold to Western collectors, the greatest part of his collection is today preserved in the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin. OCLC 504499620.
|
|
|
Haywood, John A.
Modern Arabic Literature 1800-1970. An Introduction, With Extracts in Translation. London, Lund Humphries, 1971.
4to. XIII, (1), 306 pp. Publisher's green cloth with original dustjacket. First edition. - A useful reference work aiming to familiarize students of Modern Arabic literature with the leading authors and essential dates in this field, including 12 extracts in translation, as well as numerous quotations within the text. - In very good condition. OCLC 379738.
|
|
|
Hopwood, Derek.
Sexual Encounters in the Middle East: the British, the French and the Arabs. Reading, Ithaca Press, 1999.
Large 8vo. V, (1), 308 pp., final blank leaf. Publisher's dark blue cloth with original dustjacket. First edition. - An intriguing account of the misunderstandings and fantasies that persisted between northwestern Europeans and Arabs about the prevailing sexual mores and attitudes toward gender in each other's societies in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, discussing, inter alia, Montesquieu, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, and Voltaire. - In near-mint condition with author's signed presentation inscription: "With all best wishes, Derek". OCLC 42043272.
|
|
|
Hyde, Thomas.
Mandragorias, seu historia shahiludii. Oxford, Theatro Sheldoniano, 1694.
8vo. 3 parts in one volume. (72), (4), 184, 71, (1), (16), 278 pp. With 12 engravings in the text, 3 folding plates and several woodcuts. Contemporary English calf with red label to gilt spine. All edges red. First edition. Important work dedicated to oriental games from Arabia and Persia as well as from India and China, including backgammon, draughts and dice. Also contains the first scholarly account devoted to the history of chess (pp. 53-137), with two folding plates showing chessboards, engravings of a giraffe, and examples of various types of chessmen (English from the time of Caxton; Turkish; and several kins of Indian specimens). The second part explains, inter alia, the "Promotiones Mandarinorum", the history of dice, and many other Chinese games. Contains numerous texts in Hebrew, Chinese, Arabic, Greek and other languages. Hyde was an orientalist and later became Bodleian Librarian. "Ouvrage curieux. Les exemplaires n'en sont pas communs" (Brunet). - Upper spine-end professionally repaired; inner hinges reinforced. Light browning throughout due to paper. From the library of the chess-player and collector James Wilson Rimington Wilson (1822-77) of Broomhead Hall near Sheffield, with his autograph ownership in ink ("J W Rimington Wilson / Chess Library") to pastedown. Graesse III, 403. Von der Linde I, 88-90. Cordier (Sinica) 3142. Wing H3875 & H3877. ESTC R1348.
|
|
|
[Iraqi coup d'état].
[The Trial of al-Istrabadi]. Baghdad, Abdul Karim Zahid / Dar as-Salam Press, [ca. 1958].
8vo. 64 pp. With 9 black and white half-tone photographic illustrations. Original light red wrappers, staple-bound. First edition. - A scarce ephemeron of the 14 July Revolution, which overthrew the Hashemite monarchy in Iraq that had been established by King Faisal in 1921 under the auspices of the British. The Istrabadi family were part of the Iraqi ruling class prior to the 1958 coup and unsuccessfully attempted to deliver the then Prime Minister Nuri al-Said to safety; Bibiya al-Istrabadi was killed in the attempt, while trying to exit Baghdad. - Wrappers sunned and a little dust-soiled, extremities worn. Upper corner of title-page clipped; old ink ownership. A good copy. Not in OCLC.
|
|
|
[McMahon-Hussein Correspondence].
Correspondence between Sir Henry McMahon, His Majesty’s High Commissioner at Cairo and the Sherif Hussein of Mecca, July 1915-March 1916. Miscellaneous series No. 3 (1939). London, His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1939.
8vo. 18 pp. With a colour-printed folding map. Wrappers stapled as issued. First official publication of the famous exchange of letters written between 1915 and 1916, between the Sharif of Mecca, Husayn bin Ali, and Sir Henry McMahon, British High Commissioner in Egypt, concerning the future political status of the lands under the Ottoman Empire. A special controversy concerned Palestine: Great Britain's pledged support for Arab independence in the region was not to be realized, and the correspondence went on to haunt Anglo-Arab relations for many decades thereafter. Unofficial excerpts from the letters had been circulated in the press as early as 1923; excerpts appeared in the 1937 Peel Commission Report, and the correspondence was unofficially published in George Antonius's 1938 book "The Arab Awakening". - A few slight edge flaws; corner loss to lower wrapper, but still very good copy. Cmd. 5957.
|
|
|
[Pakistan].
Watercolour album. Pakistan, 1844.
Oblong 4to (287 x 195 mm). 23 leaves with 17 watercolours and 4 pencil drawings (1 watercolour having been removed); a few blanks. Contemporary marbled half calf. A fine watercolour album composed by a member of the British Army stationed in Pakistan, shortly after the Battle of Hyderabad in March 1843. The unknown artist (whose name may be indicated by the initials "WME" on the flyleaf) followed the Indus river from Karachi to the northern parts of the Sindh province. Most drawings have pencilled place names; only a few are untitled. The album begins with a watercolour of the tomb of the British officer Bowen, of the 86th regiment, who drowned in an attempt to swim his horse across the river, followed by a watercolour of the spot where the accident occurred. Furthermore, the album contains views of Karachi (3, including a "captured pirate vessel"), Hyderabad (4), Jerruk (Jhirk), Bhaker Fort (3), Sukkur, Soonda (between Makli and Jerruck), and eight unidentified cities and landscapes. A sketch of the "Mess Verandah" at Fort Hyderabad has been removed. - A rare and very interesting manuscript album with fresh and unfaded colours, dating from the early years of the British presence of Pakistan: the British East India Company began its invasion of Sindh in 1839; Karachi was the first area in the province to be occupied. By 1843 most of the province (excepting the State of Khairpur) was added to the Company's territory after victories at Miani, Dubba and Hyderabad.
|
|
|
[Punjab-British Secretariat].
Press lists of old records in the Punjab Secretariat. Volume VII. North-West Frontier Agency. Correspondence with Government, 1840-1845. Lahore, Superintendent, Government Printing, Punjab, 1915.
Folio. 2 vols. (2 [instead of 4?]), 993 pp. With an addendum slip facing p. 197. Brown calf, with "Book 1" and "Book 2" in gilt on the spines. A rare and extraordinary snapshot of the North-West Frontier of British India (now comprising parts of India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan) between 1840 and 1845, the time of the First Anglo-Afghan War. It contains abstracts of official correspondence written during the period and preserved at the Punjab Secretariat, including documents on the 1842 retreat from Kabul, British relations with Dost Mohammed Khan, and the Sino-Sikh War of 1841-42. While the focus is military and political, there is also much of interest on legal and financial matters, public health, policing, and other matters. The North-West Frontier States Agency was one of the colonial agencies of British India exercising indirect rule. - Lacking the title-page and pp. 3-4 as noted, with pp. 1-2 loose and damaged (with the loss of almost half of their text); repairs to the upper outside corners of pp. 983-993 with some loss of text. Slight browning. Charles Allen, Soldier Sahibs: The Men Who Made the North-West Frontier (2012).
|
|
|
?????????
?????PDF???
RSS feed
??
