‎Golf‎

‎Mohammed Ali Tewfik, Prince of Egypt.‎

‎Breeding of Purebred Arab Horses. Cairo, Paul Barbey's Printing Office, 1935-1936.‎

‎8vo. 2 vols. 45, (1) pp. 94 pp. With photograph illustrations and reproductions of paintings. Original wrappers. First edition of this two-volume set published by High Highness Prince Mohamed Ali under the auspices of the Royal Agricultural Society, to which the heir presumptive of Egypt and Sudan had presented his manuscript. Mohammed Ali describes the care and breeding of Arab horses as practiced by the Arabs, especially in Egypt, and "gives the reader a picture of the Arabian horse, his treatment and presence in the Middle East" (Boyd/Paul). Reprinted in America in 1975. - Covers show moderate wear and soil; somewhat rubbed and bumped with light corner creasing. A small stain and some partial ink stamps (Brighton and Hove) to the cover of vol. 2. Below the photo of Nimr in vol. I is an inscription reportedly in the hand of the American oil magnate, philanthropist and collector Robert Orville Anderson (1917-2007), founder of the Atlantic Richfield Oil Co.: "Saoud's sire cost me £1750. He was a magnificent Brown Seqlauri Jedran 15.1" (the word "hands" has been added at the end in a different ink). A few additional marginal annotations; altogether a fine copy of a book very hard to find in any edition. Boyd/Paul 85.‎

‎Lobo Huerta, Eugénio Gerardo.‎

‎Rasgo epico, de la conquista de Oran, que à la diversion de los oficiales de los regimientos de guardias espanolas, y walonas, dedica el afecto de Don Eugenio Gerardo Lobo [...]. Lisbon, Imprenta de Musica, [1738].‎

‎4to. 36 pp. Wrapperless pamphlet, disbound from a larger volume with near-contemporary handwritten foliation 21-38. Rare Lisbon edition of the epic poem about the 1732 capture of Oran by the Spanish army, written by the soldier and poet Eugenio Gerardo Lobo Huerta (1679-1750), first published in Spain in 1732. After having held the city since 1509 but losing it to Moorish forces in 1708, the Spanish recaptured it from the Deylik of Algiers in 1732 and managed to control the town for the next six decades. Lobo, who himself participated in the battle and was severely wounded, dedicated this work in 170 numbered octavas to his comrades; his practice of poetry earned him the nickname "Capitán Coplero" ("captain of couplets"). - Only 8 copies traced in libraries internationally. Aguilar Piñal V, 967. BGUC Misc., 78. OCLC 858632525.‎

‎[United Arab Emirates - HRH Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al Nahyan].‎

‎A trove of photographs. Mostly Abu Dhabi and Dubai, 1970s to early 2000s.‎

‎229 original photographs, 1 portrait reproduced from a painting, and 2 portraits printed on thin cardboard (one round-shaped). Various sizes (ca. 74 x 110 to 201 x 282 mm), printed both in colour and black-and-white. Some photographs with handwritten Arabic captions in pen on verso; a few with pasted mimeograph typescript captions in English. Stored in 5 display books. A large private photo archive, apparently assembled by a professional Middle Eastern journalist or press photographer, illustrating the reign of HRH Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan (1918-2004), Father of the Nation and the ruler of Abu Dhabi for more than 30 years. Some pictures show HRH Sheikh Zayed welcoming foreign dignitaries such as the Syrian president Hafez Al Assad, Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and French president Valery Giscard d'Estaing; others display industrial and cultural aspects of the Emirates, ranging from oil production in the desert to camel races and falconry. Another part of the set shows off prominent landmarks, including the Al Badiyah mosque, the oldest mosque of the Emirates, the forts of Al Hayl, Al Bithnah, and Al Jahili, the Blue Souq market hall in Sharjah, as well as Earth Park and the Zayed Sports City Stadium in Abu Dhabi. In addition, several images record National Day celebrations at the foot of Volcano Fountain in Abu Dhabi, demolished in 2004, but also show the Dubai skyline, military parades, and sailing vessels. A picture of an Iranian Phantom fighter-bomber flying over the Tunb islands shortly before Iranian forces occupied them in 1971 is a rare asset to this archive. - Mostly stamped and/or annotated in Arabic (and some in English) on versos for possibly use by the press, but not traced in the UAEhistory, Keystone or Hulton/Getty press photo archives. A few images have marginal tears or creases; one with a portion whited out for reproduction. Impressive in its extent and its wide variety of motifs, this uncommon set of not widely circulated photographs documents Abu Dhabi's transformation into a modern metropolis since the early 1970s.‎

‎[Australian Second Light Horse Brigade].‎

‎Duplicate typescript copies of confidential reports from HQ. [Palestine], November/December 1917.‎

‎Foolscap folio (ca. 205 x 330 mm). (30) and (31) ff. (rectos only) of duplicate typescript with occasional manuscript corrigenda and addenda. Split-pin fastener in the top left-hand corner of each month. Unpublished confidential daily field reports from the Sinai and Palestine campaign of the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I, fought by the Arab Revolt and the British Empire against the Ottoman Empire and its Imperial German allies. The reports include the critical period between the Battle of Beersheba in late October and the fall of Jerusalem at the end of 1917. - Usually comprising one leaf for each day of the month, the individual reports commence with an overview of the brigade's activities, followed by further details for each regiment. The account of 9 November, e.g., records the strategically highly important advance on Burayr, one of the first places to be captured by the Allied Forces from the Ottoman Empire, consolidating the British hold on positions controlling the approaches to Jaffa and Jerusalem: "A great day for the Brigade 5th and 7th Regts. moving parallel on left and right respectively and 6th in support were heavily shelled from right flank; but made Bureir and Huleikat without opposition from those places, but had number of casualties from this shell fire. Great quantities of stores waggons and material of all sorts taken 7th Regt took a convoy of about 150 waggons 350 prisoners and many animals most of latter in a wretched condition at Kaukabah. Very many abandoned waggons on the road and stores being looted by Arabs. In afternoon moved on again and 5th Regt supported by one Sqdn of 7th most dashingly rushed another convoy of over 100 wagons and took over 350 prisoners. This convoy subjected to heavy shell fire from enemy on friend and foe alike. Squadron of 7th attached to 5th cleverly took 231 more prisoners in the dark [...]". - The 2nd Light Horse Brigade, a mounted infantry brigade of the Australian Imperial Force consisting of the 5th, 6th and 7th Light Horse Regiments, formed a very distinctive national force within the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, the British and allied army that drove the Ottoman Turks and their German allies back across the Sinai desert in 1916, into Palestine in 1917, and went on to capture Damascus on the first day of October 1918, shortly before the armistice. - Lacks the sheet for the first day of each month; reports of 9 November and 14 December comprising two leaves. Both first leaves (2 November and 2 December) detached, with some marginal loss, as well as slight loss of text to 2 November. Occasional marginal chips and creases throughout, early leaves tanned. - From the Paul Lucas Collection of Australian military history. A unique survival.‎

‎[Conquest of Izmail].‎

‎Relaçao do sanguinozo combate, que derao os Russianos contra os Turcos na tomada da praça de Ismail. Lisbon, Antonio Gomes, [1791].‎

‎4to. 15 pp., final blank. Unsewn pamphlet. Rare Portuguese report of the 1790 Siege of Izmail during the Russo-Turkish War of 1787-92, which resulted in the sacking of the fortress of Izmail (in the region of Budjak, now Ukraine). The capture of this stronghold, considered impregnable, was seen as a catastrophe in the Ottoman Empire, while in Russia it was glorified in the country's first national anthem "Let the thunder of victory sound!". The Russians began besieging the city in March 1790 and started attacking in December, leading to a bloody battle of 22 December. Ottoman forces suffered more than 26,000 killed, and many others were wounded or captured. The account mentions prominent historical figures, including the Russian general Alexander Suvorov (1730-1800) and the Spanish admiral José de Ribas (1749-1800). - With small marginal flaws not affecting text. Rare; only two copies traced in library catalogues internationally (Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal; New York University). Dupuy & Dupuy, Encyclopedia of Military History (2nd ed.), 698. BGUC Misc., 514.‎

‎[Haifa-Baghdad railway].‎

‎Collection of twelve maps of the Middle East relating to the proposed construction of a railway between Haifa and Baghdad. Various places, ca. 1930.‎

‎12 maps, various sizes and scales. Rare collection of maps relating to the proposed construction of a railway between Haifa and Baghdad. In the 1920s the British contemplated building such a railway that would have connected the Mediterranean with the capital of Iraq, ostensibly to shore up their imperial rule, support the British-backed Arab government of Iraq, and secure the oil pipeline already running from the Mosul oilfields to Haifa. They were also aware that developments of aerial warfare made the Suez Canal susceptible to aerial attacks in wartime, and alternative military routes across the Middle East to India were sought. However, a series of economic difficulties trumped political and military expediency, and with the outbreak of the Second World War, the dream of a trans-Middle Eastern rail service evaporated. - The present collection includes: 1) Baghdad (Valleys of the Euphrates and Tigris from Kirkuk (N-S) and Ramadi to Kermanshah (E-W), Baghdad at the centre. Scale 1:1,000,000. 2) Untitled French map, showing Baghdad to Deir-ez-Zor (E-W) and Mosul to Baghdad (N-S). Bureau Topographique des Troupes françaises du Levant, May 1933. Colour-printed. 850 x 630 mm. 3) Untitled map showing the area between Abu Kemal on the Euphrates and Tikrit on the Tigris. 4) Jaffa-Nablous. Jaffa-Amman (E-W). Reproduction of a "carte de reconnaissance" by E. L. Ottoman. Scale 1:200,000. Paris, Service Geographique de l'Armee, 1930. Colour-printed. 690 x 540 mm. 5) Four air photo maps showing Holt's Zerka Valley Alignment (thus titled by hand, referring to Major A. L. Holt, R.E.). Haifa-Baghdad rly. survey. Trans-Jordan. Surveyed at War Office from photographs by the R.A.F. ground control under the direction of Major R. L. Brown, R. E. Showing a section of the Jordan river and the country east to Jerash. Colour-printed, with the proposed rail route marked in crayon with annotations. Scale 1:24,000. Each map 940 x 730 mm. 6) Four manuscript maps maps, coloured: a) Haifa-Baghdad Railway. Geological Map of Zerka Route, by G. S. Blake, B.Sc., F.G.S. 1934. 1350 x 530 mm. b) Haifa-Baghdad Railway, Geological Plan and Section, by G. S. Blake. 1380 x 880 mm. c) Map of Zerka Route. Haifa-Baghdad Railway. 1500 x 750 mm. d) Geological Section from Damascus to Rutba to show westerly inclination of strata. 1200 x 340 mm. Geological section along proposed route of Haifa Baghdad railway from the Jordan to the Euphrates. - Some edge tears with occasional loss to paper but not to the map. A rare survival.‎

‎[Krusinski, Tadeusz Judasz?] / Lisasueta, Jacinto de (transl.).‎

‎Historia de Thamas Kouli-Kan, Sophi de Persia. Traducida del Frances en Castellano. Madrid, en la Officina de los Herederos de Juan de Ariztia, 1740.‎

‎Small 8vo. 2 vols. (16), 286 pp. (8), 195, (1) pp. Contemporary limp vellum (modern endpapers). Very rare first Spanish translation of this sensational account, which spurred numerous re-printings, piracies, and abridgements. A perfect ideal of the 'Oriental despot', the recent exploits of Nadir Shah (Tahmasp Quli Khan, 1698-1747) fascinated his European contemporaries as much as the shocking overthrow of the Ming Dynasty by the barbarian Manchus a century earlier. From humble beginnings as a shepherd-boy, Nadir's rapid conquest of much of Western Asia and his prowess as a military leader earned him (later) comparisons to Napoleon. - The present work, translated by Jacinto de Lisasueta, was based on the "Histoire de Thamas Kouli-Kan, Sophi De Perse" published at Amsterdam earlier that year. - Barbier mistakenly supposed the French original to have been authored by J. A. du Cerceau, but “this attribution is clearly incorrect, because the book deals with events up to 1739, while du Cerceau died on the 4th of July, 1730" (Lockhart, Nadir Shah, p. 315). Today, it is supposed that the Histoire was based instead on the accounts of the Jesuit missionary Kruzinski (1675-1756) who was active in the Safavid Empire between 1707 and 1728. - Light browning; occasional repaired edge flaws. Recently rebound in slightly differing vellum, with new endpapers. Vol. 2 bears the collection drystamp of Victor Arce Blanchard. Aguilar Piñal, 6, 684. OCLC 807763638. Not in Palau.‎

‎Mahmud II, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1785-1839, ruled 1808-1839).‎

‎Signed document (Berat) in Ottoman Turkish. Constantinople, [August 1818 CE =] first days of Shawwal 1233 H.‎

‎80 x 27 cm. Ink and gold dust on paper. With large Tughra. Concerns an order of horses. The document was given to a British sailor whose family preserved it until recently.‎

‎[Palin, Nils Gustaf].‎

‎Analyse de l'inscription en hiéroglyphes du monument trouvé à Rosette, contenant un décret des prètres de l'Egypte en l'honneur de Ptolémée Epiphane. Dresden, Gebr. Walther, 1804.‎

‎Large 4to. (4), 175, (1) pp. With a folding engraved plate. Contemporary half calf with giltstamped spine title over red marbled boards. First edition of one of the earliest studies of the Rosetta Stone, published some 18 years before Champollion deciphered the text. N. G. Palin (1765-1842) was a leading Swedish diplomat whose postings included Madrid, Vienna, Dresden, and Constantinople. He made several journeys to Asia Minor, Greece, and Egypt, twice reaching the Cataracts of the Nile. On leave from 1824, he devoted all his time to his Egyptological studies. - Binding only very slightly rubbed; spine professionally rebacked preserving gilt title label and old library label. Paper a little browned; bookplate of the Portuguese historian Francisco Soares de Lacerda Machado (1870-1955) to flyleaf. Rare. Gay 1792. Ibrahim-Hilmy II, 194. Brunet VI, 29107. Kayser I, 57. OCLC 40974048.‎

‎Ruphy, J[acques] F[rançois].‎

‎Dictionnaire abrégé François-Arabe, a l'usage de ceux qui se destinent au commerce du Levant. Paris, de l'Imprimerie de la République (par les soins de P. D. Duboy-Laverne), an X (1802 v. st.).‎

‎Large 4to (198 x 260 mm). (4), XV, (1), 227, (1) pp. Contemporary French half calf over papered boards with giltstamped red spine label. Only edition. The first dictionary of Arabic published in France: a unidirectional wordbook of more than 6,000 French terms translated into Arabic (in Arabic typeface), printed in large type and generously spaced, for the use of French merchants in the orient. - In the preface, the author anticipates the concept of linguistic relativity when he observes that Arabic lacks equivalent terms for a multitude of French words, especially such as relate to everyday life, culture, and the mechanical arts, and states that it would be impossible to translate the works of Newton, Montesquieu, or Lavoisier into Arabic, for "l'ignorance d'une chose entraîne nécessairement l'ignorance du mot qui sert à la désigner" (p. ix). With the practical needs of commercial travellers and secretaries in mind, he has thus aimed to pare down the vocabulary of his dictionary to the bare essentials, so as to offer to those who would wish to use Arabic nothing but the most widely used words (p. xiii). - Ruphy, a native of Greece born Iacovos Rouvis, emigrated to France as a young man and participated in Napoleon's Egyptian Campaign before becoming secretary of the Conseil des arts et du commerce du département de la Seine in 1801. - Binding rubbed; extremeties bumped. A fairly large waterstain throughout the lower third of the book. Rare in the trade; a single copy at auction in the past 40 years. Ersch/Gruber V, 53. OCLC 27402218. Spirgatis, Kat. 32: Grammatiken und Wörterbücher (Leipzig 1895), no. 309. Not in Zaunmüller or Vater/Jülg.‎

‎Weston, Stephen.‎

‎Remains of Arabic in the Spanish and Portuguese Languages. With a Sketch by Way of Introduction of the History of Spain, From the Invasion to the Expulsion of the Moors [...]. London, S. Rousseau, 1810.‎

‎8vo. 186, (2) pp. Modern library cloth. Only edition: an early study of the substantial traces which Arabic and other oriental languages left on the Spanish and Portuguese lexicon: Includes two copious word lists. The English antiquarian, clergyman and linguist Stephen Weston (1747-1830) also produced, in 1802, the earliest English translation of the Greek text of the Rosetta Stone. - Inscribed "From the Author" on the half-title. Spine faded. Removed from the Jews' College, London (a rabbinical seminary now known as the London School of Jewish Studies), with remains of a spine label and their several cancelled stamps. OCLC 224972497. Not in Vater/Jülg.‎

‎[Charles de Valois-Bourgogne, le Téméraire (the Bold), Duke of Burgundy (1433-1477)].‎

‎Letter of safe conduct for an embassy to Persia. Mechelen, 11. II. 1474.‎

‎Latin ms. on vellum. 378 x 210 mm. Papered seal. Signed by Charles Soillot (1434-93?), secretary to Charles the Bold. Letter of "sauf conduit" (safe conduct) for the merchant and diplomat Anselm Adornes (1424-83) for a Burgundian embassy to Persia: "[...] Universis principibus baronibus militibus et plebeis quibus hec nostre littere fuerint ostense, benivolenciam nostram et salutem universitatem vestram et vestrum quemlibet. Rogamus quatenus dilectum et fidelem consiliarium, oratorem et cambellanum nostrum dominum Anselmum Adornes militem, dominum de Corthuy, harum latorem, quem ad nonnullas orientales partes impresentiarum mittimus cum penes vos venerit seu per terras et dominia vestra iter fecerit benevole recipere, amoreque nostri et contemplatione favorabiliter tractare et tractari mandare velitis eumdem unacum viginti personis et totidem equis seu aliis equitaturis aut inferius, permittendo transire sine pedagio, gabella, fundonavis, datia aut alia exactione quacunque [...]". - From March to June 1474, Adornes, Lord of Cortachy, led an embassy in the name of Charles the Bold to the Shah of Persia Uzun Hassan (1423-78), whom the Duke of Burgundy sought to persuade to engage in a new military expedition against the Ottomans, following a campaign in the previous year which had ended in Uzun Hassan's defeat by Mehmed II. Adornes was chosen for this mission due to his knowledge of Muslim territories; he had made a pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem in 1470/71 (the account of his journey written by his son Jan is still preserved). - One of the most illustrious members of the Adornes-Adorno family, of Genoese origin, and a wealthy patron, Anselm was closely involved in international trade (mainly in alum and cloth from Tournai and England). He maintained commercial relations with Genoa as well as Spain and played an important role in Burgundian diplomacy. - Some wrinkling as common; traces of folds. Well preserved. Messager des sciences historiques ou Archives des arts et de la bibliographie de Belgique (1881), pp. 41-42. Cf. Nationaal biografisch woordenboek XII, 2/25. C. van Hoorebeeck, Livres et lectures des fonctionnaires bourguignons (Turnhout, 2014), passim.‎

‎[Katib Çelebi / Hammer-Purgstall, Joseph von].‎

‎[Kesfü'z-zünun 'an esami el-kutub ve-l-fünun]. Encyclopädische Uebersicht der Wissenschaften des Orients, aus sieben arabischen, persischen und türkischen Werken übersetzt. Leipzig, Breitkopf & Härtel, 1804.‎

‎8vo. 2 vols. XIV, 283, (1) pp. (2), 285-699, (5) pp. With a few diagrams in the text. Contemporary boards with handwritten spine labels. Rare first edition, "dedicated to the devotees and connoisseurs of oriental literature, by an assiduous student of the same, in Constantinople". One of Hammer's earliest works, written as a barely 30-year-old while serving as secretary to the Austrian delegation in Istanbul, this is the first German version of the bibliographical encyclopedia compiled by the Turkish scholar Katib Çelebi (1609-57), already used by Herbelot. Hammer amplifies this text from six additional manuscripts. - Katib Çelebi's introduction investigates the history, divisions, and estimation of science in the orient. This is followed by more than 300 sub-branches in seven general subjects: writing and calligraphy; language and history; propedeutics; speculative philosophy including natural and arcane science, medicine, and music (the most substantial class, comprising some 250 pp.); practical philosophy (ethics, political science); law and theology; as well as the inward sciences (ascetics). Each branch is headed by its original title printed in Breitkopf's Arabic typeface, often provided with extensive commentary (even discussing the various musical and astronomical instruments) and bibliography. - Bindings rubbed and bumped; spine sunned; interior somewhat browned and foxed as common. From the library of the Prussian chamberlain Rudolf von Stillfried-Rattonitz (1804-82) with his armorial bookplate "Ex Bibliotheca Stillfridiana" on the front pastedown. Goedeke VII, 750, 13. Graesse III, 32.‎

‎La Chappelle, George de.‎

‎Recuel [!] de divers portraits des principales dames de la Porte du Grand Turc. Tirée au naturel sur les lieux. Paris, Antoine Estienne / chez le Blond, 1648.‎

‎Folio (235 x 335 mm). Engraved title, 3 pp. of dedication, 1 leaf (Privilege du Roy), 12 leaves of text interleaved with 12 engraved plates, woodcut headpieces and initials. The plates, probably by Noel (not Nicolas) Cochin after La Chapelle, show costumes against a scenic background. Contemporary full vellum. First edition, very rare. Georges de la Chappelle, a native of Caen, accompanied the French envoy Le Haye to the Porte and spent several years in the Levant. His work is known to us almost exclusively through these engravings, showing what Thieme/Becker described as "the prettiest ladies in the Imperial Seraglio". In the introductory text included in this first edition, La Chappelle explains that the series was occasioned by a recent French edition of Chalcocondyles, in which (as he complains) the women's costumes were very poorly drawn. La Chappelle clearly had a special interest in female costume: "his own representations are highly detailed, with special attention paid to the fabulous jewels and fine needlework that adorn the garments of Levantine costume. (According to the preface, the accuracy of his drawings could be attested by Le Haye [...], in whose presence the drawings were executed.) To add verisimilitude to the plates, examples of Turkish, Persian, Tartar, Armenian and Greek costume are depicted against topographical backgrounds showing the areas in and around Constantinople in which the models were most likely to reside" (Atabey). Curiously, several of these backgrounds, when placed side by side, form a near-consecutive panorama of Constantinople and its environs. - Occasional light brownstains; wants front flyleaf. Vellum slightly stained and wrinkled; lower cover shows traces of old calculations. An attractive copy in a strictly contemporary binding. Atabey 648. Colas 1697. Thieme/Becker VI, 378f. Cf. Blackmer 935 (2nd edition). Not in Lipperheide or Cohen/de Ricci.‎

‎[Alf layla wa-layla - French]. Henri, Auguste (ed.).‎

‎Choix des plus jolis Contes Arabes tirés des Mille et Une Nuits. Leipzig, Karl Cnobloch, 1810.‎

‎Small 8vo. 2 vols. VIII, 320 pp. 406, (2) pp. With 2 engraved frontispieces. Somewhat later brown cloth with giltstamped spine titles. Edges sprinkled. First edition; very rare. This is the earliest "édition pour la jeunesse" cited by Chauvin, containing such popular episodes as "Haroun al Raschid" and "Ali Baba". The editor chose not to tamper with Galland's century-old text, since modernisations would have compromised the "naïveté de narration". Contemporary reviewers, however, were quick to point out that any parts unfit for juvenile consumption had been omitted, while difficult passages referring to oriental customs were elucidated by editor's notes. A second edition (enlarged by a glossary) was published in 1825; a German translation would appear in 1828. - Bindings slightly rubbed. Interior evenly browned with light spotting. From the library of the Bohmian lawyer and amateur naturalist Ludwig Grasse of Reichenbach, with his repeated ownership stamps (ca. 1900). Rare; OCLC lists only three copies in libraries internationally (Cleveland; Weimar; Erlangen-Nuremberg). Chauvin IV, 76. OCLC 4433944.‎

‎Daumas, Eugene.‎

‎Die Pferde der Sahara. Berlin, Allgemeine Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1858.‎

‎8vo. 2 parts in 1 volume. VI, 202 pp. VI, 114 pp. Modern orange cloth. Second German edition (the original French edition appeared in 1851); an English translation was published in 1863. The book is divided into two parts and includes extensive information on the principles of Arabian cavalry, military costumes of horsemen, celebrated Arabian horse breeds (Haymour, Bou-ghareb, Meizique), how to choose and acquire your horse, nutrition, hygiene, the meaning of the variously coloured horse attires, rigging, veterinarian medicine and illnesses, crippledness, castration, various kinds of military attacks in the deserts and how to execute them, tribal wars, as well as ostrich, gazelle, and falcon hunting. The book concludes with general remarks on the Sahara desert and a letter from the Algerian Sufi saint and military and religious leader Abd-el-Kader (1808-83), the Emir of Mascara who founded the Algerian state and led the Algerians in their struggle against French domination and in 1847 was imprisoned with his family by the French government in the fortress of Lamalgue in Toulon (France). The Emir wrote the letter while Daumas served as French consul in Mascara. In this letter the Emir, calling himself Daumas' friend, answers some questions Daumas previously asked him while preparing this book. - The French cavalry general Melchior Joseph Eugène Daumas (1803-71) was "directeur des affaires d'Algerie" and also served as Minister of War. "De 1837 à 1839, il avait rempli, auprès d'Abd-el-Kader, à Mascara, les fonctions de consul, et en 1847 il fut chargé d'une mission spéciale auprès de l'Emir, alors détenu au fort Lamalgue, à Toulon. Ces relations amicales expliquent la part prise par Abd-el-Kader à certains ouvrages du Général Daumas" (Mennessier de la L.). - Some annotations in coloured pencil. Old handwritten ownership "Berkovich" to title and preface. Title-page and table of contents professionally repaired. Cf. Mennessier de la Lance I, 348. Huth 178. Not in Fromm.‎

‎[Kuwait] - Iraqi Arts and Popular Culture Directorate.‎

‎Al-Kuwayt al-qatha al-iraqi al-salib [Kuwait, The Stolen Iraqi Province]. Baghdad, Matba'ah Al-Rabita, no date [but ca. 1961].‎

‎8vo. 35, (1) pp. Half-tone portrait frontispiece of Abd al-Karim Qasim, two other full-page half-tone illustrations and a double-page map of the Gulf. Original printed wrappers, stapled. First edition of a rare pamphlet outlining the Iraqi claim to Kuwait and opposing its independence. - Kuwait emerged as an independent state in June 1961, after 62 years as a British protectorate. With a new constitution, it held its first parliamentary elections in 1963, thereby becoming the first Arab state in the Gulf to establish a parliament. Such political developments, married with growing wealth and modernisations in health, culture and finance, helped to make Kuwait the most prosperous state in the Arabian Peninsula. - The Iraqi government argued that the move toward independence was a continuation of Kuwait's relationship with Britain, albeit under a new guise. Furthermore, they felt that the historical links between Iraq (specifically Basra Province) and Kuwait entitled the former to control over the latter and, one suspects, a share of its growing wealth. This position, argued in the pamphlet, led to a point of crisis, with Iraq threatening invasion. To the relief of Kuwait, the Iraqis were eventually deterred by the Arab League's promise of military opposition. - Extremities darkened, some scuffs and light stains to lower wrapper, otherwise very good. Seemingly unrecorded: no copies in Copac/Jisc or OCLC.‎

‎[Syria and Lebanon - French military cartography].‎

‎[Levant. 1:50,000]. Paris, Service Geographique de l'Armee, 1926-1939.‎

‎26 colour-printed topographic maps, sheets ca. 80 x 57 cm each or smaller. Constant ratio linear horizontal scale 1:50,000. A rare set of 26 maps from the French military's atlas of the Levant, produced from the mid-1920s until the Second World War. Each highly detailed sheet is based on a quarter degree grid cell. The maps in the present ensemble focus on the environs of Aleppo (9 sheets), Latakia and Jableh (2 sheets), Hama and Homs (5 sheets), and Beirut and Sidon, east of the outskirts of Damascus (10 sheets). Considered products of military intelligence by the French government, the maps fell into German hands when Germany invaded France in 1940. The present maps were accessioned by the Geographical Institute of the University of Berlin during the early 1940s and bear the Institute's stamps and pencil shelfmarks. - Individual titles: Alep, Amouk, Batroun, Beyrouth, Djeble, Djezzine, El Hammam, Halba, Hama Ouest, Harim, Homs, Jabal es Smane, Jebail, Kartaba, Lattaquie, Ouest D'El Bab, Ouroum es Soughra, Rachaya-Nord, Rastane-Mecherfeh, Rayak, Saida, Sfire, Tell Kalakh, Tell Rifat, Zahle, Zebdani. - Occasional edge and corner flaws, some wrinkling, duststaining and minor chips and tears to margins, but altogether well preserved. The supersized map of Beirut is folded down the centre. OCLC 49951650.‎

‎Vogler, C. H.‎

‎Allgemeines Gestüt-Buch. Ein Verzeichniss der Vollblut-Pferde nebst ihrer Abstammung. Zweiter Band. Berlin, (Trowitsch & Sohn) for the author and Asher & Comp., 1852.‎

‎8vo. XXXIX, (1), 303, (1) pp. Contemporary full cloth with gilt title to spine and equestrian decoration on upper cover. The second volume of this highly scarce first German general stud-book, listing all thoroughbreds, with their lineage, owned in Germany, Denmark, Hungary, Transylvania, and Galicia. The first volume had appeared in 1847; by 1861 the series would comprise six stud-books. - Old ownership in blue pencil to flyleaf; well preserved. Extremely rare.‎

‎Amira, Georgius Michaelis.‎

‎[Grammatiqi suraya aw kaldayata (...)]. Grammatica Syriaca, sive Chaldaica. Rome, Giacomo Luna, Tipografia Medicea Orientale (in Typographia Linguarum externarum), 1596.‎

‎4to. (30 [instead of 44]), 480 pp. Contemporary limp vellum with handwritten spine title (wants ties). First - and likely only - edition. The first large-scale Syriac grammar, the third ever written (following those of Caninius, 1554, and Widmanstetter, 1555). Composed by the Maronite priest Jiris Ibn Mikha'il ibn 'Amira, it was printed by the Maronite scholar Ya'qub ibn Hilal (Giacomo Luna), who worked at the Medicean Press under Raimondi and was responsible for the Arabic and Syriac publications issued between 1590 and 1594. In 1595 he started printing on his own, and possibly took over some of the types of the Vatican Press. The work is listed as a Propaganda Press imprint ("olim typis nostris impressi") in Amadatius's 1773 "Catalogus", which shows the continuity that was felt to exist between the Medicean Press, the intermediate stage of Luna and Stephanus Paulinus, and the Propaganda Press. In the preface Raimondi is mentioned as the instigator of the work. - The 24 pt Syriac "serto" types were cut in 1590 by Jean Cavaillon for the Medicean Press. In the beginning a Syriac alphabet is presented, in three different scripts: "estrangelo" (this word possibly here used for the first time), "serto", and a Nestorian script possibly in type. This Nestorian script, a cursive form of estrangelo, is introduced here for the first time. In 1633 a slightly different typeface was used for Bellarmino's Catechism. - Preliminaries wanting 7 leaves but containing 4 additional interleaved blanks, two of which bearing Syriac annotations in a large, contemporary hand. Occasional light browning, a few leaves misbound. - Provenance: Handwritten ownership of the Discalced Carmelites of St. Joseph in Paris on the title-page and lower pastedown. - Quite rare. A second edition, supposedly produced in 1645 (cf. Nasrallah, p. 10), is not attested in libraries. Edit 16, CNCE 1541. Adams A 965. BM-STC Italian 356 (s. v. "Jiris"). IA 104.783. Zenker, p. 132, no. 1534. Smitskamp, PO 184. Vater/Jülg 388. Nestle 13. Duverdier, Impressions, 198. OCLC 7238840. Ebert 513 ("Selten"). Brunet I, 231 ("Ouvrage estimé").‎

‎[Iraq].‎

‎Four postcards. Basra, Kerim / Raphael Tuck & Sons, ca. 1900s.‎

‎4 picture postcards. A collection of vintage postcards showing the Ordnance Depot, Basra; the Mouth of the Ashar Creek, Basra; Qashla (Ashar Barracks) Basra; and View, Right Bank, Shatt-El-Arab. - All evenly browned a little; some foxing to view of the Ordnance Depot. The view of Ashar Creek is pre-printed with "Christmas Greetings and all Good Wishes for a Happy New Year".‎

‎Kirk, John, British administrator in Zanzibar (1832-1922); co-explorer with David Livingstone.‎

‎Autograph letter signed ("very sincerely John Kirk"). Zanzibar, 14. VII. 1868.‎

‎4to. 6 pp. of 3 ff. With autograph envelope. To the English diplomat and army officer Christopher Palmer Rigby, Consul of Zanzibar from 1858 to 1861. Kirk raises his doubts about Sultan Majid bin Said's desire to end the slave trade, whilst already foreseeing that his successor-to-be Burghash bin Said would be more open to this aim. - Kirk expresses his hopes that in Zanzibar there will "soon be a more rigorous policy for suppression of [the] slave trade", noting that "this year the Arabs have had it all their own", as Britain was engaged in the Abyssinian Wars, and that "my experience of the Arabs is [...] they are all liars, but Suliman bin Ali the real Sultan and only man to go to if you wish anything done is decidedly no exception", discussing the poor health of Majid, Sultan of Zanzibar, and a school of thought that his expected successor, Burghash bin Said ("a very intelligent Liberal man, outspoken and quick"), would be more friendly with the English, expanding on the rivalry between various local factions within Zanzibar. - John Kirk, chief assistant to David Livingstone during his celebrated expedition from 1858 to 1863, was appointed vice-consul of Zanzibar in 1866, and in 1873 "persuaded the sultan of Zanzibar to sign an anti-slavery treaty, closing the island's slave markets, and providing protection for all liberated slaves" (ODNB). An incomplete transcription of this letter is reproduced in Russell, General Rigby, Zanzibar and the Slave Trade, 1935, pp. 301f.‎

‎[Libya].‎

‎Original press photo (vintage). London, 1949.‎

‎150 x 205 mm. AP press photo showing Sayid Idris al-Senussi in London shaking hands with Eric de Candole, British Administrator of Cyrenaica, and his wife. Captioned on the reverse: "Senussi leader arrives in London. The Emir Sayid Idris el Senussi, head of the state of Cyrenaica, photographed on arrival in London last night July 15. He is shaking hands with Mr. E. A. V. Candole, British Chief Administrator of Cyrenaica. At centre is Mrs. Candole. The Emir travelled from Derna to Marseilles in the battleship 'Vanguard' and thence across France. It is the Emir's first visit to England. While here he will have talks with Mr. Bevin on the future of Cyrenaica". Well preserved.‎

‎[Ottoman Empire].‎

‎Mamalik Muhrsaa wa-Shahanaa bik haa wa'ldygha bilad. Istanbul, Ottoman General Staff, 1309 Rumi Calendar [1893].‎

‎815 x 1140 mm (on 2 separate sheets). The first distance-time route map of the Ottoman Empire, one of the great masterpieces of Ottoman thematic cartography. Devised by the General Staff of the Ottoman Army and depicting the entire realm of the Sublime Porte from Albania to Yemen, it gives travel times between hundreds of locations, including various routes of the Hajj. - The map captures the scene during the middle of the rule of Sultan Abdul Hamid II (reigned 1876-1909), during which the empire still controlled vast territories in Europe, Asia and Africa, extending from the Balkans to the Arabian Peninsula. It is centred upon Anatolia but includes all the core regions of the Empire, extending from Bosnia in the northwest to the head of the Arabian Gulf in the southwest, and from Crimea and Baku in the north and east to Lower Egypt in the southwest. In the lower right corner is an inset capturing the western Gulf, including Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar; an inset above details the Red Sea, including Hejaz, Asir and Yemen; a larger inset in the lower left depicts Ottoman Libya as well as parts of French Tunisia and Algeria. Annotated in Ottoman Turkish throughout, the map is traversed by hundreds of lines that connect every city and town of importance, representing the main land travel routes between these centres; each segment states the estimated travel times between the points. The map also features a chart comparing distances between the principal centres: on average, the chart shows, it took 18 hours to travel from the Red Sea port of Jeddah to the holy city of Mecca. - This is the first map ever to display the distances between all significant travel points in the Ottoman Empire and would have been vitally useful to soldiers, merchants, and government bureaucrats planning their itineraries. It was also one of the only maps to give an approximately accurate notion of the times and distance along several of the most important Hajj routes, including the famous Syrian Hajj Road from Damascus to Mecca, now considered by UNESCO for World Heritage Status. - Transportation had always been one of the great challenges confronting the Ottoman Empire, an astoundingly vast realm spanning three continents and traversing some of the world's most rugged terrain. Yet the Hamidian Era marked a period of rapid modernization, including the creation of macadamized highways, railways and modern ports, and saw the rise of sophisticated cartography. The General Staff was able to draw on exhaustive highway surveys and recent itinerary records. The present map also depicts the rapidly expanding Ottoman railway system, after a wave of development had revolutionized travel in the empire's European domains, but just before an unprecedented boom in railway construction would do the same for Ottoman Asia. The Balkans are traversed by several railways: most notably as of 1888 the great port of Salonika was connected to the rest of Europe by rail, while Istanbul was linked to the European system for the first time that same year, providing the direct route for the famed Orient Express, which commenced in 1889. One will also notice the first great leg of the Anatolian Railway that connected Istanbul to Ankara on 31 December 1892, completed only a matter of weeks before the present map was issued. - Although Ottoman cartographers were producing topographic and thematic maps of the highest sophistication and diversity, every bit as impressive as those of the best German and French and British mapmakers, these works tend to be very rare today and are not nearly as well known as they deserve to be: they were almost invariably issued in small print runs, and maps intended for practical use in the field, such as the present work, tended to perish easily. Also, Turkey's switch to the Latin alphabet, in 1928, ensured that many of the surviving earlier maps were discarded, making this specimen a rare survival of an historic cartographical achievement. - Brownstains and waterstains.‎

‎[Stereo views].‎

‎Mahogany stereoscope, with a collection of stereo images. Probably England, ca. 1900.‎

‎Collection of 48 stereoscopic views (double prints on cardboard) (ca. 86 x 178 mm each). Includes original contemporary stereo viewer with collapsible handle, sliding focus tray, and padded viewing chamber with lenses. An American-manufactured mahogany stereoscope (Perfecscope, Underwood & Underwood, New York) with 48 photographs showing scenes of town and country, architecture, figures, and war. Well preserved, rare with the turn-of-the-century stereoscope in perfect working order.‎