‎Golf‎

‎[Algeria - Tunisia - Photography].‎

‎Algerie - Tunisie. [Tunis, Photographie Garrigues, late 19th century].‎

‎Oblong album (320 x 410 mm). Album with 50 photographic prints of various sizes (135 x 95 to 290 x 215 mm), each pasted on thick paperboard. Half black leather with title in gold lettering on front board. Album with 50 albumen prints of scenes in Algeria and Tunisia, made by an unknown photographer. Most of the photographs have a caption naming the place photographed, but only 5 indicate place of production or publication of the photos. These were all produced in Tunis, at least some by the French photographer J. Garrigues, printed and published at his studio. Notable photographs in this album are the first, showing a veiled woman, a barber at work in the streets, riders on their horses, camels with riders and luggage, the Notre Dame d’Afrique in Algiers. Other subjects include city views, (fairly) candid photos of people in the streets, landscapes and the exterior and interior of a mosque. - The most remarkable print in this album actually does not fit in with the other images of places in North Africa. It is a photograph of pilgrims before the Great Mosque and Kaaba in Mecca, modern day Saudi Arabia with a caption in Arabic. This photograph was taken by the first Arab photographer Al-Sayyid ‘Abd al-Gaffar ca. 1887, making it one of the first photographs of Mecca. The present album contains this picture in its original form, including the Arabic caption. An edited version of the photograph (in which remnants of the Arabic caption are visible) can be found in Hurgronje’s "Bilder aus Mekka". - With a small Antwerp bookseller’s ticket on the front paste-down. The binding shows some signs of wear, slight foxing/browning of the outer edges of the paper boards (not affecting the photographic prints), some prints have slightly faded edges, which does not interfere with the actual image. Overall in good condition.‎

‎Plinius Secundus, Gaius (Pliny the Elder).‎

‎Naturalis historiae opus. (Cologne, Eucharius Cervicornus, 1524).‎

‎Folio. (16), 311, (60) ff. Title-page and sub-title to index with ornamental woodcut border. Woodcut initials, head and tail pieces. Calf, gold-tooled ribbed spine with title-label. Sprinkled edges. First edition of the "Natural history" edited by Johannes Caesarius (1468-1550), a humanist and close friend of Erasmus. The original text was by Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23 - August 25, AD 79), better known as Pliny the Elder. He was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian. The text in the present edition is decorated with woodcut borders and many woodcut initials. - The "Naturalis Historia" is one of the largest single works to have survived from the Roman empire to the modern day and purports to cover the entire field of ancient knowledge, based on the best authorities available to Pliny. He claims to be the only Roman ever to have undertaken such a work. It comprised 37 books in 10 volumes and covered over 20,000 facts on topics including the fields of botany, zoology, astronomy , geology and mineralogy as well as the exploitation of those resources. It remains a standard work for the Roman period and the advances in technology and understanding of natural phenomena at the time. Some technical advances he discusses are the only sources for those inventions, such as hushing in mining technology or the use of water mills for crushing or grinding corn. Much of what he wrote about has been confirmed by archaeology. ''We know from Pliny that there were important pearl fisheries in the Gulf [...] Pliny identifies Tylos (Bahrain) as a place famous for its pearls [... He] attests that pearls were the most highly rated valuable in Roman society, and that those from the Gulf were specially praised [...] The pearl related finds at the site of El-Dur indicate the site was integrated into the maritime trade routes linking the Roman Empire, the Persian Empire, India and South Arabia'' (Carter). Book 6 holds a chapter that gives the first detailed account of the regions around the Gulf, including what are now Qatar, the Emirates and Oman. - Not only is it virtually the only work which describes the work of artists of the time, and has it become an important reference work for the history of art, due to the wide range of topics, the referencing system and index it became a model for later encyclopaedias. - With manuscript notes of multiple owners on pastedown (including written ex-libris by Antonii Mauritii Seguin 1713 and Mathon de la cour 1744). Some underling in text, and notes in the margins (partly lost due to trimmed edges). A very good copy with bookplate of De Ponsainpierre on pastedown. VD 16, P 3531. Adams P 1556. BM-STC German 704. Durling 3689 (imperfect copy). Hunt 23. USTC (11 copies).‎

‎Pococke, Richard.‎

‎Beschryving van het Oosten, en van eenige andere landen [...]. Including: Schutte, Rutger. Verhandelingen over de reize der Israëlieten in de woestijne, en eenige bijzonderheden van Jerusalem en deszelfs omtrek. - Bladwijzer der schriftuur-plaatsen [...]. Utrecht, Rotterdam and Amsterdam, Gijsbert Tieme and Abraham van Paddenburg; Jacobus Bosch and Reinier Arrenberg; Martinus de Bruyn, 1776-1786.‎

‎4to. 3 vols. (in 6 parts) bound as 6. XXXVI, 219, (1), (11), 224-491, (1) pp. (12), 262 pp., (1 blank f.), VIII, (3), 268-376, 397-519, (1) pp. VIII, 262 pp., (1 blank f.), VIII, (3), 268-403, (1) pp. (4), 115, (1), 124 pp. With 205 engraved folding plates (irregularly numbered I-CIII), including maps, plans, views and other illustrations, depicting temples, antiquities, plants, animals, etc. Contemporary half calf, gold fillets and two title-labels on spines, sprinkled paper sides. First edition of the Dutch translation of Pococke's celebrated monograph on the Near and Middle East, praised by Gibbon as a work of "superior learning and dignity" (Decline and Fall, ch. 11, n. 69). This Dutch edition was augmented with 27 plates, an essay by the minister Rutger Schutte on the travels of the Israelites, and a index to Biblical locations found in the main work. - "Pococke travelled extensively in Europe from 1733 to 1736 and continued on to the Levant, reaching Alexandria in September 1737. He remained three years in the Eastern Mediterranean, visiting Egypt, Palestine, Asia Minor and Greece. His book describes these journeys but not necessarily in chronological order. The plates of antiquities are after drawings by Pococke himself ... Pococke achieved a great reputation with this publication; the work was very popular during his lifetime and was praised by Gibbon" (Blackmer). "The quality and particularly the earliness of his observations and their record in prose, maps, and diagrams make him one of the most important near eastern travellers, ranking with Frederik Ludvig Norden and Carsten Niebuhr, in stimulating an Egyptian revival in European art and architecture, and recording much that has subsequently been lost" (ODNB). - A couple of plates in the last volume slightly browned and a few spots on the first few leaves of the first volume, otherwise a very good copy, with the leaves nearly untrimmed. The bindings somewhat rubbed along the extremities (primarily the spines), but otherwise good. Cox I, 224. Tiele, Bibl. 869. Cf. Blackmer 1323 (English ed.); for the author: Baigent, "Pococke, Richard (1704-1765"; in: ODNB (online ed.).‎

‎Prisse d'Avennes, Achille Constant Théodore Émile.‎

‎Oriental Album. Characters, Costumes, and Modes of life, in the valley of the Nile. London, James Madden, 1848.‎

‎Folio (382 x 522 mm). (6), 60 pp. With mounted chromolithographed additional decorative title heightened with gold, tinted lithographed portrait, and 30 hand-coloured lithographs. Numerous wood-engraved illustrations in the text. Contemp. red half morocco with giltstamped cover and spine title. All edges gilt. Marbled endpapers. Modern calf-backed marbled boards, spine gilt with morocco label. First edition. Only a small portion of the press run - as the present copy - was coloured by hand, providing the utmost detail and atmosphere to the splendid plates showing bedouins, horses, local life and costumes. One of the most sought-after and earliest publications by Prisse d'Avennes, who spent many years in Egypt after 1826, first as an engineer in the service of Mehmet Ali. After 1836 he explored Egypt disguised as an Arab, using the name Edris Effendi; during this period he carried out archaeological excavations in the valley of the Nile. In 1848 he first published his "Oriental Album". This unusual visual collection of "characters, costumes and modes of life in the valley of the Nile" is augmented by a commentary by the renowned orientalist and Egyptologist James Augustus St. John. - The frontispiece portrait depicts the artist's friend George Lloyd in the robes of a sheikh reclining with a hookah, and camels in the background. Lloyd, a botanist accompanying the expedition, accidentally shot himself whilst cleaning a rifle. - Final plate with a few minor repairs to margins; final leaf creased and with marginal repairs. One or two other minor marginal defects. - While normal copies of the first edition regularly appear in the trade or at auctions, the present coloured de luxe issue with all the plates is quite rare. The Atabey copy fetched £36,000 (Sotheby's, May 29, 2002, lot 975); the Longleat copy commanded $59,200 (Christie's, June 13, lot 110) that same year. Atabey 1001. Blackmer 1357. Lipperheide Ma 30. Colas 2427. Hiler 772. Brunet IV, 885. Graesse V, 449. Cf. Heritage Library, Islamic Treasures, s. v. "Art" (illustration). Not in Cook (Egyptological Libr.), Fumagalli (Bibliogr. Etiopica), Gay, Abbey.‎

‎(Prothero, G. W. [ed.]).‎

‎Persian Gulf: French and Portuguese Possessions. London, H. M. Stationery Office, 1920.‎

‎8vo. (8), 83, (1) pp. (8), 57, (1) pp. (8), 74 pp. (8), 52 pp. (4), 26 pp., final blank f. (4), 26 pp. 38 pp. (index). Publisher's printed green cloth. A manual of "geographical, economic, historical, social, religious and political" information compiled for the British delegates to the Peace Conference that took place in Versailles in 1919, here issued "for public use" for the first time. The extensive section on the Arabian coastal regions includes not only detailed statistics (giving the population of Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Sharjah at 6,000, 20,000, and 15,000 inhabitants, respectively), but also, in a separate appendix, the full text of the treaties signed between the United Kingdom and the Sheikhs and rulers of the "Trucial Coast" in 1820 and 1853, including the names of all signatories: Sh. Hassan bin Rahmah for Ras al-Khaimah, Sh. Shakbout for Abu Dhabi, Sh. Zayed bin Syf for Dubai, Sh. Sultan bin Suggur for Sharjah, Sh. Rashid bin Hamid for Ajman, Sh. Abdullah bin Rashid for Umm al-Quwayn, etc. - Issued as vol. XIII of the "Peace Handbooks" by the Historical Section of the Foreign Office. Comprises in all: nos. 76 (Persian Gulf), 77 (French India), 78 (French Indo-China), 79 (Portuguese India), 80 (Portuguese Timor), and 81 (Macao). - Binding slightly stained. Withdrawn from the University Library of Manchester (their ownership, bookplate, and deaccession stamp to endpapers). - Rare. OCLC 28122772.‎

‎Ptolemaeus, Claudius.‎

‎Sexta Asie Tabula. Ulm, Lienhart Holle, 1482.‎

‎Double-page woodcut map, fine original hand-colour, with near-contemporary manuscript vignette illustrations of an Ababeel bird, Makkah and Kaaba in pen and wash heightened in gold. 414 x 572 mm. Framed (78 x 56 cm). The first-ever printed woodcut map of the Arabian peninsula, here in original hand colour and adorned with unique, hand-drawn illumination added by a contemporary artist. The map was published in the first atlas printed outside Italy; it was the first atlas to be illustrated with woodcut maps. Remarkably, the hand-drawn vignette illustrations include a depiction of the relief of Makkah, besieged by Abrahah, through the Ababeel birds, who pelted the attacking army of war elephants with burning stones from the pits of the fires of hell. The image shows a gigantic blue-and-gilt Ababeel bird above the city, engulfed in flames - not only one of the earliest depictions of Makkah but also an amazing example of cross-cultural exchange of narratives during the early Renaissance, proving a Western illustrator's familiarity with a Middle Eastern tradition famously referenced in the Qur'an (sura 105, known as al-Fil, The Elephant): "Wa 'arsala 'Aalayhim tayran 'Ababeel, Tarmeehim bihijaratin min sijjeel" ("And He sent against them birds in flocks, Striking them with stones of burning clay"). No other example with these illustrations of Makkah is known, nor are they contained in any printed edition of Ptolemy. Campbell, Earliest Printed Maps, p. 179-210. Schreiber 5032. Tibbetts 8 (p. 37). The Heritage Library, Islamic Treasures, s. v. "Maps". Cf. Heritage Library, Qatar, p. 8f (illustration). Carter, Robert A. Sea of Pearls, p. 21.‎

‎[Qur'an]. Beck, Matthias Friedrich.‎

‎Specimen arabicum, hoc est, Bina capitula Alcorani XXX de Roma & XLIIX de Victoria [...]. Augsburg, Jakob Koppmayer for Lorenz Kroniger & Gottlieb Goebel's heirs, 1688.‎

‎4to. (12), 66, 41, (1) pp. Title-page printed in red and black. With a coin engraving in the text. 19th c. wrappers. Only edition thus: the 30th and the 48th sura (Ar-Rum and Al-Fath) in the original Arabic and with Latin parallel translation. An early and scholarly specimen of Qur'an translation in the West, with extensive commentary. The Arabic text is rendered in Hebrew letters, as Arabic types were unavailable to the printer. M. F. Beck (1649-1701) had studied history and oriental literature at Jena. In 1677 he settled in Ausgburg as a preacher, but kept his focus on the oriental languages. His linguistic proficiency ultimately earned him a pension from the King of Prussia (cf. ADB II, 218). - Some browning; title insignificantly dust- and waterstained, but altogether well preserved. VD 17, 12:128711C. Schnurrer 374. OCLC 13610797.‎

‎[Qur'an - Latin].‎

‎Mohammedia filii Abdallae pseudo-prophetae Fides Islamitica, i.e. Al-Coranus. Ex idiomate Arabico, quo primum a Mohammede conscriptus est, latine versus per Ludovicum Marraccium [...]. Cura et opera M. Christiani Reineccii. Leipzig, Lanckisch, 1721.‎

‎8vo. (12), 114, (2), 558, (34) pp. Title-page printed in red and black. Contemporary full vellum with ms. title to spine. First printing thus. - The edition of Christian Reineccius (1668-1752) contains the Latin text of Luigi Marracci (1612-1700), to which are added a history of the Qur'an and an account of the Muslim faith. Marracci's text, published in 1698, constituted the first accurate Latin translation, the first scholarly printed Qur'an (including a much more accurate Arabic text than any previously printed). "It was a considerable progress that the Qur'an, much maligned by so many in the West possessing no familiarity at all with its content, now was made generally available" (cf. Fück). - Some browning throughout, as common; old ownership "Steph. Manno" stamped to title page. Altogether very well-preserved in an immaculate contemporary full vellum binding. Schnurrer p. 413f. Fück 95, n. 251. BM Arabic I, 896. Enay 164. Zenker I, 1396. Woolworth p. 286.‎

‎[Qur'an - Swedish].‎

‎Koran öfversatt från arabiska originalet, jemte en historisk inledning af Fredrik Crusenstolpe, konsulat-sekreterare vid kongl. konsulatet i Marocko. Stockholm, P. A. Norstedt & söner, 1843.‎

‎8vo. V, (1), 158, 783, (1), 26, (2) pp. Near contemporary green half calf over marbled boards, flat spine elaborately gilt. First Swedish edition: the pioneering, first complete version of the Holy Qur'an in any Scandinavian language. The translator Fredrik Crusenstolpe (1801-82) was secretary to the Swedish consul in Tanger and a philhellene who had fought against the Ottomans in the Greek War of Independence. - The publication was privately funded by the translator himself: Crusenstolpe, who detected in the Swedish mentality an ignorance and tendency toward superstition which he resented, "felt personally compelled to furnish the Swedish audience with material to rectify some of the misconceptions about the Prophet Muhammad in Swedish popular imagination [...] He described the Prophet as a rational 'Arabic founder of law' (p. iii), in compliance with a common imagery of the Prophet which emerged in the European Enlightenment" (N. S. Eggen, "On the Periphery: Translations of the Our'an in Sweden, Denmark and Norway", in: The Routledge Handbook of Arabic Translation, ed. Sameh Hanna et al.). - Covers a little rubbed, corners slightly bumped. Some browning and occasional foxing throughout. From the library of Swedish linguist Hans Hultqvist (1943-2019) with his discrete shelf mark in pencil to title-page. Very rare: OCLC lists only four holding libraries (NY Public Library, Library of Congress, Cleveland Public Library, Ohio State University). Chauvin X, 238. OCLC 2011410.‎

‎[Qur'an].‎

‎A fine illuminated Qur'an manuscript. Probably modern Afghanistan or Pakistan, ca. 1830s (first half of the 19th century CE).‎

‎8vo (ca. 110 x 160 mm). Arabic manuscript on paper. 260 ff. with 3 double-page 'Unwan headpieces in colours and gilt. 17 lines in meticulous black ink Naskhi, text within black, blue and gilt rules, verse divisions marked by black-bordered gold discs, red orthoepic markers and diacritics, sura beginnings in red on gilt background, line separators in black and gilt, marginal medallions (Juz' and Hizb markers) in colours and gilt, marginalia in red. Contemporary lacquer binding, covers elaborately painted with floral designs on outsides and insides. Later black morocco spine with stamped title. Stored in contemporary giltstamped leather slipcase with flap. An exceptionally pretty early 19th century Qur'an manuscript probably written in the Pashtunistan or Balochistan region of British India. Occasional insignificant edge flaws or various instances of light browning, but generally a very clean and well-preserved example in a pretty floral lacquer binding (corners bumped, spine repaired in more recent times). Slipcase a little rubbed and worn along extremeties.‎

‎[Qur'an].‎

‎Illuminated, complete Qur'an manuscript. [Ottoman Empire], ca. 1770 / 18th century.‎

‎8vo (208 x 150 mm). Contemporary blind- and goldstamped calf with fore-edge flap, decorated with corner stamps. Illuminated Arabic ms. on paper, 305 ff., single 15-line column, Naskh script on polished paper. Double-page 'unwan on first two pages shows elaborate gilt and coloured ornamentation. Text framed by three parallel golden and black lines. Gold discs between verses, sura headings written in gold.‎

‎Quran.‎

‎Illuminated Qur'an manuscript. [Ottoman area], [1848 CE] = 1265 H.‎

‎8vo (129 x 83 mm). Illuminated Arabic ms. on paper, 303 ff., 15 lines, Naskh script. Double-page 'unwan on first two pages shows elaborate gilt ornamentation; colophon shows coloured ornamentation. Text framed by three parallel golden, black and red wires. Gold discs between verses, sura headings written in gold. Contemporary blind- and giltstamped binding with fore-edge flap, decorated with borders and corner stamps. Some slight restoration to first leaves, otherwise in very good condition.‎

‎[Qur'an].‎

‎A splendid illuminated Qur'an manuscript. Iran, [1783 CE] = 1204 H.‎

‎8vo (148 x 90 mm). Illuminated Arabic manuscript on paper, 243 leaves plus 2 fly-leaves, complete. 19 lines per page, written in a neat Naskhi script in black ink with diacritics in red, margins ruled in gold and colours. Gold discs or florets between verses, sura headings written in white within gilt cartouches flanked by panels with alternating floral motifs in gold and various colours. Brown morocco with flap and giltstamped borders and central ornaments. Splendid pocket-size Qur'an. Marginal section markers in white naskh on gold ground within polychrome flower blossom, opening double-page frontispiece richly illuminated in lapis lazuli blue, green, red, pink, and gold, the text within cloud bands in gold. - Hinge tender between the first two pages, some light marginal fingering, otherwise in perfect condition. From the library of the scientists and collectors Crawford Fairbanks Failey (1900-81) and Gertrude Van Wagenen (1893-1978), who performed research at Yale and Johns Hopkins in the fields of medical chemistry and biology.‎

‎[Qur'an - English].‎

‎The Koran, commonly called the Alcoran of Mohammed, translated into English [...] by George Sale. London, C. Ackers for J. Wilcox, 1734.‎

‎Large 4to. (4), IX, (3), 187, (1), 508, (16) pp. With folding engr. map, folding engr. plate, and 3 (2 folding) engr. genealogical tables. Modern half calf with marbled covers, gilt. First printing of this important translation. "Showered with praise from the start" (cf. Enay). "The classic translation of the Quran [...] Sale worked from the original Arabic, but also used Marracci's Latin version, about which he said it was very precise, but too literal [...] Sale's translation is marked by a rather sober tidiness. Sale himself saw his work as a sort of defence of a much-maligned book [...] The translation's dispassionate, dry objectivity was an enormous step forward for western Quranic studies. Its deserved success was based to no little extent on the 'Preliminary Discourse', which provides a general introduction to the Quran as well as an overview of the most important Muslim denominations [...] For a century this account remained one of the principal sources from which the European educated elite drew its knowledge of all matters Quranic" (cf. Fück). - Title page slightly wrinkled and dusty. A good, very unobtrusively browned copy in an appealing modern binding. Chauvin X, 146. Schnurrer 429. Fück 104f. Enay 169. Graesse IV, 44. Ebert 11524.‎

‎[Quran - French]. Ryer, André du.‎

‎L'Alcoran de Mahomet. Translaté d'Arabe en François. Paris, Antoine de Sommaville, 1647.‎

‎4to. (10), 648 [but: 598], (4) pp. Contemporary half calf with giltstamped spine. Rare first edition of "the oldest complete translation of the Qur'an into a European vernacular" (Encylopedia of the Qur'an). Du Ryer's work served as the basis for further translations of the Qur'an into English, German, Dutch, and Russian, and was instrumental in introducing Europeans to the tenets of the Muslim faith. Du Ryer was a celebrated linguist and had lived in Egypt and Turkey, where he studied classical Arabic. His introduction briefly summarizes the Muslim religion for Christian readers, noting customs such as Ramadan, circumcision, the practice of having as many as four wives, the significance of Mecca and Medina, Sufi brotherhoods and wandering ascetics, and finally the Islamic recognition of Jesus as a prophet but not the son of God. A prayer printed in Arabic is included on the verso of leaf e2. - "Du Ryer's translation of the Qur'an [...] became an unparalleled literary success [...] The easy availability of the Qur'an accompanied a newfound interest in the Orient; additionally, du Ryer's translation lacked the polemical tone of previous editions, an orientation which arose mainly in ecclesiastical contexts. Du Ryer used Islamic commentaries such as al-Bayawi's Anwar al-tanzil, the Tafsir al-Jalalayan by al-Mahalli (d. 864/1459) and al-Suyu i (d. 911/1505), or an excerpt from al-Razi's (d. 606/1210) great commentary made by al-Raghi al-Tunisi (d. 715/1315) entitled al-Tanwir fi l-tafsir, quite casually in his translation, merely noting them in the margins. The deprecatory tone present in the introductory chapter, 'Sommaire de la religion des Turcs,' can be understood as an attempt at camouflage (cf. Hamilton and Richard, André du Ryer, 94f)" (Encyclopedia of the Qur'an). - Some waterstaining throughout; occasional worming; more pronounced edge damage near end. Provenance: 1714 ms. ownership (partly stricken out) of the Castelnaudary Capuchins, dissolved in 1789; acquired by the notary J. L. E. Bauzit of Castelnaudary (his ownership on title and flyleaf). Chauvin X, p. 126. Schnurrer 427. Fück 74. Brunet III, 1309. Encyclopedia of the Qur'an V, 347.‎

‎Ramusio, Giovanni Battista.‎

‎Delle navigationi et viaggi in molti luoghi corretta, et ampliata, nella quale si contengono la descrittione dell' Africa, & del paese del Prete Ianni, con varii viaggi, dalla citta di Lisbona, & dal Mar Rosso à Calicut, & infin' all' isole Molucche, dove nascono le spetierie, et la navigatione attorno il mondo. Venice, heredi di Lucantonio Giunti, 1554-1574.‎

‎3 parts in 3 folio volumes (302 x 205 mm). (4), 34, 436 ff. 30, 248 ff. 6, 34, 455 (not 456) ff. With a total of 51 engravings in the text (7 full-page) and 12 double-page maps and plans (2 full-page). 20th-c. full brown morocco, double-gilt fillet on the covers, spine ribbed and decorated with gilt fleurons, mottled edges. Stored in custom-made calf-edged slipcases. Perfectly complete copy of this superb collection of travels, composed of the first edition of the 3rd part and the second edition of the 1st and 2nd part. The second edition, widely enlarged, of the 1st part, is the first and only one to present the 3 double-page maps representing Africa and India that had not been printed in the first edition of 1550, and which would not be reprinted in the 3rd edition of 1563 since the wood plates of these 3 maps had been destroyed in the fire that ravaged Giunti's workshop in 1557. - "This work, which served as a model to Hakluyt, was the first systematical collection of voyages that had so far appeared [...] It [...] is carefully and intelligently done" (Cox). "All authors are unanimous of their praise of Ramusio's choice of published narratives. Locke, the English philosopher, states that it is 'the most perfect work of that nature in any language'. Harrisse writes, 'The publication of Ramusio's "Raccolta" may be said to open an era in the literary history of Voyage and Navigation. Instead of accounts carelessly copied and translated from previous collections, perpetuating errors and anachronisms, we find in this valuable work original narratives which betray the hand of a scholar of great critical acumen'" (Borba de M.). The first volume, mainly dedicated to Africa and South Asia, happily includes several travel reports of the utmost importance for the exploration of the Arabian Peninsula and the Gulf region. Lodovico Varthema's travel report, famous for detailing the first recorded visit of a Westerner to Mecca, indeed the first western encounter with the Arab world, contains accounts of the holy cities of as well as of the port of Jeddah, information on Bedouin life and costume, etc. (ff. 162-166). - The account of Vasco da Gama's voyage to India is comparable in importance only to Columbus’s in the west, as it “opened the way for the maritime invasion of the East by Europe” (PMM 42). Da Gama’s pioneering sea voyage ranks amongst the greatest historic events of the second millennium and as “one of the defining moments in the history of exploration” (BBC History, online). It is also considered the turning point in the political history of the Arabian Gulf region, followed as it was by a prolonged period of east-west commerce, conquest and conflict. Critically, the excerpt here published includes details on "una isola [i. e., Julfar] verso il colfo Persico dove altro non si fa che pescar perle" (I, f. 132). - Duarte Barbosa's report includes accounts of Mecca and Medina (f. 323), the ports of Jeddah (ibid.) and Aden (f. 324), the Arab kingdom of Hormuz (ff. 324-327), Julfar and the islands in the Arabian Gulf (f. 325, with reference to pearl-diving), etc. Also, we find the very early and highly influential, albeit imprecise data on the Kuwait region: place names such as Lorom, Gostaque, Bacido, Conga, Menahaon (p. 325) etc. which Slot discusses at some length: "Much of the toponymic information in the Kuwait region on the maps from the Gastaldi group is based on an erroneous interpretation of Duarte Barbosa's text. From this text come the strange names of places in the area of Kuwait like Costaqui (Kuhistaq) which should in fact be placed on the other side of the Gulf [...] Loron [...] might be an error for the Karun River which is on the Persian side just east of the Shatt al-Arab. Then follows inside the inlet of the Gulf of Kuwait the name Manahon. Then follows around this 'Gulf of Kuwait' three names which are cased by erroneous plotting [...]: Congo (Bandar Kong), Costaqui (Kuhistaq) and Bacido (Basaidu) with the offshore island of Queximi (Qism). These are names taken from [...] Duarte Barbosa's book and erroneously plotted on this coast" (Origins of Kuwait, p. 15). - The volume also includes a set of three woodcut maps by Gastaldi: the first showing Africa, the second showing the Indian subcontinent, the Strait of Hormuz, the Eastern half of the Gulf, and the Indian Ocean, while the third shows Southeast Asia and the East Indies. These were a great advance on earlier maps, including even Gastaldi's own, taking into account new information provided by Portuguese explorers. Many of the topographic names in the Gulf region derive from the forms used by these navigators and can be identified, sometimes tentatively, from their place on the first two of these maps and from the early accounts of the voyages: "Cor. Dulfar" (Dhofar), the island "Macira" (Masirah), "C. Resalgate" (Ras al Had?), "Galatia" (the ancient site Qalhat), "Mazcate" (Muscat), the island "Quexumo" (Qeshm), "Ormus" (Hormuz), and there is even an unlabelled city close to the present-day Abu Dhabi. - Occasional handwritten ink notes. Waterstain on the lower part of vol. 2, ff. 31-35; some browned leaves; otherwise fine, a washed copy. Provenance: Professor Eva G. R. Taylor (1879-1966), historian of science and the first woman to hold an academic chair of geography in the UK, presented to Birkbeck College, University of London (bookplate) and sold through Sotheby's in 1990. Sabin 67731, 67737, 67740. Harrisse 304. Church 99. Borba de Moraes² 698f. Bosch 46. Cox I, 28. Cordier, BS 1939. Fumagalli (Bibl. Etiopica) 83 (note). Gay 258. Adams R 135, 137, 140. Brunet IV, 1100f. Slot, The Origins of Kuwait (1998), p. 15 & 187.‎

‎Rauwolf, Leonhard.‎

‎Beschreibung der Reyß [...], so er [...] gegen Auffgang in die Morgenländer, fürnemlich Syriam, Judeam, Arabiam, Mesopotamiam, Babyloniam, Assyriam, Armeniam, etc. nicht ohne Mühe und grosse Gefahr selbst vollbracht [...]. Frankfurt a. M., Christoph Rab, 1582.‎

‎4to. 3 parts in 1 vol. Title-page printed in red and black. With 3 woodcut title vignettes (including one showing a camel). (8) ff. (incl. final blank), 123, (1) pp. (2), 161, (1) pp., 1 bl. f. 176, (6) pp. Contemporary blindstamped brown calf with 2 clasps. Rare second edition, printed in the year of the first edition: a German description of a three-year journey to Palestine and the Near East by the botanist Rauwolf (1535-96), with many authentic and reliable observations, also about the people and customs and of the difficulties of travel. His description of the preparation of coffee in Aleppo was the first such report by a European. "Highly influential travel account by the learned Augsburg physician and botanist who journeyed to Jerusalem in the years 1573 to 1576. The 8th chapter of part I contains the celebrated descriptions of the coffee drink and of the coffee berry [...] Rauwolf's account of coffee as a social drink of the East is thought to be the earliest in a printed book" (Hünersdorff/H. II, 1221). "Rauwolf [...] made a hazardous journey in many parts of the East to collect foreign plants; his herbarium is now carefully preserved at the Rijksherbarium in Leiden" (Hunt 146). "He was the first modern botanist to collect and describe the flora of the regions east of the Levantine coast" (Norman). An illustrated edition expanded by a fourth part was published at Lauingen the following year. - Binding professionally repaired at extremeties. Title page remargined, showing some fingerstaining; occasional slight brown- and waterstaining; a few contemporary marginalia near the end. VD 16, ZV 12969. Adams R 188. Pritzel 7430. Cf. Norman 1782. Not in BM-STC German.‎

‎[Reinaud, (Joseph-Toussaint)].‎

‎Extraits des historiens arabes, relatifs aux guerres des croisades, ouvrage formant, d'après les écrivains musulmans, un récit suivi des guerres saintes, nouvelle édition, entièrement refondue et considérablement augmentée. [Paris], Imprimerie royale, 1829.‎

‎8vo. XLVIII, 582 pp. Contemporary dark green half sheepskin, gold-tooled spine, marbled endpapers. First edition of a work on Islamic texts about the Christian crusades, by the French orientalist Joseph Toussaint Reinaud (1795-1867). It gives a French translation of numerous texts and extracts relating to the crusades originally written in Arabic from the 11th to the 15th century by Arab historians, with occasionally some passages in Arabic in the notes. Most of the texts deal with major battles and sieges, Saladin, and victories and deaths of important leaders. The preliminaries include brief biographies of some of the major authors, including Ali ibn al-Athir, Baha ad-Din ibn Shaddad, Imad ad-Din al-Isfahani, Ibn al-Adim and many more. The texts are arranged into different chapters, each devoted to a different stage of the crusades. - The book is in fact the publication of a part of the extensive manuscript by Georges-François Berthereau (1732-94), who collected numerous Arab texts on the crusades, but the publication was prohibited during years following the French Revolution. The book was published as a part of the Biblithèque des croisades, as an addition to the well-known Histoire des croisades, written by Joseph François Michaud (1767-1839). - With a stain on the half-title and some staining throughout, otherwise in very good condition. Hage Chahine 3963. Not in Blackmer.‎

‎Ricoldus de Monte Crucis.‎

‎Confutatio Alcorani seu legis Saracenorum, ex graeco nuper in latinum traducta [per Bartholomeus Picenus de Montearduo]. [Basel, Nikolaus Kessler], ca. 1507.‎

‎Small 4to (140 x 187 mm). 68 ff. (but title is fragmentary, preserving the letterpress only, laid down to old paper). Near-contemporary full leather binding, spine rebacked. All edges red. Rare edition of this famous and scare refutation of the Qur'an. The Dominican Ricoldus (ca. 1243-1320) was sent to the orient as a missionary in 1288. He visited the Holy Land and travelled to Baghdad via Cilicia, Erzurum, and Tabriz. During his stay in Baghdad, Ricoldus studied the Qur'an and other works of Islamic theology, for controversial purposes, arguing with Nestorian Christians. He is said even to have begun a translation of the Qur'an about 1290, but it is not known whether this work was completed. - Ricoldus returned to his native Florence around the year 1300 to compose or edit several works about the Middle East. While many of his writings praise the Muslims' social behaviour, hospitality and sense of honour, his best-known work, the "Contra legem Sarracenorum", is a notorious refutation of the Islamic doctrines. Largely a compilation from William of Tripolis, Marcus of Toledo and the "Contrarietas alpholica", and probably an early effort written in preparation of Ricoldus's mission, it contends that the Qur'an's self-contradictory passages, confused arrangement and want of miracles prove that Islam cannot be a true revealed religion. Despite Ricoldo's hostility towards Islam his work shows specific knowledge of the Qur'an and overcomes one important prejudicial error common to other medieval criticisms of Islam: the perception that Muhammad introduced a christological heresy. The work was widely received; a Greek translation was prepared as early as 1385 by Demetrius Kydones, which was re-translated into Latin by Bartolomeo Piceno as "Improbatio" or "Confutatio Alcorani". A Spanish version appeared at Toledo in 1502, and Luther translated parts into German in 1530 (his "Verlegung des Alcoran" appeared in 1542). It influenced Pope Pius II, John of Segovia and Nicolaus Cusanus (cf. LMA VII, 808). - Binding worn but professionally repaired; spine rebacked. Some fingerstaining and browning with occasional slight worming to gutter. Trimmed rather closely with printed marginalia cropped in places, title fragment torn out and mounted, preserving some old handwritten annotations. Provenance: Mehmed V (1844-1918), Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1909, with his his Arabic bookplate on the pastedown. VD 16, R 2328. BNHCat R 296. This edition not in Panzer.‎

‎Roberts, Frederick.‎

‎Egypt to Hedjaz and Hedjaz To-Day. (Cairo, 1931).‎

‎8vo. 36 ff., printed on rectos only. Original printed wrappers with oval portrait of the author in Arabic costume. Stapled. First edition, very rare. Extraordinary guide to the Kingdom of Hejaz, "the most frequented pilgrim country in the world" (f. 36). It comprises accounts of Jeddah and Mecca and includes a chapter on King Abd al-Aziz ibn Saud (1875-1953), "undoubtedly the strongest and ablest ruler Arabia has produced for many many years" (f. 29). - Describing the journey from Egypt across the Red Sea, the booklet discusses the travel documents required to enter Hejaz, as well as the enormous economic benefit of the pilgrimage to the Kingdom, and gives a report of the crossing from Suez to Jeddah including stops at El Tor, "the most attractive and beautiful of the Red Sea towns" (f. 11), Wedja and Yambo. It includes a description of the Mount Sinai monastery as well as the wrecked pilgrim ship "Asia", which caught fire in the Jeddah port in 1929. On the one hand deeming Jeddah "a place for work and no play" (p. 24), the guide laments the prohibition of alcohol, cigarettes and gramophones, as well as the lack of hotels, cafés, restaurants, cinemas, and fresh water, and criticises the general state of many houses in the city. On the other hand, the booklet admires the low crime rate of Hejaz as well as recent improvements in public transportation. An uncommonly frank account of a Westerner's stay in Hejaz, not hesitating to speak out on the hardships of pilgrimage. - Covers loosened; somewhat soiled. A few pages slightly wrinkled. Contemporary ownership inscribed to title-page in blue ballpoint. Not a single copy traceable in libraries worldwide.‎

‎Said-Ruete, Rudolph.‎

‎Said bin Sultan (1791-1856). Ruler of Oman and Zanzibar. His Place in the History of Arabia and East Africa. London, Alexander-Ouseley, (1929).‎

‎Large 8vo. XVIII, 200 pp. With half-title, frontispiece portrait, 5 black-and-white plates, folding map and "Genealogical table of members of the Al Bu Said dynasty". Publisher's original blue cloth, title gilt on spine & upper cover, Said bin Sultan name gilt in Arabic on upper cover. Rare first edition: presentation copy from Said-Ruete to Sir Saleh bin Ghalib Al-Qu'aiti, Sultan of Shihr and Makalla (ruled 1936-56), inscribed in green ink: "To / His Highness The Sultan / of Shiher and Makalla / Saleh bin Galib Alcaity / a token of sincere esteem / by the Author. / London, May 7th 1937". Below this is pasted a printed bookplate in Arabic. - The Qu'aiti Sultanate of Shihr and Mukalla, in the Hadhramaut region of the southern Arabian Peninsula (now Yemen), was the third largest kingdom in Arabia after the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Sultanate of Oman. While the monarchy was toppled by communists in 1967 and Sultan Ghalib II was forced to abdicate, the Qu'aiti royal family still thrives in exile. - Said-Ruete was the son of Princess Salma (1844-1924), daughter of Sayyid Sai’id ibn Sultan (1791-1856), ruler of Oman and Zanzibar. The Princess married Friedrich Ruete, a clerk at the German embassy, and lived for 52 years as a widow in Germany. Their son Rudolph produced this remarkable survey of his grandfather’s life and times, considered as important as Vincenzo Maurizi‘s "History of Seyd Said, Sultan of Muscat" (London 1819). Sayyid Said ibn Sultan became the ruler of Oman in 1806, when he was about 15 years of age. After defeating the opposition with British help he determined to reassert Oman's traditional claims in East Africa. He eventually succeeded, and in about 1840 shifted his capital to Zanzibar, where he introduced the cloves that became the foundation of the island's economy. He also controlled the Arab traders that brought back slaves and ivory from the African interior. In this monograph the author highlights the early history of Oman, the rise of Said ibn Sultan to power in Oman and Zanzibar, and his relations with foreign powers (France, England, and the United States). In his foreword to this work, Major General Sir Percy Cox identifies the establishment of an Arab dominion in Zanzibar as Sultan Said's most lasting achievement. - Minimal wear to extremeties; insignificant spotting to first few leaves as common. Upper spine-end professionally repaired. A beautiful copy. Macro 1986. OCLC 5705061.‎

‎Sale, Sir Robert H. (et al.).‎

‎The Defence of Jellalabad [...] drawn on stone by W. L. Walton. London, Joseph Hogarth, Henry Graves & Co., and sold by Hullmandel & Walton, [1845/1846].‎

‎Folio (full-sheet leaves, 54 x 36.5 cm). Lithographed frontispiece, title-page & dedication plus 5, [1 blank] pp. plus plates. With a lithographed frontispiece portrait of Sale by Thomas Fairland after a painting by Scarlet Davis, a lithographed illustrated title-page, a lithographed dedication to Queen Victoria (reproducing Sale's hand-written and signed dedication), a double-page "Plan of Jellalabad" (51.5 x 60 cm, lithographed by S. Leith in Edinburgh) and 34 tinted lithographic views of the city and its fortifications (in landscape format) on 22 leaves (10 full-page, 2 half-page and 11 pair of oblong half-page, numbered 1-11, showing the fortifications before and after repairs and improvements). All leaves are unwatermarked wove paper, the frontispiece on fine "India" paper mounted on thick paper, the plan on thin paper and all other lithographs on thick paper, that of the title-page grey. With a guard-leaf bound in facing each plate. All lithographs were probably printed by Hullmandel & Walton, though only the frontispiece and title-page name them. Gold-tooled red goatskin morocco, on 5 recessed supports (not aligned with the 6 false bands on the spine), each board with a frame of 3 gold double fillets alternating with 2 blind single fillets, with the title and author on the front board and the 2nd and 4th of 7 spine compartments, richly gold-tooled turn-ins, gold-tooled board edges, yellow endpapers, gilt edges, blue and white headbands. The first and only edition of a grand and spectacular visual presentation (there are only five pages of text) of the city of Jalalabad and its fortifications in eastern Afghanistan and related sites as far away as Kabul. The illustrated title-page (image size 45 x 35 cm) shows the tower known as Alexander's Column, with mountains and clouds in the background and several people at its foot (including two on horseback in the foreground: a British officer and turbaned man), the whole framed by palm trees, other plants and military attributes, with the title in grey sans-serif and slab-serif capitals with a white drop-shadow. The first 11 leaves of views (2 half-page and 10 full-page, the latter mostly with image size 26.5 x 37 cm) offer meticulously detailed views of sites in and related to Jalalabad, including four in and around Kabul. These show the architecture (including minarets, fortifications and the building where the British were held prisoner) as well as British and Afghan people engaged in military activities and trade. The 11 numbered plates that follow show two panoramas each (nos. 1 and 10 reproducing a hand-written caption) showing Jalalabad's fortifications before (below) and after (above) the repairs and improvements undertaken by Sale. A red line in the upper views indicates the parts that had been destroyed by an earthquake. - Although the title-page attributes the entire work to Robert Sale, the text begins with an account of the city and battle by Hamlet C. Wade, who served under him, followed by "Lady [Florentia] Sale's narrative of her prison & fellow prisoners" and eight short texts giving an account of the view on the title-page and those in the first 10 leaves of views (the 4th to 6th together and the 9th and 10th together), that for the third signed by Florentia Sale. - The grand presentation, the portrait of the author (Major General Robert Sale, who commanded the troops at Jalalabad during the 1842 battle) and the dedication to Queen Victoria suggest this volume commemorates a great success, but in fact it was only a minor and short-lived reprieve in Great Britain's foolish and disastrous First Anglo-Afghan War (1839-1842). In 1839 Great Britain hoped to put Afghanistan back under colonial control by invading it and taking Kabul, ignoring the Duke of Wellington's prescient warning that it was a foolish move, and that they would find it much more difficult to hold Kabul than to take it. The British grossly underestimated the strength of the opposition, the difficulty of the terrain and the country's anti-colonial sentiment. Forced to abandon the city after an uprising in 1841 they tried to retreat to Jalalabad but nearly all the British troops and their entourage were slaughtered in the treacherous mountain passes. Sale's troops, who futilely awaited them in Jalalabad, were surrounded and attacked by the Afghans but managed to defeat them and drive them back to Kabul. - Various sources speculatively date the present publication from ca. 1842 to ca. 1846, but at least in the present copy a footnote on the first page of the letterpress text says, "Since this has been put to press … Sir Robert Sale has gloriously fallen in the battle of Moodkee, fought 18 December, 1845 ... he was struck by a grape shot which ... proved mortal shortly after he received the wound". He died on 21 December, so the book must have been published in the last 10 days of 1845 or early in 1846. Although printed on unwatermarked wove paper, the letterpress leaves show point holes in the centres of the fore-edge and gutter margins, showing that each leaf was separately printed and each is almost certainly a whole sheet, probably of Demy format. - With an armorial bookplate showing the crest and motto ("sans changer") of the Earls of Derby, probably the 14th Earl, Edward George Geoffrey Smith-Stanley (1799-1869), Conservative Prime Minister three times in the years 1852-68. With minor foxing, slightly more in the frontispiece and much more in one full-page plate (Baba's garden, whose paper is not as thick as the others), but otherwise in very good condition. The frontispiece (together with the 2 preceding free endleaves) has separated from the bookblock, the hinges have been restored and the binding shows a few scuff marks, but the binding remains in good condition. Magnificent and detailed tinted lithographs of buildings, fortifications, terrain and life in and around Jalalabad (and Kabul) in Afghanistan ca. 1845. Thomson, The exotic and the beautiful (Bobins coll.) 268. WorldCat (3 copies?). Not in Abbey, Travel.‎

‎Samlali, Ahmed bin Abdullah bin Yaqub al-.‎

‎Astronomy and agriculture. [Northern Africa?, 19th century].‎

‎4to (154 x 194 mm). Arabic manuscript on paper. 120 pp. Black and red ink, 25 lines, per extensum, with several pen-and-ink diagrams in the text, some full-page. Bound in 19th century full leather with blindstamped borders and ornaments. Two works in a single manuscript by a single scribe: one a book on astronomy by Ahmad bin Abdullah bin Yaqoub al-Samlali (d. 1093 H), the other a commentary on Al-Senussi the younger. The astronomical work, extensively illustrated with detailed diagrams, also contains horoscopes and information on the best times of the year for cultivating the soil. - Binding rubbed; extremeties bumped, chipped and frayed; some traces of worming to upper cover; old repairs to spine. Paper browned and brittle; some brownstaining and occasional worming (mainly confined to margins), a few paper repairs in the margins.‎

‎Sarre, Friedrich / Trenkwald, Hermann.‎

‎Alt-orientalische Teppiche. Vienna & Leipzig, Anton Schroll & Co. and Karl W. Hiersemann for the Österreichisches Museum für Kunst und Industrie, 1926-1928.‎

‎Imperial folio (440 x 605 mm). 2 vols. bound as four. 21, (3), (29) pp. (31) pp. 43, (28) pp. (32) pp. With 120 collotype plates (67 colour and 53 black & white, 7 of the latter double-page) by Max Jaffé, and 14 wood-engraved full-page illustrations on the integral leaves. Later half calf with cloth sides. First and only edition of "the most important recent publication with wonderful reproductions of the best known carpets" (Ettinghausen 1936), here in very good condition, rebound in four high-quality half calf volumes. The project was initiated by the Austrian Museum for Art and Industry, which had previously published two other works on carpets: "Orientalische Teppiche" (1892) and "Altorientalische Teppiche" (1908). The present work by Sarre & Trenkwald has far more and better illustrations than the earlier works, with 120 fine collotype plates. The authors were highly regarded authorities in the field of Islamic art, especially Friedrich Sarre (1865-1945), "without doubt one of the most influential figures regarding the scholarly formation of Islamic art" (Kadoi/Szanto). He was the director of the Museum für Islamische Kunst in Berlin and responsible for the formation of the "most comprehensive collection of Islamic art outside the Islamic world". - The work is characterized by an emphasis on the technique of production. The plates that depict carpets in colour and black & white are preceded by a descriptive page that is sometimes illustrated with a schematic explanation of the knotting technique used for making the carpet. The first part, by Hermann Trenkwald, with 60 plates, is entirely devoted to carpets in the world-renowned collection of the Austrian Museum. The second part, by Sarre, also comprising 60 plates, covers the greatest carpets in other collections throughout the world, including private collections such as that of Baron Maurice Rothschild. - Corners slightly bumped, but in very good condition. R. Ettinghausen, Kali (1936), p. 110. Kadoi & Szanto, The Shaping of Persian Art (2014), p. 227.‎

‎Secret. G.H.Q. M.E.F.‎

‎Weekly Military Intelligence Review. [Jerusalem, General Headquarters Palestine], 17 May 1946 - 28 Feb. 1947.‎

‎Folio (210 x 345 mm). 22 issues. Together (58), 388 pp. With 2 photographs, 1 plate of graphs showing incidents in Egypt, June-July 1946, 1 folding plan of Persian Azerbaijan, 1 folding plan of Greece and Western Turkey, and 1 folding map of Middle East Intelligence. Original printed stapled wrappers. An intriguing specimen of British post-war intelligence documentation rarely seen in the trade, focussing on but not limited to the Middle East. Based on the Middle Eastern Intelligence services' zones of major responsibility and their spheres of interest (see the map in vol. 100), their reviews cover a vast range of topics. They not only outline the Anglo-Egyptian treaty negotiations and the political situation in Libya, Palestine, and Syria, but also discuss the Arab League (photograph of a meeting of the League in vol. 90), terrorist attacks carried out by Jewish illegal forces in Palestine, the struggle with illegal immigration (a photograph showing a boat of immigrants in vol. 74), and political Zionism. However, the reviews also cover the political and economic situation in Germany, the problem of former Nazi sympathisers regaining positions of power and security (sketched out in the case of "Dr. Drecksacker"), and include an eye-witness report by an SS man employed at the Auschwitz concentration camp, translated into English. British views on Russia make up another significant part, including the reprint of an article by the American journalist Brooks Atkinson, published in the U.S. magazine "Life", accusing Soviet leaders of "group paranoia", as well as analyses of Russian broadcasts with respect to Middle Eastern countries. Moreover, the reviews outline British relations with Greece and the Balkans, France, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Italy, Turkey and Kurdistan, Romania, and India, while also discussing the organisation and functions of the U.N. - Despite the imprint indicating a print run of 400 copies, none can be traced on WorldCat. A 12-volume set was sold at Christie's in 2018. - Wrappers have stamps of the "Assistant Director of Medical Service 3rd Divisions". Traces of rust near the staples. The first two pages of vol. 100 loose; a small tear on pp. 9f. of vol. 90, as well as a small flaw to the title-page of vol. 98, neither touching the text. - A rare window into the issues that concerned the British military intelligence following WWII.‎