‎Golf‎

‎Seton, Claud Ramsay Wilmot (ed.).‎

‎Legislation of Transjordan 1918-1930. Translated from the Arabic, including the Laws, Public Notices, Proclamations, Regulations, etc. Transjordan, for the Government of Transjordan by the Crown Agents for the Colonies, [1931].‎

‎Large 8vo. VIII, 844 pp. Original buff buckram, leather labels to spine. "The law of Transjordan is Turkish law as it existed on the 23rd of September, 1918, except in so far as it has been superseded or modified since that date. To indicate the extent to which it has been so superseded and modified is the purpose of this volume […]" (from the Compiler's Preface). - Seton was President of the District Court, Jaffa from 1920 to 1926, after which he took on the post of Judicial Adviser Transjordan, in which role he produced this digest. He was subsequently President of the District Court in Haifa, 1931-35, before moving on to become Puisne Judge, Jamaica. This was his sole publication. - This copy is unmarked as such, but is from the Library of Glubb Pasha, and is the Arab Legion Head Quarters copy, with ink stamp to the front pastedown and inscription, "Not to be taken from the Head Quarters of the Arab Legion" in Peake Pasha's hand, signed by him. - Endpapers lightly foxed, otherwise very good in the original buckram, labels a little rubbed and lifting at the corners.‎

‎Sheets, G[len] S[cott].‎

‎The Arabian Peninsula and Adjoining Areas. B-1237. [Dhahran / Jeddah / San Francisco], Arabian American Oil Company, Producing Department, Geological Division, March 1942.‎

‎895 x 945 mm. Polyconic projection, constant ratio linear horizontal scale 1:4,000,000. Blue-line print. Framed. The only known example: a highly detailed map of the Arabian Peninsula, published by the "Arabian American Oil Co." in March 1942, two years before the company was formally so renamed, and the first effort to produce a large-scale map of the entire Peninsula that satisfied modern technical needs. Clearly produced in a very limited edition for internal use at the crucial, transitional moment in Arabian oil exploration, this is the earliest known map to use the name that still survives in "Saudi Aramco", issued at a time when the company was still officially Standard Oil of California. - The legend identifies railways, primary and secondary roads as well as "explorers' routes", oil pipelines, intermittent streams, airports, towns, "Arab wells", oases, "sand areas", "sabkhas", and "marsh". The Maidan-i-Naftun and Naft Safid oilfields in Iran (and the pipelines that link them to the A.I.O.C. Refinery at Abadan) are illustrated, as are the Kirkuk oilfield and the pipelines running from there to Haifa and Tripoli. Dammam and Dhahran, the sites of the first commercial oil wells in Saudi Arabia, also feature on the map. Aside from that, however, there is no illustrated oil development in the Middle East: the map effectively illustrates the blank slate that was Arabian oil exploration in the early 1940s. On the coast of what was then Trucial Oman, Sharjah, Dubai (with airfield) and Abu Dhabi are identified; the areas to the southwest of Abu Dhabi City are labelled "Sabkha es Salmiyah" and "Taff". Shows adjoining areas from the Bosporus to Somaliland and the USSR. - The "compiler and tracer" (cartographer and draughtsman) is identified as the Aramco engineer G. S. Sheets; separate fields to indicate "checked by" and "revisions" remain blank. Sheets had joined Aramco's predecessor, the California Arabian Standard Oil Company, in 1939 and immediately began work in Dhahran as a geological draftsman in the Production (Exploration) department. Upon his return to the U.S. he prepared several geological maps including the present one and acted as liaison with the Army Map Service. In 1942 he became attached as a civilian to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Army Map Service, but he returned to Arabia in 1944 and in 1955 became staff assistant to the director of Concession Affairs. - In excellent state of preservation. Extremely rare: OCLC locates only two examples, both of which appear to be photocopies (Library of Congress and American University of Beirut). While the large 1963 map of Arabia that succeeded this, also produced by Aramco geologists, has occasionally appeared in the trade, no other original of this early map could be traced in libraries or in auction or trade records. A unique survival. OCLC 1048657705.‎

‎[Slave Trade].‎

‎Class A. Correspondence with the British commissioners at Sierra Leone, Havana, Rio de Janeiro, Surinam, the Cape of Good Hope, Jamaica, St. Paul de Loanda, and Boa Vista, relating to the Slave Trade. From January 1 to December 31, 1843, inclusive. London, William Clowes and Sons, for H.M.S.O., 1844.‎

‎(III)-XV, (1), 478 pp. Modern boards. With a folding map of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. Edges sprinkled green. Rare, early British parliamentary papers and correspondence with British agents and residents regarding the slave trade. Includes communications relevant to slavery in Africa and India, with reports by the Agent at Muscat on the landing of slaves in that city's harbour (p. 383) and the kidnapping of children by Muslim slave dealers and their conveyance to "Arabia and the Persian Gulf" (p. 426f.), as well as instructions to the Resident in the Persian Gulf "immediately to communicate with the Arab Chiefs" to pursue the objective of suppressing the slave trade in the Arabian seas (p. 382). - Well preserved, with additional page numbers in a contemporary hand. OCLC 25471335.‎

‎[Slave Trade].‎

‎Slave Trade (East India). Slavery in Ceylon. Return to an Order of the Honourable The House of Commons, dated 1 March 1838; for, Copies or abstracts of all correspondence between the directors of the East India Company and the Company's government in India, since the 1st day of June 1827, on the subject of Slavery in the territories under the Company's rule; also respecting any Slave Trade therein; also of all orders and regulations issued, or any proceedings taken, by order or under the authority of the Company, with a view to the Abolition of Slavery and the Slave Trade, since the above date; also of any correspondence between the Board of Control and the Court of Directors on the said subjects. Also, Return to an Address of the Honourable The House of Commons, dated 1 March 1838; for, Copies or extracts of all communications relating to the subject of Slavery in the Island of Ceylon, and to the measures there taken for its Abolition. [London], ordered, by The House of Commons, to be Printed, 31 July 1838.‎

‎Small folio (222 x 334 mm). VIII, 615, (1) pp. Later 19th c. buckram-backed marbled boards, labels lettered in gilt. Rare but frequently-cited British parliamentary papers with "Correspondence on the Slave Trade, and Measures Taken for its Abolition". Includes a printed sketch of the southern coast of Yemen, illustrating the area in possession of the "Boo-Mehree-Buddooee (Bedouin) Arabs" and identifiying the tribal chiefs as the Sultans of Qishn, Sayhut, and Dhofar (p. 156); also, correspondence between the Imaum of Muscat and the British Resident in the Gulf, in which the latter congratulates the Imaum on the recent peace made between "Tahnoon and Sultan Bin Suggur [the al-Qasimi ruler of Sharjah and Ras al-Khaimah], and that there was a prospect of the poor people of this Gulf enjoying a quiet pearl fishing season, free from the scourge of war, that affliction of mankind" (p. 86). Also, detailed reports on the slave trade at Muscat, Bahrein, Ras al-Khaimah and Sharjah ("Last year Shaik Sultan Bin Sugger's own buggalow brought from the coast of Africa 30 slaves to Rasul Khyma, but this is a rare occurrence, vessels seldom going there from the Joasmee states", p. 90). In all, the volume contains a significant number of references to the Arabian Gulf, Muscat, "Arabs", etc. - Labels and lettering worn; a good clean copy. Formerly in the library of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society; ultimately withdrawn from the British Library of Political and Economic Science (cancellation stamp).‎

‎Snouck Hurgronje, Christian.‎

‎Mekka. (And:) Bilder-Atlas zu Mekka. Haag, Nijhoff, 1888-1889.‎

‎2 vols. of text (4to) and one volume of plates (folio, 284 x 378 mm). Text: XXIII, (1), 228, (2) pp. With 3 genealogical tables and 2 folding maps. XVIII, 397, (1) pp. Half calf with gilt-stamped morocco label to spine. Atlas: 4 chromolithogr. plates (conjoined as 2), 6 (1 double-sized) toned lithogr. plates, and 65 mounted photographs on a total of 40 plates; 1 letterpress leaf of contents. Cloth portfolio with gilt cover title. Remarkable set, rarely encountered complete with the plates volume. The Dutch orientalist Snouck spent a year in Mecca and Jeddah during 1884/85 and was married to a Mecca woman. He was the first non-Muslim to visit the city outside the annual pilgrimage. The photographs, taken by himself and an Arabic physician, are among the earliest to show Mecca and its pilgrims. - Very nicely rebound, in matching period style portfolio and half calf. An unusually crisp and clean copy throughout: text volumes spotless; the plates with the vintage photographs, much sought after as the earliest photographic documents of the city, its dignitaries and its pilgrims, are backed on thin linen and preserved in perfect condition. Macro 1239 (omitting mention of the Atlas). Henze V, 177. Dinse 443.‎

‎[Soviet General Staff Maps] - Iran, Iraq, Levant 1:200,000.‎

‎General'nyí shtab. (Iran, Iraq, Levant 1:200,000). [Moscow, General Staff], 1963-1991.‎

‎A total of 350 topographic maps, colour-printed, ca. 52 x 47 cm. Constant ratio linear horizontal scale. In Russian (Cyrillic). The Soviet Union's 1:200,000 General Staff map quadrangles showing Iran, Iraq and the countries of the Levant: Palestine and Israel, southern Lebanon, parts of Syria and Jordan. From the Russian series of maps produced during the Cold War, based on high-quality satellite imagery, but usually also ground reconnaissance. Nearly complete, only a few quadrangles missing along the south-western border regions and two lacunae on the very north-eastern fringe. Assembled continuously, the quadrangles would form an enormous map spanning nearly 14 x 9 metres!. - Products of a massive, clandestine cartographic project begun under Stalin and ultimately encompassing the entire globe, the Soviet General Staff maps are today noted for their extreme precision. Indeed, even in post-Soviet times they provide the most reliable mapping for many remoter parts of the world: "Soviet-era military maps were so good that when the United States first invaded Afghanistan in late 2001, American pilots relied on old Russian maps of Afghanistan. For almost a month after the United States began a bombing campaign to help oust the Taliban government, American pilots were guided by Russian maps dating back to the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s" (Davies/Kent, p. xi). - Although the details of the cartographic programme evolved over the decades, its overall system and plan remained remarkably constant. "The basic quadrangle is the 1:1,000,000 sheet spanning 4° latitude by 6° longitude. The quadrangles are identified by lettered bands north from the equator and by numbered zones east from longitude 180° [...] Each 1:1,000,000 sheet is subdivided into four 1:500,000 sheets (from northwest to southeast), labeled [by] the first four letters of the Russian alphabet" (ibid., p. 19-21). "Printing such large-format plans in so many colors with near-perfect print registration itself testifies to the skill of the printers in the military map printing factories across the former Soviet Union. The quality of printing reflects the level of training and the reliability of humidity-control equipment and the electricity supply at the time" (ibid., p. 6f.). - The 1:200,000-scale maps are specifically labelled "Secret" or "For Offical Use". Indeed, all General Staff maps de facto constituted closely guarded military material, none of which became available in the West before the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s. - Light traces of folds and occasional wrinkles and small edge flaws, but altogether in excellent condition. Cf. J. Davies / A. J. Kent, The Red Atlas (Chicago/London, 2017).‎

‎[Soviet General Staff Maps] - Red Sea 1:200,000.‎

‎General'nyí shtab. (Red Sea 1:200,000). [Moscow, General Staff], 1975-1991.‎

‎A total of 86 topographic maps, colour-printed, ca. 58 x 45 cm. Constant ratio linear horizontal scale. In Russian (Cyrillic). Nearly all of the Soviet Union's 1:200,000 General Staff map quadrangles showing the Red Sea coast of the Arabian Peninsula: from the Russian series of maps produced during the Cold War, based on high-quality satellite imagery, but usually also ground reconnaissance. While there are a few lacunae in Yemen near the south-western tip of the Peninsula, most of the area is well-covered. Assembled continuously, the quadrangles would form an enormous map spanning ca. 8 x 4 metres. - Products of a massive, clandestine cartographic project begun under Stalin and ultimately encompassing the entire globe, the Soviet General Staff maps are today noted for their extreme precision. Indeed, even in post-Soviet times they provide the most reliable mapping for many remoter parts of the world: "Soviet-era military maps were so good that when the United States first invaded Afghanistan in late 2001, American pilots relied on old Russian maps of Afghanistan. For almost a month after the United States began a bombing campaign to help oust the Taliban government, American pilots were guided by Russian maps dating back to the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s" (Davies/Kent, p. xi). - Although the details of the cartographic programme evolved over the decades, its overall system and plan remained remarkably constant. "The basic quadrangle is the 1:1,000,000 sheet spanning 4° latitude by 6° longitude [...] Each 1:1,000,000 sheet is [...] subdivided into 36 1:200,000 sheets in a six-by-six grid [... They] normally contain on the reverse side a detailed written description of the districts (towns, communications, topography, geology, hydrology, vegetation, and climate) together with a geological sketch map" (ibid., p. 19-21). "Printing such large-format plans in so many colors with near-perfect print registration itself testifies to the skill of the printers in the military map printing factories across the former Soviet Union. The quality of printing reflects the level of training and the reliability of humidity-control equipment and the electricity supply at the time" (ibid., p. 6f.). - The 1:200,000-scale maps are specifically labelled "For Offical Use". Indeed, all General Staff maps de facto constituted closely guarded military material, none of which became available in the West before the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s. - Light traces of folds, occasional wrinkles and a few odd edge flaws, but altogether in excellent condition. Cf. J. Davies / A. J. Kent, The Red Atlas (Chicago/London, 2017).‎

‎Sulayman al-Tajir / Abu Zaid Hasan ibn Yazid, al-Sirafi / Reinaud, Joseph Toussaint (transl.).‎

‎[Silsilat al-tawarik]. Relation des voyages faits par les Arabes et les Persans dans l'Inde et à la Chine dans le IXe siècle de l'ère chrétienne; texte Arabe imprimé en 1811 par les soins de feu Langlès [...]. Paris, Imprimerie royale, 1845.‎

‎2 vols. 18mo. (6), CLXX, 154 pp. 105, (1), 202 pp. With Arabic title-page printed in red and black. Contemporary tanned half sheepskin, gold-tooled spine. First edition in French of two Arabic travels to China and India. The text was translated from the Arabic by the French orientalist and professor Joseph Toussaint Reinaud (1795-1867). The Arabic text was first printed in 1811, under supervision of the French linguist and orientalist Louis-Mathieu Langlès. - The first volume starts with an introduction to the text, followed by the translation. The main text can be divided into two sections. The first account is based on statement from a merchant called Suleyman, who is said to have travelled to India and China in the years 851-852 (237), however, the actual author of the text is unknown. The following account is written down by Abu Zayd al-Hasan al-Sirafi. Al-Mas'udi, "the Herodotus of the Arabs", mentions al-Sirafi in one of his works, stating that he met him in the year 915-916 (303) in Basra, Iraq. Al-Sirafi tells us he was commanded to verify and extend the earlier account. The date of the second account is unclear, but it was probably written in the first half of the 10th century. The text gives a lively account of the life in China and India, with "… the first foreign descriptions of tea and porcelain, and a whole panorama of Chinese society, from the Son of Heaven and Confucian ethics down to toilet paper and bamboo urinals" (Mackintosh-Smith). The second volume gives notes to the translation, followed by the Arabic text. Added to the Arabic text are two extracts from works by Al-Mas'udi, including his "Muruj al-dhahab". - With owner's inscription on title-page. Sides slightly rubbed. A very good copy: only some minor browning. Cordier (Sinica) 1924f. Hage Chahine 3965. T. Mackintosh-Smith & J. Montgomery (eds.), Two Arabic travel books (2014), pp. 4-17.‎

‎Suwaydi, Muhammad Amin.‎

‎Hadha kitab Saba'ik al-dhahab fi ma'rifat qaba'il al-'Arab [The book of gold bars: the knowledge of Arab tribes]. Baghdad, dar al-tiba'ah, dar al-salam, [1864 CE] = 1280 H.‎

‎4to (235 x 325 mm). (1), 118 pp. Lithographed throughout; pp. 8-97 comprise a continuous genealogical tree. Contemporary plain black cloth-covered boards with black sheepskin spine. First edition: a rare and important work on the genealogy of the Arab tribes, also an early, graphically sophisticated lithographic effort from the Arab World. The "Book of Gold Bars" by the prominent Iraqi theologian and historian Suwaydi (1786-1831) is a revised and expanded interpretation of the "Dictionary of the Arab Genealogy" by the legendary Medieval Egyptian scholar Ahmad ibn Ali Qalqashandi; notably, Suwaydi continued the genealogical profile up to modern times. The book seeks to trace the genealogy of the Arab peoples, and the branches of their tribes, from Biblical times up to the age of Muhammad and then to the modern era. The introductory text (pp. 1-7) is followed by the grand, 90-page genealogical table and ultimately by an alphabetical reference section and analytical section (pp. 98-118). - Suwaydi is thought to have commenced preparation of the work as early as 1814, although he did not complete the treatise until 1830 or 1831, shortly before his death. Highly regarded in its time, for some years a small number of manuscript copies circulated in Islamic academic circles. The present publication represents the first printed edition of the work. The second edition was published in Bombay in 1877 (and is likewise rare), while several subsequent editions appeared during the 20th century. - Covers slightly stained. Last 3 leaves with light tide-marking to outer margins and some sporadic light stains elsewhere, but overall in a good clean condition, a few leaves with short marginal tears some closed with discreet old restoration. Very rare: we can trace only six institutional examples (British Library; University of Cambridge; Bibliothèque de Genève; Yale University Library; University of California at Berkeley; National Library of Israel). No examples have appeared on the market over the last generation. OCLC 708712572 & 32728624. British Library: Asia, Pacific & Africa 14548.c.5. Yale University Library: CS1129.A2 S8 1864. On early lithography in Iraq, cf. A. Al-Rawi, Media Practice in Iraq (2012), passim.‎

‎Tavernier, Jean-Baptiste.‎

‎Collections of travels through Turky into Persia, and the East-Indies. Giving an account of the present state of those countries. London, Moses Pitt, 1684.‎

‎Folio (214 x 310 mm). 6 parts in one vol. (18), 264 pp. (2), 214 pp. (2), 66 pp, (2). (12), 14, (4), 15-46, (4), 47-87, (1) pp. (6), 113, (1) pp. 154, (2) pp. With 17 full-page engr. plates, 13 folding plates, and numerous text illustrations (including plates of Arabian coins, the great name of Allah, and other Arabian inscriptions). Contemporary calf, spine rebacked. Rare first collected edition of Tavernier's works, profusely illustrated with a fold-out map of the Arabian Gulf, an unusual, large map of Japan, and a fold-out map of the Great Moghul. Comprising: 1) The First Book of Monsieur Taverner's [!] Persian Travels; 2) The Six Trabels of John Baptista Tavernier [...] Through Turky and Persia to the Indies: 3) A Relation of Japon; 4) A New and Particular Relation of the Kingdom of Tunquin; 5) A New Relation of the Inner-Part of the Grand Seignor's Seraglio; 6) The History of the Late Revolution of the Dominions of the Great Mogol. A rare and interesting account of Turkey, Persia, India, Japan, Tonkin, and Formosa. "The Persian Gulf is the most dangerous Gulf I know, by reason of the shallowness and sharp promontories that point out into Sea [...] The Merchant would be glad to find a way through the Coast of Arabia to get to Mascate [...] Elcatif a Sea Town in Arabia, where there is a fishery for Pearls that belong to the Emir of Elcatif" (pt. I, p. 95; "Qatif" being an oasis in Saudi Arabia). Chapter XI (p. 49) of the first part deals with the breeding and nature of camels; chapter III (p. 64) mentions a voyage to Mecca; chapter XXIII (p. 255) deals with the island of Ormus (with the map of the Arabian Gulf). - The second part begins with a discussion of Arabian currency and is illustrated with plates of Arabian coinage. The most important story is perhaps that of “The Imam of Muscat Pearl - That Surpassed in Beauty All Other Pearls in the World”. In chapter XVIII of book II, "Of Pearles and the places where to find them" (p. 145), Tavernier states: "In the first place, there is a Fishery for Pearls in the Persian Gulf, round about the Island of Bakren. It belongs to the King of Persia, and there is a strong Fort in it, Garrison'd with three hundred men." Tavernier then narrates: "There is a wondrous Pearl in the possession of an Arabian Prince, that took Mascate from the Portugals. He then call'd himself Imenhect Prince of Masscaté; being known before only by the name of Aceph Ben-Ali Prince of Norennaé. It is but a small Province, but it is the best of all in the Happy Arabia. Therein grow all things necessary for the life of man; particularly, delicate fruits, but more especially most excellent Grapes, which would make most incomparable Wine. This Prince has the most wonderful Pearl in the world, not so much for its bigness, for it weighs not above twelve Carats and one sixteenth, nor for its perfect roundness, but because it is so clear and so transparent that you may almost see through it. The Great Mogul offer'd him by a Banian forty thousand Crowns for his Pearl, but he would not accept it." The use of the phrase "clear and lustrous as to appear translucent" seem to indicate a white or colorless pearl, the most sought-after color in pearls, with an optimum of lustre and orient caused by the reflection and refraction of light, respectively. The surface quality of the pearl must be exceptional and almost blemish-free in order to characterize it as a specimen surpassing in beauty all other pearls in the world, at that time. The fact that the pearl was in the possession of the Imam of Muscat in the mid-17th century indicates without any doubt that the pearl originated in the most ancient pearl fishing grounds in the world, the Arabian Gulf, most probably in the kingdom of Oman itself, at its very doorstep - on the pearl banks situated closer to the country's shoreline in the Gulf or the Strait of Hormuz. Oyster bearing reefs were well distributed throughout the Gulf, but were greater in abundance on the Arabian side of the Gulf than the Persian one. The pearls are depicted on a plate opposite page 150: "Figure one is of a Pearl which the King of Persia bought at the Fishery of Catifa in Arabia. It cost him 32,000 Tomans, or 1,400,000 Livres of our Money, at forty-six Livres and six Deneers to a Toman. It is the fairest and most perfect Pearl that ever was yet found to this hour, having no defect". Blackmer 1632. Wing T251A, T252, T253. Campbell (Japan) 28. Cox I, 275f. OCLC 6071990. Cf. Wilson 223. Howgego T14. Severin 104-113. Not in Atabey or Weber.‎

‎Teixeira, José / Munday, Anthony (transl.).‎

‎The Strangest Adventure That Ever Happened. Containing a discourse concerning the successe of the king of Portugal Dom Sebastian, from the time of his voyage into Africke when he was lost in the battle against the infidels, in the yeare 1578, unto the sixt of January this present of 1601. London, Frances Henson, 1601.‎

‎8vo. 90 pp. (without the final blank leaf). Small woodcut device on title, woodcut decorations and initials. Fine 19th century mottled calf by Lloyd, with gilt arms of Sebastião Pinto Leite, Conde de Penha Longa (motto "Superabo") to both covers, gilt fillets and faux raised bands to spine, compartments tooled in gilt, two red lettering pieces. Leading edges gilt; inner dentelle gilt. Marbled endpapers. First English edition of this rare work, containing an account of the failed invasion led by the young king of Portugal, Dom Sebastian, to the north of Africa, his defeat and death, and the political unrest that ensued. - Sebastian, the 24 year-old King of Portugal, invaded Morocco in 1578 with an army of 18,000 men. The army was crushed by the forces of Marwan Abd al-Malik I Saadi at the battle of Alcacer Quibir and King Sebastian was killed. The fact that he had left no successor paved the way for a series of impostors claiming the throne, only to be captured and executed (ultimately, the Spanish king would accede to the throne of Portugal). Teixeira's work narrates the machinations of the fourth such impostor, a Calabrian by the name of Marco Tullio. - Bound for the Portuguese politician and entrepreneur Sebastião Pinto Leite (1815-92), Conde de Penha Longa. Bookplate of the Fox Pointe Collection Library of Dr. & Mrs. Howard R. Knohl to pastedown. Joints of the fine binding slightly rubbed. Lightly browned throughout; title-page and verso of final leaf lightly dustsoiled. Overall in excellent condition. Rare at auction, the last copy being sold in 1991. BM-STC 23864. OCLC 32330439.‎

‎Tellez (Telles), Balthasar.‎

‎The travels of the Jesuits in Ethiopia: containing [...] travels in Arabia Felix, wherein many things of that country [...] are treated of, as a particular description of Aden, Moca, and several other places [...]. London, J. Knapton, 1710.‎

‎4to. (4), 264, (16) pp. With engraved map of Ethiopia, including part of the Red Sea and the source of the Blue Nile. Modern calf, gold-tooled spine, with red morocco title-label, and the sides blind-tooled in a panel design. Rare first English edition of Tellez's influential historical account of Ethiopia and Arabia. It is a digest of the accounts of all the Jesuit travellers to Ethiopia and Arabia, including Paez, De Montserrat, Almeida, Lobo and Mendes. It includes an account of the travels of the Jesuit missionaries Pédro Paez and Antonio de Montserrate, who were captured off the Kuria Muria islands on a mission from Goa to Ethiopia in 1590 and subsequently taken to Yemen, where they were held captive until 1596. After being sent to San'a by way of Melkis and the Wadi Hadramaut, then after three years taken to Al Mukha (Mocha), where they were forced to serve as galley slaves, they were finally ransomed in 1596 and returned to India. Paez discovered the source of the Blue Nile and is said to have been the first European to have tasted coffee in Al Mukha. - The work further includes a detailed description of Aden (Yemen) as well as of the Ethiopia-Adal War (1529-43), during which Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi led several expeditions against the Ethiopian emperor until most of Ethiopia came under the power of the Muslim Sultanate of Adal. The present English edition is based Almeida's "Historia geral de Ethiopia a alta" (1660), edited by Tellez. - With early owner's inscription ("W. G. Patchell") on title-page. Quires 2D and 2E transposed; a couple of millimetres shaved off the outer border of the map; a faint waterstain throughout; some leaves foxed and some occasional spots. A good copy. ESTC T133244. Paulitschke 1137. Cf. de Backer/Sommervogel VII, 1908-1910. Howgego, to 1800, A65 (Almeida).‎

‎[Torinus, Albanus (ed).].‎

‎De re medica huic volumini insunt [...]. (Colophon: Basel, Andreas Cratander, 1528).‎

‎Folio. (12), 125, (1) ff. With woodcut printer's device on title-page, repeated on final page, two pages with decorative woodcut borders (built up from 4 blocks, some with initials I.F.), and woodcut initials throughout. 18th-century half calf, with marbled paper in a tree pattern on sides, gold-tooled spine with the coat of arms of the Russian Tsars. First edition of a collection of four medical works, compiled by the Swiss physician Albanus Torinus (1489-1550). The main part of the work consists of "De re medica", also known as "Medicina Pliniana", a very popular medical text during the Middle Ages. Compiled in the fourth century by an anonymous author, it is generally ascribed to Plinius Valerianus, also called pseudo-Plinius, since it mainly derived from Pliny the Elder's "Historia naturalis". Consisting of five books, it gives various medicines and treatments for different diseases, ailments, wounds, tumours etc. The book also draws heavily from the works of Galen and Dioscorides, all highly esteemed in the Arabic world. - The work also contains three other medical works from different authors. "The contents are all either spurious works or later compilations from genuine works of the authors to whom they are attributed" (Durling). It starts with an introduction to "the art of healing", ascribed to Soranus of Ephesus. The second text is by Oribasius, a Greek medical writer from the fourth century BC. According to Durling, the text is an extract from the first chapter of his "Euporista ad Eunapium". The work closes with a botanical text, "De virtutibus herbarum", ascribed to Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis, but written by an anonymous author from the 4th century, known as Pseudo-Apuleius. In one of the manuscripts Torinus used, the text was ascribed to the famous Italian physician Antonio Musa Brassavola (1500-55), an expert on the works of Galen and heavily influenced by his work. - The editor, Torinus, was appointed professor of practical medicine at the University of Basel after receiving the degree of doctor in medicine in Montpellier. He translated many Greek texts into Latin, or Latin works into the vernacular, including Vesalius' "De humani corporis fabrica". - From the library of the Russian tsars, with its letterpress library label with shelf number on pastedown and the coat of arms on the spine. With the place and date of printing added in manuscript on the title-page. Paper on boards slightly chafed, binding with traces of use along the extremities, corners bumped and spine restored. First five leaves with a minor water stain, but otherwise a very good copy. Adams S 1461. Durling 4351. Parkinson 2410.‎

‎[United Arab Emirates].‎

‎Al Sharjah. Series K563 (GSGS 4851) NG-40-9 & 10, Edition 1. [London], D. Survey, War Office and Air Ministry, 1957.‎

‎Colour-printed map, ca. 600 x 835. Scale 1:250,000. An extremely detailed map of what are today the northernmost six Emirates of the UAE (at the time of issue, the Trucial States): Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm al Quwain, Ras al Khaimah, and Fujairah, also marking the names of all the tribes holding power in the various areas. Issued by the Geographical Section, General Staff (GSGS) as part of their 1:250,000 scale map series of Arabia. The GSGS, also known as MI 4, operated under the Director of Military Operations and Intelligence. Its role was to supply maps to the British armed forces, collect data on foreign survey networks, provide training, and prepare survey data for Expeditionary Force mobilisation. - Old folds, some staining. Numerous pin-holes to corners from former wall mounting; an old ballpoint penstroke. Otherwise well preserved.‎

‎[United Arab Emirates].‎

‎S.E. Arabia. Series GSGS 4802, Sheet 1 [Trucial Coast]. Edition 2-GSGS. [London], D Survey War Office and Air Ministry, 1956.‎

‎Large colour-printed map, ca. 113 x 84 cm. Scale 1:500,000. A highly detailed large scale British military map, showing the coast from Doha (Qatar) to Ras Al Khaimah (modern-day UAE). - Old folds, some creasing to margins and corners, 10 cm closed tear to bottom margin, a few other small closed tears, otherwise good. With "Additions drawn by: - Sgt Newman 17:11:61. 1 Troop 19 Topo Sqn R.E.", marking additional camps, old oil camps, place names and airstrips (old, extant and "possible"), mainly in the desert areas of Abu Dhabi.‎

‎[United Arab Emirates].‎

‎USAF Pilotage Chart. Ash Sharigah (548 D). Trucial Oman. Washington, DC, Aeronautical Chart Service, U.S. Air Force, 1948-1950.‎

‎Colour-printed map, 554 x 733 mm. Constant ratio linear horizontal scale 1:500,000., Lambert Conformal Conic Projection. Relief shown by contours, shading, gradient tints, and spot heights. Key printed on verso. Rare, advanced first edition of this U.S. Air Force aeronautical chart of what would be, within less than a quarter of a century, the bulk of the United Arab Emirates: Sharjah, Dubai, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, and the city of Abu Dhabi to the south, based on aerial photography. "This chart is prepared for use at night under white, ultra-violet, red, and amber lights" (note). Released November 1948, with additions to February 1950 (advance edition). - Blindstamp of the American Geographical Society. Stamps to corners, not affecting the image ("Map Room Copy", "Obsolete", "Gift From Publisher"). Folded; in very good condition.‎

‎[United States Geological Survey of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia]. Bramkamp, Richard A. / Ramirez, Leon F.‎

‎Geographic Map of the Central Persian Gulf Quadrangle Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Miscellaneous Geologic Investigations Map I-209 A [and] B. Washington, D.C., U.S. Geological Survey, [1959-1961 CE =] 1378-1380 H.‎

‎2 sheets (A, combined map of geography and geology; and B, geography only) in full colour, both covering the same section the Arabian Peninsula. Ca. 103 x 103 and 83 x 100 cm, folded. In original printed envelope. English and Arabic. Scale 1:500,000; relief shown by hachures and spot heights. The only two sheets of the groundbreaking series covering today's UAE - the remaining parts of the Emirates were skipped in the survey prepared by the U.S. Geological Survey and Aramco and were therefore never published. The first to produce a full series of geological and geographical maps of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the venture was instrumental in establishing the country as a major global force in the production of natural resources and must count as "a unique experiment in geological cooperation among several governments, petroleum companies, and individuals" (Seager/Johnston). - The area here covered is the eastern portion of Qatar and the westernmost area of Abu Dhabi, including the island of Sir Bani Yas and the adjoining border territory of Saudi Arabia. Indeed, this is the only map in the series to show any portion of today's United Arab Emirates: the land to the eastward was still beyond the focus of oil exploration in the mid-1950s and was omitted from the mapping project. - The importance of the present map within the series is underscored by the fact that its joint authors, R. A. Bramkamp and L. F. Ramirez, were Aramco's foremost geologists. Together with Glen F. Brown, a veteran of the industry who also had been in the region since the 1940s and who would oversee the venture, Bramkamp had in February 1955 planned the entire programme, laying down everything from the scales of maps, the areas of responsibility, and types of terrain representation to the bilingual names. As Aramco's chief geologist, Bramkamp was responsible for the compilation of the areas within Arabia where the sediments crop out. This responsibility fell to Ramirez following Bramkamp's early death in September 1958. - The surveyors divided the Peninsula into 21 quadrangular sections (numbered I-200 through I-220), each to cover an area 3 degrees of longitude and 4 degrees of latitude. All maps were produced on a 1:500,000 scale and issued in two series: a combined map of geography and geology (marked by the appendix 'A') and a map of geography only ('B'). "High altitude photography [...] was [...] completed in 1959 [...] This controlled photography resulted in highly accurate geographic maps at the publication scale which then served as a base for the geologic overlay. The topography of the sedimentary areas was depicted by hachuring and that of the shield region by shaded relief utilizing the airbrush technique. The first geographic quadrangle was published in July 1956 and the last in September 1962 [...] The first of the geologic map series was published in July 1956 and the final sheet in early 1964" (Seager/J.). - Although it was the search for oil, gas and minerals that "was ultimately to drive geological survey work across the region [...], in its early years it was the need for water that was the catalyst for Saudi Arabia's resource exploration. In 1944 King 'Abd al-'Aziz approached the United States for a technical expert who could assist with the identification and plotting of the kingdom's natural resources, particularly its groundwater reserves [...] By 1954 the Saudi Ministry of Finance, USGS and Aramco were working together to produce the first full series of geographic and geologic maps of the country. The first of their type in the Peninsula, these were published [...] in both Arabic and English versions, and the information they contained formed the basis of subsequent Saudi national development plans" (Parry). The project was considered highly important by Ibn Saud, and its aims encompassed all aspects of cartography. It was to enable not only the search for natural resources but also aid in advances for agriculture, civil and military engineering and general infrastructure projects. The results were seminal for the mapping of the region: "To this day, all modern maps of the kingdom trace their roots back to these first publications" (ibid.). - Lower left corner of 'B' map chipped (no loss to text or image); printed sleeve somewhat rubbed with a 1960s few pencil annotations, otherwise a very clean set in excellent state of preservation. A single map of the quadrangle to the immediate west of this, I-208 (the 1958 'A' sheet only), showing Dhahran and Ras Tanura, is currently being offered on the market at £25,000. James V. Parry, "Mapping Arabia", in: Saudi Aramco World 2004/1, p. 20ff. O. A. Seager/W. D. Johnston, Foreword to the Geology of the Arabian Peninsula series (U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 560-A-D, 1966).‎

‎Valeriani, Domenico / Segato, Girolamo.‎

‎Nuova illustrazione istorico-monumentale del basso e dell'alto Egitto. Including: Atlante monumentale del basso e dell'alto Egitto. Florence, Paolo Fumagalli, 1836-1837 (text) & 1837-1841 (plates).‎

‎2 text vols. (8vo) and 2 plate vols. (large folio). (2), 491, (1), (4) pp. 788, (6) pp. text. With engraved portrait of Segato as frontispiece in the first text volume and the plate volumes with 160 engraved and aquatint plates (7 double-page), including 51 tinted and/or coloured by a contemporary hand; many plates contain multiple illustrations, making 309 illustrations in total. Contemporary green (text vols.) and brown (plates vols.) half morocco, sewn on 3 recessed cords (text vols.) and 4 tapes (plates vols.), "agate" chemical marbled sides. First edition of a beautiful series of illustrations of Egypt and classical Egyptian monuments, with the accompanying text volumes giving detailed information on each illustration. The illustrations show maps, costumes and views of both ancient and modern Egypt. The scientist and Egyptologist Girolamo Segato (1792-1836) began working on a new description and depiction of Egypt, selecting illustrations from the works of Denon, Grau and Rosellini, and also including his own original drawings. After his premature death his collaborator Domenico Valeriani finished the work and provided the accompanying texts. - Segato is best known for his technique similar to mummification, this technique of petrification remains mysterious, despite numerous studies and attempts to imitate, as he destroyed all his documentation before his death. - The text and plates volumes with marginal foxing throughout, minor except in the preliminary leaves. Otherwise in good condition. The binding slightly rubbed along the extremities, damage to the upper right corner of the first plates volume, resulting in a stain on the front endpapers, and the upper half of the sides on the second plate volume faded, otherwise good and structurally sound. Blackmer 1521 (plate volumes only, erroneously noting 159 plates). Blackmer sales cat. 984 (160 plates). Ibrahim-Hilmy II, 301. ICCU 0154707. For Segato: Almagia, "Segato, Girolamo" in: Treccani Enciclopedia Italiana (online ed.).‎

‎Valle, Pietro della.‎

‎Viaggi di Pietro della Valle il pellegrino. Venice, Paolo Baglioni, 1661-1664.‎

‎12mo. 4 vols. (40), 670 pp. (2) ff. (1 blank), 734, (34) pp., (2) ff. (1 blank), 792, (18) pp. 756, (24) pp. With a woodcut in the text of vol. 3, p. 193, and a full-page engraving on p. 361 of vol. 4 (both diagrammatic). Contemporary limp vellum with ms. spine titles; all edges of vol. 2 sprinkled in red. Early duodecimo edition of Della Valle's complete "Viaggi", published while the first complete edition was still under the press. Della Valle's account is highly sought after as one of the earliest printed sources for the early history of Dibba, the coastal region at the northeastern tip of the United Arab Emirates, today ruled by the Emirates of Fujairah and of Sharjah. - Pietro della Valle (1586-1652) left Venice in 1614 on a pilgrimage to Palestine, proceeding to Baghdad and then into Persia, where he married and sojourned in the court of Shah Abbas. While staying with the Sultan of Bandar Abbas, he "met the son of the ruler of Dibba who was visiting. From this he learned that Dibba had formerly been subject to the kingdom of Hormuz, but was at that time loyal to the Safavids who in 1623 sent troops to Dibba, Khor Fakkan and other ports on the southeast coast of Arabia in order to prepare for a Portuguese counter-attack following their expulsion from Hormuz (Jarun). In fact, the Portuguese under Ruy Freire were so successful that the people of Dibba turned on their Safavid overlords, putting them all to death, whereupon a Portuguese garrison of 50 men was installed at Dibba. More Portuguese forces, however, had to be sent to Dibba in 1627 as a result of an Arab revolt. Curiously, two years later the Portuguese proposed moving part of the Mandaean population of southern Iraq, under pressure from neighbouring Arab tribes, to Dibba" (UAE History: 2000 to 200 years ago - UAEinteract, online). "Della Valle displayed excellent narrative and descriptive skills, powers of acute observation, and a genuinely scholarly breadth of learning. He refused to comment on what he had not witnessed himself or checked against the best authorities" (Gurney). He continued his travels east to the coast of India, Goa and Muscat, and thence back to Aleppo by way of Basra. He reached Rome in 1626, where the original Italian text of his letters written to the Neapolitan physician Mario Schipano was published. Only the first volume, dealing with Turkey, saw print during his lifetime. The two-part volume II on Persia was released in 1658, four years after his death; in 1662 the Turkey volume saw a second edition, and the set was concluded in 1663 with the volume on India. A single-volume English translation of the Indian travels appeared in 1665. - Occasional slight brownstaining, otherwise fine. Röhricht 947, p. 238. Tobler 95. Weber II, 251. British Library STC II, 931. Cf. Graesse VII, 251. Atabey 1271 (1667 Baglioni ed., 3 vols. only). Blackmer 1712 (mixed French ed.). Macro 2233. Gurney, "Della Valle, Pietro", in: Encyclopaedia Iranica (online ed.).‎

‎Varthema, Lodovico di.‎

‎Die Ritterliche unnd Lobwirdige Reyß [...] sagend von den Landen Egypto, Syria, von beiden Arabia, Persia, India, und Ethiopia, von deren gstalt, sitten, Leben, Pollicey, Glauben unnd Ceremonien [...]. (Frankfurt/Main, Hermann Gülfferich), 1548.‎

‎4to. 220 unnumbered pp. Title-page and title woodcut printed in red and black; full-page woodcut on reverse of title-page and 44 woodcuts in the text by Jörg Breu the elder. Bound with eight contemporary pamphlets. Contemporary blindstamped leather over wooden boards. All edges red. Remains of two clasps. Sixth or seventh, still early German edition of Ludovico di Varthema's famous travels to Arabia, Persia, and India: the highly important and adventurous narrative containing the first printed eyewitness account of any place in today's United Arab Emirates. On his return journey from Mecca (which he was the first Westerner to describe), Varthema visited Ras al-Khaimah ("Giulfar") and portrayed the city as "most excellent and abounding in everything", with "a good seaport", and whose inhabitants are "all Muslims". While Montalboddo's famous anthology of discoveries, printed in 1507, contained the first printed reference to the Arabian Gulf region, it was Varthema's work, published only three years later, that offered the first actual report from the region by a Western traveller who had visited the coast. All early editions of Varthema’s account are exceedingly rare (even the 2013 Hajj exhibition at the MIA, Doha, only featured the 1655 reprint; cf. below). - Varthema, a gentleman adventurer and soldier from Bologna, left Venice at the end of 1502. In 1503 he reached Alexandria and ascended the Nile to Cairo, continuing to Beirut, Tripoli, Aleppo and Damascus, where, adopting Islam and taking the name of Yunas, he joined a Mameluke escort of a Hajj caravan and began the pilgrimage to Mecca. Varthema was amazed by what he observed: "Truly I never saw so many people collected in one spot as during the twenty days I remained there", he begins, and arriving at the Great Mosque, continues, "it would not be possible to describe the sweetness and the fragrances which are smelt within this temple." Thanks to his knowledge of Arabic and Islam, Varthema was able to appreciate the local culture of the places he visited. Impressed and fascinated, he describes not only rites and rituals, but also social, geographical, and day-to-day details. "I determined, personally, and with my own eyes", he declares in the prefatory dedication, "to ascertain the situation of places, the qualities of peoples [...] of Egypt, Syria, Arabia Deserta and Felix, Persia, India, and Ethiopia, remembering well that the testimony of one eye-witness is worth more than ten hear-says." His good fortune did not continue unabated, however: after embarking at Jidda and sailing to Aden, he was denounced as a Christian spy and imprisoned. He secured his release and proceeded on an extensive tour of southwest Arabia. Stopping in Sanaa and Zebid as well as a number of smaller cities, he describes the people, the markets and trade, the kind of fruits and animals that are plentiful in the vicinity, and any historical or cultural information he deems noteworthy. Returning to Aden, and after a brief stop in Ethiopia, he set sail for India. In addition to visiting Persia, Varthema explored the coasts of Malabar and Coromandel, including a stay at Calicut at the beginning of 1505. He also purports to have made extensive travels around the Malay peninsula and the Moluccas. Returning to Calicut in August 1505, he took employment with the Portuguese at Cochin and, in 1508, made his way back to Europe via the Cape of Good Hope. - First published in 1510, Varthema's account became an immediate bestseller. In addition to his fascinating account of Egypt, Syria, the Arabian Peninsula, and the holy Muslim cities, "Varthema brought into European literature an appreciation of the areas east of India [...] which it had previously not received from the sea-travelers and which confirmed by firsthand observations many of the statements made earlier by Marco Polo and the writers of antiquity" (Lach, I. i. 166). "Varthema was a real traveller. His reports on the social and political conditions of the various lands he visited are reliable as being gathered from personal contact with places and peoples. His account of the overland trade is of great value in that we are made to see it before it had begun to give way to the all-seas route. He even heard of a southern continent and of a region of intense cold and very short days, being the first European probably after Marco Polo to bring back the rumor of Terra Australis" (Cox I, 260). - Bound at the end of the volume are eight rare contemporary pamphlets, including two concerned with the Ottoman wars, two others so rare that they are bibliographically unrecorded (a full list with references is available upon request). Binding is mildly rubbed and bumped; interior shows slight browning and fingerstaining with occasional edge damage. Pastedown has ownership and bookplate of the Bildhausen Cistercians, dissolved in 1803. VD 16, ZV 15159 (BSB copy lost). IA 113.553 (s. v. "Barthema", citing 212 pp. only: no more than six copies, all in Germany). Goedeke I, 379, 17, 7. Cf. Röhricht no. 574, p. 164; Cordier Indosinica I, 103; Röttinger 115 (all for Gülfferich's 1549 ed.). Cf. exhibition cat. "Hajj - The Journey Through Art" (Doha 2013), p. 90 (1655 Dutch ed. only). Blackmer 1719. Gay 140 (a 1556 Frankfurt ed). Cox I, 260. Macro 2239 (other eds.). Carter, Sea of Pearls, p. 68 (1520 ed.). Boies Penrose, p. 28-32. Not in Atabey, BM, or Adams.‎

‎Varthema, Lodovico di.‎

‎Itinerario de Ludovico de Varthema Bolognese nello Egitto, nella Soria, nella Arabia deserta, & felice, nella Persia, nella India, & nela Ethyopia. Le fede el vivere, & costumi delle prefate provincie. Et al presente agiontovi alcune isole novamente ritrovate. Venice, Francesco Bindoni & Maffeo Pasini, April 1535.‎

‎Small 8vo (94 x 143 mm). 100, (4) ff. With woodcut title illustration and woodcut printer's device to final leaf. Near-contemporary limp vellum with traces of a handwritten spine title. Still early original Italian edition of Ludovico di Varthema's famous travels to Arabia, Persia, and India: the highly important and adventurous narrative containing the first printed eyewitness account of any place in today's United Arab Emirates. On his return journey from Mecca (which he was the first Westerner to describe), Varthema visited Ras al-Khaimah ("Giulfar") and portrayed the city as "most excellent and abounding in everything", with "a good seaport", and whose inhabitants are "all Muslims". While Montalboddo's famous anthology of discoveries, printed in 1507, contained the first printed reference to the Arabian Gulf region, it was Varthema's work, published only three years later, that offered the first actual report from the region by a Western traveller who had visited the coast. All early editions of Varthema’s “Itinerario” are exceedingly rare (even the 2013 Hajj exhibition at the MIA, Doha, only featured the 1654 reprint; cf. below). - Varthema, a gentleman adventurer and soldier from Bologna, left Venice at the end of 1502. In 1503 he reached Alexandria and ascended the Nile to Cairo, continuing to Beirut, Tripoli, Aleppo and Damascus, where, adopting Islam and taking the name of Yunas, he joined a Mameluke escort of a Hajj caravan and began the pilgrimage to Mecca. Varthema was amazed by what he observed: "Truly I never saw so many people collected in one spot as during the twenty days I remained there", he begins, and arriving at the Great Mosque, continues, "it would not be possible to describe the sweetness and the fragrances which are smelt within this temple." Thanks to his knowledge of Arabic and Islam, Varthema was able to appreciate the local culture of the places he visited. Impressed and fascinated, he describes not only rites and rituals, but also social, geographical, and day-to-day details. "I determined, personally, and with my own eyes", he declares in the prefatory dedication, "to ascertain the situation of places, the qualities of peoples [...] of Egypt, Syria, Arabia Deserta and Felix, Persia, India, and Ethiopia, remembering well that the testimony of one eye-witness is worth more than ten hear-says." His good fortune did not continue unabated, however: after embarking at Jeddah and sailing to Aden, he was denounced as a Christian spy and imprisoned. He secured his release and proceeded on an extensive tour of southwest Arabia. Stopping in Sanaa and Zebid as well as a number of smaller cities, he describes the people, the markets and trade, the kind of fruits and animals that are plentiful in the vicinity, and any historical or cultural information he deems noteworthy. Returning to Aden, and after a brief stop in Ethiopia, he set sail for India. In addition to visiting Persia, Varthema explored the coasts of Malabar and Coromandel, including a stay at Calicut at the beginning of 1505. He also purports to have made extensive travels around the Malay peninsula and the Moluccas. Returning to Calicut in August 1505, he took employment with the Portuguese at Cochin and, in 1508, made his way back to Europe via the Cape of Good Hope. - First published in 1510, Varthema's account became an immediate bestseller. In addition to his fascinating account of Egypt, Syria, the Arabian Peninsula, and the holy Muslim cities, "Varthema brought into European literature an appreciation of the areas east of India [...] which it had previously not received from the sea-travelers and which confirmed by firsthand observations many of the statements made earlier by Marco Polo and the writers of antiquity" (Lach, I. i. 166). "Varthema was a real traveller. His reports on the social and political conditions of the various lands he visited are reliable as being gathered from personal contact with places and peoples. His account of the overland trade is of great value in that we are made to see it before it had begun to give way to the all-seas route. He even heard of a southern continent and of a region of intense cold and very short days, being the first European probably after Marco Polo to bring back the rumor of Terra Australis" (Cox I, 260). - This edition includes the itinerary of the island of Yucatan (fols. 89ff.), repeated from the 1526 edition of Varthema: Juan Díaz's account of Juan de Grijalva's 1518 expedition to Middle America, first published in Venice in 1520. - Trimmed closely with occasional slight loss to the outermost letters of the page. Some browning and waterstains. The fine title woodcut, copied from Scinzenzeler's 1523 edition, shows Varthema seated on a bench in front of a building, writing on a globe, behind him a set of dividers; in the background is a landscape with a ship at sea and a castle. 17th century ink annotation to verso of last leaf. Rare; a single complete copy in international auction records since 1936. OCLC lists six copies only. Edit 16, CNCE 48228. BM-STC Italian 73. Macro 2239. Gay 140. Röhricht 574, p. 163. Cordier Indosinica I, 98f. Fumagalli 77. Harrisse 205. Sabin 98646. Alden, European Americana, 535/20. OCLC 56581916. Cf. Blackmer 1719. (1523 edition). Boies Penrose, pp. 28-32. Exhibition cat. "Hajj - The Journey Through Art" (Doha, 2013), p. 90 (1655 Dutch ed. only). Carter, Robert A. Sea of Pearls, p. 68 (1520 edition). Not in the Atabey collection. Not in Adams.‎

‎(Varthema, Lodovico di.‎

‎The Navigation and v[o]yages of Lewes Vertomannus, Gentelman of the citie of Rome, to the regions of Arabia, Egypte, Persia, Syria, Ethiopia, and East India, both within and without the ryver of Ganges, etc. In the yeere of our Lorde 1503. Conteynyng many notable and straunge thinges, both hystoricall and naturall. Translated out of Latine into Engylshe, by Richarde Eden). London, Richard Jugge, 1577.‎

‎4to. (10), 466, (6) ff. With historiated woodcut initials. Splendid modern full navy blue morocco, bands on spine with title showing faded gilt, covers double-ruled gilt. The first English edition of Ludovico di Varthema's famous travels to Arabia, Persia, and India: the highly important and adventurous narrative containing the first printed eyewitness account of any place in today's United Arab Emirates. On his return journey from Mecca (which he was the first Westerner to describe), Varthema visited Ras al-Khaimah ("Giulfar") and portrayed the city as "most excellent and abounding in everything", with "a good seaport", and whose inhabitants are "all Muslims". While Montalboddo's famous anthology of discoveries, printed in 1507, contained the first printed reference to the Arabian Gulf region, it was Varthema's work, published only three years later, that offered the first actual report from the region by a Western traveller who had visited the coast. All early editions of Varthema’s "Itinerario" are exceedingly rare (even the 2013 Hajj exhibition at the MIA, Doha, only featured the 1654 reprint; cf. below). - Varthema, a gentleman adventurer and soldier from Bologna, left Venice at the end of 1502. In 1503 he reached Alexandria and ascended the Nile to Cairo, continuing to Beirut, Tripoli, Aleppo and Damascus, where, adopting Islam and taking the name of Yunas, he joined a Mameluke escort of a Hajj caravan and began the pilgrimage to Mecca. Varthema was amazed by what he observed: "Truly I never saw so many people collected in one spot as during the twenty days I remained there", he begins, and arriving at the Great Mosque, continues, "it would not be possible to describe the sweetness and the fragrances which are smelt within this temple." Thanks to his knowledge of Arabic and Islam, Varthema was able to appreciate the local culture of the places he visited. Impressed and fascinated, he describes not only rites and rituals, but also social, geographical, and day-to-day details. "I determined, personally, and with my own eyes", he declares in the prefatory dedication, "to ascertain the situation of places, the qualities of peoples [...] of Egypt, Syria, Arabia Deserta and Felix, Persia, India, and Ethiopia, remembering well that the testimony of one eye-witness is worth more than ten hear-says." His good fortune did not continue unabated, however: after embarking at Jeddah and sailing to Aden, he was denounced as a Christian spy and imprisoned. He secured his release and proceeded on an extensive tour of southwest Arabia. Stopping in Sanaa and Zebid as well as a number of smaller cities, he describes the people, the markets and trade, the kind of fruits and animals that are plentiful in the vicinity, and any historical or cultural information deemed noteworthy. Returning to Aden, and after a brief stop in Ethiopia, he set sail for India. In addition to visiting Persia, Varthema explored the coasts of Malabar and Coromandel, including a stay at Calicut at the beginning of 1505. He also purports to have made extensive travels around the Malay peninsula and the Moluccas. Returning to Calicut in August 1505, he took employment with the Portuguese at Cochin and, in 1508, made his way back to Europe via the Cape of Good Hope. - First published in 1510, Varthema's account became an immediate bestseller. In addition to his fascinating account of Egypt, Syria, the Arabian Peninsula, and the holy Muslim cities, "Varthema brought into European literature an appreciation of the areas east of India [...] which it had previously not received from the sea-travelers and which confirmed by firsthand observations many of the statements made earlier by Marco Polo and the writers of antiquity" (Lach, I. i. 166). "Varthema was a real traveller. His reports on the social and political conditions of the various lands he visited are reliable as being gathered from personal contact with places and peoples. His account of the overland trade is of great value in that we are made to see it before it had begun to give way to the all-seas route. He even heard of a southern continent and of a region of intense cold and very short days, being the first European probably after Marco Polo to bring back the rumor of Terra Australis" (Cox I, 260). - Published as an extensive part of "The History of Travayle in the West and East Indies" - one of the first English versions of the significant collection edited by Pietro Martire d'Anghiera (Peter Martyr, 1457-1526). The first independently published English translation would not appear until 1863: Varthema's travelogue was included for the first time in the present translated edition of Martyr's "History". The translation, with some omissions, is that of Decades I-III of "De Orbe Novo" by Martyr, with additions from other sources, edited by Richard Eden and Richard Willes. Willes was a member of the Jesuits from 1565 to 1572 and was familiar with Maffei, the Jesuit chronicler whose account he drew on for this work. Under the benefaction of the Earl of Bedford, Willes expanded Eden's translation to include, apart from Varthema's travels, four Decades and an abridgement of Decades V-VIII; Frobisher's voyage for a Northwest Passage, Sebastian Cabot's voyages to the Arctic for the Moscovy Company, Cortez's conquest of Mexico, Pereira's description of China, 1565, Acosta and Maffei's notices of Japan, 1573, and the first two English voyages to West Africa. Also, this is the first account in English of Magellan's circumnavigation, as well as the first printed work to advocate a British colony in North America. - Sympathetically washed but not pressed; some minor repairs to title not affecting printed surface. Some remaining toning and staining in small areas of a few leaves. Generally a wide-margined and appealing copy. - Provenance: acquired from Quaritch in 1975 by Gregory S. Javitch (1898-1980), a Russian-born, Canadian leader in the land reclamation sector in Ontario. Javitch formed an important collection of 2,500 items entitled "Peoples of the New World", encompassing both North and South America, which was acquired by the Bruce Peel Special Collections at the University of Alberta. It was considered the finest such private collection in Canada at the time and formed the cornerstone of the library’s Special collections. The present volume remained in Javitch's private collection was acquired directly from his heirs. Howgego M65. Brunet I, 294. OCLC 5296745. LCCN 02-7743. Alden, European Americana 577/2. Church 119. Streeter Sale 24. Arents 23. Borba de Moraes, p. 33. Hill 533. BM-STC 649. Sabin 1562. Cordier, Japonica 71. Field 485. Cf. exhibition cat. “Hajj - The Journey Through Art” (Doha, 2013), p. 90 (1655 Dutch ed. only). Macro, Bibliography of the Arabian Peninsula, 2239f. (other editions only). Not in the Atabey or Blackmer collections.‎

‎Vincent, William.‎

‎The Periplus of the Erythrean Sea [...] Containing an Account of the Navigation of the Ancients [...] With Dissertations. London, A. Strahan for T. Cadell jun. and W. Davies, 1800-1805.‎

‎Large 4to. 2 vols. XII, 227, (1), 87, (3) pp. XII, (229)-559, (1), 83, (1). With engraved frontispiece in vol. 1, 8 engr. maps (6 folding), and 1 folding table. - (Bound with): The Voyage of Nearchus, and the Periplus of the Erythrean Sea. Oxford, Cadell & Davies, 1809. XV, (1), 119, (1) pp. With 1 plate. Contemporary giltstamped English full calf; spines rebacked with original gilt labels. First edition of this rare Middle Eastern geography, published in two parts: 1. From the Sea of Suez to the Coast of Zanguebar; 2. From the Gulph of Elana, in the Red Sea, to the Island of Ceylon. Includes an extensive discussion of the Arabian Peninsula, including sections on Myos Hormus, the Wealth of Arabia, the Coast of Yemen, Aden, Mokha and Oman, Oriental Commerce by the Gulph, etc. Among the plates are a map of the western Arabian coastline, a chart of the Red Sea, and al-Idrisi's famous world map, "a pinnacle of mediaeval cartography as well as of the history of geographical research" (cf. Lex. z. Gesch. d. Kartographie, p. 325; Tooley II, 405). William Vincent (1739-1815) served as headmaster and later Dean of Westminster, and "ancient geography was the subject which Vincent made his chief study" (DNB). Also includes Vincent's edition of the Greek text of the voyage of Nearchus. - Covers rubbed; corners bumped. Traces of old stamps, removed from title pages and half titles. Somewhat browned and brownstained. From the library of the antiquary and bookseller Francis Drake (1828-85), a descendant of the like-named English navigator and privateer, with his engr. bookplate to pastedowns. A good, wide-margined copy. Ibrahim-Hilmy II, 311. DNB LVIII, 364. Graesse VI/2, 325. OCLC 6388867. Not in Atabey, Blackmer, Aboussouan, Weber, Henze, etc.‎

‎Vogüé, Melchior de.‎

‎Syrie centrale. Architecture civile et religieuse du Ier au VIIe siècle. Paris, J. Baudry, 1865-1877.‎

‎Folio (285 x 358 mm). 2 volumes. (4), 12, 154, (6) pp. (8) pp. With a total of 3 maps (2 in colour) & 152 mostly full-page plates, several with tinted lithographed backgrounds. Later red half morocco with giltstamped spine titles. First edition of this detailed study of Syrian decorative architectural art. "De Vogüé travelled with William Waddington in 1853 and 1854, exploring the area from Aleppo to Damascus, Palmyra and Basra. It was an important expedition and much new material was uncovered. The author became ambassador to the Porte in 1871" (Blackmer). - Occasional foxing to plates, but a fine set. Blackmer 174. Not in Weber.‎

‎Wellsted, J[ames] R[aymond].‎

‎Travels to the City of the Caliphs, along the Shores of the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean. Including a Voyage to the Coast of Arabia, and a Tour on the Island of Socotra. London, Henry Colburn, 1840.‎

‎Large 8vo. 2 vols. XIII, (3), 405, (1) pp. VIII, 347, (1) pp. With 2 lithogr. frontispieces and a folding map of the Arabian Peninsula. Contemp. blindstamped cloth with gilt title to spine. Only edition. One of the best English 19th-c. accounts of Arabia and the Gulf. Wellsted's short career was almost entirely devoted to the surveying of the Red Sea, Arabia and Oman, undertaken on a number of expeditions between 1830 and 1837. On board the surveying ship Palinurus he was the first European to set foot in the interior of Oman. Starting late in 1835 from the easternmost point of Oman, Wellsted made his way westward through the Ja`alan region to the Wahibah Sands and then struck north up the Wadi Batha to Samad. There he was joined by Lieutenant F. Whitelock, also of the Indian Navy, who had set out from Muscat later. Together they reached Nazwa, the ancient capital of Oman, and climbed the lower slopes of the Jabal al-Akhdhar, in central Oman. In January 1836 they arrived on the Al-Batinah coast and then turned west, recrossing the Hajar mountains and emerging on the edge of the Dhaharah, the rocky steppe that stretches west toward the Rub` al-Khali. - Bindings rubbed; spines rebacked. Interior somewhat foxed as common. Removed from the Worcester Public Library. Rare; the Peter Hopkirk copy fetched £3,500 at Sotheby's (Oct 14, 1998, lot 1192). Macro, Bibliography of the Arabian Peninsula, 2283. Howgego III, 635. Weber I, 67. Wilson 242. Henze IV, 476. Not in Gay, Blackmer, or Ghani.‎