4.355 Ergebnisse
8vo. 37, (1) pp., final blank leaf. Sewn without binding. Extremely rare publication of the rules of the Coptic Catholic Church, decreed in 1790 and printed in Latin and Arabic in Rome in 1830, following the Ottomans' permission that the Coptic Catholics of Egypt build their own churches: "In conventu habito die 15 Martii anni 1790 decrevit, infrascriptas regulas ab omnibus RR. Sacerdotibus tam saecularibus, quam regularibus ritus Coptici, vel in urbe Cayri, vel in superiori Aegypto commorantibus, esse observandas". - Paper flaws to second leaf, with minor loss to a few letters. No other copy could be traced in libraries internationally.
Oblong folio (470 x 380 mm). (2), 32 pp. (text, bound in original wrappers) and 24 heliographic prints mounted on cardboard. Loosely inserted in illustrated and gilt green cloth portfolio. A set of heliotypes showing (mostly) sites in Upper Egypt: Luxor (4), Qurnah (1), Karnak (3), Thebes (5, including the Ramasseum, Medinet Habu and Deir el-Medina), Edfu (2), and Philae (4), but also including images of the local population: water carriers, workers at a shaduf, a family of Bisharis, as well as nomads with their camels and the Pyramids of Gizeh. The accompanying volume of text describes many of the places depicted, as well as several others. - Some images somewhat foxed, but mostly clean and well-preserved. OCLC 13925000.
Folio. 11, (1) pp. Sewn. Contains an extensive discussion of the de jure and de facto status of navigation in the Arabian Gulf: legally, the "western and southern coasts are partially owned and partially claimed by Turkey, or are in the occupation of Arab tribes, who have entered into Treaty relationships of varying character, constituting a sort of veiled Protectorate with Great Britain. The islands in the Gulf are owned either by Persia or by Arab Chiefs (in the case of Bahrein under British protection) [...] The de facto position upon the waters and on the shores of the [...] Gulf refelcts a more positive British predominance than the preceding paragraph might indicate. In the early years of the [19th] century the Slave Trade was rapant in the Gulf [...] This conflict [...] resulted in the establishment of Treaty relations with the great majority of the Arab Chiefs, under which they bound themselves to observe perpetual peace, and to refer all disputes to the British Resident at Bushire [...]". - Slight duststaining to cover, but well preserved.
8vo. 188 pp., 2 final blank leaves. Original printed wrappers. First edition. - Collection of laws and regulations for Lebanon (Zone Ouest) passed by the French under their mandate for Syria and the Lebanon from October 1918 until the end of August 1920, two days prior to the declaration of independence of Greater Lebanon. A compact primary source on French administration in the Middle East, this rare manual contains decrees for administrative issues such as the division of Lebanon into three zones, sanitary measures against the plague, but also detailed regulations concerning everything from travel permits and the organisation and surveillance of prisons to the application of the metric system, the trade in carrier pigeons, the prices for ice (2 piastres for 400 grams wholesale, 3 piastres retail), alcoholic drinks (16 piastres for a litre of table wine) and tramway fares, and the circulation of vehicles. - A few marginal flaws to the wrappers, occasional minor edge flaws. A good, clean copy with provenance stamp "Le Chef de Cabinet" on the upper cover.
8vo. XVI, 335, (1) pp. XVI, 324 pp. Modern gilt calf, bound to style, with gilt spine label. Marbled endpapers. All edges red. First edition of this early, anonymously edited and translated collection of oriental tales. A fine, nearly spotless copy. - Provenance: sold by Graupe (Berlin, 1926) in his sale of the "Orient-Bibliothek Hermann Frankl, Wien" (catalogue 63) as no. 1034 (in contemporary boards; since rebound in beautiful full calf with gilt cover rules, preserving Frankl's bookplate). Goedeke VII, 760, 32. FRA 70 (1940), p. 572 ("1814").
Folio (240 x 334 mm). 16 pp.: (193)-208. With 6 halftone photographic and wood-engraved illustrations (one on the upper cover). Well-preserved issue of the Ottoman weekly "Servet-i Fünun" ("Wealth of Knowledge"), an avantgardistic literary weekly that informed readers about European, particularly French, cultural and intellectual movements. The present issue, published in the year work began on the famous Hejaz Railway, is illustrated with two photographs showing the Ottoman construction team at work and posing for the camera. They are depicted celebrating "the ceremony of starting the ground works of the railway lines built towards Hejaz with the support of the Caliph [Sultan Abdülhamid II] under the auspices of Islam in the Muzayrib area" on the Jordanian-Syrian border ("Saye-i Diyanet-Sermaye-i Hazret-i Hilafet-penahi'de canib-i Hicaz magfiret-tiraza fers ve temdid olunan simendüfer hatlarinin Müzeyreb mevki'inde ameliyyat-i turabiyyesine resm-i mübaseret", title-page) and undertaking "the First Excavation Process of the Hejaz Railway" ("Hicaz Demir Yollarinin Ilk Ameliyat-i Türabiyesi", p. 196). - A rare survival that gives evidence of how the greatest building project of the era found space even among the pages of an intellectual magazine largely devoted to elegant fashion and the theory of poetry. OCLC 745305308.
Folio (250 x 350 mm). 16 pp. Original printed blue wrappers (edge brittle; broken at spine). Rare issue of this Ottoman journal devoted to the discussion of matters theological ("Religion and Knowledge") and political ("The Islamic World"). This issue, published just after the completion of the famous Hejaz Railway from Damascus to the Holy City of Medina, contains an article entitled "Open Letter to the Governor of Hejaz" ("Hicaz Vali Vekili'ne Acik Mektub / Hicaz Valisi Beyefendi'ye Acik Mektub", pp. 122f.) by Hüseyin Vassaf. In this article, the author makes bold suggestions to the Government of Hejaz for the administration of the next Hajj and recommends that the railway be maintained with care for the comfort of the prilgrims' travel: "We expect much from you. Avoid persecuting the people, as did some of your predecessors. Treat the pilgrims well and spare them the difficulties they are subjected to every year. Protect them from the bandits. Improve accommodation and transportation. Prepare waterways for pilgrims and build sufficent toilets. Even if they are poor, take good care of them. Instil in them a love for our state. Start preparing for this year's Hajj directly. Improve the living conditions of the people in the region. Reform the madrasas and schools. Fulfill all the requirements of the railways [...]". - A rare survival. OCLC 6333040.
Oblong folio (327 x 232 mm). 13 ff. containing 52 mounted silver gelatin photographs, with one press photo laid in (photograph sizes range from 60 x 60 mm to 90 x 140 mm and 170 x 235 mm). Contemporary saddle-stitched red cloth decorated in blind. Loosely inserted is a 1952-62 German passport with a 1957 residence permit/visa for Iraq and many stamps from Iraq in the 1950s. The photo album of German Friedrich Hemmeter (1928-2019), featuring construction, building projects, and interesting scenes of 1950s Iraq. Hemmeter was likely in Iraq employed as a construction manager or similar; certainly, he had an interest in the architecture, engineering, and modernization of the country's infrastructure. - Hemmeter's photographs capture both traditional buildings and ways of life and the sweeping changes of the construction yard, often with an artistic eye for the camera. Alongside striking photographs of workers shoveling concrete under a bright desert sky, or taking a break in the shade of a small shed, are photographs of the elegant architecture of mosques and ancient sites in Iraq and Egypt. Mounted next to a photograph of a modern European-style building is a snapshot of the Taq Kasra; this contrast provides an illuminating picture of Iraqi architecture in the twentieth century. - Laid in is a 1964 press photo of Vice President of Egypt Mohamed Abdel Hakim Amer and Iraqi president Abdul Salam Arif during Amer's visit to Iraq. - With just a few minor creases, quite well preserved.
Large 8vo. XI, (1), 71 (1) pp. - (Bound after): The Geographical Works of Sádik Isfaháni. Translated by J. C. from the Original Persian MSS. In the Collection of Sir William Ouseley, the Editor. Ibid., 1832. XIII, (1) ff., 152 pp. - (Bound with): A List of the Subscribers to the Oriental Translation Fund: With its Officers; and a Catalogue of the Works Published and Printing by the Fund. London: Gardiner and Son, 1832. 16 pp. Original dark green cloth boards with printed label on spine. With lithographed emblem of the Fund on title-page (offset onto preceding blank leaf). Bound with an added lilac-printed engraved leaf recording the copy's presentation to Lady Charlotte Guest, a subscriber to the Oriental Translation Fund. Lady Charlotte Elizabeth Guest (née Bertie, 1812-95), later Lady Charlotte Schreiber, was an English translator and business woman who taught herself Arabic, Hebrew, and Persian. After what may have been a brief flirtation with the future Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, she escaped her unhappy home life through marriage in 1833, which was, however, not a conventional one for her age. - With bookseller's ticket of Edward Purdy of Chancery Lane. Occasional insignificant foxing; on the whole a superb copy, contents clean and fresh.
Albumen prints (vintage). Mostly 136 x 190 mm, but some smaller (down to 121 x 90 mm). Fine, rare collection of British equestrian sports in India, mostly showing the 1922 Calcutta Races. Annotated to rear: "The Indian Grand National: 1st Hurdle", "Mr Ivan Jones 'China Egg'", "The Canal Hurdle Plate (Finish)", etc. Also shows the spectators at a Polo match, portraits of Anglo-Arabian thoroughbreds, etc. - Steeplechase racing was popular in British India both among planters and cavalry regiments. The first Indian Grand National was run at Tollygunge as early as 1895. - Well preserved.
8vo. 14, (2) pp. With portrait frontispiece and folding Arabic facsimile. Original printed wrappers. Rare British pamphlet advertising the independence of Hejaz from Ottoman rule, following the Arab Revolt in which T. E. Lawrence had played so vital a role. Husayn strove for acknowledgement as "King of Arabia", though the powers would recognize him only as King of Hejaz. In 1924 Abd al-Aziz ibn Saud conquered Hejaz and proclaimed the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia six years later. - A clean, unmarked copy. Rare, the last copy at auction sold in 1999 (Sotheby's, Oct 14, 1999, lot 439, £800). OCLC 3949330.
Standard issue 516 x 688 mm. Scales 1:7,230 to 1:29,040. Nautical chart of ten of the principal harbours and anchorages of the Red Sea, prepared by the British Admiralty: Sherm Sheikh, Sherm el Moiyah, Mersa Diba, Sherm Habban, Omeider Island, Dahab, Sherm en Noman, Wasit anchorage, Akaba Bay, and Khor el Wahla. The chart of Akaba Bay shows Akaba City and the ruined fort as well as Victoria Pier and an observation spot. Several charts show dangerous coral reefs, including Harrier reef on the Khor el Wahla chart. - The British Admiralty has produced nautical charts since 1795 under the auspices of the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (HO). Its main task was to provide the Royal Navy with navigational products and service, but since 1821 it has also sold charts to the public. The present chart was composed after surveys by the Austrian Imperial ship "Pola" in 1895-96, as well as an admiralty survey of 1918; it was first published in 1899 and saw several corrections up to 1921. - With a stamp "Increase 50%" near upper margin. Captioned in former collectors' hands on verso. Blueish smudge near upper margin; several small marginal tears, only one of which touching text.
Standard issue, 690 x 850 mm. Scale 1:96,600; 1:96,800; 1:36,950. Nautical chart of some of the main islands in the Red Sea, displaying Jebel Jukur and the Hanish Islands, prepared by the British Admiralty. With 2 inset maps of the Zebayir Islands and the Abu Ali Channel. - The main chart details the 23 islands and rocks of the Hanish Islands, administered by the Italian colony of Eritrea from 1923 to 1941 (when Italy left Eritrea, administration was carried on by Britain). The Zabayir archipelago, featured on an inset map, is a group of 10 major volcanic islands rising on top of an underlying shield volcano and reaching a height of 191 metres above sea level. The second inset map of the Abu Ali Channel includes a large portion of Jebel Zukur. - The British Admiralty has produced nautical charts since 1795 under the auspices of the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (HO). Its main task was to provide the Royal Navy with navigational products and service, but since 1821 it has also sold charts to the public. The present chart was composed after an Admiralty survey of 1881/2; it was first published in 1883 and saw several corrections up to 1928. - With a single fold; tear to lower margin, touching image; two small marginal tears, not touching image. A few manuscript notes. Stamped "Increase 50%" at lower margin. Captioned in print and in a former collector's hand on verso.
Standard issue, 685 x 1025 mm. Scale 1:29,420. Nautical chart of Kamaran Island and Kamaran passage in the Red Sea, prepared by the British Admiralty. With an inset map of Kamaran harbour. - During the second part of the 19th century, Kamaran Island was occupied by the Ottomans, who built a quarantine station for pilgrims from East Africa, the Gulf, India and the East conducting the Hajj by sea to the Ottoman-controlled holy city of Mecca. The chart details the quarantine area on the island, labelling quarantine buildings and the quarantine anchorage. Among the most prominent labelled places are Ras Rasha, Ras el Yemmen, Ras el Bayádh, and Saliff. Other details include Risha Island with a coral-free spot marked "good landing", as well as a warning of buoys adrift in the Kamaran passage. - The British Admiralty has produced nautical charts since 1795 under the auspices of the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (HO). Its main task was to provide the Royal Navy with navigational products and service, but since 1821 it has also sold charts to the public. The present chart was composed after Admiralty surveys in 1899; it was first published in 1900 and saw several corrections up to 1919. - With a single fold. Captioned in a former collector's hand on verso. Two small marginal tears.
Sheet 1: 1065 x 760 mm; sheet 2: 1270 x 765 mm. Scale 1:25,000. Nautical chart of Shatt Al Arab on 2 sheets: sheet 1 showing the "Entrance to Shatt Al Arab" (3842) and sheet 2 showing the "Inner Bar to Kabda Point" (3843). Engraved chart, including tidal information, compass roses, soundings, seabed notations, currents, sandbanks, shoals, lighthouses and beacons picked out in red, inland elevations, detailing and buildings. First published in 1927, revised in 1944. Signs of contemporary use, with several pencil markings. Folded.
Standard issue, 695 x 1025 mm. Scale 1:876,000. Fine nautical chart of the western portion of the Arabian Gulf. With 3 inset maps of Kharg and Khárgu, Jezirat Halul anchorage, and Sheikh Shu'aib, as well as 18 small panoramic coastal views. - The chart provides details of Qatar and Bahrein as well as of parts of Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. Major labelled localities include Basra, Kuwait and Kuwait Harbour, Bushire, Al Qatif, Doha and Muharraq. Further, the chart marks the Anglo-Persian oil pipeline as well as landmarks including Dilam fort and several tombs. - The British Admiralty has produced nautical charts since 1795 under the auspices of the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (HO). Its main task was to provide the Royal Navy with navigational products and service, but since 1821 it has also sold charts to the public. The present chart was composed after Admiralty surveys between 1821 and 1934; it was first published in 1862 and saw several corrections up to 1948. - With a single fold. A few faint pencil notes. Upper left corner slightly creased.
Coloured folding map (81 x 110 cm). Scale 1:2,000,000. Original printed wrappers, with portrait of Reza Shah Pahlavi. (Constant ratio linear horizontal scale). The first-ever official map of modern Iran, printed in Farsi but by a Turkish publisher. Insignificant browning to spine; occasional slight paper damage in folds; altogether very well preserved. OCLC 422500836. Not in Al Ankary; Al-Qasimi.
Small oblong folio (260 x 180 mm). 103 silver gelatin photographs mounted in photo corners or laid down. Contemporary black leather, blindstamped with imitations of Egyptian hieroglyphs. An interesting album of snapshots taken in Sudan and Iraq in the 1930s. Although the photographer's name is not present, he was probably an RAF serviceman stationed in North Africa and the Middle East, as there are several images of billets and two official R.A.F. aerial photographs at the rear of the album. - The images of Iraq, including Khartoum, Baghdad and Samarra, are in the majority, and largely focus on leisure activities such as horse racing in the desert and trips to important archaeological sites. One attractive series documents an excursion to the ruins of Babylon with the Lion of Babylon and the Ctesiphon Arch. Among the images of Babylon are two brick reliefs from the Ishtar Gate (constructed ca. 575 CE), a muscular aurochs, and the mythic mushussu dragon. - Light fading, otherwise well preserved.
Oblong folio (387 x 265 mm). 16 ff. 20 silver gelatin photographs mounted in photo corners with handwritten captions; photographs range between 150 x 207 mm and 120 x 185 mm. Contemporary saddle-stitched faux leather boards with tassel. Twenty R.A.F. photographs of Iraq in the interwar period and associated with the No. 45 Squadron, many of them aerial views and mid-flight snapshots of contemporary aircraft. Most are labelled and numbered in the plate, possibly as official R.A.F. photographs. Aerial photographs of R.A.F. aircraft include the Vicker Victoria Troop Carrier, a "Formation of Vickers Vernous" (that is, Vickers Vernons), and several shots of a pilot referred to simply as "Henry" testing out the newly arrived Airco DH.9A over the mountains and hills of Iraq. Further aerial shots show the Ctesiphon Arch from "200 feet" (61 meters) as noted in-plate, the R.A.F. British Hospital, the Al-Askari Shrine of Samarra surrounded by the old city, and the Maude Bridge in Baghdad. The remainder of the photographs are dedicated to scenes around Baghdad, from British military headquarters to a crowd outside a post office. The first photograph of the album shows what is presumably the No. 45 Squadron (who were in Baghdad in 1926, and are the only squadron in Baghdad known to have flown both the Vickers Vernon and the Airco DH.9A ca. 1926), captioned "All the 'Boys' and me". The No. 45 Squadron famously nicknamed themselves "The Flying Camels" after their squadron badge, which featured a winged camel. - Quite well preserved.
Ca. 235 x 190 mm. Original hand-coloured map on tissue paper. In Ottoman script and Arabic. Two hand-drawn maps on a single sheet, made in the Ottoman Empire, likely in Istanbul, near the beginning of the 20th century. The map to the left depicts the Baghdad Vilayet, embracing Central Iraq. The map on the right features the Basra Vilayet, extending from Southern Iraq down the southern coast of the Arabian Gulf to include Kuwait, what is now the Dhahran area of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Qatar. By the late 19th century the Gulf States had become de-facto British protectorates and were no longer practically subject to Ottoman rule; still, the Sublime Porte never relinquished its sovereignty. - Maps such as this, executed on thin tracing paper, were commonly made as educational tools at elite Ottoman schools and universities during the early 20th century, although few such specimens survive. - Clean and bright, with light creasing and traces of an old vertical centrefold.
36 vintage small format silver gelatin photographs, plus a photographic postcard of Faisal II as a boy. A small collection of highly accomplished amateur photos of inter-war Iraq. With a handful of exceptions, the photographs show the local population, often children, recorded with a sensitive and sympathetic eye. - Though there is no material evidence to support the attribution, they came from a collection of similar material said to belong to Christopher Warren, who worked as an Intelligence Officer in Iraq, Lebanon and Kuwait in the 1930s. Other photographs, offered for sale at the same time as these, show that he was active in those locations and was, at one point, based at Dar Al Qamar (Moon House), Karradat Mariam, Baghdad. - The many intimate and beautiful portraits would suggest the photographer spoke Arabic and understood enough about his subjects to foment the mutual comfort necessary for such candid images. Several show young people from both the city and the countryside: the sons of shop-owners at ease in the hustle and bustle of Baghdad and children gathering crops, hunting and playing reed flutes in the open expanse of the desert. Some, such as the portrait of a suited young man in a local boat, potentially imply a professional relationship. Viewed together, the images express a peacefulness far removed from the tensions of the interwar period, in which protests against British influence were common, even after the independence of the country in 1932. Only a photographic postcard, present with the images, reminds one of the broader historical context: a portrait of Faisal II, still a child but standing upright in military dress. - All photographs clearly removed from an album, with residual scraps of brown album paper to versos.
4to. 8 pp. Sewn. Rare 1758 Portuguese account of the city of Isfahan, formerly the capital of Persia, published during the uneasy period in Iranian history between the end of Nader Shah's reign and the rise of the Qajar dynasty, more than a century after the Portuguese had withdrawn from the Gulf. WorldCat lists copies in Harvard, Ann Arbor, Princeton, British Library, Cambridge Univ., and Tübingen. - Well-preserved. Floor/Hakimzadeh, Acta Iranica, p. 32. OCLC 22325642.
255 x 364 mm. Colour print. Showing several holy Islamic pilgrim sites in Saudi Arabia. The Baitullah Sharif in Mecca in the centre of the print is surrounded by eight illustrations, including Mount Arafat, Al-Masjid an-Nabawi in Medina, the mosque of Ta'if, and the cemeteries Jannatul Mualla and Al-Baqi'. The outer part of the oval shows by 24 illustrations of landscapes and architecture near Mecca (Jabal al-Nour, Muzdalifa, etc.). The corners are filled in with calligraphy. - Some chipping; edges professionally repaired. Cf. Murat Kargili, The Holy Journey. The Hajj Route through Postcards, Istanbul 2014, p. 277.
8vo. 116 pp. Contemporary grey wrappers. Extremely rare, anonymous account of the "Life and opinions of Muhammad, the Prophet of the Muslims, and founder of a great monarchy, with the history of Arabia" (as the book is titled in German). Chauvin attributes the work to the Altdorf professor Wolfgang Jäger (1734-95), who taught Western languages but was not an oriental scholar. The chapter on modern life in the Arabian Peninsula is based on Niebuhr, while the section on Arab women and the liberties and privileges they enjoy is credited to John Richardson (being an original translation from his "Dissertation on the Languages, Literature, and Manners of Eastern Nations"). - A few professional restorations, spine rebacked, otherwise well preserved. Chauvin X, 586. Not in Holzmann/Bohatta.
Folio. XIII, (1), 80, (4) pp. Orange cloth with giltstamped spine title, boards blindstamped "Foreign Office". First English translation of Kâtib Çelebi's great work on the history of the Ottoman navy, "The Gift to the Great Ones on Naval Campaigns". Written in 1657, the book was the second to be printed at Ibrahim Müteferrika's famous Constantinople press (in 1729). It emphasises the importance of the Turkish activities in the seas and the Ottoman contribution to the navigational history, long a strangely neglected subject. Kâtib Çelebi, who is one of the outstanding names of the Ottoman world of scholarship in 17th century and one of the most prolific authors in terms of the number and types of his works during that period, was a man of knowledge, ideas and culture who was widely spoken about in the Ottoman period of the Islamic World. - Withdrawn from the Foreign Office Library with their engraved armorial bookplate and withdrawal stamp. OCLC 29073533.