Golf

Golf — marelibri

Large folio (60 x 42 cm). Letterpress title with engraved vignette, list of subscribers, winners of the St. Leger 1776-1814, 14 hand-coloured aquatint plates by T. Sutherland and R. G. Reeve after Herring, each with letterpress description of riders and winners of other races and the St Leger stakes for each year. Bound in recent half burgundy morocco with contemporary drab boards with large printed label on upper cover. "Extremely rare" (Tooley). Second edition of Herring's finest work, the outcome of his fascination with horse racing and the St. Leger in particular. "In the writer's estimation, the first series of the St. Leger winners contains the very best of Herring prints [...] they were engraved by Sutherland, a more competent aquatinter and colourist than his successors who handled these race-horses" (Siltzer). Herring spent the first 18 years of his life in London, where his father, an American, was a fringe-maker in Newgate Street. Having married against his father's wishes, he went to Doncaster, where he arrived during the races in September 1814, and saw the Duke of Hamilton's horse, William, win the St. Leger. The sight inspired him to attempt the art of animal-painting, in which he subsequently excelled. He painted Filho da Puta, the winner of the St. Leger in 1815, and for the following thirty-two years painted each winner in succession. "Herring's series of Portraits [...] were painted annually and quickly reproduced in large showy aquatints, the horses made literally glossy by the application of varnish to the paper" (Diana Donald, Picturing Animals in Britain 1750-1850, New Haven, CT [2007], p. 215). This is the second edition of this series of wonderful racehorse portraits. It was first published as a suite of 10 plates in 1824 by Sheardown and Son of Doncaster; S. and J. Fuller of London purchased these in 1827 and continued to publish, periodically, the St. Leger winner series up to 1845. The earlier plates were all re-captioned with Fuller's imprint. Plates watermarked 1825-28; the first plate in the present work, "Filho da Puta", is on paper watermarked 1827. - Very slight offsetting to text. Extremities rubbed; otherwise a superb example of this rare work. Siltzer 139-146. Mellon Horsemanship, 128.

Ibn al-Haytham, Abu 'Ali al-Hasan (Alhazen).MareMagnum

[Kitab al-Manazir, latine]. Opticae thesaurus. Alhazeni Arabis libri septem, nunc primum editi. Eiusdem liber de crepusculis & Nubium ascensionibus. Item Vitellonis Thuringopoloni libri X [...]. (Ed. F. Risner). Basel, Eusebius Episcopius & haeredes Nicolai Episcopii, (August) 1572.

Folio (235 x 338 mm). 2 parts in 1 vol. (6) pp., 1 blank leaf, 288 pp. (8), 474, (2) pp. With 2 different woodcut printer's devices on title-page and colophon, half-page woodcut on reverse of title-page (repeated on half-title of pt. 2), and numerous diagrams in the text. Contemporary full limp vellum binding with later ink spine label (wants ties). First edition of "the most important work of its kind in Arabic literature" (cf. Poggendorf), this copy inscribed by the German humanist Wilhelm Xylander (1532-76), sometime rector of Heidelberg University. - Ibn al-Haytham (965-c. 1040), known as Alhazen in the Western tradition, has been hailed as "the greatest Muslim physicist and one of the greatest students of optics of all times [...] The Latin translation [...] exerted a great influence upon Western science. It showed a great progress in experimental method. [Alhazen's book contains] research in catoptrics, [a] study of atmospheric refraction, [a] better description of the eye, and better understanding of vision [as well as an] attempt to explain binocular vision [and the] earliest use of the camera obscura" (Sarton). "This combined edition served as the standard reference work on optics well into the 17th century, influencing scientists such as Brahe, Kepler, Galileo, and Descartes" (Norman). - "The Arab physicist Alhazen preserved for us all that was known by the ancients in the field of optics and added some contributions of his own. His book remained a standard authority thru the 1600s. He understood that light emanated spherically from a point and greatly improved on Ptolemy's uncertain rule for refraction which, he showed, held true only for small angles. He covered many cases of reflection and refraction and his explanation of the structure and function of the eye was followed for 600 years" (Dibner). - The 'Liber de crepusculis', the work on dawn and twilight included in Risner's 'Opticae thesaurus' and attributed to Alhazen, is actually the work of his contemporary Abu 'Abdallah Muhammad ibn Mu'adh al-Jayyani (cf. Norman; DSB, p. 208). The optical study by the Polish scholar Witelo, likewise here included, is "a massive work that relies extensively on Alhazen [and] offers an analysis of reflection that was not surpassed until the 17th century" (Norman). - Binding stained; edges worn. Interior browned with some waterstaining throughout the margins; occasional edge defects. Inscribed on the title-page by Wilhelm Xylander, professor of Greek and Logic at Heidelberg and editor of numerous translations from Greek (cf. ADB XLIV, 582-593): "Xylandri dono Antonius Roverius Nemausensis possidet" (followed by a Greek dedication and Xylander's signature). The recipient Antonius Roverius (Antoine Rouvier) from Nîmes had matriculated at Heidelberg on 1 July 1572. - Later in the library of the famed microscope builder and collector Alfred Nachet (1831-1908) and his son Albert. - An appealing copy of a principal work of Arabic science as received in the West with important provenance. VD 16, H 693 (H 692, V 1761). Adams A 745. BM-STC 383. Dibner 138. Norman 1027. Honeyman I, 73. DSB VI, 205 & XIV, 461. GAL I, 470. Poggendorf I, 31. Duncan 113. Sarton I, 721. Carmody p. 140. Thorndike/Kibre 803, 1208. Vagnetti D62. BNHCat A 241. IA 103.705. Brunet I, 180. Arabick Roots Doha AR79. Collection Nachet (1929), 50 (this copy).

Inlibris · Österreich95.000,00 €

The Ottoman survey in Qatar and the sublime port of Basra golfBiblio.com

The political questions of the Arabian golf region during the late Ottoman era

1917Best.-Nr. 000214We believe this to be the first complete collection of its kind including several items that we have not encountered in public libraries or archival sources. In any case it represents the most comprehensive collection of issues that we have traced over a period of twenty-five years of Ottoman state publications many of which are difficult to assemble. The collection essentially consists of official reports most of which were prepared by the two ambassadors Fakhr al-Din Rûm Bey Oğlu and Muhammad Nâbi. These reports are highly restricted official documents. Description of the Collection The reports were prepared in Ottoman Turkish except for four items written in modern Turkish after the alphabet reform; these were prepared by İsmail Hakkı Tevfik and Abdulgani Seni Bey. 1. Najd Issue Najd Question Ottoman Turkish report published by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Istanbul 1918. 15 pages octavo. Prepared by Ambassador Fakhr al-Din Rûm Bey Oğlu and the Ottoman Ambassador in Rome Muhammad Nâbi dated 11 March 1917. The report discusses the political borders of Ottoman Najd; the treaty signed between Süleyman Şefik Pasha and Abdulaziz ibn Saud; the Ottoman–British treaty concerning Najd including Qatar; and the Ottoman treaty with Ibn Saud converting Najd from a mutasarrifate into a province vilayet appointing Ibn Saud as governor and commander-in-chief including military organization. Topics include: Midhat Pasha's report; Wahhabis; the conflict between Saud and Abdullah ibn Faisal; the sheikhs of Muscat Mukalla Oman Hadhramaut and Bahrain and their relations with Britain; Saudi movements along eastern Najd; Ottoman naval response under Midhat Pasha; the administrative difficulty of Najd; support of Mubarak al-Sabah for the Ottomans; coercion of Abdullah al-Faisal to sign the al-Ahsa treaty; Ibn Rashid's advances; tribal dynamics; British support of Al-Sabah; British protection; Ibn Saud and the Muntafiq sheikh; Ottoman–Wahhabi agreements 10 April 1905; British protests regarding Ibn Saud's border violations and interference in Qatar and Oman; the 12-article Ottoman–Ibn Saud treaty of 12 July 1913 including the separation of Qatar from Najd; maritime boundaries; recognition of Jasim Al Thani; compensation to the Sheikh of Bahrain. 2. Muscat Issue Ottoman Turkish report Ministry of Foreign Affairs Istanbul 1918. 6 pages. Prepared by Fakhr al-Din Rûm Bey Oğlu and Muhammad Nâbi dated 27 November 1916. Covers Muscat modern Oman the Imamate foreign involvement Ottoman views rejecting Muscat's independence from the Arabian Peninsula; relations between Najd Muscat and British India; strategic location; occupation history; Al-Sa'id relations with Wahhabis; British and French recognition of Omani independence in 1862; Ottoman perspective on Oman's connection to Arabia. 3. Qatar Coasts Issue Prepared 8 January 1917. Printed at the Imperial Press. 7 pages plus 9 pages of French appendices. Topics include British expansion from Bahrain to Qatar; Ottoman claims; British intervention since 1891; correspondence with the Ottoman state; Bahrain–Qatar disputes over Zubarah and al-'Udayd; appointment of Abd al-Rahman Al Thani; British encroachments; Qatar within the Kuwait treaty framework; confirmation of Jassim Al Thani's authority in 1913. 4. Kuwait Issue Fakhr al-Din Rûm Bey Oğlu & Muhammad Nâbi. Imperial Press Istanbul 1334 AH. 34 pages. Geography population sect history of Al-Sabah; Ottoman administration of Baghdad and Basra; British policy; secret treaties 1899–1904; borders; railways; maritime flags; taxation refusal; British attempts to place Kuwait under protection; Ottoman responses; oil islands Bubiyan Khor Abdullah; Sheikh's declaration of being an officer in the British army. Dated 31 August 1918. 5. Basra Gulf Issue Bahrain Qatar Pirate Coast/Emirates İsmail Hakkı Tevfik. Ankara 1931. 32 pages. Political tribal and documentary history in Turkish English and French. 6. Irrigation in Arabia Fakhr al-Din Rûm Bey Oğlu & Muhammad Nâbi. 14 pages. Ottoman irrigation projects; British interference since 1910; German involvement. 7. Asir Revolt of 1911 Report by Consul General İsmail Hakkı. 31 pages. Ottoman military actions; Idrisi revolt; tribal loyalties; Wahhabi involvement; detailed military maps. 8. Aqaba Issue By Rashdi Infantry Brigade Commander. Istanbul 1326 AH. 154 pages. Ottoman–British relations; Egypt's role; Hijaz railway; Aqaba dispute. 9. War in Arabia between Ibn Saud and the Imam of Yemen By Abdülgani Sünni Bey. Ankara 1934. 20 pages. Unique copy. Covers causes tribal alignments Asir Aden Najran foreign involvement. 10. Guide to the Gulf of Aden Ottoman Turkish. Istanbul 1310 AH. 276 pages. Includes maps; authored by naval officer Süleyman Nutqi. 11. Tripoli Benghazi and the Twelve Islands Issue Report dated 27 November 1916. 24 pages French treaty texts. Ottoman North Africa American conflicts Italian ambitions Lausanne Treaty. 12. Sheikh Sa'id Island Issue Istanbul 1916. 4 pages. Strategic Bab al-Mandab island dispute with France. 13. Palestine Issue – Zionist Claims Istanbul 3 March 1918. 43 pages. Origins of Zionism; European diplomacy; Jerusalem administration. 14. Notes on the Iraq War Military Press 1333 AH. 88 pages. Translated from English for official use only. Rare. 15. Bahrain Issue Report dated 8 January 1917. 12 pages French texts. History British protection treaties 1820–1898 inclusion in 1913 Gulf treaty. 16. Muhammarah Issue Report dated 1 March 1917. 8 pages. Borders oil Sheikh Khaz'al Anglo-Iranian-Ottoman relations. 17. Oil Concessions in Arabia Report dated 26 March 1917. 9 pages English treaty. Mosul Baghdad Basra Shell Najd Kuwait. 18. Baghdad Issue Report dated 31 August 1917. 53 pages French texts. Baghdad Railway; British–Ottoman rivalry; Gulf politics. 19. Farasan Islands Issue Report dated 28 November 1916. 8 pages. German coal depot request; British occupation; oil and gas. 20. Hadhramaut Issue Report dated 11 March 1917. 6 pages. Tribal governance; British relations via Aden. 21. Aden and the Nine Districts Report dated 27 November 1916. 39 pages French annexes. Portuguese Ottoman British rule; Yemen administration; sovereignty claims. 22. Memorandum on British Claims Regarding the Baghdad Line and Basra Gulf Istanbul 21 January 1911. 35 pages appendices. Detailed diplomatic negotiations since 1903. 23. Guide to the Red Sea Istanbul 1307 AH. 459 pages. Comprehensive nautical and railway guide with ports and routes. 24. South Arabia Issue Hadhramaut Socotra etc. İsmail Hakkı Tevfik. Bulgaria 1935. 132 pages with photographs and maps. 25. The Egyptian Issue Prepared March 1918. 186 pages. Ottoman legal and political analysis of Egypt from Muhammad Ali to British occupation. 26. Shatt al-Arab Issue Istanbul 1917. 30 pages. 1913 treaty with Britain; navigation borders Iran Muhammarah. Note İsmail Hakkı Tevfik was a senior Ottoman and Republican diplomat and son-in-law of Sultan Mehmed VI. Fakhr al-Din Rûm Bey Oğlu and Muhammad Nâbi were leading Ottoman statesmen. Other contributors include Süleyman Nutqi naval officer and Abdulgani Seni Bey later a key Republican thinker. 26 items Ottoman Ministry of Foreign Affairs paperback

Archive · Saudi-Arabien100.000,00 €

(Varthema, Lodovico di.MareMagnum

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. (4 [instead of 10]), 464 [instead of 466] ff. (wants the first 6 ff. of prelims, final 2 ff. of text and the 6 ff. of "special advices" and index, all supplied in facsimile). With historiated woodcut initials. Splendid modern red morocco, both covers richly gilt, gilt fillets to raised bands. Stored in custom-made cloth clamshell box with gilt spine title. 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. - First 6 and final 8 ff. supplied in facsimile. Occasional faint contemp. marginalia. 19th c. calligraphic note, quoted from Brunet, on flyleaf. From the library of Sir Arthur Helps (1813-75), English writer, dean of the Privy Council, and Cambridge Apostle, with his armorial bookplate and autograph ownership. Howgego M65. Brunet I, 294. OCLC 5296745. LCCN 02-7743. 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.

Inlibris · Österreich120.000,00 €

[Ibn Kammuna, Jewish physician and philosopher (1215-1284)].MareMagnum

Sharh al-talwiyyât al-lawhiyya wa al-'ursîyya li-l-Suhrawardî [Explanations and Commentary on Sohrawardi's Allusions]. No place, [1316 CE =] 716 H.

4to (175 x 244 mm). Arabic manuscript on paper. 2 volumes. 117 pp. 68 pp. 27 lines to the page, written in dark brown ink on buff paper, catchwords in red, some diagrams, dated at the end of each book. Modern brown morocco bindings with fore-edge flap. Rare and early manuscript of Ibn Kammuna's principal work, this copy written less than fifty years after the commentary, which made its author famous, was completed in 1268. - Ibn Kammuna, who lived in Baghdad in the 13th century, is considered one of the most important Jewish philosophers after his Andalusian colleague Moses ibn Maimon (Maimonides, d. 1204) and is known to have corresponded with the illustrious polymath Nasir al-Din Tusi (d. 1274). Ibn Kammuna experienced the overthrow of Abbasid power by Mongol troops in 1258. Following this event, many faiths cohabited in Baghdad until the new power converted to Islam. It is at the heart of this multi-confessional society that Ibn Kammûna wrote most of his work. - The "Sharh al-Talwiyyat" constitutes one of the major contributions to the work of Sohrawardi (d. 1191), who had died in Aleppo less than eighty years before the commentary was written. Several texts suggest that Ibn Kammuna would have stayed in Aleppo, around 1250, to collect direct sources from Sohrawardi's students. Thus, Ibn Kammuna played a key role in the dissemination of the thought of Sohrawardi and the illuminative philosophy ("Ishrâq" in Arabic) that he initiated (cf. Henri Corbin, 1945). - Since Corbin's work, the "Sharh al-Talwiyyat" has been the subject of numerous studies seeking to establish a reference edition. Three relevant editions exist: those of S. Mûsawî (2003), H. Ziai and A. Alwishah (2002, dealing only with parts I and II), and of N. Habibi (2009). The three parts of this work are devoted respectively to logic, the natural sciences, and theology. According to the census established by John Lameer, there are only about fifty copies of "Sharh al-Talwihat" by Ibn Kammuna, taking into account the complete and incomplete copies. Our manuscript, dating from 716 H (1316 CE), is said to be the tenth oldest known copy of Ibn Kammuna's Commentary on the work of Suhrawardi. This set of two volumes comprises parts 2 and 3, while the volume on logic is not present. - Ibn Kammuna wrote extensively on theology, philosophy and psychology. His work is based on the knowledge of ancient Greek philosophers, on the study of the writings of Avicenna and Sohrawardi, as well as on the works of Judah Halevi and Maimonides. He is notably the author of "Tanqih al-abhath lil-milal al-thalath" (Critical Study on the Three Monotheistic Religions), and of "al-Jadid fi'l-hikma" (The New Wisdom), a discussion of the philosophy and science of the 13th century. His most significant contribution to the history of philosophy remains his present detailed commentary on Sohrawardi's "Al-Talwihat". Reza Pourjavadi & Sabine Schmidtke, A Jewish Philosopher of Baghdad. 'Izz al-Dawla Ibn Kammuna (d. 683/1284) and His Writings. Leiden and Boston, 2006 (= Islamic Philosophy, Theology and Science. Texts and Studies, vol. 65). Joep Lameer, "Ibn Kammuna's Commentary on Suhrawardi's Talwihat. Three Editions", Journal of Islamic Manuscripts 3 (2012), pp. 154-184.

Inlibris · Österreich125.000,00 €

[Medicea Press].MareMagnum

Alphabetum Arabicum [and three other publications from the Medici Oriental Press]. Rome, Typographia Medicea, 1592.

4to (170 x 232 mm). 64 pp. With woodcut device on title-page. - (Bound with) II: [I'tiqad alamarah ...]. Brevis orthodoxae fidei professio, quae ex praescripto Sanctae Sedis Apostolicae ab Orientalibus ad Sacrosanctae Romanae Ecclesiae unitatem venientibus facienda proponitur. Ibid., 1595. (28) pp., 2 bl. ff. With 2 half-page woodcuts and woodcut device at the end. - (Bound with) III: Ibn Ajurrum, Muhammad ibn Muhammad al Sinhaji. [Kitab al-Ajurrumiyyah]. [Ibid., 1592]. (24) pp. Arabic text throughout, printed in red and black. - (Bound with) IV: Ibn al-Hajib, 'Uthman ibn-'Umar. [Kafiya li-Ibn al-Hajib]. [Ibid., 1592]. (96) pp. Arabic text throughout, printed in red and black. Contemporary full vellum with traces of a handwritten spine title. A fine sammelband containing no fewer than four extremely rare publications from the Medicea Oriental Press, the first printing press in Europe dedicated to printing Arabic typeface. It was founded in Rome in 1584 under the direction of Giabattista Raimondi (1536-1614) and the patronage of Pope Gregory XIII. For the Arabic types, Raimondi commissioned the famous typefounder Robert Granjon. Cutting the Arabic typefaces took a long time, and the first book to bear its imprint did not appear until 1591. Until 1610 Raimondi printed only eight works with Granjon's types. - Contains individually: - I. Alphabetum Arabicum (1592). A prospectus of the Medicea's Arabic typefaces - "a masterpiece of design which not only displays Granjon's beautiful types, but contains a careful Latin Essay on the Arabic writing system" (Lunde, Arabic and the art of printing, in "Aramco World" 1981). - II. Brevis orthodoxae fidei professio (1595). Maronite confession of faith, intended for Eastern Christians who claimed to be united with the Catholic Church. Arabic and Latin parallel text on opposite pages. The woodcuts in the text are after Antonio Tempesta (1555-1630). - III. Kitab al-Ajurrumiyyah (1592). Editio princeps of a short Arabic grammar by the 14th c. scholar Muhammad al-Sanhaji from Fez (Morocco). There are also copies with a Latin title and imprint, "Grammatica Arabica in compendium redacta, quae vocatur Giarrumia". - IV. Kafiya (1592). "Editio princeps of this popular short syntax of the Arabic language, written in the 13th century by the Arabian grammarian Uthman Ibn Umar, known as Ibn al-Hajib (1175-1249). Two centuries later an Oriental printed edition was published in Istanbul (1786), but in the meantime this edition, printed in Arabic (30 point) throughout, could well have passed for a manuscript" (Smitskamp). There are also copies with a Latin title and imprint, "Grammatica arabica dicta Caphiah, auctore filio Alhagiabi". - Binding a little stained; wants ties. Later pastedowns. Occasional slight toning and some minor marginal soiling. "Kafiya" shows some dampstaining to upper edge of a1 and a4, with light offsetting of red Arabic print in the lower margin of d1v. In general, excellent, wide-margined copies throughout. Provenance: Christiaan Druve (d. 1616), abbot of the Sint-Niklaas Abbey in Veurne, with his contemporary ownership entry "Christianus Druvaeus Abb. S. Nicol. Fur. Recogita" on the title-page of the Alphabetum. I. Edit 16, CNCE 1227. Schnurrer 41. Adams A 780. BM-STC Italian 36. OCLC 47816774. Lunde, Paul, "Arabic and the Art of Printing", in: Aramco World 32/2 (1981) (mit Abb.). J. Balagna, L'imprimerie arabe en occident (Paris 1984), p. 135. Cat. Le Livre et le Liban (mentioned p. 190; no copy in the catalogue). Not in Smitskamp (PO) or Fück. - II. Edit 16, CNCE 7571. Zenker 1571. Not in Adams. - III. Edit 16, CNCE 65819. Schnurrer 43. Adams M 1891. GAL S II, p. 332. - IV. Edit 16, CNCE 44392. Schnurrer 42 Adams U 102. GAL I, p. 303. Smitskamp (PO) 30.

Inlibris · Österreich125.000,00 €

Ibn Sina (Avicenna).MareMagnum

[Al Qanun - latine]. Canon medicinae. Lyon, Jean Trechsel & Johann Klein, 24. XII. 1498.

Folio (ca. 31 x 42 cm). 2 vols. 379 ff. with 1 diagrammatic woodcut. 357 ff. Contemporary full calf over wooden boards on four raised double bands, blind- and giltstamped, one volume with 2 brass clasps (and remnants on the other volume). Two complete volumes, in their contemporary Renaissance bindings, of the four-volume Latin edition of Avicenna's magnum opus. Gerard de Cremona's widely received translation was here edited by Jacques Ponceau with the commentaries of Jacobus de Partibus and Johannes Lascaris. - The principal writing of Abu Ali al-Husain ibn Abdullah ibn Sina (ca. 980-1037), the "Qanun" is the most authoritative medical text in the Islamic world. Written in Arabic, it was widely translated throughout the Middle Ages and formed the basis of medical training in the West as late as the mid-17th century. Through this encyclopedic work, the author exerted "perhaps a wider influence in the eastern and western hemispheres than any other Islamic thinker" (PMM). "The 'Qanun' [...] contains some of the most illuminating thoughts pertaining to distinction of mediastinitis from pleurisy; contagious nature of phthisis; distribution of diseases by water and soil; careful description of skin troubles; of sexual diseases and perversions; of nervous ailments" (Sarton, Introduction to the History of Science). "[Avicenna's] Canon is one of the most famous medical texts ever written, a complete exposition of Galenism. Neuburger says: 'It stands for the epitome of all precedent development, the final codification of all Graeco-Arabic medicine'. It dominated the medical schools of Europe and Asia for five centuries" (Garrison/M. 43). - The present two volumes comprise the complete Third Book, fen 1-12 and 13-22, and thus cover the principal part of the Qanun: special pathology and therapy "a capite ad calces" (from head to toe), including ailments of the ear, nose, and throat, as well as obstetrics. Volumes 1 and 4 (not present here) comprised books I (452 ff.) and book IV, fen 1 (142 ff.); books II and V were not part of this edition. - Both volumes lack merely the final blank leaf, otherwise complete with ample margins showing occasional deckle edges. Some light browning, some waterstaining to edges (mainly towards end of vol. 2), otherwise very little staining; some worming mostly confined to blank margins. A few contemporary ms. annotations. Both volumes in their original, prettily blind- and gilt-tooled brown leather bindings over wooden boards. - Provenance: traces of removed bookplates on pastedowns. According to a pencil note on the inside front cover of the first volume, the set was removed from the Fritzlar Cathedral Library, parts of which were dispersed in 1724 and in 1803. Later sold at Venator (Cologne), sale 23/24 (1962), lot 15 (with illustration plate IV); old sales notice pasted to inside front cover of first volume. H 2214. GW 3127. Goff A-1428. BMC VIII, 302. Proctor 8616. BSB-Ink A 964. IGI 1125 u. Corr. Pell. 1668. Polain 444. Voull. Bln. 4708. Claudin IV, 88-93. Klebs 131.13. Panzer I, 553, 200. Not in Oates, Osler, Waller, or Wellcome.

Inlibris · Österreich125.000,00 €

Snouck Hurgronje, Christian.MareMagnum

Bilder aus Mekka. Leiden, E. J. Brill, 1889.

Folio (282 x 372 mm). 20 collotype prints mounted on 18 sheets loose in red gilt cloth portfolio as issued, complete with half-title, list of plates, title and preface. One of the earliest photographic documents of Mecca and the Hajj, preceded only by the photographs of Muhammed Sadiq Bey published in 1881 (Sotheby's, 4 June 1998: £1,250,000). Much rarer than the author's similarly titled "Bilder-Atlas zu Mekka", a portfolio of lithographs to accompany the "Mekka" books which Snouck had published after his return from the Arabian Peninsula. - "Following the publication of 'Bilder-Atlas zu Mekka', Hurgronje received a letter from his doctor in Makkah, whom he had taught the art of photography. The letter contained new photographs of the hajj which were of such great interest that he decided in 1889 to publish his 'Bilder aus Mekka' [...] The photographs provide an insight into the world of Makkah's inhabitants, pilgrims from all over the Islamic world, in addition to the sharif of Makkah, the Turkish governor, and various religious and secular figures" (Badr el-Hage, p. 46f.). - "In 1981 F. H. S. Allen and C. Gavin first identified the earliest Arabian photographer by deciphering his elaborately calligraphed signatures, which without exception had been erased from the plates reproduced by Snouck Hurgronje: 'Futugrafiyat al-Sayyid 'Abd al-Ghaffar, tabib Makka' (The Photography of the Sayyid Abd al-Ghaffar, physican of Mecca). This princely eye surgeon had been host to the young Snouck in Mecca immediately after the Dutchman's conversion to Islam. Snouck claimed to have taught his host how to use a camera and attributes to him (without ever mentioning his name) the pictures reproduced in 'Bilder aus Mekka'". - Light spotting, title and text leaves frayed at inner edge (not affecting text), occasional minor stains or wear to edges of mounts, covers rather marked and stained. Very rare: only two copies at auctions internationally during the past decades (the last, at Sotheby's in 2006, was incomplete, lacking all the text leaves). Macro 1233. Badr el-Hage. Saudi Arabia Caught in Time. Reading, 1997. F. E. Peters. The Muslim Pilgrimage to Mecca and the Holy Place. Princeton University Press 1996.

Inlibris · Österreich125.000,00 €

Varthema, Lodovico di.MareMagnum

Itinerario de Ludovico de Verthema Bolognese ne lo Egypto ne la Suria ne la Arabia Deserta & Felice ne la Persia ne la India, & ne la Ethiopia. La fede el vivere & costumi de tutte le prefate provincie. Milan, Giovanni Angelo Scinzenzeler, (30 April 1523).

Octavo (185 x 130 mm). XLII ff. (A-E8, F2). Large woodcut on title with decorative woodcut border, putti above and below (Sander 7494 and pl. 93). Roman letter, numerous floriated white on black woodcut initials. Modern calf bound to style: covers with concentric frames in blind fillets, gilt fleurons at outer corners, central lozenge in gilt. Spine with five raised bands, lettered in gilt. Marbled endpapers. All edges gilt. Second original Italian edition, second issue 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 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). - The fine title woodcut shows Varthema seated on a bench in front of a building, writing on a globe, behind him a set of dividers; in the background a landscape with a ship at sea and a castle. 18th-century collection shelfmark to title page. A very clean, appealingly-bound copy; a few minor traces of worming have been professionally repaired. Rare; only four copies in international auction records. OCLC lists five copies only (Yale, Trinity College Hartford, NYPL, BL, BnF). Cf. exhibition cat. "Hajj - The Journey Through Art" (Doha, 2013), p. 90 (1655 Dutch ed. only). BM-STC 73. Blackmer 1719. Gay 140. Röhricht 574. Cordier Indosinica I, 98. BM 2: 473 (96). Boies Penrose, pp. 28-32. OCLC 42438419. Cf. Macro, Bibliography of the Arabian Peninsula, 2239 (other editions only). Carter, Robert A. Sea of Pearls, p. 68 (1520 edition). Not in the Atabey collection. Not in Adams.

Inlibris · Österreich125.000,00 €

Ibn al-Haytham, Abu 'Ali al-Hasan (Alhazen).MareMagnum

[Kitab al-Manazir, latine]. Opticae thesaurus. Alhazeni Arabis libri septem, nunc primum editi. Eiusdem liber de crepusculis & Nubium ascensionibus. Item Vitellonis Thuringopoloni libri X [...]. (Ed. F. Risner). Basel, Eusebius Episcopius & haeredes Nicolai Episcopii, (August) 1572.

Folio (235 x 328 mm). 2 parts in 1 vol. (6) pp., 1 blank leaf, 288 pp. (8), 474, (2) pp. With 2 different woodcut printer's devices on title-page and colophon, half-page woodcut on reverse of title-page (repeated on half-title of pt. 2), and numerous diagrams in the text. Contemporary full limp vellum binding with later ink spine label (wants ties). First edition of "the most important work of its kind in Arabic literature" (cf. Poggendorf), this copy inscribed by the German humanist Wilhelm Xylander (1532-76), sometime rector of Heidelberg University. - Ibn al-Haytham (965-c. 1040), known as Alhazen in the Western tradition, has been hailed as "the greatest Muslim physicist and one of the greatest students of optics of all times [...] The Latin translation [...] exerted a great influence upon Western science. It showed a great progress in experimental method. [Alhazen's book contains] research in catoptrics, [a] study of atmospheric refraction, [a] better description of the eye, and better understanding of vision [as well as an] attempt to explain binocular vision [and the] earliest use of the camera obscura" (Sarton). "This combined edition served as the standard reference work on optics well into the 17th century, influencing scientists such as Brahe, Kepler, Galileo, and Descartes" (Norman). - "The Arab physicist Alhazen preserved for us all that was known by the ancients in the field of optics and added some contributions of his own. His book remained a standard authority thru the 1600s. He understood that light emanated spherically from a point and greatly improved on Ptolemy's uncertain rule for refraction which, he showed, held true only for small angles. He covered many cases of reflection and refraction and his explanation of the structure and function of the eye was followed for 600 years" (Dibner). - The 'Liber de crepusculis', the work on dawn and twilight included in Risner's 'Opticae thesaurus' and attributed to Alhazen, is actually the work of his contemporary Abu 'Abdallah Muhammad ibn Mu'adh al-Jayyani (cf. Norman; DSB, p. 208). The optical study by the Polish scholar Witelo, likewise here included, is "a massive work that relies extensively on Alhazen [and] offers an analysis of reflection that was not surpassed until the 17th century" (Norman). - An old dampstain throughout, almost entirely confined to the outer and lower margins. Endpapers restored with old material. Upper corner of the title-page shows old blind-stamped rosette device and early calculations done in ink. 20th century bookplate to front pastedown. From the library of the French industrialist and patron Pierre Bergé (1930-2017); acquired from the sale of his estate. VD 16, H 693 (H 692, V 1761). Adams A 745. BM-STC 383. Dibner 138. Norman 1027. Honeyman I, 73. DSB VI, 205 & XIV, 461. GAL I, 470. Poggendorf I, 31. Duncan 113. Sarton I, 721. Carmody p. 140. Thorndike/Kibre 803, 1208. Vagnetti D62. BNHCat A 241. IA 103.705. Brunet I, 180. Arabick Roots Doha AR79. Collection Nachet (1929), 50 (this copy).

Inlibris · Österreich135.000,00 €

Balbi, Gasparo.MareMagnum

Viaggio dell'Indie Orientali. Venice, Camillo Borgominieri, 1590.

8vo. (16), 149 ff. (misnumbered as 159), (1) p., (23) ff., with woodcut diagram (f. 144), woodcut headpieces and initials. Bound in 19th c. polished tan calf, gilt spine, gilt borders to covers, gilt turn-ins, marbled pastedowns, red edges, silk ribbon bookmark, stamped by binder "Dupré" on front flyleaf. First edition of this important travelogue by the Venetian state jeweller and gem merchant Gasparo Balbi, detailing his nine-year voyage from Venice to the Far East between 1579 and 1588, and a work of special historical interest for its eyewitness information about the Arabian Peninsula in this early period. In this book, Balbi was "the first writer to record the place names between al-Qatif and Oman that are still in use today" (G. R. King, p. 74). His "interest in the area lay in the pearls that came from the oyster beds of which the most extensive are those in the waters around al-Bahrayn, those off the Qatar peninsula and especially those in the western waters of Abu Dhabi. Either taking his information first-hand from a local individual or using a navigator's list, Balbi recorded place-names along the coast of modern Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and the Sultanate of Oman" (G. King, p. 248). According to Slot, "practically none of the names of places on the coast between Qatar and Ras al Khaima occur in other sources before the end of the eighteenth century" (p. 36). The present work is also of the highest significance for including "the first European record of the Bani Yas tribe" (UAE Yearbook 2006, p. 20), the largest and most important tribe of the Arabian Peninsula, from which emerged both the Al Nahyan and the Al Maktoum dynasties, today's ruling families of Abu Dhabi and Dubai. - Balbi travelled extensively in the Arabian Peninsula in search of precious stones. He knew "the waters off the Abu Dhabi coast as the Sea of Qatar and mentions the following places now in UAE territory: Daas (Das), Emegorcenon (Qarnein), Anzevi (Azanah), Zerecho (Zirkuh), Delmephialmas (Dalma), Sirbeniast (Sir Bani Yas), Aldane (Dhanna), Cherizan (identified as Khor Qirqishan, just off Abu Dhabi island), Dibei (Dubai), Sarba (Sharjah), Agiman (Ajman), Emelgovien (Umm al-Quwain), Rasa-elchime (Ras al Khaimah), Sircorcor (Khor al-Khuwair), Debe (Dibba), Chorf (Khor Fakkan) and Chelb (Kalba)" (G. R. King, UAE: A New Perspective, 74). From Venice Balbi sailed for Aleppo, proceeding to Bir and from there overland to Baghdad, descending the Tigris to Basra, where he embarked for India. The "Viaggio dell'Indie Orientali" proved to be the most widely read source of information about India throughout the next century. In the tradition of mercantile guidebooks, such as the 14th century "Practica della mercatura" compiled by Pegolotti, this is one of the few secular travelogues to the Orient published in the 16th century. And in addition to providing the kind of practical information required by merchants trading in precious stones among other wares, Balbi, with a jeweler's eye for rarities, allows himself considerable license in recording his personal observations at exotic sights (e.g., the cave Temples of Elephanta and his enthusiasm for elephant tusks f. 100v) or in mentioning incidental occurrences along the way, such as his chance meeting in Goa with the famous embassy of Japanese legates on their way home. Balbi dates his stays to particular places in a precise manner, always gives a careful explanation of the local system of exchange (coins, weights, and measures), describes commercial routes in India in detail and even includes a monsoon calendar. Balbi also discusses Goa, Negapatam, and Pegu (Burma), the latter a source of great fascination owing to its sensational wealth and the section most frequently anthologized in travel collections. The "Viaggio dell'Indie Orientali" was reprinted in 1600 (also rare). The account was translated into Latin and equipped with illustrations in the 1606 'India' volume of the De Bry series, and a partial English translation (above all, the section on Pegu) subsequently appeared in Purchas. An Arabic translation was published in 2008, but a full English translation never appeared. - Minor rubbing and edge wear to spine and boards. Narrow upper margin, mend at f. 25, otherwise remarkably well preserved. BM-STC Italian 68. Howgego I, B7. Cordier Japonica 112. Brunet I, 618. Graesse I, 279. Kress Library of Economic Literature S 276. B. J. Slot, The Arabs of the Gulf, 1602-1784. G. King, "Delmephialmas and Sircorcor: Gasparo Balbi, Dalmâ, Julfâr and a Problem of Transliteration," Arabian Archeology and Epigraphy, vol. 17 (2006), pp. 248-252. UAE Yearbook 2006, p. 20. G. R. King, "The Coming of Islam and the Islamic Period in the UAE," in UAE: A New Perspective, I. Al-Abed & P. Hellyer (eds.), pp. 68-97. W. M. Floor, The Persian Gulf: A Political and Economic History of Five Port Cities, 1500-1730. Lach, Asia in the Making of Europe, I.1, 473-475. Penrose, Travel and Discovery, 198. Placido Zurla, Di Marco Polo e degli altri viaggiatori veneziani piu illustri, II, 258-265. J. Charpentier, "Cesare di Fedrici and Gasparo Balbi," Indian Antiquary LIII (1924), pp. 51-54.

Inlibris · Österreich150.000,00 €

Gastaldi, Giacomo.MareMagnum

Il disegno della seconda parte dell'Asia. Venice, G. Gastaldi, 1561.

Two sheets joined (470 x 740 mm to the neat line, full margins showing the plate mark, overall size 550 x 790 mm). An extraordinary example of "the first modern map of the Arabian peninsula" (Al-Ankary), by far the best copy we have ever handled: the first issue of the first edition, a strong impression on thick white paper with excellent contrast and exceptionally broad margins. "L'opera è dedicata al mecenate Johann Jakob Fugger ... a firma Giacomo di Castaldi Piamonetse Cosmographo in Venetia" (Bifolco I, 380 for the first state of three). - Still the most sought-after map of the region, Gastaldi's two page wall-map served as a model for all further mapping of the peninsula until the 19th century. Gastaldi is regarded as "the most important 16th century Italian cartographer. His maps are very rare, as they were issued separately to order and were not part of an atlas" (Al-Qasimi, 1st ed., p. 23). Gastaldi used various sources including Portolan charts of the region drawn by the 16th-century Portuguese explorers. Many details, such as the coastline of the Arabian Gulf, certain coastal towns, or the peninsula of Qatar, are mapped and named for the first time. It is the most valuable of the early maps of the region. "Although the shape of the peninsula is distorted by modern standards, the Qatar peninsula and Bahrain are both shown - details that are missing on some maps produced up to almost 300 years later" (Stuart McMinn Catalogue). - The map covers the modern geographical areas of Egypt, Ethiopia, Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, part of Iraq and Iran, Pakistan and the west coast of India. The travels of Marco Polo, published in Ramusio's "Navigationi et viaggi", heavily influenced Gastaldi's geography of this map, which is considered far superior to all previous maps of Asia. Gastaldi was "cosmographer to the Venetian Republic, then a powerhouse of commerce and trade. He sought the most up to date geographical information available, and became one of the greatest cartographers of the 16th century" (Burden). - Old foliation in brown ink to the upper right margin. Spotless and with temoins on the right outer edge. An exceptionally fine example. Bifolco, I, 380f. Tibbetts 28. Karrow 30/91. Nordenskiold II, 130, 61. Couto/Bacqué-Grammont/Taleghani, Atlas Historique du Golfe Persique (2006), p. 132, no. 29 and p. 152. Tooley, Maps in Italian Atlases of the 16th Century, 54. Sultan Bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi (2nd ed.), p. 26 with 2 figs. Tooley, Dictionary II, 143.

Inlibris · Österreich150.000,00 €

Varthema, Lodovico di.MareMagnum

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.

Inlibris · Österreich150.000,00 €

Ali ibn al-Abbas al-Majusi.MareMagnum

Kitab Kamil as-Sina'a at-Tabbaiya [The Complete Book of Medical Art]. [Safavid Persia, [1582-1584 CE] = 990-991 H.

4to (180 × 240 mm). Arabic manuscript on cream paper. Two books, each with 10 chapters or Maqalahs, bound in one volume. (614) leaves, lacking one leaf from Book 2 (Maqalah 8, Bab 23) and another leaf from Book 2 (Maqalah 10, Bab 23) replaced in 19th century manuscript facsimile. 21 lines, per extensum, written in black naskh, chapter headings and important sections in red, catchwords throughout, each of the 20 chapters with an index of the ‘bab’ within and each with a separate colophon. Later brown lacquered leather over pasteboards, faintly pressed central medallions to covers, rebacked. One of the few existing complete copies of this medical milestone. Exceptionally rare: a fundamental medical work from the Golden Age of Islamic scholarship, preceding and influencing Avicenna's Qanun. Monumentally influential not only in Islamic medicine, this work even had profound impact in the West. It was first translated into Latin by Constantinus Africanus in the 11th century for use as a primary text at Salerno's medical school, and then again in 1127 by Stephen of Antioch. By the 14th century knowledge of the work was so widespread that Al-Majusi is mentioned as one of antiquity's great medical scholars in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. - The text is divided into two distinct books, each of which comprise ten "maqalas" (sections), subdivided into "babs" (chapters). The first section deals with the theory of medicine, including anatomical structures and they body's physiology; the second examines the practical treatment of medicine, the application of medical treatments and surgery. Indeed, this is the earliest known Arabic medical work to provide detailed instructions on surgical procedure. - Ali ibn al-Abbas al-Majusi was a 10th century Persian physician and psychologist, known in the Latin tradition as "Hali Abbas". Born in Ahvaz in southwest Persia, he was perhaps the most celebrated physician in the Eastern Caliphate of the Buwayhid dynasty, becoming physician royal to Emir 'Abdul al-Daula Fana Khusraw (reigned 949-983). The present treatise was compiled under the patronage of Emir Khusraw and is therefore also known as "Al-Malikiyya" ("The Royal Book"). Emir Khusraw founded a hospital in Shiraz and the al-Adudi Hospital in Baghdad to show his support for medical science, and Al-Majusi probably worked at the latter around 981 CE, where he must have composed this, his chief work. He is thought to have died in either 990 or 1010 CE. - The manuscript was produced for a wealthy and important patron in 16th century Persia, written on fine paper by a single scribe who names himself as Salam'ullah bin Habib'ullah bin Muhammad in colophons at the end of the various sections. Many of these colophons also record the date of their completion, showing that the entire codex took two years to produce. - Complete manuscript copies of this text are exceptionally rare: its vast encyclopedic nature made it an expensive commodity in the Middle Ages, and its sheer size usually necessitated it to span several volumes. The present example appears to have been bound as two separate books at the time of copying before being joined together in a single large volume in the 19th century. - Edges a little scuffed; some very minor marginal staining to a few sections, occasional light mottling. A few outer edges repaired (only affecting the text of two leaves). Overall a very clean and attractive specimen. Provenance: sold at Sotheby’s, Arts of the Islamic World sale, 23 October 2019, lot 119 (described without mention of the facsimile leaves).

Inlibris · Österreich175.000,00 €

[Description de l'Égypte].MareMagnum

Description de l'Egypte, ou recueil des observations et des recherches, qui ont été faites en Égypte pendant l'expédition de l'armée Française. Paris, C. L. F. Panckoucke, 1820-1829.

A total of 36 vols.: 26 text vols. (4to) and 10 atlas vols. (elephant folio). With coloured frontispiece and 899 engraved plates and maps, many double-page-sized and folded. Slightly later English half calf, professionally repaired in places. Second edition of this monumental work (the first was published from 1809 onwards), the first comprehensive description of ancient and modern Egypt. Commissioned by Napoleon during his Egyptian campaign between 1798 and 1801, this encompassing historical, archaeological, art-historical, and natural-historical account of the country was realised through the efforts of the Institut d'Egypte in Cairo. Its influence was enormous, establishing Egyptology as an intellectual discipline and nurturing a passion for Egyptian art throughout the Western world. Edited by some of the leading intellectual figures in France, the Description also includes contributions from celebrated artists such as Jacques Barraband, Pierre-Joseph Redouté, Geoffrey Saint-Hilaire, Jules-César Savigny and others. More than 150 scholars and scientists and some 2000 artists, designers and engravers were involved in its preparation. The success of the publication was such that work on the second edition (known as the "Pancoucke edition") began before the first was completed. The text was expanded into a greater number of volumes, now printed in a smaller format; new pulls were taken from the plates, and these were bound with many of the large-format plates folded into the new, reduced dimensions. - A splendid, clean copy, complete with all the plates. An incomplete copy of the second edition of the Description de l'Egypte sold at Sotheby's for £68,750 in 2016. Blackmer 526. Gay 1999. Brunet II, 617. Graesse II, 366. Cf. Monglond VIII, 268-343 (for the first edition). Nissen, BBI 2234. Nissen, ZBI 4608. Heritage Library, Islamic Treasures, s. v. "Art" (illustration).

Inlibris · Österreich185.000,00 €

[Royal Geographical Society].MareMagnum

The Journal of the Royal Geographical Society. London, John Murray, 1831-1880[-1881].

56 volumes (vols. I-L in 51 volumes and 5 volumes of indices). Contemporary red/purple half morocco over marbled paper-covered boards, spines gilt. (With:) Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society. London: Edward Stanford, 1857-1878. Vols. I-XXII. Contemporary red/purple half morocco over marbled paper-covered boards, spines gilt. (And:) Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society and Monthly Record of Geography. London: Edward Stanford, 1879-1892. Vols. I-XIV. Title to first volume torn and laid down, map and facing p. 664 of text damaged. Contemporary red/purple half morocco over marbled paper-covered boards, spines gilt. (And:) Supplementary Papers of the Royal Geographical Society. London: John Murray, 1886-1890. Vols. I-IV. Contemporary red/purple half morocco over marbled paper-covered boards, spines gilt. (And:) The Geographical Journal including the Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society. London: R.G.S., 1893-1948. Vols. I-CXII only (in 109 volumes). Vols. 1-28: contemporary red/purple half morocco over marbled paper-covered boards, spines gilt; vols. 29-112: original blue cloth, or contemporary cloth, gilt. Institutional bookplates to some pastedowns; blindstamps to some title-pages; ink stamps to some plates and maps. Complete set of all periodical publications of the Royal Geographical Society 1831 through 1948, comprising 203 volumes with thousands of plates and maps, many folding. - Founded in 1830, the Royal Geographical Society spearheaded efforts to accurately map and describe every corner of the known world. As lesser-known regions of the globe such as Africa and the Middle East began to emerge as major centres of global trade in the 19th century, the Society funded thousands of European expeditions to these areas in an effort to promote British commercial and scientific interests. Explorers of the Arabian Peninsula such as Henry St. John Philby (aka "Sheikh Abdullah"), Percy Cox, Theodore Bent, Gertrude Bell, Wilfred Thesiger (aka "Mubarak bin London"), and Bertram Thomas all reported directly to the Royal Geographical Society, and their accounts, often with accompanying maps, contributed enormously to the western interest in the economy and geography of these regions. Macro's "Bibliography of the Arabian Peninsula" - the only major attempt to date to itemize the most important publications on the Arab World - draws heavily on the papers published in the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, especially for 19th century descriptions of the Arabian Gulf and its inhabitants. - Collected here is the entire run of publications issued by the Royal Geographical Society up to the mid-20th century - a full 203 volumes containing thousands of seminal articles, plates, and maps chronicling the modern mapping of the world. Its importance for the Arabian Peninsula is well-reflected in Macro's bibliography. Wilson's 1833 "Memorandum Respecting the Pearl Fisheries in the Persian Gulf", James Wellsted's "Observations on the Coast of Arabia between Rás Mohammed and Jiddah" (1836), and Felix Haig's "Memoirs of the Southeast Coast of Arabia" (1839) are among the earliest reports on those regions. Georg Wallin delivered a valuable report on the Hajj to the Society in 1854 in his "Narrative of a Journey from Cairo to Medina and Mecca"; William Palgrave is today regarded as one of the most important European explorers of the Peninsula, and his "Observations made in Central, Eastern and Southern Arabia, 1862-3" is found in the 1864 volume of the Journal. A lesser-known figure is Lewis Pelly, who in the Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society (1863) delivered a remarkably prescient lecture, "On the Geographical Capabilities of the Persian Gulf as an Area of Trade" - highlighting the future importance of the tribes and territories of the Gulf as global commercial centres, from Kuwait down to the coasts mainly controlled by "Arab pirates". He also contributed "A Visit to the Wahabee Capital, Central Arabia" (1865) - a fascinating, early account of Riyadh. - The 1890s saw a spurt of accounts of the Gulf in the Journal by Theodore Bent including "The Bahrein Islands, in the Persian Gulf" (1890), "Expedition to the Hadhramaut" (1894), and "Exploration of the Frankincense Country, Southern Arabia" (1895). Also of note was an important study of the historical importance of Gulf ports such as Bahrain, discussed in Arthur Stiffe's 1897 article "Ancient Trading Centres of the Persian Gulf". From this point on contributions on the Peninsula become too numerous to list: among them are Frank Clemow's "A Visit to the Rock-Tombs of Medain Salih and the Southern Section of the Hejaz Railway" (1913); Sir Percy Cox's "Overland Journey to Maskat from the Persian Gulf" (1902) and his fascinating account of Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud, "The Wahabi King" (1928); Gertrude Bell's "A Journey in Northern Arabia" (1914); Lees's "The Physical Geography of Southeastern Arabia" (1928); Holt's "The Future of the North Arabian Desert" (1923); Harry St. John Philby's "Account of Explorations in the Great South Desert of Arabia" (1933); Cheesman's description of the Arabian coastline between Qatar and Bahrain, "From Oqair [Al Uqair] to the ruins of Salwa" (1923); Bertram Thomas's "A Journey into the Rub' al-Khali" (1931) and "The Southeastern Borderlands of the Rub' al-Khali" (1929); Lees's "The Physical Geography of Southeastern Arabia" (1928); and Cochrane's early aerial surveys of Southern Arabia ("Air Reconaissance of the Hadhramaut", 1931). We also find several papers by R. E. Leachman - "the second Lawrence", murdered in Iraq in 1920 - including his "Journey Across Arabia" (1913) and "A Journey through Central Arabia" (1914). Wilfred Thesiger, who drew attention to the borderlands between present day UAE and Oman, contributed "A New Journey in Southern Arabia" (1946); "Journey through the Tihama, the Asir and the Hijaz Mountains" (1948); and "Across the Empty Quarter" (1948) to the Journal, and we also find K. C. Jordan's "adjustments" to Thesiger's map of Southeastern Arabia in Vol. 111 (1948).

Inlibris · Österreich185.000,00 €

Karabisi an-Nisaburi, Abu'l Muzaffar Jamal al-Islam As'ad ibn Muhammad ibn Husayn al-.MareMagnum

Kitab al-furuq [The Book of Legal Distinctions]. Egypt or Syria, [20 Oct. 1173 CE] = 11 Rabi' al-awwal 569 H.

4to (180 x 260 mm). Arabic manuscript on oriental paper. 190 leaves. 20 lines of unvocalized black naskh in black and occasional red ink. Numbering of quires partially preserved in the upper left corner, foliation and part of the claims subsequent to the copy, numerous marginal glosses. Later coloured paper boards with leather spine and fore-edge flap. The earliest surviving textual witness, copied during the author's lifetime from his lost autograph, of what is the first and still the most popular Hanafi text on legal distinctions: the "Kitab al-furuq" by Abu al-Muzaffar As'ad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Husayn al-Nisaburi al-Karabisi al-Hanafi (d. 1174/75). Composed in the 6th century AH, most likely in Samarkand, where the author was living at the time (cf. Saba, pp. 71, 204), this is the only text on furuq (legal distinctions) to have been composed in that century and is also important as the first work on the subject in the Hanafi Madhhab. Several manuscripts of it are preserved (Cairo, Dar al-Kutub, 292 fiqh hanafi, undated; Cairo, Dar al-Kutub, 293 fiqh hanafi, dated 622 H [1224/25 CE]; Istanbul, Süleymaniye Kütüphanesi, Fatih 2039, dated 776 H [1374/75 CE]; Istanbul, Süleymaniye Kütüphanesi, Carullah 821, 1007 H [1598/99 CE]). - The present manuscript is of major importance as the oldest surviving manuscript of this text. The colophon provides the date of completion of the copy, Sunday, 11th of the month of Rabi I 569 H (20 October 1173), as well as the name of the copyist, Muhammad b. Hibatallah b. Muhammad b. Hibatallah b. Ahmad b. Abi Jarada. The colophon further states that the copyist prepared the manuscript for his personal use by collating the text (balagha) against the autograph, which is not preserved for us. - The scribe can be identified as a calligrapher who belonged to a powerful family of Aleppine intellectuals, the Banu'l-Abi Jarada, a Sunni family of the Hanafi rite (cf. James, p. 354). While no other manuscript in his hand is known to survive, he is referenced in the oldest dated manuscript of al-Hariri's "Maqamat". This codex, which bears an ijaza of al-Hariri dated Sha'ban 504 H (February 1111 CE), belonged to his first cousin, the famous historian and jurist, Kamal al-Din Abu 'Umar b. Ahmad b. Abi Jarada, known as Ibn al-'Adim. A reading mark dated 17 Jumada II 604 H (8 January 1208 CE) attests to the presence of our scribe in Aleppo and to his involvement in the literate circles of the time (on the subject of the manuscript and the reading mark, see MacKay, p. 22). He is later traced in Süleyman Müstakimzade's biographical dictionary of calligraphers, which states that Muhammad b. Hibatallah Abi Jarada was known to work in the manner of the great calligrapher Ibn al-Bawwab and copied an entire Qur'an during each month of Ramadan (Tuhfe-i hattatin [Istanbul, 1928], p. 464). He is said to have died in 628 H (1230/31 CE) at the age of 82. - Binding rubbed and chipped; sewing loosened. Restored in the 19th century, notably the first leaf, with several remarginings and an added table of contents. Provenance: from the collection of Paul Lebaudy (1858-1937), with the bookplate of his library at the Château de Rosny "La Solitude". The Château de Rosny is the former property of the Duchess of Berry. GAL I, 375 (464) & S I, 642. Cf. Elias G. Saba, Harmonizing Similarities. A History of Distinctions Literature in Islamic Law (Berlin, 2009). David James, "Qur'ans and Calligraphers of the Ayyubids and Zangids", in: Robert Hillenbrand and Sylvia Auld (eds.), Ayyubid Jerusalem. The Holy City in Context, 1187-1250 (London 2009). Pierre MacKay, "Certificates of Transmission on a Manuscript of the Maqamat of Hariri (MS. Cairo, Adab 105)", in Transactions of the American Philosophical Society NS 61, no. 4 (1971).

Inlibris · Österreich185.000,00 €

Braeckle, Jacques de.MareMagnum

Memoires du voiage de Constantinople de Jacques de Bracle seigneur de Bassecourt. Manuscrit du XVIe siècle. No place, ca. 1570.

4to (210 x 135 mm). French manuscript on paper. 90 ff. Flemish Bastarda in black ink, 26 lines. Bound with 16 strictly contemporary specimens of Turkish silhouette paper, a series of 28 watercolours, heightened in gilt and two extensive, early 19th century manuscript additions (complete transcript of the the travelogue and a biography of the author). Slightly later vellum with ms. title. Unique, fascinating and unpublished manuscript containing the account of a diplomatic journey to the Ottoman Empire in 1570. Braeckle (1540-71), a Flemish physician, "assisted Charles Rym Baron de Bellem, Ambassador of Maximilian II in Constantinople, probably as a secretary. He wrote an account of his journey, which contains interesting details about the places he visited, the manners and customs of the inhabitants, incidents, etc." (Aug. Vander Meersch, in: Belgian National Biography II, 903). Leaving Prague on 13 March 1570, the mission passed through Vienna and then Hungary and Czechoslovakia before entering Ottoman territory, visiting the mosques and caravanserais of Sokollu Mehmed Pasha (c. 1505-79), Grand Vizier of Sultan Selim II (1524-74) who ruled the Turks at the time of Rym's and Braeckle's journey. Their stay in Constantinople lasted from 31 May to 12 August 1570, permitting the author to describe several monuments and works of art. During the journey back they travelled through Bulgaria, Serbia (they were held in Belgrade for nearly a month), and Hungary. The mission ended with their return to Germany on 23 October 1570. Jacques de Braeckle died shortly afterwards, in 1571. - The ms. is accompanied by a beautiful set of 28 original watercolours heightened in gilt. Showing Turkish people in traditional costumes, such illustrations were usually fashioned for sale to travellers in Constantinople or passed on to western merchants. However, as the present set includes the caravanserai of the diplomatic legation, it is extremely likely that these were created with the sole purpose of illustrating the diplomatic mission of Charles Rym, described within the present manuscript. The figures are captioned next to the subjects (16th century Italian script in black ink), indicating that the legends were recorded after the plates were collated and sewn together, or that they were included in books before insertion into the present volume. Among the illustrations are the caravanserai of the ambassadors to Constantinople, Sultan Selim II, the Mufti, costumes of Ottoman dignitaries and the military, a Persian, a Moor of Barbary, a lady in burqa, a Bulgarian, a giraffe, etc. The author of the Italian captions may have been the ambassador Edoardo Provisionali: he was responsible for several diplomatic missions and is known to have appreciated the Ottoman culture; furthermore, de Braeckle left Constantinople in his company (cf. Yerasimos). The manuscript is also bound with 16 remarkable specimens of 16th c. Turkish paper (title in French in pen on the first sheet: "papier de Turquie"). At the beginning of the volume is a transcription, calligraphed in an elegant French cursive of the early 19th century (18 unnumbered ff., black ink, 21 lines per page). The volume ends with a short biography of the author (2 pp., black ink, with the arms of de Braeckle). Yerasimos provides a detailed chronology of the journey, listing the major cities visited as well as monuments and curiosities noted by the travellers. - Only three manuscript copies of the present travelogue are recorded, mostly restricted to family use: two copies are in the National Archives of Belgium in Brussels (Fonds 692 Lalang, 8f., cf. Yerasimos); a third copy is bound in a miscellany and kept at the communal Archives of Ghent. - Binding rubbed, spine detached, in excellent condition internally. Stéphane Yerasimos, Les Voyageurs dans l'Empire Ottoman (XIVe-XVIe siècles), Ankara, 1991, pp. 286f. Not in Blackmer or Atabey.

Inlibris · Österreich250.000,00 €

Mahmoud Ra'if.MareMagnum

Cedid Atlas Tercümesi [= New Atlas, Translated]. Üsküdar/Istanbul, Tab'hane-yi Hümayunda / Mühenduishâne Press, [April 1803-March 1804 CE] = 1218 H.

Folio (533 x 364 mm). (3), 79 pp., engraved, illustrated title-page and 25 engraved maps after William Faden, in contemporary hand colour. Contemporary black morocco, richly stamped in silver and blind. Bright yellow pastedowns. In custom-made half morocco solander box. The first European-style atlas printed in the Islamic world: an exceedingly rare, handsome, and entirely complete example in its original first binding. "[T]he first world atlas printed by Muslims [...], of which only fifty copies were printed" (Library of Congress, Near East Collections: an illustrated guide, online). Several copies were reserved for high-ranking officials and important institutions; most of the remainder were destroyed in a warehouse fire during the Janissary Revolt of 1808. "Based on several estimates and accounting for the single maps (torn-out from bound volumes of the atlas) sold or being offered worldwide, it is believed that a maximum of 20 complete examples could be present in libraries or in private collections, whereas some sources suggest that there exist only 10 complete and intact copies in the world. As such, it is one of the rarest printed atlases of historical value" (Wikipedia). - A prestigious project for the Ottoman Palace with the seal of approval of the Sultan Selim III, this work was one of the avantgardistic enterprises promoted by Mahmoud Ra'if to introduce Western technical and scientific knowledge to the Ottoman state. Composed of 25 maps based on William Faden's "General Atlas", it is the first Muslim-published world atlas to make use of European geographic knowledge. On each of the maps the place-names are transliterated in Arabic. The Atlas includes Raif's 79-page geographical treatise "Ucalet ül-Cografiye" and the frequently missing folding celestial map on blue paper. - Maps very clean, showing only a few minor stains and repaired tears to folds; a creasemark to the map of Africa; an internal tear to pre-Revolutionary map of France. Binding professionally repaired at extremeties and upper hinge with a few scuffmarks and insignificant traces of worming. An excellent copy, one of the very few surviving specimens in the beautiful original oriental leather binding (the only other known example was sold through us in 2019). A severely defective copy recently commanded an auction price of USD 118,750 (Swann Galleries NY, 26 May 2016, lot 199). OCLC 54966656. Not in Philipps/Le Gear. Not in Atabey or Blackmer collections.

Inlibris · Österreich250.000,00 €

Varthema, Lodovico di.MareMagnum

Die Ritterlich und lobwürdig reiß [...] Sagend von den landen, Egypto, Syria, von beiden Arabia Persia, India und Ethiopia, von den gestalten, sitten, und dero menschen leben und glauben. Strasbourg, Johann Knobloch, 1516.

4to. 226 pp., final blank f. With title woodcut and 47 woodcuts in the text (including 1 full-page illustration). Blindstamped dark blue morocco by Riviere & Son with giltstamped spine title. All edges gilt. Marbled endpapers. The first illustrated edition (in its second issue) of one of the most famous early travel reports and the first western encounter with the Arab world. Of the utmost rarity; not a single copy could be traced on the market for the past sixty years; not a single copy in the USA (cf. OCLC). Lodovico de Varthema’s “Itinerario” contains 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). This - the first illustrated one - is certainly the rarest of them all: international auction records list not a single copy. The 1510 editio princeps was offered for US$ 1 million at the New York Antiquarian Book Fair in April 2011. - 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 very documented 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). - A few contemporary underlinings and marginalie. Some slight browning and staining as usual; stamp of the Dukes of Saxe-Meiningen on the reverse of the title. VD 16, ZV 15157. BM-STC 66. IA 113.543 (includes copies in BSB Munich and Wolfenbüttel). Benzing (Strasbourg) 100. Schmidt (Knobloch) 132. Ritter (IV) 932 & 2000. Muller 132, 170. Kristeller 383. Paulitschke 296. Ibrahim-Hilmy II, 305. Röhricht 574. Cf. exhibition cat. “Hajj - The Journey Through Art” (Doha, 2013), p. 90 (1655 Dutch ed. only). Macro, Bibliography of the Arabian Peninsula, 2239 (other editions only).

Inlibris · Österreich250.000,00 €

(Varthema, Lodovico di.MareMagnum

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.

Inlibris · Österreich265.000,00 €

Ferrario, Giulio (ed.).MareMagnum

Il costume antico e moderno o storia del governo, della milizia, della religione, delle arti, scienze ed usanze di tutti i popoli antichi e moderni provata coi monumenti dell' antichita e rappresentata cogli analoghi disegni. Milan, tipografia dell'editore, 1829-1834.

Folio (380 x 265 mm). 37 vols. incl. supplements and index. With 7 engraved folding maps, 5 engraved maps, 1619 coloured aquatints (2 double-page-sized), 2 engraved portraits, 2 engraved plates of musical notes, and 4 tables. Late 19th century half calf with giltstamped spine title. Untrimmed. Without question the largest pictorial encyclopedia of the world published during the 19th century, and one of the rarest works to be found complete. Printed in a press run of no more than 300 copies, this set is numbered "12" and was inscribed to a friend of the author ("del socio Signor G. Ferrario"); as such, it was printed on superior paper and coloured particularly carefully (according to Brunet, most of the 300 copies produced were issued entirely uncoloured). The purpose of this 37-volume set in large folio format was to provide a complete account of all known parts of the world not only by describing in detail the various peoples' costumes, governments, religion, habits, military, arts and science, but also by showing them in splendid illustrations, all of which are here individually coloured by hand. The engravings include not only many costumes, but also buildings, objects of religious and of everyday use, monuments, historical scenes and much more. The plates are printed on wove paper and bear the publisher's drystamp. In spite of the enormous number of plates, the colouring is meticulous throughout. - Initially planned for no more than 13 volumes (1816-1827) and also published in French, this present Italian edition is the only one that was issued complete with all supplements and the plates in their impressive folio format. - Of the utmost rarity: we could not trace a single complete copy on the market since 1950. Auction records list only the abridged 8vo reprint or single volumes of the present folio edition (Sotheby's, May 28, 2002, lot 426: £8,720 for vol. I, pt. 3 only). Interior shows occasional slight foxing to blank margins. Altogether an excellent, complete set of the luxury edition: uniformly bound, untrimmed and wide-margined. Ibrahim-Hilmy I, 231. Lipperheide Ad 7. Colas 1051. Hiler 311. Brunet II, 1232f.

Inlibris · Österreich280.000,00 €

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Kataloge

Jahrhundert

Sprache

Land des Anbieters

Fotos

Hinzugefügt

Themen

Kataloge