Galib, Mehmed Esad Sheikh.MareMagnum
4to. 120 (instead of 124), 164, 92 pp. Ottoman Turkish in Arabic type. Contemporary blindstamped full calf with fore-edge flap. First edition. - A miscellancy of the two principal works of the classical Turkish Mevlevi poet known as Sheikh Galib. As merely 506 copies were published, it can be considered the rarest divan book produced by the Bulaq printing house, the first official and governmental printing press in Egypt, founded in 1820. The "Divan" reflects Galib's preoccupation with mystical religious themes, his poems being characterized by highly symbolic language, complex conceits and wordplay, while his magnum opus, the allegorical mathnawi "Hüsn ü Ask" ("Beauty and Love"), consists of 2101 verses with a strong Sufi theme. It tells the tale of two lovers, Hüsn and Ask, and the tribulations imposed on Ask by the elders of their clan, in order to be granted Hüsn's hand in marriage. All names used in the story, including those of characters and places, are Sufi terms. The story is ripe with symbolism and is meant to be taken not literally but for its symbolic meaning: man's journey towards God. - Wants bifolium 10 (pp. 37-40) of the Divan. Vertical crack to spine, heavily rubbed at lower edge, binding loosened in places. Internally well preserved. - A pioneering work of symbolism in Turkish literature. Özege 4233. Bulaq, The Checklist 47. BM 14472, e.29. Cairo FKT 143. DornCO 196. Bulaq MK 9,9. Bianchi CG 49. Ridwan 467.
4to. XVII, (1), 278 pp. Publisher's cloth. Dustjacket. First edition. - Prominent work by the professor at Temple University, Philadelphia, who lived in Egypt for a number of years and whose career has been occupied with attempting to write and teach a kind of Middle Eastern history free from the eurocentric biases inherited from the colonial period. - A little fading at head and foot of backstrip, otherwise a well-preserved copy in frayed and rubbed dustjacket.
4to. VII, (1), 478 pp. Giltstamped dark blue cloth with spine title. First edition. - A nice solid copy of this useful reference book by the French orientalist and translator Huart, who spent several years as a student-dragoman for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Damascus, followed by his appointment as Consul in Istanbul, before assuming a position as professor for Persian language at the Paris "École de langues orientales" in 1898. Translated from French by Mary Lloyd. As part of the 15-volume series "Short Histories of the Literatures of the World", edited by the literary historian Edmund Gosse and launched in 1898, it saw 8 reissues up to 1990. - Untrimmed, uncut copy. - A little fraying and scuffing to edges but remains a firm, clean copy.
667 x 580 mm. Scale 1:7,500,000. A large folding map of the Middle East, with the states of the Arab League indicated in red and the Hashemite states shown in green. - Rare; a single copy known in the National Library of Israel as part of the Eran Laor Cartographic Collection.
4to. 3-36, (2) pp. With 1 folding map of the Sinai Peninsula (450 x 692 mm) in rear pocket. Original printed wrappers. Rare contemporary account of the 1956 Israeli "Operation Kadesh" in Sinai during the Suez Crisis, under the chief of staff of the IDF, Moshe Dayan, in Hebrew. Israeli military planning for this operation hinged on control of four main military objectives: Sharm el-Sheikh, Arish, Abu Uwayulah (Abu Ageila), and the Gaza Strip. Moshe Dayan's plan put an emphasis on air power combined with mobile battles of encirclement. Israeli forces would in a series of swift operations encircle and then take the main Egyptian strong points in the Sinai. Reflecting this emphasis on encirclement was the "outside-in" approach of "Kadesh", which called for Israeli paratroopers to seize distant points first, with those closer to Israel to be seized later. Thus, the 202nd Paratroop Brigade commanded by Colonel Ariel Sharon was to land in the far-western part of the Sinai to take the Mitla Pass and thereby cut off the Egyptian forces in the eastern Sinai from their supply lines. The map shows the main troop movements on the peninsula, highlighting military objectives such as Sharm-el-Sheikh as well as the landing points of the Paratroop Brigade. - Only 6 copies worldwide, 4 of which in the United States, and one in the Jewish National Library in Jerusalem. - A little worn at the edges, otherwise very well preserved. OCLC 763138388.
8vo. 15, (1) pp. With 6 photographic illustrations and decorative borders. Original stapled green wrappers with a photographic portrait of King Faisal and gilt title. A scarce, appealing booklet commemorating King Faisal's speech at a banquet in honour of notable pilgrims and heads of official Hajj missions, given at the Bat-Haa Palace in Mecca on 30 December 1973. Includes the full speech as well as several illustrations showing the king kneeling in prayer, during his speech behind an array of microphones, and seated among the audience. - Spine slightly rubbed. Ballpoint initials to upper cover. Very rare, no copy traced in libraries worldwide.
4to. (8) pp. With woodcut Papal arms and the Saints Peter and Paul on the title-page. Modern wrappers. Rare pamphlet of litanies and prayers invoking Divine assistance against the Ottoman threat during the Great Turkish War of 1683 to 1699. Previously issued in 1683, and again in 1716, during the Ottoman-Venetian War. OCLC lists a single copy at the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Roma. - A waterstain throughout, else fine. OCLC 954866405.
4to. (2), 750 pp. French manuscript on paper. Contemporary gilt and blindstamped full green cloth with giltstamped title to spine and cover. Appealing, unpublished handwritten travelogue commemorating the French president Émile Loubet's tour of Algeria and Tunisia. Each page is enclosed within blue, white and red borders, with chapter titles and first initials also in tricolour. Apparently a presentation manuscript prepared for Michele Modica, vice-consul of Italy in Algeria, whose name is giltstamped on the front cover, it is signed - and probably written - by the prefecture's huissier Roche. In very neat handwriting, the account describes Loubet's two-week tour of French North Africa from Algiers to Oran, on to Tunisia and back to Marseille, mentioning visits to palaces, hospitals and race tracks, local delegations received by the president, as well as feasts and banquets held in his honour. - Extremities lightly scuffed. Ink corrosion along the left vertical blue border affecting the final 20 pages; slightly foxed in places. - An exceptional manuscript befitting the high rank of its recipient.
4to. 459, (1) pp. Ottoman Turkish in Arabic type. With 1 folding map and 32 woodcut plates. Contemporary half calf with giltstamped spine and spine title (partly oxydized). First edition. - Exceedingly rare Turkish translation (by Ahmed Sükrü) of the popular account of the 1873 Russo-Khivan war and the fall of the Khivan Khanate by the American war correspondent MacGahan (1844-78), first published in New York in 1874 as "Campaigning on the Oxus and the fall of Khiva". After a daring journey through the Kyzil Kum desert, MacGahan joined the Russian commander Konstantin von Kaufmann’s army on the banks of the Amu Darya. In his report he vividly describes the fall of the Khanate to three Russian columns reaching it from North and East. The book discusses the situation of Kazakh (misleadingly called "Kirghiz") and Yomuk Turkmen nomads, Uzbek and Sart settlers, as well as of Persian slaves, and includes a report on earlier failed Russian attempts to conquer Khiva. While MacGahan is impressed by the beautiful gardens and orchards of the Khanate, he is disappointed by the city of Khiva, the capital and main residence of its ruler. Even the Khan's palace, in which he is allowed by the Russian authorities to spend a few days, including a visit to the treasury room, strikes him as unspectacular. The illustrations, based on designs and paintings by artists and Russian officers, including Vereschagin and Feodoroff, show portraits, scenes of rural and nomad life, somewhat stereotypical depictions of locals, as well as buildings, army generals, and battle scenes. - While the original English edition occasionally appears at auction, the Turkish edition has never been seen on the market. - A few crayon annotations and underlinings in a contemporary hand. Binding slightly bumped at extremeties. Paper evenly browned and brownstained throughout; a few pages somewhat waterstained in the second half of the volume. OCLC 1014870496. Özege 7682. Cf. Atabey 744 (English ed.).
8vo. XVIII, 682 pp. With 236 photo illustrations, 97 maps and text-figures (some folding), and folded full-colour map of the Arabian Peninsula, Iraq, and Iran; map of "Communicationd of Iraq" in lower cover pouch. Original giltstamped green cloth. Geographical Handbooks Series (for official use only) B.R. 524 (Restricted). In-depth, profusely illustrated discussion of Iraq and the Arabian Gulf region, with a close description of what was then referred to as the "Trucial Coast" between Abu Dhabi and Qatar. Produced during WWII for use of the Naval Intelligence Division, "to provide, for the use of Commanding Officers, information in a comprehensive and convenient form about contries which they may be called upon to visit, not only in war but in peace-time". The book's contents are, "however, by no means confined to matters of purely naval interest. For many purposes (e.g. history, administration, resources, communications, etc.) countries must necessarily be treated as a whole, and no attempt is made to limit their treatment exclusively to coastal zones" (1942 preface). - Spine faded to yellow, interior sound. Ink ownership of M. H. Parry-Williams to front pastedown. OCLC 220468550.
Large 4to. 2 vols in one. (6), 56, 252 pp. (4), 315, (5) pp. (pages 153-216 of part 2 transposed after p. 88). With 1 folding genealogical table and 25 engraved plates (6 folding), including maps, plans, costumes, views, and 2 showing Arabic text with vowel points, as well as 2 engraved headpieces. Contemporary full calf with giltstamped red spine label. Marbled endpapers. All edges sprinkled red. Third French edition (first published in German in Copenhagen, 1772). "Édition revue par de Guignes" (Gay). "Niebuhr (1713-1815) participated as astronomer and naturalist to the royal Danish expedition to Arabia in 1763-1767. Together with the naturalist Forskal, the philologist Van Haven and two others, he travelled up the Nile to Suez and Mount Sinai, and from there to Jeddah and Mocha. By the end of their stay in Mocha, all the memebers of the expedition but Niebuhr had died, and Niebuhr travelled on alone to India, returning via Persia, Syria, Cyprus, and Constantinople. The only surviving member of the hazardous expedition, he returned to an indifferent reception in Copenhagen [...] Niebuhr's comprehensive description, particularly of the Yemen region, was the best and most authentic of the day. Many subsequent travellers have acknowledged their debt to him, and only on a few minor points have they shown him to be in error. He was scientifically and philosophically minded, cautious and steady, and hardly the man to masquerade in Mekkah or wander with the Bedouins, but few contributed more solidly to the study of Arabia" (Atabey). - Extremeties a little bumped, hinges repaired. Occasional light browning or staining, more pronounced near beginning. Contemporary handwritten "Avis au Lecteur" bound before title-page, alerting the reader to the transposed quires in part 2. - Rare. Gay 3589. Howgego I, N24 (p. 752). Brunet IV, 74 (note). Cf. Atabey 873. Macro 1699. Not in Blackmer.
4to. XVII, (1), 224, (2) pp. With 5 photographic full-page illustrations and 4 maps. Hardbound. Dustjacket. First edition. - Providing the first comprehensive history of manufacturing in the Ottoman Empire and its Turkish successor state through case studies of manufacturing activities in their social and political contexts, by integrating first-hand research with surveys of the literature. Quaetaert was a Middle East/Ottoman historian teaching at Binghamton University in New York. He resigned as board chairman of the Institute of Turkish Studies in 2006, following his statement that scholars should not avoid researching the Armenian Genocide, which displeased the Turkish government, thus endangering the Institute's funding. - In excellent condition.
8vo. XIX, (1), 197, (3) pp. Contemporary blindstamped green cloth. First published edition. "A translation of Persian narratives from the posthumous papers of his half-brother, Friedrich Rosen, including a glossary and grammar of modern Farsi" (NDB). - The doctoral dissertation of the Prussian oriental scholar and diplomat G. Rosen (Ballhorn, 1820-91), who studied in Berlin and Leipzig. In 1844 he was a dragoman at the Prussian embassy in Constantinople before becoming Prussian consul in Jerusalem in 1853. From 1867 he served as German Consul General in Belgrade. - Some browning and brownstaining throughout due to paper stock. Binding a little rubbed with traces of a library label to spine. NDB XXII, 52.
8vo. XIX, (1), 197, (3) pp. Modern orange cardboard binding with spine label clipped from original printed wrappers. First published edition. "A translation of Persian narratives from the posthumous papers of his half-brother, Friedrich Rosen, including a glossary and grammar of modern Farsi" (NDB). - The doctoral dissertation of the Prussian oriental scholar and diplomat G. Rosen (Ballhorn, 1820-91), who studied in Berlin and Leipzig. In 1844 he was a dragoman at the Prussian embassy in Constantinople before becoming Prussian consul in Jerusalem in 1853. From 1867 he served as German Consul General in Belgrade. - Some browning and brownstaining throughout due to paper stock. Noticeable wrinkling and edge defects as well as ink smudges to beginning and end. NDB XXII, 52.
Oblong 4to. 48, 32, (2) pp. Original printed wrappers. A wide-ranging and painstakingly reproduced ensemble of Arabic handwriting specimens, lithographed throughout and entirely in Arabic save for the title and preface, which are in French. Comprises letters (part 1) as well as legal documents (part 2). Published as a manual and workbook for self-instruction in reading Arabic, this includes a section with the author's transcriptions in normalised Arabic script, headed by brief captions and synopses in French. Daniel Roux was "directeur de l'école arabe-française de la rue des Pyramides". - Preserved in the original printed wrappers. Very scarce. OCLC 458780296.
4to. 1 page. Extraordinary record of slave trade in the Ottoman Empire, confirming the sale of "a Caucasian, roughly ten or twelve years old, virgin and Circassian female slave" to an Ottoman woman. Stamped and signed by a slave trader named Kozpaha, probably himself of Circassian origin. The girl had probably come to the Ottoman Empire with the Great Circassian Migration following the Russo-Circassian war (1763-1864). Despite political efforts to ban slavery in the late 19th century, the practice continued largely unabated into the early 20th century. As late as 1908, female slaves were still sold in the Ottoman Empire. - On stationery with the tughra of sultan Abdülaziz. Several marginal tears, mostly along the folds, 2 of them slightly touching the text; a small hole in the lower quarter. 4 marginal tears and a tiny hole in the centre rebacked with tape by a previous owner. Surface nicks and punch marks all over the page, most prominent in blank areas. - A unique survival and an upsetting testimonial of child slavery.
4to. 171, (1) pp. Ottoman Turkish in Arabic type. Modern full red cloth with giltstamped spine-title, with the original front wrapper bound before the title-page. First and only edition. - Early pilot guide to the Aegean Sea by an admiral of the Ottoman navy, describing the shores of the Vilayet of the Archipelago, an administrative division of the Ottoman Empire extant from 1867 to 1912/13. At its maximum extent it included the Ottoman Aegean islands, Cyprus, and the Dardanelles Strait. Admiral Süleyman Faik (1845-1909) had in 1864 travelled the shores of the African continent, which earned him the position of captain, and served in the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-78. - Paper evenly browned throughout. Small tear to front wrapper, a second small tear rebacked with paper; minor edge flaws to final leaf, not touching the text. Özege 16579. Not in Askerî Tarih Yayinlari Bibliyografyasi [= Bibliography of Turkish History of Military Books].
580 x 850 mm. 1 topographic and 4 political colour-printed folding maps on one sheet. Scale: 1:4,000,000; 1:10,000,000; 1:1,500,000. Published by the German Wehrmacht for use in the field: a large map of Asia Minor, reaching from Eastern Europe in the west to Iran in the east, showing the whole of Turkey, parts of Russia, the Caspian Sea, and the far north of the Arabian Gulf, identifying Kuwait city. The northern parts of Libya, Egypt, and Palestine are visible, including cities such as Cairo, Jerusalem, Jaffa, and Tel-Aviv. The furthest point to the west is the Italian town of Brindisi. The captions include translations of common Arabic, Persian, Russian and Turkish geographical terms into German, as well as instructions for the pronunciation of Turkish letters. - Smaller maps of the Gulf, including parts of Russia and India, as well as of the Mediterranean, Rhodes and the Dodecanese, and Cyprus verso. - Very well preserved. Cf. Biester/Wurm, Archiv für Geschichte des Buchwesens Bd. 70, 196.
Large 4to (210 x 250 mm). (4), VII, (1), 64 pp. Original half calf over marbled boards and giltstamped spine and title lable. Only printing of this oration on the great contributions made by Dutch scholars to the study of oriental languages, delivered by the Amsterdam professor Willmet (1750-1835) on 26 November 1804. A student of Everard Scheidius, Willmet also produced a valuable Arabic dictionary in 1784 (cf. Smitskamp, PO 317). - Old library shelfmarks to upper cover and front pastedown. A little browned and brownstained near the end, otherwise well preserved; a good, wide-margined copy. OCLC 64504237.
Heliozincograph in colour, 590 x 465 cm. Scale: 1 inch to 4 miles (1:253,440). Exceedingly rare and classified at the time of release: one of the first maps to depict clearly the Abadan Petroleum Refinery, the first oil refinery in the Middle East. The map of the Khorramshahr-Abadan area of Iran and the lower Shatt al-Arab waterway at the head of the Arabian Gulf was published in the early days of World War I, when protecting the refinery was Britain’s primary objective in the region. Published in Calcutta by the Survey of India, predicated on the best and most recent surveys. Labelled "For Official use only". - Some creasing; some stains to upper margin. An abrasion to upper neatline with old repair on verso; an old tear with minor loss to upper left blank margin with old repair from verso.
4to. XXVIII, (6), 329, (1) pp. With engraved printer's device to title-page. Contemporary unsophisticated boards. All edges sprinkled blue and red. Second printing of Reiske's Latin edition of Abulfida's great historical work, the "Concise History of Humanity". Written in the form of annals extending from the creation of the world to the year 1329, it is divided into two parts, one covering the history of pre-Islamic Arabia and the other the subsequent history of Islam. This translation, first published in 1754, reaches up to the year 406 H (1015 CE). - The brilliant scholar Reiske (1716-74) is regarded as the father of Arabic studies as an independent discipline. In sharp contrast to his teacher Schultens, he was one of the first Arabists whose work was unfettered by the constraints of Biblical exegesis. - Browned throughout due to paper stock. Binding rubbed and stained, extremeties bumped. From the library of the Gregorio Speciale (1738-1820), Nicosian nobleman, canon, and director of the Stamperia Reale (Royal Printing House) of Palermo from 1791 until his death, with his engraved bookplate ("Garofalo sc.") on the verso of the title-page. GAL II, 45f. Schnurrer p. 119f. OCLC 49478817. Not in Rita Loredana Foti's catalogue of Speciale's library (Catalogo della libreria del cavaliere don Gregorio Speciale); see Libri e biblioteche in Sicilia tra tardo settecento in primo ottocento. Il caso del catalogo di Gregorio Speciale, in: Archivio di Stato di Palermo: Quaderni IX (2014), at pp. 99ff. (with an illustration of his bookplate on p. 100).
Tall 8vo (172 x 252 mm). 4 vols. Arabic text throughout apart from titles in English (lacking in second volume) and 4 pp. subscribers' list in vol. 4. Modern half calf over marbled boards with blindstamped spine title. The rare and celebrated first complete edition of the Arabic text, printed in Calcutta at the Baptist Mission Press. Also known as the "Calcutta II" version, this is described on the title as "now, for the first time, published complete in the original Arabic, from an Egyptian manuscript brought to India by the late Major Turner Macan, editor of the Shah-Nameh". - The original scattered Arabic texts were collected in four corpora: the so-called Calcutta I or Shirwanee edition (1814-18, 2 vols.), the Bulaq or Cairo edition (1835, 2 vols.), the Breslau edition (1825-38, 8 vols.), and the present one, the "Calcutta II" or the "MacNaghten" edition. Considered the most comprehensive text of the Arabian Nights, this is also the basis for the best-known translations including the English editions by John Payne and Richard F. Burton. - "Première édition complète du texte arabe [...] Elle a été donnée d'après un manuscrit égyptien pris dans l'Inde par le major Turner Macan, et elle a eu pour éditeur sir W.-H. Macnaghten" (Brunet). "It was only in 1839-1842 that the Arabic text [of the 1001 Nights] was edited in its entirety, by Macnaghten" (cf. Fück). - Browned and brownstained. Intermittent worming throughout, occasionally with extensive loss and stabilized with translucent paper, especially concerning the beginning and end of vol. 2. An extraordinary survival. Chauvin IV, p. 17, 20B. Brunet III, 1715. Graesse IV, 523. Fück, p. 139, n. 365.
4to. 29, (1) pp., final blank leaf. With a folding plan of Jeddah. Contemporary printed wrappers. Stapled. Rare contemporary account of the plague outbreak in Jeddah, written by the chief sanitary inspector, documenting disease control in the Ottoman Empire. The treatise puts forward nine suggestions on how to prevent future outbreaks, including an urgent recommendation to establish a strictly isolated hospital for plague patients only, a reminder to look out for a sufficient supply of dumpcarts to get rid of dirty laundry and rags, and an appeal to disinfect all clothes, either chemically or by means of boiling, and to burn immediately all textiles coming in from Bombay or other infected places. The plan shows the Yemen, Chami and Mazloum quarters as well as the city's sewage system. With 7 pages of general information on Jeddah, discussing its climate and population, as well as the Sambuk, a traditional wooden sailing vessel. - Spine somewhat worn; small tear to the plan. A good copy of an uncommon work, never seen at auction. OCLC 44403162.
(8), 92 pp. With woodcut vignette to title-page. Modern green marbled wrappers. 4to. Second, expanded edition of this rare linguistic treatise by the Dutch oriental scholar Johannes van den Driesche (Drusius, 1550-1616): a collection of Hebrew and Arabic wisdom literature in Latin translation. The first edition had been produced by the same publisher in 1591; the present edition preserves the dedication to Thomas Bodley, dated 1 August 1591. - "In 1577 the University of Leiden entrusted Driesche with the chair of Hebrew, Chaldaean, and Syriac, which he relinquished in 1585 in favour of the better-endowed chair in Franeker. For thirty years he discharged his duties with great assiduity" (cf. ADB V, 489). - Occasional insignificant browning. OCLC 45974008.
8vo. XI, (1), (5)-343, (1) pp. With a photogravure portrait frontispiece. Publisher's stamped full cloth with gilt title to spine. Rare first and only edition: a collection of vivid letters by the Belfast-born engineer Maxwell (1838-80), written from Syria in 1870-73 to friends while he was performing surveys for a railroad through the valley of the Euphrates and planning the water supply of Beirut in Lebanon. - Maxwell travels via Brindisi and the Greek islands through Smyrna, Rhodes, Antioch, and Beilan, where he describes the difficulty of designing a railroad due to the lack of proper mapping of the area: "On many occasions I was tripped up, and sent rolling down amongst other unfriendly plants" (p. 50). He also gives an account of his visit to "the finest house of Aleppo" (p. 101) and a flood in Smyrna, describes the cities of Tripolis, Beirut, Jerusalem, and Port Said, and expresses his disappointment over the Sublime Porte interrupting his survey, which indeed was never carried out completely, on several occasions. - The second and third period of letters were prompted by Maxwell's engagement in providing the city of Beirut with a water supply. They give an account of Cairo and the pyramids as well as of Alexandria before going on to describe negotiations with the council in Beirut and the obstacles met there: "As a last hope, we determined, and I think wisely, to try and obtain by means of the Consuls and public opinion what cannot be obtained by polite asking" (p. 273). The letters from the second period include a trip to Cyprus as well as descriptions of Damascus and the ancient waterworks, while those from the third period show the works on the Nahr-al-Kalb in full swing and describe an inspection of the site by Rustem Pasha, Governor-General of the Lebanon. - The frontispiece shows a portrait of Maxwell with his reproduced signature. Binding discreetly rebacked, modern cloth hinges. Light foxing near the beginning; otherwise in excellent condition. Rare: OCLC lists only five copies internationally (2 in the US, 3 in the UK). OCLC 24929041.