4 497 résultats
A total of 267 photographs of construction work on the Aswan Dam. Comprises 190 large photographs (ca 25 x 30 cm), frequently with captions in the negative, mainly by D. S. George but also including A. Gianny and G. Kemble Bolam of Cairo (56 tipped in to an album and captioned, 21 loosely inserted within another album, 108 stored loosely within a portfolio, and 5 separately matted). Also, 77 smaller photographs (gelatin prints) of the dam and its environs, ca 15 x 18 cm (including a few duplicates), in an envelope. An impressive collection of photographs detailing the construction and opening of the Aswan Low Dam between 1899 and 1902 and of the work to raise it in 1907-1912. The images (frequently captioned in English on reverse) include views of the navigation channel in various stages of completion, the countless hundreds of local workers toiling in the unfinished West Channel and on the masonry of Bab el Maroum, the locks, trenches, Asyut Barrage, the accumulator house, the inauguration ceremony, but also a friendly football match between the "10th Soudanese Regiment (Blacks)" and the "Whites" (final score: Blacks 0, Whites 5). A stark panoramic shot shows the solar eclipse of 28 May 1900 above the Mohammed Ali Channel, seen from Awad. - Owing to its rainless climate Egypt has always depended on the annual flooding of the Nile for irrigation. The Aswan dam was designed by eminent British engineers to provide storage of annual floodwater and to augment dry season flows; construction about 1000 kilometres up the river from Cairo was begun in February 1899 by the London-based contractor John Aird & Co. Nothing of its scale had ever been attempted; on completion, it was the largest masonry dam in the world. It created an artificial lake extending 200 miles up the valley, partly submerging Ptolemy's temple on the island of Philae. The 1.25 mile-long dam with 180 sluice gates cost 3 million pounds sterling. It was opened by the Khedive on 10 December 1902. Originally limited in height by conservation concerns, the dam worked as designed but provided inadequate storage capacity for planned development and was raised between 1907 and 1912. The heightening still did not meet irrigation demands, and in the 1960s the Aswan High Dam was built 6 kilometres upstream. - A few nicks along the edges, some gelatin prints somewhat faded and with occasional creases. Mats generally foxed, with some foxing to the matted images, but on the whole an outstandingly preserved ensemble printed in rich, crisp detail.
12mo. 140, (2) pp., final blank leaf. - (Bound with) II: Hippocrates. Aphorismorum sectiones VII. Nicolao Leoniceno Vicentino interprete. Accessit octava ex Ant. Musae Brasavoli commentariis. Ibid., 1649. (36), 111, (1) pp. - (Bound with) III: Galenus. Ars medicinalis. Nicolao Leoniceno interprete. Ibid., 1642. (12), 173, (1) pp., final blank leaf. Contemporary limp vellum. A fine Padovan 17th century manual assembling the great ancient and mediaeval medical works, published separately, in a single handy volume. From the Middle Ages to the Renaissance and beyond, the compulsory teaching matter of Avicenna's monumental "Qanun" always included the part on physiology in the first fen of book 1, which expounds the general principles of medicine. The present edition is bound with the principal works of Hippocrates and Galen, both edited by the Italian physician and humanist Niccolò Leoniceno (1428-1524). - Some browning and brownstaining. 18th century annotations to flyleaf; ownership of Antonio Barduni (?) to front pastedown. An appealing pocket-sized set containing in a nutshell the staples of the old medical schools from which European medical training was in the process of breaking free. Cf. Krivatsy 499, 4508. Not in Wellcome.
Folio (301 x 220 mm). (14 [including final blank]), 320 ff. (without the two final leaves cited by Edit 16 but not required by Durling). Title printed in red and black with woodcut device. Modern full vellum on 3 raised bands. Well-produced reissue of the 1560 first edition of this commentary to the 4th Fen of Book 1 of Avicenna's "Qanun", by the Bologna professor of logics and medicine, A. M. Betti (1480-1562). This part, the text of which is provided in full, is dedicated to general therapy, a staple of the compulsory teaching matter at mediaeval and Renaissance medical schools, if not one of the chapters most frequently to engender extensive published commentaries. Indeed, Avicenna's systematic "Canon of Medicine", written in Arabic but widely translated throughout the Middle Ages, remained the basis of medical training in the West until the latter half of the 16th century, when it gradually began to fall out of the syllabus at most European universities, not disappearing entirely until the mid-17th century. It continues in use to this day in parts of the Arab world. Through this encyclopedic work, the author exerted "perhaps a wider influence in the eastern and western hemispheres than any other Islamic thinker" (PMM). - A single edge flaw to fol. 263 (remargined by an earlier owner). A good, wide-margined copy showing minimal browning, rebound in contemporary style. Edit 16, CNCE 5658. Durling 401. Adams B 844. Not in BM-STC Italian or Wellcome.
(20), 600, (24) pp. Text in Latin, Hebrew and Arabic. Contemporary vellum with ms. title to spine. 4to. Fine copy of the authoritative second edition of Hottinger's chief work, expanded by several long sections in the original languages. "One of the most significant contributions to the history of Islam to have been published in the seventeenth century" and "a groundbreaking account of the history and basic tenets of Islam which relied almost entirely on authentic Islamic sources" (Loop). Principal work of the theologian Hottinger (1620-67), a founder of oriental linguistics. Includes extensive chapters on the Prophet's genealogy, the main doctrines and the religious context of Islam, as well as many lengthy quotations in Arabic. While preparing the "Historia Orientalis", Hottinger had to cope with several problems, the most important being the lack of Arabic printing types. In the first edition of 1651 he had solved this issue by transliterating the Arabic quotations into Hebrew and using Hebrew letters with 'niqquds' to cover the Arabic alphabet. In the 1650s, however, the Swiss printers Johann Jakob and Heinrich Bodmer had started the casting of Arabic, Syriac and Samaritan types in their own foundry, and the present second edition of the "Historia" could be printed with Arabic types. Hottinger presents the entire body of knowledge about Islamic history and religion available at the time. He revised the first edition, published in 1651, during his stay in Heidelberg in 1655, where he had been summoned by the Elector Palatine. - Some browning as common, but an outstanding copy, with the handwritten ownership of Elisabeth Malainda (gift, dated Höchstädt, 28 Dec. 1676) on the pastedown. VD 17, 23:000384N. Chauvin XI, 577. Fück 91f. Ibrahim-Hilmy I, 311. Fürst I, 414. Brunet III, 347. Durstmüller 147. Graesse III, 378. Paisey H-1725. BL-STC German 17th c. I, H-1725. Not in Smitskamp. Cf. Loop, "Johann Heinrich Hottinger (1620-1667) and the 'Historia Orientalis'", in: CHRC vol. 88 (2008), no. 2, pp. 169-203.
8vo. 2 vols. XX, (8), 541, (1) pp. (final page of appendix erroneously bound at rear of vol. II). VI, 596 pp. Modern half calf over marbled boards, giltstamped labels to spine. The only published detailed history of the British Navy and its engagement with the Arabs of the Gulf. Covers specifically the British naval power in the Near and Middle East from the earliest days of the East India Company until its abolition in 1863. Forms the basis for studies of campaigns and exploration wherever the Bombay Marine operated: in the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, the Arabian Sea, the Laccadives, Maldives and west coast of India, the Andamans, Java and Burma. Of primary importance as a record of the history of the British presence in the Gulf, where the Bombay Marine served as police force, mail carrier, ethnographer, surveyor and, when necessary, strike force for over three centuries - in particular in the period when British relations with the Gulf sheikhdoms were being consolidated. Includes detailed accounts of hydrographic surveys by the Indian Navy, including those in the Gulf. Never surpassed as a history of the maritime arm of India's foreign policy. - A finely preserved copy. Macro 1492. NMM V, 2273.
Lithographed map, 632 x 704 mm, printed in brown and blue. Cut into sections, mounted on cloth, folded. 1907 War Office map, with additions and corrections dated August 1916, covering south-eastern Iraq, south-western Iran, Kuwait, and the upper Gulf. Shows physical features, the Turco-Persian frontier, ethnic and tribal society, populated places, cultivated land, major ancient and modern roads, railways, waterways, and communication lines ("a telephone runs along the Anglo-Persian Oil Company's pipe line"). Relief shown by gradient tints, contour, and spot heights. Includes geographic notes on selected locations, reference to Arabic words, and bibliographic sources of additional information. - One segment nearly detached; trimmed closely along lower edge. Ownership of the Rev. S. Strachen Rogers, C.F., on title label. Geographical Section, General Staff, No. 2563.
8vo. 5 volumes (instead of 6, lacking the final volume). With numerous photo plates. Original printed wrappers. The collected works of the Italian oriental scholar C. A. Nallino (1872-1938), who published his first treatise on Arab geography and astronomy at the age of 21. In 1938 he travelled in the Arabian Peninsula for two months, but died in Rome shortly after his return. The volume on Saudi Arabia, with which the series was inaugurated, was his last work. The second volume covers Islam ("dogmatica, súfisme, confraternite"), vol. 3 "Storia dell'Arabia preislamica. Storia e istituzioni musulmane"; vol. 4 "Diritto musulmano. Diritti orientali cristiani"; vol. 5 "Astrologia. Astronomia. Geografia". A final volume on literature, linguistics and philosophy was to be published in 1948. - Wrappers slightly chipped in places. Contemporary shelfmark numbers stamped to title-pages. Untrimmed and uncut as issued. Macro 1682. OCLC 5324614.
Large 4to (252 x 295 mm). X, 115, (1) pp. Printed original wrappers. First edition of Rödiger's thesis that earned its author the right to lecture in theology as well as a professorship of oriental languages at the University of Halle. Rödiger (1801-74) denied that the Arabic version of the Old Testament's historical books was derived from the Alexandrian translation: instead, he proved that the Arabic translation of the Book of Judges, Ruth, and the Books of Samuel as well as of several parts of the Books of Kings and of Nehemiah as published in the Paris and London Polyglots was based on the Syriac Bible and constituted the work of several Christian writers of the 13th and 14th centuries. Other parts of the Books of Kings and of Nehemiah, he showed, were translated into Arabic by an 11-century Jewish author directly from the Hebrew text. - Some browning and foxing throughout. Old French library stamps to title-page. Spine reinforced with later paper. Uncut, untrimmed copy. ADB XXIX, 26.
4to. (8), 200 pp. With 8 engraved plates (some with touches of colour, two folded). - (Bound with) II: Wenner, Adam. Türckisches Reisebuch von Prag aus biß gen Constantinopel [...]. Nuremberg, Johann Andreas Endter & Wolfgang Endter's heirs, 1665. (8), 135, (5) pp. Title printed in red and black. Contemporary full vellum with handwritten title to spine. Exceedingly rare Mediterranean travelogue: one of two German editions published in the same year (the other, an entirely different translation, by Cunradus in Amsterdam; the Nuremberg edition cited by several bibliographies is fictitious). Dutch editions had previously appeared in 1649 (the first) and in 1661. Although the Amsterdam-published German edition dates the journey to 1640-42, the Dutch first edition as well as the present translation make it clear that it had taken place as early as 1590-92! Somer's voyage began inauspiciously - he was captured by a Turkish galley in the harbour of Famagusta and briefly enslaved, but was soon set free after the French consul at Alexandria intervened for him. In spite of this episode, he travelled the Ottoman Empire at a time of relative peace (the Long Turkish War with the Habsburgs would not break out until 1593), spending several months in Egypt, Constantinople and Palestine. His colourful account includes a description of desert sandstorms and the trade in Egyptian mummies (not all of them ancient) as well as extensive chapters on Constantinople, the Ottoman court, the ubiquitous baths, Turkish customs and manners, the Muslim faith, curses and magic, etc. Somer returned via then-Ottoman Greece and Hungary, which he also describes. An appendix (pp. 170ff.) contains A. Stockram's topical account of the voyage of the Dutch ship Arnheim, which foundered off Mauritius on the return from Batavia. The translation is credited to "Philemerus Irenicus Elisius" (i.e., Martin Meyer). Rare; the last copy in auction records sold in 1983 (Erasmushaus, an incomplete reissue with only 5 views). - Bound after this is the second edition of A. Wenner's narrative of the Imperial embassy to the Porte in 1616-18, to ratify the Treaty of Zsitvatorok. Wenner served as secretary to the embassy; his "book is a day-to-day account of the journey to Constantinople from Prague, and includes a list of all the entourage from nobles to the apothecary, goldsmith, musicians, tailors, cooks, and so on. A list of presents for the sultan, with their values, is also given" (Atabey). The Treaty of Zsitvatorok "was a landmark in Turkish-European diplomatic relations, when the Turks first began to observe the general principles and courtesies of international law, and to exchange special ambassadors on an equal footing with European nations" (Blackmer). - Some browning throughout due to paper, more pronounced in Somer's work, the title-page of which shows an unobtrusive tear in the upper edge. Contemporary handwritten ownership "Bocken" to recto of flyleaf; verso has stamp and 1978 ownership of the Viennese collector Werner Habel (1939-2015). I: VD 17, 23:231760C. Tobler 86. Röhricht p. 217, no. 820. Paulitschke 532; Ternaux-Compans, Bibliothèque asiatique et africaine, 1977 (both have "Nuremberg" in error for Frankfurt). Cf. Weber II, 216 (Amsterdam German ed.); Kat d. Scheepvart Mus. I, 254f. (Dutch eds.). Not in Atabey, Blackmer, Aboussouan, Howgego, Henze, Cox, or Chauvin. - II: VD 17, 23:234557B. Cf. Atabey 1326; Blackmer 1783; Brunet VI.2, 435 (all for the 1622 first edition). Not in Röhricht, Tobler, Aboussouan or Brunet.
4to. (7) ff., 1 blank f., (4) ff. With woodcut device on title, large historiated woodcut initials, and an additional engraved folding plan of Tripolis (204 x 285 mm), not called for by bibliographies. 18th century full vellum with giltstamped red morocco label to spine (very similar to the bindings done for the Venetian library of Giacomo Soranzo). First dated publication of Ulloa's account of the siege of Tripolis in Italian. Includes the three-page dedication to Johann Jakob Fugger - the only place in the book where Ulloa's name appears. The author, a courtier of King Philip II, celebrates the defence of St Angelo's fortress on Malta, modern Libya. - In the 1551 Siege of Tripoli, the Ottoman fleet vanquished the Knights of Malta in Tripoli; the city was captured on 15 August by Sinan Pasha after six days of bombardment. The knights, many of them French, were returned to Malta upon the intervention of the French ambassador, and shipped onboard his galleys, while the mercenaries were enslaved. Murad Agha, the Ottoman commander of Tajura since 1536, was named as the Pashalik of the city. The siege was the first step in the all-out Italian War of 1551-59 in the European theatre. In 1553, Dragut was nominated commander of Tripoli by Suleiman, making the city a centre for piratical raids in the Mediterranean and the capital of the Ottoman province of Tripolitania. In a famous attack from Tripoli, in 1558, Dragut attacked Reggio and took all its inhabitants as slaves to Tripoli. In 1560, a powerful naval force was sent to recapture Tripoli, but that force was defeated in the Battle of Djerba, an event also described in Ulloa's book. The end of the volume is brought up by an interesting four-page account of Malta ("Descrittione dell'Isola di Malta") and a list of the names of Christian knights who died in the siege. The fine engraved plate bound after the preliminaries, entitled "Il vero disegno del porto, della città, della fortezza, et del sito dove è posta Tripoli di Barbaria. Ven. l'anno 1567 alla libreria della Colonna" appeared a year after the book. It is engraved by Paolo Forlani. - A clean, well preserved copy. Edit 16, CNCE 37528. BM-STC Italian 704. Gay 1494. Palau 343.401. Göllner 1134. Graesse VI, 224. Olschki L II, 222. Cf. Mortimer 509 (with note on this edition). Not in Adams, Blackmer or Aboussouan. This edition not in Atabey.
Oblong 8vo (150 x 105 mm). Leporello booklet of 12 glossy lithographed plates and two folding lithographed colour maps. Contemporary red cloth with blindstamped cover borders and giltstamped title to upper cover. A panorama of Constantinople on 10 consecutive plates (altogether ca. 1450 x 95 mm); two additional plates show views of the Hagia Sophia (then a mosque) and the fountain in the Yeni Cami (New Mosque). Important sights, buildings, bridges and districts are labelled in the panoramic view of Constantinople. The maps are titled "Plan von Constantinopel mit den Vorstädten, dem Hafen und einem Theil des Bosporus" and "Constantinopel und der Bosporus. Reduction nach der Aufnahme des Freiherrn v. Moltke auf 1/4 der Grösse des Originals. Maasstab 1:100.000". - Binding slightly rubbed.
8vo. XXXII, 410 pp. Original half cloth with giltstamped spine title. All edges marbled. First edition of this collection of Ottoman fairy tales, translated and with an introduction by the Hungarian linguist, turkologist, and folklorist Ignác Kúnos (1860-1945).- Binding somewhat bumped at extremeties, inner hinges and first flyleaf cracked.
4to. 20, (4) pp. Sewn. First edition. - Rare work on the Spanish expedition against Muslim Oran. After a survey of the history and geography of Oran (in modern Algeria), the author describes the preparations for the expedition to recapture the city, enumerates the Spanish leaders, and gives details of the Spanish naval and military attacks on sites in and around Oran in June and July 1732. The captain-general of the expedition was José Carrillo de Albornoz, first Duke of Montemar, who had fought in the War of the Spanish Succession and the War of the Quadruple Alliance; at this time he was viceroy of Sicily. Facing p. 20 is the plan of battle for the Spanish forces. The map on the verso shows the harbour at Oran, the town, and the half-dozen fortresses surrounding it, as well as the position of the Spanish navy during the battle. The final leaf has the key to the map on its recto, with the verso blank. Freire de Monterroyo Mascarenhas explains in the dedication that he compiled this account from many shorter accounts, because the public was eager to learn about the reconquest. Oran, which was in Spanish hands since 1509, had been captured by the Turks in 1708, while Spain was preoccupied with the War of the Spanish Succession. Spain held the city from 1732 until 1792, when it suffered a massively destructive earthquake and King Charles IV handed the city back to the Ottoman Empire. - Light waterstaining; a few leaves detached.
8vo. 19, 212, (1) pp. Contemporary boards with gilt spine label. First edition of this geography of northern Africa, extracted from the author's "Kitab al-mamalik wa-al-masalik" ("Book of Highways and of Kingdoms", a manual of universal geography). In Arabic throughout save for the French introduction. A second edition would not appear until 1910. The 11th century Andalusian Arab historian al-Bakri is regarded as the greatest geographer of the Muslim West. His works are noted for the relative objectiveness with which they present information. For each area, he describes the people, their customs, as well as the geography, climate and main cities. "The work, which contains no maps, appears to be independent from al-Balhi and based on original research. According to Simonet, his description of the Isles of the Blessed (Fortunatas, Canary Islands), quoted by al-Nuwairi, is taken from the Etymologiae of Isidor of Seville" (cf. Brockelmann). - Binding rubbed and bumped; hinges split; spine chipped. Interior shows some browning and foxing, but altogether a well-preserved copy of a rare Algerian imprint. GAL I, 476; S I, 876. OCLC 9294002.
Folio (330 x 413 mm). (2), 99, (1) pp. With 17 India-proof mounted engravings with tissue guards. Contemporary half calf over marbled boards with blind-and gilt-tooled ornamentation, spine recently rebacked. First separate edition: the story of the Hunchback from "The Arabian Nights' Entertainment", in the translation by the Rev. Edward Foster initially published in 1802, with engravings by William Daniell (1769-1837) after paintings by Robert Smirke (1752-1845). "What Brian Alderson has called the 'cocoa-table book' formula was applied to the 'Nights' as early as 1814, when William Daniell's 'The Adventure of Hunch-back' appeared, a handsome selection from Forster's adult version (Wiliam Miller, 1802, repr. 1810) intended as a juvenile complement to the adult book. The latter was produced in a small as well as large format, but, with their magnificent engravings by, among others, William Daniell from Robert Smirke's paintings, all three publications must have been beyond the pocket of most readers" (Caracciolo). - Some brownstaining and foxing throughout. Chauvin V, p. 181 (& cf. IV, p. 92, no. 239). Caracciolo, Arabian Nights In English Literature (1988), p. 39, with illustration (fig. 3). OCLC 2925884.
8vo. 9 pp. On three bifolia attached to one another with green string. A letter by a member of the British Consulate in Trieste, apparently written to a British official in Cyprus, responding to an enquiry regarding "the probable price of a pair of horses about 15 hands". "The kind of horses that you speak of are known here as 'Jukers', light, active, strong [...], fast trotting, able to go 14 kilometres an hour. A pair of horses of such description 5 years old & sound will cost about fls 1200 or say £100. Hungarian horses in my opinion will suit the best for your Island as they have Arab blood in them". The writer explains that he is not a dealer himself, "but being very fond of horses & having many native friends in India I have very often occasions to buy for them & also for my brother, who resides in Bombay at present". He explains that "no good horses are to be found in Trieste", and that "as a rule" he visits "the fairs in the interior" to buy horses. He names the four breeding farms of the Hungarian Government and describes the types of horses bred at each ("lastly the Fogaras stud, where stallions from the Lipizza private farm belonging to the Emperor are supplied"). Describes the auction of the "superfluous horses of these establishments of the age of 4 & 5" at "Tattersall's in Budapest in the 1st week of October", with prices for each type of horse, giving examples from his own experience. "Two British Cavalry officers belonging to the Egyptian Army came over here in the Autumn of 1896. They bought 60 remounts for the Egyptian cavalry. The Greek Cavalry & Artillery are wholly supplied with horses from Hungary". While discussing "sires for breeding purposes" he mentions that he knows "the Director of the Lipizza farm [...] personally" and gives the price at which he is offered superior horses by him. Ends with details of possible "charge for freight on each horse to Cyprus". - Text clear and complete.
4to. 8 pp. Sewn. Rare 1758 Portuguese account of the city of Isfahan, formerly the capital of Persia, published during the uneasy period in Iranian history between the end of Nader Shah's reign and the rise of the Qajar dynasty, more than a century after the Portuguese had withdrawn from the Gulf. WorldCat lists copies in Harvard, Ann Arbor, Princeton, British Library, Cambridge Univ., and Tübingen. - Well-preserved. Floor/Hakimzadeh, Acta Iranica, p. 32. OCLC 22325642.
Small 8vo. (4), XII, 233, (1) pp. Contemporary full calf with gilt spine; leading edges gilt. All edges red. First edition, translated from Ottoman Turkish by Julien-Claude Galland. Mehmet Effendi (1680-1732) served as Ottoman ambassador to Paris between 1720 and 1721. Composed for Sultan Ahmet III and his Grand Vizier, his account, originally entitled "The Paradise of the Unfaithful", helped to change the image of European culture, lifestyle, and literature in the Ottoman Empire. Indeed, this is the first Turkish embassy of which we have a written account ("Sefaretname"). It was of special significance for the introduction of printing into Turkey, as Mehmet's son Said Effendi accompanied him and became convinced of the advantages of printing. On his return to Constantinople he began to petition to the Grand Vizier for permission to establish a press, and a few years later Ibrahim Müteferrika was famously licensed to print non-religious books: the beginning of "Ottoman book publishing in the Sultan's territory" (Neumann, p. 230). - A copy in the Bibliothèque nationale de France has an engraved portrait of the author, but this would appear to be a unique example: all other known copies were issued without a frontispiece (including the Atabey copy, formerly in the library of and bound for La Rochefoucauld, which commanded more than £3000 at Sotheby's in 2002). - Handwritten ownership "Bené" to pastedown; covers show insignificant traces of worming; a tear to the half-title repaired. A fine copy; rare. Atabey 471. OCLC 459449580. Cf. Christoph K. Neumann, Book and Newspaper Printing in Turkish, 18th-20th Centuries, in: Middle Eastern Languages and the Print Revolution (2002), p. 227-248. Not in Blackmer.
8vo. 4 vols. (instead of 6). Vol. I: General. 360 pp., 3 colour folding maps at rear, tables. - Vol. II: Irak, The Lower Karun, and Luristan. 512 pp., 1 large folding plan and 1 folding map at rear pocket, 8 b/w photographic plates (spine slightly damaged, hinges weak, lacking title page). - Vol. III: General Mesopotamia with Southern Kurdistan and the Syrian Desert. 416 pp., 1 large folding map at rear (modern cloth, new endpapers, glossary, appendix, index). - Vol. IV: Corrections and additions to Volume IV. Northern Mesopotamia and Central Kurdistan. 166 pp. (library bookplate verso front cover, small stamp on title page). Vol. III in modern library cloth, the rest in original cloth. Prepared on behalf of the Admiralty and the War Office for official use only, this Handbook gives an account of conditions in Mesopotamia (Iraq) for the most part as they were before the First World War. These volumes cover the boundaries and physical features of Iraq, its minerals, climate, fauna, administration, transport, irrigation, religion and agriculture. The Naval Intelligence Division (NID) was the intelligence arm of the British Admiralty before the establishment of a unified Defence Intelligence Staff in 1965. It dealt with matters concerning British naval plans and the collection of naval intelligence.
8vo. (14), 194 pp. Modern marbled boards. Rare first edition: an interesting lexicon of Turkish and Persian words and phrases used in travel accounts and newspaper articles to describe court functionaries, decrees, and Ottoman and Muslim traditions. The notes provide valuable information on Turkish and Islamic customs, often running to short essays: the article on the Qur'an is more than four pages long, and that on the Prophet Muhammad five pages. The Atabey collection contained only the second edition, published at Weißenfels and Leipzig in 1793. - Cancelled old German library stamps. No copy in auction records. OCLC 312617599. Cf. Atabey 964. Not in Blackmer.
8vo. 7, (1) pp. Original wrapperless covers. Trade agreement regulating the trade of goods destined for or exported from ports in Saudi Arabia, and carried in ships calling at Bahrain. In English and Arabic. - Some rust-staining in gutter.
Large folio (ca 35 x 47 cm). An album of 87 albumen photographs, mostly ca 36 x 26 cm to 26 x 20 cm, of which 17 show Egyptian locations. Mounted on cardboard leaves, bound in heavy, relief-stamped full calf. White moirée endpapers. All edges gilt. Among the Egyptian images (mostly unsigned, but several by Pascal Sébah and another by Antoine Beato) are a plan of the Suez Canal (with several inset images), Pompey's Column, the obelisk now known as "Cleopatra's Needle" (in New York City's Central Park), the Heliopolis Obelisk, the ruins of the ancient town of Hermonthis (Armant), the Sphinx, the Great Pyramid, a palm grove near Giza, groups of Arab men and women, street scenes, a panoramic view of Cairo, the Mosque of Muhammad Ali, etc. Loosely inserted are a large (19 x 28 cm) portrait of an Arab warrior in Bedouin costume and a composite photo of eight portraits of Arab men and women in various types of local costume, with a handwritten note by the owner: "Bought at Port Said July 1876". The remainder of the photos of this fine souvenir album shows views and sights in Naples, Pompeii, Capri, Salerno, Rome, Venice, Genoa, Florence, and Pisa. - Binding rubbed and bumped, but a well-preserved set.
12mo. (20) pp., 1 blank leaf, 445, (5) pp., 3 blank leaves. Title printed in red and black. With engraved frontispiece. - (Bound with) II: Andrés, Juan. Des für 200 Jahren bekehrten Doctoris, Professoris und Praedicatoris der Muhammedischen Lehre, Johannis Andreae Mauri, nachdenckliches Buch, gegen den Mahomet und die Mahomedische falsche Lehre; von newen in Teutscher Sprache außgefertiget durch [Rudolf] Capell. Hamburg, Georg Wulff, 1685. (54), 218 pp., final blank. With engraved frontispiece. Contemporary vellum with handwritten spine title. Rare, early German edition of Tavernier's (1605-89) account of the Ottoman court drawn from his own observations. "The author's journey began in 1630. He went on a mission to Constantinople in 1636, or earlier. He states in the preface that much of his information regarding the seraglio was obtained from two former exployees of the Sultan, one a Frenchman, the other an italian, each of whom had served for many years" (Weber). The author also describes Ottoman ranks and court offices, as well as Ottoman coinage. - Bound after this is a very rare German edition of the widely received account of Islam provided by Juan Andrés, a converted Moor. First published in Spanish in 1515, it achieved immediate fame and was translated into many languages. "A crude anti-Islamic pamphlet by the Moor Abdallah, who took the Christian name of Johannes Andreas (Juan Andrés). The quotations from the Qur'an are often wildly distorted, and their interpretation biased - a fact which was even praised in the Paris edition of 1574" (cf. Göllner). - Some red underlining to Tavernier; some browning, but very well preserved. From the library of the Viennese collector Werner Habel, with his ownership stamp to front pastedown. His note of acquisition from 1976 is loosely inserted. I: VD 17, 39:126588G. Cf. Weber 270 ff. (other eds.), Graesse IV, 43 (1675 French ed.). Not in Cox. - II: VD 17, 23:286870C. Chauvin XII, p. 23, sub no. 86. Cf. Göllner I, 73 (1515 first ed.).
4to. (2), 81, (7) pp. 19th century later half calf over cloth boards with giltstamped title to spine. All edges gilt. The account of the 1604/05 return voyage of the Portuguese merchant and adventurer Pedro Teixeira (1563-1645?), mentioning "Katifa (Al-Qatif) near Barhem (Bahrain)" in the Gulf (p. 15), Basra's trade with "Barhen, Catifa, Lasan, Persia, Bagdat, and all Arabia" (p. 16), as well as Badawin culture in Arabia (p. 21). Separately issued second part of the second volume of a collection of seven separate travel accounts compiled by John Stevens printed between 1708 and 1710 under the series title of "A View of the Universe", this one "for March 1710". - Contemporary handwritten ownership to title-page. Covers rubbed, with flaw to leather of upper cover. Slight, even browning; a good, wide-margined copy. Wiles, Serial Publication in England Before 1750 (1957), p. 272. Howgego, to 1800, T19, p. 1018.
4to. 10+1 volumes. With 12 photographic halftone plates of 62 manuscript specimens in vol. X. - Added: separate atlas issue of the 12 plates. Altogether 11 vols. in publisher's light blue printed boards. A complete set of the scarce original edition, published as volumes 7-9 and 16-22 of the giant general catalogue of the Berlin manuscript collections ("Die Handschriften-Verzeichnisse der Königlichen Bibliothek zu Berlin"). Ahlwardt (1828-1909) was engaged in 1863 as cataloguer of the Arabian manuscripts. Until 1887 he classified, collated, described and excerpted some 12,000 works in ca 6000 volumes, including current accessions. The important collection was based on the precious library bequeathed by Heinrich Friedrich von Diez. It was gradually enlarged by the manuscript treasures purchased from leading German scholars such as Glaser, Landberg, Minutoli and Brugsch, Petermann, Sachau, Sprenger and Wetzstein. Ahlwardt's monumental catalogue is renowned for an unprecedented wealth of details both in physical and textual respect. It formed a pattern for a complete history of Arabic literature - theological, juridical, philosophical, scientific, linguistic, historical and poetical. Ahlwardt expanded on the customary manuscript catalogue entries by providing an exact outline of contents for each work catalogued. "When all ten volumes had been printed in 1899, Ahlwardt had created a work which by virtue of its scope and precision would remain of lasting value to the history of Arabic literature" (cf. Fück, Die Arabischen Studien in Europa, 1955, p. 192). - Bindings a little bumped, dust-soiled and faded in places, some edges foxed. A clean and very good set. NYPL (Arabia and the Arabs) p. 7.