Niebuhr, Carsten.MareMagnum
4 361 résultats
2 vols. VIII, (6), 484, (2) pp. (16), 456 pp. (6), XXXXI, (1), 408, (14) pp. With 2 engraved title-pages, each with an engraved vignette (that for volume 2 from the plate of the 1774 "Beschryving" with the lettering revised; that for volume 1 copied from it and unsigned), 125 engraved plates numbered I-LXXII, [LXXIII] (vol. 1) & I-LII (vol. 2) (38 folding), showing topographic views, watermills, people, Egyptian and Persian antiquities, Egyptian, Persian, cuneiform and other inscriptions, etc. by C. F. Fritsch, C. J. de Huyser, Th. Koning, G. H. Koning, C. Philips, O. de Vries, Baurenfeind and others. The unnumbered folding map of Yemen ("Tabula Itineraria", plate size 48.5 x 41.5 cm), with the trade routes coloured by hand, covers a smaller area at a larger scale than that in the Beschryving. - (Bound with) II: Niebuhr, Carsten. Beschrying van Arabie, uit eigene waarnemingen en in 't land zelf verzamelde narigten opgesteld. Amsterdam, Steven Jacobus Baalde; Utrecht, Johannes van Schoonhoven & Co. (colophon: printed by Johan Joseph Besseling), 1774. With engraved title-page showing an engraved vignette by N. van der Meer (2 female figures with a globe and other instruments) and 25 engraved plates numbered I-XXIV, (XXV), including 7 folding showing 1 view of military exercises, 2 Kufic inscriptions (coloured by hand) and 4 maps. The unnumbered map of Yemen (plate size 58.5 x 39 cm) is coloured by hand in outline. The full-page plates include maps, topographic views, costumes, coins, Arabic inscriptions, etc. All by C. J. de Huyser, N. van der Meer, Th. Koning and C. Philips. 2 works in 3 volumes. 4to. Contemporary half tree calf, sides covered with paste paper; rebacked, with original gold-tooled backstrip laid down. One of the very rare large paper copies of the first and only editions of the Dutch translation by Jacob van Ekers of Niebuhr's famous account of a voyage to Arabia and surrounding countries (ad 1) and his description of Arabia, Egypt and the Middle East (ad 2). Both works were originally written by the Danish traveller and surveyor Carsten Niebuhr (1733-1815) and published in German, in Copenhagen in 1772 under the titles, "Beschreibung von Arabien" and "Reisebeschreibung nach Arabien und anderen umliegenden Ländern". Both works were also translated in French and English. - In 1760 Niebuhr was invited to join a scientific expedition to Egypt. Other members of the expedition were Friedrich Christian von Haven (a Danish linguist and orientalist), Christian Carl Kramer (a Danish physician and zoologist), Georg Baurenfeind (an artist from southern Germany), Berggren (a Swedish ex-soldier) and Pehr Forrskal (a Swedish botanist). In January 1761, the expedition sailed from Copenhagen, Denmark to Alexandria, Egypt. The members of the expedition spent a year in Egypt, visiting Suez and Mount Sinai. They left Suez in October 1762 and sailed to Yemen. In May 1763 they reached Mocha where Von Haven and Forrskal died from malaria. In August 1763 Baurenfeind and Berggren died, followed by Kramer in February 1764. Niebuhr was the only one left to continue the expedition. In 1764, he explored India, sailing from Bombay to Muscat, as well as Shiraz, Babylon, Baghdad, Mosul, and Aleppo. He spent some time in Persepolis in 1765 where he has made very detailed drawings and maps, which were used for more than a hundred years. In 1766, he explored Palestine before finally returning to Copenhagen on 20 November 1767, after a journey of seven years. When he returned to Copenhagen the Swedish government warmly welcomed him and paid the costs of engraving the plates to illustrate his accounts of the voyage. Both works are lavishly illustrated, having together 2 large maps of Yemen and 148 beautifully engraved maps, plans and views of all the regions Niebuhr visited. - The present set has both works printed on the same large watermarked paper (Strasbourg bend above VDL) and is only slightly trimmed, measuring 296 x 242 mm with the tranchefiles still visible (regular copies are printed on unwatermarked paper measuring 275 x 217 mm). Not even Tiele mentions the existence of copies on large paper. - Binding slightly rubbed on the sides and rebacked as noted; otherwise good. With a few occasional spots, the half-titles slightly thumbed and a few mm of minor browning in the upper margins; a very good large paper copy, only slightly trimmed. Howgego, to 1800, N24. Tiele, Bibl. 795f. Cf. Atabey 873f. Cox I, 237f. Gay 3589. Hamilton, Europe and the Arab world 48.
12mo. (20), 168 pp., including a folding genealogy of Mohammed as *10, bound here before *2. With a woodcut vignette of the Blue Mosque (?) on title-page as well as an engraved frontispiece of Mohammed presenting the Qur'an to the world, along with Zulfiqar (his legendary double-bladed sword), and a dove on his shoulder. - Bound with (II): Orientalischer Kirchen-Staat. Gotha, Jakob Mevius, 1699. (2), 155, (1) pp. (and 2 other works). Contemporary vellum. Very rare sole edition of this detailed exposition of the Qur'an for German readers, replete with a frontispiece depicting Mohammed giving the 'Alcoran' to the world as well as a folding genealogy of the Prophet. The preface discusses the threat which Islam poses to the West; and yet Pritius remarks that "meanwhile no-one will be hurt by learning a little more precisely about the opinions of these people, against whom Christendom has so long struggled" (*2v). - Chapter I covers the tenets of Islamic faith, rituals, customs, and pilgrimage. This includes numerous excerpts from the Qur'an and a lengthy discussion of the entire process of the Hajj, as well as the rituals the pilgrims take part in once they arrive in Mecca (pp. 89-113). Chapter II concerns the role of "muftis, priests, monks, and hermits" in Islam; and Chapter III recounts the life and death of Mohammed, taken from the usual European sources. - The inner workings of Islam had long fascinated the German Protestants, who saw an ally in their struggle against the common enemy of the Habsburgs / Roman Catholic Church. The present work is exceptionally detailed, however, and offers far more than the usual brief discussions of Mohammed's life; indeed, it is evident that Pritius had access to one of the Qur'an translations available in Europe at the time. - Extremely rare: OCLC shows no copies in American or UK libraries; VD 17 shows holdings in six German libraries. - Bound at the end of the volume is a manual of the various faiths of the orient, which includes a chapter on Islam and a discussion of the schism between Sunni and Shiite Muslims. Two other theological works bound first: (III) Spener, Philipp Jakob. Die Seligkeit der Kinder Gottes [...]. Frankfurt, Johann David Zunner, 1692. (138), 427, (25) pp. - (IV) Schmidt, Sebastian. Regenten-Predigten, welche zu gewissen Zeiten des Jahrs der christlichen Gemeine in Straßburg aus dem Alten Testament erkläret und vorgetragen worden. Braunschweig, Caspar Gruber, 1694. (2), 308 pp. - Some browning and occasional waterstaining throughout; binding darkened. Some edge chipping to the genealogical plate. VD 17, 39:144883H. Chauvin XI, p. 186, no. 667. Imaginationen des Islam: Bildliche Darstellungen des Propheten Mohammed, no. 20. Cf. also Fischer, Bildung durch Reisen? Deutsche Aufklärung und Islam II, p. 85 (note); on Pritius cf. ADB XXVI, 602ff. - (II): VD 17, 39:144877G. BL (German books) O224.
Folio (218 x 340 mm). Two parts: 1) Confidential. Survey by Major E.T. Rich, R.E., of routes between Bandar-Abbas and Kerman. General Staff, India. Simla: Government Branch Press, 1917. 9, 13, (1), 7, 16 = 46 pp. With six maps and plans (two folding), a proof plate with 2 photo views, and 13 leaves of original manuscript, typewritten and printed telegrams related to the report. Both original publisher’s wrappers bound in. - 2) Confidential. Report by Major E. T. Rich, R.E., on the Construction of Motor Roads in South Persia between Bandar Abbas and Kerman. 1917. General Staff, India. 2 vols. Delhi: Superintendent Government Printing, India, 1918. Vol. 1: (2), IV, 38 pp. With 12 leaves of plates (including one proof plate) and 8 maps and plans (3 folding). Vol. 2: 39-54 pp. With 3 folding maps. Occasional red ink notes by Rich in text and on the maps/plans; original publisher’s wrappers bound in. Occasional red ink notes by Rich in text and on the maps/plans; both original publisher’s wrappers bound in. Custom-made hardcover binding with the first publisher’s wrapper of the original report pasted to the front board. With a large folding linen backed map of Persia in the pocket at rear. Addenda (see below). Special custom-bound, historically important archive, compiled by E. T. Rich and containing confidential printed reports, 18 maps and plans, as well as original documents related to the survey of potential routes for a motor road between Bandar Abbas and Kerman in southern Persia. The survey was carried out by Rich as a part of the Persian campaign during the First World War on the special orders of the Chief of General Staff in India. As a part of WWI military operations, Bandar Abbas was occupied by British forces under command of Sir Percy Sykes in March 1916, and the survey was apparently undertaken in order to establish additional supply routes to the war’s Persian front. Rich was ordered "to report as soon as possible on the best route for a road to take motor lorry traffic from Bandar Abbas to Kerman and to frame estimates from the same and proposals as to the best way of carrying out the work." The survey was done between December 1916 and June 1917; a year later Rich was promoted a Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire (C.I.E.) for his work. Nevertheless, the road never was constructed, probably because of the cardinal changes on the Persian front after the collapse of the Russian front line as a result of the revolution in February 1917. - The volume contains: confidential reports by Rich; printed "Working notes" on the survey; maps and plans of Bandar Abbas, Kerman, and the area in between; telegrams sent to him from the Chief of General Staff (Delhi & Simla), Surveyor General’s Office in Calcutta, British Consul in Bandar Abbas; tables with distances and estimates of construction, printed views of the area et al. Several leaves slightly age-toned, but overall a very good custom-made copy. - Supplemented with Rich’s copy of a typewritten dispatch from the British Vice-Consul in Bandar Abbas to the Chief of Roodbar (South Persia) Zarghan-us-Saltaneh, dated Bandar Abbas, 2 Dec. 1916. In the dispatch the consul asks for the assistance to Rich who is going to visit the area under the chief’s control during the course of his road survey. The copy is signed by the consul and has his manuscript note "Original sent by special messenger direct to Zarghan-us-Saltaneh." - There are also two autograph signed letters by Rich, addressed to his aunt in London and written while on field service in Southern Persia. The letters are dated 10 & 25 Dec. 1916, housed in the original envelope with a postal stamp of Bandar Abbas, and contain interesting notes about Rich’s work and his observations on the native life. [Near Kerman:] "It is Xmas evening & as I have no one to talk to, the nearest white man being over 100 miles away, I am writing instead. Being high up over 5000 feet in the mountains, it is bitterly cold & proper Xmas weather, but personally I’d prefer it a bit warmer as I can’t keep warm no how at night which means continuously waking up [...] The food of the villagers about here is most strange, being dates & bread about 2 lbs of each per diem & nothing else. They feed the horses & cows on dates & even the dogs. I eat them once a day for lunch which consists of porridge, bread & cheese & dates. I often envy the meals my servants get at home when I am out on these expeditions." - E. T. Rich (1874-1937) was a British military engineer and surveyor, Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. He graduated from Sandhurst with the Pollock Medal and was gazetted as 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers. In 1895 he went out to India and was posted to railway survey work in Burma. In 1905-1909 Rich worked as survey officer on the Indian North-West Frontier, and took part in the Bazar Valley and Mohmand Campaigns of 1908 (as a divisional and a chief survey officer respectively). During the latter he was slightly wounded and for his services was promoted brevet-major. In 1911 Rich was appointed the head of the survey office on the Burma frontier post at Myitkyina, where he carried out the survey of the border with Tibet and Yunnan. In 1916/17 he was in charge of the survey party looking for the alternative routes between Bandar Abbas and Kerman in South Persia; in 1918 he was in charge of the North West Persia Survey Detachment which accompanied British intervention in the Caspian under command of General Dunsterville. Rich carried out important surveys in Baku, Batum and Tiflis. After WWI Rich returned to Burma where he became the head of the Burma Circle of the Survey of India. In 1920-22 while surveying the unadministered territory between Burma and Assam he encountered slavery and human sacrifices still practiced there; in 1925 he took part in the Sir Harcourt Butler’s Mission to the Hukawng Valley to suppress slavery. Rich retired with the rank of Colonel and C.I.E. in 1929. "Colonel Rich was a great linguist, and besides his knowledge of Urdu, Pushtu, and Persian, he was able to converse in Yunnanese and several dialects of Burma - Kachin, Maru, and Lisaw [...] He was a keen explorer throughout his career and did much to encourage a spirit of adventure in younger officers who served under him” (Obituary, The Geographical Journal 91.1 [1938], p. 96).
4to. 231, (1) pp. With a few woodcuts in the text. Contemp. full calf, leading edges and spine sumptuously gilt. All edges red. First edition; very rare. The best known, and most controversial, of Schickard's works: a treatise, with a lengthy introduction, about various Persian ruling dynasties, especially the Sasanians - editing a total of six out of seventeen genealogical charts found on a 45-foot Turkish manuscript scroll. The genealogies aimed to legitimise the Ottoman dynasty by tracing it back to Adam. Schickard (1592-1635) was one of the most learned men of his age, astronomer, professor of Hebrew, mathematician and orientalist. The scroll was brought to Germany by Veit Marchtaler of Ulm, who found it in a mosque during the sack of Fillek (Fülek) in Hungary. Marchtaler wished that the manuscript might not be simply forgotten, consulted in vain with various dragomans (whose versions he did not trust), and finally came across Schickard, who, though he had no Turkish or Persian, knew Arabic and immediately grasped the significance of the scroll. His detailed commentary quotes from various Hebrew and Arabic writings, including several extracts from the Qur'an: sura 21 (p. 60), 38 (p. 53 & 61), 27 (p. 77), 2 (p. 97), and 4 & 5 (p. 97-100). The translation is offered as a gift to the Emperor Ferdinand II until such time as the "autographum ipsum" be lodged in the imperial library. "Schickard was also the designer of Arabic type, which he engraved himself as copper matrices; they were cast by Theodoricus Werlin, and served to illustrate his 'Tarich'" (Smitskamp). - Browned throughout due to paper (as common); trimmed rather closely; final 2 leaves cropped at outer margin with loss of letters. One of three variants, this one without the 20-page appendix (corresponding with the copy in the Bodleian Library, Oxford). Provenance: "Nathan Wright of Englefield", Berkshire (cropped signature at head of title), probably Sir Nathan Wright (1654-1721), lawyer, appointed Lord Keeper in 1700 (cf. ODNB). Later in the collection of the Earls of Macclesfield (North Library at Shirburn Castle; 1860 bookplate, shelfmark 57.B.1). VD 17, 14:646680U. Wilson 203. ADB XX, 300. Smitskamp, PO 132e (note). OCLC 13604133.
Folio (243 x 372 mm). (12), 389, (3) pp. With double-page-sized engraved frontispiece (G. Wingendorp sc., bound after p. 8), 12 engravings in the text, and 139 woodcuts in the text (wants the engraved portrait). 18th century full calf with giltstamped red label to gilt spine in seven compartments. All edges red. First edition of this description of the important natural-historical and ethnological collection assembled by the famous Danish physician and naturalist Worm (1588-1654), forming the nucleus of the museum he founded, one of the first natural history museums ever established. The double-page frontispiece (sometimes counted as an additional engraved title page) shows his natural history collection inboxes, on shelves and hanging from walls and ceiling. This plentiful text illustrations show exotic as well as Scandinavian animals, plants, fossils, ethnological trophies, archeological discoveries, etc. For many items in the mineralogical and chemical section, the Arabic names are given (such as Borax or "Baurach", Alkali, Tinkur, etc.). Among the exotic flora are many plants endemic to the Middle East and Arabia, including the "Nabuch Arabum", the "Nux indica" (with reference to Avicenna), the date palm, pistachio ("ex Persia, Arabia & Syria"), gum arabic etc. - Binding slightly scuffed in places, but well preserved. Slight browning and brownstaining to interior, mainly confined to blank margins. A few early marginalia and underlinings in ink (trimmed by binder's knife when rebound in the later 18th century). As virtually all copies available for comparison, ours lacks the portrait (to be bound after the preliminaries). Nissen, ZBI 4473. Willems 772 ("Description raisonnée du cabinet d'histoire naturelle formé par le savant danois Olaus Worm").
Ca. 25 x 30 cm. Black-and-white gelatin silver print (vintage). A letterboard in a Karachi hotel lobby, announcing a "Lunch in Honour of Mr. Ali A. Ansari, Personal Representative of the Ruler of Qatar". Ali ibn Ahmed Al-Ansari served as Minister of Labour and Social Affairs unter HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani, Ruler of Qatar. - Provenance: collection of Azhar Abbas Hashmi (1940-2016), Pakistani financial manager and eminent literary patron with close ties to Karachi University. Long with United Bank Limited, Hashmi would serve as the bank's Vice President of Gulf Operations before founding several important cultural organisations and becoming known as a man of letters in his own right.
2 topographic maps, colour-printed. Lambert conformal conic projection, scale 1:1,000,000. In Russian (Cyrillic). Ca. 86 x 107 cm each. Extremely rare: the two massively-sized synoptic 1:1,000,000 maps covering the Arabian Gulf in its entirety, as published by the Soviet Union's General Staff of the army. Not to be confused with the Soviet Union's vastly smaller General Staff map quadrangles of the same scale which are aligned along the graticules, spanning 4° latitude by 6° longitude and covering only roughly half the area shown by each of the present sheets. - Edited from information sourced during the years 1972-1983 by D. D. Trushin and I. A. Medvedev. Although not specifically marked as classified, all General Staff maps de facto constituted closely guarded military material, none of which became available in the West before the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s. - A few insignificant edge flaws, but generally in perfect condition.
990 x 760 mm. Scale 1 : 4000000. Third edition. Topographical map of the Arabian Gulf and surrounding area showing international boundaries, main cities and towns, roads, railways, islands, rivers, lakes, wetlands and other vegetation and terrain features. Extends from the Caspian Sea south to Mecca and from Cairo east to Meshed. Relief shown by contours, altitude tints and spot heights. Includes legend, index to adjoining sheets, administrative index, and bibliographical references. - Slightly creased.
8vo. IV, 224 pp. Contemporary half calf over marbled boards. Very rare sole edition of this defense of the newly-reformed Compagnie des Indes and its commercial activities in the Far East, apparently written by a shareholder, with chapters ranging from West Africa to the Arabian Gulf, India, China, Japan, and even Australia (cf. Ferguson). Spectacularly unsuccessful compared to its European rivals, the French East India Company was suppressed in 1769 but a new charter was granted in 1785 to a "Nouvelle Compagnie des Indes". The avant-propos identifies the anonymous author as an "investor, not a speculator" in this newly-founded Compagnie, and aside from his observations on commercial trade with each nation, he also offers broad arguments supporting the monopoly of the Compagnie and even state-sponsored aid for its activities. The French Revolution brought a swift end to the Compagnie in 1790, and its liquidation in 1793 caused a scandal which involved many deputies of the revolutionary government. - In the author's chapter concerning the west coast of Africa, we find a typically pragmatic Enlightenment approach to the atrocities of slavery: "At the present moment, the slave trade on this coast is a very interesting object for our commerce, due to the abundance and the cheapness of these unfortunate victims of the barbarism of these climes, the need for them in our Ile de France [Mauritius] & Bourbon [Réunion] for the development of agriculture, and due to the ease of selling the excess slaves beyond the needs of those two islands to our colonies of America, & even to those of the Spanish. They [the Spanish] have been forced to depend on the English to provide them with blacks. We could enjoy a preferential treatment [...]". - Again on pp. 22f., in a discussion of Madagascar, he makes his position clear: "The slave trade requires a great deal of caution in its conduct, so as not to alienate the goodwill of the natives. If we buy the prisoners taken in wars from the small nations that share control of this island; and if the advantage of fetching a price from the sale of these unfortunate prisoners spares them the cruel death to which, without this resource, the barbarian victors would subject them, then the expectation of fetching a price from [their sale] need not ever be the cause of war between these small nations [...]". - Elsewhere the author discusses trade with Japan (p. 133), the Philippines (pp. 121f.); China (pp. 134-139); Macao (pp. 140f.), and even Australia ('Nouvelle Hollande", pp. 142-146: "dans nul pays de la terre les hommes ne sont moins avancés en civilization [...]"). - Spine extremely worn and rubbed, but holding perfectly; contents clean and fresh. Very rare: OCLC shows three US copies at Harvard, the Cleveland Public Library, and Minnesota. No copies are recorded at Anglo-American auctions. Goldsmiths'/Kress 13332.3. Ferguson IV, 466 ("pp.142-6 contains a description of New Holland, and of the sailing of the First Fleet").
11 photographs printed as black and white halftone screen cards. Ca. 161 x 115 mm or the reverse. An official diplomatic Saudi visit to Egypt in the late 1940s or early 1950s. Two images show HRH King Ibn Saud, the others show Egyptian officers. - A few nicks or lightly bumped edges, but on the whole well preserved.
12mo. 139 pp. on 70 ff. of smooth wove paper. Arabic and Ottoman Turkish. With a double-page 'unwan headpiece in colours and gilt. Text enclosed throughout within gilt borders and blue rules; 9 full-page colour illuminations with circular text compartments. Blue marbled pastedowns. Contemporary blindstamped dark brown calf with inlaid light brown borders and centrepiece and fore-edge flap. Prettily bound pocket-sized Ottoman devotional manuscript on the 36th surah of the Qur'an, "Ya-Sin", written in Arabic and Ottoman Turkish. The splendidly illumnated first double-page (containing verses 1 to 6) is written in an exquisitely refined variety of Turkish naskh calligraphy, typical for Quranic manuscripts. The surah "Ya-Sin" is considered the heart of the Qur'an by many pious Muslims, as it presents the core tenets of Muslim religion.
8vo. VII, (1), 168 pp. Original printed yellow wrappers (spine repaired). First edition of an important study of the "six poets", as some of the earliest known writers of Arabic poetry are collectively known, probably simply because they were the earliest for whom compilers were able to assemble complete Divans: Ennabiga, Antara, Tharafa, Zuhair, Alqama, and Imruulqais. - Ahlwardt (1828-1909) was engaged as cataloguer of Arabian manuscripts at the Berlin Royal Library. For most of his working life he classified, collated, described and excerpted some 12,000 works in ca. 6000 volumes, including current accessions. - Inside edge of upper wrapper cover reinforced. Removed from the "Institut für Geschichte und Kultur des Nahen Orients an der Universität München" with their stamp on the title-page. An untrimmed copy. GAL I, p. 22. OCLC 18208722.
8vo. VII, (1), 212, (40) pp. Contemporary blindstamped green cloth with gilt arms to covers and gilt title to spine. Top edge gilt. Early English translation of this treatise differentiating measles from small pox. "The first medical description of small pox was written by Rhazes about the year 910" (Garrison/M. 5404). He is considered the greatest mediaeval physician next to Avicenna. Published by the Sydenham Society, during its short existence between 1843 and 1857 a "powerhouse in disseminating medical literature in the age of the empire" (K. Gotman). - Binding a little rubbed and bumped at extremeties; spine professionally restored. Ownership (dated 1848) of George Edward Wilmot Wood, MD (1806-64) of Winchester, member of the Society, on the flyleaf. Garrison/Morton 5441.
8vo. 128 pp. Original printed yellow wrappers (spine repaired). First separate edition of this tale from the Thousand and One Nights. The Arabic text, printed here in its entirety with a French translation by the editor, is taken from the six-volume Constantinople edition. - Lower corner a little buckled, still a good, sound copy. Removed from the "Institut für Geschichte und Kultur des Nahen Orients an der Universität München" with their stamp on the title-page. Rare. Chauvin VI, p. 18. OCLC 4447422.
Folio. Italian manuscript on paper. 51, (1) pp. Sewn. Authentic 19th century copy of the manuscript in the Biblioteca Marciana. A public servant of the Republic of Venice, Bolic was assigned to provide information on the Ottoman Sanjak of Scutari (Shkodra), established after the Sultan acquired Shkodra in 1478/79. Bolic's work, delivered in 1614, contains the earliest description of the people and geography of modern Montenegro. - Wrappers slightly dustsoiled; a few small edge tears (no loss of text).
Large 8vo. 12 vols. Original printed wrappers. Monumental, exceedingly useful bibliography of Arabic literature and works relating to Arabia published in the West in the 19th century. Arranged by subject covering the Quran and its tradition (an entire volume), the Proverbs, Kalîlah, Loqmân, Barlaam, ´Antar, Syntipas, Oriental Tales, Mahomet, etc. Four volumes are dedicated to the 1001 Nights alone. - Edges slightly brittle as always, but very well preserved. Untrimmed, uncut copy in the publisher's original wrappers. Besterman 455.
Large 4to (210 x 267 mm). (2), 168, (2) ff. Publisher's original printed and illustrated boards with an oriental design in three colours and Persian letterpress on both covers. First and only edition of the "Meditations" of Emperor Marcus Aurelius both in the original Greek and in Persian, edited and translated by Joseph Hammer-Purgstall and printed in parallel on opposite pages throughout. "A meticulous typographical production" (Durstmüller). "The 1831 publication of Marcus Aurelius' Meditations in Persian comprises one of the 19th century's most intriguing cross-cultural and inter-religious texts. Produced by the Austrian Orientalist Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall, and addressed to the reigning Shah of Persia, this translation negotiates a wide diversity of concerns, including political diplomacy, literary aesthetics and religious difference" (J. Einboden, Stoicism or Sufism? Hammer-Purgstall's Persian Meditations, Middle Eastern Literatures 13.1 (2010), pp. 49-68. - Corners bumped, edges a little rubbed. Clean and uncut as issued in the publisher's charming original printed boards, a rare and early example of such a binding. Hoffmann I, 187. Engelmann/Preuss I, 148. Goedeke VII, 766, 80. Durstmüller I, 263. Graesse I, 329. OCLC 257616436.
8vo. VII, (1), 266 pp., final blank leaf. Grey wrappers. First part only of the Jesuit Nakhla's grammar of the Lebanese dialect of Syrian Arabic. A second part ("Mots à apprendre versions et thàmes; morceaux de lecture en prose et en vers") appeared in 1938. - Title-page professionally repaired. Old ownership in red pencil to foreword. Removed from the "Institut für Geschichte und Kultur des Nahen Orients an der Universität München" with their stamp on the title-page and throughout. OCLC 163048910.
12mo. 79, (1) pp. Publisher's original orange printer wrappers (spine repaired). A pocket-sized introduction to Islam and the Muslim world; "its object is to brief a brief survey of the rise of the Arabian religion in the seventh century; of the conquests of the outer world by the newly converted Arabs; of the foundation of the Arab Caliphate, and of the subsequent establishment of non-Arab Islamic states" (Introductory Note). - The orientalist and linguist Sir Edward Denison Ross (1871-1940) was the first director of the University of London’s School of Oriental Studies (now SOAS) from 1916 to 1937. - Published as Benn's Sixpenny Library, No. 19. Removed from the "Institut für Geschichte und Kultur des Nahen Orients an der Universität München" with their stamp on the title-page and additional note "Sheikh, Bagdad" (dated 1928), with additional bibliographical information added at the end. OCLC 6130391.
8vo. (6), 276, (2) pp. Early 20th century half leather with green buckram covers. First edition of Sen's English-Farsi dictionary, following a Farsi-English volume published in 1829. In 1841 Sen would produce a new edition, adding the pronunciation of the Persian words in transliteration. - Lightly browned throughout due to paper; a few edges reinforced. Old ownership "D. H. Crawley" (?) on title-page, and later ownership, dated 1957, of the linguist, National Socialist politician, and translator Martin Löpelmann (1891-1981). A good copy of a rare work. OCLC 85263053. Cf. Vater/Jülg 280.
8vo. VIII, 136; 22 pp. (appendix in a nashk Arabic type). Publisher's original printed wrappers (spine repaired). First and only early edition, in German, of an extraordinarily thorough documentation of scholarly academies in the early Islamic world, containing a biographical dictionary of early Arabic scholars and lists of their writings. This is one of the earliest and most important publications of the Göttingen orientalist Ferdinand Wüstenfeld, who based much of it on the ancient biographical dictionaries compiled by Abu-Bakr Ibn Qadi Shuhba and Ibn Khallikan. It covers the 5th to the 9th centuries AH (11th to 15th centuries CE), with accounts of 37 academies in Bagdad, Nishabur, Damascus, Jerusalem, and Cairo, and brief biographies of 254 scholars, 187 listed under the academies where they taught and 67 in a separate section at the end. For most he includes a list of their writings. The German text ends with a 2-page extract, in German translation, from the works of Ibn Khallikan. A 22-page appendix gives the original Arabic text of an extract from Ibn Shuhba, "Tabaqat al-shafi 'iyya", published here for the first time, with an Arabic title-page. - Ibn Qadi Shuhba (1377-1448 CE) was a leading jurist and chief Qadi in his native Damascus, best known for his biographical dictionary, completed ca. 1407. Ibn Khallikan (1211-82 CE), born in what is now Iraq, studied in Aleppo, Damascus, and Mosul before settling in Cairo, where he became a leading jurist in the Shafi'i school of Sunni Islamic law. He is best known for his biographical dictionary, completed ca. 1274. - The German orientalist and historian of Arabic literature H. F. Wüstenfeld (1808-99) studied theology and oriental languages at Göttingen and Berlin. He settled in Göttingen, taking a post at the University Library the year after the present publication, and taught at the University there from 1842, becoming professor of oriental languages in 1856. From 1835 to his death almost 65 years later, he published many important contributions to the study of early Arabic texts, covering the fields of medicine, language, topography and geography, often including the original Arabic texts of important works not previously published. - The Arabic type used for the excerpt from Ibn Qadi Shuhba is smaller than that of the Nies foundry, often used in Germany around this time, and quite different stylistically. It may have been produced for Wüstenfeld's works. - Minor browning, but altogether in very good condition, only slightly tattered at the edges. Original publisher's wrappers a little damaged along spine (professionally repaired; modern spine). Untrimmed copy, removed from the "Institut für Geschichte und Kultur des Nahen Orients an der Universität München" with their stamp on the title-page. Neue Jahrbücher für Philologie und Paedagogik VIII (1838), pp. 355f. Not in Blackmer or Gay.
8vo (127 x 212 mm). (226) pp. Persian manuscript in black ink, with catchwords in red. Nas'taliq calligraphy, bordered in gilt, with 'unwan in colours, gilt, on first page of text. 19th century green morocco with gilt borders and red spine label. Marbled endpapers. Persian translation of this Sufi guide to the devout life, also known as "The High Road of Worshippers" or "The Path of the Worshipful Servants". The 11-century Persian theologian, jurist, philosopher, and mystic Al-Ghazali has been called the single most influential Muslim after the prophet Muhammad, and a "Mujaddid", or Renewer of the Faith. His works were so highly acclaimed by his contemporaries that al-Ghazali was awarded the honorific title "Proof of Islam" ("Hujjat al-Islam"). - Numerous marginal annotations throughout. Binding rubbed and bumped at extremeties; upper hinges starting. Some waterstaining to margins; occasional paper flaws and traces of worming repaired; a few edges folded in to preserve marginalia from further trimming. Later inscription in Arabic on final page, and inscribed in English "to Prince Jehandoor" (27 Nov. 1836) under the colophon. Cf. GAL I, 423, no. 38 (& Suppl. I, 751).
Large 12mo. 24 vols. With engraved portraits of Barros, Couto, Henry the Navigator, and Afonso de Albuquerque and 3 (instead of 5) folding maps. Uniformly bound in contemporary half calf over marbled boards, spines with giltstamped titles and volume numbers. Edges lightly sprinkled red. A fundamental travel work: the best and most complete edition of what is considered the most comprehensive publication on Portuguese exploration and colonial history by João de Barros (decades I-IV) and Diego de Couto; the first edition to include decades X and XI. Books 2 and 3 of the "Decada Segunda" offer a detailed narrative of Afonso de Albuquerque's expedition to the Arabian Gulf and his conquest of Ormuz in 1507; the island remained under Portuguese occupation from 1515 to 1622. As vassals of the Portuguese state, the Kingdom of Ormuz jointly participated in the 1521 invasion of Bahrain that ended Jabrid rule of the Arabian archipelago. - This is "the best edition of this famous work on Portuguese colonial history. The first edition appeared at Lisbon, Madrid and Paris from 1552 to 1645. It consists of 12 "Decadas" (decades), comprising the history of the years 1420-1600. Only Decadas I, II, III and a part of IV are by J. de Barros, the rest is by D. de Couto, who begins his part also with Decada IV, so that there are two Decadas IV" (Laures). De Barros (1496-1570), head agent for the Portuguese overseas trade authority "Casa da Índia", managed to persuade King João III to commission from him a history of the Portuguese in India (including Asia and southeast Africa). The result earned him renown as one of the first great Portuguese historians, and the the title of a "Portuguese Livy". The 'Decades' contain "the early history of the Portuguese in India and Asia and reveal careful study of Eastern historians and geographers, as well as of the records of his own country. They are distinguished by clearness of exposition and orderly arrangement. They are also lively accounts" (Enc. Britannica). Cordier, BJ, 34 and BS, 2309. Innocencio III, 322. Laures 642. Streit IV, 667 (with extensive list of contents) & VI, 630. This edition not in Borba de Moraes. For the maps cf. Gole, India, 8.
Folio (213 x 322 mm). (4), 316 pp. Parts printed in red and black. With numerous ornamental lines and several woodcut tailpieces. Modern half calf. "The Evangelion of the Greek Church, containing the Gospels arranged for liturgical reading throughout the year" (Darlow/M.). From the printing office of the monastery of St. John the Baptist at Shuwair in the Lebanon, which was operative between 1734 and 1899 (cf. Silvestre de Sacy I, pp. 412-414; Middle Eastern Languages and the Print Revolution. A Cross-Cultural Encounter, Westhofen 2002, pp. 179-181). Particularly remarkable in this present publication is the typographic decor: all pages are framed by double rules; new sections of text are headed with an ornamental line of floral elements across the entire page width, and numerous pages show smaller figural endpieces (roses, baskets, crosses, as well as the Virgin with the Child Jesus) - a charming juxtaposition of simple woodcuts showing floral and geometrical decor familiar from the Hebrew prints produced in 19th-century Palestine with the more elaborate products "à la italienne". - Some occasional worming, browning and brownstaining. Schnurrer 360. Darlow/Moule 1661.
Large 4to (220 x 266 mm). 2 parts in one vol. (4), 7, (1), 984, (4), 3, (1), 318 pp. Contemporary brown calf with ornamental blind-tooling; gilt title to spine. Well-preserved copy of the first complete edition of the Bible in Ottoman Turkish, printed in a vocalized Arabic typeface. Based on the manuscript of Ali Ufki Bey (Albert Bobovius), this version became the basis for further Turkish translations used by Armenian and Greek Christians. The New Testament had appeared separately in 1819. "In 1820 J. D. Kieffer [...] began a thorough revision of Ali Bey's translation of the Bible by comparing it with the original texts, as well as with the standard English, French, and German versions. He also collated it with W. Seaman's Nogai NT of 1666, with T. Erpenius' Arabic version, with H. Martyn's Persian version, with H. Brunton's Nogai NT of 1813, and with the London Polyglot. The translation of the NT was also carefully revised in view of the criticisms passed on the first edition. On crucial questions he had the advice of Baron Silvestre de Sacy. The complete Bible (without the Apocrypha) appeared in 1827, printed in Arabic character with full vocalization. The edition consisted of 5,000 copies of the Bible, and 2,000 copies of the NT issued separately" (Darlow/M.). - Binding insignificantly rubbed at extremities, very slight brownstaining due to paper. An excellent copy. Darlow/Moule 9456. Bruce Privratsky, A History of Turkish Bible Translations, v. S (2014), pp. 43ff. OCLC 61141750.