4588 risultati
Large 8vo. (2), X, 484, (8) pp. Original printed wrappers. First French translation of the "Sirat as-sulatn Jalaladdin Mankobirti", a biography of the last last Khwarazm-Shah Djalal al-Din Mingirni (Mangubirti) by that ruler's secretary, the Arabic historian al-Nasawi (fl. 1241). This translation by Octave Houdas (1840-1916) was issued to complement his edition of the Arabic text, published in 1891. - Uncut, untrimmed copy; covers chipped and bumped; spine defects. Interior sound; a good copy. GAL I, 319. OCLC 5770162.
Small folio (218 x 340 mm). 19, (9) pp. With 5 folding plans, one measuring more than two metres in length. Original stiff printed wrappers. Extremely rare report on construction plans for a railway from Keneh (Qena) on the eastern shore or the Nile to Kosseir (al-Qosair) on the coast of the Red Sea. The project was never carried out. "La roue de Kéneh à Kosseir a éte étudiée dans un rapport de Ch. Nicour [...] qui déposa ses conclusions le 21 Février 1891 auprès du Conseil d'Administration des Chemins de fer de l'Etat égyptien. Ce rapport fut utilisé par J. Raimondi [...] dans son livre sur 'Le désert oriental égyptien du du Nil à la Mer Rouge' [...] Dans le chapitre V, intitulé 'Projet de chemin de fer de Kéneh à Kosseir [...]' Raimondi rappelle que, dès 1891, on avait formé le projet d'une ligne de chemin de fer de Kéneh à Kosseir. Le port, en effet [...] est le point de la mer Rouge le plus rapproché du Nil [...] Après avoir évalué les recettes probables de cette ligne [...] et avant d'étudier les problèmes de réalisation pratique [...] Raimondi reprend le rapport de Ch. Nicour pour donner une description de la route et une étude du tracé de ce chemin de fer, qui ne devait pas etre réalisé. La mission de Ch. Nicour étudia le terrain en décembre 1890. Elle décrit d'abord la route depuis Kéneh jusqu'à l'entrée de L'Quadi Hammamat, puis elle étudie les gorges de l'Quadi Hammamat proprement dit [...]" (Bernard). - The five plans include: 1) "Ligne de Kéneh à Kosseir. Route du Nord [...] Plan géneral et profil en long", ca. 62 x 205 cm. 2) "Plan de la grande gorge de El Hammamat", ca. 33 x 125 cm. 3) "Plan de la petit gorge de El-Sed", ca. 33 x 77 cm". 4) "Plan de petit gorge de E-Rieh", ca. 33 x 94 cm. 5) "Plan de ville de Kosseir", ca. 59 x 90 cm. - Binding lightly wrinkled and duststained in places, but altogether very well preserved. Inscribed on the upper cover by Yacoub Artin Pasha (1842-1919), the Armenian-born historian and Egyptian Minister of Education, to Julius Franz (1831-1915, "Frantz Pacha"), the German-born senior architect to the Egyptian Viceroy. André Bernard, De Koptos à Kosseir, p. 26. Not in OCLC.
8vo. 255, (1) pp. With 13 photo illustrations and a map. Original red publisher's cloth with giltstamped spine title. Original dust jacket. First printing of the first edition. A documentary of a year spent by the author in the Arabian Gulf, discussing Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Buraimi Oasis, Qatar, Kuwait; hunting and falconry. Dedicated "to the honour and glory of His Excellency Sheikh Shakhbut bin Sultan Albufalah, Ruler of Abu Dhabi". - Removed from W. H. Smith & Son's Lending Library (London) with bookplate to front pastedown. Now rare. OCLC 1239299. Not in Macro, Bibliography of the Arabian Peninsula.
8vo. 255, (1) pp. With 13 photo illustrations and a map. Original red publisher's cloth with giltstamped spine title. Original dust jacket. Second printing of the first edition. A documentary of a year spent by the author in the Arabian Gulf, discussing Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Buraimi Oasis, Qatar, Kuwait; hunting and falconry. Dedicated "to the honour and glory of His Excellency Sheikh Shakhbut bin Sultan Albufalah, Ruler of Abu Dhabi". - Dust jacket slightly frayed, otherwise a good copy of this now-rare title, inscribed "Laurie Tinckler / Bahrain / July 1958" on flyleaf. Not in Macro, Bibliography of the Arabian Peninsula.
8vo. 65 pp. With woodcut vignettes by Jost Amman. A modern reissue of the "Traitte fort curieux de la venerie et de la fauconnerie" (Lyon 1671). Text in German and French. One of 500 copies. Harting 132.
4to. (10), 171, (1) pp. William Brodrick's copy with 3 original watercolours by him, heightened with gum arabic. 28 hand-coloured lithographed plates after William Brodrick, some heightened with gum arabic. Contemporary half green morocco, gilt. Second edition, revised and enlarged: the best edition of this handsome work. This copy, with an impeccable provenance, is enriched by the inclusion of three fine original watercolours by the eminent William Brodrick (1814-88), falconer, taxidermist, physician, and artist, whose works of avian portraiture set the standard of their times. - Provenance: "Wm. Brodrick, Little Hill, 1873" (ink inscription to front free endpaper, and a partially erased pencil inscription to title). - Occasional spotting, heavier to endpapers and half-title; spine faded to brown, corners worn, rubbed. Harting 67. Nissen IVB 147. Schwerdt II, 145.
Various sizes (folio, 4to, 8vo). A total of 460 typescript and 177 manuscript pp. (9 of which comprise merely 2 lines) in 26 fascicles, assembled as 11 portfolios. With a few newspaper clippings as well as 1 photograph each of Hagia Sophia and the gate of Dolmabahce Palace, mounted on cardboard as postcards. A highly important and extensive archive from the secret personal papers of General Auguste Sarrou, France's chief spymaster in the Levant and Turkey during the critical period between 1917 and 1923, when the Near and Middle East were completely re-ordered following the demise of the Ottoman Empire. It features numerous "top secret" spy reports, correspondence and dossiers of political analysis, providing stellar insights into France's central role in shaping the destiny of Syria, Lebanon and Turkey, working to counteract the forces unleashed by Lawrence of Arabia during the Arab Revolt. - The present archive consists of dozens of classified intelligence reports, political masterplans and field notes. Most of the documents are typescripts or carbon copies of typescripts (many written by Sarrou), intended for distribution amongst only the most senior French military and political officials. The documents span Sarrou’s entire career, dating from 1908 to the 1960s, although the bulk of the documents concern the critical period from 1917 to 1923. It includes a typescript copy of Sarrou’s autobiography, written at the end of his 60-year-long career in espionage and diplomacy in Turkey, the Balkans and the Middle East; a series of papers relating to Sarrou’s time serving as a gendarme in Macedonia in the decade prior to World War I, when he notably befriended many leaders of "Young Turks"; and a further series of papers outline his secret "Mission d’Orient", a grand operation to support French ambitions in Syria, Lebanon and Anatolia. Furthermore, a series of highly important and secret analytical reports written by Sarrou provide a "game plan" for how France was to rule Syria and Lebanon (importantly, the Quay d’Orsay largely followed Sarrou’s advice as matters unfolded). Notable is Sarrou’s brutally unflattering assessment of Emir Faisal, Lawrence of Arabia’s old comrade. Additionally, there is an intriguing manuscript report of a meeting held between Arab intellectuals and Djemal Pasha, the Ottoman War Minister, the day before the fall of Damascus, as well as a series of fascinating reports concerning the 1921 attempt on the life of General Henri Gouraud, the French High Commissioner for Syria and Lebanon. Another series of 25 typescript "Secret" intelligence reports compiled by the Service des informations de la Marine dans le Levant (S.I.L.) in Port Said in 1918 and 1919 contain fascinating raw field intelligence on Anti-French elements throughout the Middle East, as well as the efforts of French assets to counteract these forces through counterespionage and propaganda. A diverse collection of typescript and manuscript research documents, as well as correspondence from key assets, assembled by Sarrou from 1919 to 1922, is supplemented by a series of highly insightful typescript reports, written by Sarrou to advise the French government on the situation in Turkey from 1921 to 1931, covering the rise of Atatürk’s new republic and French efforts to gain influence in Ankara. Finally, there is a collection of letters, documents and postcards from Sarrou’s mid to later career, from the late 1920s until his retirement in the mid-1960s. - Many of the elements of the present archive are likely unique survivors, while a couple examples of some of the typescripts may exist in various French official archives. A detailed list is available upon request.
Collection of 14 maps (nos. MI 1-13 and MI 18). Mostly in full colour; various sizes but mostly ca. 70 x 100 cm; scale mostly 1:100,000 (MI 3: 1:250,000; MI 6: 1:2,470 [b&w]; MI 7: ca. 1:1,600 [b&w with red overlays]; MI 8: 1:800 [b&w with red overlays]; MI 9: set of 2 maps [ca. 1:2,340 and 1:1,200] and 1 cross-section [all b&w, maps with red overlays]). All folded in original brown printed envelopes. 14 maps of the 25-map series published between 1966 and 1971, including the complete set of the first 13 maps. Many photomaps based on aerial reconaissance and photomosaics, showing geological or geochemical information. Some sheets include location diagrams, text, notes, cross sections, charts, index map, and insets. The mapped resources also concern ancient gold mines. Among the credited cartographers are some Arabian scientists, but mainly Americans: James Mytton, Robert F. Johnson, Virgil A. Trent, C. W. Smith, J. Kouther, M. Q. Asad, Gerrit Eijkelboom, Mohammed Gendi, Bernard Henry, Xavier Leca, Mohammed Shanti, Phillippe Delange, and Jean Pflaum. Abdullah O. Ankary contributed to the text of several maps, and much of the geology is based on work done in the 1950s and early 1960s by Glen F. Brown, one of the pioneers of the partnership between the U.S. Geological Survey and the Saudi government which began in the 1940s, spanned the next five decades and played such an important role in the development of the kingdom. The map and envelope design closely match that of the geological maps of Saudi Arabia issued by the USGS since the 1950s. - Perfectly preserved. OCLC 977893902.
Folio (556 x 735 mm). (6), VI, 90 pp. Tinted lithographed title with a pictorial border comprising 11 scenes of hawking by J. B. Sonderland, 2 hand-coloured lithographed plates of falconry equipment by Portman and von Wouw, and 10 (of 12) hand-coloured lithographed plates of hawks by Wendel after Joseph Wolf (8 of which mounted on board). Stored loosely in original cloth-backed printed boards. First edition of "the finest work on falconry that has ever been produced; not only on account of the beauty of the plates, wherein the hawks are depicted life-size and of the natural colours, but also for the general accuracy of the letterpress" (Harting). Schwerdt concurs that "the life size illustrations of birds are by far the finest ever produced in any book on falconry. It is impossible to describe the mellowness and beauty of the colourings." The "Traité de fauconnerie" is the rarest, most beautiful and most desirable book on falconry ever published. According to the exhibition catalogue documenting the falconry books in the Dutch Royal Library (The Hague, 1993), probably no more than 100 copies were printed, of which no more than 50 can be located today. - Covers of portfolio somewhat rubbed and stained; spine cloth and extremeties professionally restored. Some foxing and browning to plates; several marginal tears and chips professionally repaired and rebacked. Lacking 2 lithographed hawking scenes by J. Dillmann after Sonderland. Still an attractive set, uncommonly encountered in the original portfolio as issued. Harting 194. Schwerdt II, 150. Thiebaud 833. Nissen IVB 832. Fine Bird Books, p. 105. Zimmer p. 554.
8vo. Half-title and title, (4), 123, (1) pp. With 4 lithographed plates. Contemporary red morocco-backed cloth. One of 150 copies, rare. "A neat summary of nearly all that is necessary to be known in order to tame, train, and fly a hawk successfully" (Harting). - Cloth rubbed, a very good copy. Harting 217. Schwerdt II, 168.
4to. 2 parts in one volume. (34), 50, (18), 223 pp. With engraved frontispiece, title vignette, portrait, and 9 vignettes. Contemporary vellum. Author's presentation copy, later in the Harting library. First Italian edition, including the Latin original and another instructional poem by P. A. Bargeo. "First and best Italian edition of de Thou's famous Latin poem on hawking with an Italian translation" (Schwerdt). - The famous statesman and bibliophile J. A. de Thou (1553-1617) was a great enthusiast of falconry. His poem, in hexameters, is based on his own observations; it was written during the author's travels through France, Italy, and Germany. Among the nine engraved vignettes are four large falconry-themed headpieces. The portrait shows Cardinal de Beauveau (engraved by R. Pozzi after A. David). Finely printed in two columns on untrimmed laid papier. - Provenance: James Edmund Harting (engraved armorial bookplate to front pastedown), "ex dono Auctoris" (contemporary ink inscription to first title). - Some waterstaining and foxing. Harting 284. Schwerdt p. 261. Thiébaud 898 ("Belle édition").
Optica-print view of Mecca on laid paper (32 x 46 cm), with some parts highlighted in contemporary hand colour. An imaginary view of the port of Mecca, showing the supposed harbour connected to the Red Sea, published by Louis Mondhare, a well-known publisher of so-called optica prints. The print, meant for viewing through a "zograscope" - a viewer with a large lens and mirror giving an illusion of depth - emphasizes perspective and shows the straight lines characteristic of optica prints. In good condition, crudely hand-coloured.
8vo. XVI, 424 pp. Folding map frontispiece and 2 full-page maps to the text, 2 as plates, 23 plates. Original sand buckram, title gilt to spine and upper board, top edge gilt, others uncut. First and only edition. Important regional study of the Arabian Gulf, published in response to the grant of the Baghdad Railway concession by the Ottoman Government to a German-backed consortium. Assesses the economic, military and political implications of rival claims in the various states of the area. - Whigham was a well-connected Scottish author who emigrated to America and worked as drama critic on the Chicago Tribune, and as a war correspondent at the Spanish-American and Russo-Japanese Wars. A close friend and correspondent of British Persian Gulf opinion-makers Lord Curzon and Sir Percy Cox, Whigham wrote the book, based on his extensive travels in the region, at the request of Lord Curzon, who had "advised [him] to go to the Gulf [and] instructed his subordinate officials in that part of the world to give me all the assistance in their power." Whigham is probably best remembered as a prominent amateur golfer, winner of the second and third US Amateur Championships, and author of "How to play Golf", the first golf instruction manual illustrated from action photographs. - Ink ownership stamp of Charles C. Sterrett, an American Presbyterian missionary to the Christian population in the region, to the front pastedown. Binding a little rubbed and spotted, endpapers foxed. Small inked library stamp and cancellation to the title page, otherwise very good. Diba Collection 1978, 227. Wilson 243. OCLC 2987283.
Folio (212 x 333 mm). (2), XIII, 91 pp. With 29 full-page plates (of which 20 folding) including dozens of coloured maps, as well as a very large folding "Map of the world showing existing and proposed air transport routes" housed in a custom pocket on the inside rear board, as issued. Original printed grey boards with blue cloth spine. Sole edition of this large-format, pivotal early document in the development of international air travel - complete with all 29 plates and the often-lacking loose map. The principal concern of the British during this period was accelerating air transport between the vast reaches of their empire - and chief among these was the lengthy journey to India, via the Middle East. As noted on p. 5, the maximum range of commercial aircraft in 1926 was a mere 400 miles; perhaps partly for this reason, the existing and proposed air routes include numerous stops for refueling in the oil-rich regions of Syria, Iraq, and Iran. - The stated aim of the Air Ministry was in fact to reduce the journey to India to just 5 days (p. VI), and although bold proposals are put forward and illustrated for giant "airships" with a range of 4,000 miles, the then-current technology limited aircraft to a designated route along the northern coast of the Arabian Gulf. Facing the challenge of "the extreme heat and the height of the Arabian Plateau, both of which tend to reduce the load with which an aeroplane can rise from the ground" (p. 9), the route is amply illustrated on numerous folding maps, from Cairo via Gaza, Rutbah Wells (Iraq), Baghdad, Basra, Bushire, Bandar Abbas, Chahbari, Pasni, Karachi, Hyderabad, etc. - Other chapters cover fascinating proposals for "major air routes" between Ottawa, London, and Kingston, Jamaica; "the use of wireless in air traffic communications" (p. 62); early air routes in Australia and the United States; and so on. The plates include designs for proposed experimental "airships"; photographs of early airports, and maps of meterological phenomena. Particularly interesting is the "Map Showing Areas in Which Main Imperial Airship Routes Will Probably Develop" (facing p. 74), which indicates that alongside the Transatlantic route, the coasts of the Arabian Gulf (but not the interior) as well as the coasts of Africa will be the next targets of development.
8vo. (4), 54 pp, (1 integral blank leaf). Purple wrappers. Extremely rare sole edition of these definitive statements on slavery by both Fourier and his disciple, the Guadeloupe-born créole lawyer Charles Dain. Both Fourier’s article (“Remède aux Divers Esclavages”, pp. 43-54) and Dain’s “De l’Abolition de l’Esclavage” had also appeared in the impossibly rare "Première Serie" of the journal La Phalange (1836-40). Giving up his legal career in Paris, Dain (1812-72) turned to Fourier and the proto-Communists and was elected Representative for Guadeloupe by the newly-emancipated slaves there in 1848. - “Charles Fourier denounced British apprenticeship [an intermediate solution for emancipated slaves] and the compensation for slave owners embedded in the parliamentary emancipation bill of 1833: ‘And the fruit of this gigantic donation? Nothing other than a vicious circle, as we see in England, where […] one finds […] legions of poor, both theoretical and real” (Jennings, French Anti-Slavery, p. 44). “As far as the indemnity was concerned, Fourier opposed the need for it from the very first words of his [Remède aux Divers Esclavages]. He believed it was madness to spend millions on freeing the slaves, as the English government had done and as the anglophiles among the French advocated […] On the other hand, for Fourier, slavery was the same kind of problem as poverty […] The cause was the excessive fragmentation of landholdings which prevented small landowners from supporting the costs needed to work the land productively” (Simona Pisanelli, Economic Thought and Institutional Change in France, p. 69). - Fourier (1772-1837) and Dain thus believed in a ‘gradualistic’ approach to emancipation and considered slavery as just one of many ‘servitudes’ inflicted upon humanity by corrupt and immoral social strictures. Here, Dain comments that “what we especially call slavery is only the culminating and pivotal point where all of the suffering of society comes together”. These concepts ultimately made their way to America, influencing Albert Brisbane and the American Associationists (cf. Guarnerip, The Utopian Alternative: Fourierism in 19th-Century America, pp. 252f.). - OCLC shows just a handful of copies worldwide, including just one in the US – at the George Washington University Law Library (an apparently physical copy noted on OCLC with 26 holdings is in fact a digital reproduction). As noted above, examples of the Première Serie of La Phalange (1836-40) are of the utmost rarity (we can find no copies in auction records of the last 50 years). - The present copy sounds very similar to (and may well be) the copy sold at Pierre Bergé in 2013 for €1,180 (“la plaquette est rare. Exemplaire en partie debroche, manques de papier au dos”). - Traces of old block-stitching in the gutter; pages clean and fresh. A good copy. Goldsmiths' Library of Economic Literature II, 29695. Cf also Schmidt, Abolitionnistes de l'esclavage et réformateurs des colonies: 1820-1851, p. 199; Andrews, “Breaking the Ties: French Romantic Socialism and the Critique of Liberal Slave Emancipation”, The Journal of Modern History 85 (2013), pp. 489-527.
Large 4to (ca. 210 x 273 mm). XXXII, 392 pp. Unsophisticated modern full calf. Only edition of this rare work on the history of the Ottoman Empire. Includes biographical entries for sultans and other leading figures, topographical references, as well as architectural and religious entries. - Occasionally, illustrated copies containing a frontispiece, plates, plans and maps have been known to appear, but these do not seem to form part of the regular issue but rather were inserted in specially prepared copies, and "neither the British Library nor the Gennadius copies have them" (Atabey). - An untrimmed, wide-margined copy, occasionally a little stained but altogether well preserved, with a 19th century armorial stamp to the title-page. Atabey 2 (extra-illustrated copy). OCLC 35682561. Not in Blackmer.
8vo. 102, 2 blank, (8) pp. With 9 photographic prints, included in pagination. Original printed wrappers with a coloured illustration of the Kaaba on the lower cover. An explanatory pamphlet aiming to "enlighten and guide every Muslim pilgrim about the sacred message of Islam and the rules of Hajj". The five pillars are laid out in 14 chapters, including instructions for pilgrimage, prayer, almsgiving and fasting. With a portrait of Sheikh Abdullah Khayyat. The other illustrations show Al Tan'eem near the Mosque of A'isha, a pilgrims' camp at the Al Rahma Mountain of Arafat, a view of the Taraf around the Kaaba, as well as the Al Khaif Mosque in Mona, the ritual "stoning the devil" at Al Aqaba, the Al Safa Palace before its enlargement, a view of the mosque, water and electrical stations at Muzdlifa, and the Mosque of the Prophet in Medina before the beginning of the Saudi rule in 1925. - Slightly duststained. A good copy of this compact introduction to Islamic faith, traceable in a mere 5 libraries worldwide, only one of which in Europe (Leiden University Library). OCLC 80175743.
8vo. 44 pp. Ottoman Turkish in Arabic type. Original red printed wrappers. First and only edition. - A rare copy of what likely is the only extant written record of the situation of Muslims in Brazil in the 19th century, a minority formed mostly by former African slaves and their descendants. Abdurrahman was a crew member of one of two Ottoman warships thrown off their course to Basra by a storm on the Atlantic near Cape Verde, which dragged them in the opposite direction, to Rio de Janeiro. While his companions continued their voyage to the Arabian Gulf, Abdurrahman remained in Brazil, and his account focuses entirely on his religious work there. He describes the lessons he gave and a Portuguese booklet he prepared to outline the basics of Islam, which was memorized by most of his students, and he criticizes their way of life, including their former religions, their practice of fasting in the month of Saban instead of Ramadan, and the frequent baptism of Muslim children. The book includes geographical descriptions of Brazil and Rio de Janeiro and mentions tropical fruits unfamiliar to the author, who finishes with the route he took home to Istanbul a few years later, including stops at Lisbon, Cordoba, Tangier, Mecca, and Damascus. - While it discusses the voyage to the New World only briefly, this is in fact the second of two known accounts of the first voyage ever made to the American continent by the Ottoman navy, published only three years after the other travelogue (by Faik Bey). Abdurrahman wrote his account in Arabic and had it translated into Ottoman Turkish by Antepli Mehmed Serif. - A small waqf stamp to the final page. Covers slightly faded, else very good. Several copies in libraries worldwide, mostly in the United States, but none in auction records. Özege 20671. Baysal, Osmanli türklerinin bastiklari kitaplar, 2641. OCLC 68231927. Cf. Snowden, Accidental Turks in Brazil and Beyond. Kabacali, Gezi edebiyati seçkisi (2004).
4to. X, 188 pp. Publisher's cloth. Dustjacket. Traces Arab awareness of the West, which began in embryonic form when the French forces under Napoleon occupied Egypt in 1798. Examines the works of Arab writers who helped to formulate a new image of the West and to shape Arab response to the challenge raised by cultural contact between disparate worlds. Treats developments up to 1870. - Excellent copy in very good price-clipped dustjacket.
4to. XL, 657, (1) pp. 3 blank ff. With several illustrations and maps in the text. Publisher's cloth. Dustjacket. A compilation of translated sources covering the period from 1700 to the present. Sources include official and private archives, the periodical press, memoirs, Western journalists and travellers' accounts, literature, and official reports (including statistical data). Each document has been prefaced, translated and annotated by a specialist in the history and culture from which it was drawn. Enough information is provided so that every student can appreciate the value of a document and begin further exploration either of its historical context or its relationship to broader themes in modern Middle Eastern history. Themes include expansion of state power, changing gender roles, religious revival, nationalist mobilization, increasing participation in a wider global culture and economy, and the redefinition of traditions and identities. - With publisher's dustjacket. In excellent condition.
4to. 267, (1) pp. Publisher's cloth. Dustjacket. First published in 1924, during Arnold's professorship for Arabic and Islamic Studies at the School of Oriental Studies at the London University, a position he assumed after teaching in Aligarh, Lahore and Punjab for several years, as well as acting as Adviser to the Secretary of State for India from 1917 to 1920. The 1967 re-edition includes an additional chapter by the historian and editor of the academic journal "Middle Eastern Studies", Sylvia Haim: "The abolition of the Caliphate and its aftermath". - Small nick to lower edge of top cover, else very good in edge-worn and slightly scuffed dustjacket.
4to. 409, (1 blank), (16), 427-442, (3), (1 blank) pp. With numerous illustrations. Paperback. First edition. - Meticulous work by the French historian Brégeon, whose research focuses mostly on the French Revolution and the Napoleonic era, especially on the campaign in Egypt. The 1911 article "Les Graffiti de l'Expédition" by the Egyptologist Georges Legrain, who contributed to the first volume of Jacques de Morgan's "Catalogue des Monuments et Inscriptions de l’Egypte" (1894) by discussing graffiti in the area of Aswan, comprises the 16 unnumbered pages; pagination continues at 427. - Signs of use, but a very good, firm copy.
8vo. XVI, 298 pp., (4) pp. of ads. With the author's photo portrait frontispiece, 35 plates, and a folding colour map. Publisher's gilt blue cloth. First edition. "The book is a plain and unvarnished tale of the experiences of a frontier officer in times of peace as well as in those of war" (preface, p. IX). - Algernon Durand (1854-1923) was military secretary to the Viceroy of India and one of the earliest members of the Central Asian Society. He "found his métier as a soldier when he was appointed to command the troops in the brilliant little Hunza Nagar campaign in 1891, when he was wounded. He was then district commander at Gilgit. His [...] much read book, 'The Making of a Frontier', [...] is just a thrilling tale of happenings in that remote corner of the Empire at that time. He possessed the family gift or writing a clear and graphic account of his experiences, and it may be doubted whether any book written since is of greater value in describing the singularly wild nature of the country and people with whom he had to deal" (Obituary, JRCAS 11 [1924], p. 114). - Binding somewhat rubbed. Light brownstaining throughout; a faint waterstain to the portrait; inner hinges professionally repaired. Untrimmed copy with blindstamped presentation by the publisher on title-page. With accurate pencil underlinings and French annotations throughout, as well as numerous additions to the index, expanding the number of references to "Slave trade" from two to ten. - Provenance: ink ownership of the British officer H[enry] L[indsay] Archer Houblon (1877-1954), dated May 1904, to pastedown; somewhat later ownership "Fremont" on first blank. OCLC 8454039.
4to. 1 p. on bifolium. A unique account documenting the restoration of Turko-French relations after Napoleon's campaign in Egypt and Syria between 1798 and 1801, describing how several unspecified objects confiscated during the campaign were returned by the Ottoman press to the French. Fleurat, who served as chancelier provisoire to the French legation, here reports that he was accompanied by the orientalist and linguist Jean-Daniel Kieffer (1767-1833), who counter-signs the document, to the Aynalikavak palace in Istanbul. Here they were handed over the items by Müderris Abdurrahman Efendi, the first manager of the Mühendishane printing house (opened in Istanbul in 1797, the house that would publish the famous Cedid Atlas in 1803). The objects, Fleurat reports, were then transported to the French embassy for safekeeping. His account also mentions that the diplomat Jacques Argyropoulo, appointed by Ibrahim (Müteferrika) Effendi, the pioneer of printing in the Muslim world, was present at the handover, and refers to a list of the received objects which has probably not survived. - From the collection of the Turkish author, journalist, and publisher Sevket Rado (1913-88), founder of "Tifdruk" printing house. - Small tears to the left and right margins along the centrefold, not touching the text; a few minor edge flaws.
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.