Galland, Antoine (ed.).MareMagnum
4 361 résultats
8vo (98 x 160 mm). (18), 356, (28) pp. - (Bound after) II: Theophrastus / La Bruyère, Jean de (transl.). Les caracteres de Theophraste traduits du grec: avec les caracteres ou les moeurs de ce siecle. Sixième edition. Paris, Estienne Michallet, 1691. (32), 587, (5) pp. 18th century full calf with gilt supralibros of Louis-Robert-Hippolyte Bréhant de Plélo on both covers. Spine on five raised bands; compartments show gilt armorial crest. Marbled endpapers. Leading edges gilt. All edges red. Original edition of the first book published by the French orientalist Antoine Galland (1646-1715), soon to be famous for his influential translation of Alf Layla wa-Layla. "Galland, professor of Arabic at the Collège de France since 1709, had made three journeys to Turkey, the Levant and Palestine, and approached the Orient without prejudice and with an open mind. Following the example of Plutarch's Apophthegmata and the anecdote collections of Valerius Maximus, he set about collecting from Arabic, Persian, and Turkish works, such as the chronicles of Makin, of Bar Hebraeus, of Mirchond, from the Matla' us-sa'dain of Abdarrazzaq, from the Tag ut-tavarikh of Hodsha Effendi, from Sa'adi's Gulistan, from Latifi and other sources, remarkable sayings to show his readers that the orientals did not rank behind the West for wit, powers of observation, and pithiness of expression. To these he appended maxims taken from the collections of sayings published by Erpenius and Golius" (cf. Fück). Although a reissue appeared at Den Haag the same year, the work is very rare; Fück reports that he knows it only from the reprinted text in the supplement to d'Herbelot's Bibliothèque orientale (1780). - Bound first is the sixth edition of La Bruyère's Theophrastus translation, containing 77 new characters, including Le distrait, Onuphre, the portraits of La Fontaine, Jean de Santeul, and others. - Provenance: from the library of the French diplomat and military officer Louis-Robert-Hippolyte Brehant de Plélo (1699-1734), bound for him with his arms stamped in gilt to both covers (OHR, 1715, fer no. 1). Brehant de Plélo married Louise-Françoise Phélipeaux de la Vrilliere, daughter of a secretary of state of Louis XV. He fell during the siege of Danzig on 27 May 1734. Latterly in the collection of the French industrialist and patron Pierre Bergé (1930-2017); acquired from the sale of his estate. I: Chauvin I, 81A. Tchemerzine-Scheler III, 802. Brunet III, 720. Fück 101. OCLC 14147406. - II: OCLC 32361379.
Folio (254 x 400 mm). (1) f., 14 cols., (1) p. (= 5 ff. in all). Modern blue-grey paper covers. First Dutch edition. Edward Heynes' account of the first successful attempt of the British (the third altogether) at establishing trading privileges with Mocha and a commercial presence there, previously published in English within the first volume of Samuel Purchas' collection "Hakluytus Posthumus, or Purchas his Pilgrimes" (1625). - The ship "Anne Royall", captained by Andrew Shilling, sailed in April 1618 up the Red Sea and visited Mocha from April 11 till August 20. Heynes, secretary to Sir Thomas Roe, gives an extensive account of the reception by the governor of Mocha, customs of the population, and prospects of commerce. "[The] British delegation lands, and presents the governor with six yards of broadcloth stammell, six yards of green material, a shotgun and mirror. It is striking that the British respond to their hosts' food gifts with gifts of technology. This form of reciprocity sends a message of power, for not only does it reflect the greater sophistication of their economy, it also implies that the Yemenites are no match militarily" (Malkiel, p. 10). Includes a short account of a trip made by Heynes' fellow-merchant Joseph Salbank to Sinan. - Published as part 18 of the series "Wijd-beroemde Voyagien na Oost- en West-Indiën, gedaan door de Engelschen", with a detailed index. Slight foxing throughout, but on the whole well preserved. Tiele 8. Cf. David Malkiel, Strangers in Yemen (Berlin/Boston 2021), p. 9-11. Not in Henze, Howgego, Cox etc.
Folio (235 x 338 mm). 2 parts in 1 vol. (6) pp., 1 blank leaf, 288 pp. (8), 474, (2) pp. With 2 different woodcut printer's devices on title-page and colophon, half-page woodcut on reverse of title-page (repeated on half-title of pt. 2), and numerous diagrams in the text. Contemporary full limp vellum binding with later ink spine label (wants ties). First edition of "the most important work of its kind in Arabic literature" (cf. Poggendorf), this copy inscribed by the German humanist Wilhelm Xylander (1532-76), sometime rector of Heidelberg University. - Ibn al-Haytham (965-c. 1040), known as Alhazen in the Western tradition, has been hailed as "the greatest Muslim physicist and one of the greatest students of optics of all times [...] The Latin translation [...] exerted a great influence upon Western science. It showed a great progress in experimental method. [Alhazen's book contains] research in catoptrics, [a] study of atmospheric refraction, [a] better description of the eye, and better understanding of vision [as well as an] attempt to explain binocular vision [and the] earliest use of the camera obscura" (Sarton). "This combined edition served as the standard reference work on optics well into the 17th century, influencing scientists such as Brahe, Kepler, Galileo, and Descartes" (Norman). - "The Arab physicist Alhazen preserved for us all that was known by the ancients in the field of optics and added some contributions of his own. His book remained a standard authority thru the 1600s. He understood that light emanated spherically from a point and greatly improved on Ptolemy's uncertain rule for refraction which, he showed, held true only for small angles. He covered many cases of reflection and refraction and his explanation of the structure and function of the eye was followed for 600 years" (Dibner). - The 'Liber de crepusculis', the work on dawn and twilight included in Risner's 'Opticae thesaurus' and attributed to Alhazen, is actually the work of his contemporary Abu 'Abdallah Muhammad ibn Mu'adh al-Jayyani (cf. Norman; DSB, p. 208). The optical study by the Polish scholar Witelo, likewise here included, is "a massive work that relies extensively on Alhazen [and] offers an analysis of reflection that was not surpassed until the 17th century" (Norman). - Binding stained; edges worn. Interior browned with some waterstaining throughout the margins; occasional edge defects. Inscribed on the title-page by Wilhelm Xylander, professor of Greek and Logic at Heidelberg and editor of numerous translations from Greek (cf. ADB XLIV, 582-593): "Xylandri dono Antonius Roverius Nemausensis possidet" (followed by a Greek dedication and Xylander's signature). The recipient Antonius Roverius (Antoine Rouvier) from Nîmes had matriculated at Heidelberg on 1 July 1572. - Later in the library of the famed microscope builder and collector Alfred Nachet (1831-1908) and his son Albert. - An appealing copy of a principal work of Arabic science as received in the West with important provenance. VD 16, H 693 (H 692, V 1761). Adams A 745. BM-STC 383. Dibner 138. Norman 1027. Honeyman I, 73. DSB VI, 205 & XIV, 461. GAL I, 470. Poggendorf I, 31. Duncan 113. Sarton I, 721. Carmody p. 140. Thorndike/Kibre 803, 1208. Vagnetti D62. BNHCat A 241. IA 103.705. Brunet I, 180. Arabick Roots Doha AR79. Collection Nachet (1929), 50 (this copy).
Folio (210 x 310 mm). 2 vols. (5), 650 pp. (2), 764 pp. Text printed within rules, typographic headpieces. Contemporary Islamic brown goatskin with fore-edge flap, boards stamped in silver ornamental borders and central arabesque, flap with ornamental rule. Uncommon second edition of this classic Arabic dictionary, al-Jawhari's "Tag al-luga was-sihah al-'arabiya" (The Crown of Language and the Correctness of Arabic), translated into Turkish by Muhammad al-Wani (d. 1592), deriving its title from the Turkish genitive form of the author’s name, Wangulu or Vankulu. - Jawhari himself reached only the letter Dad before he died in an unsuccessful attempt at human flight from the roof of a mosque in 1003 AD (the work was subsequently completed by his student Ishaq Ibrahim bin Salih al-Warraq). To this day the dictionary remains an indispensable companion of Arabic philologists in both the East and the West; "manuscripts are to be found in almost every library" (Brockelmann). "In this great dictionary [the author] codified pure Arabic as based on the criticism of his predecessors' preparatory studies as well as his own experiences and collections. The 'As-sihâh’ is arranged in an alphabetical order, according to the final, and not the first, rooter of the words [...] This system, which was later adopted by other large Arabic dictionaries, attempts to supply those in search of rhyming words with a handbook" (Goldziher, A Short History of Classical Arabic Literature, 1966, p. 70). - Dampstains at end of vol. I and intermittently to vol. II, minor staining to fore-edge. A few scuffs and rubs to binding, but a sound and imposing set, generally clean internally. - Provenance: from the library of the British diplomat and linguist Sir Gore Ouseley (1770-1844), first baronet, with his contemporary signature to the front flyleaf of each volume. Ousely travelled to India in 1787 and established a cloth factory. He lived a relatively solitary existence and spent his leisure time studying Persian, Bengalese Hindi, Arabic, and Sanskrit, becoming an elegant speaker and writer of Persian. An acquaintance of the oriental scholar Sir William Jones, Ouseley was named ambassador extraordinary to the court of Fath Ali Shah in Persia in 1810, negotiated several treaties, and returned to England. He was one of those responsible for the founding of the Royal Asiatic Society in London in 1823 and was associated with the formation of the oriental translation committee, of which he was elected chairman. He became president of the Society for the Publication of Oriental Texts, formed in 1842. Özege 22504. OCLC 773846601 (a single copy, BnF). Cf. GAL I, 128.
4to. 3 vols. XXXVIII, 319 (but: 337), (1) pp. VIII, 379, (1) pp. XII, 556 pp. With 50 (instead of 51) engraved plates and maps (9 [instead of 10] of which folding), 2 in original hand colour. Contemporary giltstamped full calf with giltstamped spine-labels. First edition: a scarce series of research papers of one of the leading learned societies of the 19th century, focusing on India and Persia. Among the most prominent authors are James Mackintosh, George Staunton, Henry Salt and Vans Kennedy. The "Transactions" include an English translation of the fifth sermon of Saadi, a discussion of the Akhlaq-i Nasiri, the account of a journey from al-Qatif to Yanbu, a description of the character of Muhammad, and an account on the deciphering of cuneiform, as well as papers on antiquities and archaeology, literature, religion, linguistics, geology, history, current affairs, and anthropology. The illustrations depict mainly archaeological finds and excavation sites, including the caves in Salsette and the excavations at Elephantana, as well as architectural ornamentation, showing the Temple of Boro-Budor, cuneiform writing, and "a curious case in Arabian surgery" involving a wounded arm. - Provenance: "Ochterlony" bookplate to front pastedown of volume II, most likely that of David Ochterlony (1758-1825), commander of the British East India Company and British Resident at the Mughal Court in Delhi. Later obtained by the Schlagintweit brothers, eminent German 19th century scientists and explorers (their library blindstamps "Ex Bibliotheca Schlagintweit" to title-pages). Last in the collection of Prince Konrad of Bavaria (1883-1963), a member of the Bavarian Royal House of Wittelsbach (his bookplate to pastedowns of two volumes and front free endpaper of the other, his library stamp to half-titles). - Bindings professionally restored; vols. I and II lacking title-labels. Tears in gutter of one folding plate repaired with old adhesive tape (not touching image). Some minor spotting, offsetting of plates and text; light marginal dampstaining to a portion of volume two. A scarce work with fine provenance. OCLC 977182244.
4to (146 x 201 mm). (6), 164 ff. With woodcut border surrounding title-page and woodcut initials throughout. 19th century full calf ruled in blind, bound for the Inner Temple Library, London, with two morocco spine labels. All edges red. First English edition of one of the most important historical works of the first great age of discovery, "very rare" (Hill). The author mentions several journeys to the "Moores of Arabia" (27r), such as one in 1487 "to Toro, which is a place that hath his harbour in the Straights of the red Sea in the Coast of Arabia", and other places "in the selfe same Straightes of the Redde Sea" (2v), the ships also passing by "Ormuse" (Hormuz, 3r) on their return journey from India to Cairo. - Most of the "Historie" is devoted to the great Portuguese thrust into Asia in the early 16th century, chronicling their epic expansion to India, the East Indies, and China between 1497 and 1505. Castanheda himself spent some two decades in the Portuguese colonies in the East, and so was well equipped to write this account. It is one of the primary sources for the early Portuguese trading empire, a model that the British were beginning to emulate at the time of publication. This work is equally important, however, for its American content, being the first to describe in detail the voyage of Cabral and his discovery of Brazil in 1500, while on his way out to the East Indies. Cabral's landing is the first recorded there, recounted in Chapters 29-31 of the present work. "A most interesting and rare book" (Sabin). - Originally published at Coimbra in 1551, the book was translated by "Nicholas Lichefield" (probably Thomas Nicholas, the well-known translator of the Tudor era). This edition is appropriately dedicated to Sir Francis Drake. - Binding lightly rubbed in places, but still very presentable. A few near-contemporary annotations and manicules. Upper corner of title-page professionally repaired. Front pastedown shows engraved armorial bookplate (ca. 1700) of the barrister-at-law Herbert Jacob of St Stephen's (Hackington) in Canterbury, who bequeathed his books to the Inner Temple, London. Subsequently removed from the Inner Temple Library, now bearing their winged-horse crest in gilt on upper cover, engraved bookplate on pastedown and two different ink stamps to title-page and variously throughout. Offered by Hordern House, Sydney, in 1998 and sold to the San Francisco collector Bruce McKinney; the lower pastedown shows the bookplate of his 2009 sale. A scarce title with good provenance, in an appealing modern binding. Alden/Landis 582/54. Hill 1035. Borba de Moraes 166f. Palau IV, 262. Penrose, Travel and Discovery in the Renaissance 274-279. STC 16806. Sabin 11391. Streeter Sale 26. Not in Church.
Halftone photolitho, 50 x 67 cm. A large bird's-eye view of Mecca showing the city with its main pilgrimage routes, centered on the Kaaba. The principal monuments and places in the city and its surroundings are identified by 64 numbers, with the key printed in the lower margin. The view is based on the classic engraving issued by the Austrian orientalist Andreas Hunglinger in 1803, itself a copy of a print by Ignace Mouradgea d'Ohsson made in 1791. - Overall in good condition.
Small folio (215 x 308 mm). Broadsheet, 2 pp. Printed in French and Arabic in two columns. A rare broadsheet from the first printing press in the Arab world, announcing the peace concluded between Napoleon and the rulers of Algiers and Tunis: "Je vous annonce qu'il nous est parvenu récemment des lettres de la part du Gouvernement de la République Française, et de son premier Consul, l'illustre guerrier Bonaparte. Elles nous donnent avis que la paix a été conclue définitivement entre la République Française et les royaumes d'Alger et de Tunis. Que Dieu en soit loué! [...] Habitans de l'Égypte! Dieu favorise toutes les entreprises des Français et du premier consul Bonaparte, qui ne veulent que justice: la tranquillité, la sécurité et le bonheur des peuples [...]". Napoleon's peace treaty was intended to send a strong signal to the Muslim world and pave the way for more ready acceptance of French power in Egypt. - "The expedition of Napoleon Bonaparte to Egypt from 1798 until 1801 was a prelude to modernity. It was to change permanently the traditional Arab world [...] The French brought Arabic typography to Egypt, where it was practised under the supervision [...] of Jean Joseph Marcel [...]. Only a few days after the French troops landed [...] they set up the Imprimerie Orientale et Française there. It was an extraordinarily important turning point. For, leaving aside the Hebrew printing presses in Egypt of the 16th to the 18th centuries, until this date announcements and news adressed to Arabs there, as well as in other parts of the Arab-Islamic world, had been spread only in hand-writing or orally, by criers, preachers or storytellers" (Glass/Roper). - The productions of the Imprimerie included rare scientific and practical brochures, periodicals, but above all broadsheets and notices in French, Arabic and Turkish, intended for authorities, soldiers and the literate general population. The Imprimerie employed more than 30 men, including several Egyptians hired and trained on the spot, among them Yousef Msabky, later head of the royal printing press in Egypt. For the printing of Arabic and Turkish texts the Imprimerie had extensive typographical material at its disposal, including the entire set of oriental types that Monge had seized in Rome from the Congregatio Fide press. Jean-Joseph Marcel, himself a very competent Arabist, enlisted the services of the Turkish interpreter Elia Fatalla and of two scholars from Acre, Yakoub and Mikhaïl, who had fled the persecutions of Jazzar Pasha. - Folded horizontally. Untrimmed an in excellent state of preservation. Cf. D. Glass/G. Roper, The Printing of Arabic Books in the Arab World, in: Middle Eastern Languages and the Print Revolution (Gutenberg Museum Mainz 2002), p. 177-225, at 182.
8vo (160 x 244 mm). 456 pp. Lithographed Persian text, 25 lines of Urdu script to the page. Contemporary half leather with cloth covers (wants spine); original wrappers (front cover forming the title-page) bound within. Third Persian edition, printed in India, of "The Adventures of Haji Baba of Isphahan". The picaresque novel by the British diplomat James Morier (1782-1849), first published in English in 1824, satirised the Qajar dynasty in Iran, which supposedly caused the Iranian ambassador to Britain to lodge an official complaint. Translated by Mirza Habib Isfahani under the editorship of Shadan Bilgrami. - Binding rubbed and scuffed, extremeties chipped and bumped, spine missing. Interior clean and well preserved. Rare; no copy in institutional libraries listed in OCLC.
Engraved map, outline coloured. 580 x 260 mm. An antique map showing the East African coastline, extending from the mouth of the Red Sea to the Island of Zanzibar. The work was originally included in Karl Müller's "Geographi Graeci minores", along with many other maps of the region. - The map is highly detailed, showing many settlements, mountains, wadis, and more. The map is composed of four insets, with the largest focusing on the Somali coast. Most interestingly, Müller models one inset after a Greco-Roman periplus describing the western Indian Ocean. On this inset, Müller notes the travel times between adjacent ports, ostensibly following the notes in the periplus. - Fold toning.
Engraved map, outline coloured. 730 x 260 mm. An antique map of the upper portion of the Red Sea, referred to on the map as the Sea of Arabia, stretching from the western Gulf of Aden to central Eritrea. This region, one of the most important shipping lanes in the world, also includes parts of the modern-day nations of Yemen, Djibouti, and Somalia. The work was originally included in Karl Müller's "Geographi Graeci minores", along with many other maps of the region. - The map is highly detailed, showing many settlements, mountains, wadis, and more. Most interestingly, Müller provides Ptolemaic coordinates for some of these features, and the map credits Agatharchides, Arthemidorus, Pliny, and Ptolemy as its sources. Place names given range from Arabic to Greek. Seven inset maps are provided, including one showing the full Red Sea. The map also includes a view of the "Pic de Bab-El-Mandeb" (the "gate of tears"), a mountain which lies above the straits at the entrance to the Red Sea.
4to. (6), XLI, (1), 408, (14) pp., 1 blank leaf. Engraved title-page. With 24 numbered plates (7 of which folding), a folding map of Yemen (coloured in outline), and a folding table. - (Bound with) II: Michaelis, Johann David. Vragen aan een gezelschap van geleerde mannen [...]. Ibid., 1774. XLVI, 270, (2) pp. Contemporary half calf over marbled boards with giltstamped spine and spine labels. First Dutch translation of an important and famous account of the Danish royal expedition to the Middle East, Egypt, Persia and India (1761-67), the first scientific expedition to this area. Niebuhr's account is here bound with the Dutch translation of Michaëlis's work, containing a review of the first. "The expedition had been proposed by the Hebrew scholar Johann David Michäelis of Göttingen for the purpose of illustrating certain passages of the Old Testament, and initially envisaged only a single traveller, possible an Arabic scholar. However, the idea rapidly blossomed into a fully-fledged scientfiic expedi - tion. The team eventually assembled, for which there was no appointed leader, included Niebuhr as surveyor, along with Friedrich Christian von Haven, Peter Forskall, Christian Carl Kramer, Georg Baurenfeind, and a Swedish ex-soldier named Berggren'' (Howgego). Carsten Niebuhr (1733-1815) was the sole survivor, and his work represents an important contribution to the study of the Middle East. His map of Yemen, the first exact map of the area ever, remained the standard for the next 200 years. The plates include views of the mosques of Mecca and Medina, and 6 maps including the map of Yemen and of the Gulf of Suez. Furthermore it contains Arabic specimens from the Qur'an, with vowel points and decorations hand coloured. Niebuhr's "accounts are probably the best and most authentic of their day" (Cox). - Handwritten ownership on title-page cancelled, causing some ink spots to neighbouring pages. Extremities somewhat rubbed. A tear in the large map of Yemen repaired with tape; slight foxing to some plates along the fold lines. A good copy of this standard work. Howgego I, N24. Tiele, Bibl. 795f. Gay 3589. Cf. Atabey 873f. Cox I, 237f. Hamilton, Europe and the Arab world 48.
Ca. 620 original photographs (ca. 460 in black-and-white and ca. 160 in colour), 1 portrait reproduced from a painting, and 2 small portrait drawings. Various sizes (ca. 39 x 40 to 202 x 300 mm). Most photographs with handwritten Arabic captions in ballpoint on versos, some of which with official stamps, some with pasted mimeograph typescript captions in English. Stored in 11 display books. A handsome trove of photographs, apparently assembled by a Middle Eastern political scientist or journalist, illustrating the evolving history of various countries of the Arabian Peninsula and their political leaders during the second half of 20th century, with an emphasis on the Sheikhs of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, and Bahrain. - Some volumes focus on one or two politicians, with their portrait photographs and their various official appearances while welcoming foreign dignitaries, attending summits, military parades, celebrations, and competitions or award ceremonies. A large section of the archive shows King Fahd bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, including a photograph of him with his brother Turki Bin Abdul-Aziz (vol. 1), depicting him in London on the occasion of a lunch given by Margaret Thatcher, at a diplomatic meeting with Ronald Reagan, and at the "10th Arabian summit" in Tunis (vol. 6). Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz is seen meeting political leaders and ministers (among them Yasuhiro Nakasone and François Mitterrand, vol. 3), and the diplomat and Ambassador to the U.S. Prince Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud meeting Bill Clinton, then Gouverneur of Arkansas, and Vice President George Bush Sr. (Oval Office) for the AWACS plane contract (vol. 10). Another part is dedicated to the OPEC summits under Saudi oil minister Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani, meeting Bruno Kreisky in Vienna, as well as at venues in Algiers, Kuwait, Yugoslavia, Caracas, Geneva, Oslo, and other places (vol. 4). King Abdullah Bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud is given a splendid state visit in Britain, where he is welcomed by Prince Charles and shares a carriage with Queen Elisabeth (vol. 5). Other photos show Prince Mashour bin Saud bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, King Fahd's nephew, in London after being freed on bail for smuggling cocaine, and King Faisal during a stay in Khartoum (vol. 8). Another part of the collection shows Kuwaiti leader Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah receiving Yemeni representatives, as well as his successor Saad Al-Abdullah Al-Salim Al-Sabah and his predecessor Sabah III Al-Salim Al-Sabah (vols. 2, 5, 8). Furthermore, Bahrain's royal family is shown: Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa is depicted at a young age practising riding and falconry, and Sheikh Hamad Bin Isa Al Khlaifa (vols. 7, 10, 11) meeting Oman's royals, such as Sultan Qaboos bin Said, the Saudi minister Ghazi al-Gosaibi, and the Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi. Dubai's ruler Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum is depicted at the opening of "Asry dry dock", pouring holy water (vol. 11). - Two original photographs of well-known views of Mecca's Masjid al-Haram with the Kaaba from ca. 1885 and 1920 are added. The photographs are partly stamped and mostly annotated in Arabic (some in English and French), often with mounted labels on the versos for possible use by the press, some with small labels bearing Arabic captions. One photograph has a portion whited out for reproduction, a few photographs with studio imprint ("Zamani"), others with more detailed information, such as the name of the photographer ("Alain Nogue") or agency ("Sygma") on versos. - A wide-ranging, hitherto untapped archive which allows for various perspectives toward an analysis of international, global political diplomacy by Middle Eastern rulers and members of the Arab League, including numerous candid, personal images of the actors involved.
3 black-and-white photographs, ca. 15 x 12 cm each. Vintage gelatin silver prints. Photographed during an early 1970s state visit to Pakistan. All printed by Karachi's Eveready Studio with their name in the lower margin.
Two 4to files of ca. 30 leaves each, including distress signal code tables, tips for forced landings, colour-printed route maps, radio beacon maps, emergency airfield maps (folded), and double-sided airfield leaves dedicated to single airfields along the designated route. Original printed wrappers. Perforated and handbound with cords. Two air route books for pilots of the Royal Air Force flying from Cairo to Karachi during World War II, "designed to help [them] to execute flights vital to our fronts in all theatres of war. The information which [they] contain is therefore also of use to the enemy, and must be safeguarded at all times" (p. 1). - The books are in fact useful guides to airports along the way, the plans depicting airfields in Egypt (Cairo West, Almaza, Payne, Heliopolis, Lydda and Luxor), as well as in Bahrein, Sharjah, Jiwani, Karachi, Wadi Halfa, Khartoum, Sheikh Othman, Khormaksar, Riyan and other places. For each airfield general information like coordinates, the length of the runways, the nature of ground signals, existing hangars, repair and fuel facilities, expectable weather conditions, distances to other places, radio aids, and local currency, as well as timetables of morning and evening twilight are given. The folding plans show emergency airfields in Egypt, Palestine and Syria, Iraq, Persia, and the Arabian Gulf area, as well as the routes between the Middle East and India. - Further, the booklets include instructions on what to do after a forced landing in unknown territory, advising to ration water and attract attention of rescue aircraft through a spread-out parachute or fires, including the order: "Don't drink the compass alcohol". - There is no standard collation for the books, as they were added to with monthly supplements. With the handwritten note "Compiled 21.2.45" as well as a signature to inner covers. The "from" and "to" fields on the title-pages (i.e., the front covers) are filled out by the same hand. - Covers show some small creases and edge tears; a few small ruststains, but on the whole well-preserved specimens from wartime Royal Air Force use.
Engraved map. 860 x 690 mm. Extremely detailed chart of Perim Island (also called Mayyun in Arabic) in the Strait of Mandeb, at the southern entrance to the Red Sea. - Perim is a small but geopolitically important island at the entrance to the Red Sea. With the beginning of the French-backed Suez Canal project in the 1850s, the United Kingdom became convinced of the need to offset French power along the route. A number of options were undertaken to counter the French, including the occupation of Perim in 1856. The island was occupied by the Governor of Bombay, under the justification that it had been claimed by the East India Company in 1799 and was therefore already a dependency of India. Perim's inner harbour, as illustrated on the map, could accommodate very large vessels. It was consequently thought a good place for a coaling station, which was established in the 1880s. Water for the steam engine condensers was also provided on Perim (as labeled on the map). Shortly before this map was printed, during World War I, Ottoman forces landed on the island from Aden to attempt to take it and cut British communication through the Red Sea. The invasion was fought back and troops landed by the Royal Navy at Aden ended any future threat to the island. In 1967, the British attempted to have the island internationalized, to ensure the long-term security of the Red Sea-Suez route, but this was refused. In that year the island was handed over to the People's Republic of South Yemen. In 2008 the island was to be a component in the so-called Bridge of Horns, which was to link Yemen and Djibouti and be the largest bridge in the world. The Dubai-backed project did not proceed beyond the planning stage. The island was the site of a battle during the Yemeni Civil War, in which previously displaced Perim natives took the island back from Houthis with the aid of UAE forces.
Large 8vo (180 x 270 mm). 6 parts in one volume. 38, 12, 124, 134, 71, (1), 256 (instead of 258, lacking 253-254) pp. Each part with separate title-page. Lithographed Persian verse and prose, 19 lines of Urdu script to the page. Early 20th century green half cloth over red printed paper boards. Handwritten spine label. Indian-produced single volume set containing the works of Sheikh Saadi: the Qasids (elegies), the famous Gulestan (Rose Garden), Bustan (Orchard), Gjaualiat (lyrical poems), Mofradat, Rubayyat, etc. All pages divided into an inner and outer writing field. - Binding rubbed and a little wormed. Interior browned throughout, light worming and edge flaws to beginning and end; lacks a single leaf near the end of the volume. A few 20th century annotations in English and Persian.
8vo. 29, (1) pp. With one lithographed folding map. Contemporary giltstamped full calf bearing the tughra of Sultan Abdul Hamid II. Leading edges gilt. Endpapers with golden floral pattern. All edges gilt. First and sole edition of this historical study of the "March of the Ten Thousand", the retreat of Greek mercenaries immortalized in Xenophon's "Anabasis". The author retraces the soldiers' marching route, drawing on his own experience after having spent several years in Armenia. The map shows a portion of Higher Armenia with the author's own route, as well as that given by Xenophon. Strecker, a former Prussian artillery lieutenant, entered Ottoman service in 1854 and was appointed governor of Bulgaria's Vidin region from 1864 to 1865, when he was known as "Reshid Pascha". In later sources he also appears as a leader of the Ottoman militia, going by the name of "Strecker Pascha". - Spine slightly rubbed, title-page slightly foxed, with traces of a paper label to verso. Inscribed to Sultan Abdul Hamid II and signed in Ottoman Turkish by Strecker (as "Reshid Pasha") on verso of flyleaf, opposite the title. - From the library of Sultan Abdul Hamid II (1842-1918), the last Sultan of the Ottoman Empire to exert effective contol over the fracturing state and also remembered as a poet, translator and one of the dynasty's greatest bibliophiles. While his passion for books is memorialized by the many precious donations he gave to libraries all over the world and which mostly have remained intact to this day (including the 400-volume "Abdul-Hamid II Collection of Books and Serials" gifted to the Library of Congress), his own library was dispersed in the years following his deposition in 1909: books were removed to other palaces and even sold to Western collectors, the greatest part of his collection is today preserved in the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin. H. Rohrbacher, Georgien. Bibliographie des deutschsprachigen Schrifttums (Wiesbaden 2008), 902.
8vo. XXIX, (3), 397, (1) pp. With 3 maps (one a large folding map of the Empty Quarter at the end of the volume), 74 photo illustrations on plates, and 7 text illustrations. Publisher's brown cloth with title in gilt to spine. First edition, published simultaneously with the New York one. The preface was contributed by T. E. Lawrence. Among the many photograph illustrations is one of the earliest portraits of the Qatar royal family (facing p. 298). "In this book, Bertram Thomas relates some aspects of his journey in which he crossed the Rub' Al Khali (Empty Quarter) from Oman to Qatar, and provides geographical information about the peninsula of Qatar, especially the southern part. He also recorded his observations of the region stretching from the Gulf of Salwa to Al-Rayyan, where he met Sheikh Abdullah bin Jassim Al Thani, Emir of Qatar at the time (1930). The book includes photographs he took of Sheikh Abdullah, Mohamed bin Abdul-Latif bin Mani', and his brother Saleh bin Abdul-Latif bin Mani'. He gives some concise information about Al-Nuaija, Doha towers, and the castle" (Fikri). - Provenance: armorial bookplate of Arthur Garrard to front pastedown. Later in the collection of the Dutch traveller Ruud Verkerk. Macro 2185. M. H. Fikri, Qatar in the Heart and in History (2011), p. 46f. (illustrated).
Engraved map. 1245 x 690 mm (if joined). Fine large-format map of the southern portion of the Arabian Peninsula. Includes a large inset plan of Aden and smaller inset maps of the island of Socotra and a smaller map of the routes to Mecca. Illustrates the indigenous peoples, towns, topography and trade routes in the region. - 2 sheets, unjoined.
4to. (4) pp. With 2 woodcut vignettes. Sewn. Extremely scarce pamphlet on a naval battle in the Mediterranean near Cabo de Gata (Andalusia). It describes the destruction of a ship of corsairs from Algiers by the Spanish vessel "San Pedro" on 7 January 1621, killing 70 men. The victory proved important for the Spaniards, as the surviving corsairs provided them with useful intelligence, including information regarding the deployment of 30 Algerian vessels in the area, all seeking to rob other ships. However, the Ottomans were ignorant of any Royal Navy galleys which the Spanish suspected in the area, rather presuming them near Mallorca or Sardinia. - Large Jesuit woodcut vignette to the otherwise blank final page. Somewhat browned. Near-contemporary foliation in ink (205-206), suggesting the work was originally part of a larger volume. No copies traceable in libraries worldwide. Not in OCLC.
4to. (3) pp., final blank page. With woodcut illustration on the title-page. Sewn. Scarce account of a naval battle in the Mediterranean that took place near Cap de Begur (Catalonia) between a Spanish vessel and a ship of corsairs from Algiers in April 1623. The latter, carrying "50 Turcs, 4 captured Christians, a black Moorish woman, and a Mallorcan renegade", went up in flames. Allegedly the copy of a letter by a soldier of the Spanish Armada. The illustration shows the Ottoman vessel features 11 sailors at the helms wearing turbans. - Slightly dampstained. Near-contemporary foliation in ink (137-138), suggesting the work was originally part of a larger volume. Palau 61131. Not in OCLC.
Royal 8vo (24 x 16 cm). 14 (instead of 17) vols. With frontispieces and numerous illustrations (vol. 8 lacking one image). Contemporary richly gilt full cloth. Top edges gilt. - (2) The same. The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night. A Plain and Literal Translation of the Arabian Nights Entertainments. Vol. IV. (Including: Supplemental nights, vol. VI). (Colophons: USA), ibid., [ca. 1940]. Contemporary richly gilt and silvered full cloth. Top edges red. The first Burton Club edition of Richard Burton's celebrated translation of Alf Laylah wa-Laylah, commonly known in English as the Arabian Nights. These Arabic tales, cherished in Europe since the early 18th century, are often erotic in content, and in Burton's unexpurgated translation they outraged Victorian England. Burton included numerous footnotes and a scholarly apparatus, offering a vivid picture of Arabian life, which set his translation apart from earlier English renderings. Bold to a fault, Richard Burton travelled to Mecca, explored the African Great Lakes, shocked his readers with his candid travel accounts, and gained fame and riches with his translation of the Arabian Nights. The first edition was published in 1885-88 and re-issued by the Burton Club shortly thereafter. - The present set lacks volume 4 of the "Nights", as well as volumes 4 and 7 of the "Supplemental Nights". The volumes numbered "IV" and "V" of the "Supplemental Nights" are in fact volumes 5 and 6. In lieu of the missing tomes the collection includes volume 4 of the "Arabian Nights" and volume 6 of the "Supplemental Nights" from a later 16-volume Burton Club edition, which Ross dates ca. 1940. This later date is supported by the fact that this edition is not included in Penzer's thorough bibliography published in 1923. - Spines slightly faded; extremities lightly worn. A fine set, uncut and partly unopened. Penzer 131. (2) Scheherazade's Web: The 1001 Nights & Comparative Literature, J. Ross 10 & 11.
Large 8vo. X, 213, (3) pp. With 3 maps and 18 plates, some containing multiple images. Red cloth, blind-tooling on covers, title information in gold on spine. First edition of G. W. Bury's account of Yemen on the eve of WWI. Bury (1874-1920) was a British naturalist, explorer, Arabist and political officer in the British army, who spent most of his life in the Aden-Yemen borderlands. As a young man, he spent a year with the Abdali tribe in the Aden protectorate; he learned their language and even received the name Abdulla Mansur. Later in life, he was able to pass himself off as a local, because of his looks and command of colloquial Arabic. The British government made use of this by employing Bury as a political officer in the region and even escorting the British part of the Boundary Commission in the Dhala region of Yemen. - "At the outbreak of World War I, Bury's unique knowledge of the Arab tribesmen and the Turkish administration commended him to the British intelligence service, and in 1915 he was made 'political officer' to the Red Sea Northern Patrol with the rank of lieutenant in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve" (Howgego). - Very slight browning, small tear in the contents-page (outer margin). Overall in good condition. Howgego IV, B99. Macro 642. Shapero, The Islamic World (2003), 163. Smith, The Yemens, 59. Sotheby's, Burrell sale, lot 136. Cf. Canton, From Cairo to Baghdad British travellers in Arabia, pp. 170-176.
8vo. VI, 261 pp. Original printed paper wrappers. Document printed by the government of the United States of America, concerning "the escalating level of arms sales to Gulf states" (p. V). Included are statements of witnesses, memorandums, tables and other important documents concerning the (illegal) arms trade. Occasionally a marginal annotation in red ink. Otherwise in very good condition.