4493 risultati
4to. 8 pp. With woodcut title vignette and armorial headpiece. Wrapperless pamphlet. Very rare report about one of several unsuccessful attempts by Muslim forces to recapture Oran, causing the loss of five Algerian and two Ottoman battle ships. Published anonymously by José Freire de Monterroyo Mascarenhas (1670-1760), the polyglot editor of numerous travel accounts and topical pamphlets. - In Spanish hands since 1509, Oran had been captured by the Turks in 1708 while Spain was preoccupied with the War of the Spanish Succession. Spanish rule was re-established in Oran in July 1732, after which the fleet and the soldiers sent by Philip V returned to Spain, leaving a garrison of six thousand men in the city. In August of the same year, Hassan Bey intended to retake Oran, having asked for help from the Bey of Algiers. Hassan Bey repeatedly attacked the city for several months, allying himself with the Turks and the Algerians, but the city would remain under Spanish rule until 1792, when it suffered a massively destructive earthquake and King Charles IV handed the city back to the Ottoman Empire. - Rare; only 5 copies traceable in libraries worldwide. Barbosa Machado II, 856. Inocêncio V, 348. BGUC Misc., 81. Fonseca, Pseudonymos, 236. OCLC 27862273.
229 original photographs, 1 portrait reproduced from a painting, and 2 portraits printed on thin cardboard (one round-shaped). Various sizes (ca. 74 x 110 to 201 x 282 mm), printed both in colour and black-and-white. Some photographs with handwritten Arabic captions in pen on verso; a few with pasted mimeograph typescript captions in English. Stored in 5 display books. A large private photo archive, apparently assembled by a professional Middle Eastern journalist or press photographer, illustrating the reign of HRH Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan (1918-2004), Father of the Nation and the ruler of Abu Dhabi for more than 30 years. Some pictures show HRH Sheikh Zayed welcoming foreign dignitaries such as the Syrian president Hafez Al Assad, Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and French president Valery Giscard d'Estaing; others display industrial and cultural aspects of the Emirates, ranging from oil production in the desert to camel races and falconry. Another part of the set shows off prominent landmarks, including the Al Badiyah mosque, the oldest mosque of the Emirates, the forts of Al Hayl, Al Bithnah, and Al Jahili, the Blue Souq market hall in Sharjah, as well as Earth Park and the Zayed Sports City Stadium in Abu Dhabi. In addition, several images record National Day celebrations at the foot of Volcano Fountain in Abu Dhabi, demolished in 2004, but also show the Dubai skyline, military parades, and sailing vessels. A picture of an Iranian Phantom fighter-bomber flying over the Tunb islands shortly before Iranian forces occupied them in 1971 is a rare asset to this archive. - Mostly stamped and/or annotated in Arabic (and some in English) on versos for possibly use by the press, but not traced in the UAEhistory, Keystone or Hulton/Getty press photo archives. A few images have marginal tears or creases; one with a portion whited out for reproduction. Impressive in its extent and its wide variety of motifs, this uncommon set of not widely circulated photographs documents Abu Dhabi's transformation into a modern metropolis since the early 1970s.
Six engraved maps, all in four segments on orange cloth with title labels. All ca. 68 x 54 cm. Stored in a contemporary marbled slipcase. A fine set of six maps, comprising all the Near East and Middle East maps from Weiland's great "Allgemeiner Hand-Atlas" (general hand atlas) published by the Geographical Institute in Weimar. - Includes: Turkey and Levant ("Das osmanische Asien", 1829); the Arabian Peninsula ("Arabien", 1834); Persia ("Iran, Afghanistan und Beludschistan", 1828); Africa (1831); Northern Africa ("Das nordwestliche Africa oder die Staaten Fez und Marokko, Algier, Tunis und Tripoli, nebst der Wüste Sahara", 1827); and the Nile Valley with the south-western coast of Arabia ("Das nordöstliche Africa oder Aegypten, Nubien, Habesch, Kordofan und Darfur", 1829). - All with engraved labels of the Paris map dealer and publisher Charles Simonneau with titles inscribed in French. Some mild foxing throughout, but altogether fine. Slipcase worn but professionally repaired. Cf. Espenhorst p. 24; Le Gear 6107 (1848 ed.); Al-Qasimi (2nd ed.), p. 281 (Weiland's map of Arabia, 1839 edition).
Foolscap folio (ca. 205 x 330 mm). (30) and (31) ff. (rectos only) of duplicate typescript with occasional manuscript corrigenda and addenda. Split-pin fastener in the top left-hand corner of each month. Unpublished confidential daily field reports from the Sinai and Palestine campaign of the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I, fought by the Arab Revolt and the British Empire against the Ottoman Empire and its Imperial German allies. The reports include the critical period between the Battle of Beersheba in late October and the fall of Jerusalem at the end of 1917. - Usually comprising one leaf for each day of the month, the individual reports commence with an overview of the brigade's activities, followed by further details for each regiment. The account of 9 November, e.g., records the strategically highly important advance on Burayr, one of the first places to be captured by the Allied Forces from the Ottoman Empire, consolidating the British hold on positions controlling the approaches to Jaffa and Jerusalem: "A great day for the Brigade 5th and 7th Regts. moving parallel on left and right respectively and 6th in support were heavily shelled from right flank; but made Bureir and Huleikat without opposition from those places, but had number of casualties from this shell fire. Great quantities of stores waggons and material of all sorts taken 7th Regt took a convoy of about 150 waggons 350 prisoners and many animals most of latter in a wretched condition at Kaukabah. Very many abandoned waggons on the road and stores being looted by Arabs. In afternoon moved on again and 5th Regt supported by one Sqdn of 7th most dashingly rushed another convoy of over 100 wagons and took over 350 prisoners. This convoy subjected to heavy shell fire from enemy on friend and foe alike. Squadron of 7th attached to 5th cleverly took 231 more prisoners in the dark [...]". - The 2nd Light Horse Brigade, a mounted infantry brigade of the Australian Imperial Force consisting of the 5th, 6th and 7th Light Horse Regiments, formed a very distinctive national force within the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, the British and allied army that drove the Ottoman Turks and their German allies back across the Sinai desert in 1916, into Palestine in 1917, and went on to capture Damascus on the first day of October 1918, shortly before the armistice. - Lacks the sheet for the first day of each month; reports of 9 November and 14 December comprising two leaves. Both first leaves (2 November and 2 December) detached, with some marginal loss, as well as slight loss of text to 2 November. Occasional marginal chips and creases throughout, early leaves tanned. - From the Paul Lucas Collection of Australian military history. A unique survival.
12mo. 180 pp. Near-contemporary half calf over marbled boards with giltstamped spine title. First edition; one of the earliest Middle-Eastern lithographed publications: an Arabic letter-writing guide for the use of secretaries and scribes in Algeria. Reprinted in 1904. - Publisher's signature stamped to verso of title as copyright protection. Stamped ownership of the private oriental scholar Carl Mayreder of Vienna, member of the Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft, to the title-page, with ticket of the Viennese bookbinder Georg Mayer (dated 1876) to the lower pastedown. OCLC 493647399.
4to. 15 pp., final blank. Unsewn pamphlet. Rare Portuguese report of the 1790 Siege of Izmail during the Russo-Turkish War of 1787-92, which resulted in the sacking of the fortress of Izmail (in the region of Budjak, now Ukraine). The capture of this stronghold, considered impregnable, was seen as a catastrophe in the Ottoman Empire, while in Russia it was glorified in the country's first national anthem "Let the thunder of victory sound!". The Russians began besieging the city in March 1790 and started attacking in December, leading to a bloody battle of 22 December. Ottoman forces suffered more than 26,000 killed, and many others were wounded or captured. The account mentions prominent historical figures, including the Russian general Alexander Suvorov (1730-1800) and the Spanish admiral José de Ribas (1749-1800). - With small marginal flaws not affecting text. Rare; only two copies traced in library catalogues internationally (Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal; New York University). Dupuy & Dupuy, Encyclopedia of Military History (2nd ed.), 698. BGUC Misc., 514.
4to. 8 pp. With woodcut title vignette. Printed sheet folded into a pamphlet, unsewn and unbound. Rare Portuguese account of one of several unsuccessful 18th century attempts by Muslim forces to recapture Oran. This operation took place in March and April of 1759, nearly three decades after the Spanish conquest of the city in 1732. Oran was repeatedly attacked by Algerian and Ottoman forces, but remained under Spanish rule until 1792. The report concludes with a table showing the numbers of cannonballs, shells and bullets fired in the battle. - Light browning; folds weakeend; uncut and untrimmed. Only seven copies traced in library catalogues internationally. A rare historical source on an otherwise poorly documented military campaign. BGUC Misc., 7835. OCLC 504039661.
12 maps, various sizes and scales. Rare collection of maps relating to the proposed construction of a railway between Haifa and Baghdad. In the 1920s the British contemplated building such a railway that would have connected the Mediterranean with the capital of Iraq, ostensibly to shore up their imperial rule, support the British-backed Arab government of Iraq, and secure the oil pipeline already running from the Mosul oilfields to Haifa. They were also aware that developments of aerial warfare made the Suez Canal susceptible to aerial attacks in wartime, and alternative military routes across the Middle East to India were sought. However, a series of economic difficulties trumped political and military expediency, and with the outbreak of the Second World War, the dream of a trans-Middle Eastern rail service evaporated. - The present collection includes: 1) Baghdad (Valleys of the Euphrates and Tigris from Kirkuk (N-S) and Ramadi to Kermanshah (E-W), Baghdad at the centre. Scale 1:1,000,000. 2) Untitled French map, showing Baghdad to Deir-ez-Zor (E-W) and Mosul to Baghdad (N-S). Bureau Topographique des Troupes françaises du Levant, May 1933. Colour-printed. 850 x 630 mm. 3) Untitled map showing the area between Abu Kemal on the Euphrates and Tikrit on the Tigris. 4) Jaffa-Nablous. Jaffa-Amman (E-W). Reproduction of a "carte de reconnaissance" by E. L. Ottoman. Scale 1:200,000. Paris, Service Geographique de l'Armee, 1930. Colour-printed. 690 x 540 mm. 5) Four air photo maps showing Holt's Zerka Valley Alignment (thus titled by hand, referring to Major A. L. Holt, R.E.). Haifa-Baghdad rly. survey. Trans-Jordan. Surveyed at War Office from photographs by the R.A.F. ground control under the direction of Major R. L. Brown, R. E. Showing a section of the Jordan river and the country east to Jerash. Colour-printed, with the proposed rail route marked in crayon with annotations. Scale 1:24,000. Each map 940 x 730 mm. 6) Four manuscript maps maps, coloured: a) Haifa-Baghdad Railway. Geological Map of Zerka Route, by G. S. Blake, B.Sc., F.G.S. 1934. 1350 x 530 mm. b) Haifa-Baghdad Railway, Geological Plan and Section, by G. S. Blake. 1380 x 880 mm. c) Map of Zerka Route. Haifa-Baghdad Railway. 1500 x 750 mm. d) Geological Section from Damascus to Rutba to show westerly inclination of strata. 1200 x 340 mm. Geological section along proposed route of Haifa Baghdad railway from the Jordan to the Euphrates. - Some edge tears with occasional loss to paper but not to the map. A rare survival.
Large 4to (235 x 272 mm). (8), 164 pp. Contemporary paper wrappers. Inaugural dissertation by the orientalist Martin Hoogvliet (b. 1814), containing an extract edition and translation of this important history of Muslim Spain, entitled "Al-mo'ajeb fi talkhíss akhbári-l-maghreb" ("The Promoter of Admiration, or a compendious History of the West"), written by the Moroccan historian Al-Marrakishi (b. 1185). Based on the ms. in the library of Leyden (No. 546). Treats the Aftasid dynasty and the work of Abdul Majid ibn 'Abdun Al-Yaburi (from today's Évora in Portugal). - Untrimmed, uncut copy. OCLC 187471341.
Small 8vo. 2 vols. (16), 286 pp. (8), 195, (1) pp. Contemporary limp vellum (modern endpapers). Very rare first Spanish translation of this sensational account, which spurred numerous re-printings, piracies, and abridgements. A perfect ideal of the 'Oriental despot', the recent exploits of Nadir Shah (Tahmasp Quli Khan, 1698-1747) fascinated his European contemporaries as much as the shocking overthrow of the Ming Dynasty by the barbarian Manchus a century earlier. From humble beginnings as a shepherd-boy, Nadir's rapid conquest of much of Western Asia and his prowess as a military leader earned him (later) comparisons to Napoleon. - The present work, translated by Jacinto de Lisasueta, was based on the "Histoire de Thamas Kouli-Kan, Sophi De Perse" published at Amsterdam earlier that year. - Barbier mistakenly supposed the French original to have been authored by J. A. du Cerceau, but “this attribution is clearly incorrect, because the book deals with events up to 1739, while du Cerceau died on the 4th of July, 1730" (Lockhart, Nadir Shah, p. 315). Today, it is supposed that the Histoire was based instead on the accounts of the Jesuit missionary Kruzinski (1675-1756) who was active in the Safavid Empire between 1707 and 1728. - Light browning; occasional repaired edge flaws. Recently rebound in slightly differing vellum, with new endpapers. Vol. 2 bears the collection drystamp of Victor Arce Blanchard. Aguilar Piñal, 6, 684. OCLC 807763638. Not in Palau.
Folio (225 x 332 mm). 2 parts in one vol. (12), 143, (1) pp. (6) pp., 1 blank f., 96 pp. With printer's woodcut device to both title-pages. Contemporary half vellum over papered boards with faded handwritten spine title. Second edition of this "at least linguistically rather unusual combination of a Georgian and a Turkish grammar, using the Georgian types first displayed in 1629" (Smitskamp). This is "an almost line for line reprint of the 1643 edition, only distinguishable by the 'Iterum imprimatur' [...] The work is set in mkhedruli type that has no upper case, but upper and lower case khutsuri type (the sacred script) is also displayed, absent in the 1629 'Alphabetum'. In the second part, containing a Turkish grammar (the third of its kind, after those by Megiser [1612] and du Ryer [1630]), the Hebrew and Syriac scripts [...] are also discussed as vehicles of the Arabic or Turkish language. Maggio mentions della Valle as his instructor in Turkish [...] At the end of the second part a Turkish translation is printed of the 'Corolla B.M. Virginis', a widely used devotional prayer" (ibid.). - Binding lightly rubbed. Some browning throughout; occasional worming in the margins. A few contemporary ink corrections in Georgian script. Removed from the library of the Capuchin mission to Trabzon, Turkey (Missione dei Cappuccini di Trebisonda) with their stamp to the title-page. Smitskamp, PO 227. Lang 167. Vater/Jülg 140.
80 x 27 cm. Ink and gold dust on paper. With large Tughra. Concerns an order of horses. The document was given to a British sailor whose family preserved it until recently.
4to. (2), 12 pp. Contemporary bronze-varnished boards. Rare dissertation on early Hebrew and Arabic poetry, with a few specimens. A second part was published separately. - Boards rubbed. Printed dedication to Eric Waller. From the library of the Swedish bishop and writer Eric Waller (1732-1811) with his bookplate on front pastedown. OCLC 839100044.
Large 4to. (4), 175, (1) pp. With a folding engraved plate. Contemporary half calf with giltstamped spine title over red marbled boards. First edition of one of the earliest studies of the Rosetta Stone, published some 18 years before Champollion deciphered the text. N. G. Palin (1765-1842) was a leading Swedish diplomat whose postings included Madrid, Vienna, Dresden, and Constantinople. He made several journeys to Asia Minor, Greece, and Egypt, twice reaching the Cataracts of the Nile. On leave from 1824, he devoted all his time to his Egyptological studies. - Binding only very slightly rubbed; spine professionally rebacked preserving gilt title label and old library label. Paper a little browned; bookplate of the Portuguese historian Francisco Soares de Lacerda Machado (1870-1955) to flyleaf. Rare. Gay 1792. Ibrahim-Hilmy II, 194. Brunet VI, 29107. Kayser I, 57. OCLC 40974048.
Small folio (ca. 210 x 314 mm). (10), 308, (12) pp. With engraved title-page and 5 full-page engraved illustrations in the text, as well as several woodcut initials and woodcut printer's device. Contemporary full vellum. All edges red. Second, improved Latin edition of this famous account of a pilgrimage to the Holy Land by the Polish Prince Mikolaj Krzysztof Radziwill (1549-1616), frequently translated and reprinted. First published in 1601; the present edition is corrected and expanded. - During his two-year journey from 1582 to 1584 Radziwill visited not only Palestine, but also Syria, Egypt, Crete, Cyprus, Italy and Greece. "Radziwill, in his account of the pilgrimage to the Holy Land and Egypt, described the ethnic diversity of the inhabitants of these lands. Critics underline the fact that his descriptions were ethnographic in character and quite objective. His 'Peregrynacja' was published in Latin and in Polish and apparently was quite widely read" (S. Grodz, Islam in Polish-Lithuanian/Ottoman Encounters, in: The Character of Christian-Muslim Encounter, Leiden 2015, p. 234). - The emblematic illustrations show sailboats in a fierce storm, such as Radziwill himself encountered, as well as appropriate Biblical quotations in banners decorated with maritime elements, but also a plan of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem (a separate appendix describes the prayers and songs there to be sung). - Binding somewhat brownstained and a little warped; upper hinge starting. Paper evenly browned throughout, occasional brownstains. Provenance: from the library of Duke Franciszek Maksymilian Ossolinski (1676-1756), Polish politician in the service of the exiled Stanislaus I. Leszczynski and an important collector, with his autograph ownership inscription "Ex Libris F. M. Ducis de Tencryn-Ossolinski", dated Lunéville, 12 Sept. 1741, to front pastedown, and a three-line handwritten French quotation from St. Augustine to lower pastedown. In all a good copy of a widely received work; this edition rarely seen at auction. Weber II, 204. Röhricht p. 208, no. 787. Estreicher XXVI, 90. Brunet IV, 1087. Graesse VI, 17. Baumgarten, Hall. Bibl. VI, 65f. Ebert II, 18596. Tobler 83. Cf. Aboussouan 769.
Large 4to (198 x 260 mm). (4), XV, (1), 227, (1) pp. Contemporary French half calf over papered boards with giltstamped red spine label. Only edition. The first dictionary of Arabic published in France: a unidirectional wordbook of more than 6,000 French terms translated into Arabic (in Arabic typeface), printed in large type and generously spaced, for the use of French merchants in the orient. - In the preface, the author anticipates the concept of linguistic relativity when he observes that Arabic lacks equivalent terms for a multitude of French words, especially such as relate to everyday life, culture, and the mechanical arts, and states that it would be impossible to translate the works of Newton, Montesquieu, or Lavoisier into Arabic, for "l'ignorance d'une chose entraîne nécessairement l'ignorance du mot qui sert à la désigner" (p. ix). With the practical needs of commercial travellers and secretaries in mind, he has thus aimed to pare down the vocabulary of his dictionary to the bare essentials, so as to offer to those who would wish to use Arabic nothing but the most widely used words (p. xiii). - Ruphy, a native of Greece born Iacovos Rouvis, emigrated to France as a young man and participated in Napoleon's Egyptian Campaign before becoming secretary of the Conseil des arts et du commerce du département de la Seine in 1801. - Binding rubbed; extremeties bumped. A fairly large waterstain throughout the lower third of the book. Rare in the trade; a single copy at auction in the past 40 years. Ersch/Gruber V, 53. OCLC 27402218. Spirgatis, Kat. 32: Grammatiken und Wörterbücher (Leipzig 1895), no. 309. Not in Zaunmüller or Vater/Jülg.
4to (199 x 243 mm). XXXII, 462, (2) pp. Contemporary auburn calf (covers sympathetically restored). Marbled endpapers. First (and only) edition of this early grammar of Ottoman Turkish, the fourth book known to have been printed at the French embassy press at Constantinople established by Choiseul-Gouffier in 1787. The Arabic types were supplied from Basel. The oriental scholar Viguier (1745-1821), who was apostolic prefect and resident at Constantinople from 1783 to 1802, was the first to distinguish in Turkish the exclusive use of either guttural or palatal vowels within a single word. His grammar is printed with the Turkish transliterated, although some sentences are printed in Ottoman script together with their transliteration. - The books printed at the embassy press were "mostly military or scientific and included Turkish translations of Fitte-Clave's 'Elémens de castramentation' and Truguet's 'Tactique navale'. Choiseul-Gouffier was keen to see printing re-established in Turkey, and there may well have been some degree of co-operation between his press and the refounding under Abdul Hamid I of the Turkish press (first established by Ibrahim Müteferrika), which led to the printing of Vauban's work on mines, the 'Fenn-i Lagim'. The press was mostly used for the production of materials used by the embassy" (Atabey). The subscribers included mostly merchants resident in Turkey, although some names from Smyrna and Saloniki are also to be found, as are various missionaries, the English ambassador Ainslie, Count Ludolf, ambassador of the King of the Two Sicilies, and Pierre Guys, author of "Voyage littéraire de la Grèce". - Light browning as common; upper corner of the final errata leaf torn away without loss and professionally remargined. Rebound to style retaining the original, beautifully gilt-stamped spine with sympathetic full calf covers and marbled endpapers. Atabey 1290. Blackmer 1732. Brill, Turcica, 13. Chahine 5025. Aboussouan 936. Vater/Jülg 416. Cf. H. Omont, "Documents sur l'imprimerie à Constantinople", in Revue des Bibliothèques, Paris, July-September 1895.
8vo. 186, (2) pp. Modern library cloth. Only edition: an early study of the substantial traces which Arabic and other oriental languages left on the Spanish and Portuguese lexicon: Includes two copious word lists. The English antiquarian, clergyman and linguist Stephen Weston (1747-1830) also produced, in 1802, the earliest English translation of the Greek text of the Rosetta Stone. - Inscribed "From the Author" on the half-title. Spine faded. Removed from the Jews' College, London (a rabbinical seminary now known as the London School of Jewish Studies), with remains of a spine label and their several cancelled stamps. OCLC 224972497. Not in Vater/Jülg.
Folio (ca. 274 x 400 mm). 11, (1) pp. In Ottoman script. With several black and white photographic illustrations. A copy of the Turkish sports magazine "Sports World", published weekly in Istanbul between 1919 and 1929. The photographs show various competing national teams, including the Turkish football team, as well as a bare-chested athlete bearing numerous medals. Includes a section on the 1928 Olympic Winter Games held in St Moritz, with a photograph of the ice hockey match at which Canada scored the gold medal against Switzerland. An advertisement depicts a runner dressed in white, with the Olympic flag in the background, surrounded by portraits of six athletes on the cover. - Browned and waterstained throughout.
Latin ms. on vellum. 378 x 210 mm. Papered seal. Signed by Charles Soillot (1434-93?), secretary to Charles the Bold. Letter of "sauf conduit" (safe conduct) for the merchant and diplomat Anselm Adornes (1424-83) for a Burgundian embassy to Persia: "[...] Universis principibus baronibus militibus et plebeis quibus hec nostre littere fuerint ostense, benivolenciam nostram et salutem universitatem vestram et vestrum quemlibet. Rogamus quatenus dilectum et fidelem consiliarium, oratorem et cambellanum nostrum dominum Anselmum Adornes militem, dominum de Corthuy, harum latorem, quem ad nonnullas orientales partes impresentiarum mittimus cum penes vos venerit seu per terras et dominia vestra iter fecerit benevole recipere, amoreque nostri et contemplatione favorabiliter tractare et tractari mandare velitis eumdem unacum viginti personis et totidem equis seu aliis equitaturis aut inferius, permittendo transire sine pedagio, gabella, fundonavis, datia aut alia exactione quacunque [...]". - From March to June 1474, Adornes, Lord of Cortachy, led an embassy in the name of Charles the Bold to the Shah of Persia Uzun Hassan (1423-78), whom the Duke of Burgundy sought to persuade to engage in a new military expedition against the Ottomans, following a campaign in the previous year which had ended in Uzun Hassan's defeat by Mehmed II. Adornes was chosen for this mission due to his knowledge of Muslim territories; he had made a pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem in 1470/71 (the account of his journey written by his son Jan is still preserved). - One of the most illustrious members of the Adornes-Adorno family, of Genoese origin, and a wealthy patron, Anselm was closely involved in international trade (mainly in alum and cloth from Tournai and England). He maintained commercial relations with Genoa as well as Spain and played an important role in Burgundian diplomacy. - Some wrinkling as common; traces of folds. Well preserved. Messager des sciences historiques ou Archives des arts et de la bibliographie de Belgique (1881), pp. 41-42. Cf. Nationaal biografisch woordenboek XII, 2/25. C. van Hoorebeeck, Livres et lectures des fonctionnaires bourguignons (Turnhout, 2014), passim.
8vo. 1 blank leaf, (6), 867, (1) pp. With a double-page-sized genealogical table. Later marbled boards with printed spine label. Edges lightly sprinkled. First German edition of this important Persian Mirror for Princes, published at the expense of the translator. Composed in the late 11th century by Kaika'us, ruler of the Iranian Ziyarid dynasty, the book is regarded as a major work of Persian literature. It describes the creation of the world and God's religious duties; duties towards one's parents; the cultivation of the mind and the power of speech; youth and old age; moderation in food; consumption of wine; chess and backgammon; love; the pleasures of life; hot baths; sleep and rest; hunting; polo; war; accumulation of wealth; trust in words; the purchase of slaves; the purchase of properties; the purchase of horses; marriage; children's education; the choice of friends; how to deal with enemies; forgiveness; punishment and favors; studies and legal functions; commercial law; medicine; astrology and mathematics; poetry; the art of minstrelsy; the service of kings; the qualities of a courtier, secretaries, viziers, generals and king; farming and agriculture; finally, generosity. A Turkish translation was commissioned in the mid-15th century by the Ottoman Sultan Murad II, and it is this version that was in turn translated into German by Diez. - The oriental scholar H. F. Diez (1751-1817) had trained as a jurist but, bored by his administrative occupation, soon left the Prussian civil service and in 1784 went to Constantinople as Frederick the Great's chargé d'affaires at the Sublime Porte. He was ennobled after only two years of successful diplomatic service. Recalled in 1790 on the eve of the Russo-Turkish War, the self-confessed Turkophile soon retired to the life of an independent scholar and book collector in Berlin. His orientalist publications captured the attention of the learned world, and he moved in the circles of Goethe, Gleim, and Alexander von Humboldt, though largely outside the contemporary tradition of academic oriental studies. "Between his years in Constantinople and his death, Diez pursued his Orientalist studies with extraordinary energy. A string of books authored by Diez and mostly self-published appeared in 1811 [...] Even if many aspects of his scholarly life are almost forgotten, his merits, especially for the development of Turkish studies, are noteworthy [...] His works, almost completely printed at his own expense, reflect his interest in the origins of Asian cultures, literatures, and politics, as well as everyday issues and ethics" (J. Gonnella et al. [ed.], The Diez Albums [Leiden, 2017], p. 58, 76). - Occasional insignificant brownstaining, but a good copy in later marbled boards. Goedeke VII, 586, 36 & 806, 240, 3. Kippenberg I, 1655. Ruppert 1772. Marbach cat., Weltliteratur, pp. 407f. Keudell 954. Not in Wilson (later French translation only).
8vo. 2 vols. XIV, 283, (1) pp. (2), 285-699, (5) pp. With a few diagrams in the text. Contemporary boards with handwritten spine labels. Rare first edition, "dedicated to the devotees and connoisseurs of oriental literature, by an assiduous student of the same, in Constantinople". One of Hammer's earliest works, written as a barely 30-year-old while serving as secretary to the Austrian delegation in Istanbul, this is the first German version of the bibliographical encyclopedia compiled by the Turkish scholar Katib Çelebi (1609-57), already used by Herbelot. Hammer amplifies this text from six additional manuscripts. - Katib Çelebi's introduction investigates the history, divisions, and estimation of science in the orient. This is followed by more than 300 sub-branches in seven general subjects: writing and calligraphy; language and history; propedeutics; speculative philosophy including natural and arcane science, medicine, and music (the most substantial class, comprising some 250 pp.); practical philosophy (ethics, political science); law and theology; as well as the inward sciences (ascetics). Each branch is headed by its original title printed in Breitkopf's Arabic typeface, often provided with extensive commentary (even discussing the various musical and astronomical instruments) and bibliography. - Bindings rubbed and bumped; spine sunned; interior somewhat browned and foxed as common. From the library of the Prussian chamberlain Rudolf von Stillfried-Rattonitz (1804-82) with his armorial bookplate "Ex Bibliotheca Stillfridiana" on the front pastedown. Goedeke VII, 750, 13. Graesse III, 32.
Latin ms. on vellum. 372 x 295 mm. Secretarial letter of safe conduct for the merchant and diplomat Anselm Adornes (1424-83) for a Burgundian embassy to Persia, issued in the name of Casimir IV Jagiellon, King of Poland. - From March to June 1474, Adornes, Lord of Cortachy, led an embassy in the name of Charles the Bold to the Shah of Persia Uzun Hassan (1423-78), whom the Duke of Burgundy sought to persuade to engage in a new military expedition against the Ottomans, following a campaign in the previous year which had ended in Uzun Hassan's defeat by Mehmed II. Adornes was chosen for this mission due to his knowledge of Muslim territories; he had made a pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem in 1470/71 (the account of his journey written by his son Jan is still preserved). - One of the most illustrious members of the Adornes-Adorno family, of Genoese origin, and a wealthy patron, Anselm was closely involved in international trade (mainly in alum and cloth from Tournai and England). He maintained commercial relations with Genoa as well as Spain and played an important role in Burgundian diplomacy. - Seal missing; a large tear touching the last lines of the text. Folded. Cf. Nationaal biografisch woordenboek XII, 2/25. C. van Hoorebeeck, Livres et lectures des fonctionnaires bourguignons (Turnhout, 2014), passim.
Folio (235 x 335 mm). Engraved title, 3 pp. of dedication, 1 leaf (Privilege du Roy), 12 leaves of text interleaved with 12 engraved plates, woodcut headpieces and initials. The plates, probably by Noel (not Nicolas) Cochin after La Chapelle, show costumes against a scenic background. Contemporary full vellum. First edition, very rare. Georges de la Chappelle, a native of Caen, accompanied the French envoy Le Haye to the Porte and spent several years in the Levant. His work is known to us almost exclusively through these engravings, showing what Thieme/Becker described as "the prettiest ladies in the Imperial Seraglio". In the introductory text included in this first edition, La Chappelle explains that the series was occasioned by a recent French edition of Chalcocondyles, in which (as he complains) the women's costumes were very poorly drawn. La Chappelle clearly had a special interest in female costume: "his own representations are highly detailed, with special attention paid to the fabulous jewels and fine needlework that adorn the garments of Levantine costume. (According to the preface, the accuracy of his drawings could be attested by Le Haye [...], in whose presence the drawings were executed.) To add verisimilitude to the plates, examples of Turkish, Persian, Tartar, Armenian and Greek costume are depicted against topographical backgrounds showing the areas in and around Constantinople in which the models were most likely to reside" (Atabey). Curiously, several of these backgrounds, when placed side by side, form a near-consecutive panorama of Constantinople and its environs. - Occasional light brownstains; wants front flyleaf. Vellum slightly stained and wrinkled; lower cover shows traces of old calculations. An attractive copy in a strictly contemporary binding. Atabey 648. Colas 1697. Thieme/Becker VI, 378f. Cf. Blackmer 935 (2nd edition). Not in Lipperheide or Cohen/de Ricci.
8vo. (2), 34, II pp. Contemporary blue printed wrappers. First edition of this exceedingly rare Russian account of a 1719/20 pilgrimage to Jerusalem, the only known work by the Russian merchant Matviei Gavrilov Nechaev (d. 1752). His descriptions of the settlements of Greek merchants in Russia suggest that he was involved in trading with them, an unusual practice at the time. In addition, his travelogue discusses the Turkish tax system, the plague epidemic in Constantinople of 1721, and the Arab revolts in Jerusalem, as well as the Maltese fleet and Russian slaves in Turkey. - A tiny tear to the upper margin of the title-page. Rare; only three copies library catalogues internationally (New York Public Library; Stanford Univ. Library; Dumbarton Oaks); no copy in auction records. OCLC 38678524. Not in Röhricht.