Preziosi, Amadeo.MareMagnum
4.497 Ergebnisse
Oblong folio (498 x 370 mm). Lithographed title-page, 29 chromolithographed plates, protected by tissue guards. Original green cloth with blind-ruled and ornamental borders to both covers and gilt Tughra of Sultan Abdulmejid I to the upper cover. First edition, second issue. - Complete suite comprising 29 chromolithographs with captions in French and English, depicting life scenes and views of Istanbul: a druggist's shop, Turkish ladies walking, a guard house, carriage, silk bazar, sweetmeat shop, water carrier, the Bosporus, a coffee house, whirling dervishes, etc. The Maltese painter Preziosi (1816-82) is known for his watercolours and prints of the Ottoman Empire, the Balkans and Romania. In 1842 he moved to Constantinople, where he remained until his death. - Some foxing, more extensive on title-page. Covers slightly rubbed, but generally in fine condition. - Provenance: The title-page bears a handwritten inscription in French from Catinca Nico de Catargi, a member of the notable Wallachian family Catargiu, to "la Comtesse Han" (i.e., the German writer Ida Countess von Hahn-Hahn, 1805-80), dated 16 April 1865. Atabey 999. OCLC 70296476. Cf. Blackmer 1353 (1865 ed.); Colas 2422 (1858 ed.).
54 x 90 mm. Black-and-white photographic print on cardboard backing (62 x 104 mm). Captioned in French. Rare photograph of two mounted camel couriers in a desert landscape, by the celebrated French photographer Claude-Joseph Portier (d. 1910), active in Algeria in the 1860s. The picture shows one camel resting on the ground, the other standing. Featuring a bedouin tent in the background, as well as 2 bedouins sitting on the ground near the left side of the image. - Small scratch mark near the centre.
8vo. 2 parts in one vol. VIII, (3)-159, (1); (2), 118, (2) pp. With 20 (10 folding) numbered plates. Contemporary half calf with giltstamped spine and spine-label. First edition of this important early grammar of Semitic languages. Contains an introduction to Hebrew, Chaldaic, Syriac, and Arabic, including conjugation tables for regular and irregular verbs. - Appointed to teach oriental languages and the Old Testament in Lemberg (Lviv), Fessler prepared the present work as a textbook for his lectures. - Contrary to the indication on the title-page, an Arabic chrestomathy by Johann Gottfried Eichhorn was not published with this work. - Extremities slightly rubbed. Paper evenly browned throughout. Contemporary handwritten ownership of the Swedish theologian Johan Gustaf Bergius (1720-1805) to lower pastedown. Unidentified early 19th century ownership stamp "COG" to front pastedown. OCLC 69349977.
8vo. (40), 312, 53, (19) pp. With one folding plate. - (Bound with) II: Tarnow, Hermann / Weidner, Johann Joachim. Grammatica Hebraeo-Biblica, comprehendens etymologiam, syntaxin, eloquentiam [...]. Rostock, Nikolaus Schwiegerau, 1722. (8), 248, (16) pp. 19th century half calf over marbled boards with giltstamped spine and spine-label. First edition of the Hebrew grammar prepared by the most celebrated orientalist of his day. The Göttingen scholar Johann David Michaelis (1717-1791) was the leading expert on Hebrew philology and Biblical exegesis. The present work advocates a new approach to emancipating Hebrew philology from the Greek and Roman tradition of linguistics, discussing verbs before nouns, as opposed to traditional Latin grammars. Fürst dates the first edition to 1744, in apparent error for 1745. - II: First edition of this grammar of biblical Hebrew by the German Lutheran theologians J. J. Weidner (1672-1732) and H. Tarnow (1674-1741). - Extremities slightly rubbed; tiny portion of upper hinge chipped away. Paper evenly browned troughout; occasional light spotting. ADB XXI, 685-690. OCLC 258323863. Cf. Fürst II, 375 (1744 ed.). Goedeke IV, 221. Not in Smitskamp. - II: Fürst III, 410. VD 18, 13308904. OCLC 248815662. Not in Smitskamp.
8vo. 31 pp., final blank page. Disbound. Very scarce pamphlet in which the Cambridge orientalist Ockley (1678-1720) endeavoured to clear himself of the charge of sympathising with William Whiston's Arian tendencies. Ockley translated the Second Book of Esdras from an Arabic manuscript in the Bodleian Library for Whiston's controversial work "Primitive Christianity Reviv'd" (1711), but issued his translation separately in 1716, so as to emphasise his disagreement with Whiston. In the present account Ockley states that he was hesitant to prepare the translation, stressing that he "was loath that any thing with [his] Name to it should be extant only in his [Whiston's] Heretical Volumes" (p. 31). - Margins slightly worn; lower right corner of last page clipped, no loss to text. Rarely seen in the trade. OCLC 563593889. DNB XLI, 364.
Small folio (190 x 270 mm). 5 vols. (I:) XIV, (4), 507, (3) pp., final blank leaf. With 30 plates, 5 of which folding. (II:) XV, (1), 689, (3) pp. With numerous illustrations in the text. (Atlas:) XI, (1), pp. With 155 (instead of 153) plates. (Supplement:) (4), 98, (1) pp., final blank page. (III:) 2 vols. (text and atlas) bound as one. (6), 134, (2) pp. with 21 text illustrations. III-VII, (1) pp., 58 plates and plans (some folding). Contemporary full cloth with giltstamped calf title label. Vol. III in mid-20th century green cloth with giltstamped spine. Edges of three volumes sprinkled red. First edition of this classic of archaeology, documenting expeditions to Northern Arabia undertaken by the French orientalists Jaussen (1871-1962) and Savignac (1874-1951) prior to World War I. "Still indispensable" (Bowersock), the work is particularly remarkable for its epigraphical observations. Many ancient Arabic inscriptions were reproduced, translated and analysed here for the first time. - The set was published by the Societé des Fouilles Archéologiques between 1909 and 1922 in three parts. Parts I and II (the latter comprising a text volume, an atlas and a supplemental volume) describe the expedition from Jerusalem to Mada'in-Salih in the Hejaz in the spring of 1907, as well as the exploration of the ancient cities of Dadan, Teima and Harrah de Tebouk in 1909 and 1910. The plentiful illustrations include plans of the itinerary as well as photographs of archaeological sites and inscriptions, including impressive depictions of the monumental rock-cut tombs at Mada'in Salih, just north of the oasis Al-'Ula. The archaeologists also mapped the Arabic old town of Al-'Ula on the site of the biblical Dedan in order to localize a wealth of ancient Dadanitic inscriptions that were used as spolia in the Arabic houses. Jaussen and Savignac thus achieved the first systematic archaeological documentation of Mada'in Salih and Al-'Ula. Part III is dedicated entirely to the famous Umayyad desert castles Quseir Amra, Qasr Al-Kharanah, and Qasr Tuba in present-day eastern Jordan. - Volume I with a hole in the right margin throughout the second half, the hole fading to a tear throughout the first half, resulting in flaws to the covers, repaired with brown tape. Volume II has small flaws to extremities of boards; small tear in spine label. Atlas volume lacks plate 132, but includes duplicate plates of nos. 17, 131 and 137, further showing three small piercings to the lower board. An advertisement for the "Oeuvre catholique international pour la protection de la jeune fille", an organisation founded in Fribourg in 1897, is loosely inserted in vol. I. Rarely seen at auction. Bowersock, Roman Arabia 4 (note). OCLC 1204802.
12mo. 8 vols. XXIV, 334; (4), 356; (4), 356; (4), 353, final blank; (4), 348, (2); (4), 353, (3); (4), 425, (3); (4), 410, (2) pp. With 36 engraved plates, including 8 frontispieces. Contemporary half calf over marbled boards with giltstamped spine and spine-title. All edges marbled. Illustrated edition of Galland's highly influential French translation of the Arabian Nights, complete in eight volumes. Published simultaneously with the slightly more common 1832 edition by Hiard. Not a single copy of the Ledentu edition traceable at auction within the last decades. - Adapted to Parisian tastes, Galland's translation of the "Nights" had been first published in 12 volumes between 1704 and 1717, and "was quickly translated into English and German. It enjoyed a most remarkable success throughout Europe, perceptible even in children's literature, and contributed significantly to the new image which enlightened Europeans entertained of the Islamic East: after Galland, this was no longer the home of the Antichrist and of accursed heresy, but rather the ever-constant Orient beneath an eternally fair sky, boasting splendid colours and unheard-of wealth, Caliphs, Viziers, and Kadis, harems, fairy-tale princes, fairies and genies, sorcerers and sages, a world of fantastic adventure and outrageous incidents" (cf. Fück). - Extremities slightly rubbed; occasional light spotting and a few minimal edge flaws; pp. 47-50 of volume VII loose. A charming set. Chauvin IV, 24. Cf. Fück 101. OCLC 82688412.
8vo. (6), 350 pp. With woodcut device to title-page. Contemporary full calf with gilt spine and spine-label. Marbled endpapers. All edges red. Charming edition of the "Hezaryek-Rouz" or "Thousand and One Days", so called to "give the work an air of originality" (Chauvin IV, 124). The last tome of an original five-volume set of these oriental tales unfolding around the Kashmiri princess Farrukhnaz. - These tales are the translation of a manuscript that the oriental scholar François Pétis de la Croix is said to have received in Isfahan in 1675 from the dervish Moclès, the latter having translated and adapted into Persian the Indian tales known in Turkish as "al-Farage Bada Al-schidda". - Although the work enjoyed far fewer editions and translations than the "Alf layla wa-layla" and is commonly said to be an imitation of the same, it cannot, as Chauvin notes, be determined whether the "Thousand and One Days" or the "Thousand and One Nights" was composed first. Chauvin quotes one commentator who prefers the "Days" to the "Nights", declaring the former "much more ingenious and more realistic, as it sometimes includes marvels, following the taste of the Oriental" (Chauvin IV, 125). Nevertheless, to this day the "Hezaryek-Rouz" is much less known in the West. - Corners slightly rubbed; small portion at head of spine chipped away; binding minimally wormed; faint traces of glue to covers. Lower edges of a few pages torn without loss to text; pp. 126f. with a grayish mark, presumably left by a bookmark. Occasional light spotting; a few pages slightly creased. Chauvin IV, 312 B. Cf. Graesse IV, 525 (later eds.).
5 original black and white photographs. 68 x 44 mm to 104 x 74 mm. On Velox photographic paper. Rare original photos of five aircraft on the runway. Includes one of the few surviving images of the G-ALYU de Havilland Comet - the plane that in May 1952 completed the world's first passenger jet service from London to Johannesburg. Less than two years later G-ALYU was scrapped and its fuselage used for metal fatigue research following the crash of another B.O.A.C. Comet in January 1954. All Comet 1 aircraft were grounded in April 1954. - Among the other depicted aircraft is a Handley Page Hermes IV, registered G-ALDM. The Hermes IV model entered service with B.O.A.C. in 1950, taking over from the Avro York on the West Africa service from London to Accra via Tripoli, Kano and Lagos, with services to Kenya and South Africa commencing before the end of the year. - Pencil annotations to versos. Somewhat warped; slightly toned. Some notable specimens of aviation photography.
4to. (8) pp. Later marbled boards with shelfmark label to front cover. Extraordinary account of a fire in the port of Algiers planted by the British pirate-hunter Richard Gifford. Of the utmost rarity: "unknown to Lowndes, and other bibliographers" (Libri). Only two library copies traceable internationally (St. Pancras Library, London, and Amsterdam University Library). - On Holy Tuesday 1604, in the service of the Duke of Tuscany and under the pretext of becoming a pirate, Gifford set the Algerian galley fleet on fire in the notorious pirate-ridden port of Algiers, causing fierce retaliation by the Algerians. "Although he escaped and there was not much damage done, about a dozen Englishmen including his abandoned crew members were all executed. Furthermore, the pasha banned English ships, Janissaries seized English citizens and arrested English merchants, confiscating their goods for the damage done by Gifford" (Güvenç). - "During the Anglo-Spanish wars Captain Richard Gifford had served under Sir Francis Drake and Sir John Hawkins [...] after the wars he became a pirate-hunter, a freelance mercenary hired by the grand Duke of Florence to extirpate the infamous nest of sea rovers at Algiers" (Bak). - Spine rubbed; somewhat foxed throughout. Handwritten date "1825" to flyleaf, likely the date of acquisition. The celebrated library of M. Guglielmo Libri 184. Senlen Güvenç, "A Foe to All Christians": The Notorious English Corsair Captain and Ottoman Reis John Ward", Çanakkale Arastirmalari Türk Yilligi 29 (2020), 35-54, at p. 41. Bak, Barbary Pirate, Stroud 2006, 47.
4to. XXIV, 231 pp., final blank page. Original Italian carta rustica binding, spine reinforced with paper and bearing a handwritten title-label. First Italian edition of this detailed report of a journey from Constantinople to Poland via Bulgaria and Moldavia. A snapshot of the Ottoman Balkans and their varied inhabitants in the mid-18th century, enriched with an intriguing description of the ruins of Troy. - The journey was untertaken by the Jesuit polymath Boscovich (1711-87) together with the British ambassador to the Sublime Porte Sir James Porter (1710-86). Boscovich, who is today celebrated for having anticipated features of atomic physics as early as 1758 in his "Philosophiae naturalis theoria", had travelled to Constantinople in 1761 with the Venetian ambassador Pierre Correro to observe the transit of Venus. As he arrived late and failed to observe the transit, Boscovich accompanied Sir James on his return to England via Poland, the outbreak of war between Austria and the Ottoman Empire having rendered other routes impassable. From Poland Boscovich then proceeded to St Petersburg, where he was elected a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Ill health soon compelled him to return to Italy. - Couched as a travel diary, the account covers the entirety of Boscovich's journey to Poland from 25 May to 15 July 1762, describing in detail the small villages and towns he visited. From Ragusan merchants to Greek princes, and the quality of 'eau de vie' in Bulgar villages, Boscovich notes details with the detached skill of the scientist. The account of the 'mihmandar', the Ottoman official assigned to act as a guide-cum-minder for diplomatic travellers within the empire, is a particularly substantial one. The work concludes with an account of the ruins of Troy as observed by Correro in 1761, as well as a brief summary of Boscovich's forthcoming magnum opus, the five-volume "Opera pertinentia ad opticam et astronomiam" (1785). - The "Journal" was first published in French in 1772; the present edition is the first in the original Italian. An alleged 1772 Italian edition recorded by De Backer/S. appears to be a ghost. - Hinges and head of spine worn. Binding somewhat foxed and loosened in places. A light waterstain to the lower corner of a few leaves. Acquired in 1890 from the Italian bookseller Franceschini as noted on front pastedown. Untrimmed, wide-margined copy. De Backer/S. I, 1844, 87. DSB II, 331. Whyte, Boscovich, p. 220. OCLC 20041024. Cf. Atabey 137 (1772 ed.). Not in Blackmer or Weber.
Oblong small folio (238 x 320 mm). Photo album with 197 albumen prints, mounted between 3 and 6 per page on 49 cardboard leaves. Various sizes, typically 70 x 100 mm. Some larger small-format panoramas. Captioned in ink. Contemporary full cloth with handwritten title-label. An interesting album recording the construction of new British military barracks at Abbassia, Cairo, shortly before World War I. Compiled by James Frazer Annan (1887-1957), a British engineer working for the contractor Henry Lovatt Ltd. in Abbassia between 1910 and 1913. Some 40 photographs depict construction at its various stages, showing workers and equipment, including a concrete mixer, details of walling blocks, column caps and shells, scaffolding, and a consignment of cement, as well as a panoramic view of the construction site from July 1910. - Other images show memorable events including the coronation ceremonies for King George V in 1911, Lord Kitchener presenting prizes at a Rifle Meeting, and the Mahmal passing through Cairo during the annual pilgrimage to Mecca. City views of Cairo and Heliopolis, street scenes "in the Mousky district" and "among the Bazaars", the Eshekieh Gardens, the Pyramids, the Nile barrage and dam, tombs of the Khalifs and "typical Mosque tombs": A few more personal scenes such as Christmas dinner 1910 and a picture of baby "James junior" complete this appealing collection. - Occasional light spotting and duststaining. Provenance: Peter Johnstone, whose paternal grandmother, Elsie Amelia Johnstone, was housekeeper to James Frazer Annan. Peter Johnstone numbered the pages and loosely inserted an autograph description of the album, dated 13 May 1996.
4to. VI, 294 pp., final blank leaf. With watercolour frontispiece, 5 (instead of 7) watercolour plates, and numerous black and white photographic illustrations and sketches in the text. Contemporary half calf library binding with giltstamped spine, leatherette covers and shelfmark label. First edition. Richly illustrated travel report describing Egypt and the Nile, Lebanon, Syria, and Palestine. This "altogether satisfactory book of travel" (Luzac) describes an extensive trip undertaken in the late 1890s by the German painter Hermann Götz, the Director of the Grand Ducal School for Arts and Crafts in Karlsruhe. - In Genoa Götz boarded a steamer to Port Said, from where he proceeded to Cairo, Thebes, Luxor, and Aswan, then on to the Lebanon and Syria, stops including Beirut and Baalbek, Damascus and Haifa; he eventually reached Jaffa, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Jericho and the Dead Sea. The lovely watercolours, reproduced after works by the author himself, show the statue of the wife of Ramesses II in the temple of Luxor, the entrance to the temple in Medinet-Habu, the ruins at Baalbek, and a bazaar in Jaffa, as well as atmospheric sunset scenes on the shores of the Nile and on Mount Olivet. The photographic illustrations show famous landmarks including the Pyramids, the Cairo citadel, the Dome of the Rock, and the windmills of Alexandria, as well as bazaar and street scenes, local types, views of the Nile, and group portraits of Götz's travel companions. - Spine very lightly rubbed. Tear to the upper edge of the title-page; pp. 63f. somewhat damaged and stained. Still a good copy of this entertaining travelogue seeking to encourage Europeans to travel the Middle East. Kainbacher I, 57. Luzac's Oriental List and Book Review XII, 236. OCLC 315953018.
4to. 114, (2) pp. With 24 numbered photographic plates. Original printed wrappers. Notable paper on mediaeval Swedish glass originating from the Middle East. It discusses lustreware of the Fatimid period, as well as glass of the Raqqa, Fustat, Aleppo, Damascus, and Syro-Frankish groups, studying grave finds as well as finds of enamelled and gilt glass in sites including the monastery of Vreta, Lund, Hälsingborg, Barkarby and Birka. The plates show well-preserved glass cups and goblets as well as jewellery and fragments of glass vessels and lustreware. - Lamm studied archaeology at the University of Stockholm. He wrote about the glass excavated at Samarra in 1928 and became a leading scholar on Islamic arts and crafts, notably in glass and carpets. He was on the staff of the Stockholm Museum and taught at Uppsala University. - Uncut copy. - In near-mint condition. OCLC 473515059.
4to. (4), 271 pp., final blank page. Contemporary half vellum over marbled boards with giltstamped spine, giltstamped spine-label, and and handwritten shelfmark to spine. First edition, rare. Historic edition of the notable Syrian treatise on incarnation and the Trinity. In Syriac type. - Pencil annotations to pp. 33-69. Stamps of ownership of Joseph A. Nelson and the library of St. Joseph's Seminary in Dunwoodie, New York, to title-page (the latter also to lower flyleaf). OCLC 652404559.
4to. 3 vols. (4), CII, 603 pp. VIII, 730 pp. VIII, 650 pp. Contemporary brown full calf by Gosselin of Paris, with richly gilt spines, red giltstamped title labels to spines, and giltstamped borders to covers, leading edges gilt, gilt inner dentelles. Marbled endpapers. All edges sprinkled red. Important collection of research on and excerpts from manuscripts concerning history, diplomacy, literature, and science from the Bibliothèque du Roi, now the Bibliothèque nationale de France, including important contributions by the oriental scholars Antoine Isaac Silvestre de Sacy and Joseph de Guignes, the historians François de l'Averdy and Louis-Georges de Bréquiny, and the classicists Guillaume Dubois de Rochfort and Jean-François Vauvilliers. - Volume 1 contains a long preface on the history of the oriental types of the Imprimerie Royale that were cast for the diplomat and orientalist François Savary de Brèves (1560-1628). Acquired by Richelieu for the Imprimerie, the valuable types were almost destroyed in the 18th century and saved by Joseph de Guignes, who wrote the preface. The volume also contains Guignes's comments on Al-Masudi's "Kitab Muruj al-Dhahab wa-Ma‘adin al-Jawhar" and Ibn-al-Athîr's "Al-Tarikh al-bahir fi al-Dawlah al-Atabakiyah bi-al-Mawsil" and two essays on Arabic manuscripts by Silvestre de Sacy. - Volume 2 includes two contributions each by Joseph de Guignes and Silvestre de Sacy on oriental manuscripts of the Bibliothèque du Roi. - The final volume focuses primarily on documents relating to the trial of Jeanne d'Arc, with several articles written by François de l’Alverdy. To this volume Guignes contributed a commentary on a 15th century Arabic manuscript recommending pilgrimages to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, and another on a manuscript entitled "On the prerogatives of the Al-Aqsa Mosque" by Ibn Abul Sherif. - The collection was inceived under the auspices of King Louis XVI and the Baron de Breteuil. By 1965 it grew to encompass 43 volumes, but only the three volumes at hand were published under the original title by the Académie Royale des Inscriptions & Belles-Lettres. The printing of a 4th volume had already begun in 1791 when it was interrupted by the French Revolution, which also led to the suppression of the Academy in 1793. - Spines rebacked, spine ends, corners and hinges repaired. Internally entirely sound.
Large folio (265 x 404 mm). Large paper copy. (18), 398, (8) pp. Complete copy with engraved frontispiece, engraved author's portrait, the frequently missing large engraved folding map of the Mediterranean Sea and all 122 plates. 18 large folding panoramic views, 28 folding plates and 56 full-plates, numerous half-plates text illustrations. Contemporary Dutch blindstamped vellum. First edition, large-paper copy, of this beautifully illustrated account of De Bruyn's first journey through Egypt, Syria, the Holy Land, Rhodes, Cyprus, Scio and Turkey. - The Dutch traveller and landscape painter Cornelis De Bruyn (1652-1726/28) left the Netherlands in 1674 to travel through the Levant by way of Italy. He stayed in the Levant for seven years before settling in Italy in 1685 and returning to the Netherlands in 1693. The work is especially valued for its plates after De Bruyn's own drawings, made on location and then engraved by such well-known artists as Jan and Caper Luyken, including folding panoramas of Alexandria, Antalya, Constantinople, Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Rhodes and Chios. De Bruyn's costume plates are mostly of the different types of Greek and Turkish head-dresses. The publication was soon followed by editions in English and French. - All panoramas in fine condition, not creased or torn (as often), only the panorama of Smyrna (Izmir) is trimmed with considerably narrower margins. Binding repaired with old vellum; some splitting to front hinge; upper spine-end damaged; loss to lower end. A few occasional internal stains, but still a very fresh and crisp copy. Atabey 159. Tiele 207. Klaversma & Hannema 311. Gay 2101. Henze I, 378. Howgego I, p. 157, B177. Weber II, 402 (note). Röhricht 1184. Tobler 114. Cobham/Jeffery 7. Laor 967. Schwab 74. Cohen/de Ricci 610. Lipperheide Ci 48 (= 546). Graesse I, 552. OCLC 4619950. Cf. Blackmer 225 (2nd French ed.). Aboussouan 164 (1725 French 4to ed.). Gnirrep, De Levant in een kleur (1997).
8vo (206 x 162 mm). XVIII, 30 pp. Original printed paper wrappers. Housed in a full black morocco case with cloth chemise. Second edition of FitzGerald's translation, substantially expanded and revised. Omar Khayyám was a Persian mathematician, astronomer, philosopher, and poet, famous in his own country and time chiefly for his scientific achievements. He is known to English-speaking readers mostly due to FitzGerald's translations, which were quite free and liberal in their paraphrasing and would prove to be the "most popular verse translation into English ever made" (Decker, p. xiv). - Five hundred copies of the second edition were printed, with Quaritch selling each at a price of 1s. 6d.; when a copy re-appeared in their catalogue in 1929, it had already reached a price of £52 10s. (Potter, p. 12). Fitzgerald substantially revised the text of the Rubáiyát four times, with none of these five versions seen as truly definitive. The first edition had 75 quatrains, while the present second edition, which has 110 quatrains, is the longest of the five. - Some light foxing throughout. Some soiling and creasing to wrappers; contemporary ownership inscription, dated 1869, to upper cover. Potter 129.
Folio (141 x 42,5 cm). Five folio leaves, printed in French and Arabic in two columns and pasted together vertically to form a single broadside. A massive broadside intended for wall-mounting, by which the newly appointed commander-in-chief introduced his government (and himself) to the people of Egypt in Arabic and French: "Habitans de l'Egypte, écoutez ce qu j'ai à vous dire au nom de la République Francaise. Vous étiez malheureux; l'armée francaise est venue en Egypte pouir vous porter le bonheur [...]". - Menou, who succeeded Kleber at the head of Egypt as general-in-chief, following Kleber's assassination in June, converted to Islam and took the name of Abdallah. Unlike most announcements published by his predecessor at the same press, the present proclamation is not headed with the motto of the French Republic, but rather with the Shahada ("There is no deity but God, Muhammad is the messenger of God") in both languages. Menou continues to set out his principles for a good government for Egypt, emphasizing his firm stand against abuse and corruption in the local administration of taxation, justice and the police, and finally threatens any attempt at rebellion with severe retaliation. - An important document from the first printing press in Arab world, of the utmost rarity due to its sheer size and ephemeral nature, according to OCLC recorded in four copies only: "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). - Traces of folding, but uncut with temoins. A surprisingly fresh survival. 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.
4to. (4), VI, 7-100 pp. With lithographed frontispiece and 3 lithographed plates. Original printed wrappers. Third edition. Rare treatise on equine appearance by a prominent figure of the French cavalry. Unlike the first edition, which included only two illustrations, the present third edition features 4 lithographed plates, including an Arabian horse and the horse's skeleton. Frequently cited by later works on hippology, Morris's essay discusses all aspects of the horse's physique, including proportions and the angular structure of the skeleton, which "can rather be applied to the Arabian horse than to European breeds" (de la Lance). - Wrappers slightly browned near margins. A fine, uncut copy of an equestrian classic. Mennessier de La Lance II, 227. Not in Boyd/P.
4to (150 x 190 mm). (40), 128 pp. With large engraved view on title-page, 3 full-page engr. plates in text, 9 half-page engr. plates in text, and 1 folding engr. plate bound at rear. Bound in contemporary stiff vellum with remains of manuscript title on spine. Extremely rare sole edition of this guide to fortification, written by a French sapper who had served in the Venetian navy during the Ottoman Siege of Candia (1648-69), in Crete. In his 40-page preface "au lecteur", Poullet writes at length about his experiences as a military engineer during the siege (illustrated in two half-page plates in text), and even includes 'attestations' in Italian of his military service under Marcantonio Giustiniani, dated from Zante (Greece), 1st March 1670. - Writing shortly before the Siege of Vienna in 1683, Poullet expresses the hope that his manual incorporates some of the lessons learned from the 21-year battle for Candia - seen as an impressive feat of resistance, despite ending in defeat for the Venetian forces. His illustrated examples of fortifications constantly refer to the best methods for fighting 'les Turqs' and the mistakes made in Crete. - With a handful of early manuscript corrections in text; plate 11 printed upside-down; head of spine with some loss, crudely repaired; internally one or two discreet wormholes, otherwise a very good copy. - A rare survival: OCLC shows just 5 copies worldwide (none in the US or UK); KVK adds one further, at the Austrian National Library. The copy at the Czech National Library is lacking one leaf of prelims. Mayer, Wiens Buchdrucker-Geschichte I, 1849.
Folio (270 x 360 mm). 167 pp., final blank page. With 4 illustrations in the text, and 36 numbered plates with mounted full-color reproductions of Islamic book bindings, included in pagination. Text and plates with gilt borders. Contemporary cardboard with 6 gilt ornaments, 3 each to upper and lower cover. Edition "B" of this sumptuous work on Islamic bookbinding. Exhibits some of the finest and most valuable tomes from Berlin's Bode Museum as well as examples from a private collection. Bound in the original adorned binding, the giltstamped ornaments featuring floral motifs as well as a hunting scene of a lion attacking a bull. - A total of 36 bindings are here reproduced in excellent colour facsimiles, impressively demonstrating the high quality of Egyptian, Persian, and Turkish book production from the 14th to 19th centuries. Each specimen is accompanied by a page of descriptive text. - Edited by the German orientalist and art historian Sarre (1865-1945), who amassed a great collection of Islamic art during his lifetime. - Extremities somewhat rubbed. Interior in excellent condition. Mejer 554. OCLC 905430423.
4to. (22), CXXI, (7), 320, (1) pp., final blank page. With lithographed folding map of the itinerary and a map of the Bengal Gulf. Publisher's original blue full cloth with giltstamped ship "Victoria" and blindstamped border to cover, as well as giltstamped spine-title. First Hakluyt edition and the principal English translation of "the first recorded visit by a Christian to Mecca" (Blackmer), containing the first printed eyewitness account of any place in today's United Arab Emirates, first published in Italian in 1510. - On his return journey from Mecca, Varthema visited Ras al-Khaimah ("Giulfar") and portrayed the city as "most excellent and abounding in everything", with "a good seaport", and whose inhabitants are "all Muslims". While Montalboddo's famous anthology of discoveries, printed in 1507, contained the first printed reference to the Arabian Gulf region, it was Varthema's work, published only three years later, that offered the first actual report from the region by a Western traveller who had visited the coast. - A gentleman adventurer and soldier from Bologna, the author left Venice at the end of 1502. In 1503 he reached Alexandria and ascended the Nile to Cairo, continuing to Beirut, Tripoli, Aleppo and Damascus, where, adopting Islam and taking the name of Yunas, he joined a Mameluke escort of a Hajj caravan and began the pilgrimage to Mecca. Thanks to his knowledge of Arabic and Islam, Varthema was able to appreciate the local culture of the places he visited. Impressed and fascinated, he described not only rites and rituals, but also social, geographical, and day-to-day details. After embarking at Jeddah and sailing to Aden, he was denounced as a Christian spy and imprisoned. He secured his release and proceeded on an extensive tour of southwest Arabia. Stopping in Sanaa and Zebid as well as a number of smaller cities, he describes the people, the markets and trade, the kind of fruits and animals that are plentiful in the vicinity, and any historical or cultural information deemed noteworthy. Returning to Aden, and after a brief stop in Ethiopia, he set sail for India. - From the collection of Col. Samuel Barrett Miles with his stamp of ownership to flyleaf. His widow sold the book to the Bath Public Reference Library in 1920 (their bookplate and shelfmark to pastedown, their blindstamped ownership to several pp., including the folding map). Old shelfmark label to spine. - Heads of spine and corners somewhat rubbed, slightly scuffed. Occasional light spotting; tear to right margin of folding map; pp. 39-42 loosened. A good copy. Howgego I, V15. Macro 2240. Cf. Blackmer 338. Gay 140.
11 pp. Re-stapled paper. A detailed war-time newsletter from the Middle East, relaying through the soldier's wives at home the regiment's movements at the front for family members back in the UK. Covering August 1942 to March 1943, it focuses on general updates of the regiment's position and provides lists of soldiers, facts which would give some comfort to their families. Whilst there are humorous bits on the trivialities of warfare, the confidential nature and redacted passages remind the reader that this was an internal communication with the bare minimum of information allowed. - The letter starts with addresses which a reader would need to write to for inquiries as to whether family members had been wounded or captured as prisoners. It then proceeds into "regimental letter number 1", which describes the regiment boarding a steamer and at sea; the typical routine is portrayed as a "wild rush to get the mess deck clean, hammocks and mattress stacked, blankets rolled and so on before breakfast" (p. 3). - The 2nd letter commences with 8 Dec. 1942, making reference to landing in Egypt and preparations for fighting Germany. In the same format as the first letter, it is followed by a battery notes section, listing ill or other soldiers who had to remain at HQ, promotions, soldiers injured and casualties sustained from the fighting. - A humorous note concerns an incident involving poisonous creatures of the desert, where "Battery Commander was dragged from his bed to take L/Bdr. Tait to the M.O. for treatment for scorpion sting. The scorpion, later in the night, was captured alive [...] and severely dealt with. Bdr. Hood G's scorpion sting turned out to be a piece of sardine tin, and it's thought that the piece of hand grenade alleged to have fallen on Gnr. Elliot's truck may have been the remainder of the tin" (p. 10). As discussed at the end of the letter, the paper rationing introduced in the UK meant that "it will be impossible to make the future circulation of these letters as wide as it has been" and that in the future a lady in each area of the UK would pass a single letter around for the families eager to find out about the loved ones on distant shores. - Some spotting and staining with a 3 cm tear along the central hold line to some pages. In good condition for a fragile letter.
4to. IX, (3), 188 pp. With 24 black-and-white photographic prints and 2 sketch maps of the route (one double page). Original blue full cloth with white stamped spine-title. Original illustrated dust jacket. First edition. Illustrated account of exploration along the Incense Route in Yemen and Saudi Arabia, written by "probably the first woman to have made the journey" (blurb). A gift copy with an 1969 inscription to flyleaf: "To Fred with love & best wishes for many happy returns of your birthday from Mina". - The seventh book in Toy's famous travel series involving her Landrover Pollyanna - or 'the desert gazelle', as it came to be called - narrating how her plan to follow the Incense Route was fraught with a disabling combination of immense danger - crossing war-torn Yemen - and burdensome bureaucracy. Her first attempt to cross the Saudi Arabian border was foiled, but she was able to join a pilgrimage caravan and became a valued member of the group due to her first aid box. - Toy's fascinating travelogue describes the sights and sounds along the route, includes anecdotes of Bedouin fables, and compares the rapidly developing country with memories of her previous travels in the Middle East. It includes an account of the Hejaz railway, some sections of which Toy followed on her trip, as well as the railroad's history and the various attempts to re-establish it after the destruction caused by T. E. Lawrence and his men. - Dust jacket unclipped, slightly worn at extremities. Block edges slightly spotted. A fine copy of this important piece of travel literature by one of the first Westerners to visit Saudi Arabia. OCLC 778317775.