[Petroleum Press Bureau].MareMagnum
4 075 résultats
4to. 40 pp. Original printed wrappers. Stapled. Arabic edition of the leading English newspaper on oil matters. Founded in 1934, the Petroleum Press Service was one of the first reliable sources of information on all aspects of the petroleum industry and trade. The Arabic version, first issued in 1953, was published up to the 1970s. - Front cover slightly dampstained.
Small 4to. Together 15 pp. In stapled wrappers with handdrawn cover designs showing two angels, a shepherd with a lamb, and Bethlehem's star. Programmes of the Ras Tanura Protestant Fellowship, an organisation frequented by Aramco employees. The set includes schedules of the Sunday School, Vacation Bible School, and Christmas service. - Occasional small marginal flaws to wrappers.
(Oblong) 12mo to small 4to. Together 14 pp. on 6 bifolia and 2 single sheets. The programme of the golf banquet stapled. Small archive of Velma Thomas, a golf enthusiast and wife of the Aramco engineer Orlin Orace Thomas, based at Ras Tanura. The programme of the 1953 golf banquet lists the members of the Aramco golf team of Ras Tanura, including team captain and Aramco administrator Karl Deloian. The other items document Velma Thomas's membership in the Rahimah Hollow Country Club of the Ras Tanura Golf Association, the Ras Tanura Women's Group of the Federation of American Women's Clubs overseas, and the Ain Nakhl country club in Abqaiq. - Small marginal flaws; occasional light brownstaining. Interesting collection documenting the thriving expat golf scene of Saudi Arabia.
4to. 204, (4) pp. With numerous black-and-white photographic illustrations and a folding rear-pocket world map labelling the company's spheres of operation. Contemporary full cloth with giltstamped title to cover and spine. Only edition. Anniversary publication of the Royal Dutch Petroleum Company celebrating sixty years in the business. It discusses the company's history and activities illustrated with high-quality images of refineries in Texas, California and the Netherlands, as well as of oil tanks, gas stations, working personnel, and corporate office buildings. - Cancelled stamp of the Geological Paleontological Institute of the University of Basel to flyleaf and title-page. OCLC 186670326.
865 x 635 mm. Scale: 1:1,000,000. First edition, sales copy.
870 x 630 mm. Scale 1:1,000,000. First edition, showing Dharan, Abha, Chamis Mushait, a part of the desert Rub al-Chali, a part of Yemen, etc. - In excellent condition.
13 original colour photographs (87 x 109 mm) and 6 original black-and-white photographs (75 x 104 mm), the latter captioned in English on verso. The bulk mounted on cardboard carriers. Inserted in protective sleeves in a green synthetic folder. Rare images of a Masonic society: private collection of photographs from a meeting of the Arabian Shriners in Saudi Arabia. The Shriners are seen in group pictures, alone or alongside their wives. Other pictures show the premises of the venue as well as the celebratory banquet. - In addition, the set comprises 6 black-and-white photographs, including group pictures of Westerners wearing Arabian attire, an image of the walls of the royal palace in Riyadh, a picture of the outskirts of Jeddah, and a view of the desert. - A unique survival.
Folio (229 x 297 mm).108 pp. Original printed wrappers. Monthly magazine of the Saudi Arabian Airlines. The present issue covers King Fahd's expansion project for the two Holy Mosques, a development to increase the capacity of the mosques of Mecca and Medina to more than 730,000 and 650,000 worshippers respectively - numbers that could be increased to 2 million on peak days. Other topics of the issue include reports on Saudi Airlines catering, northern Spain, hovercrafts, and the benefit of glass houses to cultivate exotic plants in the northern hemisphere. In addition, the magazine provides two maps of domestic and international routes served by Saudi Airlines.
4 topographic maps, colour-printed. 70 x 58 cm (1:1,000,000), 66 x 55.5 cm (1:500,000), ca. 54 x 45 cm (1:200,000). Constant ratio linear horizontal scale. In Russian (Cyrillic). The Soviet Union's 1:1,000,000, 1:500,000, and 1:200,000 General Staff map quadrangles showing Al-`Ula: from the Russian series of military maps produced during the Cold War, based on high-quality satellite imagery, but usually also ground reconnaissance. The information was compiled during the years 1982, 1967-70, and 1972-75; the editors were V. R. Iost, Ju. V. Chekusov, and N. D. Yarema, respectively. The smaller-scale maps cover the northwestern coastal portion of the Arabian Peninsula, the large-scale maps provides an astonishing degree of detail. The oasis town Al-`Ula, on the historical Incense Road, is depicted in the Wadi Al-'Ula; nearby landmarks include the Jabal al Mijdar, Khuraybah, and Bi'r 'Udhayb. - Products of a massive, clandestine cartographic project begun under Stalin and ultimately encompassing the entire globe, the Soviet General Staff maps are today noted for their extreme precision. Indeed, even in post-Soviet times they provide the most reliable mapping for many remoter parts of the world: "Soviet-era military maps were so good that when the United States first invaded Afghanistan in late 2001, American pilots relied on old Russian maps of Afghanistan. For almost a month after the United States began a bombing campaign to help oust the Taliban government, American pilots were guided by Russian maps dating back to the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s" (Davies/Kent, p. xi). - Although the details of the cartographic programme evolved over the decades, its overall system and plan remained remarkably constant. "The basic quadrangle is the 1:1,000,000 sheet spanning 4° latitude by 6° longitude. The quadrangles are identified by lettered bands north from the equator and by numbered zones east from longitude 180° [...] Each 1:1,000,000 sheet is subdivided into four 1:500,000 sheets (from northwest to southeast), labeled [by] the first four letters of the Russian alphabet [...] Each 1:1,000,000 sheet is [also] subdivided into 36 1:200,000 sheets in a six-by-six grid [... They] normally contain on the reverse side a detailed written description of the districts (towns, communications, topography, geology, hydrology, vegetation, and climate) together with a geological sketch map" (ibid., p. 19-21). "Printing such large-format plans in so many colors with near-perfect print registration itself testifies to the skill of the printers in the military map printing factories across the former Soviet Union. The quality of printing reflects the level of training and the reliability of humidity-control equipment and the electricity supply at the time" (ibid., p. 6f.). The 1:200,000-scale maps are specifically labelled "For Offical Use". Although the general terrain evaluation maps and operational maps produced at the smaller scales of 1:1,000,000 and 1:500,000 were not separately marked as classified, all General Staff maps de facto constituted closely guarded military material, none of which became available in the West before the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s. - Light traces of folds; some very insignificant wrinkling in places, but altogether in excellent condition. Cf. J. Davies / A. J. Kent, The Red Atlas (Chicago/London, 2017).
4to. 28 pp. With several photographic illustrations in colour. Original printed wrappers. Stapled. Illustrated annual report of the Standard Oil Company. With handwritten inscription: "Herzliche Grüsse Henry". - The photographs display oil refineries and gas stations, but also illustrate the multi-purpose character of "Jersey" products, including gasoline used for outboard motors in Bangkok, liquefied petroleum for the operation of greenhouses in Belgium, and Esso asphalt laid in France - "a universal answer to building better highways". With a group portrait of three former and acting company presidents: M. J. Rathbone, Michael L. Haider and J. K. Jamieson.
Folio (231 x 308 mm). 24 pp. With numerous illustrations in colour and black-and-white. Original printed wrappers. Stapled. Illustrated corporate magazine of Standard Oil, celebrating the company's international activities. It includes reports on trade with European countries, the recently established Antwerp refinery, the kerosene-powered Seguin lighthouse in Maine, advancing infrastructure in North Africa, and the recycling of oil barrels as musical instruments in the Caribbean. The final three pages display sketched impressions of the Jersey Standard headquarters in New York by the artist Bettina Steinke. OCLC 1755500.
4to. (4), 44 pp. Contemporary full cloth with silver title stamped to spine. With the original dust jacket. Only edition. - Inscribed copy signed by the author: "To Larry and Marion / With best wishes, Glenn W. Swanson". - Scholarly account of the age-old struggle of the Middle East to find a balance between the abundance of oil and the scarcity of water. "In this overview of an important geographical area, the author shows the various ways in which Middle Eastern societies have coped with their water shortage, as well as the methods they use to develop their vast oil reserves and to move the oil from under the ground to overseas destinations [...]". OCLC 859002451.
4to. 4 pp. on bifolium. With 3 black-and-white photographic illustrations, including a portrait of King Ibn Saud. Interesting account of the close Saudi-American ties forged after the 1933 Concession Agreement. It describes the friendly relationship between King 'Abd al-'Aziz and Aramco, which involved the frequent exchange of valuable gifts. The King presented "his Aramco friends [with] noble Arabian horses, gold-mounted swords, daggers, watches, and Oriental rugs", a courtesy that the Americans recipocrated with exquisite boxes of gold and a golden coffee service, as well as "a complete American cowboy's outfit, with chaps, sombrero, and a gorgeous saddle mounted in gold and silver" - the latter perhaps constituting one of the more peculiar presents. - Further, the article describes friendly interactions between Arabs and Americans and discusses the company's plans to advance Arabian infrastructure and to foster education and housing. - Small marginal flaws. Somewhat toned.
8vo. Together 7 pp. on two bifolia. Interesting samples of the Aramco expats' buoyant cultural life in Ras Tanura: programmes for performances by the Ras Tanura Fellowship Choir and the theatre group Ras Tanura Players. The former performed "The Seven Last Words of Christ", composed by Theodore Dubois in 1867, under the direction of Lyle R. Danielson. The programme lists all members of the chorus as well as the organist. - The Ras Tanura Players presented the 1944 play "Guest in the House" by Hagar Wilde and Dale Eunson, directed by Don Ertel. Also in 1944, the play was turned into a popular film noir starring Anne Baxter and Ralph Bellamy. The programme features an ink sketch showing Evelyn Heath approaching the Proctor house. - The theatre programme with small marginal flaws.
4to. (6), 40 pp., final blank leaf. With numerous black-and-white photographic illustrations and a map of the Tapline. Original printed wrappers. Stapled. Illustrated history of the Trans-Arabian Pipeline - the "greatest of all long range engineering projects". The account celebrates the Tapline's completion in 1950, describing the arduous construction, with rare photographs of the work involved, including pictures of the Sidon terminal and the Badanah pump station as well as portraits of the executive management personnel of the Tapline company. - Wrappers slightly creased; margins a little rubbed. OCLC 6162918.
890 x 620 mm. Scale: 1:1,000,000. First edition. Map of the western part of Yemen, including parts of Oman. - Stamped "Sales copy".
4to (165 x 227 mm). Arabic manuscript on paper. 44 pp. (22 ff.) with 5 full-page colour illustrations (one double-page-sized), all illustrated leaves consisting of two folios pasted together for reinforcement. 17 lines of text, per extensum, within green and double red rules, written in Maghribi style (with diacritic under the letter 'fa') in black, red and green ink; introductory first page written in a different hand in brown ink. 19th century Levantine binding in full red morocco with fore-edge flap, stamped in blind with rules, fleurons and ornamental oval medallions to both covers. Pioneering Abbasid-era study of horsemanship and horse care: the work's only known manuscript in Europe, constituting the long-lost first volume of the set now in the National Library of the Kingdom of Morocco. - Titled "Kitab al-Furusiyah" (the "Book of Riding" or "Book of Horses", often referred to as the "Book of Farriery") or, in full, "Kitab fi al-'inayahbi al-khayl wa-sa'ir dawab al-rukub" ("On the care of horses and all other riding animals"), this encyclopedia of horse care was completed ca. 1200 CE. Ahmad ibn al-Ahnaf is known also to have composed a "Kitab al-Baytara" (Book of Veterinary Science) - possibly simply the same work by a different title, although some Arabic sources mention the titles separately. Ahmad was one of the earliest authors to write on the care of horses and possibly the first ever to include illustrations. - The present manuscript comprises the beginning of the work from chapter 1 to the first half of chapter 4. The introduction announces a total of 30 chapters, but no complete copy is known: the most extensive manuscript extant has 29 chapters, while specimens with 26 chapters are more common. As the later chapters are very short, these first four chapters make up more than a quarter of the entire work. They discuss, individually: 1) the study of milk teeth and permanent teeth; 2) the physical appearance and general characteristics of the horse, donkey, and mule; 3) the functions of the external parts of the body; 4) equestrianism and the various ways of mounting a horse. - The present volume completes the incomplete three-volume set in Rabat's National Library of the Kingdom of Morocco, which begins with the fifth chapter and fully agrees with the present manuscript in script, page layout, spelling and size (MS 6126, described in the "Chevaux et cavaliers arabes" exhibition catalogue, see reference below). The illustrations in the manuscript in the Royal Library, showing the identical almond-shaped horse eyes and characteristically rounded hooves, are clearly by the same artist, as well. The Rabat MS is dated Dhu'l-Hijja 1126 H (December 1714 CE) and thus provides the date for the volume at hand, although the style of penmanship would easily agree with a 17th century dating. - Upper corners of the first two leaves professionally restored with very little text loss. Some fingerstains and dust-soiling throughout, more pronounced in first and last page, suggesting that the manuscript probably had no binding before the 19th century. Frequent edge tears, confined to margins. Pigments somewhat chipped in the final, double-page-spread illustration. Altogether a beautiful specimen of an Arabic manuscript on equestrianism, and like all such manuscripts of the greatest rarity. Cf. Digard, Chevaux et cavaliers arabes dans les arts d'Orient et d'Occident: exposition présentée à l'Institut du monde arabe (Paris, 2002), pp. 79, 83 & 126 (no. 68).
Large 8vo (146 x 238 mm). Arabic manuscript on polished oriental paper. 865 pp. (paginated in a later hand), 25 lines, per extensum. Black ink with red underlinings and emphases. With numerous diagrams in the text. Contemporary blindstamped full calf, restored and spine rebacked. A rare, complete, and well-preserved late 16th century manuscript of Al-Birjandi's "Sharh al-Tadhkirah", a commentary on the "Tadhkira", the memoir of the Persian polymath at-Tusi (1201-74). As consistent with the Islamic tradition of commentary, Al-Birjandi provides explanations for the reader and provides alternative views while assessing the viewpoints of predecessors. - Abd Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Husayn Birjandi (d. 1528) was a prominent Persian astronomer, mathematician and physicist from Birjand. A pupil of Mansur ibn Muin al-Din al-Kashi, of the Ulugh Beg Observatory, he anticipated notions later developed by Galileo Galilei in the West. - Copied by the scribe Abd al-Wahhab bin Mawlana Baha al-Din. Somewhat browned throughout; some waterstaining to lower half, more pronounced near the end of the volume. The text illustrations show sections, celestial spheres and other astronomical and mathematical diagrams. Old waqf stamp to first leaf. Restored binding uses original cover material.
Large chromolithographed map (122 x 139 cm). Scale 1:2,000,000. Second edition. A highly detailed map of the complete Peninsula, the first modern map in 1:2,000,000 scale. Based on the groundbreaking series prepared by the U.S. Geological Survey and the Arabian American Oil Company under the joint sponsorship of Saudi Arabia and the U.S. State Department, "a unique experiment in geological cooperation among several governments, petroleum companies, and individuals" (Seager/Johnston). Also includes the territories of today's Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Yemen. "The plan for a cooperative mapping project was originally conceived in July 1953 [... By 1955] there was established a cooperative agreement between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the U.S. Department of State, and the Arabian-American Oil Co. to make available the basic areal geology as mapped by Aramco and the U.S. Geological Survey" (ibid.). The plan provided for 21 maps on a 1:500,000 scale in both geologic and geographic versions; "a peninsular geologic map on a scale of 1:2,000,000 was to conclude the project [...] The first geographic quadrangle was published in July 1956 and the last in September 1962. While preparation of the geographic sheets was in progress, a need arose for early publication of a 1:2,000,000-scale peninsular geographic map. Consequently, a preliminary edition was compiled and published in both English and Arabic in 1958" (ibid.). This revised, final version ("I-270 B-2") that first appeared in 1963 incorporated additional photographic, topographic and cultural data. The present map, printed in 1967, is a re-issue of the 1963 edition, merely differing in the date. Includes a key with symbols for water pipelines, desert watering points, oil fields, pumping stations, refineries, and a glossary of Arabic names. - "Although the search for oil, gas and minerals was ultimately to drive geological survey work across the region [...], in its early years it was the need for water that was the catalyst for Saudi Arabia's resource exploration. In 1944 King 'Abd al-'Aziz approached the United States for a technical expert who could assist with the identification and plotting of the kingdom's natural resources, particularly its groundwater reserves. The individual who arrived, Glen F. Brown, was one of the pioneers of a partnership between the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and the government of Saudi Arabia that was to span the next five decades and play an important role in the development of the kingdom [...] By 1954 the Saudi Ministry of Finance, USGS and Aramco were working together to produce the first full series of geographic and geologic maps of the country. The first of their type in the Peninsula, these were published [...] in both Arabic and English versions, and the information they contained formed the basis of subsequent Saudi national development plans. To this day, all modern maps of the kingdom trace their roots back to these first publications" (Parry). - Several small tears and paper loss to right and upper margin; occasional small holes. James V. Parry, "Mapping Arabia", in: Saudi Aramco World 2004/1, p. 20ff. OCLC 6681002. O. A. Seager/W. D. Johnston, Foreword to the Geology of the Arabian Peninsula series (U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 560-A-D, 1966).
4to (168 x 212 mm). 8 watercolour drawings, some heightened with white or gold, captioned in German in a late 16th-c. hand, on 8 leaves and a further 24 blank leaves (for the watermark cf. Briquet 917: Nuremberg 1554 or 1565-82). Contemporary limp vellum without ties. An album of eight splendid costume paintings, by a talented, unidentified artist who may have been a member of the entourage of a German ambassador to the Porte. The subjects in this collection are captioned: "Der Kriechen Patriarch" (the Greek Patriarch); "Der Türckisch Keiser" (the Turkish Sultan); "Der Türckisch Babst" (the Grand Mufti); "Türckische weiber wie sie pflegen auf der gaßen zu gehen" (Turkish women, as it is their wont to dress in the street); "Also sizen die Türckischen weiber" (Thus sit the Turkish women); "Ein Epirotische frau wie sie in Iren Heusern zu Galata pflegen zu gehen" (a woman of Epirus, as they walk about in their houses in Galata); "Ein Kriegische fraw" (a Greek woman); and "Ein Armenerin" (an Armenian woman). - Great attention to both accuracy and details is shown: indeed, the suite may be related to another set of similar drawings in the Gennadius Library (A896 B), dated to about 1573 (cf. Blackmer Cat.). There is also some resemblance in style and presentation to certain of the costume illustrations in Nicolas de Nicolay's Navigations (1568, and later editions). Although Nicolay travelled in the Levant in the 1550s and was long thought to have drawn his costume subjects from life, doubt has been cast on this view, and it is now generally considered that he drew his subjects from the work of other artists and illustrators. - A little light dust-soiling, binding with minor wear, soiling and wormholes. Provenance: from the collection of Ferdinand Sigismund Kress von Kressenstein (1641-1704), councilman of Nuremberg whose father signed the Peace of Westphalia treaty (his armorial bookplate on the front pastedown). Later in the library of Franz Joseph II, Prince of Liechtenstein (1906-89), with his armorial bookplate on the flyleaf. Latterly in the collection of Henry Myron Blackmer II (1923-88), with his bookplate to the pastedown, sold at Sotheby's in 1989 (Blackmer sale, lot 80) and purchased by Herry W. Schaefer (1934-2016). Blackmer 1887 (with two illustrations: p. 42 and frontispiece facing p. 1). Cf. Haydn Williams, "Additional printed sources for Ligozzi's series of figures of the Ottoman Empire", in: Master Drawings, vol. 51, no. 2 [Summer 2013], pp. 195-220; Metin And, Istanbul in the 16th century: the city, the palace, daily life (Istanbul, 1994).
8vo. 126 pp. Contemporary half calf over marbled boards with giltstamped spine and blue morocco spine label. All edges marbled. Early account on the tribes of Egypt. A rare offprint from the "Déscription de l'Égypte", a compilation of the scientific results of Napoleon's Egyptian expedition published in 1809. The present work describes the main Bedouin tribes living in Egypt, including Tarabin, Néfahat, Ayaidi, Hannadi, Mahazi and Beni-Wassel. Also, it makes some observations on the noble Arabian horse, which is considered "more scarce in the deserts of Egypt than in those of the Hejaz and Syria". Prepared by Du Bois-Aymé (1779-1846), one of the leading scientists accompanying the expedition. - Rare variant edition (probably the first) with a slightly different title, also omitting the author's as well as the publisher's name from the title-page. Corners slightly bumped. Paper occasionally browned; light brownstaining near the end. Still a good copy. OCLC 742830325. Cf. Gay 2011; Ibrahim-Hilmy I, 194.
4to (160 x 244 mm). Arabic manuscript on polished oriental paper. (252) pp., 21 lines, per extensum. Black ink with red underlinings and emphases. With numerous red ink diagrams in the text and margins. Contemporary blindstamped full calf, restored and spine rebacked. A fine mid-17th century Arabic manuscript of Euclid's famous "Elements of Geometry", the "oldest mathematical textbook in the world still in common use today" (PMM). The translation is by the great Persian polymath Nasir ad-Din at-Tusi (1201-74), after whom the lunar crater "Nasireddin" is named. Written in Central Asia, this manuscript comprises fifteen books rather than the usual thirteen. Some of the marginal diagrams may have been added later. - Paper browned and somewhat mottled throughout, less so near the end of the volume. The restored binding uses the stamped original cover material. Cf. GAL I, 510, 23.
4to (160 x 202 mm). Arabic manuscript on watermarked paper, 27 pp. plus 57 pp. of tables, 22 lines per extensum, written in black Maghribi script, emphases and section titles in red; extensive tables at the end. - (Bound with) II: Nour al-Din 'Ali bin Abd al-Qadir al-Fardi al-Hasani. Kitab al-Fawa'id al-jalilah fi fi hall majhulat al-wasila. Near East, 18th century CE. Arabic manuscript on watermarked paper, 98 pp., 19 lines per extensum, black naskh with emphases in red. - (Bound with) III: Brain manuscript. Near East, 18th century CE. Arabic manuscript on watermarked paper, 25 pp., 19 lines per extensum, written in black naskh with emphases in red. - All bound together in oriental brown leather with fore-edge flap, a central oval medallion and stamped borders. A collection of three different Arabic treatises bound in one volume, dealing with astronomy, keeping time and mathematics, as well as psychology, written in Northern Africa and Near East. - Bound first is the "Kitab Minhaj al-talib li-ta'dil al-kawakib" by the Marrakesh-born mathematician, astronomer, and Sufi scholar Ibn al-Banna' (also known as Abu'l-Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Uthman al-Azdi, 1251-1321). A long treatise about astronomy, the movements of the planets, and calculating the times of prayer according to location, it was published by Juan Vernet Ginés in 1952. - The "Kitab al-Fawa'id" by the mathematician Nouraddin ‘Ali al-Faradi (d. 870 H / 1465/66 CE) is a commentary on the "Kitab al-wasila fi 'ilm al-hisab" by the Egyptian mathematician Ibn al-Ha'im al-Misri (d. 1412). A copy is stored in the Al-Azhar Library, Cairo (shelfmark 4374). - At the end is a shorter text containing two sections (fasl 4 and fasl 5) excerpted from a treatise on the power of the human brain and how to exercise it. - The treatise of Ibn al-Banna' shows some edge damage from worming and old repairs, otherwise internally quite sound. Binding professionally restored; modern spine and flap hinge. Provenance: from the private collection of the English art dealer Oliver Hoare (1945-2018), who launched the Islamic Art Department at Christie's. I: GAL II, 331, 5. - II: Cf. GAL S II, 1024, 77.
Folio (280 x 360 mm). 2 parts in 2 vols. (4), XVI, 262 pp. (2), 263-555, (1) pp. With 168 (instead of 169) numbered plates, including 14 (instead of 15) in colour, of which 10 large portolan facsimiles, and one folding colour printed map of Abyssinia and Yemen. The black-and-white plates include another 3 large portolan facsimiles. Also 95 numbered text illustrations. Contemporary half cloth with original printed covers and spines. Important study of Near-Eastern travel routes, also including Mecca and oriental cartography. Commissioned by King Fouad I of Egypt, and prepared by Albert Kammerer, scholar and French Ambassador to Turkey (1933-1936) as a three-volume series published 1929-52. - The present set comprises volume II in two parts, dedicated to Portuguese seafaring exploits in the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea up to the 16th century. It is particularly remarkable for its large portolan facsimiles, all of which are fine specimens of both Western and oriental historical cartography. - Lacks plate CL (a facsimile of the 1543 world map of Battista Agnesi); pencil note in Arabic regarding the missing plate on flyleaf of part II. Upper hinges of part II broken, spine loosened. Covers a little stained. Interior very well preserved with only occasional light waterstaining. Macro, Bibliography of the Arabian Peninsula, 1339. Henze II, 315 (s. v. Estevâo da Gama). OCLC 2891592.
4to (170 x 232 mm). 64 pp. With woodcut device on title-page. - (Bound with) II: [I'tiqad alamarah ...]. Brevis orthodoxae fidei professio, quae ex praescripto Sanctae Sedis Apostolicae ab Orientalibus ad Sacrosanctae Romanae Ecclesiae unitatem venientibus facienda proponitur. Ibid., 1595. (28) pp., 2 bl. ff. With 2 half-page woodcuts and woodcut device at the end. - (Bound with) III: Ibn Ajurrum, Muhammad ibn Muhammad al Sinhaji. [Kitab al-Ajurrumiyyah]. [Ibid., 1592]. (24) pp. Arabic text throughout, printed in red and black. - (Bound with) IV: Ibn al-Hajib, 'Uthman ibn-'Umar. [Kafiya li-Ibn al-Hajib]. [Ibid., 1592]. (96) pp. Arabic text throughout, printed in red and black. Contemporary full vellum with traces of a handwritten spine title. A fine sammelband containing no fewer than four extremely rare publications from the Medicea Oriental Press, the first printing press in Europe dedicated to printing Arabic typeface. It was founded in Rome in 1584 under the direction of Giabattista Raimondi (1536-1614) and the patronage of Pope Gregory XIII. For the Arabic types, Raimondi commissioned the famous typefounder Robert Granjon. Cutting the Arabic typefaces took a long time, and the first book to bear its imprint did not appear until 1591. Until 1610 Raimondi printed only eight works with Granjon's types. - Contains individually: - I. Alphabetum Arabicum (1592). A prospectus of the Medicea's Arabic typefaces - "a masterpiece of design which not only displays Granjon's beautiful types, but contains a careful Latin Essay on the Arabic writing system" (Lunde, Arabic and the art of printing, in "Aramco World" 1981). - II. Brevis orthodoxae fidei professio (1595). Maronite confession of faith, intended for Eastern Christians who claimed to be united with the Catholic Church. Arabic and Latin parallel text on opposite pages. The woodcuts in the text are after Antonio Tempesta (1555-1630). - III. Kitab al-Ajurrumiyyah (1592). Editio princeps of a short Arabic grammar by the 14th c. scholar Muhammad al-Sanhaji from Fez (Morocco). There are also copies with a Latin title and imprint, "Grammatica Arabica in compendium redacta, quae vocatur Giarrumia". - IV. Kafiya (1592). "Editio princeps of this popular short syntax of the Arabic language, written in the 13th century by the Arabian grammarian Uthman Ibn Umar, known as Ibn al-Hajib (1175-1249). Two centuries later an Oriental printed edition was published in Istanbul (1786), but in the meantime this edition, printed in Arabic (30 point) throughout, could well have passed for a manuscript" (Smitskamp). There are also copies with a Latin title and imprint, "Grammatica arabica dicta Caphiah, auctore filio Alhagiabi". - Binding a little stained; wants ties. Later pastedowns. Occasional slight toning and some minor marginal soiling. "Kafiya" shows some dampstaining to upper edge of a1 and a4, with light offsetting of red Arabic print in the lower margin of d1v. In general, excellent, wide-margined copies throughout. Provenance: Christiaan Druve (d. 1616), abbot of the Sint-Niklaas Abbey in Veurne, with his contemporary ownership entry "Christianus Druvaeus Abb. S. Nicol. Fur. Recogita" on the title-page of the Alphabetum. I. Edit 16, CNCE 1227. Schnurrer 41. Adams A 780. BM-STC Italian 36. OCLC 47816774. Lunde, Paul, "Arabic and the Art of Printing", in: Aramco World 32/2 (1981) (mit Abb.). J. Balagna, L'imprimerie arabe en occident (Paris 1984), p. 135. Cat. Le Livre et le Liban (mentioned p. 190; no copy in the catalogue). Not in Smitskamp (PO) or Fück. - II. Edit 16, CNCE 7571. Zenker 1571. Not in Adams. - III. Edit 16, CNCE 65819. Schnurrer 43. Adams M 1891. GAL S II, p. 332. - IV. Edit 16, CNCE 44392. Schnurrer 42 Adams U 102. GAL I, p. 303. Smitskamp (PO) 30.