[Iraq - Royal Air Force].MareMagnum
4 081 résultats
Oblong quarto. 371 photographs in 3 albums: 1) 121 original photographs ranging from small (70 x 100 mm) to medium (111 x 170 mm) and large (170 x 235 mm), mounted on 18 leaves (230 x 315 mm); 2) 178 original photographs ranging from small (70 x 50 mm) to medium (95 x 140 mm) and large (160 x 220 mm), mounted on 24 leaves (195 x 280 mm); 3) 72 original photographs ranging from small (65 x 90 mm) to medium (120 x 185 mm) and large (160 x 220 mm), mounted on 14 leaves (220 x 315 mm). Most photographs with manuscript captions beneath in white chinagraph pencil. With 6 additional photographs and a swimming certificate loosely inserted. Contemporary card covers with cord ties. Large collection of important photographs depicting RAF activity in Iraq during the late 1930s, demonstrating British imperial power by use of "Air Control": a policy designed to maintain the RAF as the independent third service of the British armed forces and enforce British imperial rule economically through the use of air power. - The current collection of photographs centres around the activities of 70 Squadron, providing heavy transport facilities and air ambulances and operating airmail routes between Cairo and Baghdad. Images include an armoured car with a mounted machine gun at Hinaidi; air-conditioned desert buses belonging to Nairn Transport Co going from Baghdad to Damascus, and the Flying Boat "Ceres" on Lake Habaniyah. The dangers of the operations are evident in the photos of a crash of the Flying Boat "Calpurnia" in Lake Habaniyah with the loss of five lives, the crash of Jonah Kyte No. 3 while landing, and the "Vincent" of 55 Squadron going up up in flames in Simel. The album captures well the cultural and military diversity of Iraq at the time. Not only are there bombers from the French Air Force on visit in both Dhibban and Habbaniya, but there are also photos of Iraqi "Gladiator" aircraft, Jewish women in Baghdad, and the Kurdish population spread across central Iraq. A 500-year-old church in Haiz is complemented by the photo of a priest with a 700-year-old Bible. As a foreigner abroad, the photographer gives the albums their healthy dose of tourist sites such as Alexandria (Egypt), the landscapes of Ser Amadia (while in a Summer Training Camp) and Ctesiphon Arch (530 CE). Aerial shots add bird's-eye views of the Golden Mosque of Khadimain (Baghdad), the crossing of the Suez Canal, and the Maude Bridge over the Tigris. The international and geopolitical importance of the photographs is further underscored in their documentation of the first Hinaidi-Singapore flight on 18 January 1937. - Extremities of albums slightly rubbed. 1 loose photograph creased at edge. A well preserved ensemble.
Oblong 4to (280 x 204 mm). 112 vintage black-and-white photographs (ca. 13 x 18 cm), frequently captioned in German in white ink, on 56 black paper leaves (plus two blank leaves at the end). Contemporary green card boards, block-bound with string. A fine album of excellent original travel photographs, assembled by a party of young men from Germany, Austria and Hungary travelling through Northern Africa in the late 1920s or very early 1930s. A total of 36 photos show scenes from Libya: the cave dwellings in the jebels, the Arab and especially Jewish population, a Bedouin tent, Italian officers in Aziziya, but also a group portrait of the travellers leaning on their motorcar. A few pictures show the European tourists laughingly taunting the local children with cigarettes for which they let the youngsters grapple. The strong focus on the fairly large Jewish community (then constituting nearly 4% of the Libyan population, as compared to less than 0.8% in Germany) is poignant before the background of the increasingly virulent antisemitism in the visitors' central European homeland, apparently revealing a particular fascination with the "otherness" of the Jews who are here shown and described as a people living as they supposedly did in Biblical times. - Via Malta (6 photos, some depicting warships in the harbour) the party sailed on to Tunis, where no fewer than 32 photographs cover the port, the Al-Zaytuna Mosque, Spahis and French officers on horseback, and a wealth of street scenes: the old town with its souks, Bab Souika square, gypsies, veiled women, water salesmen, men in coffee houses, and a Christian butchery. The remainder of the album shows scenes from the return journey through Italy: Cagliari and Sardinia (6), Civitavecchia (3), Livorno (5), Genoa (1), and Milan (23, including many from the Cimitero Monumentale and some showing off then-modern architecture). - A well-preserved ensemble of amateur travel photographs from a region more frequently captured in military photography but rarely visited at the time by affluent European tourists with high-quality cameras.
Tabletop pop-up display. Printed in four colours; lower cover showing six photographic views of the holy sites and the Hajj. Green cloth spine. Folio (230 x 325 mm). Charming pop-up display designed by the Czech illustrator Vojtech Kubašta for the Iranian children's market. "In 1977, the Artia Foreign Trade Corporation exported nine Kubašta titles in the Farsi language to Iran. Kubašta's panoramic books [were] protected by a Czech patent. Using the Panascopic format but without text, and for the first time combining photographs and illustration, Kubašta designed a pop-up book celebrating Mecca, its pilgrims, and surrounding areas" (E. Rubin, The Life and Art of Vojtech Kubašta). - Corners and extremeties slightly bumped.
8 issues bound in 11 volumes. Each volume with a frontispiece photographic portrait of Sultan Qaboos bin Said, one in colour. With numerous black-and-white and colour photographic illustrations, maps, plans and charts in the text or as plates. Original printed wrappers. Scholarly journal on aspects of natural and cultural heritage relevant to the Sultanate of Oman. Includes occasional remarks on neighbouring countries, such as a list of documents relating to foreign relations between 1790 to 1970, and mentioning the 1896 treaty between Oman and Abu Dhabi which invested the latter with an annual payment of 3,000 dollars to keep the peace in the al-Buraimi area. For the most part the research focuses on prehistoric times and on early settlements along the Gulf. Interestingly, one paper points out a scarcity of prehistoric communities in large areas of the present-day United Arab Emirates, as "a paucity of suitable anchorages such as can be found at Abu Dhabi, Umm an-Nar, or Jazirat Yas [...] and a lack of fresh water along the coast from Abu Dhabi to Qatar probably restricted prehistoric settlement in the area" (vol. 4, p. 32). Apart from prehistoric sites and archaeological findings, the journal addresses matters of social history, discussing the diminishing Shawawi population of Northern Oman, many members of which migrated to more prosperous areas such as Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Bahrain, as well as questions of biology, including papers on falcon breeding as well as the life of the Arabian tahr on the Musandam Peninsula. - Vol. 3 part 2 has an additional title-page loosely inserted. Wrappers occasionally slightly worn; interior in excellent condition. An academic publication of great scientific value drawing attention to the rich cultural heritage of Oman. OCLC 263595432.
8vo. 14 pp. With a folding map. Original printed wrappers. Only edition of this rare pamphlet. "The only chance of peace, and of immediate advance towards self-governing institutions, appears to lie in so framing the constitution of the country as to give to each the greatest practicable measure of power to manage its own affairs". - An uncommon and important publication, detailing the Morrison-Grady Plan for the division of Palestine into four areas. The plan was based upon the work of British and American "expert delegations", who believed the political aspirations of the Arab and Jewish communities were irreconcilable and the best course of action was to give them their own territories and autonomy, albeit under a central government. - A little light water-staining to top of front wrapper, otherwise very good. The folding map, titled the "Provincial Autonomy Plan", shows the four areas: an Arab Province, a Jewish Province, a District of Jerusalem, and a District of the Negeb.
Oblong folio (255 x 203 mm). Photograph album containing 223 photographs (from 47 x 65 to 178 x 240 mm) mounted on 18 leaves, with 23 loosely inserted photographs, mostly with handwritten annotations in blue ink to versos. Contemporary metal-ring leatherette binding. With a quantity of relevant ephemera. Interesting collection of photographs by a participant in the closing stages of British rule in Palestine. Assembled by Lance Sergeant Ernest Bennet serving in 3rd Battalion of the Grenadier Guards in Palestine, the photographs depict British servicemen on military exercise (Exercise "Bustard"), with Arab inhabitants, riots in Jaffa, military convoys, and troops on patrol. Significant photographs include the British soldiers with a captured Irgun flag and ships docking at Haifa with Jewish Displaced Persons. Bennett often identifies himself with an ink manuscript cross on the photographs. - Extremities of binding lightly rubbed. Includes a small collection of personal papers such as correspondence and payslips.
3 albums (all oblong 8vo) containing a total of 371 original photographs: 1) 71 photos (most 68 x 110 mm or 137 x 87 mm, with a few other variant sizes) mounted on 12 leaves, one loose photograph inserted. 2) 120 photos (most 60 x 85 mm, 90 x 140 mm or 84 x 135 mm, with a few other variant sizes) mounted on 12 leaves. 3) 181 photos (57 x 85 mm, 82 x 56 mm or 65 x 102 mm, with a few other variant sizes) mounted on 18 leaves. Original cloth-backed papered boards or imitation leather card binding; one album lacking covers. Large collection of early images of British military service in the Middle East, with historically important images of Faisal I of Iraq and his brother, Abdullah I of Jordan. One album, compiled by a member of No. 1 Armoured Car Company, is dated 1922 and is mainly focused on Egypt, while the other two contain a wide range of images from both sides of the Jordan, including a large aerial view of the Rest Camp at Jaffa, Amman (a mix of tourist views of the Roman theatre and remains of Turkish military transport), Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Sarafand Camp and Ramleh Military Cemetery. The twin implements of British imperial military control in the form of armoured cars (Rolls Royce and Lancier) and aircraft (including Vimy and Vernon) are well represented. King Faisal I of Iraq is seen visiting Amman, while another shows his brother Abdullah I of Jordan arm-in-arm with an unidentified British political figure. - Covers with paper tears and some losses particularly to lower cover; extremities rubbed. A fine survival.
8vo. 46, (2) pp. Arabic text. Original printed wrappers, stapled. First edition. The second of two rare pamphlets published by the Iraqi government, opposing the independence of Kuwait. The first pamphlet, published in English and Arabic, outlined Kuwait's historical connection to Iraq and analysed its "imperialist relations" with Britain. This second one, in Arabic throughout, prints the minutes of the Political Affairs Committee of the Arab League, which met in Cairo on 20 July 1961 to consider Kuwait's request to join the League. - Kuwait emerged as an independent state in June 1961, after sixty-two years as a British protectorate. With a new constitution, it held its first parliamentary elections in 1963, thereby becoming the first Arab state in the Gulf to establish a parliament. Such political developments, married with growing wealth and modernisations in health, culture and finance, helped to make Kuwait the most prosperous state in the Arabian Peninsula. - The Iraqi government argued that the move toward independence was a continuation of Kuwait's relationship with Britain, albeit under a new guise. Furthermore, they felt that the historical links between Iraq and Kuwait entitled the former to control over the latter and, one suspects, a share of its growing wealth. This position, partly detailed in the pamphlet, led to a point of crisis, with Iraq threatening invasion. To the relief of Kuwait, the Iraqis were eventually deterred by the Arab League's promise of military opposition. - Wrappers a little dusty, two thick black lines to upper wrapper, seemingly erasing stamp, another stamp partially visible to lower wrapper (most likely a bookseller's name and address, "Baghdad" is legible). Interior clean and bright. - Rare: LibraryHub locates one copy in the UK at the British Library; OCLC locates copies in Harvard, the University of Toronto, and the NYU Abu Dhabi. OCLC 219629380.
Folio. 10 pp. Sewn as issued. First edition of this rare and highly interesting commercial report. Maclean, Special Commissioner of the Commercial Intelligence Committee of the British Board of Trade, travelled to Muscat in February 1904 and made detailed notes on the trade of Oman (imports, exports, coinage, weights, freight and course of trade). He then visited Bahrain and gathered information on its increasing trade before returning to Karachi via Bushire and Kuwait. The notes on Bahrain provide a valuable insight into its economy, which - less than thirty years before the discovery of oil - still relied strongly on pearl fishing ("the annual value of pearls exported is estimated at £350,000 to £400,000"). - Extremities dusty and slightly fragile, otherwise very good. Withdrawn from the University of Hull with requisite stamps to cover-title. Rare; no copies in LibraryHub. WorldCat locates just one, at the University of Erfurt. Cd. 2281. Macro 1505. Wilson p. 133. OCLC 553574318.
8vo. 31, (1) pp. With 4 black-and-white photographic illustrations and a double-page map of the Arabian Peninsula. Original printed wrappers. Stapled. Rare Arabian-themed issue of the popular "Lesebogen" series. It provides a brief introduction to Saudi Arabia and its history, focusing on the ascent of Abdulaziz Ibn Saud. With a portrait of Ibn Saud as well as images of the Ka'aba, an oil refinery, and a group of watchmen in the desert. The map shows international boundaries, pipelines and railroads, as well as several major cities including Riyadh, Medina, Mecca, Dhahran, Damaskus, Kuwait and Tehran. - Founded by the German publisher Sebastian Lux in 1946 as a series for young readers, the "Lesebogen" booklets quickly proved a sought-after collectible, reaching 4 million copies in the first 3 years of publication alone. When the final issue appeared in 1964, the Lux publishing house had sold a total of 25 million copies. The immense success of the series is considered the result of a demand for well-edited material on complex matters of the world after the intellectual vacuum of World War II among the German public. The writer Otto Zierer (1909-83) was the author of no fewer than 50 such booklets. - Extremities slightly rubbed. Interior in excellent condition. OCLC 804813770.
4to (200 x 260 mm). 2 pp. on a bifolium inserted in an illustrated printed wrapper with the reproduction of a watercolour of Versailles. Printed menu for the meal served on board 1960's Bastille Day flight from Paris to Cairo, performed by Air France with the legendary Sud Aviation Caravelle. The sumptuous menu comprised "langue de boef fumée en gelée", "cote de veau poèlée Toulousaine" and fresh peas in butter, followed by Salade Lapérouse and a selection of cheeses, pastries, and fruit for dessert. The discerning traveller was also offered a range of aperitifs, champagne, French wine, cognac, and liqueurs. - Light soiling and dust-staining to covers, otherwise well preserved.
4to (180 × 240 mm). Arabic manuscript on cream paper. Two books, each with 10 chapters or Maqalahs, bound in one volume. (614) leaves, lacking one leaf from Book 2 (Maqalah 8, Bab 23) and another leaf from Book 2 (Maqalah 10, Bab 23) replaced in 19th century manuscript facsimile. 21 lines, per extensum, written in black naskh, chapter headings and important sections in red, catchwords throughout, each of the 20 chapters with an index of the ‘bab’ within and each with a separate colophon. Later brown lacquered leather over pasteboards, faintly pressed central medallions to covers, rebacked. One of the few existing complete copies of this medical milestone. Exceptionally rare: a fundamental medical work from the Golden Age of Islamic scholarship, preceding and influencing Avicenna's Qanun. Monumentally influential not only in Islamic medicine, this work even had profound impact in the West. It was first translated into Latin by Constantinus Africanus in the 11th century for use as a primary text at Salerno's medical school, and then again in 1127 by Stephen of Antioch. By the 14th century knowledge of the work was so widespread that Al-Majusi is mentioned as one of antiquity's great medical scholars in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. - The text is divided into two distinct books, each of which comprise ten "maqalas" (sections), subdivided into "babs" (chapters). The first section deals with the theory of medicine, including anatomical structures and they body's physiology; the second examines the practical treatment of medicine, the application of medical treatments and surgery. Indeed, this is the earliest known Arabic medical work to provide detailed instructions on surgical procedure. - Ali ibn al-Abbas al-Majusi was a 10th century Persian physician and psychologist, known in the Latin tradition as "Hali Abbas". Born in Ahvaz in southwest Persia, he was perhaps the most celebrated physician in the Eastern Caliphate of the Buwayhid dynasty, becoming physician royal to Emir 'Abdul al-Daula Fana Khusraw (reigned 949-983). The present treatise was compiled under the patronage of Emir Khusraw and is therefore also known as "Al-Malikiyya" ("The Royal Book"). Emir Khusraw founded a hospital in Shiraz and the al-Adudi Hospital in Baghdad to show his support for medical science, and Al-Majusi probably worked at the latter around 981 CE, where he must have composed this, his chief work. He is thought to have died in either 990 or 1010 CE. - The manuscript was produced for a wealthy and important patron in 16th century Persia, written on fine paper by a single scribe who names himself as Salam'ullah bin Habib'ullah bin Muhammad in colophons at the end of the various sections. Many of these colophons also record the date of their completion, showing that the entire codex took two years to produce. - Complete manuscript copies of this text are exceptionally rare: its vast encyclopedic nature made it an expensive commodity in the Middle Ages, and its sheer size usually necessitated it to span several volumes. The present example appears to have been bound as two separate books at the time of copying before being joined together in a single large volume in the 19th century. - Edges a little scuffed; some very minor marginal staining to a few sections, occasional light mottling. A few outer edges repaired (only affecting the text of two leaves). Overall a very clean and attractive specimen. Provenance: sold at Sotheby’s, Arts of the Islamic World sale, 23 October 2019, lot 119 (described without mention of the facsimile leaves).
Small folio (ca. 215 x 337 mm). 64 pp., interleaved by 30 blank pp., 3 of which with manuscript notes. Contemporary full blue leather with giltstamped spine and red spine-label. One of the founding documents of the 20th century's oil industry: the personal copy of Fuad Rouhani (1907-2004), later the first Secretary General of OPEC, with his autograph annotations and signature. - The historic agreement that provided Western oil companies with 50% ownership in Iranian oil production after its ratification in 1954. It expired in 1979. The agreement, which was heavily pressured by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, gave U.S. oil companies complete control over how much petroleum Iran pumped and the price it could sell for, and obliged Iran to compensate the AIOC with a sum of 25 million pounds - £15 million for the AIOC's loss of oil revenue from 1951 to 1954, and £10 million to transfer ownership to Iran of the Naft-e Shah oil fields, a small refinery in Kermanshah and domestic fuel distribution facilities. - Several marginal notes as well as 3 pp. of handwritten notes by Rouhani, listing the oil companies involved in the consortium, including references to later corporate developments such as the merger of Hancock Oil Company with Signal Oil and Gas Company in 1958. Rouhani, who was involved in the negotiations on behalf of Iran, was one of the founders of OPEC a few years later in 1961, and became OPEC's first Secretary General. - Extremities slightly rubbed, first leaf a little fingersoiled. A very good copy of the historic contract that overturned nationalization and placed control over Iran's oil in the hands of a group of international oil companies. Cf. OCLC 922021728.
8vo. (2), 73, (1) pp. Original green printed wrappers. First edition. The author was Director of Revenue and Customs for the Government of Palestine and was put in charge of supervising the religious endowments. Finding no European work on the subject of wakfs, he was compelled to publish his notes on the subject. - A few small splits to spine, small area of loss to rear wrapper, otherwise good. Duplicate stamp and partially erased reference stamp to front wrapper. OCLC 42828458.
8vo. 32 pp. Arabic text. Numerous small illustrations in blue ink. Original green pictorial wrappers, stapled. Later issue of Part I, Section I. A very attractive Arabic ABC, printed in Jerusalem, apparently a re-issue of the first booklet in an educational series titled "The Gardens of Arabic Reading". The title-page states it was developed by a French monk. - Extremities sunned, a little wear to spine around the staples, otherwise very good. Rare: this edition and part do not appear in LibraryHub or OCLC. Cf. OCLC 236006704 (Part 2-3, 1946, in the National Library of Israel)
8vo (150 x 230 mm). (2), XVIII, 257, (3) pp. Contemporary green full calf, spine prettily gilt with title and ornaments, cover with gilt rules and border decoration enclosing a blind-tooled Rocaille centrepiece. Leading edges gilt, gilt inner dentelle, all edges gilt. Red silk divider. First edition of this important study of the plague in Egypt and the quarantine laws to prevent its spread; the "principal work" (Hirsch) of the German physician J. F. Reinhold Grohmann (1784-1867). Educated in Leipzig and Vienna, Grohmann was travelling to Constantinople when the Russo-Turkish War of 1806 stopped short his journey in Bucharest. He remained there and witnessed a particularly severe plague epidemic in 1813. He spent much of his subsequent career in the East before settling in Vienna; from 1831 to 1833 he was a member of a committee convened to formulate new standards for plague epidemics. In his medical work he described the plague as a nervous fever affecting the brain, little influenced by the climate. His son Paul Grohmann would go on to be one of Austria's most famous mountaineers of his age. - Very well preserved in a splendid Austrian master binding. Removed from a baronial library with a crowned monogram stamp "MK" to title-page. Ibrahim-Hilmy I, 278. Hirsch II, 661. OCLC 14832432. Not in Wellcome.
Folio (210 x 335 mm). Publisher's original blue printed boards. First edition. A separate annual "Administration Report" on the Gulf region which the British Political Residents submitted to the Indian Viceroy and Governor. The bland official title belies the true value of the series, which has been called "a mine of information on the development of the modern Gulf" (Cambridge Archive Editions). Regularly the reports contain political details of the local sheikhdoms as well as trade information. - The present issue offers a detailed introduction by the resident British Consul and Political Agent C. A. Kemball, commenting on the Sultan, his tours, customs and taxes, slave trade, and an outbreak of disease ("small-pox of a severe type appeared at Shargah in the first week of April, causing, it was reported, about 500 deaths"). Kemball further reports on a "Pearl Dispute" in which "the Sultan was interested, connected with the discovery and sale of a pearl of extraordinary value", which has "at last been amicably settled by a committee consisting of certain of the Trucial Chiefs". The Consul "visited the Arab Coast in December and met the Chiefs of Shargah [Sheikh Saqr bin Khalid Al Qasimi] and Ajman [Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Humaid Al Nuaimi]. The Chief of Abu Dhabi [Sheikh Zayed bin Khalifa Al Nahyan] was away in the interior, but I saw his son [Khalifa bin Zayed bin Khalifa Al Nahyan] and other principal men [...]". He also discusses the dispute between the Chiefs of Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Ajman over the colonisation of Al Zorah by the Al-Suwaidi, the July 1900 coup by which Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Humaid Al Nuaimi seized power in Ajman, and the newly established joint rulership of Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah by Sheikh Saqr bin Khalid Al Qasimi, which would last until 1914. - The "Administration Report on the Persian Gulf" was published under various titles annually between 1875 and 1957. Original specimens are almost unobtainable in the trade. - Binding rebacked with tape. Provenance: removed from the London Library, with their printed label on the upper cover and their stamps (in blind and printed) on title-page and final leaf, accompanied by cancel stamps. Macro, p. xii (s.v. "RAPA": Report on the Administration of the Persian Gulf Political Residency and Muscat Political Agency). OCLC 224558510. ZDB-ID 768652-3. Cf. the 1989 Cambridge Archive Editions reprint.
Small folio (ca. 190 x 270 mm). Ottoman manuscript in Arabic on paper. (282) ff. Contemporary 15th-century Ottoman overlapping wallet-type binding, blind-stamped front-board with a blind-tooled frame and a blind-tooled centrepiece. Highly interesting 15th century Hanafite manuscript compendium on Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh), dated 14 Rabi' al-awwal 825 AH, corresponding to 14 March 1422 CE. Although the manuscript contains popular and widespread Hanafite commentaries, a manuscript of this age is a rare survival. It includes the "explanation of hermetic subjects" (Hall al-mawadi' al-mughlaqa) by 'Ubayd Allah ibn Mas'ud Sadr al-Shari'a al-Thani al-Mahbubi (also known as Sadr al-Shari'a al-Asghar; d. 1347 CE) and a commentary by him on "Wiqayat al-riwaya fi masa'il al-Hidaya" by his grandfather Mahmud ibn Sadr al-Shari'a al-Awwal al-Mahbubi (13th century). Also included is a summary of the legal manual "Al-Hidaya" by 'Ali ibn Abi Bakr al-Marghinani (d. 1197), which is considered one of the most influential compendia of the Hanafi jurisprudence (fiqh). "Al-Hidayah" is actually a concise commentary on another work of him titled Bidayat al-Mubtadi'. The work contains many contemporary marginal and interlinear glosses in Arabic, making this 15th-century jurisprudential handbook with influential texts by some of the most important scholars from the Hanafite school of fiqh even more important. - The manuscript contains many marginal and interlinear glosses in Arabic. Binding a little worn around the edges and with a few scratches on the boards, rebacked spine and some other restorations to the binding in the Ottoman style, some inactive moulding and waterstaining in the last approximately third part of the book (without loss of text), paper edges slightly frayed, but an interesting 15th-century manuscript on Islamic law in acceptable condition and still in its contemporary binding.
4to (ca. 160 x 216 mm). Arabic manuscript on polished paper. 8 parts. 93 leaves, final blank leaf. Written in black ink throughout with red chapter headings, 19 lines, two columns and single column. Contemporary brown leather binding with gilt borders and recessed and gilt central ornament, stamped in relief. A fine, complete collected medical manuscript, including pharmacological and alchemical material. The principal section is formed by the "Urjuza fi l-tibb", or "Medical Poem" of Ibn Sina, which can be considered a poetic summary in 1326 verses of the author's great encyclopedic textbook, the Qanun. The verse form made it popular as a mnemonic in the process of transmitting the Canon's medical knowledge from master to student. The second part of the work is more directly concerned with anatomical matters, but also discusses the pulse and urine. - The following section is "Al-Maqala al-Aminiya fi 'l-fasd", a treatise in ten chapters on phlebotomy. It was written by Abul-Hasan Hibatallah ibn Said ibn al-Tilmidi (d. 1165 CE), the Christian physician to the Abbasid caliph Al-Muqtafi, hailed as one of the greatest medical men of his age. - A subsequent essay treats the refinement of chemical substances by burning and washing, also discussing the characteristics of the combustion of various metals, including gold, silver, steel, copper, and lead. Further parts concern the refinement of medicines (by Al-Hasan ibn Bahram al-Mutatabbib) and the treatment of poisonings in general, but also offering an alphabetical pharmacopoeia. - Leather covers professionally restored; modern marbled pastedowns. Internally quite clean; a few leaves show edge tears but without loss to text. Altogether a fine Arabic medical manuscript comprising a wide range of relevant material. GAL I, 457, 81 ("Manzuma fi 't-tibb"); GAL S I, 823. For al-Maqala al-Aminiya see GAL I, 487.
Small folio (188 x 278 mm). 9 volumes. X, 334; 309, (3); 276, (2); 298, (2); 235, (3); 328, (2); 429, (3); 382, (2); 335, (1) pp. Contemporary half leather over marbled boards. First French edition. Translation of the "'Aja'ib al-athar fi al-tarajim wa-al-akhbar" by 'Abd al-Rahman Jabarti (1754-1822): an important chronicle and source collection for the period of Ottoman rule in Egypt, an era largely marked by a dearth of historical sources from the inhabitants of the country. Jabarti's history is of particular importance for the early 19th century and the time of the French expedition, of which he gives a comprehensive account, as well as for the beginning of the regency of Muhammad Ali Pasha. Because of Jabarti's severely critical view of Muhammad Ali and his reign, the work was long banned in Egypt, and only after the accession of the Khedive Tewfiq did it see its first complete publication and translation (by Chefik Mansour bey, Abdulaziz Kalil bey, Gabriel Nicolas Kalil bey, and Iskender Ammoun effendi). - "The Cairo gentleman Al-Jabarti provides a remarkable, lucid and nuanced account on the French occupation in Egypt" (Fierro, 2). - A few insignificant edge tears or chips; a few paper flaws professionally repaired. Spines rubbed and scuffed; spine-ends chipped or repaired. Generally a very finely preserved set of this rare and important work on Egypt. OCLC 2513833. Not in Ibrahim-Hilmy.
Folio (202 x 330 - 214 x 325 mm). Together 39 pp. Three typescript drafts in French and English of the 1957 Petroleum Act, a pioneering document of contractual relationships in the oil industry. The personal copies of Fuad Rouhani (1907-2004), later the first Secretary General of OPEC, with his annotations. - In the years immediately following the signing of the 1954 Consortium Agreement, the historic agreement that provided Western oil companies with 50% ownership in Iranian oil production, the fledgling national Iranian oil Industry received an enormous moral boost from the exploration activities conducted around Qom. The discovery of the Alborz oilfield and the Sarajeh gas field by the Iranian Oil Company not only proved Iran's growing technical capacity but it also helped to give Iran a prestige not hitherto enjoyed by any other oil producing and exporting country. Against this background it is therefore hardly surprising that when Enrico Mattei, the Chairman of ENI (the Italian State Oil Company), decided to look for oil supplies in the Middle East by offering new contractual terms, he should turn to Iran and that the government of Iran and the NIOC should greet him with open arms. What had prompted Mattei to come forward with the participation formula was his resentment at the treatment he had received from the major oil companies by being excluded from the Consortium Agreement. Since access to crude oil resources was of utmost importance for Italy and ENI, a way had to be found for entry into the Middle East oil scene. NIOC and ENI thus pioneered a new form of contractual relationship, thereafter known as 75/25 profit sharing, breaking the hallowed fifty-fifty arrangement and heralding a new era in international oil agreements. - Traces of stapling; margins somewhat worn.
4to. 72, (14), VIII pp.; (2) ff. with engravings. Text set in roman, Hebrew, Greek and Arabic type. With a small Portuguese woodcut coat of arms on the title-page and 4 engraved plates on 2 leaves bound at the end of the book. Later blue paper wrappers. First and only edition of an instruction manual for the compositors of the Portuguese Impressão Regia on the proper setting of Greek, Hebrew and Arabic type. It was written by Custodio José de Oliveira (d. 1812), professor of Greek at the Colégio Real dos Nobres in Lisbon and one of the Directores Litterarios of the Impressão Regia, serving until 1807, for which he wrote the present work. The present work is identified as "very useful" by Innocencio and according to him, it was the only Portuguese manual on typesetting he knew so far ("Trabalho mui aproveitavel, para o tempo em que sahiu, e o unico que sobre o assumpto temos até agora escripto orginalmente em portuguez"). Oliveira shows in both the tables and inserts within the text the alphabets and numbers in Greek, Hebrew and Arabic with their roman equivalents. The last four plates (printed on both sides of two leaves) show common ligatures and abbreviations in Greek. The present copy of this very rare work is complete with all plates, the "Prefação aos compositores typograficos" (numbered I-VIII) and the seven-leaf dedication, all bound at the end of the book. An important work on the subject of typesetting and the only work on this topic known in Portuguese. - With the bookplate of Américo Cortez Pinto (1896-1979) on the front wrapper, a Portuguese physician, writer, poet and historian who also wrote some works on the art of printing. Front wrapper half loose and back wrapper loose, spine partly gone, wrappers a little frayed, discoloured and slightly stained. Paper edges slightly frayed as it is an untrimmed copy, sometimes with the bolts unopened. Some marginal staining, very minor foxing, but overall a very rare work on printing and typography which is still in fine condition. Bigmore/Wyman II, 90. Innocencio II, 461. The literature of printing: a catalogue of the library illustrative of the history and art of typography, calcography and lithography of Richard M. Hoe, p. 85. Not in Porbase.
4to. 4 pp. on 4 ff. On headed stationery. Draft of a letter to Mohammed Salman, the Oil Minister of Iraq, about the administration of Abadan port, claimed both by Iran and Iraq, reflecting his concern with achieving consent in political matters as well as matters of the oil industry: "The Port of Abadan lies incontestably within the jurisdiction of Iran, and when the Iranian Government takes steps to provide its own harbourmasters in that Port it is doing nothing else than exercising a normal function of administration within its own waters. The past history of this question, and the fact that the Port of Basra has supplied harbourmasters for the Port of Abadan for some time [...] could not possibly deprive Iran of its right as an independent State to exercise sover[e]ignty over its territory. And yet this is what the attitude of your Government towards this question involves [...] If we cannot remove a difference of this simple nature, in which Iran is so evidently in the right; if the Iranian people are to be told that Iraq wishes to prevent Iran from administering the Port of Abadan in the same manner as Iraq administers, for instance, the Port of Basra; if the surprising statement of General Shawi that this matter concerns not the Iranian State but the Oil Consortium (which is foreign to both of us) is to be represented as the serious view of your Government, then how can we hope ever to achieve that harmony and unity of views and effective position on matters of joint importance, for example in relation ot OPEC, which is the first condition of success in the difficult common tasks which lie ahead of us? [...]". - With several corrections; the header "private and confidential" deleted.
Small folio (208 x 284 mm). (2), 115, (1) pp. With 2 folding charts, 1 full-page sketch map, 84 small sketch maps and 48 b/w half-tone photo illustrations. Original black cloth printed with purple type. First edition. A confidential air route book, compiled for the use of pilots flying from Cairo to Karachi during WWII, covering the main air route of the time that passed through the Arabian Gulf at staging posts in Palestine, Iraq, Pakistan, Bahrain, Sharjah, and India. - The handbook covers all aspects for flying within the Middle East including distress signal code tables, tips for forced landings, colour-printed route maps, radio beacon maps, emergency airfield maps, and double-sided airfield leaves dedicated to single airfields along the designated route. Inserted stapled updates and small corrections show the importance of up-to-date information for navigation within the shifting sands of the country where the pilots were operating. - It is presumed that these hardbound versions were either used for office reference or as early print runs. Later, cord-bound copies were created for pilots' use in active service, presumably to minimise costs of production and tailor the information to strictly which flight the pilot was completing. - This edition is stamped number 498, suggesting a limited print-run. Boards a little water-stained and warped, two white stains to front board, otherwise good. Interior exceptionally clean and fresh. Institutionally rare: LibraryHub locates just a single holding at the IWM.
4to. 160 pp. Ottoman Turkish text set in Arabic characters. Half-title on the upper wrapper and the first page of text are set within a decorative printed frame. With an integral manuscript French translation of the text in the margins. Original publisher's printed paper wrappers. - With: (II) [Shaikhzade Ahmed Misri] / Belleteste, [Henri Nicolas]. Contes Turcs en langue turque, extraits du roman intitulé, les quarante vizirs. [= Kirk vezir hikâyeleri ...]. Ibid., 1812. 4to. (2), 258, (2) pp. The text is entirely in Ottoman Turkish except for an additional title-page in French. Both Arabic and French title-pages include the vignette of the French Imprimerie Impériale. Blue wrappers with a white printed title label on the spine, stored in a custom-made case: half red leather with the title in gold on the spine and white and green decorated sides. Two excellent examples of Arabic type printing by the French Imprimerie Impériale: the 1812 edition of "the history of the forty viziers" in Ottoman Turkish. This collection of Turkish folk tales is a variation of the Thousand and One Nights stories. These frame stories play an important role in the storytelling tradition of the Middle East and often form the basis (Middle) Eastern literature in general. Examples of these stories are found in early Indian, Iranian and Arabic sources, but the exact origin of the stories of the forty viziers is not clear. The stories and/or the first translations of the stories from Arabic were attributed to Ahmed-i Misri and/or Seyhzade (or Sheykh-Zada), about whom nothing is known. These names were possibly pseudonyms of the actual authors-translators who did not want to be associated with stories that were composed in prose, had suggestive or crude passages, and were compiled from other earlier frame stories. - According to extant sources, the entire collection of folk tales concerning the stories of the viziers could contain eighty stories, forty of the viziers during the day and forty of the women during the night. In addition, the stories could also include various advice sections, other small stories, Arabic, Persian and Turkish poems, verses, hadiths, dreams and their interpretations. Different compositions and adaptations would differ in size and would contain varying sets of stories from the complete collection. - I: A unique annotated early 19th century copy of "Kirk vezir hikâyeleri" (The stories of forty queens), known as the "History of the forty viziers", containing an integral and literal translation of the first 160 pages of the Ottoman Turkish work. The translation and further annotations on Ottoman Turkish syntax and vocabulary are written in a (near) contemporary hand in brown ink. The marginal annotations were probably written around the 1820s by a French orientalist. This particular manuscript translation is unique and one of the very first French translation of these stories. Another adaptation of the stories, containing 19 stories and the introduction, was translated into French by François Pétis de la Croix as "L'histoire de la sultane de Perse et des vizirs", published in Paris in 1722. - II: The present copy is a complete example of the 1812 edition. It contains forty stories, including the introduction, the story of (and dedication to) Sultan Mahmud, the frame story, twenty stories of the viziers, and twenty stories of the women. - Both works are compiled by the French orientalist Henri-Nicolas Belleteste (Belletête, ca. 1746-1808) and published posthumously. Belleteste was educated in Oriental languages and in 1798 he was appointed government interpreter. He subsequently served as a military interpreter during the Egyptian Campaign led by Napoleon Bonaparte (1798-1801). He published an Arabic vocabulary for military use and together with French orientalist Jean-Daniel Kieffer (1767-1833), Belleteste translated the Bulletins de la Grande Armée into Turkish for Napoleon's campaigns from 1805 to 1807. He had taken on the project of translating a collection of Turkish stories, entitled in French "Les Quarante Vizirs" (the forty viziers), allegedly from a manuscript found in Egypt. Unfortunately, he died unexpectedly at the age of 30 in 1808, thus leaving the work unfinished. Nevertheless, an edition of the Ottoman Turkish text Belleteste was translating was published in 1812, expertly printed in Arabic characters by the French Imprimerie Impériale, of which the present two works are examples. - I: With the integral manuscript translation of the text into French in a contemporary (ca. 1820s) hand in brown ink in the margins. Front wrapper detached, spine damaged, edges frayed, lacking the back wrapper and the last 96 pages of the work. - II: Without the frequently missing 48 pp. of Belleteste's unfinished French translation. Wrappers are slightly stained and slightly damaged, mainly around the spine and the edges, without affecting the integrity of the binding. The text has generous, uncut margins, thus the edges are slightly frayed. The custom-made case is slightly scuffed around the corners and edges. Otherwise in good condition. - Overall, these works present an extraordinary example of early 19th century Arabic printing by the French Imprimerie Impériale together with a unique manuscript translation of the text of the "history of the forty Viziers", into French by an unidentified early 19th-century orientalist. Atabey 908 (incomplete). Chauvin VIII, p. 18, no. 52. Zenker I, 729. Brunet 17781. Gay/Lemonnier I, 718. Not in Blackmer.