Ottoman manuscript.MareMagnum
4.355 Ergebnisse
8vo (120 x 170 mm). (52) pp., 2 blank ff., (5), 48, (2), (2 blank), (80) pp. Black and red ink on polished paper. With numerous full-page colour diagrams (both in coloured ink and coloured pencil), one including a sketch of the Kaaba in Mekkah, and an inserted volvelle on cardboard. Bound in boards (ca. 1900) covered with waste paper printed in Arabic and Armenian. A manuscript on astronomy and its symbolism in Ottoman Turkish. - Various signs of damp- and waterstaining; a few leaves stuck together, damaged or illegible. Binding noticeably stained; spine chipped and frayed.
4to. (56) pp, retaining blank leaf D4. With woodcut coat-of-arms on leaf E1 verso. Modern marbled boards. First edition; the first travelogue printed in Swedish. The report of the travels of the Swedish diplomat Bengt Bengtsson Oxenstierna (1591-1643) is couched as his funeral sermon (by the Stockholm theologian Olof Laurelius), followed by a detailed biographical account with separate title-page (pp. 33-55). Since many of Oxenstierna's manuscripts are lost, this rare imprint is the only source for some of his journeys. Oxenstierna visited the Levant twice, first in 1613 and most importantly in 1616-20. After being employed in the service of the Grand Duke of Tuscany in the war against the Barbary corsairs, with ports of call on the Mediterranean islands and in North Africa, he travelled to Constantinople, where he resided during the winter of 1616/17. From Constantinople he continued to Syria, Jordan, Iraq and Iran, restlessly travelling back and forth throughout the following years. His returning journey to Europe took him on foot through Arabia to Egypt and Cairo. Oxenstierna so strongly inspired the explorer Sven Hedin that he wrote a biography of him (Resare-Bengt, 1921). - Some browning and dampstaining, with a small repaired hole to title-page. Extremely rare: not in the usual bibliographies of travel; OCLC records a single copy in library catalogues (Swedish Royal Library), to which KVK adds copies in Lund, Norrköping, Örebro, and Skokloster Castle. Hacklin, Olavus Laurelius (1896), p. 161f., no. 6. OCLC 937092162. Not in Weber, Henze, or Howgego.
8vo. 8 vols. (6 volumes & 2 supplements): v. 1. Tribes north of the Kabul River. 1907. (4), IV, XIX, (1), 591, (1) pp. With 8 plans and 2 separate maps in both cover pockets. - v. 1, suppl. A. Operations against the Mohmands (including operations in the Khaiber, 1st-7th May) 1908. 1910. (4), II, (2), 60, LVIII pp. With 2 maps in lower cover pocket. - v. 2. North-west frontier tribes between the Kabul and Gumal Rivers. 1908. (4), III, (1), 461, (1) pp. With 6 folding plans and 1 separate map in lower cover pocket. - v. 2, suppl. A. Operations against the Zakka Khel Afridis 1908. 1908. (8), 49, (1) pp. With 3 maps in lower cover pocket. - v. 3. Baluchistan and the First Afghan War. (6), VII, (3), 466 pp. With 2 folding tables, 2 plans (1 folding), and 4 separate folding maps in lower cover pocket. - v. 4. North and north-eastern frontier tribes. 1907. (4), IV, 249, (1) pp. With 7 maps and plans and 1 separate folding map in lower cover pocket. - v. 5. Burma. 1907. X, (6), 468 pp. With a folding map in lower cover pocket. - v. 6. Expeditions overseas. 1911. (4), X, (2), 515, (1) pp. With 14 maps (many folding) and 5 separate folding maps in lower cover pocket. Uniformly bound in contemporary quarter calf over green cloth covers with giltstamped spine labels. An excessively rare counterpart to Lorimer's simultaneously published Gazetteer of the Gulf: like it, classified at the time of its issuing as a confidential British government document and still well-nigh unobtainable in the original printing, this third and last issue of Paget's and Mason's "Frontier and Overseas Expeditions" remains the most important single source on Raj-based military frontier operations carried out up to the First World War. The work was first compiled in 1873 by Colonel W. H. Paget as "A Record of Expeditions against the North-West Frontier Tribes", with the intention of providing a "valuable guide" to such British commanders and policymakers as "might have future dealings with these turbulent neighbours". It was revised in 1884 by A. H. Mason of the Royal Engineers. Three decades later, the frontiers of British influence had vastly expanded: they now reached to the borders of Afghanistan and Persia, and a newly compiled record of expeditions was urgently required. Under the editorship of Lieutenant C. F. Aspinall and Major R. G. Burton, the work known as "Paget & Mason" was thoroughly overhauled and expanded to six volumes, replete with maps and each dealing with a distinct geographical division, with two supplements. Only a few hundred copies would have been printed for circulation to British government departments, regimental libraries, and agencies. The present set, issued to the 7th Division Military Society in 1908 (later the Bareilly Brigade Military Library), bears the giltstamped copy numbers 217, 220, 221, 222, 258, 262, and 1134 (supplement). - The sixth volume deals in depth with "The Arabian Peninsula and the Islands of Perim and Socotra". It includes a sketch of the geographical situation before discussing in more detail the First Expedition to Ras-al-Khaimah in 1809 ("political causes - composition of the force - arrival at Masqat - arrival at Ras-al-Khaimah - description of Ras-al-Khaimah - landing of main body - capture of Ras-al-Khaimah - bravery of enemy - burning of pirate vessels - losses - Lingeh - repulse of the troops - re-embarkation - daring action by Lt. Hall, IN - attack on Shanas - desperate resistance"). It is noteworthy that the British officers here felt compelled to record the military gallantry of the al-Qasimi in their resistance to the British forces. Similarly, the Second Expedition to Ras-al-Khaimah in 1819 is treated, as is the Bani-Bu-Ali Expedition of 1810 (mentioning the results of "bad diplomacy" and "bad tactics", and citing the bravery of an Imam who displayed "great personal courage" while endeavouring to save an artilleryman). Further sections are given over to the islands of Perim (occupied in 1799 and again in 1856) and Sokotra, of which British infantry took possession in 1834 after "the Sultan would not come to terms". Additional chapters treat the Persian side of the Gulf and military expeditions to the same. - Corners somewhat bumped, but altogether a tightly bound, handsome and well-preserved set. 1910 and 1911 stamps of the Bareilly Brigade Military Library to most volumes (but stamp of W. B. Salmon to the supplement to vol. 2). Warning "For Official Use Only" stamped in gilt to spine labels throughout, with most title-pages being correspondingly imprinted (in red ink up to vol. 2). As the publisher's original inserted slip advises, the General Map of Afghanistan called for in the list of maps to volume 3 was not, in fact, completed and therefore was never issued with the set. Of the utmost rarity: not reproduced within the Cambridge Archive Editions series, although incomplete reprints appeared in Quetta in 1979 and in Delhi in 1983. - Provenance: 1) 7th Division Military Society, 1908; 2) Bareilly Brigade Military Library, 1910/11; 3) U.S. private collection. OCLC 821799.
Large 8vo (245 x 178 mm). 29 volumes bound in 5. Includes 33 folding maps and 5 folding diagrams, a number of which colour-printed. Modern half calf with marbled boards and giltstamped titles to spines. A near-complete run of mandate reports on Palestine and Trans-Jordan from 1921 onwards, mostly published under Britain's mandate from the League of Nations, comprising both the relevant Colonial series and the Command Papers series as presented to parliament. - As early as 1920, when the joint British, French and Arab military administration over the formerly Ottoman Levantine provinces was transformed into a civil authority, Britain's High Commissioner of Palestine was required to file regular reports to the Colonial Office on the operations of this new administration. From 1922 onwards, when Britain was granted the Mandate for Palestine and Trans-Jordan, these reports were adapted for the Council of the League of Nations. They cover the finances and taxation, customs and trade, law and legislation, education, public health, public transport and immigration in Mandatory Palestine, also detailing the various security problems and sectarian strife in the territory and covering the establishment of the Palestine Gendarmerie, its transformation into the Palestine Police Force, the introduction of military units and sources and causes of violence. The reports were discontinued with the advent of the Second World War. - The present set includes: An interim report on the civil administration of Palestine during the period 1st July 1920 - 30th June 1921 [Cmd. 1499]. Palestine. Disturbances in May, 1921. Reports of the Commission of Inquiry ... [Cmd. 1540]. Miscellaneuous No. 4 (1922) [Cmd. 1708]. Correspondence with the Palestine Arab Delegation and the Zionist Organisation [Cmd. 1700]. Mandate for Palestine ... [Cmd. 1785]. Papers relating to the elections [Cmd. 1889]. Proposed formation of an Arab Agency [Cmd. 1989]. Appendices to the Report ... for the year 1924 [Colonial No. 17]. Report ... on the Administration Under Mandate of Palestine and Transjordan for the year 1924 [Colonial No. 12]. Report ... to the Council of the League of Nations ... for the year 1925 [Colonial No. 20]. Report ... to the Council of the League of Nations ... for the year 1926 [Colonial No. 26]. 1927 [Colonial No. 31]. 1928 [Colonial No. 40]. 1929 [Colonial No. 47]. 1930 [Colonial No. 59]. Palestine. Statement of Policy by his Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom [Cmd. 3692]. Palestine. Report on Immigration, Land Settlement and Development [Cmd. 3687]. 1931 [Colonial No. 75]. 1932 [Colonial No. 82]. 1933 [Colonial No. 94]. 1934 [Colonial No. 104]. 1935 [Colonial No. 112]. 1936 [Colonial No. 129]. Statistical Abstract of Palestine 1936, Palestine Royal Commission 1937 [Cmd. 5479]. 1937 [Colonial No. 146]. Palestine Partition Commission Report 1938 [Cmd. 5854]. 1938 [Colonial No. 166]. Miscellaneous No. 3 (1939). Correspondence between Sir Henry McMahon […] and the Sherif Hussein of Mecca July 1915-March 1916. [Cmd. 5957]. Palestine Statement of Policy [Cmd. 6019]. - Extensive sets as ours are extremely rare in the trade; the last set sold at auction did not contain a single volume of the Command Papers series (Christie's 2016, sale 12051, lot 366), as present here. Cf. Khalidi/Khadduri, Palestine and the Arab-Israeli conflict. An annotated bibliography, nos. 1569, 1633, 1641-3 & 1647.
Folio (ca. 210 x 330 mm). (8), 245 ff. (1), 246-481 ff. With numerous genealogical plates printed in red and green (of which 2 folding) in the 2nd volume. Original printed flexible boards with cloth-reinforced spine (vol. 2); vol. 1 bound in modern half calf with cloth covers, preserving original printed upper wrapper within. Rare history of the Emirate of Transjordan (today the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan), then a British protectorate. Presentation copy from the author to Ahmed Salem el Sakrun of the Arab Legion and inscribed by him to "my friend Ahmed Effendi Hsein El Amawi as a remembrance, Amman 23.12.35" on inside of upper wrapper. - The second volume contains not only the first volume's index, but also an annotated directory of the tribes of the various districts of Transjordan, comprising extensive tables, genealogies, and introductory essays on each tribe. With a separate index to the tribes and a bibliography at the end of the volume. Major-General F. G. Peake (1886-1970), known to the Jordanians as "Peake Pasha", served under Lawrence of Arabia and formed the "Arab Legion", the territory's regular army, in the early 1920s. He was later appointed Major-General in the army of the Emirate of Transjordan. Upon his retirement in 1939 he was succeeded in his command by John Bagot Glubb. - Title of vol. 1 trimmed and mounted on blank leaf; some light spotting or soiling; final leaf a little stained, slight fraying to edges at beginning and end, original printed upper wrapper rubbed and stained, lacking lower outer corner. Spine of vol. 2 a little chipped, else fine. - Mimeographed typescript, printed on one side throughout. No copy in British Library. OCLC 29109691.
8vo. pp. 169-191 with a folding colour map (entire volume: CLXXXVII, [1], 319, [1] pp. with 10 other folding colour maps and a photographic plate). General title mounted on stub. Modern red cloth with giltstamped black spine label. Only edition of Pelly's account of his visit to Riyadh and the interior of the Nejd. Pelly's journey took him from Kuwait to Sadus, and from there to Al Uyaynah, the birthplace of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, onward through Wadi Hanifa to Ad Diriyah ("picturesquely situated in a depression of the plateau leading down into the Wadi", with a discussion of the location's history as well as geography) and ultimately to Riyadh, where he met the ruler of the Nejd, Imam Faisal bin Turki bin Abdullah Al Saud (1785-1865). Pelly would return via El Hofuf, Bahrein and Bushire. His report is full of topographical detail on the interior of the Nejd, but also discusses subjects so diverse as the Bedouin traditions of breeding Arabian horses, the genealogy of the House of Sa'ud, and the local use of coffee (consumed in immoderate quantities) and tobacco (considered a mortal offence for a Wahhabi). - The remainder of the volume includes Sir Richard Francis Burton's article "On Lake Tanganyika" as well as features on Chinese Tartary, Cambodia, Kurdistan, Greenland, the North Pole, and north-west Australia. Very well preserved in a modern library binding. Rare. Macro 1754.
Ca. 66 x 54 cms. Printed outline colour. Constant ratio linear horizontal scale 1:4,200,000 (1 inch = 66 miles). Folded and bound in original yellow cloth boards. 8vo. Includes Afghanistan and the Balochistan province of Pakistan, as well as the Arabian Gulf with the coastline of the Gulf Emirates to Oman. - Ownership stamps of the German botanist Prof. Dr. Arnold Scheibe (1901-89; cf. NDB XXII, 619f.). OCLC 37732501.
8vo. (2), 17 pp., final blank page. With 2 half-tone photographs in the text and a folding map of the area between Baghdad and Beirut. Staple-bound. In original printed wrappers. Exceedingly rare pocket-booklet of leave instructions issued to members of the Persia and Iraq Force during the Second World War, "in the hope that it will help [them] to understand the type of country and the places [they] will see on [their] journey" (first page). Subdivided into three sections, the first part of the booklet describes the route taken by the leave convoy from Baghdad via Fallujah, Habbaniyah, Ar-Rutba, Mafraq and Damascus to Beirut, deeming the last portion from Damascus "by far the most picturesque part of the route" (p. 4), and finishing off with a photograph of people relaxing on the beach. The second section comprises a history of Damascus and the Syrian desert by Seton Lloyd (1902-96), who had been appointed archaeology adviser to the Directorate of Antiquities, Baghdad, in 1939, and during the war "was able to conduct some notable research, principally the excavation of the painted temple at Uqair and later of Tell Hassuna, where he identified a new culture - and the earliest known - in Iraq" (obituary, Independent, 13 Jan. 1996). The third and last section discusses the construction of the Baghdad to Haifa road by the British between 1938 and 1943. - General Edward Quinan's Iraq Command (originally Iraq Force) was renamed Persia and Iraq Force (Paiforce) shortly after the successful Anglo-Soviet invasion of Persia in August 1941. The main responsibilities of Paiforce were to protect the Iraqi and South Persian oil fields and to maintain the lines of communication from British-controlled ports on the Persian Gulf to the Soviet ports on the Caspian. A dedicated Persia and Iraq Command was established under Sir Maitland Wilson in August 1942, though victory in the Western Desert Campaign combined with series of Soviet victories in southern Russia meant that Paiforce activities began to be wound down from mid-1943. The folding map to the rear of this booklet provides a detailed overview of the vital infrastructure roads and oil pipelines which they were tasked with defending. - Mended tear to upper cover; traces of folds and a little soiled. Handwritten numbers in orange crayon to lower cover. The interior with traces of a vertical fold throughout, resulting from the pages resting on the rim of the folding map; margins slightly creased. Map somewhat foxed. An uncommon survival, with only the Imperial War Museum copy traceable in institutions. Not in OCLC.
12mo. 46, (2) pp. (ads). With full-page maps of Iraq and Baghdad and map of Baghdad amenities area on back cover. Original illustrated wrappers, stapled. First edition. An extremely rare guide to Iraq, produced for members of Paiforce (Persia and Iraq Force). It covers the expected subjects of health, hostels, clubs, sports and tours but also aims to instill a degree of cultural and historical awareness, principally with Seton Lloyd's short history of the country. Lloyd was the curator of the Baghdad Museum at the time, an institution mentioned in the guide as home to "astonishingly beautiful specimens of early Sumerian art, and the whole of Iraq's history ... within well laid out rooms" (p. 23). - Less routine sections highlight Trunk Call (the Paiforce paper) and list Christian churches in Iraq and Bahrain. The advertisements, acting as front and rear endpapers, give a sense of the establishments catering to the troops, including an advert for a shopping centre belonging to the Hasso Brothers, who issued many fascinating photographic postcards of Iraq. - A few small stains to wrappers, a little dusty, otherwise very good. Rare, with no copies in Copac/Jisc or OCLC. We have only been able to trace one example, located at the Imperial War Museum.
Folio (322 x 212 mm). 50 watercolour miniatures on paper, ca. 9 x 14 cm, pasted on coloured cardboard within multiple gilt and pen-ruled frames, bound as a fan-fold book with cloth hinges. Near-contemporary black leather covers, stored in blind-stamped black slipcase with top flap. An exceptional series of 50 meticulously executed miniatures, compiled and painted by an anonymous artist. 41 of the delicate watercolours represent famous calligraphers, 5 (1 in grisaille) presumably represent sufis, and one more (not coloured) shows a seated prince, while 3 miniatures (2 in grisaille) depict flowers. - The main series of calligraphers begins with Yaqut al-Musta'simi, who lived in Baghdad under the Abbasid dynasty in the 13th century, and reaches so far as to include artists from the first half of the 19th century (the most recent date of death being that of Aqa Fath-'Ali Sirazi, 1852/53). Their names are captioned under the image, all in the same hand in nasta'liq script (with a single exception in sikasta). Most calligraphers are shown kneeling, with one knee raised on which they rest their paper - the typical posture of a scribe. One is shown writing at a desk, another seated on a low stool; yet another is busy sharpening his pen. The poet Wisal Sirazi is seen writing on his knee, but has a small table with an inkwell and paper in front of him. Nearly all are depicted holding their reed pen in hand, with various writing implements next to or in front of them, such as inkwells, pen cases, extra pens and paper, pen-knife, and sometimes a hookah (indeed, two scribes are shown smoking). Others have in front of them a candle and teapot, flowers or a bowl of fruit. They are shown wearing different kinds of turbans or a black astrakhan "kulah", the Qajar headdress. All the miniatures bear numbers between 1 and 50 on the reverse of the mounting boards, though they are not bound in order. - Provenance: apparently from the collection of Paul Manteau, a French (or Belgian?) official in Iran, with a press-copied salary receipt loosely inserted: "Je reconnais avoir reçu de Son Altesse Impériale Djellal-e-Daulet la somme de Soixante Tomans représentant le montant de mes appointements du mois de Châval année 1310. Téhéran le 11 avril 1893. Paul Manteau". As Shawwal 1310 began on 18 April 1893 AD, Manteau would have received his salary in advance, proving that the capacity in which he served could not have been altogether minor. Sultan Husayn Mirza Jalal al-Dawlih (b. 1868/69), his employer, was the eldest son of prince Mas'ud Mirza Zill al-Sultan (1850-1918) and grandson of the Qajar ruler Nasir al-Din Shah (r. 1848-96). In the later 19th century, numerous French and particularly Belgian officials worked in Iran: especially from 1898 onwards, Belgium posted to Persia a large number of officials whose task was to organize or reorganize various administrative departments. However, Manteau does not appear in Annette Destrée's standard account of "Les fonctionnaires belges au service de la Perse, 1898-1915" (Téhéran/Liège 1976): he clearly arrived before the great Belgian influx and may have left the country before 1898. - Some of the cloth concertina hinges professionally repaired, but finely preserved altogether.
Folio (257 x 344 mm). (104) pp. More than 200 photo prints. Original giltstamped green cloth. Intriguing photo publication of both Iraq and Central Arabia during the Great War, brought out by St John Philby at the end of the year 1918, after he had served with the British administration in Baghdad from 1915 to 1917 and then travelled through the interior of the Arabian Peninsula as head of a mission to Ibn Saud. Philby completed a great tour of the Nejd in nine months, covering some 4000 kilometres. "Over 600 photographs were taken, some of which were later published in 1918 in 'Iraq in War Time', the first photographic book to appear on Najd" (Badr El-Hage, p. 95f.). The book, captioned throughout in English and Arabic (in which Philby was fluent), is divided into four sections: "Groups and Portraits" (43 illustrations); "Local Events" (55 illustrations); "Views" (112 illustrations, including "In Basrah City", "Amarah", "Nasiriyah", "Baghdad", "Najaf", "Mosul", "Suq al Shuyukh", "In Persia"), and "A Tour through Central Arabia" (24 illustrations). Among these are numerous equestrian images ("The best Arab horse 'Winchester' owned by Fahud el Nasar", "Well-known Basrah Race Horses", "Arabs competing for a prize offered for the best Arab mare", "Judging the Arab mares", "Winner of the Prize for Arab Mares" etc.), and the portrait section contains a veritable gallery of the sheikhs and political officers of the Arabian scene during the Great War. - The tour of the Nejd shows fascinating images of Jeddah, Nafudh, Sakha, Madhiq, Riyadh, Al-Hafar, Saqtah Gorge, the Shamsiyah Garden, etc., as well as Arab chiefs and a group portrait with the anonymous tourist Philby himself, surrounded by his Bedouin escort. "Although Philby was an amateur photographer, and the quality of his photographs fails at times to be up to standard, his achievements were remarkable, and his photographs documented many towns and villages for the first time" (Badr El-Hage, p. 114). - Near-indecipherable ownership inscription of Sheikh Abdulkareem bin Khaz’al, or possibly of the Sheikh of Muhammerah, Khaz’al bin Jabir bin Merdaw al-Ka’bi (1863-1936), to the verso of the rear free endpaper. A photograph of the Sheikh of Muhammerah appears in Part II. A few small scuffs and stains, corners bumped. A good copy of this rare and important work usually encountered only in poor condition. Badr El-Hage, Saudi Arabia: Caught in Time, 1861-1939, p. 95. Imperial War Museum 29(567)/3-5. OCLC 757755425. Not in Macro or Wilson.
8vo. XXIV, 433, (1) pp. With 3 folding maps an 47 illustrations on 32 plates. Publisher's original giltstamped green cloth. First edition. St. John Philby (1885-1960), also known by his Arabian name "Sheikh Abdullah", was an Arabist, explorer, writer, and British colonial office intelligence officer. Educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, he studied oriental languages and was a friend and classmate of Jawaharlal Nehru, later prime Minister of India. Philby settled in Jeddah and became famous as an international writer and explorer. He personally mapped on camelback what is now the Saudi-Yemeni border on the Rub' al Khali; in 1932, while searching for the lost city of Ubar, he was the first Westerner to visit and describe the Wabar craters. At this time, Philby also became Ibn Saud's chief adviser in dealing with the British Empire and Western powers. He converted to Islam in 1930. The personal contacts between the United States and Saudi Arabia were largely channeled through the person of Philby. - An excellent copy, with very insignificant foxing to first and last few pages. Macro 1781. Ghani 302.
Oblong album (320 x 410 mm). Album with 50 photographic prints of various sizes (135 x 95 to 290 x 215 mm), each pasted on thick paperboard. Half black leather with title in gold lettering on front board. Album with 50 albumen prints of scenes in Algeria and Tunisia, made by an unknown photographer. Most of the photographs have a caption naming the place photographed, but only 5 indicate place of production or publication of the photos. These were all produced in Tunis, at least some by the French photographer J. Garrigues, printed and published at his studio. Notable photographs in this album are the first, showing a veiled woman, a barber at work in the streets, riders on their horses, camels with riders and luggage, the Notre Dame d’Afrique in Algiers. Other subjects include city views, (fairly) candid photos of people in the streets, landscapes and the exterior and interior of a mosque. - The most remarkable print in this album actually does not fit in with the other images of places in North Africa. It is a photograph of pilgrims before the Great Mosque and Kaaba in Mecca, modern day Saudi Arabia with a caption in Arabic. This photograph was taken by the first Arab photographer Al-Sayyid ‘Abd al-Gaffar ca. 1887, making it one of the first photographs of Mecca. The present album contains this picture in its original form, including the Arabic caption. An edited version of the photograph (in which remnants of the Arabic caption are visible) can be found in Hurgronje’s "Bilder aus Mekka". - With a small Antwerp bookseller’s ticket on the front paste-down. The binding shows some signs of wear, slight foxing/browning of the outer edges of the paper boards (not affecting the photographic prints), some prints have slightly faded edges, which does not interfere with the actual image. Overall in good condition.
Folio. 268 ff. Contemporary vellum with ms. title to spine. Fine incunabular edition of Pliny's famous encylopedic work, covering the entire field of ancient knowledge. With his "Natural History", Pliny gives a mathematical and physical description of the world, discusses geography, ethnography, anthropology, human physiology, zoology, botany, mineralogy, sculpture and painting. As "a purveyor of information both scientific and nonscientific, Pliny holds a place of exceptional importance in the tradition and diffusion of culture" (DSB). Through the present work Pliny "gives us by far the most detailed account of the coast of the United Arab Emirates that has come down to us. Chapter 32 of Book 6 (§ 149-152), beginning near the Qatar peninsula, proceeds to describe the Emirates islands, tribes, and coast right up to the Musandam peninsula, before continuing on south along the coast of Oman. As such, it is a mine of invaluable information on the UAE in the late pre-Islamic era" (UAE History, online). Pliny "completed his 'Natural History' in 77 AD and, to judge from his account of the peoples and places of south-eastern Arabia [...], the area of the UAE was full of settlements, tribes, and physical features, the names of which he recorded for posterity" (Ghareeb/Al Abed 54). - "This appears to be the first edition of Barbarus' recension, the note of a 1496 edition by the same printer being probably due to a confusion (Hain 13099)" (BMC). Dated 1497 in the colophon, but the dedication is dated the Ides of February in the twelfth year of the Doge Augustinus Barbadicus (30 Aug. 1497 to 29 Aug. 1498). - Numerous contemporary marginalia. Slight worming to gutter and some waterstaining near end; spine restored. Late 19th-c. bookplate of Dr. J. Klauber on front pastedown. HC 13101*. Goff P-799. GW M34321. Klebs 786.14. Proctor 4893A. BMC V 377. ISTC ip00799000.
Folio. (16), 311, (60) ff. Title-page and sub-title to index with ornamental woodcut border. Woodcut initials, head and tail pieces. Calf, gold-tooled ribbed spine with title-label. Sprinkled edges. First edition of the "Natural history" edited by Johannes Caesarius (1468-1550), a humanist and close friend of Erasmus. The original text was by Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23 - August 25, AD 79), better known as Pliny the Elder. He was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian. The text in the present edition is decorated with woodcut borders and many woodcut initials. - The "Naturalis Historia" is one of the largest single works to have survived from the Roman empire to the modern day and purports to cover the entire field of ancient knowledge, based on the best authorities available to Pliny. He claims to be the only Roman ever to have undertaken such a work. It comprised 37 books in 10 volumes and covered over 20,000 facts on topics including the fields of botany, zoology, astronomy , geology and mineralogy as well as the exploitation of those resources. It remains a standard work for the Roman period and the advances in technology and understanding of natural phenomena at the time. Some technical advances he discusses are the only sources for those inventions, such as hushing in mining technology or the use of water mills for crushing or grinding corn. Much of what he wrote about has been confirmed by archaeology. ''We know from Pliny that there were important pearl fisheries in the Gulf [...] Pliny identifies Tylos (Bahrain) as a place famous for its pearls [... He] attests that pearls were the most highly rated valuable in Roman society, and that those from the Gulf were specially praised [...] The pearl related finds at the site of El-Dur indicate the site was integrated into the maritime trade routes linking the Roman Empire, the Persian Empire, India and South Arabia'' (Carter). Book 6 holds a chapter that gives the first detailed account of the regions around the Gulf, including what are now Qatar, the Emirates and Oman. - Not only is it virtually the only work which describes the work of artists of the time, and has it become an important reference work for the history of art, due to the wide range of topics, the referencing system and index it became a model for later encyclopaedias. - With manuscript notes of multiple owners on pastedown (including written ex-libris by Antonii Mauritii Seguin 1713 and Mathon de la cour 1744). Some underling in text, and notes in the margins (partly lost due to trimmed edges). A very good copy with bookplate of De Ponsainpierre on pastedown. VD 16, P 3531. Adams P 1556. BM-STC German 704. Durling 3689 (imperfect copy). Hunt 23. USTC (11 copies).
Folio (235 x 320 mm). 2 vols. in one. (58), 614, (42) pp. (12), 632, (86) pp. Elaborate woodcut device on title-page; woodcut initials, head- and tailpieces. Contemporary calf, spine in six compartments, tooled and lettered in gilt. Pliny's renowned Natural History in its second publication in English (repeating, with corrections, the 1601 first publication), translated by Philemon Holland, the greatest translator of the Elizabethan age. The "Naturalis Historia" is one of the largest single works to have survived from the Roman empire to the modern day and purports to cover the entire field of ancient knowledge, based on the best authorities available to the author. Pliny claims to be the only Roman ever to have undertaken such a work. It comprised 37 books in 10 volumes and covered over 20.000 facts on topics including the fields of botany, zoology, astronomy, geology and mineralogy as well as the exploitation of those resources. It remains a standard work for the Roman period and the advances in technology and understanding of natural phenomena at the time. Some technical advances he discusses are the only sources for those inventions, such as hushing in mining technology or the use of water mills for crushing or grinding corn. Much of what he wrote about has been confirmed by archaeology. "We know from Pliny that there were important pearl fisheries in the Gulf [...] Pliny identifies Tylos (Bahrain) as a place famous for its pearls [... He] attests that pearls were the most highly rated valuable in Roman society, and that those from the Gulf were specially praised [...] The pearl related finds at the site of El-Dur indicate the site was integrated into the maritime trade routes linking the Roman Empire, the Persian Empire, India and South Arabia" (Carter). Book 6 holds a chapter that gives the first detailed account of the regions around the Gulf, including what are now Qatar, the Emirates and Oman. - Binding rubbed; front hinge splitting. Includes the final printed leaf in vol. 2, containing the publisher's advertisement to the reader that all errors have been corrected in the present edition and the errata leaf (included in the same position in 1601) has become unnecessary rather than having been mistakenly omitted. Some slight browning and brownstaining, but an excellent copy removed in 1973 from the Royal Meteorological Society (Symons Bequest, 1900) with their bookplate on the front pastedown. STC 20030. Cf. Pforzheimer 496 (1601 ed.).
4to. 3 vols. (in 6 parts) bound as 6. XXXVI, 219, (1), (11), 224-491, (1) pp. (12), 262 pp., (1 blank f.), VIII, (3), 268-376, 397-519, (1) pp. VIII, 262 pp., (1 blank f.), VIII, (3), 268-403, (1) pp. (4), 115, (1), 124 pp. With 205 engraved folding plates (irregularly numbered I-CIII), including maps, plans, views and other illustrations, depicting temples, antiquities, plants, animals, etc. Contemporary half calf, gold fillets and two title-labels on spines, sprinkled paper sides. First edition of the Dutch translation of Pococke's celebrated monograph on the Near and Middle East, praised by Gibbon as a work of "superior learning and dignity" (Decline and Fall, ch. 11, n. 69). This Dutch edition was augmented with 27 plates, an essay by the minister Rutger Schutte on the travels of the Israelites, and a index to Biblical locations found in the main work. - "Pococke travelled extensively in Europe from 1733 to 1736 and continued on to the Levant, reaching Alexandria in September 1737. He remained three years in the Eastern Mediterranean, visiting Egypt, Palestine, Asia Minor and Greece. His book describes these journeys but not necessarily in chronological order. The plates of antiquities are after drawings by Pococke himself ... Pococke achieved a great reputation with this publication; the work was very popular during his lifetime and was praised by Gibbon" (Blackmer). "The quality and particularly the earliness of his observations and their record in prose, maps, and diagrams make him one of the most important near eastern travellers, ranking with Frederik Ludvig Norden and Carsten Niebuhr, in stimulating an Egyptian revival in European art and architecture, and recording much that has subsequently been lost" (ODNB). - A couple of plates in the last volume slightly browned and a few spots on the first few leaves of the first volume, otherwise a very good copy, with the leaves nearly untrimmed. The bindings somewhat rubbed along the extremities (primarily the spines), but otherwise good. Cox I, 224. Tiele, Bibl. 869. Cf. Blackmer 1323 (English ed.); for the author: Baigent, "Pococke, Richard (1704-1765"; in: ODNB (online ed.).
1 volume of text (4to) and 3 vols. of plates (large folio). Text: 1 bl. f., title leaf, viii, 296 pp., 1 bl. f. With 34 lithogr. plates (all with tissue guards) and 73 text illustrations. Half morocco with giltstamped title to gilt spine. Spine rebacked. Plate volumes all with half title, title, list of contents and a total of 200 engraved plates (130 of which are chromolithographs and 48 tinted lithographs). Plate volumes bound uniformly with text volume in giltstamped half morocco with cloth covers. Very scarce first edition of this splendid, unsurpassed standard work on Islamic art. Prisse d'Avennes spent many years in Egypt after 1826, first as an engineer in the service of Mehmet Ali. After 1836 he explored Egypt disguised as an Arab and using the name Edris Effendi; during this period he carried out archaeological excavations in the valley of the Nile. In 1860, Prisse d'Avennes returned to France with a wealth of documentation and drawings, which he subsequently had reproduced by specially trained draughtsmen and published in this monumental set. "'Arab Art', however, is more than a monument to the author's tenacity, skill, and devotion. For the historian of architecture, it is a precise source, a unique documentary record [...] On an entirely different level, Prisse d'Avennes has provided today's architects, designers, artists, and illustrators with some of the finest examples of measured drawings, pattern details, and illustrations of selected aspects of the built environment of a medieval Islamic city. But 'Arab Art' is not merely an exercise in architectural description. Prisse d'Avennes writes about and records in the plates art forms ranging from elaborately decorated tiles to carpets and fabrics, to Korans and illuminated manuscripts. His text examines how these objects were made and the way they were used, and describes the value placed on them by contemporary society. The result is that his book offers invaluable glimpses of aspects of Arab life as they were viewed by a sympathetic West European" (preface to the 1963 London edition). - Beautiful, complete set (the last copy sold at auction was incomplete). Text and plates uncommonly clean and in an excellent state of preservation throughout, in contrast to the known copies in libraries and in institutional possession. Ibrahim-Hilmy II, 138-140.
Folio (382 x 522 mm). (6), 60 pp. With mounted chromolithographed additional decorative title heightened with gold, tinted lithographed portrait, and 30 hand-coloured lithographs. Numerous wood-engraved illustrations in the text. Contemp. red half morocco with giltstamped cover and spine title. All edges gilt. Marbled endpapers. Modern calf-backed marbled boards, spine gilt with morocco label. First edition. Only a small portion of the press run - as the present copy - was coloured by hand, providing the utmost detail and atmosphere to the splendid plates showing bedouins, horses, local life and costumes. One of the most sought-after and earliest publications by Prisse d'Avennes, who spent many years in Egypt after 1826, first as an engineer in the service of Mehmet Ali. After 1836 he explored Egypt disguised as an Arab, using the name Edris Effendi; during this period he carried out archaeological excavations in the valley of the Nile. In 1848 he first published his "Oriental Album". This unusual visual collection of "characters, costumes and modes of life in the valley of the Nile" is augmented by a commentary by the renowned orientalist and Egyptologist James Augustus St. John. - The frontispiece portrait depicts the artist's friend George Lloyd in the robes of a sheikh reclining with a hookah, and camels in the background. Lloyd, a botanist accompanying the expedition, accidentally shot himself whilst cleaning a rifle. - Final plate with a few minor repairs to margins; final leaf creased and with marginal repairs. One or two other minor marginal defects. - While normal copies of the first edition regularly appear in the trade or at auctions, the present coloured de luxe issue with all the plates is quite rare. The Atabey copy fetched £36,000 (Sotheby's, May 29, 2002, lot 975); the Longleat copy commanded $59,200 (Christie's, June 13, lot 110) that same year. Atabey 1001. Blackmer 1357. Lipperheide Ma 30. Colas 2427. Hiler 772. Brunet IV, 885. Graesse V, 449. Cf. Heritage Library, Islamic Treasures, s. v. "Art" (illustration). Not in Cook (Egyptological Libr.), Fumagalli (Bibliogr. Etiopica), Gay, Abbey.
Folio. 31 tinted lithographed plates, all with partial hand-colouring. Contemporary red half morocco gilt. Second edition of one of the most sought-after and earliest publications by Prisse d'Avennes, who spent many years in Egypt after 1826, first as an engineer in the service of Mehmet Ali. After 1836 he explored Egypt disguised as an Arab, using the name Edris Effendi; during this period he carried out archaeological excavations in the valley of the Nile. In 1848 he first published his "Oriental Album". This unusual visual collection of "characters, costumes and modes of life in the valley of the Nile" is augmented by a commentary by the renowned orientalist and Egyptologist James Augustus St. John. - The frontispiece portrait depicts the artist's friend George Lloyd in the robes of a sheikh reclining with a hookah, and camels in the background. Lloyd, a botanist accompanying the expedition, accidentally shot himself whilst cleaning a rifle. - Light foxing, affecting some plates, with 2 plates trimmed at foot and laid down. Atabey 1001. Blackmer 1357. Colas 2427. OCLC 4423031. Cf. Brunet IV, 885 (1st ed. only). Heritage Library, Islamic Treasures, s. v. "Art" (illustration). Not in Abbey. Lipperheide Ma 30 (1st ed.).
8vo. (8), 83, (1) pp. (8), 57, (1) pp. (8), 74 pp. (8), 52 pp. (4), 26 pp., final blank f. (4), 26 pp. 38 pp. (index). Publisher's printed green cloth. A manual of "geographical, economic, historical, social, religious and political" information compiled for the British delegates to the Peace Conference that took place in Versailles in 1919, here issued "for public use" for the first time. The extensive section on the Arabian coastal regions includes not only detailed statistics (giving the population of Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Sharjah at 6,000, 20,000, and 15,000 inhabitants, respectively), but also, in a separate appendix, the full text of the treaties signed between the United Kingdom and the Sheikhs and rulers of the "Trucial Coast" in 1820 and 1853, including the names of all signatories: Sh. Hassan bin Rahmah for Ras al-Khaimah, Sh. Shakbout for Abu Dhabi, Sh. Zayed bin Syf for Dubai, Sh. Sultan bin Suggur for Sharjah, Sh. Rashid bin Hamid for Ajman, Sh. Abdullah bin Rashid for Umm al-Quwayn, etc. - Issued as vol. XIII of the "Peace Handbooks" by the Historical Section of the Foreign Office. Comprises in all: nos. 76 (Persian Gulf), 77 (French India), 78 (French Indo-China), 79 (Portuguese India), 80 (Portuguese Timor), and 81 (Macao). - Binding slightly stained. Withdrawn from the University Library of Manchester (their ownership, bookplate, and deaccession stamp to endpapers). - Rare. OCLC 28122772.
Engraved map of the Arabian peninsula, printed (as usual) on two joined folio leaves (together 563 x 396 mm). Framed (79:63 cm). Highly important early map of the Arabian Peninsula and adjoining regions, from the extraordinary 1478 Rome edition of Ptolemy's "Geography", created under the direction of Conrad Swenheym (who apprenticed with Gutenberg). The second map of the Peninsula ever published, in its first state, this is the earliest obtainable printed map of Arabia, preceded only by the less detailed and crudely engraved specimen in the Bologna edition of Ptolemy, which is generally regarded as unobtainable. - The present map is an excellent example of Swenheym's finely engraved map of Arabia, based upon Ptolemy. Among the towns shown are Medina (Lathrippa) and the archaeological sites of Zubarah (Catara) and Al-Dur (Domana). The association of Macoraba with Mecca is disputed. Shirley notes that "[t]he new copper plates engraved at Rome for the 1478 edition of Ptolemy's 'Geography' are much superior in clarity and craftsmanship to those of the Bologna edition. There is evidence that work on the Rome edition had been started in 1473 or 1474, and several of the plates may well have been engraved before those printed [by Taddeo Crivelli] at Bologna in 1477. The printing was carried out by two skilled printers of German origin: Conrad Sweynheym and his successor Arnold Buckinck; the publisher was Domitius Calderinus. Many consider the Rome plates to be the finest Ptolemaic plates produced until Gerard Mercator engraved his classical world atlas of 1578" (p. 3). - Until the 1477 edition was definitively dated, the 1478 edition was believed to be the first printed atlas. Buckinck completed the work started by Sweynheym, whose method of using a printing press for the copperplate maps, together with the fine engraving, produced excellent results. Christopher Colombus owned a copy of this edition, which he annotated. The plates for the 1478 Rome Ptolemy were later purchased by Petrus de Turre in 1490, who published the second, unchanged edition of the map; it was again reprinted in 1507. The editions are identical, although there are different watermarks in the paper (though there is some debate as to whether the watermarks are in fact completely reliable in determining the editions). - Some faint stains along the edges of the paper and in the gutter. In very good condition. Al Ankary 3. Nordenskiöld 201.21. Tibbetts 4. Campbell, Letter Punches: a Little-Known Feature of Early Engraved Maps. Print Quarterly, Volume IV, No. 2, June 1987, pp. 151-154. For the atlas: Shirley, Mapping of the world 4.
Double-page woodcut map, fine original hand-colour, with near-contemporary manuscript vignette illustrations of an Ababeel bird, Makkah and Kaaba in pen and wash heightened in gold. 414 x 572 mm. Framed (78 x 56 cm). The first-ever printed woodcut map of the Arabian peninsula, here in original hand colour and adorned with unique, hand-drawn illumination added by a contemporary artist. The map was published in the first atlas printed outside Italy; it was the first atlas to be illustrated with woodcut maps. Remarkably, the hand-drawn vignette illustrations include a depiction of the relief of Makkah, besieged by Abrahah, through the Ababeel birds, who pelted the attacking army of war elephants with burning stones from the pits of the fires of hell. The image shows a gigantic blue-and-gilt Ababeel bird above the city, engulfed in flames - not only one of the earliest depictions of Makkah but also an amazing example of cross-cultural exchange of narratives during the early Renaissance, proving a Western illustrator's familiarity with a Middle Eastern tradition famously referenced in the Qur'an (sura 105, known as al-Fil, The Elephant): "Wa 'arsala 'Aalayhim tayran 'Ababeel, Tarmeehim bihijaratin min sijjeel" ("And He sent against them birds in flocks, Striking them with stones of burning clay"). No other example with these illustrations of Makkah is known, nor are they contained in any printed edition of Ptolemy. Campbell, Earliest Printed Maps, p. 179-210. Schreiber 5032. Tibbetts 8 (p. 37). The Heritage Library, Islamic Treasures, s. v. "Maps". Cf. Heritage Library, Qatar, p. 8f (illustration). Carter, Robert A. Sea of Pearls, p. 21.
4to. (90), 560 [but p. 255f. repeated], (10) pp. Latin title printed in red and black; one Latin and two Arabic (woodcut) half-titles. Preface in Latin, text in vocalized Arabic throughout. Contemporary half calf with marbled covers and giltstamped label to sparsely gilt spine. The famous "Hamburg Koran": while not actually (as it was long considered) the first printed Qur'an ever, the first accessible printed edition of the Arabic text. Only in 1987 was a unique copy of Paganino de Paganinis's Venetian edition (c. 1538) rediscovered, a work whose press run either was destroyed immediately or was limited to the sole surviving specimen, apparently a proof copy (cf. A. Nuovo, "Il Corano arabo ritrovato", in: Bibliofilia LXXX, IX, 1987). Four years after the present edition, in 1698, Lodovico Marracci produced his own Qur'an, but its two big tomes were anything but easy to consult - hence, the Hamburg Koran remained "the only available and handleable" (Smitskamp) edition until the early 19th century. - Abraham Hinckelmann (1652-95), a Hamburg theologian, studied at Wittenberg and collected many Oriental manuscripts. He compiled a Quranic lexicon in manuscript and planned a Latin translation of the Koran, but this was never realised. - Some browning throughout, as common due to paper; slight waterstaining near end. Ms. ownership of Joseph Venturi in Arabic, Hebrew, and Latin ("emit Romae An. 1789") on Latin title (his quotation from Brunet on first Arabic title), with early 19th c. ownership of Blasius Milani. This is the uncommon variant with two different woodcut Arabic titles. Schnurrer 376. Smitskamp, PO 360. Fück 94. Le Livre et le Liban 135f. Woolworth 279. Hamilton, Europe and the Arab World 33. Brunet III, 1306. H. Bobzin, From Venice to Cairo, in: Middle Eastern Languages and the Print Revolution (2002), p. 151-176, at p.160f., with 2 illustrations (figs. VI and 74). The Heritage Library: Treasures of Islamic and Arabic Heritage (Qatar 2006), s. v. "Religion", with illustration.
4to. (12), 66, 41, (1) pp. Title-page printed in red and black. With a coin engraving in the text. 19th c. wrappers. Only edition thus: the 30th and the 48th sura (Ar-Rum and Al-Fath) in the original Arabic and with Latin parallel translation. An early and scholarly specimen of Qur'an translation in the West, with extensive commentary. The Arabic text is rendered in Hebrew letters, as Arabic types were unavailable to the printer. M. F. Beck (1649-1701) had studied history and oriental literature at Jena. In 1677 he settled in Ausgburg as a preacher, but kept his focus on the oriental languages. His linguistic proficiency ultimately earned him a pension from the King of Prussia (cf. ADB II, 218). - Some browning; title insignificantly dust- and waterstained, but altogether well preserved. VD 17, 12:128711C. Schnurrer 374. OCLC 13610797.