4.361 Ergebnisse
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.
8vo. VIII, 524 pp. Contemporary full sheepskin with giltstamped spine title. First American edition of the Qur'an, produced by Isaiah Thomas, founder of the American Antiquarian Society and the largest and most important Massachusetts publishing house during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Thomas adapted a translation of the French orientalist André Du Ryer for the American market, with occasional notes, including Turkish traditions. Du Ryer had been the envoy of the French king at Alexandria and Constantinople in the 17th century. His translation was the best available, and was frequently reprinted and translated into other European languages throughout the 18th century. - Some browning and light foxing throughout. Small hole slightly affecting text to leaf Aa6; quires Ff and Gg transposed; a tear in leaf O4 professionally repaired. Provenance: From the collection of the Massachusetts businessman Henry E. Call (fl. 1860s) with his ink ownership to title-page and oval stamps to flyleaf; front pastedown has mid-19th century note of acquisition for $2.00 from E. P. Dutton's Boston bookshop, founded in 1852. Shaw & Shoemaker 10684. Europe and the Arab World 32. OCLC 3548445. Not in Chauvin.
8vo. (12), 114, (2), 558, (34) pp. Title-page printed in red and black. Contemporary full vellum with ms. title to spine. First printing thus. - The edition of Christian Reineccius (1668-1752) contains the Latin text of Luigi Marracci (1612-1700), to which are added a history of the Qur'an and an account of the Muslim faith. Marracci's text, published in 1698, constituted the first accurate Latin translation, the first scholarly printed Qur'an (including a much more accurate Arabic text than any previously printed). "It was a considerable progress that the Qur'an, much maligned by so many in the West possessing no familiarity at all with its content, now was made generally available" (cf. Fück). - Some browning throughout, as common; old ownership "Steph. Manno" stamped to title page. Altogether very well-preserved in an immaculate contemporary full vellum binding. Schnurrer p. 413f. Fück 95, n. 251. BM Arabic I, 896. Enay 164. Zenker I, 1396. Woolworth p. 286.
Oblong 8vo. (4), 42 mounted colour printed plates, some of which heightened in gold, (4) pp. Each plate matted with the corresponding letterpress Qur'an verse with red border to versos opposite. Title-page printed in red and black. Contemporary green full calf with giltstamped title to cover and spine. Top edge gilt. Original stapled plain card slipcase. Only edition. A collection of 42 exquisite illustrations for selected suras from the Qur'an inspired by Persian miniatures. One of the earliest works by the Austrian-born painter and illustrator Lydis (1887-1970), a self-taught artist influenced by Islamic art as well as by the Japanese artist Tsuguharu Foujita. Lydis settled in Paris in 1926 and escaped the Nazis during the occupation, living briefly in England before emigrating to Buenos Aires. Today she is best known for her illustrations in de luxe editions of Boccaccio, Louÿs, Baudelaire, Mirbeau and Valéry. - The plates, in colours and gold, were printed by Ganymed in Berlin, the text by Proeschel & Trepte in Leipzig. - Extremities slightly rubbed. Interior in mint condition. Vollmer III, 278. OCLC 187048571.
8vo. V, (1), 158, 783, (1), 26, (2) pp. Near contemporary green half calf over marbled boards, flat spine elaborately gilt. First Swedish edition: the pioneering, first complete version of the Holy Qur'an in any Scandinavian language. The translator Fredrik Crusenstolpe (1801-82) was secretary to the Swedish consul in Tanger and a philhellene who had fought against the Ottomans in the Greek War of Independence. - The publication was privately funded by the translator himself: Crusenstolpe, who detected in the Swedish mentality an ignorance and tendency toward superstition which he resented, "felt personally compelled to furnish the Swedish audience with material to rectify some of the misconceptions about the Prophet Muhammad in Swedish popular imagination [...] He described the Prophet as a rational 'Arabic founder of law' (p. iii), in compliance with a common imagery of the Prophet which emerged in the European Enlightenment" (N. S. Eggen, "On the Periphery: Translations of the Our'an in Sweden, Denmark and Norway", in: The Routledge Handbook of Arabic Translation, ed. Sameh Hanna et al.). - Covers a little rubbed, corners slightly bumped. Some browning and occasional foxing throughout. From the library of Swedish linguist Hans Hultqvist (1943-2019) with his discrete shelf mark in pencil to title-page. Very rare: OCLC lists only four holding libraries (NY Public Library, Library of Congress, Cleveland Public Library, Ohio State University). Chauvin X, 238. OCLC 2011410.
8vo. 307 ff. Naskh calligraphy, 15 lines. Black ink on polished paper; borders in red and gold; sura headings in white ink on gilt; gilt discs for verse divisions. Double-page 'unwan on first two pages shows elaborate gilt ornamentation; colophon shows floral ornamentation in green and gilt. Coloured floral decoration to margins. Later cloth. Colophon in Arabic: "Finished Thursday afternoon 3 o'clock. The scribe is the son of Mehmed Halil Ibrahim, what is done is determined by Allah". - Provenance: acquired in Istanbul, Turkey, in the 1960s.
8vo (ca. 110 x 160 mm). Arabic manuscript on paper. 260 ff. with 3 double-page 'Unwan headpieces in colours and gilt. 17 lines in meticulous black ink Naskhi, text within black, blue and gilt rules, verse divisions marked by black-bordered gold discs, red orthoepic markers and diacritics, sura beginnings in red on gilt background, line separators in black and gilt, marginal medallions (Juz' and Hizb markers) in colours and gilt, marginalia in red. Contemporary lacquer binding, covers elaborately painted with floral designs on outsides and insides. Later black morocco spine with stamped title. Stored in contemporary giltstamped leather slipcase with flap. An exceptionally pretty early 19th century Qur'an manuscript probably written in the Pashtunistan or Balochistan region of British India. Occasional insignificant edge flaws or various instances of light browning, but generally a very clean and well-preserved example in a pretty floral lacquer binding (corners bumped, spine repaired in more recent times). Slipcase a little rubbed and worn along extremeties.
8vo (105 x 149 mm). Arabic manuscript on polished paper. 306 ff., 2 flyleaves, 15 lines to the page. Written in fine Naskh script in black ink, verses separated by small gold roundels pointed in red, illuminated floral marginal devices throughout surah headings written in white thuluth script within gold-ground floral panels. Double-page illuminated 'unwan frontispiece elaborately decorated with interlacing polychrome flowers against a punched gold ground. Contemporary full gilt leather with fore-edge flap and gilt floral designs to covers. Endpapers covered with cornflower-blue, relief-stamped floral paper. Edges mottled in red. Stored in matching leather slipcase with flap and bellows-style cloth sides. A beautiful Qur'an manuscript from the early years of the era of Sultan Mahmud II, written in modern-day Turkey by Omar Al-Shawqi, student of Ismael Shawqi. - A small hole in the text of the second leaf, sewing a little loosened in places, otherwise a very attractively preserved example of a pocket-sized Qur'an.
8vo (208 x 150 mm). Contemporary blind- and goldstamped calf with fore-edge flap, decorated with corner stamps. Illuminated Arabic ms. on paper, 305 ff., single 15-line column, Naskh script on polished paper. Double-page 'unwan on first two pages shows elaborate gilt and coloured ornamentation. Text framed by three parallel golden and black lines. Gold discs between verses, sura headings written in gold.
8vo (149 x 94 mm). Illuminated Arabic ms. on paper, 211 ff., 20 lines, Naskh script. Double-page 'unwan on first two pages shows elaborate gilt and coloured ornamentation. Framed by strings of three gold and black lines. Gold discs between verses, sura headings written in gold. Original lacquer binding decorated with flowers. Traces of use, otherwise in good condition. Binding restored.
8vo (129 x 83 mm). Illuminated Arabic ms. on paper, 303 ff., 15 lines, Naskh script. Double-page 'unwan on first two pages shows elaborate gilt ornamentation; colophon shows coloured ornamentation. Text framed by three parallel golden, black and red wires. Gold discs between verses, sura headings written in gold. Contemporary blind- and giltstamped binding with fore-edge flap, decorated with borders and corner stamps. Some slight restoration to first leaves, otherwise in very good condition.
8vo (124 x 180 mm). Illuminated Arabic ms. on polished paper. 301 ff., final blank. 15 lines, Naskh script. Black ink on polished paper. Double-page 'unwan on first two pages shows elaborate gilt ornamentation. Borders in red, black and gold. Gold discs between verses, sura headings written in red. Contemporary blindstamped gilt calf. Complete Quran ms. with occasional coloured floral decoration to the margins. First leaf remargined; some fingerstaining and occasional browning; a very few ink smudges. Spine rebacked in different leather. Altogether a good example.
8vo (148 x 90 mm). Illuminated Arabic manuscript on paper, 243 leaves plus 2 fly-leaves, complete. 19 lines per page, written in a neat Naskhi script in black ink with diacritics in red, margins ruled in gold and colours. Gold discs or florets between verses, sura headings written in white within gilt cartouches flanked by panels with alternating floral motifs in gold and various colours. Brown morocco with flap and giltstamped borders and central ornaments. Splendid pocket-size Qur'an. Marginal section markers in white naskh on gold ground within polychrome flower blossom, opening double-page frontispiece richly illuminated in lapis lazuli blue, green, red, pink, and gold, the text within cloud bands in gold. - Hinge tender between the first two pages, some light marginal fingering, otherwise in perfect condition. From the library of the scientists and collectors Crawford Fairbanks Failey (1900-81) and Gertrude Van Wagenen (1893-1978), who performed research at Yale and Johns Hopkins in the fields of medical chemistry and biology.
Folio (244 x 345 mm). Arabic manuscript, Bihari script on paper. 287 (instead of 292) ff., foliated 364-655 (lacking 550-551 and 622-624). Surah headings in gilt and colours, verse divisions marked by gold and black ink rosettes, numerous circular and tear-shaped markers in the margins, elaborately ornamented in gold and colours. Bound in modern oriental-style full leather with fore-edge flap and recessed cover decorations. Part four of a pre-Mughal Qur'an commentary, treating the text from Surah XXI, Al-Anbya (The Prophets) to Surah LXXV, Al-Qiyamah (The Resurrection). - Lacks five leaves according to the foliation; some dampstaining; several edge flaws (more severe near the end of the volume), often remargined. Traces of dust in the gutter throughout. In all a fine example of an early Qur'anic manuscript. - Provenance: 1950s private ownership stamp of the "Mohd. Halim Salimi Library", Kandahar, Afghanistan, on fol. 490v. Mohammed Halim Salimi of Kandahar worked in an administrative capacity for the USA's International Cooperation Administration (ICA) Mission to Afghanistan in 1959. In 1960 Salimi applied to the ICA for reimbursement of a lost sum of $123.88; the application was refused on the grounds that Salimi was not in fact an ICA employee but was sub-contracted by the agent Herman Klee (see report B-144148-O.M., 1 Nov 1960). Acquired from Hampel Auctions, Munich. Cf. S. A. Blair, Islamic Calligraphy (Edinburgh 2006), pp. 386-390; Qur‘an, exhibition catalogue (Istanbul 2010), pp. 350f., no. 92.
Large 4to. (4), IX, (3), 187, (1), 508, (16) pp. With folding engr. map, folding engr. plate, and 3 (2 folding) engr. genealogical tables. Modern half calf with marbled covers, gilt. First printing of this important translation. "Showered with praise from the start" (cf. Enay). "The classic translation of the Quran [...] Sale worked from the original Arabic, but also used Marracci's Latin version, about which he said it was very precise, but too literal [...] Sale's translation is marked by a rather sober tidiness. Sale himself saw his work as a sort of defence of a much-maligned book [...] The translation's dispassionate, dry objectivity was an enormous step forward for western Quranic studies. Its deserved success was based to no little extent on the 'Preliminary Discourse', which provides a general introduction to the Quran as well as an overview of the most important Muslim denominations [...] For a century this account remained one of the principal sources from which the European educated elite drew its knowledge of all matters Quranic" (cf. Fück). - Title page slightly wrinkled and dusty. A good, very unobtrusively browned copy in an appealing modern binding. Chauvin X, 146. Schnurrer 429. Fück 104f. Enay 169. Graesse IV, 44. Ebert 11524.
8vo. (10), 547, (1) pp. With additional engraved title page and 6 engraved plates. Contemporary vellum with handwritten spine title. Uncommon Dutch edition of du Ryer's version, in a translation by J. H. Glasemaker (previously published in 1658), with a Life of the Prophet and numerous engravings by Caspar Luyken (1672-1708). Du Ryer's 1647 French version served as the basis for further translations of the Qur'an (including English, German, and Russian), and was instrumental in introducing Europeans to the tenets of the Muslim faith. - Block somewhat loosened, but still a good copy. Chauvin X, p. 129 (phi). Cf. Schnurrer 428.
4to. (10), 648 [but: 598], (4) pp. Contemporary half calf with giltstamped spine. Rare first edition of "the oldest complete translation of the Qur'an into a European vernacular" (Encylopedia of the Qur'an). Du Ryer's work served as the basis for further translations of the Qur'an into English, German, Dutch, and Russian, and was instrumental in introducing Europeans to the tenets of the Muslim faith. Du Ryer was a celebrated linguist and had lived in Egypt and Turkey, where he studied classical Arabic. His introduction briefly summarizes the Muslim religion for Christian readers, noting customs such as Ramadan, circumcision, the practice of having as many as four wives, the significance of Mecca and Medina, Sufi brotherhoods and wandering ascetics, and finally the Islamic recognition of Jesus as a prophet but not the son of God. A prayer printed in Arabic is included on the verso of leaf e2. - "Du Ryer's translation of the Qur'an [...] became an unparalleled literary success [...] The easy availability of the Qur'an accompanied a newfound interest in the Orient; additionally, du Ryer's translation lacked the polemical tone of previous editions, an orientation which arose mainly in ecclesiastical contexts. Du Ryer used Islamic commentaries such as al-Bayawi's Anwar al-tanzil, the Tafsir al-Jalalayan by al-Mahalli (d. 864/1459) and al-Suyu i (d. 911/1505), or an excerpt from al-Razi's (d. 606/1210) great commentary made by al-Raghi al-Tunisi (d. 715/1315) entitled al-Tanwir fi l-tafsir, quite casually in his translation, merely noting them in the margins. The deprecatory tone present in the introductory chapter, 'Sommaire de la religion des Turcs,' can be understood as an attempt at camouflage (cf. Hamilton and Richard, André du Ryer, 94f)" (Encyclopedia of the Qur'an). - Some waterstaining throughout; occasional worming; more pronounced edge damage near end. Provenance: 1714 ms. ownership (partly stricken out) of the Castelnaudary Capuchins, dissolved in 1789; acquired by the notary J. L. E. Bauzit of Castelnaudary (his ownership on title and flyleaf). Chauvin X, p. 126. Schnurrer 427. Fück 74. Brunet III, 1309. Encyclopedia of the Qur'an V, 347.
8vo. 42 (but: 40), 678 pp. With engraved frontispiece. Near-contemporary half calf with giltstamped red spine label. All edges red. Second edition of this German Qur'an translation, previously issued in 1773. Following Megerlin's ill-received effort of 1772, this is the second German translation to have been based immediately on the Arabic original. - Pagination of preliminaries agrees with NUC, with pp. 15f. skipped. Includes the frequently lacking engraved frontispiece depicting a Muslim in prayer. Contemporary ownership to flyleaf. Slightly browned as usual; a good, tighly bound copy. Zenker I, 1400. Schnurrer, p. 431. Graesse IV, 44. Woolworth 285. VD 18, 90017838. Not in Enay.
3 parts in 3 folio volumes (302 x 205 mm). (4), 34, 436 ff. 30, 248 ff. 6, 34, 455 (not 456) ff. With a total of 51 engravings in the text (7 full-page) and 12 double-page maps and plans (2 full-page). 20th-c. full brown morocco, double-gilt fillet on the covers, spine ribbed and decorated with gilt fleurons, mottled edges. Stored in custom-made calf-edged slipcases. Perfectly complete copy of this superb collection of travels, composed of the first edition of the 3rd part and the second edition of the 1st and 2nd part. The second edition, widely enlarged, of the 1st part, is the first and only one to present the 3 double-page maps representing Africa and India that had not been printed in the first edition of 1550, and which would not be reprinted in the 3rd edition of 1563 since the wood plates of these 3 maps had been destroyed in the fire that ravaged Giunti's workshop in 1557. - "This work, which served as a model to Hakluyt, was the first systematical collection of voyages that had so far appeared [...] It [...] is carefully and intelligently done" (Cox). "All authors are unanimous of their praise of Ramusio's choice of published narratives. Locke, the English philosopher, states that it is 'the most perfect work of that nature in any language'. Harrisse writes, 'The publication of Ramusio's "Raccolta" may be said to open an era in the literary history of Voyage and Navigation. Instead of accounts carelessly copied and translated from previous collections, perpetuating errors and anachronisms, we find in this valuable work original narratives which betray the hand of a scholar of great critical acumen'" (Borba de M.). The first volume, mainly dedicated to Africa and South Asia, happily includes several travel reports of the utmost importance for the exploration of the Arabian Peninsula and the Gulf region. Lodovico Varthema's travel report, famous for detailing the first recorded visit of a Westerner to Mecca, indeed the first western encounter with the Arab world, contains accounts of the holy cities of as well as of the port of Jeddah, information on Bedouin life and costume, etc. (ff. 162-166). - The account of Vasco da Gama's voyage to India is comparable in importance only to Columbus’s in the west, as it “opened the way for the maritime invasion of the East by Europe” (PMM 42). Da Gama’s pioneering sea voyage ranks amongst the greatest historic events of the second millennium and as “one of the defining moments in the history of exploration” (BBC History, online). It is also considered the turning point in the political history of the Arabian Gulf region, followed as it was by a prolonged period of east-west commerce, conquest and conflict. Critically, the excerpt here published includes details on "una isola [i. e., Julfar] verso il colfo Persico dove altro non si fa che pescar perle" (I, f. 132). - Duarte Barbosa's report includes accounts of Mecca and Medina (f. 323), the ports of Jeddah (ibid.) and Aden (f. 324), the Arab kingdom of Hormuz (ff. 324-327), Julfar and the islands in the Arabian Gulf (f. 325, with reference to pearl-diving), etc. Also, we find the very early and highly influential, albeit imprecise data on the Kuwait region: place names such as Lorom, Gostaque, Bacido, Conga, Menahaon (p. 325) etc. which Slot discusses at some length: "Much of the toponymic information in the Kuwait region on the maps from the Gastaldi group is based on an erroneous interpretation of Duarte Barbosa's text. From this text come the strange names of places in the area of Kuwait like Costaqui (Kuhistaq) which should in fact be placed on the other side of the Gulf [...] Loron [...] might be an error for the Karun River which is on the Persian side just east of the Shatt al-Arab. Then follows inside the inlet of the Gulf of Kuwait the name Manahon. Then follows around this 'Gulf of Kuwait' three names which are cased by erroneous plotting [...]: Congo (Bandar Kong), Costaqui (Kuhistaq) and Bacido (Basaidu) with the offshore island of Queximi (Qism). These are names taken from [...] Duarte Barbosa's book and erroneously plotted on this coast" (Origins of Kuwait, p. 15). - The volume also includes a set of three woodcut maps by Gastaldi: the first showing Africa, the second showing the Indian subcontinent, the Strait of Hormuz, the Eastern half of the Gulf, and the Indian Ocean, while the third shows Southeast Asia and the East Indies. These were a great advance on earlier maps, including even Gastaldi's own, taking into account new information provided by Portuguese explorers. Many of the topographic names in the Gulf region derive from the forms used by these navigators and can be identified, sometimes tentatively, from their place on the first two of these maps and from the early accounts of the voyages: "Cor. Dulfar" (Dhofar), the island "Macira" (Masirah), "C. Resalgate" (Ras al Had?), "Galatia" (the ancient site Qalhat), "Mazcate" (Muscat), the island "Quexumo" (Qeshm), "Ormus" (Hormuz), and there is even an unlabelled city close to the present-day Abu Dhabi. - Occasional handwritten ink notes. Waterstain on the lower part of vol. 2, ff. 31-35; some browned leaves; otherwise fine, a washed copy. Provenance: Professor Eva G. R. Taylor (1879-1966), historian of science and the first woman to hold an academic chair of geography in the UK, presented to Birkbeck College, University of London (bookplate) and sold through Sotheby's in 1990. Sabin 67731, 67737, 67740. Harrisse 304. Church 99. Borba de Moraes² 698f. Bosch 46. Cox I, 28. Cordier, BS 1939. Fumagalli (Bibl. Etiopica) 83 (note). Gay 258. Adams R 135, 137, 140. Brunet IV, 1100f. Slot, The Origins of Kuwait (1998), p. 15 & 187.
42 x 100 cm. Five-tone lithographic map with illustration by Harraz. Constant ratio linear horizontal scale 1:7,500,000. Road map also showing railways, populated places, boundaries, rivers, wadis, and possible flood areas. Includes inset map: Diagrammatic map of the Arab world. Folded. First edition of this large, decorative map, showing the highways that linked countries under Arabian influence in the early 1970s. It stretches as far north as Turkey, south to the Sudan, west to Mauritana and east beyond the Strait of Hormuz, capturing the whole of the Arabian Gulf including Kuwait, Bahrain, Muscat, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the People's Republic of Southern Yemen. The verso contains an index of main travel routes through these various countries. - The United Arab Republic, as it is here referred to, was formed through a political union of Egypt and Syria. It was instigated by the Egyptian Prime Minister Gamal Abdel Nasser (1918-1970) and was seen as an expression of pan-Arab sentiment. Syria broke aways from the union in 1961 (and is here shown as an independent country), but Egypt continued to use the name until 1972. The People's Republic of Yemen, the only communist state to be established in the Arab world, was formed in late 1967, to last until 1990. - Some nicks and small tears, a single mark to the covers, a 1 cm tear on the left side of the map. In very good condition for a fragile map. Scarce: LibraryHub does not locate any holdings whilst Worldcat adds just eight institutional copies worldwide. OCLC 5403988.