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Engraved map. 60 x 84 cm. Constant ratio linear horizontal scale ca. 1:1,500,000. With insert maps: "A Plan of the Harbour of Suez" and "A Plan of the Harbour of Tor". Rare map covering the Red Sea from Jeddah in the south to the Gulf of Suez in the north. Published as part of Robert Sayer's "Complete East-India pilot or Oriental Navigator" (1778ff., subsequently reissued by Laurie & Whittle), it is based on D'Après de Mannevillette's "Neptune Oriental" (1745), incorporating information gleaned from the 1762-63 surveys of Carsten Niebuhr. - A few professionally repaired edge tears. OCLC 733624449.
117 x 78 cm. Constant ratio linear horizontal scale: 1:5,000,000. Relief shown by hachures, contours, and spot heights. Depth shown by soundings. Loosely stored within printer wrappers. Third edition of this German wartime map of the Middle East, parts of Asia, and India, first published thus in 1940. Based on "Stielers Handatlas" and issued within Perthes' "Ubique terrarum" series (no. 20). - In excellent state of preservation, detached from its original wrappers. OCLC 164843864.
A single hand-carved woodblock (ca. 170 by 110/92 by 220 mm) for use as printing block, together with a print on 18th century paper (165 x 105 mm). Woodblock in Ottoman Turkish for a Hebrew publication of the Song of Solomon, probably produced in the Ottoman regions of the Levant for a rural printing press. A rare survival of a printing tool, and also an important witness to cross-cultural printing for minority audiences in the Ottoman world. - Includes a print of the text reading "Safr Nishd al-Nishad li-Suleyman wa'ighal ba-l'Abraniyat Sir Hashirim", printed on a piece of 18th-century paper pasted to a cutting from a Croatian printed book ("Pasha Duhovna", on Spirituality and the Passover). - Some small wormholes in the wood, post-dating the print; carved side stained black from ink used for printing. Printing devices such as this are often discarded or recycled and rarely survive in such condition as the present example.
8vo (170 x 253 mm). 38, (2), 112 pp. With a wood-engraved portrait of Abou Naddara and numerous illustrations. Modern marbled half calf with gilt-stamped spine. Silk divider. Inscribed to Paul Leclerc, "ami de l'Égypte, hommage respectueux du Cheikh Abou Naddara", also signed in Arabic. - "Abou Naddara" was the first Arabic magazine to feature cartoons (with captions in French and Arabic), as well as the first work to use in the press a form of colloquial Arabic, radically different from the literary form. - The Egyptian journalist James Sanua ("Ya'qub Rufa'il Sanu'" in Arabic, but usually known simply by his pseudonym, Abou Naddara, "father of spectacles") was born into a family of Sephardic Jews in Cairo. He played an important role in the development of the Arabic theatre in the 1870s, but it was as a satirical journalist that he became best known, targeting the Khedive as well as the British interlopers. He founded the satirical magazine "Abou Naddara" in 1877, which immediately enjoyed a broad appeal and was quickly suppressed; of the 15 issues that appeared between March and April 1877, no copies are known. Sanua went into exile in 1878, but his celebrated journal, reproduced lithographically from manuscript in Arabic and French, continued to appear, printed in Paris at a shop aptly located in the Passage du Caire in the 2e arrondissement. Within Egypt, where the magazine's smaller format allowed it to be smuggled inside other larger newspapers, its circulation was considerable, with possibly over 3000 copies of each issue printed. There is evidence of its presence in the highest echelons of Egyptian society, and its content focused on the political and financial turmoil in Egypt, as Sanua was undoubtedly privy to information from friends and informants well-placed inside administrative circles. - Extremely rare. Loosely inserted is a folded original issue of the "Journal Oriental" ("Directeur & Rédacteur en chef: J. Sanua Abou Naddara"), no. 8, dated 25 September 1886 (entirely lithographed in Arabic). OCLC 25737746.
8vo (155 x 228 mm). 45, (5) pp. With a folding, coloured map and 14 wood-engraved illustrations in the text (one repeated as a frontispiece). Publisher's original blue wrappers, printed in red and black. First edition thus: a French translation of the author's essay on the Hajj first published in Arabic in the "Roznémé Tounsié" (Annuaire Tunisien). The folding map at the back of the volume shows the route of the Hejaz railway, its course completed only as far as Tabouk at the time of publication, while the remainder of the line is shown in its projected state, still planned to run as far as Mecca. Indeed, when the rails reached Al-'Ula station very soon after this book came out, local tribes protested against the railroad, fearing it threatened their livelihood as providers of transport camels. Afterwards, Sultan Abdulhamid ruled that the railway would only run as far as Medina, where the line was completed on 1 September 1908. - M'hamed Bel-Khodja (1869-1943) was born into an Ottoman and Tunisian religious dynasty that was among the most important in the country in the 19th century. In 1902 he became director of the government press; in 1919 he was appointed qaid governor of Gabès and Bizerte, remaining an influential government adviser even after retirement. - A few tiny edge chips to covers, but generally very well preserved. Extremely rare: OCLC lists a single copy (Bibliothèque Gernet-Glotz in Paris). OCLC 690876832.
4to (160 x 214 mm). (80), (4 blank), (32), (4 blank), (19), (1 blank), (13), (1 blank), (81), (1 blank) leaves. Contemporary full calf with cover borders ruled in gilt and prettily gilt spine. All edges gilt. Considered lost: a volume of Ali Ufki Bey's famous Bible translation, "the lineal ancestor of today’s Turkish Bible" (Privratsky), the last manuscript in private hands. - A project born of Protestant disappointment with the outcome of the 30 Years' War, the 17th century enterprise to translate the Bible into Turkish was informed by Christian eschatological hopes that Protestantism and Islam might form a political alliance to defeat the common enemy, idolatrous Catholicism, and bring about world peace. To advance this cause, the Czech-born educator John Amos Comenius championed a Turkish translation of the Holy Scripture, whose power alone, it was assumed, would soon convert the Muslim world to Christianity. Enjoying financial backing from the wealthy arms dealer Laurens de Geer and the academic support of Jacob Golius, professor of Turkish at Leiden, Comenius's venture was entrusted to the Dutch ambassador in Constantinople, Levinus Warner. - Though himself proficient in Turkish, Warner chose to contract a translator rather than perform the arduous task himself. After his first recruit, the Jewish dragoman Hâki (Yahya bin Isaak), delivered a manuscript version around 1661 which was found deficient, Warner in 1662 entrusted the work to Ali Ufki Bey, a talented linguist and former servant of the Sultan's. Born Wojciech Bobowski in Lwów around 1610, he had been captured by Tatars as a young man, sold into Ottoman slavery, and given the name Ali. He subsequently served at the Topkapi Palace as a respected musician and translator for about 20 years, eventually gaining his freedom in 1657. - Ali Bey completed his task in December 1664; in 1665 he then proceeded to have a few fair copies produced under his supervision. One of these, in 5 volumes, is very nearly complete; another contains only Isaiah and several books of the Apocrypha. These copies, sent to Golius together with Ali Bey's rough draft in four volumes, today form part of the Warner Collection at Leiden University Library. - Only in 1888 did the Leiden Library accession an additional manuscript copy (Cod. Or. 3100), containing part of the New Testament in the hand of one of Ali's secretaries, with interlinear and marginal corrections by Ali Bey himself. The present volume is the missing part of this New Testament copy, comprising Acts, Romans, Philippians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, Hebrews, James, 1 & 2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude, and Revelation. Written under Ali Bey's direction and copied from his personal draft, it, too, contains marginalia and corrections in his own hand (we thank Dr Arnoud Vrolijk, curator of the Warner collection, for his kind confirmation). - Ali Bey's translation, aimed at Muslims as a target audience and full of popular Islamic cultural references, did not find favour with Golius and his colleagues. After Warner, de Geer, and Golius all died in quick succession between 1665 and 1667, the Turkish Bible project ground to a halt, in spite of the fact that Ali Bey was anxious to continue it. Not until 1819 would the New Testament alone be published in a revision of his translation (in Paris), and only eight years later would Ali Bey's entire Turkish Bible see print. A critical edition of his manuscript is still outstanding, and there is ample material for research. It remains unknown from what language Bobowski translated the Bible: "A study of Ali Bey's spellings of proper names, e.g. Petro, Se’mun, Filipo, Pilato, could reveal much about his connections with Christian tradition. Several of these are Italian spellings and suggest a Catholic connection. The fact that Ali Bey refers to St John the Baptist as Yuhanna Ma’madant, a Christian construction of John’s name in Arabic, suggests that he was in contact with the Oriental churches also, perhaps the Syrian Orthodox Church” (Privratsky, p. 19f.). - Provenance: early 18th century autograph ownership of the Hamburg theologian Johann Friedrich Winckler (1679-1738), professor of theology in Hamburg, on the title-page, and successive ownership of the Dutch theologian and orientalist Hendrik Sypkens (1736-1812) below. Subsequently owned by Nicolaus Wilhelm Schroeder (1721-98), professor of oriental languages at Groningen, and sold as no. 24 of his estate auction by van Boekeren in 1835. Purchased in the 1960s from Wrister's bookshop (Utrecht) by a Dutch theologian and acquired from him directly. Pars altera bibliothecae Schroederianae (Groningen 1834), p. 6, no. 24. Cf. Bruce Privratsky, A History of Turkish Bible Translations, v. S (2014), pp. 18-26. Darlow/Moule 9453 (the 1819 printed NT).
2 volumes. Oblong 8vo. Together 370 pp. Printed forms filled in by hand. Contemporary full cloth with blindstamped cover title. Uncommon set of flight records kept by the Imperial Airways pilot Ernest Bicknell, who was active in Africa and the Arabian Gulf region in the 1940s, with destinations including Bahrain, Dubai, Cairo, Mozambique, Durban, Khartoum, and Luxor. The present log books state the type of aircraft and duration of each flight, as well as occasional information on unusual events such as night landings, radio or instrument trouble, damage, weather conditions, or the unfortunate incident of the plane hitting a flock of ducks. In addition, Bicknell registered his visits to the Durban medical board and the hours he had flown since his last checkup. A resident of Durban since 1945 at the latest, Bicknell flew a total of 11,428 hours throughout his career. - Very well preserved.
Oblong 4to. Album with 148 small original black and white photographs on 18 ff. Contemporary giltstamped full cloth with printed title and 2 silhouette images. Extremley rare photographs from the first successful motor crossing of the desert from Damascus to Baghdad in 1919, preceding by four years the well-known efforts by the Nairn brothers, which resulted in the establishment of the overland mail service between Damascus and Baghdad. The photographs were taken by the 18-year old Eric Blackwell, who had planned to enlist as a pupil pilot in the RAF, had his training cut short by the Armistice, and decided instead to volunteer for the projected desert expedition. Carried out by a military convoy of 10 Model T Fords and some 15 men under the command of Lt. Col. Keeling, the aim of the expedition was to set up a chain of whitewashed stone markers to aid the pilots of an air mail service between the eastern Mediterranean and India, cutting out the lengthy Suez-Aden-Bombay sea route. - The photographs document the journey from Cairo to Haifa by train, then on to Damascus on established roads, up to the expedition's last outpost before the open desert, Dumair. The following pictures show the men setting up the stone signs, repairing their vehicles, sometimes having to push them forward (a total of six Fords had to be abandoned along the way), posing for group pictures, and travelling through the vast desert landscape, stops along the way including Abu Kamal, Ana, Ramadi and Fallujah, before reaching Baghdad, and going on to the ruins of Babylon, Basra, Bombay, Aden, and Suez. - Photographs are mounted in groups, with captions in English. Enclosed is an envelope containing seven loose photographs torn from the album, as well as a brief typewritten account of the journey, and correspondence relating to the loan of photographs for a magazine article, referring to it as a "grand trip". - Extremities lightly bumped. A few photographs loose; traces of photographs torn away in places. Impressive visual material of this little-known epic journey. Cf. Aramco World July/August 1981, vol. 32, nr. 4.
8vo (127 x 192 mm). 107, (5) pp. Original printed green wrappers. Only edition of this rare account of the "North African War Pilgrimage", the Hajj of the year 1940 - the last before the Second World War brought an effective hiatus on the Meccan pilgrimage for two years. Together with the French journalist and ethnographer Robert Boutet, the Moroccan and Tunisian radio journalist and theatre critic Noureddine ben Mahmoud (1914-1990) published the account of his pilgrimage to Mecca, performed between 19 February and 2 March 1940. The book describes the special travel conditions imposed by the war and the struggle for influence by the European powers, who feared that the pilgrimage would serve as a platform for North African separatists under the leadership of King Abdulaziz Ibn Saud. - Ben Mahmoud also published on the Saudi press, in particular about the periodical "Um El Qurra", whose editorial staff he visited while in Arabia. Later based in Paris, he became one of the heads of the Mosquée de Paris and the Institut de Paris in 1961. - Covers a little foxed, otherwise fine. Uncut and untrimmed as issued. OCLC 5544875.
Tall 8vo (150 x 246 mm). Persian manuscript on sturdy cream paper. 254 (instead of 264) ff., 15 lines per extensum, paginated by later hands (lacking pp. 35-42 and 45-46; pp. 43-44 transposed after p. 30). Cursive nasta'liq calligraphy in black ink, catchwords in red. Illustrated with 56 (instead of 77) coloured horse drawings in the text (numbered in pencil by a later hand). Later illustrated binding with black leather spine and lacquered wooden boards with coloured floral designs. A late 18th century Indian manuscript copy of a celebrated treatise on horsemanship, the "Farasnama" ("The Coloured Book of Horses"). Constituting a Persian translation of the Sanskrit "Salihotra", its topics include horse-breeding, grazing, dressage, veterinary advice and horseracing. - The "Salihotra" is attributed to Durgarasi, son of Surgarasi, who is believed to have composed it for Mahmud Ghaznavi (d. 1030). A note on p. 2 of the present manuscript indicates that the text was translated from Sanskrit into Persian during the reign of Shah Jahan (d. 1666); other traditions give credit to 'Abdullah bin Safi, who was active under the earlier reign of Bahmanid ruler Ahmad Shah Wali (d. 1436). The present manuscript contains numerous coloured drawings of thoroughbred horses, along with observations on their salient traits, the illnesses to which they are prone, and prescriptions for their treatment. Their execution is an interesting illustration of the iconoclastic tendencies characterising painting under the later Mughal emperors. - Occasional slight traces of worming; some waterstaining to margins; some leaves remargined by an early owner. In spite of the loss of five leaves that would have contained an additional 21 horse illustrations, a fine manuscript in an attractive illustrated lacquer binding.
8vo. 371 pp. With black & white illustrations and plates throughout. Publisher's orange cloth with gilt lettering to upper cover and spine. Original dust jacket (slight defects). First edition. The personal copy of HH Said bin Taimur (1910-72), the 13th Sultan of Muscat and Oman from 1932 until 1970, with his handwritten ownership in black ink to the front pastedown, and subsequently inscribed by him in blue ink to Captain (later Brigadier) Colin Maxwell on the half-title: "To Captain C. C. Maxwell / Said / 29.1.53". The gift would have been partly in recognition of Maxwell's key role in raising the first standing army of Oman, in preparation for ejecting Saudi Arabian forces from the Buraimi Oasis. - The Arab Legion was the army of the Emirate of Transjordan and of Jordan after the country's independence in 1946. When Glubb became the Legion's commander in 1939, he they transformed it into the best-trained military force in the Arab world. - Binding rubbed and stained, spine chipped and ends and professionally rebacked. Paper somewhat browned as common. Dust jacket shows light chipping to edges with a larger portion torn from the lower jacket cover without loss to blurb; protected under cellophane sleeve.
4to (170 x 240 mm). Persian manuscript on polished paper. 137 (instead of 143) ff. (lacking ff. 97-102) in elegant black nasta'liq script, 14 lines, 2 columns. With an illuminated shamsa on fol. 1r (specifying the name of the sponsor Khawaja Nasir as well as the place and date of production) and an illuminated 'unwan headpiece on fol. 1v. Light brown full morocco with blindstamped borders, corners and central ornaments. An elegantly executed Eastern Persian manuscript that chronicles the epic life and victories of one of history's most famous emperors and military leaders, Timur Leng (Tamerlane), from his birth near Samarqand in modern-day Uzbekistan in 1336. "Certainly the most famous of Hatefi’s poems [... The work] extols Timur’s deeds in accordance with the main works of Timurid historiography such as Sharaf-al-Din Yazdi's Zafar-nama [...] Hatefi’s Timur-nama became a model for subsequent poems. It certainly introduced a new genre which was developed further by Hatefi himself [...] Written in 1498, the Timur-nama has been published twice in India (1869, 1958)" (Encyclopaedia Iranica XII, 55-57). - Abdallah Hatefi (Hatifi) was the nephew of 'Abd-al-Rahman Jami, one of the greatest Persian poets and composers of Sufi mystical works. The Timur-nama, modeled after Nizami's "Iskandar-nama", appears to be his only completed work. The oldest extant copy was completed the year after Hatifi's death, 927 H (1521 CE), and was stored in the India Office Library. - Descended from the Mongol hordes of Genghis Khan, Timur participated in various military campaigns from a young age, and his victories quickly made him known as a highly skilled military leader. After a decade of internal political wrangling, he became ruler of the Timurid Empire in 1369. For the next 35 years, until his death in 1405, Timur continued to lead a number of great expeditions and wars; his conquests stretched as far west as Baghdad and the Black Sea, the shores of the Arabian Gulf, and far into modern Afghanistan and northwestern India; he took Herat, where this manuscript is written, in 1381. Timur began military campaigns against the Ottoman ruler Bayezid I and the Mamluks in Syria, as well as expeditions to Armenia and Georgia. His final campaign was in the winter of 1404, but he was stricken with fever and plague and died in February of the following year. His line continued through the glory of the Timurid period under his direct descendants, including Babur (1483-1531), the famous founder of the Mughal dynasty in India, who continued to rule until 1857. - An beautiful manuscript containing an illuminated headpiece of the greatest refinement; the illuminated border of the shamsah on fol. 1r. is a hallmark of Herati work. Surrounding the shamsa are several stamped waqf seals and various inscriptions by previous owners; fol. 140v has an inscription by Muhammad Taqi Qarakuzlu, dated 1237 H (1821 CE). - Provenance: Arts of the Islamic World, Sotheby's, 5 April 2006, lot 30. Sam Fogg, 2009.
12mo. 85, (3) pp. Original wrappers with lettering. A rare pamphlet in Arabic, containing Saddam Hussein's speech on the role of women in revolutions. The speech was given in 1977, two years before Saddam formally came to power in 1979. The pamphlet was reprinted in the year of his election. With this speech Saddam touched the problem of women's liberation vs. strong local traditional values in the time of the Arab national struggle. In the 1970s Iraqi women had free access to the education, voting rights, could own property and were encouraged to pursue posts in high positions, but during the following decades the importance of the traditional patriarchal family started undermining these rights. - Wrappers slightly stained and with soft folds, old signature on the top of the title-page, otherwise in good condition. Rare; we could not find any institutional examples.
8vo. 3 parts in one volume. (72), 184, (4), 71, (1), (14), 278 pp. With 12 engravings in the text, 3 folding plates and several woodcuts. 19th century mottled boards, spine ruled in gilt, titled in gilt on black leather spine label. All edges speckled. First edition of this important work dedicated to oriental games from Arabia and Persia as well as from India and China, including backgammon, draughts and dice. Includes the first scholarly account devoted to the history of chess, as well as Asian board games from Arabia, Persia, India, and China, including backgammon, draughts, and dice. Two folding plates illustrate chessboards; further in-text illustrations show the various types of game pieces in Caxton-era England, Turkey, and India. The second and third parts explain the history of dice and many other Chinese games. - Contains numerous texts in Hebrew, Chinese, Arabic, Greek, and other languages. "Ouvrage curieux. Les exemplaires n'en sont pas communs" (Brunet). Hyde was an orientalist and later became Bodleian Librarian. - Binding lightly rubbed at extremities, outer front hinge splitting, small paper library label on lower spine. Paper repair to top right edge of front free endpaper and to reverse of largest folding plate. Interior gently toned, edges of folding plates lightly rubbed, a few inked and penciled notes on front endpapers. Graesse III, 403. Von der Linde I, 88-90. Cordier (Sinica) 3142. Wing H3875 & H3877. ESTC R1348.
3 volumes (Moharam 1369, Alqueda 1370, Moharam 1371). 32, 18 pp. 26, (2) pp. 26, (2) pp. Illustrated coloured printed wrappers. Staple-bound. Three rare issues of the Egyptian monthly "The Islamic World", published by the Egyptian journalist Mahmoud Abul Faid El Menoufi (1882-1972) in Arabic as well as (for features in the early issues) in English and French. El-Menoufi founded several Sufi-leaning Islamic periodicals through which he campaigned against the British occupation of Egypt. - The three issues at hand contain, inter alia: 1) Moharam 1369 (October 1949): an article in Arabic with statistics for the 1369 pilgrimage, articles in English ("Medina and the Mosque of the Prophet") and French ("Introduction au Livre de l'Existence"). - 2) Alqueda 1370 (August 1951): an illustrated article in Arabic about the pilgrimage of the late Muhammad Labib al-Battanuni in the year 1327 (1909), described in his book "Al-Rihlat al-Hijaziyya". - 3) Moharam 1371 (October 1951): an article in Arabic on the performance of the 'Umrah and Hajj pilgrimages, with a paragraph on the visit to Mecca by King Abdulaziz Ibn Saud for the performance of an 'Umrah and the return of Prince Faisal from his official visit to London. - Some fraying to wrappers; old rust stains from staples. A well-preserved ensemble of a very rare periodical. OCLC 459477009.
Folio (365 x 545 mm). 14 (instead of 15) maps (lacking no. 11). Contemporary black half-leather binding over brown cloth. Kiepert's map of the western part of Asia Minor: the personal copy of Paul Gaudin, the archaeologist and engineer in charge of the completion of the Hejaz railway. - In the margins, the numbers of the adjacent maps are written in blue pencil. On maps VIII and IX the route of the railway line as well as the names and numbers of the stations between Alasehir/Philadelphia and Karahissâr/Afiûn were added by Gaudin in red ink. - Binding rubbed. Interior in good general condition despite some minor soiling, tears and pinholes. Also included are maps of Turkey, drawn on tracing paper, showing the route of the Smyrna-Panderma and Smyrna-Afion/Karahissar railway lines. - Provenance: from the library of the archaeologist, collector and railway engineer Paul Gaudin (1858-1921), in charge of the completion of the Hejaz railway in the first decade of the 20th century and later a major donor to the Louvre Museum. OCLC 32646128.
Royal folio (380 x 506 mm). Persian manuscript on paper. 140 pp., 9 lines in 2 columns to the page, first leaf and final 3 pp. blank save for the borders. Large Nasta'liq calligraphy in black ink, chapter headings in red. Text enclosed within blue, black, gilt and red borders. Title in red to fol. 2r, large 'unwan headpiece on fol. 2v, column separator decorated with gilt floral designs on fols. 2v-3r, 2 meticulous gilt and coloured colophon decoration on fol. 69r. With a total of 18 coloured illustrations of the Holy Sites (7 full-page, the remainder half-page or larger). Splendidly ornamented embroidered cloth binding with pink morocco edges and pastedowns and fore-edge flap. Monumental manuscript copy of the first Islamic guidebook for the pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina, which Muhi al-Din Lari (d. 1526/27) completed in India in 1505/06. The book provides instructions on the Hajj pilgrimage rituals and descriptions of important sites that Muslim pilgrims can visit, including of the Kaaba in Mecca. Whilst no early illustrated Indian copies are known, the work began to be widely copied with often lavish illustrations from the later 16th century onwards, mostly in in Ottoman Turkey. - The 18 large-scale illuminations in the present manuscript show the holy sites, locations between Medina and Mecca, and the various stages of the Hajj. The illustration of the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca shows the Kaaba, the areas assigned for worship by the various branches of Islam, as well as the doors to the sanctum, minarets, and two rows of colonnades. - In excellent state of preservation throughout.
Oblong 4to (ca. 215 x 167 mm). 103 original photographs (ca. 40 x 58 to 53 x 78 mm), mounted under grey paper mattes with rectangular, oval, and circular windows on 24 cardboard pages. Captioned in English. Bound in contemporary blindstamped full cloth with giltstamped cover title "Photographs". Private photo album composed by a British soldier or engineer active during the Mesopotamian Campaign of the First World War. It contains not only pictures of landmarks like the Baghdad railway station, the British Residency, the Abu Hanifa Mosque in Baghdad, and the Whiteley Bridge in Basra, as well as street and river scenes, but also shows the military aircraft of the Entente (frequently after a crash), as well as portraits of pilots and the collector's comrades, including two lieutenants resting on a blanket in a meadow. Other motifs include more sinister themes such as the gallows on the Baghdad market square, but also a group of smiling soldiers bathing in the Gulf of Aden, the shorelines of Kut al Amarah and Kurnah, the Arabian Gulf, and the Red Sea. - With round green pagination labels. Album produced by W. Johnson & Sons in London. Binding slightly rubbed. Occasional traces of glue; a few marginal tears; the paper pasted on the cardboard loosened in places.
4to (175 x 221 mm). (III)-XIIV, (15)-217, (1) pp. Text printed within elaborate coloured and gilt borders in the decorative orientalist style. Publisher's full cloth, sumptuously decorated and gilt, floral endpapers. All edges red. Silk divider. First edition of this German translation of Vazeh's poems. - Mirza Shafi Vazeh (1794-1852) was a classical Azerbaijani poet in both Persian and his native Caucasus language. Beginning in 1850, the German poet Friedrich von Bodenstedt (1819-92), who took oriental language lessons from him, published translations of Vazeh's poems. - Sumptuously produced in the oriental style by the renowned Viennese press of Ludwig Carl Zamarski. Lacks the half-title, otherwise perfect. OCLC 72064332.
Folio (245 x 326 mm). 202 pp. Arabic manuscript written in Ruq'ah script. Single column, 11 lines, with extensive glosses above, outside, and interlinear. Black ink, emphases (name of Allah) in red. An annotated sketch of the Kaaba on one page; occasional small ornaments. Contemporary blind-stamped decorated binding. An early 19th century summary of the principles and tenets of the Shafi'i school of Sunni Islam, as laid down by Al-Shafi'i in the 9th century, with extensive examples, written in six parts (with a total of 44 chapters) on Taharah (purity), Salah (prayer), Funeral, Zakat (alms), Fasting, and the Hajj. The glosses comprise verses from the Qur'an, hadiths, prayers, instructional matter, and brief naratives. - Contents: the book of Taharah (purity) discusses the rules of cleanliness, with chapters on water (cleansing, ablution, washing the dead, tayammum), miswak (how and when to use water), wudu (detailed obligations), masah (wiping), how to use the toilet, recommended times for performing ghusl (full ablution), tayammum, najis (unclean foods), etc. - The book of Salah discusses the duty of prayer, prayer times, details of how to perform prayer, the duties of the Imam, the differences in prayer for men and women, how to dress, difference in private parts for men and women; circumstances that invalidate a prayer, etc. - The book of Funeral discusses how to treat the dead and dying, bathing and shrouding the deceased, the requirements and procedures of funeral prayer, burial, condolences and lamentations. - The book of Zakat (obligatory alms) discusses to whom and how zakat should be given, with the various types of zakat: money, land property, precious metals; but also zakat al-fitr (Breaking the Fast of Ramadan) and sadaqah (voluntary charity). - The book of Fasting discusses the duties of fasting, what those should do who cannot fast, and circumstances that invalidate the fast. - The book of Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca) distinguishes hajj (the major pilgrimage: fard, obligatory) and umrah (the minor pilgrimage: sunnah, traditional). Various chapters discuss the time of the hajj, Ihram (the sacred state into which a Muslim must enter in order to perform the pilgrimage), and a pilgrim's duties on the hajj. This part, perhaps the most striking point of the study, includes an annotated sketch of the Kaaba that indicates "The gate of the Kaaba", "The Rukn al-Yamani" (Yemeni Corner), "The Rukn al-'Iraqi" (Iraqi Corner), "The Hajar al-Aswad" (Black Stone), "Al Multazam" (a place where prayer is acceptable), "Maqam Ibrahim" (the station of the Prophet Abraham), "The Rukn ush-Shami" (Levantine Corner), and " The Shadherwaan" (a structure built to protect the foundation of the Kaaba from rain water). - Various notes on the first and last page of the manuscript: verses from the Qur'an at the beginning, according to tradition, and expressions of reverence for the Shafi'i scholar Imam al Haramayn (the master of the holy cities Mecca and Medina) at the end, also indicating the author of the work. Some leaves loosened; some edge flaws and brownstaining, mainly confined to the edges as margins; altogether very well preserved. Cf. Muhammad ibn Idris Shafi'i & Majid Khadduri. Islamic Jurisprudence: Shafi'i's Risala (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1961).
Mostly 8vo, a few items 4to and folio. 94 autograph letters (signed) by Page, 81 letters addressed to Page. - II: Copy book with 144 letters by Page to the Minister of the Navy and the Colonies, as well as to other officials, in his own handwritten transcript. 4to. Bound in contemporary half calf over marbled boards. - III: Protocol of a hearing of the Suez Canal Company. 4to. (230) ff., numbered 190-425. Extensive correspondence archive kept by the prominent French naval commander during his voyages across the globe, from the Arabian Gulf to Madagascar, Rio de Janeiro, French Polynesia, China, Vietnam, and Japan. Crucially, the archive includes detailed official instructions for the first French diplomatic mission ever made to the Gulf, carried out under Page's command by the frigate La Favorite, which departed from Brest on 3 June 1841. The mission's importance is shown in perspective by a letter to Guy-Victor Duperré (1775-1846), Ministre de la Marine et des Colonies, wherein the French officials admit to their hitherto fruitless efforts to establish a relationship with the Gulf states: the writer discusses the difficulties experienced in installing a French consulate at Bushehr, while British efforts to establish themselves in the Gulf region have proved so successful. The letter emphasizes that the French interests in the region lie mainly in monitoring British advances: "Quant à nous, les tentatives que nous avons faites, à différentes reprises, pour établir des relations avec la Perse par le golfe, ont toujours été infructueuses. Le gouvernement du Roi [...] créa, l'année dernière, une agence consulaire à Buschir; mais les difficultés que ce projet a rencontrées de la part du gouvernement persan n'en ont pas permis l'execution, et les choses restent ce qu'elles ont été jusqu'à ce jour [...] Mais il ne saurait nous être indifférent d'y surveiller la marche et les agrandissements de l'Angleterre, et tel est le principal objet de l'apparition que doit y faire la corvette la Favorite sous le commandement de Mr. Page [...]". - Among other destinations, La Favorite is to visit Muscat, with which France has enjoyed previous relations, as they have managed to establish a consulate in the Sultanate of Zanzibar, which has proved useful in extending commercial relations with the Imam: "Il est, sur la route du golfe Persique, un point de la côte d'Arabie que la corvette la Favorite aura également à visiter. Je veux parler de Mascate, dont le souverain a entretenu autre fois des relations directes avec la France. L'Etablissement d'un consul à Zanzibar [...] ayant paru propre à favoriser l'extension du peu de rapports commerciaux que nous avons avec les états de l'Iman [...]". Finally, the writer mentions a developing interest in Abyssinia, referring to the 1839 expedition led by Théophile Lefebvre, that involved pearl fishing: "L'attention est eveillée en France, depuis quelques années, sur l'Abyssinie [...] Je n'ai pas besoin de rappeler ici la mission d'exploration confiée [...] à Mr. Lefêbvre [...] dans laquelle il a été accompagné par [...] un agent qu'une maison de commerce envoyait faire des essais sur la pêche des perles [...]". - Page's private correspondence includes 57 letters to his wife from China, Japan, and Vietnam, discussing such matters as his health, political subjects, and the atrocities of the Second Opium War of 1860, mentioning dispossessions and people fleeing their homes: "Ces pauvres gens me font pitié [...] La guerre entraine forcèment des misères sans nombre [...] Les alarmes qu'on répond, les menaces des anciens maîtres, les fuites, les démènagements, les dépossessions forcées [...] Je me sens mal à l'aise à la vue de toutes ces femmes qui pleurent prêt de leurs toits en débris [...]". Page also provides picturesque accounts of the scenery, including a striking comparison of Japan to Tierra del Fuego: "Ainsi que la terre de feu à l'extrémité méridianale de l'Amérique, le Japon semble avoir été jêté sur la flanc orientale du grand continent d'Asie sur le Pacifique par une dernière convulsion de notre globe". - Furthermore, the archive includes 23 amicable autograph letters by the naval officer and pilot of the "Artémise", Joseph-Eugène de Poucques d'Herbinghem (1807-1900), to Page, most of them written at Cherbourg: "Il faut un chirurgien pour l'artemise qui part pour trois ans. Les cinq ou six pelerins de la confrèrie [...] s'evaporent comme une volée d'etourneaux [...]". - The collection is topped off by 144 transcript letters, the bulk issued in Papeete, as well as a protocol of a hearing of the Suez Canal Company and the French constructor Alphonse Hardon, who had exceeded the costs agreed on, which subsequently led to the termination of his contract in 1862. Finally, a report on Mexico and Buenos Aires, several poems, notes on Henry Bird (born in 1767), who was captured by American natives in 1811, a short travelogue from La Habana, several pages entitled "Notes supplementaires", all in Page's handwriting, as well as a medical certificate, Page's death certificate, some pencil sketches, and a few more brief documents are loosely enclosed. - Extremities of the copy book somewhat rubbed; letters very well preserved. An impressive collection, containing rich material reflecting a high-ranking naval officer's private throughts on French foreign affairs and on his own role therein.
4to. (25) ff., (7) blank ff. With 100 black and white photographs of various sizes (between ca. 75 x 105 and 90 x 145 mm), 96 of which mounted, 4 loosely inserted. A few captioned in ink on the photograph or on verso. With original hand-drawn map of Palestine in ink, crayon and ballpoint on graph paper loosely inserted. Contemporary giltstamped half cloth with a mounted reproduced drawing to lower board, showing an elegantly dressed group of people. Private photo album composed by a British engineer stationed in El Qantara, Egypt, possibly a member of the Royal Engineers, who constructed a new railway from Qantara to Romani and eastward through the Sinai to El Arish and Rafa on the border of the Ottoman Empire in January 1916. During World War I, Kantara, as it was referred to by the Allied troops, was the site of Headquarters No. 3 Section, Canal Defences and Headquarters Eastern Force during the latter stages of the Defence of the Suez Canal Campaign and the Sinai Campaign of 1916. The massive distribution warehouse and hospital centre supported and supplied all British, Australian and New Zealand operations in the Sinai from 1916 until final demobilization in 1919. - Taken on trips to Palestine between 1916 and 1922, half of the photographs focus on railroad motifs, exhibiting railway bridges, including the bridge crossing the Suez Canal in El Qantara, train stations, and tracks under construction, as well as rather spectacular accidents with locomotives and waggons fallen over in the desert. One picture depicts a decorated train of British soldiers bearing the sign "Demob special goodbye" leaving after the Armistice. The other half mainly shows views of Jerusalem, including close-ups of landmarks such as the Tombs of the Kings and the interior of Ascension Church, as well as steam ships in the Suez Canal and a "Turkish Gun". Although not identified by name, the engineer can be seen posing in several photographs, sometimes wearing a British uniform. The manuscript map shows the railway line from Qantara to major cities including Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Nazareth, at one point crossing into Syria and reaching Beirut. - Hinges broken; extremities slightly rubbed; crack on spine measuring ca. 5 cm. A few photos as well as the map with small marginal tears and creases. Bookplate of the British businessman and railroad enthusiast William Hepburn McAlpine (1936-2018), and stamp of ownership of Arthur Lord-Castle, who was associated with the Narrow Gauge Railway Society in 1956, to front pastedown. A unique survival.
Folio (205 x 312 mm). Arabic manuscript on paper. 53 ff., 33 lines to the page written in minute ghubar script in black ink, verse separated by a gold roundel, surah heading in red thuluth on gold background, margins illuminated with gilt discs or lozenges inscribed in red and enclosed within ornamental borders dotted in blue; fols. 1b-2a with a double-page illuminated frontispiece, lavishly coloured and gilt. Contemporary blindstamped and gilt black leather binding; spine rebacked. Marbled pastedowns. A fine, complete Qur'an manuscript, written in meticulous ghubar script and with pretty illumination, originating from the Kashmir region in the late 18th century. The characteristic calligraphy is known as "ghubar", or "dust script", for the minuscule size of its rounded letter forms. Created around the 10th century, it was first used for information and commands conveyed by carrier pigeon. Even the present, more generous form fits the entire Holy Qur'an into a slim folio of only fifty-odd pages. - Edges occasionally very slightly chipped but generally very fine. Binding well preserved with modern spine. The central compartment of the pretty binding shows a Qur'anic verse (Surah 56, verse 79: "to be touched only by the purified") stamped in blind three times on both covers.
8vo (148 x 206 mm). 56 pp. Original printed pink wrappers. Omar Rakbani (1904-62), a professor at Ez-Zitouna University, was a Tunisian historian and tutor of Muslim girls. Fond of travelling, he published several accounts of his journeys through Europe, North Africa and the East in a series entitled "Summer Trips". This sixth booklet in the series is devoted to his visit to the Hejaz in 1947, when he performed the Hajj to Mecca. - Slight fraying to wrappers; slight waterstain. Extremely rare: a single copy in OCLC (National Library of the Kingdom of Morocco, Rabat). OCLC 929787399.
3 vols. Large 8vo (178 x 245 mm). 344, (1), 15 pp. 557, (3) pp. (3)-400, (4) pp. All with a portrait frontispiece and numerous halftone illustrations throughout. Printed original wrappers (Arabic cover printed in green and black). - Includes: Chenoufi (Shanufi), Ali. Un savant Tunisien du XIXème siècle: Muhammad As-Sanusi. Sa vie et son oeuvre. Tunis, Imprimérie Officielle, 1977. 8vo. 244, (4) pp. With portrait frontispiece and several halftone illustrations. Printed original wrappers. First edition of this valuable account of a 19th century Hajj. - Muhammad as-Sanusi was an important law teacher at the University of Ez-Zitouna in Tunis, remembered as a scholar who was part of the late-19th century "Nahdha" Muslim reformist movement. Dismissed from civil service in 1881 for opposing the French Protectorate in Tunisia, he decided to undertake the pilgrimage to Mecca in 1882/83. His journey took him to Hejaz via Italy, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt and finally back to Tunisia via Malta. He kept extensive notes on the customs of the countries visited, the persons he met, and the technological advances of Europe - particularly describing the railway, which in his opinion made it possible to "bring cities and believers closer together". His manuscript travel diary, a valuable perspective by a North African outsider on his Western and Middle Eastern contemporaries, was long neglected until it was rediscovered and published for the first time in 1976. - Bindings a little rubbed and bumped, but altogether a good, unmarked set. Includes the biography of As-Sanusi by the editor of his travelogue, the Tunisian scholar 'Ali Shanufi. Mahfoudh III, 251 A. Abdesselem, Historiens Tunisiens, 407 ff. OCLC 10523199, 6247132.