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4to. 3½ pp. on bifolium with integral address panel. A first-hand account of the sensational entry of Mohamed Reza Bey, the Persian ambassador who visited Paris for six months beginning 7 February 1715. Adressed to Monsieur de Gallice, councillor of the Parliament of Aix-en-Provence, for delivery to the Parliament's Advocate General, Gaspard de Gueidan (1688-1767), the letter describes the ambassador's arrival, his reception (which is likened to that of a Pope), and the craze he creates among the onlookers, who sing, dance, and stare at him as at a strange animal: "Souffrez, mon charmans magistrats, que je vous presente une morale que je ne sais guere [...] Vous sçavrez, mon cher seigneur, que tout Paris est devenu mamamouchi depuis l'arrivée du seigneur Mehemet Rizabeek en ce pays cy. Cet ambassadeur de Sophi s'est réjouï comme un Pape à nos dépens. Il y avait toujours cinq ou six cent carrosses du monde qui l'allaient voir, comme un animal rare; et Son Excellence Persanne a fait chanter et danser nos dames devant luy, comme des marionnettes qui ne venoient là que pour le divertir. Maintenant il occupe la cour aprez avoir amusé la ville et s'en être amusé. Car on veut le recevoir à son audience avec une magnificence extraordinaire. Le Roy a fait dresser un trone au bout de la grande gallerie. Sa Majesté aura pour huit millions de pierreries sur ses habits [...]; et toute la cour à proportion sera habillée de ce joly coup là. Jamais les marchands d'étoffes d'or et de galons ni les brodeurs n'ont été si occupés [...] Il est vray que le tout se fait à crédit. Mais les gens de qualité sçavent trop bien leurs privileges, pour s'aviser de déroger en payant leurs dettes; cela est du dernier bourgeois. Aussy je vous assure que jamais la cour n'a été autant de qualité [...] Il faut espérer qu'aprèz ce bel oiseau de Perse, il viendra quelque autre amusette au peuple de Paris [...] Je vous avoueray bonnement que j'ay eu la curiosité de voir son entrée dans Paris, afin de l'étudier. Heureusement, il fit une pluye continuelle ce jour là! De sorte que Son Excellence se mit presque en negligé et que Sa Magnificence fut des plus minces, et je trouvay que cela ne valoit pas la façon de ma curiosité. Je ne fut pas le seul pris pour dupes tout Paris y fut trompé [...]". - The ambassador Mohamed Reza Bey (Mehmet Riza Beg) had been chosen for the mission by the Shah of Persia, Sultan Husayn, and travelled with a grand entourage, as befitted the diplomat of a mighty empire. He was solemnly received in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles on 19 February 1715 with one of the most lavish ceremonies of the final months of the reign of Louis XIV. During his stay he conducted negotiations towards establishing trade treaties between Persia and France, and conferred with the French on possible joint military operations against the Ottoman Empire. The ambassador's exotic personage inspired the French imagination to create a whole artistic and literary current, the most lasting product of which are Montesquieu's "Lettres Persanes" (1725). - The lawyer Pierre Lauthier, a celebrated orator in his day, was the son of the Aix-based medical writer Honoré Maria Lauthier. Although most bibliographies credit the latter with the biographical preface to Joseph de Tournefort's posthumously published "Voyage into the Levant" (simply signed "Lauthier"), it is not unlikely that Pierre, with his penchant for the exotic, is the actual author of the Life of that famous Aix-born botanist and Middle East traveller (cf. Wellcome III, 458). - Removed from a registry, with traces of mounting along the left edge of p. 1. Traces of oribial folds; slight edge defects, some from removal of the seal, but well preserved on the whole.
8vo. 2 vols. XII, 168 pp. (4), (169)-416 pp. With 6 folding engr. maps. Contemp. marbled calf with gilt cover borders and double labels to gilt spines. Marbled endpapers. Variant issue of the first edition, probably the second issue altogether. "Le Chevalier had assisted Choiseul-Gouffier in his 'Voyage pittoresque de la Grèce', and was then sent to Jassy to observe Russian troop movements. His work is an account of a journey round the shores of the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea" (Atabey). While Chatzipanagioti-S. differentiates between the first and the second edition, the present variant is not described: the verso of the half-title of vol. 1 shows only the "avis au relieur"; p. 168: "Fin du tome premier"; p. 169 (beginning of text in vol. 2) is unpaginated. Thus, this apparently constitutes the second issue of the first editon. - Lechevalier stood in the service of Choiseul-Gouffier; from 1787 onwards he accompanied Alexander Ipsilanti on a tour of the Mediterranean which lasted several months. The maps show the Sea of Marmara, the Dardanelles, the Black Sea, the Bosporus, Constantinople, and Brussa. - Both title pages have contemporary ownership stamps ("S" with princely crown); a few minor tears to maps have been professionally repaired; some staining to title page of vol. 2. A prettily bound copy, formerly in the Ottoman collection of the Swiss industrialist Herry W. Schaefer. Blackmer 995. Weber II, 649. Atabey 697. Graesse IV, 137. Cf. Chatzipanagioti-S. 538f.
1682(8), 481, (7) pp. With woodcut frontispiece and 6 woodcut plates, all folding. Later brown sheepskin with giltstamped red spine label. Marbled endpapers. 8vo. Somewhat later edition of this famous work that saw twelve editions by 1814, originally published under the title "The total discourse, of the rare adventures, and painefull peregrinations of long nineteene years travayles, from Scotland to the most famous kingdomes in Europe, Asia, and Affrica" in 1632; a first draft had appeared in 1614. No copy of this 1682 edition at auction in 35 years. - Lithgow, a Scot, travelled extensively throughout the Levant in three journeys between 1610 and 1622, visiting Greece, Constantinople and the Eastern Mediterranean from 1610-13; North Africa and Italy from 1614-19; and Spain from 1619-21. "He travelled mostly on foot and had a greater knowledge of the interior of the countries he visited than most travellers of this period. He provides interesting details of the society, men, and manners he observed" (Blackmer). Lithgow's work is "probably the earliest authority for coffee-drinking in Europe, Turkish baths, a pigeon post between Aleppo and Bagdad, the long Turkish tobacco-pipes, artificial incubation, and the importation (since about 1550) of currants from Zante to England" (DNB). - Frontispiece laid down. Several minor defects to paper, pre-dating the printing process, to fols. G2, Aa1, Ee3, and Hh5 (hence slight loss to individual letters). Trimmed rather closely, with some headlines shaved. Generally a nice, clean copy. Wing L2541. DNB 33, 361. OCLC 12646376. ESTC (RLIN) R028791. Cf. Blackmer 1021 (1640 second ed. only). Not in Howgego.
4to. 459, (1) pp. Ottoman Turkish in Arabic type. With 1 folding map and 32 woodcut plates. Contemporary half calf with giltstamped spine and spine title (partly oxydized). First edition. - Exceedingly rare Turkish translation (by Ahmed Sükrü) of the popular account of the 1873 Russo-Khivan war and the fall of the Khivan Khanate by the American war correspondent MacGahan (1844-78), first published in New York in 1874 as "Campaigning on the Oxus and the fall of Khiva". After a daring journey through the Kyzil Kum desert, MacGahan joined the Russian commander Konstantin von Kaufmann’s army on the banks of the Amu Darya. In his report he vividly describes the fall of the Khanate to three Russian columns reaching it from North and East. The book discusses the situation of Kazakh (misleadingly called "Kirghiz") and Yomuk Turkmen nomads, Uzbek and Sart settlers, as well as of Persian slaves, and includes a report on earlier failed Russian attempts to conquer Khiva. While MacGahan is impressed by the beautiful gardens and orchards of the Khanate, he is disappointed by the city of Khiva, the capital and main residence of its ruler. Even the Khan's palace, in which he is allowed by the Russian authorities to spend a few days, including a visit to the treasury room, strikes him as unspectacular. The illustrations, based on designs and paintings by artists and Russian officers, including Vereschagin and Feodoroff, show portraits, scenes of rural and nomad life, somewhat stereotypical depictions of locals, as well as buildings, army generals, and battle scenes. - While the original English edition occasionally appears at auction, the Turkish edition has never been seen on the market. - A few crayon annotations and underlinings in a contemporary hand. Binding slightly bumped at extremeties. Paper evenly browned and brownstained throughout; a few pages somewhat waterstained in the second half of the volume. OCLC 1014870496. Özege 7682. Cf. Atabey 744 (English ed.).
8vo. (8), 272 pp. With half-title and errata leaf. Contemporary half morocco, gilt, with original printed wrappers bound in at end. Signed presentation copy from the author to Florian Pharaon (1827-87). A good association copy of a "work which no student of the history of Falconry should neglect" (Harting). Florian Pharaon was the first Arab editor at Le Figaro, and the translator of an Arabic hunting work into French. - Some spotting, binding rubbed. Harting 211. Schwerdt II, pp. 2-3. Thiébaud 621.
4to. (40), 24, (4), 25-234 pp., final blank leaf. With 3 engraved plates. Contemporary vellum with ms. title to spine. Very scarce first and only edition of the life and death of San Alipio, who was captured by Ottoman pirates on 1 July 1643 and brought to Tripoli. He converted to Islam, but repented and was martyred on 17 February 1645 when he told to the Pasha that he wished to return to his Christian faith. The plates show the martyrdom (a supersized image after the prelims, folded in at the bottom) and the holy relics of the Saint. - Some defects to spine, otherwise fine. Old ownership of the "Convento dell' Angelo Custode" on the flyleaf. Streit XVI, p. 525, no. 4001. ICCU UM1E\007052.
80 x 27 cm. Ink and gold dust on paper. With large Tughra. Concerns an order of horses. The document was given to a British sailor whose family preserved it until recently.
Small 8vo. (4), VII, (1), 138, (2) pp. Modern half calf with giltstamped red spine label, light cloth covers. All edges red. Rare first edition of one of the earliest treatises devoted exclusively to cannabis, extolling its virtues as a medicine, industrial fibre, seed oil, soap, animal feed, and so on. Marcandier in particular recommends the cultivation of the plant in the "Nord d'Amerique" (p. 46), and indeed the Traité du Chanvre was read by perhaps that region's most famous hemp enthusiast, George Washington - whose library contained a copy of the English translation printed in 1764, cataloged as Wa/549. - Marcandier begins with a scholarly account of the herb as it was known to the Romans (quoting Dioscorides, Pliny, and Herodotus), presenting intriguing theories of the etymology of the term cannabis: from the Celtic canab; the Greek kanna; the Hebrew kanneh; the Latin canna; etc. Although he is most concerned with its cultivation and medical applications, in his surveys of cannabis in non-European cultures we find descriptions of what can be termed 'recreational use': for example, "the Hottentots use a plant, named Dakha, instead of tobacco, or at least mix them together, when their provision of the latter is almost exhausted. They say that it is a kind of wild hemp" (pp. 19f.), while the 'flour' (farine) of the plant mixed into a drink "renders those who use it drunk, stupid, dazed; they say that the Arabs make of it a type of wine, which intoxicates" (p. 37). - Evidently drawing on personal experience, Marcandier describes the female flower as a "tender, sweet, and oily, white kernel, of a strong smell, that intoxicates when it is fresh" (p. 28) and even gives lengthy advice on how to inspect and purchase good-quality hemp (p. 76) and how to dry the plant properly, to avoid 'black spots' i.e. mold from forming (p. 54). - Cannabis is also recommended for myriad medicinal uses: "The grain and the leaves being squeezed, while they are green, and applied, by way of cataplasm, to painful tumors, are reckoned to have a great power of relaxing and stupefying ... The root of it boiled in water, and applied in the form of a cataplasm, softens and restores the joints of fingers or toes that are dried and shrunk. It is very good against the gout, and other humours that fall upon the nervous, muscular, and tendinous parts. It abates inflammations, dissolves tumours, and hard swellings upon the joints. Beat and pounded in a mortar, with butter, when it is still fresh, it is applied to burns, which it relieves greatly when it is often renewed" (pp. 38, 40f.). Marcandier also finds it useful as a spermicide (p. 35) and against gonorrhea, jaundice, smallpox, and 'vermin of the ear'. - A few contemporary ink annotations throughout. Provenance: from the library of the noted French botanist Philippe de Vilmorin (1872-1917) with his bookplate and separate shelfmark label ("a progenie in progenies") to pastedown. An excellent copy. Very rare: OCLC records 8 copies in US institutions (Chicago, Princeton, Lloyd Museum (OH), American Philosophical Society, Carnegie Mellon (Hunt Institute), Harvard, Minnesota, and the JCB). Not in Kress. Cf. Clarke & Merlin, Cannabis: Evolution and Ethnobotany (University of California Press, 2013), p. 202; and Gibson, "Bibliotheca Cannabinacea", in: Journal of Industrial Hemp 13 (2008), pp. 176-188.
8vo. 2 parts in one volume. 287, (1) pp. 304 pp. With 4 engraved costume plates in original hand colour. Contemporary half vellum over marbled boards with gilt label to spine. Only edition of this Italian handbook on the Ottoman Empire, discussing the geography and state, the city of Constantinople, the government, people and politics, history, as well as religion of Islam. Includes a lengthy section on Arabia and Arabians. The four engraved plates in full colour show an Ottoman infantryman, cavalryman, marine, and Sultan Mehmet II in military costume. Appended is a dictionary of place-names - a gazetteer of the Empire which includes extensive entries on Mecca and Medina. - Untrimmed, light foxing throughout, but well preserved. Old collection stamp of Sig. Antonio Buonamici (motto: "undique rectus") on title-page. Very rare; only three copies known outside Italian libraries (Leipzig University Library, formerly in the library of the great Austrian oriental scholar Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall; Austrian National Library; and Lucian Blaga Central University Library of Cluj-Napoca, Romania); none in America or the UK. OCLC 895531591. ICCU NAPE\015793. Verzeichnis der hinterlassenen wertvollen Bibliothek weiland des Herrn Josef Freiherrn von Hammer-Purgstall (Wien 1857), no. 890. Not in Atabey, Blackmer, or Lipperheide.
210 x 170 mm. Pencil and ink on paper, the map ruled in red. Small plan of the city and the adjacent terrain, obviously drawn around the time of Snouck Hurgronje's visit, during the last decades of Ottoman rule.
Engraved map (30 x 35 cm), contemporarily hand-coloured. Matted. A copy of the De Witt map of Arabia, with fine cartouches. Al Ankary 79. Tibbetts 137.
8vo. 2 parts in one volume. CXII, 256, (2), 136 (Arabic) pp. (2nd part interleaved). Contemporary papered boards with giltstamped spine label (chipped). All edges red. A Göttingen student's hand-annotated copy: the final edition of the venerable Arabic grammar first published by Erpenius in 1613, the work that dominated Western instruction in the Arabic language for two centuries. This copy was owned by the poet and pastor Hermann Bredenkamp (1760-1808), a native of Bremen, who had taken up his studies of theology and oriental languages at Göttingen in 1780. Among his teachers was not only Michaelis himself, but also the great Swedish orientalist Matthias Norberg (1747-1826), who in 1781 passed through Göttingen on his return journey from Constantinople, visiting Michaelis. Bredenkamp's annotations in the book's margins frequently refer to Norberg's personal comments on the grammatical matter and especially on the pronunciation of modern vernacular Arabic of Morocco. On the interleaves of the Arabic chrestomathy, Bredenkamp has occasionally noted vocabulary and word references, but this part does not appear to have been worked through in detail, and it is the grammar in which the most extensive annotations occur, all written in ink in Bredenkamp's meticulous and minute hand. - By the 18th century, Erpenius's grammar had seen several re-issues (with various amendments) by Deusing (1636), Golius (1656), and Schultens (1748 and 1767), before the Biblical scholar Michaelis produced a German translation in 1771. The present second edition, published a decade later, entirely omits the name of Erpenius: "owing to the many additions (for the greater part unneccessary according to Schnurrer) the work may now be called Michaelis' own" (Smitskamp, p. 278). This, of course, was the grammar of choice at the University of Göttingen under Michaelis' tutelage. It was not until 1810 that Silvestre de Sacy's "Grammaire Arabe" would produce an actual advance in the field. - Binding rubbed, extremeties severely bumped. Bredenkamp's handwritten ownership (dated 1781) to front flyleaf; title-page has early 19th century stamped ownership of G. J. Lorent. Schnurrer p. 83f., no. 120. Smitskamp, PO 283. Fück p. 65 & cf. 119f. For Norberg's stay in Göttingen cf. Chatzipanagioti-Sangmeister, p. 80.
4to. (32), 383, (29) pp. With woodcut printer's device on title-page and folding engraved map. Contemporary vellum with ms. spine title. Second edition, including the events of the year 1586 and a letter to M. Corrado about the fortress of Tauris. Minadoi, an eye-witness who spent seven years in the Middle East, describes the 1577-1585 war between Persia and the Ottoman Empire, in which the latter acquired the Caucasus. His first-hand account is a valuable historical source, as his his description of Persia. The map shows Asia Minor and the Near East, as well as Persia as far as Afghanistan. Arabia is shown as far south as the Peninsulas of Qatar and Musandam. - Occasional browning and very slight foxing and waterstaining; a few contemporary underlinings. 18th century owner's woodcut crest mounted on title page next to device; binding repaired at spine. Edit 16, CNCE 31426. Adams M 1455. Atabey 816. Göllner 1830 (no mention of the map). Yerasimos 324. Not in Blackmer.
Folio. 1 page. On uncut wove paper, bearing the Schoellers-Parole blind embossed seal, margins uncut. The original autograph contribution of Sultan Mohammed V to the Committee of the World League for Peace (Ligue Mondiale pour la Paix), a remarkable organization formed in 1925 with close ties to the League of Nations. The Committee itself was composed of such notaries as Queen Elizabeth of Belgium, King Carol II of Romania, John D Rockefeller, Marie Curie, and Albert Einstein, who personally gathered the present manuscripts over the course of seven years (1925-32). Among the public figures who contributed to the project were dignitaries from the newly-created League of Nations' member states. "The Prophet of God, may He be blessed by God, said 'War is sleeping. May he be cursed who awakens it'. [Signed] Mohammand ben Youssef]". Mohammed V was chosen by the French regime as Sultan of Morocco, but secretly collaborated with the underground nationalist movement in his country, stirring deep and violent tensions with the French government. In 1953 he was deposed, but refused to formally abdicate and was exiled to Madagascar for 3 years. In 1955 he returned in triumph to a new, independent Morocco and took office once again as chief of state. Pax Mundi. Livre d'or de la paix. Enquete universelle de la Ligue mondiale pour la paix sous le haut patronage de son comite d'honneur avec l'approbation de la Societe des nations, du Bureau international du travail et de la Cour permanente de justice internationale. Geneve, Societe paxunis, 1932.
17364to (27 x 22 cm). (4), XXIV, 412 pp. With 1 engraved map. Contemporary sprinkled leather with 5 raised bands and giding to spine. Rare second edition of this work on Armenian history, geography and literature. "Contains a chronological list of Armenian kings and patriarchs. According to Talbot Reed, 'History of old English foundries' (p. 68) the first Armenian type in England was that presented by Dr Fell to Oxford in 1667. In 1736 Calson cut a neat Armenian (pica) for the publication of the above edition of Movses Xorenac'i. These were the only founts in England before 1820" (Nersessian). "Rare and highly prized. The geographical section first appeared in in Armenian in Amsterdam in 1668, 12mo. and the Armenian history (very flawed) in Amsterdam in 1695, sm.-8vo" (cf. Ebert). - In parallel Armenian-Latin text throughout. 2 leaves with open tears to margins (affecting text on Hh1). Head shows insignificant worming, otherwise a very well-preserved binding. Nersessian 123. Voskanian 433. Graesse IV, 614. Ebert 14457. OCLC 79557739.
Large 8vo (177 x 263 mm). 3-485 pp. With 11 mostly photographic plates (2 folding, a few tinted in watercolours). Lithographed Persian throughout, text in Nasta’liq script, 14 lines to the page, written by Ali Asghar and dated 1283 H (1866 CE). Contemporary full calf binding with handwritten paper spine label in Persian. Rare travel report of the pilgrimage to the Imam Reza Shrine in Mashad (Khorasan), undertaken by Shah Nasir al-Din in 1866. Lithographed in Persian throughout. - Binding rubbed; spine reinforced at the head. Wants first leaf; some soiling and brownstaining (more pronounced near the beginning) with a few edge and corner repairs. Traces of old block-stitching. Margins show a few contemporary annotations, a few old waqf stamps and Russian blindstamps "Vysochajshe u Kompanija Uglichskoj fabriki" (ca. 1890) from the head office of the paper factory of the town of Uglich, north of Moscow.
4to. XLII, 372 pp. With engraved title (in counted prelims.), 25 engraved plates (8 folding, including large engraved map of the Yemen, in partial colour) and a folding table. Contemporary half calf with giltstamped red morocco label over marbled green boards. Marbled endpapers. Second French edition, translated from the German ("Beschreibung von Arabien") by F. L. Mourier. Includes Niebuhr's famous map of the Yemen and Arabic specimens from the Qur'an, with added hand colouring to indicate vowel sounds. "L'on voit [...] sur la IV et V planche, une feuille copiée d'un Korân, qui est écrit sur du parchemin et conservé comme un grand thresor dans la collection de livres faites par l'Académie Dsjamea el ashar à Kahira, parce qu'on croit, que le Calife Omar l'a écrit de sa propre main. Mais quand Omar ne l'auroit pas écrit, cette feuille est toujours très ancienne et par là-même remarquable" (Chauvin). - This is the famous account of the Royal Danish Expedition (1761-67) to the Middle East, Egypt, Persia and India, the first scientific expedition to this area. Niebuhr's "work on Arabia was the first European attempt at a complete account of Arabia, its people and their way of life. He amassed a vast quantity of factual information which he relates in a simple unrhetorical fashion, distinguishing clearly between things observed personally and things learned from others. The expedition, which lasted six years, was sponsored by the Danish king, and included the brilliant Swedish scientist, Peter Forsskal, who died while in Yemen" (Cat. Sotheby‘s, 13 Oct 98, lot 1010). Of the five scientists, Carsten Niebuhr (1733-1815) was the sole survivor, and his work represents an important contribution to the study of the Middle East. His map of the Yemen, the first exact map of the area ever, remained the standard for the next 200 years. "Niebuhr's comprehensive description [...] was the best and most authentic of the day. Many subsequent travellers have acknowledged their debt to him, and only on a few minor points have they shown him to be in error. He was scientifically and philosophically minded, cautious and steady, and hardly the man to masquerade in Mekkah or wander with the Bedouins, but few contributed more solidly to the study of Arabia" (Atabey). - Binding a little rubbed, spine professionally repaired. A good, wide-margined copy in a contemporary binding from the library of the French historian, archaeologist, numismatist, and orientalist Victor Langlois (1829-69) with his cancelled ownership handwritten to the flyleaf. Chauvin X, p. 57, no. 128; XII, p. 288, no. 1206. Howgego I, N24 (p. 752). Weber II, 548. Gay 3589. Nyon 21017. Grenoble 25621. Cf. Macro, Bibliography of the Arabian Peninsula, 1699. Carter, Robert A. Sea of Pearls, p. 116. Carter, Robert A. Sea of Pearls, p. 116.
Small folio (238 x 303 mm). (2), 638, (2) pp. Modern half calf with red and green gilt spine labels, bound in 19th century style. First printed edition of the celebrated Islamic biography of Alexander the Great (356-323 BC) by the Persian poet Nizami, completed ca. 599/1202. Published under the auspices of Sir Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, the First Earl of Minto (1751-1814), and printed in Persian throughout but for the English title. - "The Alexander of the Persian romances is much more colorful than his Western counterpart [...] Nizami celebrates him first as a king and conqueror, then as a sage and a prophet. In 'Iskandarnamah', in addition to being a zealous Moslem, Alexander becomes an ardent lover with numerous wives and concubines" (Southgate, "Portraits of Alexander in Persian Alexander-Romances of the Islamic Era"). - Islamic myths about Alexander the Great are thought to have derived in part from Qur'anic references to the "Dhu'l-Qarnayn" ("He of the Two Horns") as well as from the Greek sources in translation. "The principal episodes of the legend of Alexander, as known to the Muslim tradition, are elaborated in the [Eskander-nama]: the birth of Alexander, his succession to the Macedonian throne, his war against the Negroes who had invaded Egypt, the war with the Persians, ending with the defeat and death of Dara and Alexander's marriage to Dara's daughter, his pilgrimage to Mecca. Nezami then dwells at some length on Alexander's stay in the Caucasus and his visit to Queen Nushaba of Barda'a and her court of Amazons; this lady takes over the role of Candace in earlier versions of the Alexander saga. Alexander then goes to India and China. During his absence the Rus (i.e., the Russian Vikings) invade the Caucasus and capture Barda'a (as they in fact did some two centuries before Nezami's time) and take Nushaba prisoner. Alexander's wars with the Rus, which are depicted at considerable length, end with his victory and his magnanimous treatment of the defeated army. The [Eskander-nama] concludes with the account of Alexander's unsuccessful search for the water of immortal life" (Encylopaedia Iranica, Vol. VIII, pp. 612-614). Along the way Alexander's conquests of much of Central Asia and the pre-Islamic world are described: Dara (Syria), Ajam (near Kuwait), Kayan (Afghanistan), the Arabian Peninsula, Khorasan (Northern Iran), and so on. - Ca. 20 pages with wormholes affecting some text, wide margins. Some browning throughout. Discarded and sold from the Library of Haverford College, Pennsylvania, with their drystamp to the title-page. Later in the Alexander the Great Collection of Julio Berzunza (1896-1952), Professor of Languages at the University of New Hampshire. Graesse IV, 680. Brunet IV, 83; Ebert 14833 ("1811" in error). Nawabi 414. OCLC 41609907.
8vo. (6), 447, (22) pp. Woodcut printer's device to title page. Contemp. vellum. First edition of this Syriac glossary (rather than a thesaurus proper), arranged by subject rather than by alphabet: "Neque vero thesaurus est, sed verius nomenclator, non quidem ordine alphabetico, sed per materias dispositus. Verus auctor est Elias Barsinaeus, Metropolita Sobae seu Nisibis, undecimo saeculo clarus" (Schnurrer). - Edited by Tommaso Obicini da Novara (1585-1632), "one of the figures at the background of the Propaganda Press, abbot of the Franciscan convent at Aleppo from 1613-16 and 1619-20, and in 1620 elected Custode di Terra Santa e Commissario Apostolico per tutto l’Oriente. In 1621 he returned to Rome, and became the first lector of Arabic in the St. Peter Convent at Rome" (Smitskamp 222). - Evenly browned throughout due to paper. Title page shows stamp of the Franciscan Convent of St. Anthony in Breslau-Karlowitz. BM-STC 624. Smitskamp 223. Schnurrer 63. Fück 77. Zaunmüller 372. Vater/Jülg 24. Graesse V, 1. Ebert 14920.
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.
8vo. 2 vols. (8), 257, (5), 247, (3) pp. (III)-CXXIX, (3), 245, (7) pp. Original printed wrappers (professional repairs; 2nd vol. has facsimile front cover). First edition of this mediaeval Arabic treatise on chess, the manuscript of which (dated AH 655/AD 1257) is kept at the British Museum, offering the text together with a Spanish translation and commentary. Modern chess gradually developed from the Arabic game of "Shatranj", which had come to the Arabs from India via the Persian Empire; the first Arabic chess treatises appeared as early as the 10th century, a notable author being the poet as-Suli. - Bindings somewhat rough at the edges; interior well-preserved. GAL S I, p. 905, no. 1 b. OCLC 865325410.
Folio (ca. 260 x 320 mm). 2 vols. (instead of 9). (6), X, (2), 114, (4) pp. (2), 115-227, (5) pp. Contemporary unsophisticated wrappers with handwritten titles to upper covers. The first two parts of this chronicle by Paul Zaim of Aleppo (1627-69), an Ottoman Syrian Orthodox archdeacon. Son of Patriarch Macarios III Zaim, Paul accompanied his father in his travels throughout Constantinople, Wallachia, Moldavia, Ukraine and Russia, as an attempt to raise funds and support for their church. Paul's account of his visits, originally written in Arabic, is important as a source on Wallachia, as it documents the main events of Constantin Serban's rule and the Ottoman expedition of 1657. - Published for the Oriental Translation Fund of Great-Britain and Ireland, by R. Bentley, this copy with special half-titles printed for the subscriber Sir Archibald Kennedy, 1st Marquess of Ailsa (1770-1846), then styled the 12th Earl of Cassilis. Seven additional parts would appear by 1836. - Dedication-leaf waterstained. Bindings chipped, occasional light flaws to the wide margins. Old library stamp of the Community of the Resurrection. Untrimmed copy. OCLC 14123266.
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.
4to. (4), LV, (3), 1-312, 10, 312-316 pp. With lithogr. frontispiece and 27 plates. Marbled half calf with 5 raised bands and gilt label to giltstamped spine. First edition; very rare. Peters' work was published on the same day in English in London, in French in Paris, and in German in Frankfurt (cf. Mennessier de la Lance II, p. 306). In addition to treating the principles of riding, the work discusses horse grooming and the use of weapons on horseback. - Untrimmed copy, slightly browned, otherwise in excellent condition. Huth 127. OCLC 18787323. Cf. Mennessier de la Lance II, 305 (22 plates only, French ed.).
Oblong folio. 440 pp. Illustrated with tipped-in reproductions in colour of paintings by various artists, including paintings by Anthony M. Alonso and from the collection of the National Museum of Racing, Inc. Original calf-backed pictorial cloth, giltstamped spine. In original cloth drop-back box with colour illustration mounted on lid. Limited edition. The original publisher was unable to complete the full 100 copies; only four are reported in OCLC. Illustrated with paintings from the National Museum of Racing. A large tome on race horses in North America, including the history and evolution of the sport and stories of the famous racers and racetracks. "Extremely detailed, especially the pedigrees, racing records and index. I've come to rely on it daily as a valued reference" (John Prather, review in Bloodstock Advisory). "Everyone in the thoroughbred industry should have a copy. The colour plates alone are enough to justify buying it" (Dr. William Reed, review in Mare's Haven). - In excellent condition. OCLC 41093209.
