{"title":"Arabica","description":"\u003cp\u003eBooks in Arabic or on Arabic language, literature, history, culture, religion, and the Arab world.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"leo-africanus-al-hassam-bid-mahammad-al-wazzan-al-zaygati","title":"LEO AFRICANUS [AL-HASSAM BID MAHAMMAD AL-WAZZAN AL ZAYGATI]","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe important first edition in English, translated by John Pory, of this seminal classic of African topography and ethnography. Leo Africanus was an early C16 traveller who recorded in great detail the life of many remote North African kingdoms. He was born in Granada but in the 1490s his family moved to Fez in Morocco where Leo ultimately entered the service of the Sultan who sent him on commercial and diplomatic missions across northern and western Africa. In 1518 he was returning by sea from Istanbul and was captured, perhaps by Knights of Malta, who took him to Rome. There, under the patronage of Pope Leo IX he composed the present description of Africa, first published in Italian in 1550. It was a bestseller, put Leo at the centre of Roman intellectual life and remained one of Europe s principal sources of knowledge of the Arab-African world for the next 400 years. It was translated into English in 1600 by John Pory. Pory s letter  To the Reader  tells the fascinating story of Leo s life   a tale of complex interaction between Europe and Africa, Islam and Christianity ... This book was important in that it was written by a Moorish man and well regarded by scholars. However Pory is aware that some readers at this time might distrust the writings of a  More  and a  Mahumetan  (or Muslim), and he reassures them of Leo s sophistication: his  Parentage, Witte, Education, Learning, Emploiments, Travels, and his conversion to Christianitie .  (BL). \u003cbr\u003e\n It is very probable that Shakespeare was influenced by this work in his portrayal of Othello.  Pory s account of Leo s marvellous escape from  so manie thousands of imminent dangers  might remind us of Othello s tale of  hair-breadth escapes i  th  immanent deadly breach . Like Leo, Othello tells of being  sold to slavery  and we later learn that Othello was also a former Muslim, now baptised as a Christian. In his description of African people, Leo takes pains to give a balanced perspective, though it seems nonetheless stereotyped and prejudiced. Celebrating their  vertues , he says Africans are  Most honest people   destitute of fraud and guile . But  no nation in the world is so subject to jealousie  (p. 40). In the unpleasant description of their  vices , he says they are  very proud and high-minded, and woonderfully addicted unto wrath . They are also  so credulous that they beleeve matters impossible which are told to them  (p. 41) and promiscuous in wooing  divers maides  before settling on a wife (pp.41 42). It is hard not see these qualities reflected in Shakespeare s Othello, at least as Iago describes him. Exploiting the stereotypes that define the Moor in Venice, Iago talks of the  free and open nature  that makes Othello think  men honest  when they only  seem so . He tells Roderigo he suspects  the lusty Moor  of sleeping with Emilia, and plans to  put him into jealousy so strong  that his anger will cloud his judgement. Pory s English translation (1600) was printed in the same year as the Moroccan ambassador s visit to London to negotiate a military alliance between English and African forces, with the hope of conquering Spain. In his letter to Sir Robert Cecil, Elizabeth I s secretary, Pory exploits this opportunity to market the book as particularly current, saying  At this time especially I thought [it] would proove the more acceptable .   (BL). \u003cbr\u003e\n A handsome copy of this rare and influential first English edition.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"LEO AFRICANUS [AL-HASSAM BID MAHAMMAD AL-WAZZAN AL ZAYGATI]","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816166629711,"sku":"K178","price":25000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/IMG_20190815_124843.jpg?v=1781794869"},{"product_id":"colonna-francesco-1","title":"COLONNA, Francesco.","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe first and only incunable edition of this example of finest Renaissance book production, and a masterpiece of woodcut illustration. Rated as ‚Äòthe most beautiful book of the fifteenth century‚Äô (Mortimer, p.131), it is also one of Aldus‚Äôs only seven illustrated books (Gibbs, ‚ÄòAldus‚Äô, p.109). ‚ÄòUniversally revered as a landmark in C15 typography‚Äô (Harris). The absence of the errata leaf and the 4 preliminaries including an additional or substitutional titlepage, may indicate a first or early issue. Two woodblocks contain what are now considered the first Arabic words to appear in print, carved on a stone and over three doorways. ‚ÄòWhile the script of the first inscription recalls Islamic bookish hands, that of the second reprises the use of calligraphy in Arabic-Islamic culture, with the practise of inscribing monuments and artefacts‚Äô (Piemontese, p.207).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe woodcuts, in fresh, early impression in this copy, changed the history of Western book illustration and art, influencing the likes of Titian and the Carracci as well as the C16 French school after the work‚Äôs translation in 1546. Scholars have suggested that they were not designed in Aldus‚Äôs workshop, but were already present in the ms that reached him; their authorship has been linked to Mantegna, Alberti or Benedetto Bordon; certainly to a northern Italian artist. An anonymous cutter transferred them onto woodblocks in Venice. Scholars have suggested that, in order to portray classical monuments, ruins and epigraphic inscriptions so vividly and in detail, the illustrator had access to drawings of ancient monuments discovered in Rome; their appearance dates the illustrations to 1470-95 (Huelsen, ‚ÄòIllustrazioni‚Äô, 175-6).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis majestic work, both in conception and production, has been attributed to Francesco Colonna (1433-1527), an Italian Dominican. The plot‚ÄîPolifilo‚Äôs quest for his love, Polia, through a dreamlike world, narrated in the first person‚Äîis framed within a complex setting based on classical allegory, emblems and Egyptian hieroglyphs. The language is an unusual Latinate Italian. It begins with Polifilo‚Äôs walk into a Dantesque ‚Äòdark wood‚Äô infested by snakes and wolves, and it follows him through allegorical landscapes with enormous pyramids surmounted by statues, obelisks sitting on the back of elephants, pedestals with ancient inscriptions or sculpted scenes‚Äîall handsomely depicted in the accompanying woodcuts. What makes the ‚ÄòHypnerotomachia‚Äô unique is the ‚Äòoverall composition of text and image into a harmonious whole, which allows the eye to slip back and forth between textual description and corresponding visual representation [‚Ķ].  It is the first experimental montage of fragments of prose, typography, epigrams, and pictures [‚Ķ] an extraordinary visual-typographical-textual ‚Äúassemblage‚Äù of a type not repeated until the avant-garde books of the 1920s and 1930s‚Äô (Lefaivre, ‚Äò‚ÄúHypnerotomachia‚Äù‚Äô, 17). It was also the first published book where the illustrations consistently appeared on the same page as the text they illustrated.\u003c\/p\u003e  \n\n \u003cp\u003eThe gilt ducal shield probably belongs to the Salviati, a prominent Florentine family since c.1400. In the C18, their very fine library, which included dozens of important medieval mss, was part bequeathed to Giovan Vincenzo‚Äôs son, later 6th Duke, Averardo (1721-83), and part sold. A c.1700 armorial ink stamp very similar in design to ours appears on selected books and mss which had been in the Salviati library since the C15. The C18 binding and the ‚ÄòA‚Äô point to Averardo.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"COLONNA, Francesco.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868676661583,"sku":"K172","price":125000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/2-copy.jpg?v=1781793647"},{"product_id":"xavier-hieronimus-de-dieu-lodewijk-with-xavier-hieronimus-de-dieu-lodewijk-and-de-dieu-lodewijk","title":"XAVIER, Hieronimus; DE DIEU, Lodewijk. [with] XAVIER, Hieronimus; DE DIEU, Lodewijk. [and] DE DIEU, Lodewijk.","description":"\u003cp\u003eA most interesting C17 sammelband for students of Persian, including the first-ever printed grammar of Persian, and Persian translations of the lives of Christ and St Peter, all overseen by Lodewijk de Dieu. ‘The Elzevirs had 8 special journeymen and 5 correctors working only for the oriental press. They were all inscribed as students of the university. […] Between 1626 and 1642 they produced 13 well-printed books, most of which were published for the students of Hebrew and oriental languages at the university’ (‘Leiden’, 38-9). The Persian type, like the Arabic, was probably purchased by Isaac from the press of the great orientalist Thomas Erpenius, together with Syriac, Ethiopic and Samaritan types; the Hebrew type was the same used at the Plantin press under Franciscus Raphelengius, former professor of Hebrew at Leiden (McKitterick, ‘History’, 184).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eLodewijk de Dieu (1590-1642) was a Dutch Protestant minister and a major scholar of oriental languages trained at Leiden and, in Persian, by the collector Jacob Golius. For the Leiden students and scholars for whom it was produced, his Persian grammar – here the third work, printed on large paper – was the first such reference work available, as other important projects, undertaken at the Medici Oriental Press in Rome, had remained in ms. Most importantly, Dieu understood that ‘the verbal system of Persian is completely different from that of Arabic’, as well as ‘the fundamental structural difference between those two languages’ (‘Or. Suec.’, 175). The work comprises sections on the basic elements of Persian, verbs, tenses, conjugations and aspects, nouns, cases, adjectives, numerals, pronouns, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions and interjections (with the odd translation into ‘Belgice’ using Gothic type). The last four ll. contain the first two chapters of Genesis translated by Jacob Tawusus (fl. C16), as they appeared in the first Persian edition of the Pentateuch (Constantinople, 1546).\u003c\/p\u003e \n\n \u003cp\u003eThe first and second works are Persian translations of the lives of Christ and St Peter, for the use of missionaries. Edited and translated into Latin by de Dieu, they were written, in collaboration with Abdu-s-sattar al-Qasim, by the Jesuit Jerome Xavier, born Jerónimo de Ezpeleta y Goñi (1549-1617). Xavier lived at the Mughal court of Akbar (1542-1605), who commissioned the works, and later under Akbar’s son Jahangir. De Dieu added a preface explaining that Xavier had added numerous ‘heretical’ passages to the life of Christ, from apocryphal material, seeking to undermine the Jesuit approach to the (not always faithful) translation of sacred texts.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"XAVIER, Hieronimus; DE DIEU, Lodewijk. [with] XAVIER, Hieronimus; DE DIEU, Lodewijk. [and] DE DIEU, Lodewijk.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868681773391,"sku":"L4305","price":5950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/IMG_5003-copy.jpg?v=1781793475"},{"product_id":"quran","title":"QUR'AN.","description":"\u003cp\u003eA beautiful, finely decorated manuscript Qur’an, on ivory paper, in a very uncommon decorated binding with fore-edge flap. The use of muhaqqaq for the first, middle and last line of each text page, and the lingering presence of Eastern Kufic in the cartouches at head and foot, point to c.1500. Close decorative patterns were traced in manuscripts produced c.1500-1540s in late Timurid \/ early Safavid Herat, in present day Afghanistan, e.g., Cleveland Museum of Art 1924.746. The prevalence of gatherings of 8 ll. is also more frequent in Central Asian manuscripts.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe interesting composite binding is an uncommon, skilled technique, of which Dr K. Scheper only records 5 known instances at Leiden UL and 1 at LC. Composite bindings are ‘intriguing’ and ‘complicated’, and ‘the technique itself is easily overlooked because the final result is not decidedly different from that of a typical well-made decorated full-leather binding’ (Scheper, p.256). Here the binding bears central gilt-tooled inlays in olive green goatskin, single gilt ruled at their juncture with the lighter brown goatskin of the board edges, both types of leather having been paired to the same thickness. The lighter leather at the board edges comes in fact from the turn-outs of the doublures, folded over to create contrasting colours (Scheper, pp.256-8, n.37). Similar doublures, with the same colour patterns and quadrilobed decoration, have been traced to Safavid Herat, c.third quarter of the C16 (Louvre, shelfmark AD 6262). The board decoration, heavily influenced by Ottoman models, is also compatible with the style of c.1600 Central Asia.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA most interesting Qur’an, with unusual features.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"QUR'AN.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868695667023,"sku":"L4319","price":95000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/CF4E9408-88C3-44C7-937A-6FB69E91A3BB.webp?v=1781793457"},{"product_id":"qur-an-2","title":"QUR'AN.","description":"\u003cp\u003eAn exquisitely decorated ms Qur‚Äôan produced in the second to third quarter of the C17, likely in Istanbul. The initial charming illumination, as well as the decorated prostration signs, are reminiscent of floral designs used in Istanbul, at the Imperial Palace school: e.g., by an unknown illuminator of Suleyman Efendi Üsk√ºd√¢r√Æ (Derman, ‚ÄòNinety-Nine‚Äô, n.32, 1673), and by H√¢fiz Osman‚Äôs (1642-98) illuminators Kubur Hasan √áelebi (Derman, ‚ÄòNinety-Nine‚Äô, n.39, 1682) and Hasan bin Mustafa (Derman, ‚ÄòLetters of Gold‚Äô, n.15, 1682, and n.16, 1684).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n \u003cp\u003e‚ÄòBefore printing [‚Ķ], [in Ottoman Turkey] there existed a class of scribes who earned their living by making copies of the Qur‚Äôan [‚Ķ]. People relied on manuscripts [for personal devotion], acquiring copies by illustrious calligraphers or minor scribes, depending on their means‚Äô (Derman, ‚ÄòNinety-Nine‚Äô, p.16). Especially under Mehmed IV (1648-87), many of the great calligraphers worked for the Imperial administration, with ‚Äòthe important manuscripts kept there [being] used as models by calligraphers‚Äô (Bayani, p.80), and they trained dozens of pupils who continued the tradition. Our anonymous scribe may not have been a native speaker of Arabic, and was likely a student of calligraphy or a non-professional calligrapher working in the Imperial administration, as shown by the odd incorrect letter (e.g., an initial letter written in the medial form after an ‚Äòalif‚Äô), the handful of incorrect surah titles where the text begins with identical or similar wording (e.g., surat ash-shu‚Äôara titled surat al-qasas), and space forgotten for the verse marker in the third line of surat al-baqara. The 10 randomly supplied leaves, attached to the stub of the original ones, were likely rewritten to revise mistakes in the sacred text ‚Äì indeed, ‚Äòif a mistake was found that could not be corrected, the page would be removed and replaced. Such removed pages are called ‚Äúmuhrec sahife‚Äù‚Äô (Derman, ‚ÄòNinety-Nine‚Äô, p.17). Two pages display a more expanded naskh, with more elongated letters, as if the scribe had decided to practice a different style, returning to the original, more compressed naskh soon afterwards. The theory that the scribe was an official using the imperial administration‚Äôs paper stock is also supported by the very rare watermark ‚Äì three interlaced crescents or ‚Äòsickles‚Äô ‚Äì which is European, recorded by Velkov-Andreev on an Ottoman document dated 1646.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe added colophon attributes this ms to the renowned scribe Hasan Üsk√ºd√¢r√Æ (d.1614-15). Whoever our scribe may be, he was obviously influenced by the school of Üsk√ºd√¢r√Æ ‚Äì ‚Äòresponsible for the transmission of the definitive form of Ottoman naskh‚Äô (Bayani, p.66). Üsk√ºd√¢r√Æ taught Halid Erzurumi (d.1630-1) and Imam Mehmed Efendi (d.1642-3), who in turn trained all major Istanbul scribes active in the second half of the C17. Islamic mss, recorded as early as the C12, attribute copies to famous or earlier calligraphers ‚Äì though ‚Äòit cannot be ruled out that the authors of similar notes acted in good faith in a number of cases‚Äô (Deroche, p.91).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA charming Qur‚Äôan, with interesting bibliographical features for the study of Islamicate manuscript production.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"QUR'AN.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868707922255,"sku":"L4476","price":59000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/Quran-L4476-4.jpg?v=1781793425"},{"product_id":"sennert-andreas","title":"SENNERT, Andreas.","description":"\u003cp\u003eA most interesting copy of the first edition of this famous Arabic grammar printed in Wittenberg   with extensive annotations from a learned scholar c.1680-90. Western annotations in Arabic at this date are most uncommon. Son of the physician Daniel Sennert, Andreas (1606-89) was a pupil of the renowned Arabist Johannes Golius, and professor of Oriental Languages and librarian at Wittenberg from 1640 until his death.  [He] had a significant impact in shaping the further course of studies in Hebrew and Oriental languages [...]. He had a special interest in Arabic [...] not only as an additional philological tool for interpreting the Old Testament but also because of its importance as a still living language and a means for direct access to the scientific writings of the Arabs  (Miletto, p.17).   Arabismus  is an Arabic grammar explained comparatively. It includes chapters on the Arabic script, verbs, nouns, adjectives, and numbers, and is followed by an Arabic-Latin dictionary, based on Germanus   Fabrica Linguae Arabicae  (1639) and al-Firuzabadi's C14  Qamus . The copious annotations, produced by a knowledgeable scholar c.1680-90, are a treasure trove on early Arabic studies. The closest appears to be the hand of Adriaan Reland (1676-1718), the famous Dutch orientalist, professor at Utrecht.  \u003cbr\u003e\n Among the (Protestant) sources mentioned by the annotator are Edward Pococke s  Oratio  in  Carmen Tograi  (1661), Wasmuth s (1654) and Erpenius  grammars, Cappel s  Arcanum punctuationis  (1624), but also the Arabic Gospels (Rome, 1590\/1). The first notes discuss Arabic script in relation to the Hebrew, with a focus on the original absence of dots on Arabic letters. The annotator added Wasmuth s subdivision of the  awzaan  into three classes, and integrated a great number of examples (e.g., the use of  fatha  in the negated future, diptote noun rules, plurals, a reference to a word used in the Tamimi dialect, etc.) from Erpenius  grammar, which he cross-referenced so frequently and carefully as to make it possible to identify the edition, that of 1656. The annotator even compared a section on the plurals of nouns with quadriliteral roots mentioning that Erpenius, Golius, Wasmuth, and Sennert himself used examples 'not to the point , unlike E. Castell in  Lexicon Heptaglotton  (1669) (p.48). He profusely annotated the chapter on apophonic vowel changes of ya, waw and alif, commenting on Wasmuth s explanation and Giggeius  in  Thesaurus linguae arabicae  (1632). He had access to a very specialised library, including books not present at Wittenberg (as per Sennert s catalogue dated 1678), e.g., T. Hackspan s  Fides et leges Mohammaedis  (1646) (of which he mentions p.27  if one adds the page numbers ; indeed, the book s pages are unnumbered).\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"SENNERT, Andreas.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868710314319,"sku":"L4724","price":5750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L4724-titlepage.png?v=1781793409"},{"product_id":"purchas-samuel-1","title":"PURCHAS, Samuel.","description":"\u003cp\u003eAmong the double-page maps – here remarkably fresh and clean, in very fine impression, with wide outer margins, and without repairs – shines Henry Briggs’ map of North America, produced by R. Elstracke before 1622. ‘The first printed map in English to show California as an island, it is one of the most important of the time. As a composite, place names are recorded reflecting the nationality of the discoverer, in English, French or Spanish’, with a note engraved in the map stating ‘California sometymes supposed to be a part of ye westerne continent, but since by a Spanish Charte taken by ye Hollanders it is found to be a goodly Ilande: the length of the west shoare beeing about 500 leagues’ (D. Rudderman Coll.). There is also a map of Virginia, published in 1606 after John Smith’s expedition, and one of Sir William Alexander’s voyages, illustrating New England, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. The map of China – present in vols III and V – titled in English and Chinese characters, is derived ‘from Luo Hongxian’s general map in his “Guangyu Tu” atlas of 1555’, with the addition of inset pictures (Shirley II, p.1650).\u003c\/p\u003e  \n\n\u003cp\u003eA fine set of the first edition of this most famous illustrated collection of travel narratives, together with the fourth ed. of ‘Purchas His Pilgrimage’ printed in 1626. The most complete early encyclopaedia of American travel, summarising all the major expeditions to North and South America up to the 1620s, from Columbus to William Hudson’s voyage on the Half-Moon, Smith’s expeditions to Virginia, and those carried out by the Spaniards and Dutch on the West Coast. It includes dozens of stunning engraved maps of North and South America, the North Pole, China, the Middle East, and Greenland, among others, as well as woodcut facsimile renditions of Arabic documents, Ottoman tughras, Mughal illumination, and illustrated Mesoamerican manuscripts. ‘Purchas obtained the use of the copperplates from Hondius’ “Atlas Minor” (1607) […]. The great majority of the maps are from this source, and are here printed as part of the text. […] Purchas had further maps engraved: these include maps of India, China, Greenland, North America and Nova Scotia.’\u003c\/p\u003e \n\n\u003cp\u003eSamuel Purchas (1577-1626) was a cleric in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex. Whilst he never travelled further than a few hundred miles from his native town, he edited a collection of unpublished manuscripts left to him by Richard Hakluyt (hence the second title ‘Hakluytus Posthumous’), to which he added reports of sailors returning from their travels. The result was ‘Purchas His Pilgrimes’. ‘This great geographical collection is a continuation and enlargement of Hakluyt’s “The Principal Navigations”. At the death of Hakluyt there was left a large collection of voyages in manuscript which came into the hands of Purchas, who added to them many more voyages and travels […]. Purchas followed the general plan of Hakluyt, but he frequently put the accounts into his own words […]. The main divisions of the work fall into two parts: the first covering the world known to Ptolemy, the second coming down to Purchas’ own day. This fine collection includes the accounts of Cortés and Pizarro, Drake, Cavendish, John and Richard Hawkins, Quiros, Magellan, van Noort, Spilbergen, and Barents, as well as the categories of Portuguese voyages to the East Indies, Jesuit voyages to China and Japan, East India Company voyages, and the expeditions of the Muscovy Company’ (Hill). The four vols examine ancient voyages, customs and languages (e.g., the peregrinations of the Apostles and Patriarchs), the circumnavigation of the globe, explorations in Africa, Arabia, Persia, and India, voyages to Japan, China, the Philippines, and expeditions to the Middle and Far East. The fifth vol., also on world exploration, is considered the ‘fourth and best ed.’ (Sabin) of another travel work published by Purchas in the 1610s, especially important for the accounts of William Hudson’s explorations in North America.\u003c\/p\u003e  \n\n\u003cp\u003eThe double-page maps of North America are remarkably detailed on the coastal areas, showing the Hudson River, dozens of locations in California, Texas, Mexico, Newfoundland, New Britain, Canada, and the Caribbean. A highlight are the woodcut reproductions of unusual alphabets, e.g., hieroglyphs, ancient magical alphabets, and cabbalistic, as well as Arabic, Glagolitic, Ethiopic, Armenian, Dalmatian, and others. Purchas also included woodcut reproductions – among the earliest instances of facsimile in print – of Middle Eastern and South Asian documents (e.g., a letter in Arabic from Sharefoo Boobackar, King of Moyela; a letter in Bani, the Tughra of the Ottoman Sultan) and Ottoman seals, which he found among the East India papers he had access to thanks to acquaintances among the company’s directors. Astounding are the two dozen woodcuts reproducing Mexican illustrated manuscripts with detailed captions and explanations. ‘The idea of a visual compendium of all known examples of a given class of Mexican antiquities was first attempted by Purchas. […] He commissioned line drawings of manuscripts previously owned by Hakluyt and Thevet. […] After Purchas’ death, these manuscripts became part of the collection of John Selden, who bequeathed them, in turn, to the Bodleian Library’ (Miller, p.5).\u003c\/p\u003e  \n\n \u003cp\u003eFrom the Library of the Admiralty Office overlooking Horse Guards, in Whitehall, formerly the administrative headquarter of the Royal Navy. A most appropriate provenance for a book of great voyages.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"PURCHAS, Samuel.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868710609231,"sku":"L4539","price":97500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/purchas-1.jpg?v=1781793407"},{"product_id":"monte-giovanni-batista-da","title":"MONTE, Giovanni Batista, da.","description":"\u003cp\u003eSecond, enlarged edition of this commentary on Avicenna’s ‘Canon of Medicine’ (‘al-Qānūn fī aṭ-Ṭibb’). In a charming contemporary binding with C14 vellum ms lining including a few lines from Constantine of Orvieto’s legend of Dominic, in particular the apparition of a demon in the shape of a large, horrid cat, among the Cathars to whom the saint was preaching.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eGiovanni Battista da Monte (1498-1551) was a major Renaissance physician, professor at Padua, and acquainted with Vesalius. He was a prolific author of commentaries on ancient Greek medical texts, while his numerous commentaries on Rhazes and Avicenna’s (Ibn Sina,\u003cbr\u003e\n980-1037) Arabic ‘Qanūn’, in G. of Cremona’s Latin translation, contributed to the continuing circulation of Arabic medical theories in the C16. ‘Avicenna’s “Quanūn” […] is a compendium of Greek and Arabic medical knowledge […] coordinating the teachings of Galen, Hippocrates and Aristotle. It superseded all previous works – even […] Rhazes – and in its Latin translation became the authoritative book in all universities’ (PMM 11). The present treatise – with 3 additional chapters as compared to the first ed. (1554) – focuses on Book I, Part I, of the ‘Qanūn’, concerned with the definition of medicine, its subdivision into theoretical and practical – a question which much interested da Monte, who was a supporter\u003cbr\u003e\nof the use of clinical medicine in universities – body physiology based on the four humours, and the causes of illness. Among the dozens of topics discussed are whether the art of medicine is also a science, the nature of the four elements, whether blood is sufficient for generation and nutrition, the kinds of bile, body heat in children and adults, gonorrhoea, death causes, ‘mumia’, melancholy, fevers, and poison, as well as more specific questions on complexion and humours, such as why the teeth of Ethiopians are white, but not their nails. An early annotator jotted down a recipe for an oil against paralysis and tremor.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSigismondo de’ Bartolomeis was a C18 Italian physician from Sospel, Piedmont. He defended his thesis, later printed, in Turin in 1757.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MONTE, Giovanni Batista, da.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868710674767,"sku":"L4391","price":3250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/monte-1.jpg?v=1781793407"},{"product_id":"germanus-domenicus","title":"GERMANUS, Domenicus.","description":"\u003cp\u003eFirst edition of the first Arabic-Italian grammar and phrasebook, produced by the Propaganda Fide press in Rome   formerly in the library of the Franciscan mission in Egypt.  In 1630, Friar Paolo da Lodi was nominated the first prefectus missionis Aegypti. He [...] took up residence in the Venetian embassy and succeeded in setting up residence for the friars in a house just outside the diplomatic compound. [...] The friary of Cairo became the seat of the prefect, and at the end of the century, an institute for the study of Oriental languages was opened there. In 1632 the Congregation de Propaganda Fide established a Franciscan prefecture in Ethiopia [...]. Upon their arrival in Egypt, they approached the Coptic patriarchate and visited the monasteries of St Antony and St Macarius to perfect their knowledge of Arabic' (Van Zeelst). \u003cbr\u003e\n The Polish Franciscan Domenicus Germanus (1588-1670) was a missionary and teacher of Arabic in Rome, at the Monastery of San Pietro in Montorio.  Fabrica  was intended as an introduction to colloquial Arabic in relation to Italian, for Germanus  own students and future missionaries in the Middle East. He begins by stating that  those who wish to learn a foreign language must needs become children again ; in particular, for Arabic, it is important to pronounce it correctly, due to the numerous difficult letters. The work begins from the basics   letter forms, pronunciation, diacritics   followed by the Holy Father, the Commandments, Salve Regina, the Confession, the Professio Fidei, in Arabic and Latin (not the  Protestant  Italian here!). The second part discusses nouns, participles, pronouns, and verbs, adjusting the three Arabic grammatical cases to the six Latin ones, with examples involving a man named Zaid, as found in medieval Arabic grammars such as Sibawayh s. In so doing, Germanus introduces everyday vocabulary which the students could assimilate whilst learning the grammar.  The  vernacular Arabic\" was considered by these authors as a spoken and written language. In order to explain the relationship between the two forms of Arabic to their students, they also referred to the parallel between Latin and Italian. This  vernacular Arabic  seems to be a hybrid language, mixing up the characteristics of standard Arabic and specificities of the Near Eastern dialects: a form of the language known as  middle Arabic , widely used in the Near East until the Nah¬∑‚àèça (Arabic awakening)  (Girard, pp.205-6). Germanus  colloquial was based on the Levantine. Whilst it preserves here some of the classical grammar (e.g.,  lan  to negate the future), it displays constructions and vocabulary, such as  lamma  for  when  and  b ad m∆í√Ö  for  b ad  an , which are more frequent in Levantine. A final section explains how to read Arabic when diacritics (short vowels) are absent, which will happen nearly most of the time. A most interesting, important work. \u003cbr\u003e\n Formerly in the collection of Juan P érez de Guzm‚àö¬∞n y Boza, Duque de T Serclaes (1852-1934), Spanish historian, politician, and bibliophile. He amassed one of the most important private libraries in Spain, dispersed after his death. After the Civil War, the part donated by the family to the National Library of Spain was reclaimed and later dispersed (BNE).\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"GERMANUS, Domenicus.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868710936911,"sku":"L4758","price":2250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/germanus-L4758-1.jpg?v=1781793404"},{"product_id":"burchard-of-mount-sion-salignac-barthelemy-de","title":"BURCHARD OF MOUNT SION; SALIGNAC, Barthélemy de.","description":"\u003cp\u003eA good copy of the first edition of these important combined travel accounts of the Holy Land and neighbouring lands, in the version taken from mss preserved in the wealthy library of Joachim I von Alvensleben (1514-88). The friar Burchard of Mount Sion travelled to the Middle East in the C13, which resulted into the composition of ‘Descriptio Terrae Sanctae’ – one of the major medieval European accounts of the Holy Land. He travelled via Sicily, Egypt, and Armenia, and spent the years 1274-84 in Palestine. ‘Descriptio’ begins with a geographical definition of ‘Holy Land’, including descriptions of areas in today’s Lebanon (Tyre, Sidon, Beirut, Byblos, and Tripoli), Jordan, and ancient Palestine (including Gaza), as well as Jerusalem, with a special emphasis on New Testament places where Christ lived and preached. It provides a priceless account of what those places looked like in the C13, e.g., about a new church in Bethlehem he writes: ‘The whole floor is laid with marble of many colours and a great variety of decorations, the cost of which is impossible to estimate.’ The second part focuses on the various nations and communities inhabiting the Holy Land, e.g., Muslims, Syrians, Greeks, Nestorians, Maronites, Nubians, and Armenians. It is followed by a long description of Egypt, then ruled by the Mamluks. The second work was written by Barthélemy de Salignac, of whom nothing is known, and had first appeared in print in Venice in 1518. Divided into short narrative sections, the 10 chapters discuss his departure from Venice and travel via Istria and Albania; his visit of the Ionian islands and Cyprus; a description of Palestine, Israel, Syria, Arabia, the ‘kingdom of Gaza’ (‘located near the sea, with a big population, with a semicircular shape’), and today’s West Bank; an overview of Jerusalem and the main religious sites within the city and  surrounding areas, as they looked like in the early C16. For instance, the sanctuary on Mount Calvary is described as having been built with lots of marble and alabaster. A most interesting collection.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BURCHARD OF MOUNT SION; SALIGNAC, Barthélemy de.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868712444239,"sku":"L4410","price":2250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/burchard-L4410-1.jpg?v=1781793393"},{"product_id":"germanus-domenicus-1","title":"GERMANUS, Domenicus.","description":"\u003cp\u003eFirst edition of the first Arabic-Italian grammar and phrasebook  produced by the Propaganda Fide press in Rome   formerly in the library of the Franciscan mission in Egypt.  In 1630, Friar Paolo da Lodi was nominated the first prefectus missionis Aegypti. He [...] took up residence in the Venetian embassy and succeeded in setting up residence for the friars in a house just outside the diplomatic compound. [...] The friary of Cairo became the seat of the prefect, and at the end of the century, an institute for the study of Oriental languages was opened there. In 1632 the Congregation de Propaganda Fide established a Franciscan prefecture in Ethiopia [...]. Upon their arrival in Egypt, they approached the Coptic patriarchate and visited the monasteries of St Antony and St Macarius to perfect their knowledge of Arabic' (Van Zeelst). \u003cbr\u003e\n The Polish Franciscan Domenicus Germanus (1588-1670) was a missionary and teacher of Arabic in Rome, at the Monastery of San Pietro in Montorio.  Fabrica  was intended as an introduction to colloquial Arabic in relation to Italian, for Germanus  own students and future missionaries in the Middle East. He begins by stating that  those who wish to learn a foreign language must needs become children again ; in particular, for Arabic, it is important to pronounce it correctly, due to the numerous difficult letters. The work begins from the basics   letter forms, pronunciation, diacritics   followed by the Holy Father, the Commandments, Salve Regina, the Confession, the Professio Fidei, in Arabic and Latin (not the  Protestant  Italian here!). The second part discusses nouns, participles, pronouns, and verbs, adjusting the three Arabic grammatical cases to the six Latin ones, with examples involving a man named Zaid, as found in medieval Arabic grammars such as Sibawayh s. In so doing, Germanus introduces everyday vocabulary which the students could assimilate whilst learning the grammar.  The  vernacular Arabic\" was considered by these authors as a spoken and written language. In order to explain the relationship between the two forms of Arabic to their students, they also referred to the parallel between Latin and Italian. This  vernacular Arabic  seems to be a hybrid language, mixing up the characteristics of standard Arabic of the Near Eastern dialects: a form of the language known as  middle Arabic , widely used in the Near East until the Nah¬∑‚àèça (Arabic awakening)  (Girard, pp.205-6). Germanus  colloquial was based on the Levantine. Whilst it preserves some classical grammar (e.g.,  lan  to negate the future), it displays constructions and vocabulary, such as  lamma  for  when  and  b ad m∆í√Ö  for  b ad  an , which are more frequent in Levantine. A final section explains how to read Arabic when diacritics (short vowels) are absent, which often happens. A most interesting, important work. \u003cbr\u003e\n Formerly in the collection of Juan P érez de Guzm‚àö¬∞n y Boza, Duque de T Serclaes (1852-1934), Spanish historian, politician, and bibliophile. He amassed one of the most important private libraries in Spain, dispersed after his death. After the Civil War, the part  donated  by the family to the National Library of Spain was reclaimed and later dispersed (BNE).\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"GERMANUS, Domenicus.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868712804687,"sku":"L4555","price":2250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/germanus-L4555-1.jpg?v=1781793392"},{"product_id":"al-halabi-ab_-bakr-abd-al-wahh_b-b-muhammad-b-husayni-al-hannam-muhammad-with-al-ab__erdi-husam-al-d_n-hassan-b-al_","title":"AL-HALABI, Abū Bakr ‘Abd al-Wahhāb b. Muhammad b. Husayni; AL-HANNAM, Muhammad. [with] AL-ABĪŪERDI, Husam al-Dīn Hassan b. ‘Alī.","description":"\u003cp\u003eTwo remarkably well-preserved, uncommon manuscript commentaries on Arabic logic, produced in the 15th century at the famous madrasah Halifet (Gazi) in Amasya, Turkey,  the greatest centre for learning in Anatolia. A fine example of the complex and fascinating tradition of the study of logic in the Arabic-speaking world. We have traced only one other ms copy of the second work, formerly at the Royal Library in Berlin (Ahlwardt, p.412, n.27), while copies of the first are absent from major catalogues. Both authors and works are mentioned in Kâtip Çelebi’s (d.1658) bibliographical encyclopedia ‘Kashf al-Zunun’, under works descending from al-Abhāri’s logical treatise ‘Isagoge’. The paper of both manuscripts displays at times chainlines in groups of three, typically found in Syria, Egypt, and Palestine in the 15th century. The colophon of the second work states that it was completed on Friday in the month of Shab’an in 867AH, at the madrasa of Helifat (Gezi), in Amasya, Turkiye, by the scribe Salmān b. Tawirād(?) b. Hamza. The layout, style, and marginal annotations suggest these were indeed textbooks for students of Islamic law, who trained in logic and rhetoric.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe title of the first work exemplifies the complex, interlinked tradition of glosses and commentaries on logic in the Islamic world. Little is known of Abu Bakr ‘Abd al-Wahhāb al-Halabi, sometimes said to have flourished in the 13th century, other times identified (as in our case) with ‘Abd al-Wahhāb al-Halabi (d.875 AH \/ 1470AH) (Brockelmann I, p.642). al-Halabi’s ‘Al-Farāid al-saniah fī hal al-fawāid al-fanāria’ is a commentary on al-Fanāri’s (d.1431) important logic manual called ‘al-Fawāid al-fanāria’. Al-Fanāri’s work was itself an advanced commentary of al-Abhāri’s (d.1265) famous introduction to logic, ‘al-Īsāghūjī’. However, the subtitle ‘Sharh risālat al-mīzān’ in this ms suggests it is a commentary of al-Halabi’s work; an added note, in different ink but arguably contemporary, attributes the ‘Sharh’ to the obscure Muhammad al-Hannam. (Whilst we have not been able to consult any other copies due to the rarity, we have seen that the incipit of this ms does not correspond to that of al-Halabi’s ‘al-Farāid al-saniah’ as quoted by Kâtip Çelebi.) The title ‘Sharh risālah al-mīzān’ looks back to the anonymous logic treatise ‘Mīzān al-manṭiq’ (sometimes called ‘Risalah fī l-mīzān’, see Brockelmann I, p.876), an abridgement of another major logic textbook in the Islamic world, ‘al-Risālah al-Shamsīyah’, by the Persian Islamic philosopher ʻAlī ibn ʻUmar al-Qazwīnī (d.675AH \/ 1276AD). With a view to forming scholars of ‘fiqh’ (Islamic law), most of these logic manuals, including the present, encompassed introductions to rhetoric and oratory, the construction of formal arguments in natural language, description and presentation in relation to categories and ‘genus’, the pronunciation of statements, disputations, and reasonings. An appended ms note focuses on the specific examples of linguistic praise and formal thanksgiving,\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe author of the second work, Husam al-Dīn Hassan b. ‘Alī al-Abīūerdī (761-816AH \/ 1359-1413AD) was a Shāfiʿī jurist, scholar, teacher, and preacher from Turkmenistan. He travelled widely in his native country, as well as Iran, Iraq, Yemen, and Hijaz. A student of the Persian polymath Al-Taftazani – himself author of a ‘Sharh al-Risālah al-Shamsīyah’, a commentary on the previously-mentioned logic manual by al-Qazwīnī – al-Abīūerdī was known as ‘al-Khatīb’ for his rhetorical skills, and resided in Mecca for a while, where he was also a preacher at the Great Mosque, as stated in this title. ‘Rabī’a al-jinān […] fī ‘ilm al-m’anā wa al-baīān’ is his most important work. Like the first work, this also looks back to ‘Risalah fī l-mīzān’, but with a focus on the rhetorical disciplines of word order (al-ma’na) and figures of speech (al-baīān). It proceeds by quotations from the source, followed by al-Abīūardī’s observations, including topics such as substituting one word with another, and the choice of words more generally.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA most interesting and very scarce combination, awaiting further study.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"AL-HALABI, Abū Bakr ‘Abd al-Wahhāb b. Muhammad b. Husayni; AL-HANNAM, Muhammad. [with] AL-ABĪŪERDI, Husam al-Dīn Hassan b. ‘Alī.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868712968527,"sku":"L3042","price":4750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/arabic-L3042-3.jpg?v=1781793390"},{"product_id":"f_r_z_b_d_-muhammad-ibn-ya_q__b","title":"FĪRŪZĀBĀDĪ, Muhammad ibn Yaʻqūb","description":"\u003cp\u003eA beautifully-preserved, finely decorated ms copy of Fīrūzābādī’s ground-breaking dictionary of the Arabic language. Muhammad ibn Yaʻqūb Fīrūzābādī (1329-1414) was a Persian Muslim polymath, and a major linguist. He trained in Islamic law, grammar, and the Qur’an, and travelled widely from Shiraz to Baghdad, Damascus, Jerusalem, Mecca, India, and Yemen. Meaning ‘The Surrounding Ocean’, ‘al-Qamus al-muhit’  was based on hundreds of sources, e.g., Ibn Sida’s ‘al-Mukham’ (458AH \/ 1065AD). Unlike today’s dictionaries, it was organized in ‘rhyme arrangement’, ordering words ‘first according to their final radical, […] then according to their first and intermediate radicals’ (Dictionnaires, p.2441). Through ‘brevity combined with copiousness and clarity, clear indication of vowelling, and the use of abbreviations’ (Haywood, p.88) – all much favoured by students – Fīrūzābādī managed to reach 60,000 entries whilst retaining compactness through a focus on lemmas only, without the traditional illustrative examples from the hadith or the Qur’an. ‘Qamus’ inspired numerous European dictionary of Arabic, including Lane’s ‘Lexicon’, still in use today, and his abbreviation ‘j’ for ‘jam’a’ (plural) is also still current. The marginal notes include references to important medieval grammarians such as Iraqi Ibn Duraīd.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n \u003cp\u003eDated 1650 in the colophon, the ms was copied by ‘Abd Allah bin Hussein ‘Abd al-Rahman on high-quality paper, with very spacious chainlines (here approx. 45mm), frequent in the C17-C18 and probably produced in India (Déroche, p.55). The browning on the first recto and last verso suggests an original binding with leather doublures (see Scheper, p.39), later substituted by the present, very handsome Turkish rūmī-patterned yekşah binding c1800. The GFL countermark on the endpapers is also found on paper with three crescents – a watermark traditionally intended for the Middle Eastern market – on a ms dated 1800-60 (Nat. Lib. Portugal MS F.C.R. 231). The decorated fore-edges, here finely executed in gold, are infrequent in Islamic mss; Scheper only found six examples in the Leiden UL collections (Scheper, p.261). A very fine ms awaiting further study.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eProvenance: Dr Ludwig Strecker – Kat. des Gutenberg-Mus., Mainz, 1959, n.3.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"FĪRŪZĀBĀDĪ, Muhammad ibn Yaʻqūb","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868713296207,"sku":"L4757","price":37500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/Firazubadi-L4757-1.jpg?v=1781793388"},{"product_id":"schickard-wilhelm","title":"SCHICKARD, Wilhelm.","description":"\u003cp\u003eFirst edition of this ‚ÄòTarikh‚Äô or History of the Persian kings by the German Hebraist and Arabist Wilhelm Schickard (1592-1635), also known as an astronomer and horologist, and designer of an early calculating machine. This genealogical chronicle, beginning with the C3rd AD Ardashir I and ending with the C7th Yazdigerd III, the last Sasanian emperor, is a valuable source for early Islamic history, culture and geography. It was translated from a Turkish manuscript in Ottoman Arabic with a colourful history: found in the library of Filakovo Castle in modern-day Slovenia, which was recaptured from the Ottomans by the Holy Roman Empire in 1593, and brought to Germany by the traveller Veit Marchthaler of Ulm (1564-1641), where it was left unstudied for almost thirty years. The reappearance of the manuscript, a copy of the Tavarich Beni Adam by Yusuf ibn ‚ÄòAbd al-Latif, caused Schickard ‚Äòboth excitement and despair,‚Äô because of his lack of proficiency in the Ottoman script and language (Stefan Hanss, ‚ÄòOttoman Language Learning in Early Modern Germany‚Äô in Central European History, 54.1 (2021), p. 25). Unable to gain help from any scholars in Europe, Schickard muddled through the manuscript by finding useful cognates between German, Hebrew, Arabic and Ottoman, producing his edition and commentary in less than three months (Hanss, p. 26).\u003c\/p\u003e  \n\n\u003cp\u003eSchickard saw Persian history as an overlooked and significant branch of human culture, the study of which could illuminate the Hebrew and Arabic languages, early Islamic history, and the geography of the medieval Islamic world. He also believed he could subordinate the Persian genealogy to the biblical genealogy of Christ, in opposition to what he called the ‚Äòlies‚Äô of the Muhammadans. The work contains two extensive indexes, one of people and one of places mentioned in the text, noting references to Egypt, Ethiopia, Baghdad, Mecca, the Ganges, and even Nova Zembla in Russia. The index of persons refers to Timur or Tamerlane, Schickard noting that the city of Nishapur in modern-day Iran was made infamous by the cruelty of Tamerlane (Tamerlanis crudelitate postmodum nobilitata), clearly confusing him with Genghis Kahn, whose army sacked the city in 1221, notoriously destroying almost the entire population in reprisal for the death during the siege of Genghis‚Äôs son-in-law Taghachar. Elsewhere Schickard refers to the vast size of Genghis‚Äôs empire and his patrimony of many descendants.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"SCHICKARD, Wilhelm.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868720963919,"sku":"L4760","price":3950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/Schickard-L4760-2.jpg?v=1781793351"},{"product_id":"dieu-lodewijk-de-and-tawus-jacob","title":"DIEU, Lodewijk de and TAWUS, Jacob.","description":"\u003cp\u003e.First edition of this Persian grammar printed with the first two books of Genesis in Persian, followed by two parallel Latin-Persian texts, apparently issued together (though often treated as separate works). The Genesis extracts are the first printed translation of any part of the Bible into Persian using Persian script, and this is only the second ever book printed in Persian. \u003cbr\u003e\n. \u003cbr\u003e\n.Dieu s grammar, written in Latin but with occasional examples given in Dutch, begins with the Persian alphabet, noting in particular those letters that are easily confused with one another, as well as the similarities and differences between Persian and Arabic orthography, noting pronunciation. The second book discusses verbs, third cases, tenses and adjectives, names, numbers and pronouns, while the fourth discusses adverbs, negations, demonstratives, interrogatives, prepositions, conjugations and interjections. The translator of the Genesis extracts was Jacob Tawus, a Persian translator who worked in Constantinople in the sixteenth century; his biblical translations had been printed in the Polyglot Bible published in Constantinople in 1546, but transliterated into Hebrew letters. \u003cbr\u003e\n. \u003cbr\u003e\n.The second part is a life of St. Peter derived from a  contaminated  source, while the final work, an equally corrupted account of the life of Christ, uses the Latin translation from a Persian text by Jeronimo Xavier, grand-nephew of Francis Xavier, who assisted in the foundation of the Jesuits. Jeronimo was a missionary in the Mughal courts in the first years of the C17th, where he learned Persian and spent time translating Persian texts. To both works, Dieu provides an extensive textual commentary, which criticises the accuracy of the text and in the latter case, Jeronimo s translation. With the second part are included two letters sent from Lahore in 1598, the first containing Jeronimo s brief history of the Mughals, the second an account by a fellow Jesuit of Jeronimo s describing the conversion of Muslims there to Christianity. \u003cbr\u003e\n. \u003cbr\u003e\n. The history of early Persian printing with moveable type is inextricably intertwined with the development of Arabic types. Apart from the matter of stylistic preferences, a sixteenth-century Arabic type could be used to print Persian books merely by the addition of three dots to the existing (non-dotted) letterforms. For this reason, the gap of over a century between the publication of the first Arabic and the first Persian books cannot be due only to the lack of available printing types. It is better explained by   the role of Arabic as the prime language of Islam  (Borna Izadpanah,  Early Persian Printing and Typefounding in Europe  in Journal of the Printing Historical Society, 29 (2018), p. 89). Early efforts by Giovanni Battista Raimondi (1536-1614) at the Medici Oriental Press in Rome were never published. In 1633 (often erroneously dated earlier) the Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda Fide brought out a small   and very scarce   Persian grammar, Alphabetum Persicum, making Dieu s only the second book to be printed using Persian type.. \u003cbr\u003e\n. \u003cbr\u003e\n..William Aspin was admitted a pensioner at Magdalene College, Cambridge in 1652 and gained his DD in 1683. He was rector of Emberton in Buckinghamshire until his death in 1714. .\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"DIEU, Lodewijk de and TAWUS, Jacob.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868723552591,"sku":"L4813","price":4950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"mustafa-ibn-abd-al-rahman","title":"MUSTAFA IBN ABD AL-RAHMAN.","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe genre of ‚Äòadvice literature‚Äô was popular not only in the 16th century Islamic world, but at the same time in Western Europe, giving readers recommendations on how to be a good ruler, minister, or Muslim\/Christian. The author of this work identifies it as a translation of the Pand-nama of Khwaja ‚ÄòAbdullah al-Ansari,‚Äô the Afghan polymath of the 11th century. The text also includes a second text entitled the Tyhfat al-Wuzara, for which no author is given. The popularity of the genre meant that such texts were common, often associated with the great authorities of the past to lend them weight. The text is given the title Tuhfat al-Salatin (a Gift for Sultans) and signed by Mustafa ibn Abd al-Rahman, who also identifies himself as the translator ‚Äì and presumably ‚Äì editor. This would make this an autograph copy of unusual quality, doubtless intended for presentation. Indeed, the lengthy dedication to Sultan Murad III (r. 1574-95), whose name appears highlighted in gold throughout, may indicate that this manuscript was a gift for a sultan in more than name only. A further manuscript signed by the same scribe, also written in a strong nasta‚Äôliq, was sold to Sotheby‚Äôs London, 24 April 2013, lot 28.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe quality of the calligraphy throughout this manuscript is exceptional, more typical of single-page calligraphic compositions than full manuscripts. The effect is enhanced with the use of dyed paper, gold speckling, and extensive chrysography, as well as beautifully gilt-tooled binding. Particularly distinctive is the broad qalam used throughout this manuscript, giving rise to a more muscular script that distinguishes it from Safavid manuscripts. Other high-quality Ottoman manuscripts in nasta‚Äôliq include a copy of al-durra al-yatima fi al-mada‚Äôih al-karima which sold in at Christie‚Äôs, 26 April 2018, lot 193, and another anthology which sold 12 October 2004, lot 198. That manuscript also had 10 lines of nasta‚Äôliq to the page, as well as erased seal impressions suggesting it had been in the royal library. This would strengthen the suggestion that this manuscript was of a quality to be presented to the sultan.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis manuscript was part of the collection of Constantino del Franco (1899-1968), a renowned bibliophile living in the South of Italy.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MUSTAFA IBN ABD AL-RAHMAN.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57868724306255,"sku":"L4856","price":36000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/collections\/L4856_page_2.png?v=1781282237","url":"https:\/\/sokol-books-ltd.myshopify.com\/collections\/arabic.oembed","provider":"Sokol Books Ltd","version":"1.0","type":"link"}