Forum Islamic World

8 large illustrated volumes of the most important voyages from the 15th to the end of the 17th century

AA, Pieter van der (editor) and Johann Ludwig GOTTFRIED. De aanmerkenswaardigste en alomberoemde zee- en landreizen der Portugeezen, Spanjaarden, Engelsen en allerhande natiën: zoo van Fransen, Italiaanen, Deenen, Hoogh- en Nederduitsen als van veele andere volkeren. Voornaamenlyk ondernomen tot ontdekking van de Oost- en Westindiën, midsgaders andere verafgelegene gewesten des aardryks.
The Hague, widow of Engelbrecht Boucquet and sons; Leiden, Jan van der Deyster, and Boudewijn and Pieter van der Aa, 1727. 8 volumes. 1mo and folio. With 7 (of 8) engraved frontispieces (lacking that of volume 4), 4 engraved dedications, 117 engraved maps on 61 leaves, 7 engraved plates and 502 engravings in text. Further with 127 (of 128) title-pages (including a general title-page, a title-page to 7 (of 8) volumes, lacking that of volume 4, and 118 for the separate works). Volume 1-3 & 5-8: contemporary mottled calf, gold-tooled spine and board edges; volume 4: modern calf. Full description

€ 65,000

A unique view into the private life of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan

[ABU DHABI – ROYAL FAMILY]. [Photograph archive of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan's private life].
[Pakistan], [1968-1984]. An archive of 807 loose photographs, 541 in colour (including several duplicates, some printed in a different format), including 65 photos depicting falcons (3 duplicates, 36 in colour) and 14 photographs of camels (1 in colour). Full description

€ 75,000

Photographs of Sheikh Zayed's state visits to Pakistan

[ABU DHABI – STATE VISITS TO PAKISTAN]. [Photograph archive and album. Album title]: Visit to Lahore of His Highness Skeikh Zayed bin Sultan Alnahayyani the ruler of Abudhabi (16th to 28th November, 1967).
[Pakistan, 1967-1971]. An archive of 183 photographs: 133 loose black and white photographic prints (ca. 30 x 25 cm), 30 smaller ones (ca. 5 x 6 cm) numbered and mounted together on a single sheet of paper, and 20 additional prints in the album. Further with numerous rolls of original medium format negatives.Original black half morocco album, green cloth sides with title and emblem of the United Bank Limited Pakistan on the front board. Full description

€ 125,000

Rare travelogue of Yemen, with the original Arabic text

AL-GARADI, Ahmed Ibn Muhammad [and Eugen MITTWOCH]. Aus dem Jemen. Hermann Burchardts letzte Reise durch Südarabien. bearbeitet von Eugen Mittwoch...
Leipzig, Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft in kommission bei F.A. Brockhaus, [1926]. 4to. 28 plates with 55 photos, 1 map on page 9. Text is partially in Arabic. Original paper covers. [4], 74 pp. Full description

€ 200

One photographic print of Mecca as the remarkable exception in an album
containing 50 photographic prints of the people, cities and scenery of Algeria and Tunisia in North Africa

[PHOTOGRAPHY - ALGERIA - TUNISIA] Algerie - Tunisie.
[Tunis, Photographie Garrigues, late 19th century]. Oblong album (32 x 41 cm). Album with 50 photographic prints of various sizes (13.5 x 9.5 to 29 x 21.5 cm , each pasted on thick paperboard. Half black leather with title in gold lettering on front board. [50] ll. Full description

€ 45,000

First English translation of volume 8 of Al-Hamdani's historical, geographical
and genealogical description of ancient South Arabia

AL-HAMDANI [transl. and ed. Nabih Amin FARIS]. The antiquities of South Arabia being a translation from the Arabic with linguistic, geographic, and historic notes of the eighth book of Al-Hamdani's Al-Iklil, reconstructed from Al. Karmali's edition and a MS in the Garrett collection Princeton University Library.
Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1938. 8vo. With 1 page with the text of fol. 22(a) of the Princeton MS; p. 73 shows inscriptions of Himyarite characters; 1 map titled "Ancient Arabia Peoples, places and routes". The notes are partially in Arabic and Hebrew (and possibly other types of) script. Black cloth, with title information on spine. [6], 119, [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 1,250

Great history of the Portuguese colonial empire in South America, India, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa

ANDRADA, Francisco d'. Chronica do muyto alto e muyto poderoso Rey destes reynos de Portugal Dom João o III deste nome, ...
Coimbra, Real officina da universidade, 1796. 4 volumes. 4to. With a woodcut royal Portuguese coat of arms on title-page of each volume. Contemporary plain paper wrappers. VIII, I-XV, [1 blank], 385, [1 blank]; [4], XIX, [1 blank], 565 [=465], [1 blank]; [4], XX, 452; Full description

€ 2,500

Presentation copy of an authoritative handbook on the Arab states of the Lower Gulf

ANTHONY, John Duke. Arab states of the Lower Gulf: People, Politics, Petroleum.
Washington D.C., The Middle East institute, 1975. 8vo. With two black and white maps on the endpapers. Brown cloth with publisher's illustrated dust jacket. X, 273, [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 500

Ephemeralia, including Arab constitutional documents and an introduction to the history of Arab medicine

[ARABIA]. [A collection of ephemeralia regarding the Arab states].
New York & London, 1951-1962. 3 booklets and a menu. Full description

€ 1,800

Abundantly illustrated performance report of ARAMCO in 1955

ARABIAN AMERICAN OIL COMPANY. 1955 Report of operations to the Saudi Arab government.
[Dhahran], Saudi Arabia, Arabian American Oil Company, 1956. 28 x 21.5 cm. With a portfolio of photographs, 8 pages in the middle of the work, with captions in both English and Arabic. Thoroughly and colourfully decorated with photographs, maps and other decorations in the text. The 56 pages of text appear twice in the present work as published, once in English on the left side of the portfolio and once in Arabic on the right side of the portfolio. Original publisher's decorated wrappers, with the title in English on the front wrapper and the title in Arabic on the back wrapper. VIII, 48, [8 - portfolio of photographs], 48, [8] pp. Full description

€ 750

The life of Muhammad and a history of Arabia under the first four Caliphs

[ARABIAN HISTORY]. Hedendaagsche historie; of het vervolg van de algemeene historie; ... Behelzende het leeven van Mohammed; en het begin van de historie der Arabieren, onder de drie eerste Khalifs ...
Utrecht, Hermanus Besseling (vols. 1-2), Leiden, Amsterdam, P. van der Eyk, G. de Groot and son, K. van Tongerloo and P. Schouten (vol. 3), 1760-1764. 6 parts in 3 volumes. 4to. With 3 engraved frontispieces, engraved coat of arms and 6 folding plates. Contemporary boards covered with sprinkled paper. Full description

€ 5,000

Aramaco and the Arabic Superman: It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Nabil fawzi!

[ARAMCO]. Aramco World. Vol. 21 no. 2: March-April 1970.
New York, Aramco, 1970. 4to. Illustrated wrappers. 32 pp. Full description

€ 1,500

Large folding road map of Saudi Arabia

[ARAMCO]. Saudi Arabian road map.
Dammam, Al-Mutawa press company, 1973. Large folding map (60 × 90.5 cm), printed in light orange with darker purple, depicting the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its main roads. With on the right the title in both Arabic and English and a table with the distances from one city to another. Full description

€ 1,800

Surviving traffic in Saudi Arabia, a large folding map

ARAMCO. Saudi Arabian road map.
Dammam, printed by the Al-Mutawa Press for the Arabian American Oil Company, 1973. Large folding map (60 x 90.5 cm), printed in colour, depicting the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its main roads. With on the right the title in both Arabic and English and a table with the distances from one city to another. Printed on two sides, one side with the map in English and the other in Arabic. Full description

€ 1,800

Surviving traffic in Saudi Arabia, a large folding map

ARAMCO. Saudi Arabian road map.
Dammam, printed by the Al-Mutawa Press for the Arabian American Oil Company, 1975. Large folding map (60 x 90.5 cm), printed in colour, depicting the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its main roads. With on the right the title in both Arabic and English and a table with the distances from one city to another. Printed on two sides, one side with the map in English and the other in Arabic. Full description

€ 1,500

Surviving traffic in Saudi Arabia

[ARAMCO]. Saudi Arabian road map.
Dammam, Mutawa Press, [early 1980s]. Colour-printed map, 59 x 85.5 cm. Full description

€ 1,000

Asia and the Middle East in 1952, with many borders on the Arabian Peninsula still undefined

[MAP – ASIA – MIDDLE EAST]. NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY. Southwest Asia, India, Pakistan, and Northeast Africa.
Washington, DC, National Geographic Society, 1952. Colour printed map, 68.5 x 95 cm. Scale 1:7,5000,000. With an inset map of "the Moslem World; percentage of Moslems in total population". Full description

€ 850

"Ruler of group of Islands"

[PHOTOGRAPHY - BAHRAIN]. HH Sheikh Hamad ibn Isa Al Khalifa with three other sheikhs.
Gulf region, 1920s. Black and white photograph (gelatin silver print, 8 x 7 cm) mounted on brown cardboard (9 x 8.5 cm). Captioned in white ink. Full description

€ 4,500

First printed record of Qatar, Abu Dhabi and Dubai

BALBI, Gasparo. Viaggio dell'Indie Orientali.
Venice, Camillo Borgominieri, 1590. 8vo. With woodcut device on title-page and navigational diagram on leaf 144. 19th-century polished tan calf, richly gold-tooled spine. Full description

€ 150,000

First Latin edition, printed by Plantin, of Belon's illutrated oriental travel account, with 43 woodcuts

BELON, Pierre. Plurimarum singularium & memorabilium rerum in Graecia, Asia, Aegypto, Judaea, Arabia, aliisq. exteris provinciis ab ipso conspectarum observationes, tribus libris expressae.
(2) BELON, Pierre. De neglecta stirpium cultura, atque earum cognitione libellus: edocens qua ratione silvestres arbores cicurari & mitescere queant. Antwerp, Christoffel Plantin, 1589. 2 works in 1 volume. 8vo. With Plantins woodcut compasses device on each title-page, 43 woodcuts in text (6 full-page), woodcut decorated initials. With an unrecorded 2-page corrigenda leaf. Contemporary overlapping limp vellum. [16], 495, [1 blank]; "78" [= 87], [1 blank], [2] pp. Full description

€ 4,750

"on pesche les perles ... dans le Golfe Persique, principalement ... aupres de Baroyn [= Bahrain]"

BERQUEN, Robert de. Les merveilles des Indes Orientales et Occidentales, ou Nouveau traitté des pierres precieuses & perles, ...
Paris, Christophe Lambin, 1661. 4to. With an engraved portrait of Anne Marie Louise d'Orleans facing the dedication. Contemporary gold-tooled, tanned sheepskin, gold-tooled sides. [12], 112 pp. Full description

€ 25,000

Souvenir album showing the Holy Land, Egypt, Athens and Venice in the second half of the 19th century

BONFILS, G. LEKEGIAN & CO, Brothers ZANGAKI, Collection MERLIN and Carlo NAYA. [Souvenir album with photographs of the Holy Land, Cairo, Athens and Venice].
[Palestine, Cairo, Athens, Venice, ca. 1890]. Oblong album (41.5 x 31 cm) containing 62 albumen prints, mostly 23 x 28 cm, with 2 smaller prints of ca. 16 x 28 and 5 large prints of 35.5 x 27 cm. Most of the photographs are numbered and captioned in French, and sometimes also in English, on the negative. Contemporary brown half morocco. [59], [11 blank] pp. Full description

€ 9,500

Ledger recording involvement in numerous infrastructural projects in Africa, Asia and the Middle East (1952-1955)

BOULTEN, F.A. [Manuscript ledger recording the time spent working on infrastructural projects].
[London?,] 1952-1955. Folio. Lined journal, each page ruled for monthly tallies, with some extra annotations. Contemporary cloth. [48] pp. Full description

€ 1,250

The remarkable life and career of Sir Hugh Boustead in the Middle East and across the world

BOUSTEAD, Hugh. The wind of morning. The autobiography of Colonel Sir Hugh Boustead.
London, Chatto & Windus, 1974. Large 8vo. With 8 double sided plates with multiple images, and 4 maps. Orange cloth with title information in gold on spine, with dust jacket, designed by John Woodcock with a photo of a caravan of people on camels on front cover and one of H. Boustead on a horse on the back, title information in purple on front cover and on spine of dust jacket. 240 pp. Full description

€ 450

Cross-cultural mapping of the Red Sea: Bruce's chart in an early Egyptian manuscript copy

[MAP - ARABIAN PENINSULA]. BRUCE, James. Carte de la mer Rouge, relevée sur celle de James Bruce.
[Egypt, probably Cairo], 1827. Folio leaf (46 x 31.5 cm). Manuscript map in pen and ink with watercolour, with a French text on Middle Eastern hand-made paper. Full description

€ 15,000

3 little-known works by Italian scientist on astronomy, hydrostatics and navigation

BRUNETTI, Francesco Saverio. Trattenimenti scientifici su la sfera, geografia istorica, meteore, ed astronomia.
Rome, Bernabò and Lazzarini, 1754. With several woodcut illustrations in the text (including an armillary sphere), and an extra added folding engraved frontispiece.
With:
(2) BRUNETTI, Francesco Saverio. Trattenimenti scientifici su lindrografia, nautica, blasone, statica, meccanica, architectura, pirotecnia, e suono.
Roma, Bernabò and Lazzarini, 1755. With several woodcut illustrations in the text, and an extra added frontispiece (facsimile of an engraving?).
(3) BRUNETTI, Francesco Saverio. Macchina semplicissima per cui lacqua da se stessa salice ad una data altezza.
Rome, Bernabò and Lazzarini, 1747. With folding engraved plate as frontispiece. 3 works (the first in 2 parts) in 1 volume. 4to. Contemporary sheepskin parchment. [24], 180, 112; [8], 173, [3 blank]; 12 pp. Full description

€ 4,500

First printed record of Abu Dhabi and Dubai: the first Latin edition

DE BRY, Theodor; Johann Israel DE BRY and Joris VAN SPILBERGEN. Indiae Orientalis pars septima [...].Including: Icones, hoc est verae variorum populorum et regum, ceremoniarum item, superstitiosorum rituum et rerum aliarum, ...
Frankfurt, Wolfgang Richter, 1606. Folio (32.5 x 20 cm). With the letterpress title in an engraved architectural border, a separate letterpress title-page for the Icones, an engraved coat of arms on the dedication leaf, 20 engravings in text and 2 double-page engraved plates. 20th-century green half morocco. [4], 126, [2 blank] pp.; 26 ll. Full description

€ 28,000

An extensive account of Yemen on the eve of World War I
by British naturalist, explorer and Arabist G. W. Bury

BURY, George Wyman. Arabia infelix, or the Turks in Yamen.
London, Macmillan and Co., limited, 1915. Large 8vo. With 3 maps and 18 plates, some containing multiple images. Red cloth, blind-tooling on covers, title information in gold on spine. X, 213, [3] pp. Full description

€ 580

Rare collected works of Portugal's greatest poet

CAMÕES (CAMOENS), Luis de & João Franco BARRETO. Obras de Luis de Camoès principe des poetas Portugueses. Com os argumentos do Lecenceado João Franco Barreto & por elle emédadas em esta nova impressaõ, que comprehende todas as obras, que deste insigne autor se achàraõ impressas, & manuscritas, com o index dos nomes proprios. Offerecidas a D. Francisco de Sovsa capitão da guarda do Principe N.S.
Lisbon, Antonio Craesbeeck de Mello, 1666-1669. 8vo. With 8 woodcut tailpieces. Later mottled calf, red spine labels, red edges. 376, 368, 208, 108, [22], [ 2 blank]. Lacks the individual title-pages. Full description

€ 9,500

On Bedouin tribes, with a map and pictures

CARRUTHERS, Alexander Douglas Mitchell. A journey in North-Western Arabia.
[London, W. Clowes], March 1910. 4to. With 12 black and white photographs made during the journey and a folding chromolithographed map of North-West Arabia (27x30.5 cm). Modern blue wrappers. [32] (numbered 225-248) pp. Full description

€ 750

Geographical description/atlas of the old world, including the Middle East.
With 33 maps and bound in well-preserved, gold-tooled contemporary calf

CELLARIUS, Christoph. Notitia orbis antiqui, sive geographia plenior, ab ortu rerumpublicarum ad constantinorum tempora orbis terrarium faciem declarans. ... et novis tabulis geographicis ... illustravit.
(Volume 1:) Cambridge, John Owen, 1703; (volume 2:) Amsterdam, Caspar Fritsch, 1706. 2 volumes. 4to. With engraved author's portrait, 33 engraved double-page maps and 1 engraved double-page plate. Contemporary calf, richly gold tooled spines and binding edges, double gilt fillets on sides. [16], 862, [38]; [12], 544; 166, [38] pp. Full description

€ 5,000

French merchant travels through Persia and becomes personal jeweller to the Shah

CHARDIN, Jean. Voyages de mr. le chevalier Chardin, en Perse, et autres lieux de l'Orient.
Amsterdam, J. L. de Lorme, 1711. 10 volumes. 12mo. With an engraved frontispiece portrait of Johannes Chardin, 1 engraved map, 79 engraved folding plates and 6 letterpress folding tables. Contemporary half morocco, gold-tooled spine. [24], 254; 334; 285, [1 blank]; 280; 312; 328; 448; 255, [1 blank]; 308; 220, [82] pp. Full description

€ 4,000

Merchant voyages and trade with Arabia, Egypt & India

CIGNANO, Ludovico. Quieta solitudine di varii ragionamenti, discorsi, et concetti, ove si narra quattro navigationi ...
Bologna, Alessandro Benacci, 1587. Small 4to (21×15 cm). With a woodcut coat of arms on the title-page. Goatskin morocco (ca. 1870/80?), richly gold-tooled spine and turn-ins, signed in foot of front turn-in by the Paris bookbinders "DARLAUD FRÈRES", gold fillets on sides and board edges. 166 pp. Full description

€ 45,000

On the sales of arms and arms deals in the Middle East

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS. New perspectives on the Persian Gulf. Hearings before the subcommittee on the Near East and South Asia of the committee on foreign affairs, house of representatives, ninety-third congress, first session. June 6, July 17, 23, 24, and November 28, 1973.
Washington, U.S. Government printing office, 1973. 8vo (23.5 x 15 cm). With a small map of the Persian Gulf. Original printed paper wrappers. VIII, [1], 227 pp. Full description

€ 2,500

On "the escalating level of arms sales to Gulf states"

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS. The Persian Gulf, 1975: the continuing debate on arms sales. Hearings before the special subcommittee on investigations of the committee on international relations, house of representatives, ninety-fourth congress, first Session. June 10, 18, 24 and July 29, 1975.
Washington, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1976. 8vo. Original printed paper wrappers. VI, 261 pp. Full description

€ 2,500

Communism in the Middle East

[COMMUNIST ESSAYS]. [Collection of communist essays for the Arabic-speaking and Middle Eastern market].
China, Israel, Russia (USSR), United States, [various publishers], 1968-1984. 16 publications. Several fold-out maps and some works with photographic plates. Including (in chronological order):
(1) LANE-POOLE, Stanley. Coins of the Amawi Khalifehs. Catalogue of the collection of Oriental coins belonging to Col. C. Seton Guthrie.
Chicago, Argonaut Publishers, 1968.
(2) [SOVIET REVISIONISTS versus the CHINESE PEOPLE'S LIBERATION ARMY]. [Title in Arabic:] Down with the new tsars! Soviet revisionists' anti-China atrocities on the Heilung and Wusuli Rivers.
Beijing, Foreign Languages Press, 1969.
(3) [AMERICAN FRIENDS SERVICE COMMITTEE]. [Title in Arabic:] Search for peace in the Middle East: a report prepared for the American Friends Service Committee.
Philadelphia, 1970.
(4) [AMERICAN FRIENDS SERVICE COMMITTEE]. [Title in Hebrew:] Search for peace in the Middle East: a report prepared for the American Friends Service Committee.
Tel Aviv, 1970.
(5) [AMERICAN FRIENDS SERVICE COMMITTEE]. Search for peace in the Middle East: a report prepared for the American Friends Service Committee.
[New York], [Hill and Wang], 1970.
(6) [AMERICAN FRIENDS SERVICE COMMITTEE]. Search for peace in the Middle East: a report prepared for the American Friends Service Committee.
New York, Hill and Wang, 1971.
(7) MAO ZEDONG. [Title in Arabic:] On the correct handling of contradictions among the people.
Beijing, Foreign Languages Press, 1971.
(8) MAO ZEDONG. [Title in Persian:] People of the world, unite and defeat the U.S. aggressors and all their running dogs!
Beijing, Foreign Language Press, 1971.
(9) MAO, ZEDONG. [Title in Persian:] Talks at the Yenan forum on literature and art.
Beijing, Foreign Languages Press, 1971.
(10) [1972 NEW YEAR'S DAY EDITORIAL?]. [Title in Arabic:] Unite to win still greater victories.
Beijing, Foreign Languages Press, 1972.
(11) [RENMIN RIBAO (editor)?]. [Title in Arabic:] A vicious motive, despicable tricks: a criticism of M. Antonioni's anti-China film "China".
Beijing, Foreign Languages Press, 1974.
(12) [NATIONAL PEOPLE'S CONGRESS - CHINA]. [Title in Arabic:] Documents of the first session of the fourth National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China.
Beijing, Foreign Languages Press, 1975.
(13) LENIN, Vladimir Ilyich. [Title in Arabic:] A letter to American workers.
Moscow, Progress Publishers, 1978.
(14) LENIN, Vladimir Ilyich. [Title in Arabic:] Two tactics of social-democracy in the Democratic Revolution.
Moscow, Progress Publishers, 1978.
(15) ENGELS, Friedrich. [Title in Arabic:] Anti-Dühring.
Moscow, Progress Publishers, 1984.
(16) [REVOLUTIONARY INTERNATIONALIST MOVEMENT]. [Title in Arabic:] Declaration of the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement.
[1984?].
Mainly works in their original publisher's printed paper wrappers, occasionally in a hardcover binding. Full description

€ 3,500

First edition of the account of the experiences of American anthropologist
Carleton S. Coon in Ethiopia and Arabia

COON, Carleton S. Measuring Ethiopia and flight into Arabia.
Boston, Little, Brown, and Company, 1935. 8vo. With 8 plates. Yellow cloth with title information in blue on front cover and spine, with a dust jacket designed by Paul Wenck, map of Ethiopia and Arabia on the endpapers. IX, [5], 333, [1] pp. Full description

€ 850

"Ces Arabes paroissent destiné à jouer un grand rôle dans l'histoire"

[CORANCEZ, Louis Alexandre Olivier de]. Histoire des Wahabis, depuis leur origine jusqu'a la fin de 1809.
Paris, Crapelet, 1810. 8vo. Remains of original grey temporary wrappers. Stored in gilt modern quarter morocco box. [4], VIII, 222, [2] pp. Full description

€ 6,500

Unique hand-coloured copy of Dapper's famous description of Africa

DAPPER, Olfert. Naukeurige beschrijvinge der Afrikaensche gewesten van Egypten, Barbaryen, Lybien, Biledulgerid, Negroslant, Guinea, Ethiopiën, Abyssinie: vertoont in de benamingen, grenspalen, revieren, steden, gewassen, dieren, zeeden, drachten, talen, rijkdommen, godsdiensten en heerschappyen. ...
Including: Naukeurige beschrijvinge der Afrikaensche eylanden ...
Amsterdam, Jacob van Meurs, 1676. 3 works in 1 volume. Folio (33 x 22 cm). With a richly engraved allegorical frontispiece, a large folding engraved map of Africa (44.5 x 56 cm), 14 double-page engraved maps of parts of Africa and the adjacent islands, 27 double-page and 1 larger folding engraved plates and views, and 55 half-page engraved views, plans, illustrations of costumes, animals, plants, etc. in the text. All illustrations coloured by a contemporary hand. Contemporary vellum at a later date with elaborate blind-tooled decorations, including oriental portraits. With 2 decorated brass clasps, signed B-I. [6], 428, 349, [16]; [1], 121, [4] pp. Full description

€ 85,000

Major source of information on the Muslim world in the 17th century

DAPPER, Olfert. Naukeurige beschryving van Asie: behelsende de gewesten van Mesopotamie, Babylonie, Assyrie, Anatolie, of Klein Asie: beneffens eene volkome beschrijving van gantsch gelukkigh, woest, en petreesch of steenigh Arabie. Vertoont in een bondigh ontwerp van 's lands benamingen, bepalingen, . . . inzonderheit die van d'oude Arabieren, Mahomet en Mahometanen.
Amsterdam, Jacob van Meurs, 1680. Folio. With engraved frontispiece, 3 double-page maps (of Basra and surroundings, Anatolia and the Arabian Peninsula), 12 double-page or folding views (partly drawn by Charles Vasteau). Near contemporary blind-stamped vellum. [8], 357, [3], 324, [4] pp. Full description

€ 9,500

11 articles on the history of the Islamic world, including the autobiography of Ibn Khaldun

DEFRÉMERY, Charles and others. [Collection of 11 French offprints and extracts on the Islamic world].
[Paris (1 Leipzig), 1831-1859]. 11 items in 1 volume. 8vo. With many passages in Arabic. Contemporary half vellum. Full description

€ 6,500

French map of the Arabian peninsula, flanked by a description

[DESNOS, Louis Charles]. De l'Arabie.
[Paris, ca. 1760]. Engraved map (plate size: 31.5 x 54.5), coloured by a contemporary hand, with 6 scale bars at the foot left, and the map with engraved text on the left and right containing a description of Arabia. On laid paper (37.5 x 56.5). Full description

€ 950

Incunable edition of an influential second century description of the antique world,
including early mentions of China and Arabia

DIONYSIUS Periegetes. [incipit :] ... de situ orbis habitabilis ...
[Colophon:] Venice, Franz Renner, 1478. Small 4to (19 x 14 cm). With the first four lines printed in red and 9 white on black decorated woodcut initials (1 series), plus 1 repeat. Set in roman type, 26 lines to a page, with two words in Greek. Modern blind-tooled calf. [36] ll. Full description

€ 35,000

Archaeological sites in the Middle East, with 143 reproductions of photographs

DJEMAL PASCHA, Ahmed and Theodore WIEGAND. Alte Denkmaler aus Syrien, Palastina und Westarabien. 100 Tafeln mit beschreibendem Text.
Berlin, Georg Reimer, 1918. Folio (34.5 x 24 cm). WIth 100 plates with 143 reproductions of photographs. Original red publisher's cloth, with the title in Arabic and German on the front board. 10 pp., 100 ll. Full description

€ 4,500

Photographs of the ruling family of Dubai during a state visit to Pakistan

[DUBAI – ROYAL FAMILY]. Photograph album.
Pakistan, Early 1970s. 40 photographs (29 in colour and 11 black-and-white). Various sizes (300 x 207 mm to 125 x 125 mm). Includes 51 original colour slides. Stored in large, six-leaf self-adhesive tan leather album (oblong folio, 43 x 34 cm). Full description

€ 35,000

1565/66 pilgrimage to the Middle East, with author's portrait, coat of arms and 6 illustration plates

FÜRER VON HAIMENDORF, Christoph. Itinerarium Aegypti, Arabiae, Palaestinae, Syriae, aliarumque regionum orientalium.
Nuremberg, Abraham Wagenmann, 1621 (colophon: Nuremberg, printed by Abraham Wagenmann, 1620). Small 4to. With finely engraved full-page portrait of the author by Peter Isselberg, full-page engraved Fürer von Haimendorf coat of arms, 6 folding engraved plates. Contemporary limp sheepskin parchment. [16], 118, [114] pp. Full description

€ 12,500

Diplomatic treaty between the UK and North Yemen

FURLONGE, Sir Geoffrey Warren, and Qadi al-AMRI. Exchange of notes regarding relations between the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the government of the Yemen.
London, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1951. With a woodcut British Royal arms on the title-page. In a blue paper wrapper with a clear plastic front. 8 pp. Full description

€ 350

Five treatises in French concerning the Arabs and Turks, including a translation of an account of a pilgrimage to Mecca

GALLAND, Julien-Claude. Recueil des rits et cérémonies du pelerinage de la Mecque, auquel on a joint divers ecrits relatifs à la religion, aux sciences & aux mœurs des Turcs.
Amsterdam; Paris, Jean Desaint and Charles Saillant, 1754. 8vo. Contemporary mottled, tanned sheepskin, gold-tooled spine. VIII, 215, [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 3,950

The most accurate map of India and the Gulf region to its time

[GASTALDI, Giacomo]. Seconda tavola.
[Venice], Ferrando Bertelli, 1565 [printed ca. 1570]. Engraved map of the Indian Ocean, Indian subcontinent and most of the Gulf region (28 x 39 cm; margins extended to 50 x 66.5 cm), at a scale of about 1:13,500,000 with north at the foot, with 3 sea monsters, a spouting whale and 3 ships in the ocean; and on the land elephants, lions and 2 people on horseback carrying spears. Although printed from a single copper plate, the present map image is divided into two parts, with a 7 mm gap between the right and left halves, so that nothing would be lost if the map were bound as a double-page plate. Full description

€ 18,000

Marking the brief golden age of Christianity in the Arabian peninsula

GREGENTIUS, Saint. [Title in Greek followed by:] Disputatio cum Herbano Iudaeo: nunc primùm Graecè edita, cum interpretatione Nic. Gulonii, Carnutis, literarum Graecarum professoris regii, notis illustrata. Hoc dialogo sides Christiana tum divinorum oraculorum exposition, tum miraculorum effectu confirmatur.
Paris, Fédéric Morel, 1586. 8vo. With text in Latin and Greek on facing pages. Contemporary sheepskin parchment. [8], 204 ll. Full description

€ 6,500

A 1780s voyage through Turkey via Aleppo to Basra and via Muscat back to Europe

GRIFFITHS, John. Neue Reise in Arabien, die europäische und asiatische Türkey. Nach dem Englischen für Deutsche bearbeitet von K.L.M. Müller.
Leipzig, J.C. Hinrichs, 1814. 2 volumes bound as 1. 8vo. With an engraved folding frontispiece view and 3 engraved maps (2 large folding), the view coloured, 1 map with the Ottoman-Persian border coloured in blue and red, and all three maps with the route coloured in red. Mid 19th-century boards covered with marbled paper, with the arms of Friedrich Wilhelm IV, King of Prussia in gold on the front board. [10], 125, [3 blank]; [1], [1 blank], 154 pp. Full description

€ 2,500

Carpets and rugs from Turkey and Persia, with 120 colour-printed plates

GROTE-HASENBALG, Werner. Der Orientteppich[:] seine Geschichte und seine Kultur.
Berlin, Scarabaeus (colophon: Dr. Selle & Co.), 1922. 3 volumes (26 x 26 cm). The text volume with colour-printed frontispiece, 28 plates numbered I-XXII (13 colour-printed), 139 numbered and 14 unnumbered illustrations in text, and a folding map; the two plate volumes with a total of 120 colour-printed plates mounted on grey-black paper. Original publisher's cloth. XVI, [2 blank], 228, [8] pp. (text) Full description

€ 1,250

Carpets and rugs from Turkey and Persia, with 120 colour-printed plates

GROTE-HASENBALG, Werner. Der Orientteppich[:] seine Geschichte und seine Kultur.
Berlin, Scarabaeus (colophon: Dr. Selle & Co.), 1922. 3 volumes (26 x 26 cm). The text volume with colour-printed frontispiece, 28 plates numbered I-XXII (13 colour-printed), 139 numbered and 14 unnumbered illustrations in text, and a folding map; the two plate volumes with a total of 120 colour-printed plates mounted on grey-black paper.Original publishers cloth. XVI, [2 blank], 228, [8] pp. plus plates(text). Full description

€ 950

A key for the Western knowledge of Arabia at the beginning of the 20th century,
by the man who inspired Lawrence of Arabia

HOGARTH, David George. The penetration of Arabia.
London, Lawrence and Bullen, Ltd., 1904. Large 8vo. With 50 photographs of Medina, Mecca (incl. the Kabah, pilgrims camping outside the city praying in the Great Mosque-Precinct and at the Tomb, mostly after the photographs of Snouck Hurgronje), Maskat, Sana, Jidda; portraits of explorers such as Carsten Niebuhr, J.L. Burckhardt, G.A. Wallin, Richard Burton, J. Snouck Hurgronje, Jos. Halévy, W.G. Palgrave, W.S. and Lady Anne Blunt and others, maps of their routes through Arabia and several maps and plans of Arabia, Yemen, Oman, Mecca, Medina, Sana, Riad, etc.; the Teima stone, the first published Himyaritic inscriptions, etc. At the end are bound two folding coloured maps on one large leaf (345 x 675 mm) containing (1) the orthographical, and (2) the land surface features of Arabia. Original green publisher's cloth, title in gold on the front board with a gold-tooled section of a compass with the signs of the zodiac, title in gold on the spine. XV, 359 pp. Full description

€ 450

1472 incunable encyclopaedia of the world,
containing references to Arabia, Syria, Palestine and the Saracens

HONORIUS AUGUSTODUNENSIS (HONORIUS OF AUTUN). [Incipit:] ... de ymagine mundi.
[Nuremberg, Anton Koberger, 1472(?)]. Folio (31 x 22 cm).Rubricated throughout and about half of the spaces left for initials filled in by hand in red ink. 19th-century red sheepskin. [46], [1 blank] ll. Full description

€ 45,000

An excellent source on Iraq and the Gulf

HOPE, William Edward Stanton. Arabian adventurer. The story of Haji WIlliamson.
London, Robert Hale, 1951. 8vo. With 23 half-tone photographic illustrations, one as a frontispiece. Original purple-blue cloth with gold lettering on the spine. 335 pp. Full description

€ 1,500

Massive navigational directory, with sections on the Arabian Sea, the Red Sea and the Gulf

HORSBURGH, James, Gerrit KUIJPER and D. BOES LUTJENS. Zeemans-gids, naar, in en uit Oost-Indiën, China, Japan, Australiën, de Kaap de Goede Hoop, Braziliën en tusschenliggende havens, volgens de vierde Engelsche uitgave van James Horsburgh, ...
Amsterdam, C.F. Stemler, (back of half-title: printed in Haarlem by H. Bakels), 1841. 4to. Contemporary half calf, spine lettered in gold, marbled sides. I-XII, [2], XIII-XXIV, XXVIII, 1376 pp. Full description

€ 3,750

Massive navigational directory, this edition updated with information on the northeast coasts of Africa and Arabia

HORSBURGH, James. The India directory, or, directions for sailing to and from the East Indies, China, Australia, and the interjacent ports of Africa and South America ... Seventh edition.
London, Wm. H. Allen & Co. (back of title-pages: printed by Cox and Wyman), 1855. 2 volumes. Large 4to (28 x 23 cm). Contemporary half calf; rebacked with the original backstrips laid down. XII, XXXIV, [2], “681”[=683], [1 blank]; VIII, 978 pp. Full description

€ 18,000

Ancient Hebrew & other Middle Eastern, Greek, Roman and Arabic numbers, coins, weights and measures

HOST, Matthäus (Matthaeus HOSTUS). Historiae rei nummariae veteris scriptores aliquot insigniores ...
Including:
HOST, Matthäus. Tres libros de veteribus mensuris ...
HOST, Matthäus. Quaedam opuscula variae ...
[SARDI, Alessandro] (misattributed to John SELDEN). Liber de nummis ...
LABBE, Philippe. Bibliotheca nummaria ...
BUDÉ, Guillaume. De asse et partibus ejus libri quinque.
Leiden, Pieter van der Aa, 1695 (colophon at the end of Hosts works: Jena, Johann Zacharias Nisius, 1692). 15 works in 5 volumes, paginated as 3 and bound as 2. 4to. With 2 engraved portraits (vol. I) and 3 folding tables. Contemporary or near contemporary vellum. [36], 372, [8]; [26], “637” [= 535], [7], [2 blank], [lacking 1-2], 3-716, [86] pp. Full description

€ 4,500

Trade within Ethiopia

[HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT - ETHIOPIA]. No. 2531 annual series. Diplomatic and consular reports. Abyssinia. Reports for the year 1899-1900 on the trade of Adis Abbaba and Harrar.
London, Harrison and sons, 1900. Folio. With a folding lithographed map with some coloured details. Bound as sewn. 25, [1] pp. Full description

€ 1,250

With a folding map situating the Garden of Eden near Al Basrah, Iraq

HUET, Pierre Daniel. Trattato della situazione del Paradiso terrestre ... Tradotta dalla lingua Francese.
Venice, Giambatista Albrizzi, 1737. Small 8vo (15.5 x 10 cm). With an engraved frontispiece incorporating a map, the engraved arms of the dedicatee Marc'Antonio Morosini above the dedication, and a folding engraved map (22.5 x 19 cm). Contemporary sprinkled tanned sheepskin, gold-tooled spine. [48], 234, [2 blank] pp. Full description

€ 1,500

British military terrain map of the Persian Gulf, published in Calcutta

HUNTER, Frederic Fraser (editor); Sir Sidney Gerald BURRARD (director). Southern Asia series - Southern Persia sheet - Persia, Arabia and Turkey in Asia
[Dehradun, Survey of India Office], sold at the Map Record and Issue Office, Calcutta, 1912. 61.5 x 88 cm. Large photozincographed (heliozincographed) folding map on a scale of 1:2,000,000 in black, blue and red, with relief shown by contours, hachures and gradient tints. Folded. Full description

€ 15,000

Pamphlet advertising the independance of Hedjaz

[HUSSEIN BIN ALI, Sharif of Mecca and Frederick Stanley MAUDE]. The king of Hedjaz and Arab independence ... together with the proclamation issued at Baghdad by Lieut.- General Sir Stanley Maude, after the occupation of that city by the British forces.
London, Hayman, Christy and Lilly Ltd., 1917. 8vo. With a photographic portrait of Hussein bin Ali for frontispiece and a folding facsimile proclamation (38 x 28 cm). Original stapled wrappers with red lettering on front wrapper. 14, [1], [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 2,000

Revised and enlarged edition of a 1933 master's thesis on Arabian-Far Eastern relations to ca. 1500

HUZAYYIN, S.A. Arabia and the Far East. Their commercial and cultural relations in Graeco-Roman and Irano-Arabian times.
Cairo, printed by l'institut français d'archéologie orientale, 1942. 27.5 x 18 cm. With 12 relief-printed folding maps with trade routes, some regions, etc. printed in several colours and with the coat of arms of King Fouad I of Egypt on the title page. Original brown publisher's printed paper wrappers with the title of the work and the coat of arms of King Fouad I of Egypt on the front wrapper and the logo of "la Société Royale de Géographie d'Égypte" on the back wrapper. [2 blank], XXIX, [1 blank], 319, [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 1,800

Map of Iran and Iraq in the 1930s

[MAP - IRAN - IRAQ]. PHILIP & SON. Iran (Persia) and Iraq.
London, George Philip & sons, [1930s]. Colour printed map, 54 x 68 cm, with yellow covers (19.5 x 11 cm). Full description

€ 650

A teenage sailor’s adventures in Arabia, Mumbai and elsewhere

JAMES, Silas. A narrative of a voyage to Arabia, India; &c; ...; with remarks on the genius and disposition of the natives of Arabia Felix; ...
London, printed by William Glindon, sold by the author, [1797]. 8vo. With a frontispiece portrait of the author engraved by William Newman. Modern dark brown calf, gold-tooled spine. “VI” [= VIII], 7, [1 blank], [1], 10-232 pp. Full description

€ 8,500

Very rare Dutch picaresque novel, with the female protagonist getting caught by pirates
and ending up in the household of an Arabic slave trader

[KERSTEMAN, Petrus Lievens]. De vermakelyke avanturesse, of de dienstmaagd van fortuin. Vervattende hare zonderlinge levensgevallen, ontelbare wederwaardigheden en rampen; zeltzame ontmoetingen, en koddige vryagien; deszelfs driejarige dienst als lakye, gevangenneming op de Moorsche kusten, en hare slavernye in Asia by de Arabieren.
Amsterdam, Steven van Esveldt, 1754. 8vo. With engraved frontispiece. Contemporary mottled half calf, gold-tooled spine, later endpapers. [4], 360 pp Full description

€ 3,500

The past and present of the oral traditions of Bedouin tribes in Arabia,
discussed by a renowned Dutch scholar of Arabian languages and cultures

KURPERSHOEK, Paul Marcel. Oral poetry & narratives from Central Arabia.
1. The poetry of ad-Dindân A Bedouin Bard in Southern Najd.
2. The story of a Desert Knight The legend of Sçwîh al-'Atâwi & Other 'Utaybah Heroes.
3. Bedouin poets of the Dawâsir Tribe Between Nomadism & Settlement in Southern Najd.
Leiden, New York, Köln, Brill, 1994-1999. 3 volumes. Large 8vo. With 2 portraits as frontispieces in vols. 1 and 2. 16 pages with illustrations and 2 maps at the end of vols. 2 and 3. Red cloth with title information in gold on front cover and spine of all 3 vols. All 3 vols. have a dust jacket. XVII, [5 368, [4]; XIV, [4], 512, [2]; XX, 506, [4] pp. Full description

€ 850

Guide for new employees of the Kuwait Oil Company arriving in Al Ahmadi

KUWAIT OIL COMPANY. Information for new engagements on joining the Kuwait Oil Company, Limited, Kuwait.
Al Ahmadi, Kuwait Oil Company, 18 June 1952. Small folio (33 x 20.5 cm). Duplicated typescript, printed on the rectos only in purple ink, probably with a spirit duplicator. Loose sheets, stapled together at the left top corner with holes punched in the left margin. [2], 22 pp. Full description

€ 2,500

Explorations in Arabia and vicinity, with 69 spectacular plates

LABORDE, Léon Emmanuel Simon Joseph de. Voyage de l'Arabie Pétrée.
Paris, Giard (colophon: printed by the Imprimerie Normale/Jules Didot l'ainé), 1830[-1834]. Royal 1mo (42 x 59.5 cm). With lithographic title-page (with a large lithographed title vignette separately printed on "India" paper and mounted on the title-page) and lithographed coat of arms of the dedicatee Wilhelm II of Hesse printed directly on dedication leaf, 69 lithographed plates (3 double-page and 1 larger folding) showing views, maps and plans after Laborde and Linant de Bellefonds, most separately printed on "India" paper and mounted on the leaves. With 1 zoological plate (of a marmot and young: "El Oueber") subtly coloured as published. Period-style half calf with gilt title to spine. Full description

€ 45,000

Travels through the Middle East, India and Europe, with 34 woodcut illustrations, including several trees

LA BOULLAYE LE GOUZ, Francois de. Les voyages et observations du sieur de la Boullaye-le-Gouz gentil-homme Angevin...
Paris, Francois Clousier, 1653. 4to. With a woodcut and an engraved author's portrait, 34 woodcut illustrations in text, including several full-page, and some woodcut initals, head- and tailpieces. Contemporary calf, gold-tooled spine. [16], 540, [10], [2 blank] pp. Full description

€ 18,000

Photographic portrait of future King Saud of Saudi Arabia, with very high quality colouring turning it largely into a painting

[PHOTOGRAPH - HAND COLOURED]. LAFAYETTE STUDIO. [Crown Prince Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia].
[London, 1935]. Matt silver print (ca. 28 x 36 cm), watercolour, pastel, gouache and oil paint. Mounted on paper in a passe-partout. Signed "Lafayette" in pencil on the mount. In a wooden frame (ca. 53 x 64 cm), under glass. Full description

€ 35,000

First edition of an account of the Arabic interpreter who accompanied a Napoleonic spy on his mission throughout the Middle East

LAMARTINE, Alphonse de & Henri Bosch (editor). Récit du séjour de Fatalla Sayeghir chez les Arabes Errans du grand désert, manuscrit acquis et traduit en Français.
Brussels, Sociétés de Paris, Londres et Bruxelles, 1835. 8vo. With a small vignette of a harp with a star in the background on the title page. Browned paper wrappers, with a white label on the spine with "68" in brown ink. [1], [1 blank], [2], VII, [1 blank], 109, [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 350

Around the world in 1180 days, with 2 folding maps and 31 steel-engraved views

LAPLACE, Cyrille Pierre Théodore. Campagne de circumnavigation de la frégate l'Artémise, pendant les annéees 1837, 1838, 1839 et 1840, ... Tome premier[-sixième].
Paris, Arthus Bertrand, 1841-1854. 6 volumes. 8vo. With 2 large folding engraved maps and 31 steel-engraved views. With the maps coloured in outline or partly coloured, and with the routes indicated and coloured. Contemporary boards, covered with the publisher's original green printed paper. XXXIX, [1 blank], 343, [1 blank], [3], [1 blank]; [3], [1 blank], 467, [1 blank], [3], [1 blank]; [3], [1 blank], 548, [1], [1 blank]; [3], [1 blank], 464, [3], [1 blank]; [3], [1 blank], III, [1 blank], 542, [2]; [3], [1 blank], 400 pp. Full description

€ 22,500

T. E. Lawrence's anonymous account of the Arab movement in the Great War

[LAWRENCE, Thomas Edward]. Harry PIRIE-GORDON (editor). A brief record of the advance of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force under the command of General Sir Edmund H.H. Allenby. July 1917 to October 1918. Compiled from official sources and published by the Palestine News.
Cairo, Government Press and Survey of Egypt, 1919. Small folio (22.5 x 29.5 cm). With a frontispiece portrait of Allenby, mounted on cloth, and 56 coloured maps with explanatory texts on the facing pages. Contemporary half linen. [6], 113, [1] pp. Full description

€ 3,000

Illustrated eye-witness accounts and tall tales: sixty years of a sailor's world travels

LE BLANC, Vincent. De vermaarde reizen van de heer Vincent Le Blanc van Marsilien, die hy sedert d'ouderdom van veertien jaren, tot aan die van zestig, in de vier delen des werrelts gedaan heeft ...
Amsterdam, Jan Hendricksz. Boom, Jan Rieuwertsz., 1654. 2 parts in 1 volume. 4to. With engraved title-page and 7 engraved plates. 19th-century boards. [1], [1 blank], 152, 116 pp. Full description

€ 4,500

Journal of a 1674/75 overland voyage through India, Iran, Iraq and Syria to Amsterdam

LEEUWENSON, Joannes (Pieter Arend LEUPE, ed. & intro.). Eene overlandreis uit Indië naar Nederland, in 1674-1675.
[Amsterdam, Frederik Muller, 1863]. 8vo. Offprint, retaining the original pagination and collation, of an article in Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië, 6 (1863). 20th-century stiff paper wrappers, with a printed label on the front. pp. [89], 90-142. Full description

€ 1,250

Crucial, state of the art research into new ways of storing oil and gas underground
at the beginning of the 1980s

LINDBLOM, Ulf and Wissam S. AL-HASHIMI (editors). First Arab seminar on underground storage of oil and gas.
Stockholm, 1981. Large 8vo. With approximately 150 figures, illustrations, photographs, maps, graphs, formulas and tables in the text, and 24 pages of Arabic text including a separate title-page at the end of the work. Original publisher's green cloth. XIX, [5], 261, [3], 22, [2] pp. Full description

€ 650

Famous work on the Middle East, illustrated with very early photogravures of the Holy Land

LUYNES, Honoré d'Albert de. Voyage d'exploration à la mer Morte, à Petra et sur la rive gauche du Jourdain. ... Oeuvre posthume publiée par ses petit-fils sous la direction de M. le Comte de Vogüé.
Paris, Arthus Bertrand (on back of half-title: printed by E. Martinet (vols. 1-2) and Arnous de Rivière (vol. 3)), [1874]. 3 volumes of text and 1 atlas of plates. Imperial 4to (35.2 x 26.5 cm). With 14 numbered lithographed plates in volume 3 (4 double-page chromolithographed maps, views and geological sections; 2 further geological plates and 8 plates showing archaeological specimens), 85 plates in the atlas volume (including 65 photogravures and double-page chromolithographed maps) and numerous wood-engravings in the text. Set in roman and italic types with occasional passages in Greek and especially Arabic. Text volumes in original publisher's letterpress-printed light blue wrappers, atlas in half cloth portfolio with the original publisher's letterpress-printed paper sides, matching the text volumes; the 4 volumes preserved in 2 modern black half calf clamshell boxes. [8], 388; [6], 226; [4], VI, 326; [4] pp. Full description

€ 35,000

Maffei's account of the East and West Indies

MAFFEI, Joan Petro. Historiarum Indicarum libri XVI. Selectarum, item, ex India epistolarum libri IV...
Antwerp, Martinus Nutius, 1605. 8vo. With woodcut device on title-page and woodcut initials. Contemporary vellum with faint manuscript title on spine and a small gilt-stamped rooster in the centre of the boards, remains of ties. [72], 478, [2 blank]; 401, [7] pp. Full description

€ 6,500

Extremely rare example of the largest globe engraved by Malby (45.5 cm diameter), with lines of magnetic variation, London 1848, showing “Debai” (Dubai)

[GLOBE - TERRESTRIAL]. MALBY & CO. Malby's terrestrial globe.
[London], Malby & Co. (engraved by Chas. Malby), 1 January 1848. Diameter: 45.5 cm (18 inch), height in stand: 64.5 cm. An engraved terrestrial globe with 12 gores and 2 polar caps over a plaster-covered core, and the engraved horizon ring on the wooden stand, all coloured by a contemporary hand. In a contemporary wooden stand with 3 turned legs supporting the horizon ring, and 3 turned stretchers with a cylindrical centrepiece with a knob on the underside. Further with a contemporary brass hour circle and a slightly later iron meridian ring (and probably the axis pivots). Full description

€ 35,000

14th-century tales of travels in Turkey, the Middle East, Near East, India and the East Indies,
illustrated with about 60 woodblocks

MANDEVILLE, John [= Jehan d'OUTREMEUSE]. The voyages & travels of Sir John Mandevile, Knight, ... to the Holy Land, and to Hierusalem: as also to the lands of the Great Caan, and of Prestor John: to Inde, and divers other countries: ...
London, Richard Chiswell, Benjamin Walford, Matthew Wotton, George Conyers, 1696. 4to. With a woodcut ship on the title-page and about 60 woodcut illustrations in the text (mostly about 5.5 x 8 cm) plus about 10 repeats. Gold-tooled, red goatskin morocco by Robert Riviere in London (ca. 1875/80), one of England's best binders. [4], “139” [= 135], [5] pp. Full description

€ 22,500

An Arabist advocating archaeological research of the Near East

MANGER, Samuel Hendrik. Oratio inauguralis, de incremento philologiae sacrae ab idonea Arabiae atque Palaestinae exploratione sperando.
Franeker, Willem Coulon, 1762. Folio. With the woodcut coat of arms of Friesland on the title-page. Mid-19th-century marbled wrappers. [4], 67, [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 1,250

About 135 lithographic paper cut-outs (not cut out) for a caravan to Mecca

[MECCA - PAPER CARAVAN CUT-OUTS]. Carawane nach Mecca.
Vienna, Matthias Trentsensky (printed by E. Sieger), ca. 1855. Oblong folio (25 x 40 cm). With 19 (of 24) numbered leaves containing about 135 lithographic pen-drawings, each drawing including a base so that one can cut them out, paste them on card stock, stand them up and arrange them in three-dimensional scenes. Loose leaves in a later paper folder. ll. 6-24 (of 24). Full description

€ 8,500

Field guide for officers during the Mesopotamian campaign (1914-1918), with a folding map

[MESOPOTAMIA]. [Indian Army General Staff]. For official use only. Field notes. Mesopotamia. General staff, India. February 1917.Including: Index to field notes, Mesopotamia, 1917.
Calcutta, Superintended government printing, 1917. Small 8vo. With 1 folding heliozincographed map of "Lower Mesopotamia", with some routes in red, and three folding letterpress tables. Original green cloth. [3], [1], 326(=325), [1]; [1], [1 blank], XX pp. Full description

€ 6,500

Instructions for Carsten Niebuhr's expedition to Arabia

MICHAELIS, Johann David. Recueil de questions, proposées à une société de savants, qui par ordre de Sa Majesté Danoise font le voyage de l'Arabie.
Amsterdam, S.J. Baalde; Utrecht, J. van Schoonhoven & comp., 1774. 4to. Set in roman type with incidental Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, Syriac and 1 word in Coptic. Near-contemporary tanned sheepskin, gold-tooled spine. [4], XLIV, 256, [16], 38, [2 blank] pp. Full description

€ 3,500

Enormous panoramic Middle Eastern view with ruins, nearly 6 metres long

[VIEW - MIDDLE EAST]. [Mountainous landscape with Middle Eastern and classical Roman ruins, 6 shepherds with their flocks, several figures riding dromedaries and one riding a donkey, (date?) palms, lakes, etc.].
[Palestine?, ca. 1910?]. An enormous panoramic view drawn in coloured gouaches on a single, continuous roll of paper (70 x 583 cm), the drawing running to the edges of the paper. Full description

€ 35,000

The Arabian oil fields and pipelines in the late 1930s

[MAP - MIDDLE EAST]. Geographical Publishing Company. Arabia and near bordering countries.
Including:
- Palestine
- Iran (Persia) and surrounding territory
Chicago, Geographical publishing company, [ca. 1936-1941]. Colour printed map, 54 x 40 cm. Full description

€ 1,500

A monthly promoting dialogue between Arabs and Jews

[MIDDLE EAST]. New outlook: Middle East monthly.
Tel Aviv, Tazpioth, 1957-1975. 18 instalments, plus 1 duplicate. 8vo. Original wrappers. Full description

€ 1,250

Two British voyages to the Middle East and the Moghul Empire

MILDENHALL, John, John CARTWRIGHT and [Samuel PURCHAS (editor)]. Oost-Indise voyagien van Johan Mildenhal en Johan Cartwright; onder veel avontuuren en opmerkelyke waarnemingen, (in de jaren 1599 en 1606) te water en te lande, gedaan na de landen van Persien en den Grooten Mogol.
Leiden, Pieter van der Aa, 1706. Folio. With an engraving on the title-page by Jan Goeree, 2 engraved illustrations in text and a woodcut tailpiece. Modern decorated cloth, dark blue title-labels. 10 ll. Full description

€ 750

First complete edition of Cosmas's Christiana topographia describing his travels
in the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf

MONTFAUCON, Bernard de (editor). Collectio nova patrum et scriptorum Graecorum, Eusebii Caesariensis, Athanasii, & Cosmae Aegyptii.
Paris, Claudius Rigaud, 1707. 2 volumes. Folio. With 4 engraved plates, and 3 woodcut illustrations in the text. Each volume with an engraved headpiece, the first incorporating the coat of arms of Pope Clement XI, and the second that of Jean-Paul Bignon. Contemporary calf, richly gold-tooled spine and binding edges. [14], XL, [1], [1 blank], 732, [26], [2 blank]; [16], LXVIII, 112, [2], I-XXIV, 113-593, [26], [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 25,000

Handbook to western Arabia, intended for British naval officers only

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE DIVISION, [SCOTT, Hugh, a.o.]. Western Arabia and the Red Sea, B.R. 527 (restricted) geographical handbook series for official use only.
(Colophon: Oxford, University press), Naval Intelligence division, 1946. 8vo. With 357 reproductions of photographs on 90 plates, numerous (folding) maps and illustrations in text and 1 separate folding map. Original publisher's green cloth. XIX, [1 blank], 659, [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 600

Navigating the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden

[NAVIGATION - RED SEA]. Red Sea and Gulf of Aden pilot comprising the Suez canal, the gulfs of Suez and 'Aqaba, the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, ...
Including: Supplement no. 1-1957 relating to the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden pilot, tenth edition ...
London, published by the Hydrographic Department, Admiralty, 1955-1957. 8vo. With a folding map (printed on both sides), 2 coloured plates with diagrams (printed on both sides), 28 plates showing coastlines and occasionally a map (many printed on both sides), and many some illustrations in text. Original blue cloth; supplement with original printed paper wrappers. LI, [1 blank], 518, [1], [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 1,750

First German edition of the first independent gemological book by a British author

NICOLS, Thomas. Edelgestein-Büchlein, oder Beschreibung der Edelgesteine. Derer Gestalt, Kräffte und Tugenden, Eigenschafften, Preis und Werth. Samt bengefügten Warnungen für Betrug an alle diejenigen, so mit Edelsteinenen handeln und umbgehen ... Übersetzet und herausgegeben von Johann Langen.
Hamburg, Johann Naumans and Georg Wolff, 1675. 8vo. Contemporary vellum. [16], 249, [7] pp. Full description

€ 1,700

A superb set of two lavishly illustrated descriptions of Arabia and the Middle East

NIEBUHR, Carsten. Beschryving van Arabie.
Amsterdam, Steven Jacobus Baalde; Utrecht, Johannes van Schoonhoven & comp. (colophon: printed by Johan Joseph Besseling, Utrecht), 1774. With engraved title-page and 25 engraved plates, including 7 folding showing 1 view of military exercises, 2 Kufic inscriptions (coloured by hand) and 4 maps. The unnumbered map of Yemen (plate size 58.5 x 39 cm) is coloured by hand in outline.
With: (2) NIEBUHR, Carsten. Reize naar Arabië en andere omliggende landen.
Amsterdam, Steven Jacobus Baalde; Utrecht, Johannes van Schoonhoven & comp. (colophons: printed by Johan Joseph Besseling, Utrecht), 1776-1780. With 2 engraved title-pages and 125 engraved plates (38 folding). 2 works in 3 volumes. Large 4to (28.5 x 22.5 cm). Contemporary sprinkled and polished half calf. Untrimmed. [6], XXXXI, [1], 408, [14]; [2], VIII, [6], 484, [2]; [16], 455, [1] pp. Full description

€ 10,000

Important contribution to the study of the Middle East

NIEBUHR, Carsten. Voyage en Arabie & en d'autres pays circonvoisins. Tome premier[- second]. Traduit de l'Allemand.
Amsterdam, Steven Jacobus Baalde; Utrecht, Barthelemy Wild (colophon: printed by Joh. Jos. Besseling, Utrecht, 1775), 1775-1780. 2 volumes. 4to. With 2 engraved integral title-pages, 124 engraved plates (many folding) and a folding map of Yemen (in partial colour). Contemporary gold-tooled calf. VIII, [6], 409, [1], [1 blank]; VI, [10], 389, [1] pp. Full description

€ 6,000

Early Western printing in Aden: Arab dictionary

NORBURY, Paul Fitzgerald. An abridged Arabic grammar with one hundred and fifty simple conversational scentences and a vocabulary of two thousand five hundred words.
Aden, printed at the Aden Special Prison Press, [1917]. Square 8vo. Printed in English and Arabic type. With a tipped-in paper slip on the title-page: "Since the issue of the first edition it has been possible to test this grammar in regard to its utility in Mesopotamia. The result has been to confirm the correctness of the claim made in para four of the preface". Original publisher's printed hard board covers with red cloth spine. IV, 68 pp. Full description

€ 850

Rare handbooks of the British naval intelligence division on Arabia, Palestine, and Syria

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE DIVISION. Syria. April 1943.
With:
(2) IDEM. Palestine and Transjordan. December 1943.
(3) IDEM. Western Arabia and the Red Sea. June 1943.
Stationery Office, University Press Oxford, 1943-1946.
3 volumes. Many plates, tables and photographs. Each volume including separate fold-out maps, one in colour. Contemporary green cloth with the title in gold on the front boards and the spines. [2], XVI, 485, [1]; [2], XV, [1], 621, [1]; [2], XIX, [1], 659, [1] pp. Full description

€ 1,750

Extensive article on the Middle East oil industry around 1948

[OIL - MIDDLE EAST]. The Petroleum Times. [drop-title]: Review of Middle East oil. A comprehensive illustrated review of all aspects of current developments based on a recent extended tour by Dr. C.T. Barber, ...
London, Brettenhem house, June 1948. 30 x 23.5 cm. With many reproductions of photographs, ground plans, maps, and cross-sections. Later cardboard binder. V-XXX, 115, XXXA-XLVI pp. Full description

€ 1,750

Two magazines issued by the Embassy of Oman

[OMAN]. Oman news.
With: Oman report.
Washington, D.C., Embassy of Oman, 1976-1978. 4to. One issue of the Oman News and three issue of the Oman Report. Full description

€ 275

Rare travel account

OPPENHEIM, Max von. Vom Mittelmeer zum Persischen Golf durch den Hauran, die Syrische Wüste und Mesopotamien.
Berlin, Dietrich Reimer, 1899-1900. 2 volumes. Large 8vo. With 2 (of 3) folding maps in pockets on the inside of the back board and numerous illustrations in the text and on photographic plates. Original illustrated green cloth. XV, [1], 334; [1], 434 pp. Full description

€ 8,500

Propaganda poster for the unity of Arab peoples and the nationalization of oil

[OSPAAAL]. MARTINEZ, Olivio. Unity of the Arab peoples - Nationalization of oil.
[Cuba, 1972]. Poster (ca. 52.5 x 32.5 cm) printed in black and red, with an image of four armed Arabian horsemen, with Arabic text above and below, and with the title in Spanish, French and English at the foot of the poster, together with the logo of the OSPAAAL. Full description

€ 1,500

The Ottoman-Mamluk war and the conquest of Mecca and Medina

[OTTOMAN-MAMLUK WAR]. Omnia que gesta sunt in Orie[n]te inter Sophi & Maximum Turcarum & Suldanum, & que[m]admodum dux Turcaru[m] caepit Alepum & Damascum & Hierusalem cum om[n]ibus circumiace[n]tibus oppidis, & quo[rum] maximus Turcaru[m] voluit audire una[m] missam apud sanctu[m] sepulchru[m] Iesu Christi.
[Basel, Pamphilus Gengenbach, 1518]. 4to. With woodcut illustration on title-page. 19th-century pink wrappers. [6], [2 blank] pp. Full description

€ 35,000

Warmly inscribed by the author

PALGRAVE, William Gifford. Personal narrative of a year's journey through Central and Eastern Arabia (1862-63).
London and New York, Macmillan and Co., 1871. 8vo (ca. 13 x 19 cm). With a linen-backed folding map and 3 extending plans. Contemporary half morocco with maroon cloth over boards, gilt, front board stamped with the owner's initials "G.W.T.", marbled endpapers. [2], VI, [4], 421, [1] pp. Full description

€ 2,500

First edition of Philby's description of Rub' al Khali

PHILBY, Harry St John Bridger. The empty quarter, being a description of the Great South Desert of Arabia known as Rub' al Khali.
London, Constable, 1933. 8vo. With 3 folding maps an 47 illustrations on 32 plates. Original publisher's gilt-stamped green cloth. XXIV, 433, [1] Full description

€ 950

A celebration of the life and career of Ibn Sa'ud, founder and first king of Saudi Arabia

PHILBY, Harry St John Bridger. Arabian jubilee.
London, Robert Hale Limited, 1952. 8vo. With a portrait of king 'Abdul-'Aziz Ibn Sa'ud as the frontispiece, 1 map of Arabia in 1950, and 16 double-sided plates. Black cloth. XIV, 280 pp. Full description

€ 800

The adventurous account of an archaeological expedition to the Kingdom of Yemen

PHILLIPS, Wendell. Qataban & Sheba. Exploring ancient kingdoms on the biblical spice routes of Arabia.
London, Victor Gollancz, 1955. 8vo. With numerous photographic plates. Original publisher's cloth with dustjacket. 335 pp. Full description

€ 300

One of the earliest sources on the Congo and central Africa, complete with all plates and maps

PIGAFETTA, Filippo and Duarte LOPEZ. Relatione del reame di Congo et delle circonvicine contrade tratta dalli scritti & ragionamenti di Odoardo Lopez.
Rome, Bartolomeo Grassi, [1591]. 4to. With an integral engraved architectural title-page (with the coat of arms of the dedicatee Antonio Migliore, Bishop of San Marco), large folding engraved general map of Africa (64×44 cm), large folding engraved map of the Congo (43.5×51.5 cm) and 8 numbered folding engraved plates of plants, animals and inhabitants of the country, by Natalis Bonifazio. Contemporary limp sheepskin parchment. [8], 82, [1], [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 60,000

The British admiralty’s pilot guide for the South Indian Ocean

[PILOT GUIDE]. South Indian Ocean pilot. Comprising Madagascar, Iles Comores, Ile de la Réunion, Mauritius, the Seychelles, the Chagos Archipelago, and other islands lying westward of longitude 80° East. Sixth edition.
London, hydrographic department, admiralty (colophon: printed by Butler & Tanner), 1946. 8vo. With two maps, to be used as an index, 10 plates and a few illustrations in text. Publisher's beige cloth.
With: Supplement no. 5-1956 relating to the South Indian Ocean pilot sixth edition, 1946 corrected to 23 April, 1956.
London, hydrographic department, admiralty (colophon: printed by Tinlling & Co., Liverpool), 1946. 8vo. With a loosely inserted folding plate illustrating the system of buoyage. Publisher's wrappers. XXX, 403, [1]; 46 pp. Full description

€ 750

Only published edition of the original 1521 text of the navigation book of the great Ottoman admiral

PIRI REIS (Paul KAHLE, ed.). Bahrije. Das türkische Segelhandbuch für das Mittelländische Meer vom Jahre 1521.
Berlin and Leipzig, Walter de Gruyter & Co., 1926-1927. 3 volumes. Large 8vo (26 x 18 cm). Volume 1 with 137 reproductions of manuscript pages of Ottoman Turkish text and maps and volume 2 with 4 plates. Publisher's original printed wrappers. [1], [1 blank], [2] pp. + 64 ll. + [4], [1 blank], [1] pp.; ll. 65-137; [1], [1 blank], XLVIII, 88 pp. Full description

€ 2,500

Pliny's “Historia naturalis”, edited by Caesarius, friend of Erasmus

PLINIUS SECUNDUS, Gaius. Naturalis historiae opus ...
(Colophon: Cologne, Eucharius Cervicornus, 1524.) Folio. With both title-page and part-title in a decorated woodcut border in four pieces. Calf (ca. 1700?), with gold-tooled spine; rebacked with original backstrip laid down. [16], 311, [60] ll. Full description

€ 22,500

Pliny's Natural history, annotated by the Italian scholar Hermolaus Barberus

PLINIUS SECUNDUS, Gaius. Opus divinum, cui titulus historiae naturalis, multoqua[m] antehac unqua[m] prodiit in luce[m] castigatius, una cu[m] annotationibus Hermanolai Barbari ...
Paris, Jean Petit (colophon: Nicolaus Sauetier), 1526. 2 parts in 1 volume (bound in reverse order). Folio. With title-page to the main work (bound second) printed in red and black and title-page to the index (bound first), each in a four-piece woodcut border. Contemporary or near contemporary calf, with the boards richly blind-tooled in a panel design; rebacked with part of the original backstrip laid down. [188], [34], "CCCCCXXXVI" [= CCCCCXXXVIII] pp. Full description

€ 18,000

and of permanent scholarly value" (Toomer)">Pococke's celebrated edition of Abu'l-Faraj's Islamic history: "It is his greatest work,
and of permanent scholarly value" (Toomer)

POCOCKE, Edward. Specimen historiae arabum; ... Accessit historia veterum Arabum ex Abu'l Feda: cura Antonii I. Sylvestre De Sacy. Edidit Josephus White, ...
Oxford, Clarendon Press [= Oxford University Press], 1806. 4to. Title-page with engraved view of the Clarendon Building, aquatint author's portrait and 1 full-page etched plate. Contemporary boards. XV, [1 blank], 573, [3 blank] pp. Full description

€ 2,500

One of the earliest maps of Arabia, with unique contemporary illumination

[MAP - ARABIAN PENINSULA]. PTOLEMAEUS, Claudius. [Jacobus ANGELUS, trans.; Nicolaus GERMANUS, ed.]. Sexta Asie Tabula.
Ulm, Lienhart Holle, 1482. Oblong 1mo (whole sheet: 41.5 by 57 cm). With a double-page woodcut map. Finely coloured by a contemporary hand, with near-contemporary manuscript vignette illustrations of an Ababeel bird, Makkah (Mecca) and the Kaaba in pen and wash highlighted in gold. Full description

€ 150,000

Second map of the Arabian peninsula ever published

[MAP - ARABIAN PENINSULA]. PTOLEMAEUS, Claudius. Sexta Asiae tabula.
[Rome, Petrus de Turre, 1490 (engraved Rome, ca. 1478)]. Engraved map of the Arabian peninsula (topographic image 25.5 x 46 cm) printed, as usual, on two joined folio leaves (together 39.5 x 56 cm). Mounted on paper board, in a modern gilt frame (50.5 x 67 cm). Full description

€ 50,000

Manuscript chronicle of the Islamic World 635-1453

[RAMPOLDI, Giovanni Battista]. [Annali Musulmani].
[Tuscany?, ca. 1825]. 4to (20.5 x 14 cm). Manuscript in Italian, written in dark brown ink on (mostly) laid paper. Contemporary or near contemporary half maroon cloth. [531], [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 8,500

A Danish traveller in Kuwait, Saudi-Arabia and Bahrain, meets Mubarak al-Sabah and Ibn Saud, presentation copy

RAUNKIAER, Barclay. Gennem Wahhabiternes land paa kamelryg. Beretning om den af det Kongelige Danske Geografiske Selskab planlagte og bekosterde forskningsrejse i Ost- og Centralarabien 1912.
Copenhagen, Gyldendalske boghandel, Nordisk forlag, 1913. 8vo. With a frontispiece showing the author in Arab garb, 88 illustrations in text, most of them reproductions of drawings and photographs by the author, and a folding map loosely inserted in a pocket at the end. Publisher's green cloth. [1], [1 blank], [2], 304 pp. Full description

€ 5,000

Radical critique of European overseas expansion in 10 volumes. Extremely rare second Dutch edition

RAYNAL, Guillaume Thomas François. Wysgeerige en staatkundige geschiedenis van de bezittingen en den koophandel der Europeaanen, in de beide Indiën.
Amsterdam, Matthijs Schalekamp, 1792-1803. 10 volumes bound as 9. 8vo. With 2 different engraved author's portraits, 8 engraved plates (5 as frontispieces), 12 engraved folding maps and 23 letterpress folding tables. Contemporary half calf, gold-tooled spine. VI, [4], 469, [19]; [8], 533, [1 blank], 11, [1 blank]; [8], 508, [11], [1 blank]; [8], 427, [9], [2 blank]; [8], 365, [9]; [8], 426, [10]; [10], 501, [7]; [8], 458, [11], [1 blank]; [8], 339, [10], [1 blank]; [4], 432, [13], [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 7,500

Only copy located of a hand-coloured print series of Arabian horses, after drawings made in Baghdad

RICH, Claudius James and Siegmund Ferdinand von PERGER. Sammlung und Darstellung verschiedener Pferde intressanter Zuchten, Landeskarten und Rassen ...
Vienna, Müllersche Kunsthandlung, 1815. Oblong folio (31 x 42.5 cm). Engraved print series, including a title-page engraved by Dorneck and 6 numbered engravings of horses engraved by Siegmund Ferdinand von Perger, hand-coloured and loose as issued. [1], VI engraved ll. Full description

€ 12,500

Travelogue of Arabia by a distinguished Lebanese Arab-American writer, with 32 plates

RIHANI, Ameen. Around the coasts of Arabia.
London, Constable & Co., 1930. 8vo. With a pictorial map as frontispiece, 31 photographic half-tone plates and a full-page map on an integral leaf. Original publishers black cloth, with title in gold on spine. X, [2], 364 pp. Full description

€ 1,500

Stunning double-tinted views of the Middle East, after drawings made in 1838 and 1839,
with 250 plates

ROBERTS, David, George CROLY and William BROCKEDON. The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt & Nubia.
London, Day & son (vol. 3: New York, D. Appleton & Co.), 1855-1856. 6 volumes bound as 3. Imperial 8vo (30 x 22 cm). With 250 numbered plates (including 6 tinted lithographed title-pages, 2 stone-engraved maps and 239 tinted and double-tinted lithographed and 2 chromolithographed views). Contemporary, richly gold-tooled reddish-brown morocco, gold-tooled turn-ins, marbled endpapers, gilt and gauffered edges. With thin paper guard leaves facing each plate. Full description

€ 18,000

"The most perfect [pearls] are fished in the Persian Gulf"

[ROSNEL, Pierre de]. Le mercure indien, ou, Le tresor des Indes.
Paris, Robert Chevillon, 1667. Small 8vo. With an engraved coat of arms on the title-pages. Later vellum. [16], 64; [16], 176 pp. Full description

€ 5,000

A compendium for sailing the Indian Ocean, with three charts, second copy located

ROSSER, William Henry. Short notes on the winds, weather, & currents, together with general sailing directions and remarks on making passages; to accompany a chart of the Indian Ocean. With two[=three] illustrations.
London, James Imray and son, 1866. 8vo. With 3 folding lithographed charts (the first as frontispiece and the third possibly extra added). Modern brown cloth, spine with a long vertical leather title-label. [4], 64 pp. Full description

€ 3,500

Sailing routes in the Indian Ocean and a general information about its weather, currents, etc. forecast,
with 2 maps showing the Persian Gulf, Red Sea and Gulf of Aden

€ 1,800

Unique copy in a sumptous Viennese binding

RUDOLF, Archduke of Austria and Hungary. Voyage en Orient. Traduit de lAllemand. Illustrations daprès les dessins originaux de Franz von Pausinger.
Vienna, Imprimerie Imperiale et Royale de la Cour et de lÉtat, 1885. Folio. With 37 etched plates.Contemporary calf, richly gold-tooled front board, spine label, gilt edges. [8], 168, [2] pp. Full description

€ 9,500

5 original glass lantern slides with the earliest photographs of Mecca and Medina

SADIQ BEY, Muhammad, Christiaan SNOUCK HURGRONJE and Al-Sayyid ‘Abd al-GHAFFÂR. [5 photographic lantern slides of Mecca and Medina (silver gelatin glass positives), taken in the years 1880 to 1889].
Stuttgart, Lichtbilderverlag Theodor Benzinger, [ca. 1910]. 5 glass positive lantern slides (8.5 x 10 cm), each with a black paper mask, paper tape around the edges, a letterpress slip at the foot giving the publisher's name and city, and a slip at the head with the manuscript title. Kept in a contemporary purpose-made wooden box with brass fittings, with the word "Mekka" on the top of the hinged lid. Full description

€ 35,000

Road map of Saudi Arabia, with plans of Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam

[SAUDI ARABIA – MAP]. Road map of Saudi Arabia: accurate and most up to date road map.
[Saudi Arabia, 1960s]. Colour-printed folding map (48 x 69.5 cm) of the Arabian peninsula (scale: ca. 1: 5,000,000), with on the back a city map of Jeddah, a plan of the main business quarter of Riyadh, a city plan of Dammam(?), a distance table and 8 photographic city views. Full description

€ 1,800

Road map of Saudi Arabia, with plans of Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam

[SAUDI ARABIA – MAP]. Road map of Saudi Arabia: accurate and most up to date road map.
Karachi, Pakistan, printed at Golden block works, [1970s]. Colour-printed folding map (48 x 69.5 cm) of the Arabian peninsula (scale: ca. 1:5,000,000), with on the back a city map of Jeddah, a plan of the main business quarter of Riyadh, a city plan of Dammam(?), a distance table and 8 photographic city views. Full description

€ 1,750

Annual report of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with 10 maps

[SAUDI ARABIA – MINSTRY OF AGRICULTURE]. Annual report 1382-1383.
Jeddah, Asfahany, [1383 AH (= 1964 AD)]. 8vo. With portraits of His Majesty King Saud Ben Abdulaziz and Prince Faisal Ben Abdulaziz, and 10 maps, including 2 folding. Original publisher's decorated wrappers. [2], 83, [1] pp. English text + maps & 67 pp. Arabic text Full description

€ 1,250

Correspondence of the "lord of the naval and commercial conquest of Arabia, Persia and India"

SILVA, Luiz Augusto Rebello da (et al.). Corpo diplomatico Portuguez contendo os actos e relações politicas e diplomaticas de Portugal.
Lisbon, Typographia da Academia Real das Sciencias / Imprensa Nacional, 1862-1959. 15 volumes (final volume in 2 parts). Small folio (22.5 x 28.5 cm). Uniformly bound in half tan sheepskin, decorated paper sides, gold-tooled spines, decorated endpapers, sprinkled edges. Some original publishers printed wrappers bound in. Full description

€ 18,500

Newly discovered shells from the Arabian Gulf, Taiwan, China and Japan, with a chromolithographed plate

SMITH, Edgar. Descriptions of five new shells from the Island of Formosa and the Persian Gulf, and notes upon a few known species.Including: BOCK, Carl. Descriptions of two new species of shells from China and Japan.
[London], 18 June 1878. With a chromolithographed plate depicting 14 shells. Modern paper wrappers. 727-732 pp. Full description

€ 850

Rare collection of travel accounts, with 12 aquatint views

SOMMER, Johann Gottfried. Merkwaardige bijzonderheden, inhoudende de nieuwste ontdekkingen in de natuurkunde, natuurlijke historie, land- en volkenkunde, op alle gedeelten van den aardbol.
Amsterdam, Ten Brink and De Vries, 1825-1827. 4 volumes. 8vo. With 4 engraved title-pages, each with one of two aquatint views, plus 10 aquatint views on 8 plates, all by H.W. Hoogkamp. Contemporary half calf, gold-tooled spine. VIII, 331, [1 blank]; IV, 316; [IV], 316; [IV], 312 pp. Full description

€ 1,500

The Hadhramaut in Southern Arabia through the eyes and camera lens of Freya Stark

STARK, Freya. Seen in the Hadhramaut.
London, John Murray, 1938. 4to. With the title-page in red and black, 1 map of the Hadhramaut titled: "Seen in the Hadhramaut", and 50 double sided plates. The plates are included in the pagination. Blue cloth with black lettering on front cover and spine. With dust jacket. XXIII, [1 blank], 199, [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 650

Freya Stark's experiences spreading propaganda
for the allied cause in the Middle East during the Second World War

STARK, Freya. East is west.
London, John Murray, 1945. 8vo. Red and black title-page with a small illustration of two people. With a frontispiece, a map of the Middle East on green paper, titled: "East is west by Freya Stark", and 32 double-sided plates. Blue/green cloth. With dust jacket. XXII, 218 pp. Full description

€ 450

Freya Stark's first extensive travels through the Middle East,
described in the second part of her autobiography

STARK, Freya. Beyond Euphrates. Autobiography 1928-1933.
London, John Murray, 1951. 8vo. With a double-page map on green paper, 40 double-sided plates, a green ornament on the title-page and some decorations in the text. Green cloth with gold lettering on front cover and spine. With dust jacket designed by F. Quilter. XIII, [3], 341 [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 580

First part of the autobiography of traveller and writer Freya Stark

STARK, Freya. Traveller's prelude. An autobiography.
London, John Murray, 1951. 8vo. With a double page map on blue/green paper, 22 double-sided plates, a green ornament on the title-page, a small woodcut of Asolo on p.336 and some small decorations in the text. Green cloth with gold lettering on front cover and spine. With a dust jacket designed by F. Quilter. XII, [2], 346 pp. Full description

€ 250

The life and travels - mostly in Southern Arabia - of Freya Stark during the 1930's

STARK, Freya. The coast of incense. Autobiography 1933-1939.
London, John Murray, 1953. 8vo. With 1 map of the Hadhramaut printed on green paper, 20 double-sided plates, 3 illustrations in the text on pp. 76, 77 and 85, a few small tail pieces throughout, and a green ornament on the title-page. Green cloth with gold lettering on spine. XIII, [3], 286, [2] pp. Full description

€ 200

Best edition of Strabo's "Geographika" including Casaubon's notes, with descriptions of the Arabian Peninsula

STRABO. Rerum geographicarum libri XVII.
Paris, typis Regiis [Fédéric Morel], 1620. 2 parts in 1 volume. Folio. With title-page printed in red and black with the engraved coat of arms of Louis XIII, and several woodcut initials, head- and tailpieces. Contemporary gold-tooled parchment, gilt edges. [12], 843, [112]; [4], 282, [8] pp. Full description

€ 8,500

Arabic travel account from the early Abbasid era, concerning China and India: rare English edition

SULAYMAN AL-TAJIR and ABU ZAID HASAN IBN YAZID, AL-SIRAFI. (Eusèbe RENAUDOT, editor). [Silsilat al-tawarik - English]. Ancient accounts of India and China, by two Mohammedan travellers, who went to those parts in the 9th century.
London, Samuel Harding, 1733. 8vo (ca. 12 x 20 cm). With a wood-engraved printer's device and the half-title-page and title-page printed in red and black. Contemporary blind-tooled panelled calf, sewn on 6 supports creating 6 compartments on the gold-tooled spine. With a red morocco title-label lettered in gold on the spine, red sprinkled edges. XXXVII, (1), 260, VII pp. Full description

€ 28,000

On the recent political events in the Arabian Gulf

[SUPPORT COMMITTEE FOR THE LIBERATION MOVEMENT IN THE GULF]. The Gulf Solidarity. Volume 2. 1-2. Nov-Dec 1973. Accomplishments of the revolution. Who rules Oman today? Oil and our national battle. News from the Gulf.
San Francisco, CA, November-December 1973. 4to (21.5 x 18 cm). With 2 reproductions of photographs and 1 map. Original printed paper wrappers. 31, [1] pp. Full description

€ 1,800

On the influence of Great Britain and Iran in Oman

[SUPPORT COMMITTEE FOR THE LIBERATION MOVEMENT IN THE GULF]. The Gulf Solidarity. Iranian invasion - 1 year after. Volume 3: 2-1.
San Francisco, CA, spring 1975. 4to (28 x 21.5 cm). With an illustration on the wrappers and some reproductions of photographs and some maps in the text. Original printed paper wrappers. 16 pp. Full description

€ 1,800

Four articles on the date palm in the Middle East, northern Africa and America

SWINGLE, Walter Tennyson. The date palm and its culture. ... (Reprint from Yearbook of Department of Agriculture 1900).
[Washington, Government printing office, 1900]. With 9 plates with black and white photographic reproductions.
With:
(2) SWINGLE, Walter Tennyson. The date palm and its utilization in the southwestern states.Washington, Government printing office, 1904. With a wood engraved device of the United States department of agriculture on title-page, 21 (of 22) plates (including 2 chromolithographed maps) and 10 illustrations in text.
(3) FAIRCHILD, David Grandison. Persian Gulf dates and their introduction into America.Washington, Government printing office, 1903. With the same wood engraved device on title-page and 4 plates with reproductions of photographs.
(4) KEARNEY, Thomas Henry. Date varieties and date culture in Tunis.Washington, Government printing office, 1903. With the same wood engraved device on title-page and 10 plates with reproductions of photographs.
4 works in 1 volume. 8vo. Modern blue cloth, each work with its original printed paper wrappers bound in. I-V, [1 blank], 453-490; 155, [1 blank]; 32; 112 pp. Full description

€ 3,500

On the Arabs living in the marshes of southern Iraq, with 110 photographs

THESIGER, Wilfred. The marsh Arabs.
London, Longmans, Green and co., 1964. 8vo (21.5 x 14 cm). With a frontispiece, 3 maps in text (including 1 double-page) and 32 plates with reproductions of 109 photographs. Green cloth with illustrated dustjacket. [13], [1 blank], 242 pp. Full description

€ 1,250

Dutch edition of Thévenot's travels in the Levant, with Jan Luyken's splendid illustrations of 1681

THÉVENOT, Melchisedec Jean-Baptiste. Alle de gedenkwaardige en zeer naauwkeurige reizen ...; mitsgaders de voornaamster byzonderheden van d'Archipel, Konstantinopolen, 't Heilige Land, Egypten, de woestynen van Arabie, Mekka ...
Amsterdam, Gerrit Bos, 1731. 4to. With engraved title-page, standing portrait of the author in Eastern garb, 19 engraved plates (including 2 folding) drawn, etched and engraved by Jan Luyken. 18th-century half calf, sprinkled-paper sides, refurbished in the 19th century and with a 20th-century spine label. [4], 484, [4] pp. Full description

€ 2,500

Important anthropological study on the original inhabitants of the southern Arabic Peninsula

THOMAS, Bertram. Anthropological observations in South Arabia.
[offprint from:] Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 42 (1932). Large 8vo. With 2 plates (XI-XII) from photographs: (1) two views on the landscapes of the Sands of Dakara and the Qara Mountains, Arabia; (2) 12 portraits of members of the various tribes of Southern Arabia/Jemen. Blue wrappers with printed title label on the front cover. 83-108 pp. Full description

€ 750

Utopian Ethiopia

URRETA, Luis de. Historia de la Sagrada Orden de Predicadores, en los remotos reynos de la Etiopia.
Valencia, Juan Chrysostomo Garriz, 1611. Small 4to (21 x 15 cm). With the woodcut arms of the Dominican order on title-page, and a variant version on the last page, and 3 woodcuts in text. Further with 24 decorated woodcut initials. Contemporary gold-tooled mottled calf, each board with the coat of arms of the French Seguier family and with the monogram PSMF (Pierre Seguier and his wife Madeleine Fabry) repeated 6 times on the spine. Rebacked (on recessed cords) with the original gold-tooled backstrip laid-down. [16], 410, [6] pp. Full description

€ 35,000

Della Valle's travels in the Near East, Persia and Arabia: "one of the finest works of travel literature" (Howgego)

VALLE, Pietro della. Reiss-Beschreibung in unterschiedliche Theile der Welt, nemlich in Türckey, Egypten, Palestina, Persien, Ost-Indien, und andere weit entlegene Landschaften ...
Geneva, Johann Hermann Widerholds, 1674. 4 volumes bound as 1. Folio. With 31 engraved plates (1 folding), including frontispiece and portraits of the author and his wife, by Jean Jacques Thourneyser. Contemporary vellum. [20], 218, [12], [2 blank]; [4], 236, [12]; [4], 244, [13], [1 blank]; [6], 231, [17] pp. Full description

€ 15,000

First English edition of Varthema’s travels in the Middle East and beyond

[VARTHEMA, Ludovico di, Pietro Martire d’ANGHIERA and others]. The history of travayle in the West and East Indies, ...
London, Richard Jugge, 1577. Narrow 4to (19 x 13.5 cm). With a woodcut celestial map of the South Polar sky in the text. With 14 leaves in a 19th-century facsimile. Gold- and blind-tooled maroon morocco (ca. 1860?), in allusive style. In a modern clam-shell box. [10], 466, [6] ll. Full description

€ 120,000

An English edition of the first account of a European travelling through the Middle East,
visiting Mecca and Medina, to Persia, India, and the East Indies

VARTHEMA, Ludovico di. [transl. John Winter JONES, ed. Norman Mosley PENZER] The itinerary of Ludovico di Varthema of Bologna from 1502 to 1508 as translated from the original Italian edition of 1510, by John Winter Jones, F.S.A. in 1863 for the Hakluyt Society with a discourse on Varthema and his travels in Southern Asia by Sir Richard Carnac Temple [...].
London, The Argonaut Press, 1928. 4to. With 5 maps, the facsimile text of the title-page and colophon of the original 1510 book of Di Varthema, 1 plate, and a small blue illustration (similar to the blind-tooled image on the front board) on the title-page. Half white and half blue cloth with gold lettering on spine. LXXXV, [1 blank], 121, [3] pp. Full description

€ 500

Early work of one of the greatest French mathematicians

VIÈTE, François. Principes de cosmographie, tirez d'un manuscrit de Viette, & traduits en François. Corrigées et augmentées.
Paris, Jean Behourt, 1647. 12mo. With 2 woodcut illustrations in the text (a geocentric universe and a simple geometric figure). Contemporary limp sheepskin parchment. [8], "72" [=172] pp. Full description

€ 11,500

An eye-witness account by an Englishman of the siege of Sanaa in 1911

WAVELL, Arthur John Byng. A modern pilgrim in Mecca and a siege in Sanaa.
London, Constable & Company ltd., 1913. 8vo. With a photo of the author as a frontispiece, 6 plates and 1 folding map of the Arabian Peninsula. Blue cloth with gold lettering on front cover and spine, and blind-tooling on front cover. IX, [1 blank], 349, [1] pp. Full description

€ 450

Important history of the Umayyad Caliphate, printed in Calcutta

WELLHAUSEN, Julius (Margaret Graham WEIR, translator). The Arab kingdom and its fall.
Calcutta, University of Calcutta (printed by Bhupendra Lal Banerji), 1927. 8vo. Modern cloth. XV, [1 blank], [1], [1 blank], 592, [1] pp. Full description

€ 1,800

With two large maps of Yemen

WERDECKER, Josef. A contribution to the geography and cartography of north-west Yemen (based on the results of the exploration by Eduard Glaser, undertaken in the years 1882-1884).
Cairo, lInstitut Français dArchéologie Orientale du Caire, 1939. 8vo. With a portrait of Eduard Glaser, 8 numbered plates and 2 large folding maps. Later half cloth, with the original front wrapper mounted on the front board. [2], 160 pp. Full description

€ 2,800

Biographical dictionary of 254 Islamic scholars (11th-15th century), their writings and their academies, including a 22-page excerpt in Arabic from Ibn Qadi Shuhba’s biographical dictionary

WÜSTENFELD, Ferdinand and Ibn Qadi SHUHBA. Die Academien der Araber und ihre Lehrer. Nach Auszügen aus Ibn Schohba's Klassen der Schafeïten ...
Göttingen, Vanderhoeck & Ruprecht (colophon: printed by Friedrich Ernst Huth), 1837. 8vo. Publisher's original printed wrappers. VIII, 136; 22 pp. Full description

€ 3,500

The Arabian Peninsula through the eyes of the American Christian missionary S.M. Zwemer

ZWEMER, Samuel Marinus. Arabia: the cradle of Islam. Studies in the geography, people and politics of the peninsula with an account of Islam and mission-work.
Edinburgh and London, Oliphant Anderson and Ferrier, [preface dated: Dec. 1900]. 8vo. With a cut-out picture of a Bedouin woman on the verso of the half-title-page, a picture of "a typical Arab of Yemen" as the frontispiece, 15 plates, a floor plan of a mosque, 2 maps and numerous small illustrations in the text. Yellow cloth. [6], 437, [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 650


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Middle East & Islamic World / Arabian Peninsula & Gulf States