Recent Acquisitions

[AHMED-I MISRI and/or SEYHZADE]. BELLETESTE, Henri-Nicolas (editor). [in Arabic type:] Kýrk vezir hikâyeleri ... = Contes Turcs en langue Turque, extraits de roman intitulé, Les quarante vizirs.
Paris, Imprimerie Impériale ("chez" (sold by?) Guillaume Debure and sons), 1812. 4to. With the text in Ottoman Turkish set entirely in Arabic type, with only a second title-page in French, the book opening from the left wrapper with the Turkish title-page and the pages proceeding from left to right, while it opens from the right wrapper with the French title-page. The Turkish and French title-pages, the former in a decorative frame, include Napoleons woodcut imperial coat of arms: eagle clutching a thunderbolt, mantled and with the imperial crown, the collar (with an "N") and badge of the Legion of Honour and the crossed sceptres of mercy and justice, printed from two different blocks (that on the Turkish title-page is smaller and the points of the sceptres extend beyond the mantling). The first page of the text is set in a richly decorated frame in the traditional Islamic style. With: (2) IDEM. A second copy of the same edition, omitting the Turkish title-page and the last 50 leaves (pp. 161-258 & 2 unnumbered), but including the original publishers front wrapper (containing a short form of the title), and with a French manuscript translation of the Turkish text written in the margins.
Ad 1 in contemporary blue paper wrappers with a white printed spine label, stored in a 20th-century custom-made case: half red morocco with the title in gold on the spine and block-printed (green on white) paste-paper sides; ad 2 sewn and with the original publishers printed-paper front wrapper. [2], 258, [2]; 160 pp. Full description

AL-ZAMAKHSHARI, Abu al Qasim Mahmoud ibn Omar (Joseph von HAMMER-PURGSTALL, ed.). Samachschari's Goldene Halsbänder. Als Neujahrsgeschenk arabisch und deutsch.
Vienna, widow of A. Strauss, 1835. 8vo. With two identical plates showing the golden necklace around a calligraphic Arabic inscription, the necklace hand-coloured in gold and the inscription in blue, as a frontispiece for both the Arabic and the German text (on the first and the last page). The Arabic title is incorporated into a printed circular medallion with decorative points at the head and foot on the first page, and the main Arabic text opens on the back of the same leaf with an elaborate headpiece. Text set in German and Arabic. Contemporary green calf (spine faded to brown), with a gold- and blind-stamped frame on each board. [1], [1 blank], 54 pp. (German text); 27, [1] ll. (Arabic text). Full description

ABULCASIS (Abu al-Quasim Khalaf Ibn Al-Abbas). Chirurgicorum omniu[m] primarii, lib. tres.
I. De cauterio cum igne & medicinis acutis per
singula corporis humani membra ...
II. De sectione & perforatione, phlebotomia, & ventosis ...
III. De restauratione & curatione dislocationis me[m]brorum ...
preceded by:
[THEODORUS PRISCIANUS] (mis-attributed to "Octavius HORATIANUS"). Rerum medicarum lib. quatuor ... Per Herma[n]num Comitem a Neüenar, nuper restitutus autor.
Strasbourg, Johannes Schott, 1532 (colophon: 26 February). 2 works in 1 edition. Folio in 6s (32.5 x 21 cm). With a 5-piece woodcut frame on the title-page (each side piece with 2 roundels containing a portrait and coat-of-arms), 8 full-page woodcuts by Hans Wechtlin (ca. 1480-post 1526) and numerous woodcuts in the text. Set in Venetian-style roman types, with 14 mm typographic Roman capitals (probably by Peter Schoeffer the younger) used as initials. Later half sheepskin, with the title in ink on the foot edge. [8], 319, [1 blank] pp. Full description

AL-JAZULI, Muhammad ibn Sulaiman. Dalâ'il al-khayrat. [= "Waymarks of benefits"].
[Eastern Turkestan, now Xinjiang, China, early 17th century CE]. 4to (19 x 14 cm). Manuscript written in black ink on paper in Arabic script, with a red single- or double-line frame around each page, rubricated throughout, and two illustrations on pages 47 and 48) showing the "Ka'ba of Allah" (!) and the burial sites of the first three Rashidun Caliphs. The Arabic script is in the sini calligraphic style used in China, an archaic form mixing features of naskh and muhaqqaq. Contemporary(?) black, red and gold painted and lacquered leather over paper and cloth. The painted sides show floral designs in black and gold on a red background, in a black border with red wave designs. With remnants of leather on the brown cloth spine. [1], 337 pp. Full description

ANTONIO, João Carlos (pseudonym of António Correia de LEMOS). Relaçam de huma solemne, e extraordinaria procissam de preces, que por ordem da corte Ottomana fizeraõ os Turcos na cidade de Meca, no dia 16. de Julho de 1728. ... Primeira[-segunda] parte.
Lisbon, Pedro Ferreira, 1730. 2 volumes bound as 1. 4to. With woodcut title vignettes, headpieces and initials. Modern blue marbled paper wrappers. 23, [1 blank]; 24 pp. Full description

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

[ARCHAEOLOGY - PHILOLOGY] BARTHÉLEMY, Jean-Jacques and others. [Collection of texts on early archaeology and philology].
[Various places], [various publishers], 1760-1827. 9 works in 1 volume. 4to.
Containing:
(1) [CHRISTIE'S - LONDON]. A list of the very rare and valuable Aethiopic and other oriental manuscripts, collected by the celebrated traveller, James Bruce, esq. of Kinnaird, taken from the catalogue of them made by the late Alexander Murray, editor of the travels by Mr. Bruce in Abyssinia.
[London, 1827].
(2) WEBER, Georg Friedrich. Observationes sacrae circa funera populorum orientis. ...
Strasbourg, Joh. Henrici Heitzii, 1767.
With a woodcut headpiece, tailpiece and decorated initial in the prologue.
(3) SEYFFARTH, Gustav [and Friedrich August Wilhelm SPOHN]. Brevis defensio hieroglyphices.
Leipzig, Johann Ambrosius Barth, 1827.
(4) SCHLICHTEGROLL, Friedrich von. Ueber die bey Rosette in Aegypten gefundene dreyfache Inschrift. Erste Abhandlung. Zur Feyer der neun und funfzigsten Wiederkehr des Stiftungstages der k. baier. Akad. der Wisschenschaften in einer öffentlichen Versammlung derselben am 28. März 1818 vorgelesen von Friedrich von Schlichtegroll.
München, Ignaz Joseph Lentner (printer), [1818?].
(5) BARTHÉLEMY, Jean-Jacques. Explication de la mosaïque de Palestrine. Paris, H.L. Guerin & L.F. Delatour, 1760.
With 1 large folding plate of the mosaic, 1 plate showing the names of animals written in the mosaic, and 1 plate showing Samaritan medals (probably mis-bound, printed in 1790).
(6) BARTHÉLEMY, Jean-Jacques. Lettre de m. l'abbé Barthelemy, a messieurs les auteurs du Journal des Sçavans, sur quelques médailles Phéniciennes. [Paris?, 1760].
With 2 plates of the Phoenician medals and Phoenician inscriptions found on Malta, with an elaborate woodcut headpiece and a woodcut tailpiece.
(7) BARTHÉLEMY, Jean-Jacques. Seconde lettre de m. l'abbé Barthelemy, a messieurs les auteurs du Journal des Sçavans, sur quelques médailles Phéniciennes. [Paris?, 1763].
With one plate of the Phoenician medals and an elaborate woodcut headpiece.
Including: [PARQUOY (second clerk to the custodian of manuscripts in the library of the king)]. Lettre à messieurs les auteurs du Journal des Savans, sur un projet d'edition du Syncelle. [No place, no publisher, no date].
(8) BARTHÉLEMY, Jean-Jacques. Lettre a monsieur le Marquis Olivieri, au sujet de quelques monuments Phéniciens; pour servir de réponse à deux lettres insérées dans le 54e volume des Transactions Philosophiques. Paris, L.F. Delatour (printer), 1766.
With 4 plates (including 2 folding), the first 3 signed by P.L Charpentier, of Phoenician inscriptions, alphabet and medals. With a printer's device on the title-page and a woodcut headpiece.
(9) [D'ANSSE DE VILLOISON, Jean-Baptiste-Gaspard (draughtsman) and DROÜET (engraver)]. Alphabetum codicis bibliothecae coislininae, nunc sangermanensis, ineunte decimo saeculo manu exarati, ex quo Apollonii lexicon descriptum est. Paris, 1771.
Half red goatskin and marbled paper sides. 16; 43, [1 blank]; 24; 28, XIV; [2], 44; 12; 8, 12; [1], [1 blank], 45, [1 blank]; 9, [1 blank] pp. Full description

CAÑES, Francisco. Gramatica Arabigo-Española, vulgar, y literal. Con un diccionario Arabigo-Español, en que se ponen las voces mas usuales para una conversacion familiar, con el texto de la doctrina Cristiana en el idioma Arabigo.
Madrid, Don Antonio Perez de Soto, 1775. 4to. With Perez de Soto's device on the title-page. Set in roman, italic and Arabic type. Contemporary mottled sheepskin. [1], [1 blank], [14], 272, [5], [2 blank], XVII pp. Full description

[CAPITULATIONS OF 1740]. [Kitabi-i ahdname-i hümayun-u saadet-makrun].
[No place (possibly Paris or Istanbul?), no date (possibly 1816 or 1835?]. Large 4to (31.5 x 24 cm). The text is set in the Ottoman Turkish alphabet, a version of the Arabic script. Half calf and marbled paper sides, gold-tooled spine. 45, [1 blank] pp. Full description

[DESMAISONS, Jean-Jacques-Pierre]. The collection and research library of Jean-Jacques-Pierre Desmaisons (1807-1873), oriental scholar, diplomat, secret agent, and writer.
Various places, late 15th century to 1873/74. 193 catalogued iems, comprising printed books and manuscripts in 237 volumes. In Arabic, French, Greek, Latin, Ottoman Turkish, Persian, Russian, Syriac, and Sanskrit. Full description

EGE, Otto F. Fifteen original oriental manuscripts.
[Compiled in Cleveland, by Otto F. Ege, 1940s-1950s]. Portfolio 48.5 x 34 x 4.5 cm. 15 manuscript leaves of various sizes (see the detailed list of contents for specific dimensions); 14 of the manuscripts are on paper (varyingly glazed or unglazed paper) and one is written on vellum (no. 7), most rubricated and/or decorated in various colours, some are heightened or highlighted in gold. All manuscript fragments are mounted (hinged to allow access to both sides of the leaves) in passe-partouts (ca. 46.5 x 33 cm) and each has an additional leaf (ca. 10 x 18 cm) with explanatory text mounted at the foot of the passe-partout. Original black and red portfolio with the author in white and title in red on the spine, with three sets of black ties (one on the inside) and a label on the inside of the right black flap giving the information of the limited edition: "Edition limited to forty numbered sets of which this is No 33". Two identical title leaves and 15 original manuscript leaves mounted in white passe-partouts. Full description

FITZCLARENCE, George Augustus Frederick. Journal of a route across India, through Egypt, to England in a latter end of the year 1817, and the beginning of 1818.
London, printed by Thomas Davidson for John Murray, 1819. Large 4to. With 12 plates, including one of "Pettah the Citadel etc." as a frontispiece and 7 maps and plans, including 1 folding, with 3 additional explanatory letterpress leaves for maps 2-4 (Jubbulpoor [Jabalpur], Nagpoor [Nagpur], Meinpoor [Mahidpur]). 9 of 12 plates are hand-coloured aquatints and 5 of 7 maps and plans are coloured in outline. Contemporary gold-tooled calf with a blind-tooled decorative border. XXIV, [1], [1 blank], [1], [1 blank], 502 pp. Full description

GARCIN DE TASSY, Joseph Héliodore. Memoire sur les particularites de la religion Musulmane dans l'Inde, d'après les ouvrages Hindoustanis.
Paris, Adolphe Labitte, 1869. 8vo. Late 20th-century half black morocco. [4], 108 pp. Full description

[MANUSCRIPT - HANAFITE SCHOOL]. [Hanafite jurisprudential manuscript compendium].
[Ottoman Empire?], 825 AH [= 1422 CE]. Ca. 27 x 19 cm. Ottoman manuscript in Arabic on paper. Contemporary (15th-century) Ottoman overlapping wallet-type binding, front-board blind-tooled with a frame and centrepiece. [282] ll. Full description

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

IBN SINA (AVICENNA) (and Jacob MANTINO, translator). Avicennae quarta fen primi libri de universali ratione medendi: nunc primum. m. Iacob Mantini medici hebrei: opera Latinate donata.
(colophon:) Venice, Lucantonio Giunti, 8 April 1530. 8vo. With Giunti's printer's device on the title page (a Florentine lily with the L. A. initials). Later vellum with more recent end leaves. 60 ll. Full description

[INDO-PERSIAN DRAWING - FALCON]. JAHANGIR YAHYA. [Indo-Persian inscribed drawing of a falcon].
[Pakistan?], drawing signed 1301 AH (1883/84 CE), poetry signed 1351 AH (1932/33 CE). Drawing in black ink and grey watercolour (ca. 44.5 x 37 cm) on light brown paper, showing a Saker or Barbary falcon, with the collar and leash in blue and white. With four later inscriptions, namely verses in Persian and Urdu, written in black ink. In a modern gold-coloured frame (ca. 56.5 x 48 cm). Full description

[LECTIONARY - SYRIAC]. [JOSEPH DAVID, Clemens]. Lectionarium Syriacum seu collectio orationum et lectionum quae in horis canonicis per totum anni decursum excepto jejunio quadragesimali ab ecclesiae Syriacae clero adhiberi solent.
Mosul, typis Fratrum Praedicatorum (= Dominican printing office), 1879. Folio. With a Latin title-page set in roman type and a Syriac title-page set in Syriac type, both within a red and blue ornamental frame. Preliminary leaves also set within a red ornamental frame. Text set in Syriac type and printed in black and red. With a few religious illustrations throughout the text. Contemporary half blue sheepskin, blue cloth sides, gold-tooled spine lettered (in Syriac) in gold, marbled endpapers. 648 pp. Full description

KELLY, John Barrett. Eastern Arabian frontiers.
London, Faber and Faber, 1964. 8vo. With a folding map of Eastern Arabia and a small-scale map of the Buraimi Oasis. Blue cloth. 319, [1 blank] pp. Full description

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

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

MENGIN, Felix. Geschiedenis van Egypte, onder de regering van Mohammed-Ali of verhaal der staatkundige en militaire gebeurtenissen, die plaats gehad hebben sedert het vertrek der Franschen tot in 1823.
Amsterdam, Johannes Christoffel van Kesteren, 1828. 2 volumes. 8vo. With 8 engraved plates and 2 engraved folding maps. Contemporary half sheepskin, marbled sides, red morocco spine label with title in gold. [2], XL, 462, [1], [1 blank]; [4], 515, [1] pp. Full description

MONNERET DE VILLARD, Ugo. Les couvents près de Sohâg (Deyr el-Abiad et Deyr el-Ahmar).
Milan, Tipografia Pontif. Arciv. S. Giuseppe, 1925-1926. 2 volumes. 4to. With 222 numbered photographic prints and plans bound at the end of each volume and numerous small illustrations printed with the text. Contemporary half green cloth, beige paper sides, grey endpapers. 1-64; 65-135, [136-140] pp. Full description

OLIVEIRA, Custodio José de. Diagnosis typografica dos caracteres gregos, hebraicos, e arabigos, addiccionada com algumas notas sobre a divisão orthografica da linguage latina, e outras da Europa, ...
Lisbon, Impressão Regia, 1804. 4to. Text set in roman, Hebrew, Greek and Arabic type. With a small Portuguese woodcut coat of arms on the title-page and 4 engraved plates on 2 leaves bound at the end of the book. Later blue paper wrappers. 72, [14], VIII pp. plus [2] ll. with engravings. Full description

[PHOTOGRAPHY - THIRD ARAB-ISRAELI WAR - ISRAEL] DONY, Bianca. [Album with photographs showing parts of Israeli captured territories including the Golan Heights, the West Bank, parts of Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula].
Israel, 1967. Oblong album (ca. 20 x 26 cm); photographs in slightly varying sizes (ca. 18.5 x 24 cm). 44 silver gelatin photographs (including 2 duplicates and 1 other loosely inserted). Grey faux-leather photo album with a small white label on the front board: "42 x Israël 1967 23-24-25 Juli". 44 photographs in an album with 30 clear plastic inserts. Full description

PURSER, Bruce Harold. (editor). The Persian Gulf. Holocene carbonate sedimentation and diagenesis in a shallow epicontinental sea.
Berlin, Heidelberg and New York, Springer Verlag, 1973. 26 x 18 cm. With 250 maps, plans, charts, figures and photos in the text, 7 plates, and 3 large folding maps, loose, kept in the pocket on the back pastedown; all in black and white. With a small publisher's logo on the second flyleaf. Original publisher's orange cloth. VI, 471, [1 blank], [2] pp. Full description

[QUR'AN]. GOLDSCHMIDT, Lazarus. El Koran, das heißt die Lesung. Die Offenbarungen des Mohammed ibn Abdallah des Propheten Gottes.
Berlin, Brandus, 1916. Folio. With elaborately red, green and grey decorated title page and first page containing the first Surah, in the style of older manuscripts. All text is set in two columns, all in red and green frames, the Surah titles are set in grey decorated headpieces and with grey decorations in the margins denoting the different sections ("abteilungen"). Original green boards with gold-stamped oriental decorations, the title in gold on the spine, head edge gilt, and with red, green and gold headbands. 214, [1], [1 blank] pp. Full description

RHASIS, Mohammed. Liber ad Almansorem sive Tractatus medicinae I-X. liber divisionum. De aegritudinibus juncturarum. De aegritudinibus puerorum. De secretis sive aphorismi. Antidotarium. De praeservatione ab aegritudine lapidis; Introductorium medicinae. De sectionibus et ventosis. Synonyma. De animalibus. Add:Tabula de herbis medicis; Maimonides: Aphorismi; Mesue (the elder): Aphorismi; Hippocrates: Secreta; Prognosticatio secundum lunam; Capsula eburnea; De humana natura; De aere et aqua et regionibus; De pharmaciis; De insomniis; Avenzohar: De cura lapidis.
(colophon:) [Venice], Bonetus Locatellus for Octavianus Scotus, 7 October 1497. Folio. With the woodcut printer's device of Octavianus Scotus at the end of the work. 18th-century brown goatskin. 159, [1 blank] ll. Full description

ROSS, D.A. and G. GVIRTZMAN (editors). Sedimentary geology. Special Issue. New aspects of sedimentation in small ocean basins.
Amsterdam, Oxford and New York, Elsevier scientific publishing company, 1979. 24 x 16.5 cm. With approximately 170 maps, graphs, tables, charts and other illustrations in the text. Original publisher's printed paper wrappers. [1], [1 blank], [5], [1 blank], 299, [1 blank] pp. Full description

SOUSA, João de. Documentos arabicos para a historia portugueza copiados dos originaes de Torre do Tombo ...
Lisbon, Academia Real das Sciencias, 1790. 4to. With the academy's woodcut device on the title-page (incorporating the Portuguese coat-of-arms, Athenas owl and Hermess staff). Set in roman, italic and Arabic types. Modern green morocco. [1], [1 blank], [1], [1 blank], [4], 190, [1], [1 blank], [2] pp. Full description

STATE OF KUWAIT, MINISTRY OF EDUCATION. Geography syllabus for foreign secondary schools.
Fahaheel, (back wrapper:) printed by Silkscreen Press, [after 1970 (and before 1977?)]. 8vo. With a portrait of Sheikh Sabah Al-Salim Al-Sabah and 27 maps, photos, figures and tables on 23 plates. Original publisher's white paper wrappers, with the title within a decorative frame on the front wrapper, stapled. [3], 73, [1 blank] ll. Full description

SUSAN, Issachar ben Mordecai ibn. [in Hebrew:] Sefer Ibur shanim.
Venice, Giovanni di Gara, [5]339 [= 1578/79]. Small 4to (19.5 x 15 cm). With the title set in an elaborate woodcut architectural arch and 6 round woodcut calendrical or astrological diagrams with text. Set entirely in Hebrew type, the main text in semi-cursive (rabbinical) and the headings in meruba, each of the two styles in at least 3 sizes. Contemporary limp sheepskin wrap-around cover with flap and fastened with strap. 136 ll., including the blank leaf [108]. Full description

[SYRIA - BA'ATH ARAB SOCIALIST PARTY]. Syria after two years of the March Revolution.
[Syria, Ba'ath Arab Socialist Party], 1965. 24 x 17 cm. With 28 photos on 16 plates and some tables in the text.
With: [MAP - SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC MINISTRY OF ECONOMY DIRECTORATE OF TOURISM]. Syria.
Damascus, Tourist Office, [ca. 1965]. Folded. 70 x 49.5 cm.
A brightly coloured folding map of Syria with some information about the country and its principal cities with a table of distances on the back, all text in the map and on the back is in English and Arabic.
Original publisher's printed wrappers, stapled. 175, [1 blank] pp. Full description

[TIBET - MANUSCRIPT]. [The perfection of wisdom in eight thousand lines].
Tibet, 13th century CE. 20 x 65 cm. Manuscript written in gold ink on both sides of 314 sheets of heavy, multi-layered paper stained blue over the surface, varnished on the writing space, surrounded by a frame, each page containing 8 lines of approximately 80 characters in Tibetan uchen (dbu-can) script. Front cover from another manuscript, in black ink; under a flap are 2 lines of very large script with the words "in the language of India". The first leaves of the manuscript contain 4, 5, 6 and 7 lines of script. Text is complete. Stored in a large custom-made red cloth case (71 x 24 x 15.5 cm) with a gold-tooled red morocco title label. 314 ll. Full description