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Second edition of a celebrated work on Persia

HYDE, Thomas.
Veterum Persarum et Parthorum et Medorum religionis historia.
Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1760. 4to. With 21 engraved plates (5 folding) by Michael Burghers. Contemporary blind-tooled vellum. [40], 580 pp.
€ 1,800
Second edition of Thomas Hyde's important study into the pre-Islamic religions in Persia. It includes an account of the life of Zoroaster (Zarathustra) and a comparative study of Persian and other oriental languages. Hyde based himself on Latin, Greek and Arabic sources and the few Zoroastrian sources he could find. His many sources are quoted in the original languages, which required the use of Oxford's Greek, Hebrew, Syriac and Samaritan typefaces, as well as the creation of new type for the Avestan language. The many plates illustrate various aspects of the pre-Islamic religions, but also various inscriptions (including Chinese), plants and even Oxford's stuffed Dodo. Included in the appendix is the first Western publication of a quatrain from Omar Kahayyam's famous Rubaiyat.
Thomas Hyde was professor of Hebrew and Arabic at Oxford, and for many years interpreter and secretary in oriental languages to the governments of Charles II, James II, and William III. Besides his great knowledge of many Asian languages, Hyde was a leading bibliographer and librarian of his time. The first edition of his study in Iranian religions had been practically unsellable, but due to an increasing interest in Persia and the Middle East, this second edition sold very well.
Somewhat browned and foxed, especially the first 100 pp, and a few small holes in the second title-page. Otherwise in good condition. Binding rubbed at the front top corner, front hinge partly cracked (ca. 20 cm) and the back hinge partly (10 cm). ESTC T54341; Carter, Hist. of the Oxford University Press (1975), pp. 390-391; Stausberg, Faszination Zarathustra (1998), vol 1, pp. 680-712.
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Middle east & islamic world  >  Central & West Asia