Crown quarto. Pp. xiv, 680. Plus 32 plates with multiple images to each bound at end. With an Appendix with 572 facsimiles of ostraca, some with verso image as well. Several extended indices. Includes the rare, extended Errata leaf which lists 40 points of corrections, loosely inserted. Original printed wrappers, discoloured, bit shabby. In a very good condition, fine interior. ~ First edition. Nur el-Din's Doctoral Dissertation, presented to the Leiden University under the supervision of Profs. Klasens and Pestman. "This impressive volume is an excellent publication of all of the Demotic ostraca (almost 600) now in the collection of the National Museum of Antiquities at Leiden (.) and includes several extremely useful indexes." - Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 1977. [Provenance:] Presentation copy, dedicated by the author to renowned Egyptologist Prof. Dr. Joris Frans Borghouts (1939-2018) from whose library this item comes. Also the invitation to the Inauguration ceremony, addressed to Borghouts, is loosely inserted. With a short concordance that Borghouts has compiled, penned on first free endpaper. [ADDED:] Borghouts' formal evaluation of Nur el-Din's work, in Dutch and English, written shortly before the publication of the book. He was approached by the Netherlands Organization for the Advancement of Pure Research (Z. W. O.) with the request to comment if Nur el-Din's book qualifies for the Organization's support in publishing it. His reply, documented in detail over several pages, was a big "Yes!". The book, indeed, was published shortly thereafter with a grant from Z. W. O. The entire correspondence as well as Borgouts' report, until now unpublished in any other form, is loosely inserted. Unique copy, providing an extremely rare opportunity for an insight into the thought process of this great scholar.
