3 008 résultats
1) 260:340 mm. 2) 260:350 mm. 3) 260:360 mm. James Weir (d. 1820) was Captain of Marines on HMS Audacious from 1795 to 1800, and was also an accomplished watercolourist. His drawings show 1) "The Seraglio from the Marmora March 1806", 2) "The Seraglio at Constantinople from the harbour", and "7 towers Constantinople 19 March 1806".
Watercolour on paper, some on 2 sheets, mounted (sizes approximately from 155 x 230 to 300 x 480 mm), some with inscription or sketches on verso, most with captions either mounted, laid down or written directly on image. James Weir (d. 1820) was Captain of Marines on HMS Audacious from 1795 to 1800, and was also an accomplished watercolourist. Some of the earliest watercolours in this group were produced when the Audacious was on patrol off the Portuguese coast in 1796. Others were painted in the months leading up to the Battle of the Nile, when the Audacious was part of Nelson's squadron searching for the French fleet off the Italian coast after it had escaped from Toulon. Others were painted in the months leading up to the Battle of the Nile, when the Audacious was part of Nelson's squadron searching for the French fleet off the Italian coast after it had escaped from Toulon. He also depicted Nelson's flagship, HMS Vanguard, anchored at Naples Bay for repairs in October 1798, when he first met Emma Hamilton. Also shown are views of Syracuse and surrounding area, the Valley of Temples at Agrigento, Catania and Mount Etna, the Temple of Venus at Baia, the ruins of the Temple of Jupiter Olympus, the interior of the Temple of Concord, Mount Nuovo and Pozzuoli near Naples, the Temple of Ceres at Segesta, Convent of St. Nicolo Argentum, the Iron Mine of Elba. The fleet at Palermo is also depicted, where Nelson had accompanied the royal court of the Two Sicilies after they fled Naples. - Very minor scattered tears or repairs, a few restored or trimmed, light staining or spotting.
In 8, cm. 13,5 x 22, pp. 619 + (4), brossura editoriale illustrata. Collana "cahiers libres" 146-147-148. Testo in francese. Ampiamente sottolineato a matita.
Six engraved maps, all in four segments on orange cloth with title labels. All ca. 68 x 54 cm. Stored in a contemporary marbled slipcase. A fine set of six maps, comprising all the Near East and Middle East maps from Weiland's great "Allgemeiner Hand-Atlas" (general hand atlas) published by the Geographical Institute in Weimar. - Includes: Turkey and Levant ("Das osmanische Asien", 1829); the Arabian Peninsula ("Arabien", 1834); Persia ("Iran, Afghanistan und Beludschistan", 1828); Africa (1831); Northern Africa ("Das nordwestliche Africa oder die Staaten Fez und Marokko, Algier, Tunis und Tripoli, nebst der Wüste Sahara", 1827); and the Nile Valley with the south-western coast of Arabia ("Das nordöstliche Africa oder Aegypten, Nubien, Habesch, Kordofan und Darfur", 1829). - All with engraved labels of the Paris map dealer and publisher Charles Simonneau with titles inscribed in French. Some mild foxing throughout, but altogether fine. Slipcase worn but professionally repaired. Cf. Espenhorst p. 24; Le Gear 6107 (1848 ed.); Al-Qasimi (2nd ed.), p. 281 (Weiland's map of Arabia, 1839 edition).
Hand-coloured engraved map (380 x 320 mm). Striking map of the Arabian Peninusla featuring the geographical features known to the ancients. Decorated with a vignette and 9 medallions depicting camels in the upper right corner. An interesting and highly decorative map. Al Ankary 293. Al-Qasimi 129. Not in Tibbetts.
1 22,3x14 cm., legatura in piena tela con fregi e titolo impresso in oro su tasselo al dorso, pagg, 252, in francese, buone condizioni.Ex libris e firma di appartenenza.
Roma, Direzione della "Raccolta", s.d. anni '40), in-8, br., pp. 40. ("Quaderni di politica e di economia contemporanea", N. 27).
8vo. IX, (1 blank), 349, (1) pp. 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. An account of the travels of an Englishman through Arabia, including an eye-witness account of the 1911 siege of Sana'a, the capital of Yemen. This siege was one of the last big events in the Yemeni-Ottoman conflicts, which started with the first Ottoman attempt to conquer Yemen in 1538. In 1911 a treaty was signed, with which Yemen became a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire until the country could take advantage of the Empire's collapse during and after WWI to reclaim its independence. - Wavell did not intend to include a description of his journey to the holy city of Mecca, but apart from his accounts of Yemen he admits in the preface that the present work breaks no new ground. The places he visited had already been described, possibly more extensively, by other explorers and travellers, but a journey to Mecca and Medina was still quite out of the ordinary for Europeans, and thus a description of his experiences was added to the work. It was first published in 1912 and the present copy was a part of the second impression of that edition, which appeared in 1913. An edited, smaller and thus cheaper second edition appeared posthumously in 1918. The chapters on Wavell's travels in Yemen had been removed and an introduction by Major Leonard Darwin, son of the naturalist Charles Darwin, had been added. - Arthur John Byng Wavell (1882-1916) was an English army officer and traveller who was educated and trained at the Royal Military college Sandhurst. He was a cousin of the decorated field marshal Archibald Percival Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell, who served in the Second Boer War, in other parts of Africa, and in India where he also served as the Viceroy. The author of the present work resigned his army commission in 1906 and went to Mombasa in British East Africa - modern Kenya - where he learnt Arabic and Swahili and where his desire to explore Arabia and even visit Mecca grew. After his travels in Arabia, described in "A Modern Pilgrim in Mecca", he returned to Africa. During the First World War he remained in Africa, where he founded a coastal defence force called the "Arab Rifles", active around Mombasa. Later he was sent to serve near the border of Kenya with Tanzania (then British East Africa and German East Africa), where he was killed in 1916 as a result of a German ambush. - Binding slightly rubbed, very slight foxing on the edges, some foxing on the first and last flyleaves. Small tear in the in the inner margin of the map, without affecting the map itself. Sharp folding lines in the plate of The Haram in Mecca (between pp. 152-152). With an ownership inscription: "R. S. Breene, 1 June, 1928" over the remnants of an erased inscription on the first flyleaf. Howgego IV, W13. Smith, The Yemens, 103. Cf. Macro 2266. Canton, From Cairo to Baghdad: British Travellers in Arabia, pp. 161-165. Sotheby's, The library of Robert Michael Burrell, 858 (other ed.).
Small 4to. (8), 253, (1) pp., final blank leaf. Contemporary full cloth with giltstamped spine title. Top edge red. First edition. - In his fourth travel book the British writer Waugh (1903-66), who was commissioned by the Daily Mail to cover events in Ethiopia in August 1935, makes a case for the Italian intervention in the country, presenting "a lucid and interesting narrative of personal experience, and useful as a minority defense of Italian occupation and attack on British policy" (Morris/Dooley). Interestingly enough, a printed sheet of paper denying the oil magnate Francis William Rickett access to travel facilities to Persia and the states on the Persian Gulf is loosely enclosed. On the journey from Port Said, Waugh met Rickett, who was dispatched by the African Exploration & Development Company to conduct secret negotiations with the Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie in pursuit of a concession. While Waugh was up country, sidetracked by another story, Rickett was conferring with government officials in Addis Ababa at the dead of night. After a week of to-ing and fro-ing, papers were signed by which about half the nation's subsoil rights - an area of nearly 400,000 square km - was made over to Rickett for a period of 75 years. By the time he sailed into Suez, the story had made world headlines. Waugh, for his part, missed the scoop and was sacked. - A few marginal notes in pencil, some of them highlighting passages that also appear in Waugh's 1938 novel "Scoop", a satire of sensationalist journalism and foreign correspondents. Newspaper clipping with excerpts of a review of "Waugh in Abyssinia" from the Times Literary Supplement of 7 November 1936 is loosely enclosed. - Spine and lower inner hinges slightly worn. Still a good copy. Morris/Dooley, Evelyn Waugh: a reference guide 15. OCLC 807259442.
VI, (8), 369, (3) pp. With numerous folding plates. Contemporary green half calf with giltstamped spine and marbled boards. 8vo. First edition. - Indispensable French studbook of pure-bred Anglo-Arabian horses, indicating their percentage of Arabian blood. - Slight browning, but well preserved. Rare. Mennessier de la Lance 642. OCLC 843391487.
8vo. 264 pp. With 3 folding engr. plates. Contemp. calf with giltstamped red label to gilt spine. Marbled endpapers. All edges red. Second, enlarged edition, published a year after the first and now including "diverses observations sur les grandes actions qui se sont passées dans la dernière guerre d’Hongrie, et dans la présente en Moldavie". This is the first work of the Swiss-born De Warnery (1720-86), published in a German translation as early as 1766 (purportedly against his own wishes): according to the author, never one to eschew self-aggrandizement, he was the first to "unmask the Turks" and show that they did not warrant the fear with which they were usually viewed (cf. ADB XLI, 176). The plates show suggestions for battle arrays. - Unobtrusive repairs to lower cover of the appealing binding. Variously browned and brownstained due to paper. Rare. Formerly in the Ottoman collection of the Swiss industrialist Herry W. Schaefer. Barbier IV, 257. Cf. Atabey 1321 (first ed. 1770). Not in Blackmer.
Folio. XIII, (3), 329, (1) pp. With engraved frontispiece (Fat'h-Ali Shah Qajar, King of Persia) and engr. portrait plate (Shaknubat, mistress of Kurim Khan), both after Persian originals. Later blue cloth with giltstamped spine title. First European-printed edition, following an error-ridden edition published at Bombay in 1804. Includes a chapter on Arabian horses, an early account of Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab and Wahhabi Islam, and passages on hawk-hunting and pearl fishing in the Arabian Gulf "from the 56th to the 48th degree east longitude", i. e., essentially the Gulf coast from Ras al-Khaimah to Qatar and Bahrain and on to Kuwait. Early attempt at an encompassing description of Persia, by the Bengal civil servant Edward W. H. Scott-Waring (1783-1821). "Very rare" (Allibone). - Bound without the half-title; bookplate and blindstamps of the City of Leeds Public Library. Diba Collection p. 139. Wilson p. 240. Henze IV, 461. Cf. Weber I, 3. Brunet V, 1416. Graesse VI/2, 420 (1st ed. Bombay, 1804).
Oblong 8vo. 53 printed photographs on 27 ff. printed in sepia to rectos only, contained in original printed card covers with oval window. A remarkable series of photographs of the peoples and places of South Persia (modern Iran and Iraq). The first leaf - which contains the title with a small portrait of a street seller - is followed by four leaves showing views of the Abadan Refinery. The remaining leaves show scenes in Mohammerah (now Khorramshahr), Shatt-el-Arab, Dizful (Dezful), Ahwaz (Ahvaz), as well as artistic views of the coast ("Moonlight on the Shatt-el-Arab", "Sunset in the Gulf"). There are also further portraits of street sellers and other local people (dervish, snake charmer, barber). The booklet closes with a view of the "Pumping Station, Tembi" which served the Abadan refinery, "The road up to the oil fields", and a view of the Ctesiphon Arch. An uncommon and nicely produced view-book of the area. - Minor spotting to first leaf, creasing to upper wrapper but contents generally in good, clean condition.
4to. (16), 110, (2) pp. Contemporary full calf. First edition of the Arabic text of the "History of Joseph the Carpenter", one of the oldest New Testament Apocrypha. A compilation of traditions concerning Mary, Joseph, and the "holy family", it probably was composed in Byzantine Egypt in Greek in the late 6th or early 7th century but is preserved only in Coptic and Arabic versions. The Arabic text was edited by Georg Wallin (1686-1760), the learned Lutheran archbishop of Göteborg. - Some browning, more pronounced in margins of title-page. Binding lightly rubbed at extremeties. Old Swedish deaccessioning note ("Duplett") on pastedown. Wants first free endpaper. Rare. Schnurrer 413. OCLC 165689104.
8vo. VII, (1), 126 pp., final blank f. With lithogr. map at the end of the volume; printed notes of a Bedouin melody within the text. Contemporary green half calf with giltstamped spine title and marbled sides, original printed yellow wrappers bound within with wood-engraved desert illustration on back cover. First edition, published posthumously. - Extremely rare account of Wallin's principal journey through Arabia, unknown to most bibliographers: "It was not until two years after his death", writes Henze, "that the report of his first (and most important) journey (performed in 1845, a year before the appearance of the first volume of Carl Ritter's 'Arabia') was published". This refers to the English "Narrative of a Journey from Cairo to Medina and Mecca", which was printed in the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society in 1854. In fact, an extensive account of the first leg of this highly significant journey was first given to the world in December 1853, but little more than a year after the author's passing. Of this Swedish-language book, edited by Berndt Otto Schauman, less than two dozen copies are known worldwide, 12 of which are in Finnish libraries (the remainder distributed throughout Sweden [4 copies], Germany [2 copies], Denmark, France, and the U.S.A. [a single copy each]). In contrast with the later JRGS publication, the present work includes an appendix rendering Arabic terms and phrases that occur throughout the text in the original language and script. - Like his more famous contemporary J. L. Burckhardt, Wallin was fluent in Arabic and, in local costume, was capable of passing for a scholarly sheikh. Indeed, the two explorers are often compared: "I see many points of resemblance between them, the same iron constitution, the same versatility, the same indomitable energy, the same imperturbable temper" (H. C. Rawlinson, quoted in Henze). Financially backed by his alma mater, the University of Helsinki, Wallin departed for the Middle East in 1843 and set out on his expeditions from Cairo under the name of Abd al-Wali. "In 1845, proceeding southeast across the wastelands of the Nafud Desert, he reached Ha'il then continued by force of circumstances southward to Medina and Mecca. From there he returned to Egypt" (Howgego). More precisely, he "moved eastwards from Wadi al-Araba, first touching upon the upper regions of Wadi Sirhan, then on to the oasis of Djuf ('Algawf') and crossed the central regions of Shammar, via Djobbah ('Gubbi'), the Great Nefud ('Nufood'), and Hail [...] Of Shammar and its inhabitants he provided the fullest account, unsurpassed by later travellers in its scholarly precision" (Henze). After his return to Europe in 1850, Wallin was made Professor of oriental languages at Helsingfors. His notes provide a detailed overview of the political and religious movements and the role of the different tribes in Palestine and especially in Saudi Arabia. - Occasional brownstaining; binding somewhat rubbed, but a fine copy on the whole. Provenance: contemp. ownership "Bergelin" to front wrapper cover; bookplate of the journalist Kurt Bergengren (1920-85) on pastedown. K.-E. Henriksson (A Wallin Bibliography), in: Studia orientalia 17 (1952), p. 13-16, at p. 13. OCLC 551923531. Cf. Macro 2262. Howgego II (1800-50), W12, p. 627. Henze V, 452 (all citing only the 1854 JRGS publication). Cf. Fück 198 (mentioning the journey). Not in Gay or Ibrahim-Hilmy.
8vo. VII, (1), 126 pp., final blank f. With lithographed map at the end of the volume; printed notes of a Bedouin melody within the text. Green half calf with contemporary marbled boards and giltstamped title to rebacked spine. First edition, published posthumously. - Extremely rare account of Wallin's principal journey through Arabia, unknown to most bibliographers: "It was not until two years after his death", writes Henze, "that the report of his first (and most important) journey (performed in 1845, a year before the appearance of the first volume of Carl Ritter's 'Arabia') was published". This refers to the English "Narrative of a Journey from Cairo to Medina and Mecca", which was printed in the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society in 1854. In fact, an extensive account of the first leg of this highly significant journey was first given to the world in December 1853, but little more than a year after the author's passing. Of this Swedish-language book, edited by Berndt Otto Schauman, fewer than two dozen copies are known worldwide, 12 of which are in Finnish libraries (the remainder distributed throughout Sweden [4 copies], Germany [2 copies], Denmark, France, and the U.S.A. [a single copy each]). In contrast with the later JRGS publication, the present work includes an appendix rendering Arabic terms and phrases that occur throughout the text in the original language and script. - Like his more famous contemporary J. L. Burckhardt, Wallin was fluent in Arabic and, in local costume, was capable of passing for a scholarly sheikh. Indeed, the two explorers are often compared: "I see many points of resemblance between them, the same iron constitution, the same versatility, the same indomitable energy, the same imperturbable temper" (H. C. Rawlinson, quoted in Henze). Financially backed by his alma mater, the University of Helsinki, Wallin departed for the Middle East in 1843 and set out on his expeditions from Cairo under the name of Abd al-Wali. "In 1845, proceeding southeast across the wastelands of the Nafud Desert, he reached Ha'il then continued by force of circumstances southward to Medina and Mecca. From there he returned to Egypt" (Howgego). More precisely, he "moved eastwards from Wadi al-Araba, first touching upon the upper regions of Wadi Sirhan, then on to the oasis of Djuf ('Algawf') and crossed the central regions of Shammar, via Djobbah ('Gubbi'), the Great Nefud ('Nufood'), and Hail [...] Of Shammar and its inhabitants he provided the fullest account, unsurpassed by later travellers in its scholarly precision" (Henze). After his return to Europe in 1850, Wallin was made Professor of oriental languages at Helsingfors. His notes provide a detailed overview of the political and religious movements and the role of the different tribes in Palestine and especially in Saudi Arabia. - Stamped ownership "L. L. Cygnaeus, Helsingfors" to flyleaf. A fine, largely unbrowned copy. K.-E. Henriksson (A Wallin Bibliography), in: Studia orientalia 17 (1952), p. 13-16, at p. 13. OCLC 551923531. Cf. Macro 2262. Howgego II (1800-50), W12, p. 627. Henze V, 452 (all citing only the 1854 JRGS publication). Cf. Fück 198 (mentioning the journey). Not in Gay or Ibrahim-Hilmy.
4to. (14), 264 pp. With engraved illustrated title-page and 12 engraved plates; one line of musical notes showing the melody of the muezzin's call "la 'ilaha 'illa -llahu" (There is no deity but Allah). 19th century marbled half leather with giltstamped red spine label. Marbled endpapers. All edges sprinkled red. Second edition of Wallich's account of Islam, written in 1659 following his mission to the Porte. "The first part is a description of Turkish religion and customs [...] together with seven of the plates. The second part is a life of Mohammed, and the third part is a comparison of Pope Alexander VII with Mehmed IV (the two antichrists, oriental and occidental)" (Blackmer). The biography of the Prophet includes a genealogy and an engraving showing Ali with the Zulfiqar presenting the written Qur'an to the faithful. - Johann Ulrich von Wallich (1624-73), a Thuringian jurist in Swedish services, participated in several diplomatic missions, including the Swedish embassy to Constantinople in 1657/58, where he got to know the Muslim religion. - Binding very insignificantly rubbed along the hinges, corners a little bumped. A fine copy bound for the Ottoman-Greek diplomat Stephanos Carathéodory (1834-1908), who served as secretary to the Ottoman delegation at the 1878 Congress of Berlin and as Ottoman ambassador to Brussels, with his printed bookplate and motto ("Meden agan" - "nothing in excess") to front pastedown and spine. VD 17, 39:134505B. Chauvin XI, p. 197, no. 720. Cf. Atabey 1761; Blackmer 1309.
8vo. 2 parts in 1 vol. XVI, 124 (but: 224) pp. 328 pp. Contemporary marbled half-calf binding with giltstamped labels to spine. Only edition. Contains much previously unpublished manuscript material (cf. ADB). The German oriental scholar Samuel F. G. Wahl (1760-1834) was an extremely prolific author. His subjects include all aspects of oriental linguistics and literature, including Persia, China, and India, and he was one of the few scholars of his time to have a knowledge of Armenian. - Edges and corners slightly bumped; spine insignificantly rubbed. Interior clean and well-preserved. From the collection of the Swedish orientalist and bibliophile Henrik Gerhard Lindgren (1801-79) with his autogr. note of ownership on front pastedown; later in the collection of C. O. Nordgren (dated on flyleaf: Uppsala, 9 March 1880). ADB 40, 594. Neuer Nekrolog der Dt. (12/2), p. 1230. ALZ 332 (1791), vol. 4, p. 540-544. Schnurrer 92. OCLC 6867437.
Small folio (206 x 324 mm). (8), 162, (6) [instead of 8] pp. Title-page printed in red and black. With double-page-sized frontispiece, 39 (instead of 41) engr. plates and 2 engr. maps; numerous woodcuts in the text. Contemp. blindstamped leather over wooden boards with 2 clasps. First edition of this highly interesting, appealing work, a topical publication produced but a year after the 1683 Siege of Vienna. Four additional volumes would be prepared by 1689. The plates show views of Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and the Near and Middle East (Jerusalem, Egypt, Babylon, etc.), as well as Sultan Mehmet IV and the relief of Vienna. - Binding rubbed. Some brownstaining throughout with occasional waterstains. Several leaves rebacked or reinforced in the margins (occasional loss to text or image); wants the view of Ofen (Buda) and the "Crowning of the Empress" as well as one leaf of the index. VD 17, 23:300271C. Lipperheide LB 22. Nebehay/W. 794. Not in Apponyi.
As New English Paperback. Pbo. Mint. Cr. 8vo. (20 x 14 cm). In Turkish. 221 p. Muslim Christrem encounters. Perceptions and misperceptions. Geçmisten günümüze Müslüman - Hristiyan diyalogu. Yanlis yaklasimlarin elestirisi. Translation and annotation: Fuat Aydin.
4to. (16), 170, (4) pp., final blank f. With 2 large folding maps. Contemporary vellum. First edition. - Early study on the sources of the Nile by the Dutch classicist and librarian Isaac Voss (1618-89). The maps show north-eastern Africa from Zanzibar to the Nile Delta (with large parts of the Arabian Peninsula) and a detail thereof, focusing on the tributary region of Lake Tana in Dembiya, Ethiopia. Also includes an "Appendix ad scriptum de natura et proprietate Lucis. Accedit epistola ad amicum, de potentiis quibusdam mechanicis" (p. 77-170), an early and little-received discussion of the nature of light, refraction, colours, optics, mechanics, and even comets (for a note on Voss's work on Snel's law of refraction of light rays, cf. DSB XII, 501). - Slight browning, spine defective. Early 19th c. title inked to corner of upper cover. Provenance: 1) in the collection of the cleric and abolitionist Francis Wrangham (1769-1842), later Archdeacon of the East Riding, with his 1804 ownership to t. p.; 2) in 1810/11 the book was in the collection of Percy B. Shelley's friend Thomas Jefferson Hogg (1792-1862), famously expelled from Oxford together with the young poet for having published the treatise, "The Necessity of Atheism" (his ownership "T. Jeff.n Hogg, Univ. Coll., Oxon." on pastedown); 3) in 1898 the volume passed into the library of the Swiss-born U.S. officer Edward Louis Berthoud (1828-1910), best known for his role as chief engineer and secretary of the Colorado Central Railroad during its expansion throughout Colorado in the 1870s (his stamp and ms. ownership to t. p. and the reverse of the plates); 4) acquired on 12 Feb. 1903 by the Colorado chemist Charles Skeele Palmer (1858-1939) (his ownership on t. p.); 5) Ida May Lewis (ownership, dated 1945, on pastedown). With irreverent ms. notes at the end of the dedication (to King Louis XIV) by either Berthoud or Palmer: "Vossius give us a rest"; under the author's signature: "A Brick". Ibrahim-Hilmy II, 312. OCLC 8556942. Cf. Gay 2317 (Paris ed.).
8vo. (4), 135, (3) pp. With 3 folding tables and 1 engraved plate. Later blue wrappers. Only edition of this introduction to Arabic, written by the Comte de Volney (1757-1820) as history professor at the newly-founded École normale, immediately after the end of the Terreur and his release from prison following the fall of Robespierre. In spite of its wide-ranging title, the book comprises essentially an Arabic grammar and a collection of Arabic proverbs; the long introductory chapter has been hailed a model of style. Volney had learned Arabic in 1782 in preparation of a long journey through Egypt and Syria. The work displays his ingenious method of simplifying the study of Arabic, Persian and Turkish by transliterating the alphabets into European characters. The tables give the Arabic alphabet, the conjugation of regular verbs, and instructions on how to write Arabic letters by hand, as well as the Arabic alphabet in European characters intended for merchants travelling to Asia and Africa. With a section of Arabian proverbs included as samples. - Pages 30-31 unopened. A good copy of this important work, untrimmed as issued. Gay 3429. Brunet V, 1351. Cioranescu 663767. Monglond III, 481. OCLC 21978700.
8vo. (2), 135, (3) pp. With 3 folding tables and 1 engraved plate. Contemporary wrappers with printed spine-label. Only edition of this introduction to Arabic, written by the Comte de Volney (1757-1820) as history professor at the newly-founded École normale, immediately after the end of the Terreur and his release from prison following the fall of Robespierre. In spite of its wide-ranging title, the book comprises essentially an Arabic grammar and a collection of Arabic proverbs; the long introductory chapter has been hailed a model of style. Volney had learned Arabic in 1782 in preparation of a long journey through Egypt and Syria. The work displays his ingenious method of simplifying the study of Arabic, Persian and Turkish by transliterating the alphabets into European characters. The tables give the Arabic alphabet, the conjugation of regular verbs, and instructions on how to write Arabic letters by hand, as well as the Arabic alphabet in European characters intended for merchants travelling to Asia and Africa. With a section of Arabian proverbs included as samples. - Untrimmed in the original grey temporary wrappers as issued; a few pages uncut. A good copy of this important work. Provenance: from the collection of the psychoanalyst and bibliophile Jacques Lacan (1901-81). Gay 3429. Brunet V, 1351. Cioranescu 663767. Monglond III, 481. OCLC 21978700.
Large folio (330 x 448 mm). VIII, 142 pp. With 57 text illustrations, 37 numbered plates and a final extra heliogravure plate. Contemporary marbled half calf. Marbled endpapers. A study by Melchior, marquis de Vogüé (1829-1916), of the decorative interior art of the Mosque of Omar, with colour reproductions of details of painted entablements, cupolas, and other mural decorations, of the enameled porcelain ornament, and of stained glass windows. Also includes details of sculptured pilasters, capitals, entablements, etc. - Waterstained throughout. OCLC 2227954.
Folio (285 x 358 mm). 2 volumes. (4), 12, 154, (6) pp. (8) pp. With a total of 3 maps (2 in colour) & 152 mostly full-page plates, several with tinted lithographed backgrounds. Later red half morocco with giltstamped spine titles. First edition of this detailed study of Syrian decorative architectural art. "De Vogüé travelled with William Waddington in 1853 and 1854, exploring the area from Aleppo to Damascus, Palmyra and Basra. It was an important expedition and much new material was uncovered. The author became ambassador to the Porte in 1871" (Blackmer). - Occasional foxing to plates, but a fine set. Blackmer 174. Not in Weber.
