Moyen orient

4to. (2), LIV, 130, (2) pp. Title printed in red and black with engraved title vignette. 1 folding genealogical table. Contemporary half calf with gilt spine and spine label (chipped). First edition; "a groundbreaking achievement" (Fück, p. 111). Reiske's unvocalised edition of Tarafah's text, with a Latin translation on opposite pages and the commentary of Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Nahhas. "The appended notes trace the poet's chain of thought and elucidate the various themes with their poetic phraeseology by comparison with parallels in other works [...] A geneaological plate visualizes the kinship between Tarafah and other northern Arabian ports, facilitating the reader's checking the chronological approaches suggested in the prologue" (ibid.). In sharp contrast to his teacher Schultens, the brilliant scholar Reiske (1716-74) was one of the first Arabists whose work was fully independent of the constraints of Biblical exegesis. - The sixth century Arab poet Tarafah was the author of the longest of the seven odes in the celebrated collection of pre-Islamic poetry "al-Mu'allaqat" (Moallakah). Some critics judge him to be the greatest of the pre-Islamic poets, if not the greatest Arab poet. - Very rare. Schnurrer 202. Fück 110. Graesse IV, 554. Van der Aa VI, 69ff. Encyc. Britt. 26, 415. OCLC 22661575.