Very Good Arabic Original brown half leather bindings in Egyptian style, raised six bands to spine, title gilt on the second, volume nos on fourth, and alphabetical with the historical content of the volumes on sixth compartments and "Mahmoud Al-Tawawî" name. Minor foxing on some pages. Overall a very good set. Roy. 8vo. (24 x 17 cm). In Arabic. 14 books are complete set in 7 volumes. Extremely rare first printed edition of the most comprehensive and complete corpus on Baghdad city, which includes Al-Baghdadi's first-hand account of the collection of hadiths, biographies, and his travels in the 11th century Baghdad in traditional "al-râwî" style. Al-Baghdadi is known as a Muslim traveler in the pursuit of knowledge who compiled hadiths and traveled to many Islamic cities. He was born on the 24th ?jumada II, 392 (1002) at Darzidjan, a large village on the west bank of the Tigris below Baghdad. The son of a khatib [i.e. preacher], he began his studies very early and spent his youth traveling in search of ?adith. In this way, he visited Basra, Nishapur, I?fahân, Hamadân, and Damascus. Finally settling in Baghdâd, he held the office of a kha?îb and this was the origin of the name al-Khatîb al-Bag_dadi. After completing his education, he spent more than twenty years of his time writing "Tarikh Baghdad". He finished his corpus in 444 AH [1052-53]. He was a fellow student of Rîsürrüesâ Ibn al-Muslima who was the vizier of the Abbasid caliph Kâim-Biemrillâh. The vizier took Khatib, whom he appreciated in the science of hadith, under his patronage. The Abbasid caliph, therefore, ordered Khatib to be given permission to take hadith lessons from him. Khatib started to narrate hadiths from "Tarikh Baghdad" to his students here in his house near the Nizâmiya Madrasa, on the other hand, he started to read the books for which he had permission to narrate from many teachers, also write the books he planned. Several years after, the Turkish commander Besasiri (?-1060), who was a supporter of the Fatimid Caliph Mustansir-Billâh, entered Baghdad with the encouragement of the Fatimid caliph, deposed the caliph, and killed Ibn al-Muslima. Some members of the Hanbali sect, who had a grudge against Khatib because of what they wrote against some Hanbalis in Tarikh Baghdad, started to disturb him by taking the opportunity to kill the vizier. Therefore, he had to flee to Damascus. In his masterpiece, Khatibi, in addition to his account and descriptions of the city during his time in Baghdad, 7831 figures of people in total who lived or came in Baghdad before 450 (1058), statesmen such as caliphs, viziers, commanders, poets, judges, and other professions. This is an alphabetical work giving information about biographies of these figures, but it starts with the name "Muhammad" referring to the Muslim prophet. The first volume is about the establishment of Baghdad in the pre-Islamic period, its conquest by the Muslims, and its history. This masterpiece of him, published in fourteen volumes, is the most comprehensive corpus written on Baghdad in the Islamic world including the city's topography, history, et alli. Brockelmann, GAL, I, 401; Suppl., I, 563.; H. Gibb, "Islamic Biographical Literature".; F. Rosenthal, A History of Muslim Historiography, Leiden 1968, p. 14, 43. Only one set in OCLC in BnF (Bibliothèque nationale de France): 1198963531.
