Forum Rare Books

Well-illustrated report of an archaeological expedition
to the 7th & 8th-century "desert castles" of the Umayyad Caliphate

JAUSSEN, Antonin and Raphael SVAIGNAC Mission archeologique en Arabie III. Les chateaux arabes Qeseir 'Amra, Harâneh et Tûba.
Paris, Paul Geuthner, 1922. 2 volumes (text and atlas). Small folio (21 x 29.5 cm). Text volume with 21 illustrations in the text (mostly photographs). Atlas volume with 58 loose plates (mostly plans and photographic views) as issued. Text volume in modern half cloth, kept with the plates in a modern half cloth portfolio. [6], 134, [2] pp. Full description

€ 1,500

Archaeology West Asia

Extremely rare Syrian liturgical work by the Archbishop of Damascus, printed at the Dominican Press at Mosul

[LECTIONARY - SYRIAC]. [JOSEPH DAVID, Clemens]. Lectionarium Syriacum seu collectio orationum et lectionum quae in horis canonicis per totum anni decursum excepto jejunio quadragesimali ab ecclesiae Syriacae clero adhiberi solent.
Mosul, typis Fratrum Praedicatorum (= Dominican printing office), 1879. Folio. With a Latin title-page set in roman type and a Syriac title-page set in Syriac type, both within a red and blue ornamental frame. Preliminary leaves also set within a red ornamental frame. Text set in Syriac type and printed in black and red. With a few religious illustrations throughout the text. Contemporary half blue sheepskin, blue cloth sides, gold-tooled spine lettered (in Syriac) in gold, marbled endpapers. 648 pp. Full description

€ 12,500

Bibles, Liturgy & Devotional Works Greek & Non-Western Types Literature

Important collection of voyages to America and Africa, together with a standard work on Constantinople

[JUSTEL, Henri]. Recueil de divers voyages faits en Afrique et en l'Amerique.
Paris, Louis Billaine, 1674.
With: (2) GRELOT, Guillaume-Joseph. Relation nouvelle d'un voyage de Constantinople.
Paris, Nicolas Belley, 1689 (colophon 1680). Ad 1 with 17 engraved plates: 5 maps (4 folding), 3 folding plans and 9 other illustrations. Ad 2 with engraved portrait of a saint on title page, 13 engraved plates, 4 engravings in text and engraved coat of arms. 2 works in 1 volume. 4to. 18th-century tan calf, gold-tooled spine. [16], 262, 35 [1 blank], 23 [1 blank], 49 [1 blank], [2], 81 [1 blank]; [12], 306, 1 [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 18,000

Caribbean Islands East Africa Middle America Travel & Voyages Africa Travel & Voyages Middle East Travel & Voyages North America Turkey & Ottoman Empire

First edition in Arabic of the Samaritan book of Joshua

JUYNBOLL, Theodorus Willem Johannes. Chronicon Samaritanum, Arabice conscriptum cui titulus est liber Josuae. Ex unico codice Scaligeri nunc primum edidit, Latine vertit, annotatione instruxit, et dissertationem de codice, de chronico, et de quaestionibus, ...
Leiden, Samuel and Johannes Luchtmans, 1848. 4to. With a folding lithographed plate. Set in roman and italic types with the 55-page transcription in Arabic type and shorter passages in Hebrew, Samaritan and Syriac type. Modern half cloth, gold-tooled spine, marbled sides and decorated endpapers. XII, 369; [1], [1 blank], 55 pp. Full description

€ 2,500

Arabic Printing & Calligraphy Church History & Missions

The complete Arabic text

[KALILA WA DIMNA]. SILVESTRE DE SACY, Antoine Isaac (editor). Calila et Dimna, ou Fables de Bidpai, en Arabe.
Paris, Imprimerie Royale, 1816. 2 parts in 1 volume. 4to. 19th-century purple-ish cloth, with the title lettered in gold on the spine. The cloth around the spine is faded and browned. [2], VIII, 140; [8], 315, [1] pp. Full description

€ 3,500

Arabic Printing & Calligraphy Fable Books Literature

More than 70 beautiful photographs of locations and people in Iraq in the 1920s

KERIM, Abdul (photographer). Camera Studies in Iraq.
Baghdad, A. Kerim & Hasso Bros., [ca. 1925]. Oblong album (ca. 24.5 x 31 cm). With 73 photogravures. Original black imitation crocodile leather, stitched through 2 holes with brown cord, with the title and publishing (copyright) information in gold on the front board, dark brown endpapers. [50] ll. Full description

€ 1,500

Central Asia Islamic Art, Culture & Science Photography West Asia

Very rare Dutch picaresque novel, with the female protagonist getting caught by pirates
and ending up in the household of an Arabic slave trader

[KERSTEMAN, Petrus Lievens]. De vermakelyke avanturesse, of de dienstmaagd van fortuin. Vervattende hare zonderlinge levensgevallen, ontelbare wederwaardigheden en rampen; zeltzame ontmoetingen, en koddige vryagien; deszelfs driejarige dienst als lakye, gevangenneming op de Moorsche kusten, en hare slavernye in Asia by de Arabieren.
Amsterdam, Steven van Esveldt, 1754. 8vo. With engraved frontispiece. Contemporary mottled half calf, gold-tooled spine, later endpapers. [4], 360 pp Full description

€ 3,500

Arabian Peninsula & Gulf States Dutch Literature Mutiny, Piracy & Shipwrecks North Africa Slavery Travel & Voyages Africa Travel & Voyages Middle East Women History

A landmark of hadith scholarship: rare first English edition of a noted Sunni text, printed in Calcutta

KHATIB AL-TIBRIZI, Muhammad ibn ’Abd Allah (Arnold N. Matthews, trans.). Mishcàt-ul-Masábìh, or, A collection of the most authentic traditions, regarding the actions and sayings of Múhammed; exhibiting the origin of the manners and customs, the civil, religious and military policy of the Muslemàns.
Calcutta, T. Hubbard at the Hindoostanee Press, 1809-1810. 2 volumes. Small folio (23.5 x 31 cm). Contemporary sheepskin, flat spines with red morocco labels. [6], IX, [1], VI, 665, [1]; [2], VI, 817, [13] pp. Full description

€ 15,000

India & Sri Lanka Islam & Qurans Literature

Lively watercolour view of Tophane Quay in Istanbul with the Kilic Ali Pasha Mosque

[ISTANBUL]. [KING, Helena Caroline or Adelaide Charlotte]. [Prominent Ottoman and entourage boarding boats before the Kilic Ali Pasha Mosque].
[Istanbul?, ca. 1830/50?]. Watercolour drawing on wove paper (29.5 x 45 cm) with highlights in shellac and a thin black border. Mounted on a larger sheet of paper in a passe-partout. Full description

€ 8,500

City Plans, Topography & Views Turkey & Ottoman Empire

World atlas including one 6-sheet and eleven 4-sheet wall maps

KITCHIN, Thomas and others. Kitchin's general atlas, describing the whole universe.
London, Robert Laurie, James Whittle, 1808. Imperial folio (53 x 39.5 cm). With 28 engraved maps (numbered in 41 parts) assembled from 67 sheets. Most include elaborate cartouches with pictorial decoration. With the maps coloured in outline. Contemporary half calf. 1 leaf plus maps. Full description