Forum Rare Books

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

€ 18,000

Atlases & Globes Charts & Maps USA - United States of America World Atlases & Maps

On Ibn Khaldun's cultural history

KREMER, Alfred von. Ibn Chaldun und seine Culturgeschichte der Islamischen Reiche.
Vienna, Karl Gerold's son (back of title-page: Adolf Holzhausen), 1879. 8vo. With 4 leaves with Arabic text. Contemporary paper wrappers. 62, [2 blank] pp. Full description

€ 1,750

Greek & Non-Western Types Islamic Art, Culture & Science

The past and present of the oral traditions of Bedouin tribes in Arabia,
discussed by a renowned Dutch scholar of Arabian languages and cultures

KURPERSHOEK, Paul Marcel. Oral poetry & narratives from Central Arabia.
1. The poetry of ad-Dindân A Bedouin Bard in Southern Najd.
2. The story of a Desert Knight The legend of Sçwîh al-'Atâwi & Other 'Utaybah Heroes.
3. Bedouin poets of the Dawâsir Tribe Between Nomadism & Settlement in Southern Najd.
Leiden, New York, Köln, Brill, 1994-1999. 3 volumes. Large 8vo. With 2 portraits as frontispieces in vols. 1 and 2. 16 pages with illustrations and 2 maps at the end of vols. 2 and 3. Red cloth with title information in gold on front cover and spine of all 3 vols. All 3 vols. have a dust jacket. XVII, [5 368, [4]; XIV, [4], 512, [2]; XX, 506, [4] pp. Full description

€ 850

Arabian Peninsula & Gulf States Language & Linguistics Literature Saudi Arabia

Guide for new employees of the Kuwait Oil Company arriving in Al Ahmadi

KUWAIT OIL COMPANY. Information for new engagements on joining the Kuwait Oil Company, Limited, Kuwait.
Al Ahmadi, Kuwait Oil Company, 18 June 1952. Small folio (33 x 20.5 cm). Duplicated typescript, printed on the rectos only in purple ink, probably with a spirit duplicator. Loose sheets, stapled together at the left top corner with holes punched in the left margin. [2], 22 pp. Full description