Middle East & Islamic World / Arabic Printing & Calligraphy

[AHMED-I MISRI and/or SEYHZADE]. BELLETESTE, Henri-Nicolas (editor).

[in Arabic type:] Kýrk vezir hikâyeleri ... = Contes Turcs en langue Turque, extraits de roman intitulé, Les quarante vizirs.
Paris, Imprimerie Impériale ("chez" (sold by?) Guillaume Debure and sons), 1812. 4to. With the text in Ottoman Turkish set entirely in Arabic type, with only a second title-page in French, the book opening from the left wrapper with the Turkish title-page and the pages proceeding from left to right, while it opens from the right wrapper with the French title-page. The Turkish and French title-pages, the former in a decorative frame, include Napoleons woodcut imperial coat of arms: eagle clutching a thunderbolt, mantled and with the imperial crown, the collar (with an "N") and badge of the Legion of Honour and the crossed sceptres of mercy and justice, printed from two different blocks (that on the Turkish title-page is smaller and the points of the sceptres extend beyond the mantling). The first page of the text is set in a richly decorated frame in the traditional Islamic style. With: (2) IDEM. A second copy of the same edition, omitting the Turkish title-page and the last 50 leaves (pp. 161-258 & 2 unnumbered), but including the original publishers front wrapper (containing a short form of the title), and with a French manuscript translation of the Turkish text written in the margins.
Ad 1 in contemporary blue paper wrappers with a white printed spine label, stored in a 20th-century custom-made case: half red morocco with the title in gold on the spine and block-printed (green on white) paste-paper sides; ad 2 sewn and with the original publishers printed-paper front wrapper. [2], 258, [2]; 160 pp.

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AL-ZAMAKHSHARI, Abu al Qasim Mahmoud ibn Omar (Joseph von HAMMER-PURGSTALL, ed.). Samachschari's Goldene Halsbänder. Als Neujahrsgeschenk arabisch und deutsch.
Vienna, widow of A. Strauss, 1835. 8vo. With two identical plates showing the golden necklace around a calligraphic Arabic inscription, the necklace hand-coloured in gold and the inscription in blue, as a frontispiece for both the Arabic and the German text (on the first and the last page). The Arabic title is incorporated into a printed circular medallion with decorative points at the head and foot on the first page, and the main Arabic text opens on the back of the same leaf with an elaborate headpiece. Text set in German and Arabic. Contemporary green calf (spine faded to brown), with a gold- and blind-stamped frame on each board. [1], [1 blank], 54 pp. (German text); 27, [1] ll. (Arabic text). Full description

AL-SHIDYAQ, As’ad. Khabariyat As`ad al-Shidyaq alladhi udtuhida li-ajl iqrarihi fil-haqq. [Account of As ad al-Shidyaq who was persecuted for his steadfastness in the truth].
Malta, [Anglican] Church Missionary Society [for the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions], 1833. 12mo. With all text in Arabic and the wrapper with a decorated frame built up from typographic ornaments. Original publisher's letterpress printed wrapper. 52 pp. Full description

AL-ZAMAKHSHARI and Jens Peter BROCH. Al-Mufassal, opus de re grammatica Arabicum.
Oslo, W.C. Fabritius, 1859. 8vo. Near contemporary cloth with title in gold on spine, covered with protective plastic. 229, [5] pp. Full description

[ARABIC-SCRIPT PRINTER’S WOODBLOCK]. Hand-cut woodblock bearing the text "Safr Nishd al-nishad li-Süleyman ..." (Book of the Song of songs of Solomon) in naskh Arabic script.
[Probably Ottoman provinces, mid-18th century (ca. 1750)]. A single hand-cut woodblock (17 x 9 x 2.2 cm, with protrusions to the left and right making it wider - 11 cm - near the head to accommodate the wider 2nd line) intended for use as printing block, with 6 lines of text, together with an inked impression on 18th century paper (16.5 x 10.5 cm). Full description

BELLARMINO, Roberto. Dottrina Cristiana composta dall...
Rome, Propaganda Fide, 1786. Large 4to. With 4 woodcuts on 3 plates, 1 full-page woodcut on the back of the title-page, and a few woodcut initials, factotums and decorations, as well as frames, factotums and decorations built up from arabesque and rococo typographic ornaments. Set in three columns in Ethiopic, roman and Arabic type. Contemporary vellum, gold-tooled spine title, red sprinkled edges. 97, [1] pp. Full description

[BIBLE - POLYGLOT]. Psalterium, Hebr[a]eum, Gr[a]ecu[m], Arabicu[m], & Chald[a]eu[m], cu[m] tribus Latinis i[n]terp[re]tat[i]o[n]ibus & glossis.
(Colophon: Genoa, Pietro Paulo Porro, November 1516). Folio (33.5 x 25 cm). Title-page and first double-page opening of the main text printed in red and black, the former with a woodcut arabesque border, Porro's white on black woodcut leek device on the final leaf. With parallel text in Hebrew, Latin (3 versions), Greek, Arabic and Chaldean Aramaic (set in roman, Greek, Hebrew and Arabic type), giving 8 columns to each double-page spread (the 8th for notes) with 41 lines per columns, and 13 woodcut floriated initials (5 Latin, 4 Hebrew, 2 Greek and 2 Arabic). 16th-century blind-tooled brown calf. Rebacked and with later endpapers. 200 ll. Full description

[BIBLE - NEW TESTAMENT - GOSPELS - ARABIC & LATIN]. Arba`at Anajil Yasu` al-Masih Sayyidina al-Muqaddasah. Sacrosancta quatuor Iesu Christi D. N. Evangelia. Arabice scripta, Latine reddita, figurisq[ue] ornata.
Rome, Typographia Medicea, (1591)-1619. Folio (26 x 36.5 cm). Title-page printed in red and black, with the woodcut Medici coat of arms 81 woodcut illustrations in the text (plus 68 repeats), some initialled LP for the block cutter (Leonardo Parassole or less likely Lucas Pennis) and some also AT for the artist (Antonio Tempesta). Set in naskh Arabic type with the interlinear Latin text in roman. Contemporary Italian flexible boards with manuscript title on spine. [4], 9-462, [2] pp. Full description

BURCKHARDT, Johann Ludwig. Arabic proverbs, or the manners and customs of the modern Egyptians, illustrated from their proverbial sayings current at Cairo, translated and explained ...
London, John Murray (colophon: printed by C. Roworth), 1830. Large 4to (28 x 22 cm). With a large folding engraved map of the Sinai, the Holy Land and parts of Egypt and Syria, showing Burckhardt's travels, and a few small woodcut illustrations in the text. Set in roman and italic type with the proverbs also in the original Arabic. Mid-19th-century half tan calf, spine with gold-tooled bands. VII, [1], 232 pp. Full description

[BURGESS, Thomas]. The Arabick alphabet...
Newcastle, printed by S[arah]. Hodgson, 1809. Large 12mo. Twentieth-century half calf, marbled sides, with a blind-tooled roll where the calf covering (including the corners) meets the marbled paper, gold fillets on the smooth spine, black morocco spine label with the title in large gold capitals running up the spine, lettered in gold. With 22 sturdy blank leaves at the end and the bookbinders ticket of "Period Binders, Bath". V, [3], 20 pp. Full description