This first edition of a famous and very rare work on the Arabic language combines a collection of Arabic sentences, quotations and proverbs in Arabic script with a Latin translation. It was originally compiled by the medieval Persian theologian, grammarian and lexicographer Abu al-Qasim Al-Zamakhshari (1075-1144). The presen edition was translated by the renowned professor of oriental languages Hendrik Albert Schultens (1749-1793) at the University of Leiden. The work emulates the reading practices of the Arab world and is being read from right to left, but the preliminaries are in Latin with quotations in Arabic. The extensive notes, often longer than the main text, are given in Arabic only below the main text with the Latin notes with quotations in Arabic at the end of the work.
With the circular stamp of the Archepiscopal Gymnasium in Lille (an ancestor of the 1875 Catholic University) on the second and third free flyleaves, pencil annotations in the margins of several leaves. The edges of the boards are scuffed, the boards and spine are somewhat rubbed. The title page and final leaf are foxed. Otherwise in good condition. Brills first encyclopaedia of Islam VIII, 1207; Duplessis 74 (1773 edition); GAL I, 292, no. XIV; Sarton II, 271-72; Schnurrer 215; WorldCat 4522262.