
ARABICA
(A
Remarkable Trio). Rosenmüller, Ernest Friedrich Karl.
Analecta arabica editit latine vertit et illustravit. Ern. Fried. Car. Rosenmüller.
Lipsiae: sumtibus I. A. Barthii, 1825-1828. 8vo. 3 vols. in 1. I: xii, 44, 23,
[1 (blank)] pp. II: xviii, 55, [1], 39, [1] pp., [1] f. III: viii, 56, 27, [1
(blank)] pp.
$2250.00
Click any image where the hand appears on
mouse-over, for an enlargement.
In this amazing volume Rosenmüller has gathered three important anthologized Arabic texts and proceeds to offer them in Arabic and Latin; he even provides Latin-language prefaces and, for two texts, Arabic–Latin glossaries. The first text is given the Latin title, “Institutiones iuris Mohammedano e duobus al-Codurii codicibus” and is an anthology of passages from Mukhtasar of Imam al-Quduri on questions relating to Moslems making war on infidels. Mukhtasar al-Quduri is universally recognized as one of the earliest mainstays of the Hanafi school of legal scholarship.
The second text, entitled “Zohairi Carmen al-moallakah appellatum” in Latin and “Mu'allaqāt” in Arabic, is composed of seven poems of considerable length in Arabic that predate the advent of Islam. Each is by a different poet and is considered his best work. Glosses are present and pp. ix–xvi reproduce Reiske's introduction to his Taraphae Moallakah.
The last text is on Syria, from the writings of Abu Abd Allah Muhammad al-Idrîsî (cartographer, geographer and traveller who lived in Sicily) and al-Zâhirî.
A very handsomely printed book in Arabic and Latin.
Lambrecht 1129. 19th-century German boards covered with black mottled paper, boards and spine abraded; paper spine-label with hand-lettering. Institutional bookplate on front pastedown. Four-digit number in ink at base of first p. V. Housed in a modern quarter brown morocco tray case with raised bands on spine, each accented above and below with gilt beading (our last image shows the volume lying in its box). One spine compartment with title, another with publication place and dates, all others with gilt center device. A very acceptable copy of a scarce and important work for Arabic studies.
Arabian Nights. The thousand and one nights, commonly called, in England, the Arabian nights’ entertainments. London: Charles Knight & Co., 1839–41. 8vo (25.3 cm, 10"). 3 vols. I: Add. engr. t.-p., xxiii, [3], [xxv]–xxxii, 618 pp.; illus. II: Add. engr. t.-p., xii, 643, [1] pp.; illus. III: Add. engr. t.-p., xii, 763, [1] pp.; illus.
$750.00
Click the interior images for enlargements.
First edition of Edward William Lane’s English translation, illustrated with numerous in-text wood engravings from designs by William Harvey. Lane, an Egyptologist and noted scholar of Arabic language and literature, chose to bowdlerize portions of the tales he found “objectionable,” but added extensive anthropological and cultural annotations, as well as explanations of many of his choices in translation and transliteration.
NSTC 2L3671. Contemporary half red morocco and marbled paper–covered sides, spines with gilt-stamped title and gilt-framed compartments; sides and edges a bit rubbed, vol. I with small scuffed area from now-absent label on front cover. All edges marbled. Front pastedowns each with armorial bookplate and institutional rubber-stamp, title-page versos rubber-stamped, inked numeral in lower margin of dedication or contents page depending on volume.
A lavishly produced set, attractively illustrated and bound.
Erpenius, Thomas. Arabicae lingvae tyrocinium. Id est, Thomae Erpenii Grammatica arabica; cum varia praxios materia.... Lugduni Batavorum: Typis & impensis Ioannis Maire, 1656. 4to (18 cm, 6.625"). *4 **2 A–X4 Y2 2A–2Y4 Z2 Aa–Mm4 Nn2; [12], 172, 282 (i.e., 284) pp.
$1500.00
Single-click
any image where the hand appears on
mouse-over, for an enlargement.
Thomas Erpenius (1584–1624) was a noted orientalist, life-long friend of Casaubon, Arabic scholar, and professor at Leyden. His Arabic grammar was first published in 1613, and frequently reprinted thereafter. Included among the readings are Arabic fables and parables and selections from the Koran. The title-page of this edition is printed in red and black with a large vignette engraved by C.V. Dalen exhibiting the motto “Fac et spera.”
Provenance: Inked ownership inscription of Michael Gundelsheimer (d. 1715), at base of title-page, partially cut off by binder’s trimming. Gundelsheimer was Archdeacon of Feuchtwangen in the Margravate of Nuremberg, and was noted for his travels in the Middle East.
Full 17th-century calf, covers ruled in blind and spine neatly gilt with green leather label in one compartment, impress from another label (now lacking) in a second compartment, and an elegant “flower encircled” device in others compartments. Cover leather lightly waterstained in two places and shallowly abraded with some small black stains; spine leather cracking with some tears and chipping at extremities, faint white markings in bottom compartment, and cracking along joints. Title-page with ownership inscription touched by trimming as above, and traces of shelf location once pencilled on. A few leaves shallowly extruded. Scattered light foxing and browning, occasional traces of soiling, and a little cockling. Slip from bookseller’s catalogue on front pastedown. Marbled endpapers. All edges red.
Freystadt, M. Philosophia cabbalistica et pantheismus. Regimontii Prussorum: Borntraeger (pr. by Conradus Paschke), 1832. 8vo (19.8 cm, 7.75"). xv, [1], 143, [1] pp.
$350.00
Uncommon sole edition of Freystadt’s essay on Kabbalah and on pantheistic thought, printed in Latin and Hebrew with sprinklings of Arabic and Greek. Steineschneider cites this as Freystadt’s “dissert. inaug.”
Steineschneider, Catalogus Librorum Hebraeorum, 5085. Contemporary paste paper–covered boards, spine with hand-inked title label; binding rubbed and abraded, spine with stamped shelving number. All edges stained red. Front pastedown with 19th-century private collector’s bookplate.

Arabic — Armenian — Antiochus
Hamaker, Hendrik Arent. Specimen catalogi codicum mss. orientalium bibliothecae Academiae Lugduno-Batavae ... [bound with two other works as described below]. Lugduni Batavorum: Apud S. & J. Luchtmans, 1820. 4to (24.5 cm, 9.7"). [4], viii, 264, [4] pp. [bound with] Chahan de Cirbied, Jacques M. Notice de deux manuscrits Arméniens contenant l'histoire de Mathieu Eretz ... Paris: De l'imprimerie Impériale, 1812. 4to. 92 pp. [and] Tôchon
d'Annecy, Joseph-François . Dissertation sur l'époque de la mort d'Antiochus VII évergètes sidétès, roi de Syrie, sur deux médailles antiques de ce prince ... Paris: L.G. Michaud, 1815. 4to. Frontis., 68 pp.
$1250.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition of this catalogue of Arabic manuscripts held by the university at Leiden, annotated by Hamaker; the text is printed in Latin and Arabic. That work is followed by one on ancient Armenian manuscripts and another on the last era of Antiochus Sidetes with reference both to numismatic and Biblical sources; these are also in their first editions.
Hamaker: Brunet, III, 26-27. Contemporary half red morocco and marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title and publication information; binding darkened, corners and joints lightly rubbed. Front pastedown institutionally rubber-stamped, front free endpaper with neatly inked list of contents, half-title with small inked annotation dated 1825. Hamaker: Occasional instances of light spotting, pages otherwise clean. Chahan: Light intermittent foxing; inked marginalia in a neat hand. Tochon: Title-page with inked ownership inscription in upper margin, dated 1848. (20613)
The Lamartines in
the Levant
Lamartine, Alphonse de. Souvenirs, impressions, pensées et paysages, pendant un voyage en Orient (18321833), ou, notes d'un voyageur. Paris: Librairie de Charles Gosselin & Librairie de Furne, 1835. 8vo (21 cm, 8.25"). 4 vols. I: Frontis., [2], xiii, [3], pp. II: [4], 429, [1 (blank)] pp. (frontis. lacking). III: [4], 388 pp. (frontis. lacking). IV: [4], 384 pp.; 2 fold. maps, 1 fold. table.
$150.00
First edition. Lamartine, a once-celebrated Romantic poet, took his wife and daughter on a luxurious tour through the Middle East, visiting Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Serbia, and other countries in high style. His thoughts and impressions of the trip move from prose to poetry and back again, evoking a quintessentially 19th-century Orientalism.
Blackmer Collection 942; Atabey Collection 659; Tobler 153; Rohricht 1776; Europa und der Orient 336. This ed. not in Brunet. Publisher's blind-stamped cloth, spines with gilt-stamped title; cloth gently faded with spine extremities chipped, spine titles dimmed, front covers of vols. I and II detached, cloth starting along joints of vol. IV, spines with later paper shelving labels. Front pastedowns each with institutional bookplate. Vols. II and III lacking frontispieces; frontispiece and first few leaves of vol. I separated. Light to moderate foxing throughout; some corners dog-eared. Maps foxed but otherwise clean and crisp. (19642)

FIRST to Map the
East African Coast ACCURATELY
Owen, W. F. W. Narrative of voyages to explore the shores of Africa, Arabia, and Madagascar; performed in H.M. Ships Leven and Barracouta, under the direction of Captain W. F. W. Owen, R.N. by command of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. London: Richard Bentley, 1833. 8vo (22.9 cm, 9"). 2 vols. I: Frontis., xxiii, [1 (blank)], 434 pp.; 2 fold. maps, 1 litho. plt. II: Frontis., viii, 420 pp.; 2 fold. maps, 2 litho. plts.
[SOLD]
First edition. William Fitzwilliam Owen, a British naval officer, was in 1821 charged with surveying and mapping the coast of Africa, following previous successes exploring the Maldive Islands, the coast of Sumatra, and the Canadian Great Lakes. This Narrative recounts the two challenging expeditions led by Capt. Owen, during which he accomplished the most accurate coastline charting to date and for a number of years afterwards; the boarding of a slaver ship and numerous other interesting incidents are described.
The work is illustrated with five plates and four large, folding maps, as well as five wood-engraved, in-text cuts.
Allibone 1479; Howgego, Encyclopedia of Exploration, O11; Lib. Company, Afro-Americana, 7356; NSTC 2O7560. On Owen, see: Dictionary of National Biography. Recent quarter navy morocco with marbled paper–covered sides, leather edges gilt-stamped, spine with gilt-ruled raised bands and gilt-stamped compartment decorations. Page edges untrimmed. Paper a bit embrittled, with a few leaves starting to separate along inner margins. Maps with minor offsetting, one with short tear along one fold; foxing to both frontispieces and to title-page of vol. II (perhaps oddly, almost “only”); a clean and attractive set. (23772)

Egyptian Antiquities *&* Egypt in the 19th Century
With the
Language Supplement PRESENT
Rifaud, Jean-Jacques. Tableau de l'Égypte, de la Nubie et des lieux circonvoisins; ou Itinéraire a l'usage des voyageurs qui visitent ces contrées. A Paris: Treuttel et Würtz, 1830. 8vo (20.1 cm, 7.125"). [3] ff., xvi, 379, [3], 60 pp.; fold. map.
$775.00
Click the interior images for enlargements.
First edition. A traveler's guidebook to Eygpt and Nubia, with descriptions of their ancient monuments and antiquities, and practical advice concerning the local customs, transportation, provisions, etc. Jean-Jacques Rifaud (1786–1852) writes, in the preface, that his book was the product of 13 years of explorations in Egypt. He had conducted excavations at the Temple of Karnak, from 1817 to 1823, and seems to have been an agent of Bernardino Drovetti, Napoleon's Proconsul in Egypt. 
Preceding the text is a folding map of the Nile River Valley and a one-page publisher's advertisement. Introductory matter consists of a preface, a dedication (to “S.A.R. Madame, Duchesse de Berry”), and a notice warning the traveler interested in
mummies to beware of fakes. On pp. 321–71: “Rapports faits par les diverses académies et sociétés savantes de France, sur les ouvrages et collections
rapportés de l'Égypte et de la Nubie. Par M. Rifaud.”
Paged separately, following the text, are extensive lists of
words in the local dialects including “Vocabulaire des dialectes vulgaires de la Hautes-Egypt,” “Vocabulaire de la Nigritie de Fachetrou,” and some basic Arabic vocabulary. The final six pages consists of a list of place-names: “Noms et nombre des iles de la seconde cataracte du Nil.”
A search of OCLC produces only one copy with these 60 pages on language, located at the University of Pennsylvania. Eight other copies located via OCLC seem to have been issued without them.
Recent marbled paper-covered boards. Small abrasions at top edge of several preface pages; shallow tear in upper margin of pp. 47/48 (second sequence), touching but not costing a couple of letters; sliver of loss to blank area of outer margin of pp. 267/268. Generally clean, with only the odd spot; small ink jotting on front free endpaper. Map in very good condition, free of spots and tears. Four-digit inked numeral at base of recto of f. [3]. Very good and attractively rebound. (23908)
Famous “Medieval” Anti-Jewish Tract
Rare Translation
Samuel, Marochitanus (or Maroccanus). Ein Sendbrieff Rabbi Samuels von Israel, so Bürtig war auss der Stadt dess Konigs Morachiam, an Rabbi Isaac, Meystern der Synagogen, so in der Stadt Subjuliveta bemeltes Reichs ist : von der Jüden Zerstrewung, Ceremonien, Verblendung, vnd Vnglauben, auch welches die Sünde und Ursach sey, dasz Gottes Zorn so hart uber sie ergehe, und warumb sie in so langer Gefengnuss und Dienstbarkeit stecken müssen: so merhr als vor 500 Jahren in arabischer Sprach beschrieben, und hernach im Jahr
1239. in lateinische Sprach vertirt, nun aber durch ein Gottseligen Mann der Christenheit zu gut verdeutschet. Marpurg: Gedruckt ... Durch Paulum Egenolff, 1600. Small 4to. 59, [1] pp.
$1500.00
Click the interior images for enlargements.
Uncommon later printing in German of Epistola contra Judaeorum errores, an anti-Jewish work of the 11th century. Written originally in Arabic by the convert Samuel Abu Nasr ibn Abbas, son of Judah ibn Abbas of Fez, it was translated into Latin in the 14th century by the Spanish Dominican Alfonsus Bonihominis. In its original Arabic form, the work "claimed to prove the prophetic character of Jesus and Mohammed and argued that too many laws were added to the Torah by the Mishnah and Gemara. Buenhombre adapted the tract to present it as a Christian rather than Muslim polemic" (Jewish Encyclopedia). More recent scholarship (Marsmann, Epistel des Rabbi Samuel an Rabbi Isaak, 1971) indicates that Samuel is possibly fictitious and Alphonsus was probably, in fact, the author of the text. Uncommon edition: We locate only this deaccessioned copy in the U.S. and VD16 locates only three copies in Germany.
VD16 S1581. Removed from a nonce volume, in later wrappers. Dust-soiled. Library pressure-stamp and private owner's (old) inked signature on title-page. A very good copy. (21113)
Schroeder, Nicolaus Wilhelm. Commentarius philologico-criticus, de vestitu mulierum Hebraearum, ad Jesai. III. vs. 16-24.... Lugduni Batavorum: Apud Arahamum Kallewier, 1745. 4to (20.1 cm, 7.875"). 16 ff., 408 pp., [8] ff.
$400.00

Isaiah 3:16–24, in asserting the Lord's condemnation of vanity, gives a lengthy list of apparel fashionable among Hebrew women of Isaiah's day—all of which will be taken away by the divine judgement. In this work Schroeder carefully elucidates these terms for apparel, using other Biblical texts and similar terms in other languages (including Syriac, Greek, and Arabic) to bring out their meaning, thus providing the reader a look into the daily life of ancient Hebrew women via their garb. Nicolaus Wilhelm Schroeder (1721–98), a native of Marburg, was professor of Greek and oriental languages at the University of Groningen. He was also an early pioneer in the formal discipline of comparative philology, following the example of Albert Schultens.
Contemporary vellum pleasantly panelled in blind with arabesques as centerpieces on covers; spine with inked title, light soiling, corners a little bumped. Some tears along turn-ins. Paper generally clean with traces (only) of soiling; on title-page, small stain obscuring one letter. Inked ownership inscription on verso of title-leaf and signs of one-time pencillings on recto. All edges red.
Stock, Christian. Clavis lingvae sanctae Veteris Testamenti...cvi accedit breve dictionarium Chaldeo-Rabbinicum. Editio quinta.... Ienae: Apud Ioh. Felicem Bielckium, 1744. 8vo (22 cm, 8.625"). Frontis., [3] ff., 1198 pp., [25] ff., 133, [1 (blank)] pp., [1 (blank)] f.
$300.00
Christian Stock (1672–1733) was a Professor at Jena who edited his own edition of the New Testament and was the author of a popular Greek–Latin lexicon of the New Testament, a homiletical lexicon, and this Hebrew lexicon of the Old Testament. It is printed in Hebrew, Arabic, Greek, roman, and italic types, with an engraved portrait of the author as frontispiece. The 25 unnumbered leaves following p. 1198 are an index of the Latin definitions used, and a short “Chaldean” (i.e., Aramaic) dictionary, for those parts of the Old Testament written in that language, is appended at the end.
Contemporary calf, spine gilt and with red leather label. Leather dry and flaking, with loss over corners, joints open but sewing holding, chipping at head and foot of spine, and crack down center of spine: This volume could split. Ownership inscriptions in ink on front pastedown and reverse of frontispiece. Browning from turn-ins onto endpapers and fly-leaves; light to moderate foxing throughout. All edges speckled red.
PLACE
AN ORDER | E-MAIL
US | GO (BACK) TO TOPIC/INTEREST
TABLE | PRB&M HOME
All material © 2008
The Philadelphia Rare Books & Manuscripts
Company