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Description
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تاليف احمد بن عربشاه = Ahmedis Arabsiadæ Vitæ & rerum gestarum Timuri, qui vulgo Tamerlanes dicitur, historia, Ed. with a Latin preface by J. Golius., Title on half t.p.: Historia Tamerlanis Arabice., First Arabic edition of this important eyewitness account of the life of Tamerlane (Timur Lenk), the successful and barbaric Turkish conqueror in the 14th century, printed entirely in Arabic. "An interesting feature of the book is the use of blue ink for the printing of the word 'Tamerlanis' (between two red lines) on the half-title, as well as for one typographical ornament on leaf 3 recto" (Smitskamp). Based on the original Arabic manuscript completed in 1437-38 by the Syrian author Ahmad lbn 'Arabshah who was secretary to Sultan Ahmad of Baghdad. In the 16th century Timur was made famous in Europe through Christopher Marlowe's play "Tamburlaine" (publ. 1590). - The present work was edited by Jacob Golius and includes a preface by him. The Arabic manuscript used by him is still preserved at Leiden University library and contains many notes in his hand. A French translation by Pierre Vattier appeared in 1658. - II: First edition of the first Persian grammar ever to be printed (Willems notes that Raimondi, in 1614, produced a grammar in Rome for the use of missionaries which remained virtually unknown in the West, but this existed only in manuscript [cf. Smitskamp 310]). "De Dieu's most striking performance" (Smitskamp). The grammars of Ignazio di Gesù (Rome 1661) and of Labrosse (Amsterdam 1684) were largely based on his work. "The two chapters from Genesis are taken from a complete transcription in Arabic characters after the Hebrew-printed Persian text was published by Soncino in Istanbul in 1546" (Smitskamp). - Several contemporary marginal notes in the text; old table of Persian alphabet on endpapers, as well as an old ms. note reproducing Pietro Della Valle's remarks on the Persian language. A very clean, attractive copy. The Life of Tamerlane, especially, is extremely rare: the last copy on the market was the Burrell copy in 1999 (sold at Sotheby's for £8400)., Main Heritage Shelves General, DS23 .I22 1636, Book, Item-ID: i16587832, BIB-ID: 1494556, Rudimenta linguae Persicae / authore Ludovico de Dieu. Lugduni Batavorum : Ex Officina Elseviriana, MDCXXXIX [1649] |
