A PRINTED BOOK OF 'VITAE & RERUM GESTARUM TIMURI, QUI...
A PRINTED BOOK OF 'VITAE & RERUM GESTARUM TIMURI, QUI VULGO TAMERLANES DICITUR, HISTORIA' (LIFE OF TAMERLANE)
BY AHMAD (IBN MUḤAMMAD), KNOWN AS IBN ʿARABSHAH
Published in Leiden, Holland, 1636
Latin half-title, Arabic text, marbled paper binding, composed of 224 pages, the first page missing, the volume is extensively annotated in Latin and Arabic with references to book, historical references and researches and scholarly practice.
19.7cm x 16cm
FIRST EDITION (Editio princeps) An important and authoritative account of the life of Tamerlane, based on the original Arabic manuscript brought to Leiden by the renowned orientalist Jacob Golius (1596–1667), Professor of Arabic at Leiden University. During his travels to Syria and Constantinople in the 1620s, Golius acquired manuscripts for the university. The author, Ahmad ibn ʿArabshah, served as secretary to Sultan Ahmad of Baghdad and composed his biography shortly after Tamerlane’s death in 1405. Golius intended to prepare a commentary and translation of the work, but these were never published. The extensive seventeenth-century annotations are an interesting feature as, given the relatively small circle of English scholars specializing in Arabic at the time, further examination of the annotations may help establish their authorship.
For a similar example:
Sotheby's London, Music and Antiquarian Books and Manuscripts, 20-30 November 2021, lot 69.
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
A PRINTED BOOK OF 'VITAE & RERUM GESTARUM TIMURI, QUI VULGO TAMERLANES DICITUR, HISTORIA' (LIFE OF TAMERLANE)
BY AHMAD (IBN MUḤAMMAD), KNOWN AS IBN ʿARABSHAH
Published in Leiden, Holland, 1636
Latin half-title, Arabic text, marbled paper binding, composed of 224 pages, the first page missing, the volume is extensively annotated in Latin and Arabic with references to book, historical references and researches and scholarly practice.
19.7cm x 16cm
FIRST EDITION (Editio princeps) An important and authoritative account of the life of Tamerlane, based on the original Arabic manuscript brought to Leiden by the renowned orientalist Jacob Golius (1596–1667), Professor of Arabic at Leiden University. During his travels to Syria and Constantinople in the 1620s, Golius acquired manuscripts for the university. The author, Ahmad ibn ʿArabshah, served as secretary to Sultan Ahmad of Baghdad and composed his biography shortly after Tamerlane’s death in 1405. Golius intended to prepare a commentary and translation of the work, but these were never published. The extensive seventeenth-century annotations are an interesting feature as, given the relatively small circle of English scholars specializing in Arabic at the time, further examination of the annotations may help establish their authorship.
For a similar example:
Sotheby's London, Music and Antiquarian Books and Manuscripts, 20-30 November 2021, lot 69.
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
