Religione Mohammedica was a seminal work, the first objective survey of Islamic beliefs and practices. This engraving of ‘S. Sophiae’ (Hagia Sophia) in Constantinople (Istanbul) is from the 1717 edition. The Church is now a museum.]]> [Adriaan Reland]]]> Books]]> New Testament of 1716, compiled by the Prussian-born David Wilkins (1685–1745), who became Lord Almoner’s Professor of Arabic at the University of Cambridge in 1724. Wilkins not only had Coptic and Arabic, but he was also versed in Hebrew, Chaldaic, and Armenian. Anglo-Saxon was added to the language list, with some reservation by one biographer: ‘with a certain want of accuracy’.]]> Edited by Henry Tattam and Samuel Lee]]> Books]]> dībācheh) to the Gulistān (The Rose Garden), an important prose piece by Saʿdī Shīrāzī (d. c. 1292), a major Persian poet of the medieval period. Although there is some doubt about author attribution, the stamped seal of Sayyid Muḥammad (Mehmet) bin Ḥāfiẓ Osmān is present, dating the manuscript copy to 1178 AH (1764 AD). While the script of the commentary is in Ottoman Turkish, the text is replete with references to Persian poets and thinkers such as Ḥāfiẓ Shīrāzī (d. c. 1390 AD); Firdowsī (d. c. 1025 AD); Kamāl Khujandī (d. c. 1401 AD); and Nāṣir Khusraw (d. c.1088 AD). This manuscript once belonged to the Rev. William Arderne Shoults (1839-1887).]]> Maḥmūd ibn Osmān ibn ʿAlī al-Lāmiʿī]]> Manuscript]]> Grammar of the Persian Language, a ground-breaking work noted for its literary focus. Indeed, it went through several editions, and provided a model that language scholars later followed. Jones later travelled to Calcutta, formed the Asiatick Society of Bengal, and developed a strong interest in Sanskrit.]]> William Jones]]> Books]]> Grammar of the Turkish Language (Kitāb al-ʿilm al-Nāfiʿ fī taḥṣīl Ṣarf wa Naḥw Turkī; 1832) was dedicated to Mahmud II, the Sultan of Turkey. Davids managed to enjoy the fruits of authorship; he died aged 21, three weeks after the book was published. It was a seminal work, one of the first to cover the topic in Europe since the early 18th century. The terms for ‘Arts, Trades, and Professions’ make interesting reading.]]> Arthur Lumley Davids]]> Books]]> Henry Maundrell]]> Books]]> A Relation of a Journey (1615), a very popular account of the places he visited in the Middle East.]]> George Sandys]]> Books]]> George Sandys]]> Books]]> Rev. R. Walsh]]> Books]]> George E. Kirk]]> Books]]> A Visit to the Holy Land, Egypt, and Italy. Pfeiffer, one of the first female explorers, began her journey in 1842, travelling along the Danube river to Istanbul and then on to Palestine and Egypt. Her journey, which took nine months, also included Jerusalem (Hebrew: יְרוּשָׁלַיִם‬; Arabic: القُدس‎), one of the oldest cities in the world. In 1845, just after her visit, Jersualem’s population was 16,410, with 7,120 Jews, 5,000 Muslims, 3,390 Christians, 800 Turkish soldiers and 100 European. A recent census (2015) has the population at some 850,000 residents: approximately 200,000 Jewish-Israelis, 350,000 Haredi Jews, and 300,000 Palestinian Arabs. The aquatints – of which this is one of eight – greatly enhance Pfeiffer’s text.]]> Ida Laura Pfeiffer]]> Books]]> ea vallis, quam ambient montes bini, orientalis et occidentalis’– ‘in a valley between two mountain ranges’. The author described in detail the many ancient Egyptian monuments like the Pyramids at Giza and wrote of the incredible engineering and technical skills of the Egyptians.]]> Muwaffaq al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Laṭīf al-Baghdādī]]> Books]]> Journey showcase the town of Tarim. It was, and still is, an important religious centre in the Hadhramaut Valley and contains over 300 mosques. According to Wikipedia, the town has the ‘highest concentration’ of the prophet Muhammed’s descendants in the world.]]> D. van der Meulen]]> Books]]> Vāʿiẓ) and scholar of Islam who wrote in his life-time some forty works, almost all in Persian. According to reports, his preaching drew large crowds, mainly because of his beautiful voice, rhetorical skills, and ability to explain Qu’ranic verses and prophetic traditions clearly and concisely. Although deemed a populariser, Kāshifī helped document a wide range of knowledge important to the Islamic world. Akhlāq-e muḥsinī (Akhlak-i Muhsini) was a treatise on ethics and statecraft that he completed in 907/1501-2. The Persian scholar, the Rev. Henry George Keene (1781–1864), translated a portion of it as The Morals of the Beneficent. This is a later printing of 1850.]]> Kamāl al-Dīn Ḥusayn Vāʿiẓ Kāshi]]> Books]]> F. Henrico Noris]]> Books]]> fuṣḥá t-turāth); and modern standard Arabic (فصحى العصر fuṣḥá l-‘aṣr). These two carry subtle differences. With the increased number of travellers (be they adventurers or tourists) to the Middle East in the 19th and 20th centuries, and scholars increasingly interested in the language, a plethora of ‘How to’ Arabic grammars were produced. This Rev. G.W. Thatcher’s Grammar (1927) was once owned by Charles Brasch (1909-1973), who used it while in Egypt during the early 1930s.]]> G.W. Thatcher]]> Books]]> Pentateuch (often called the Five Books of Moses or the Torah) appeared at Bologna; and on 22 April 1488, the first complete Hebrew Bible appeared at Soncino. Leiden also featured. This Latin-Hebrew Bible was printed in 1611 by Franciscus Raphelengius, a pioneer of Hebrew typography in the Netherlands. The interlinear Latin translation is by Santes Pagninus (1470-1536), whose Latin version of the Hebrew Bible greatly aided future scriptural translators and scholars. Here is an early portion of the Book of Genesis.]]> ___]]> Books]]> Muhammad ibn Sulaymān al-Jazūlī]]> Manuscripts]]> East is West is a memoir of that time.]]> Freya Stark]]> Books]]> Elements of Geometry, which is considered as one of the most successful and influential textbooks ever written. This is a battered Arabic manuscript in naskh script of chapters 1 to 3 of Euclid’s work, beginning in the middle of definition ten. It is an Isḥāq ibn Ḥunayn-Thābit ibn Qurra version, the most influential of Arabic translations. Euclid – the ‘father of geometry’ – first became known in Europe through Latin translations of these versions. The age of the manuscript is probably much later than given date of c.1800.]]> Euclid]]> Manuscript]]> Syriac Infancy Gospel, translated by Henry Sike, Professor of Oriental Languages at Cambridge, in 1697. Also known as the Arabic Infancy Gospel, Evangelium Infantiae concerns the childhood of Jesus. This apocryphal piece, originating from Syriac sources of the 5th and 6th centuries, reveals some amusing claims: a magic diaper that heals people; sweat (of Jesus) that turns into balm, and cures leprosy; and an early encounter for Jesus with Judas Iscariot.]]> ___]]> Books]]> Guide to New Palestine, dated ‘Iyyar 5694 (May 1934).’ This guidebook was once owned by Charles Brasch, who could well have used it while he was living in the Middle East. The ‘Four-ton Candlestick’ from the Otago Daily Times (February 1956) was loosely tipped in.]]> Zionist Information Bureau for Tourists in Palestine]]> Books]]> Handbook, with notes in his neat, compact script.]]> J. Selden Willmore]]> Books]]> Hashish – one of 70 works written by the opium addict and Islamic convert. De Monfried (1879-1974) bought a consignment of hashish in Greece and transported it to Egypt via Somalia, the Suez Canal, and a band of Bedouin nomads.]]> Henry de Monfried]]> Books]]> Michel M. Alouf]]> Books]]>