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and Tübingen, with a nine-month Studienreise taking in Paris, London and Oxford. He began work at the ducal library at Schloss Friedenstein in 1855, the start of nearly 25 years spent working with the more than 3,000 oriental manuscripts in the library, which eventually resulted in the five volumes offered here, as well as another three covering the Persian and Turkish collections. Pertsch was also responsible for listing the Persian and Turkish manuscripts in the Prussian State Library in Berlin. Pertsch’s reputation rests upon his exemplary catalogues of the oriental manuscripts at Gotha and Berlin. This important collection remains intact at the Forschungsbibliothek Burg Friedenstein. WorldCat shows perhaps fewer than 20 such sets worldwide; Library Hub lists just two in UK libraries: SOAS and Glasgow, the Oxford set lacking the much later fifth volume; no other copies traced at auction. This set with an excellent provenance: from the library of Col. S. B. Miles (see item 35). 5 volumes, octavo (231 × 150 mm). Near-contemporary black half morocco, marbled boards, spines lettered in gilt, turquoise endpapers, edges sprinkled, original wrappers bound in. German and Arabic text. With printed bookplates noting Miles’s widow’s bequest of the collection to Bath Public Library in 1920, and associated manuscript shelfmarks and blindstamps as usual. Light shelf wear, pale browning, occasional small blind stamps, a scatter of foxing to fore edge, front and back only, a very
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54 OMAN – SULTAN’S ARMED FORCES. Elementary Omani Colloquial Arabic for English Speakers. Muscat: HQ Education Service, Sultan’s Armed Forces, 1974 ce First and only edition of this scarce and unusual military vocabulary and grammar; an online institutional search shows just four locations: British Library, Oxford (Bodleian), St Andrews, and Bamberg. There is a fifth copy in the archives of Edward Ashley (1934–2001), who served two tours in Oman with the Sultan’s Armed Forces, which is now held by St Antony’s College, Oxford. Written for the benefit of British personnel serving with the Sultan of Oman’s Armed Forces in the final years of the long- running Omani Civil War (1963–76), also known as the Dhofar Rebellion, the focus is purely on a spoken, working knowledge of Arabic. Small quarto. Original red leatherette, lettered in gilt on spine and front board. With 2 diagrams to text. Slight dent at fore edge of back cover. An excellent copy, bright and square. £750 [159556] 55 PERTSCH, Wilhelm. Die Arabischen Handschriften der Herzoglichen Bibliothek Zu Gotha. Gotha: Friedrich Andreas Perthes, 1878–92 Genuinely scarce complete set of the catalogue for this superb Arabic library First editions, uncommon in complete state. The five volumes comprise the catalogue of the extraordinary collection of Arabic manuscripts at the ducal library at Gotha, most of which were originally purchased on behalf of Augustus, duke of Saxe-Gotha- Altenburg by the German orientalist Urlich Jaspar Seetzen (1767–1811) during his residence and travels in Constantinople, Aleppo, Damascus, Jerusalem and Cairo. The compiler, Wilhelm Pertsch (1832–1899), had studied oriental languages in Berlin
good set. £4,500
[94282]
56 PIGAFETTA, Francisco Antonio, & Maximilianus Transylvanus. Il viaggio fatto da gli spagnivoli a torno a’l mondo. [Venice:] 1536 the earliest obtainable edition of pigafetta’s account of the first circumnavigation Second edition, the first practically obtainable edition of Pigafetta’s famous narrative of Magellan’s circumnavigation, supplemented by an early edition of Maximilianus Transylvanus’s account of Magellan, the first combined appearance of the two, and the two most authoritative descriptions of that voyage. Ferdinand Magellan (1480–1521) was born in Portugal and served his country in East Asia and Africa. In 1517 he offered his services to King Charles V of Spain, arguing that the Moluccas Islands were within the region of discovery assigned to Spain by Pope Alexander
sharjah international book fair
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