First and sole edition. This beautiful photobook is surprisingly uncommon, with an institutional search showing just three locations: Tate Britain, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, and Leiden University. “Once a thriving international trade hub, the archaeological site of Hegra (also known as Mada’in Saleh) has been left practically undisturbed for almost 2,000 years” ( Smithsonian Magazine) . Humberto da Silveira worked at Hegra over a 22-year period. His fine images are accompanied by an essay by Jane Taylor and Christopher Tuttle of the American Center for Oriental Research, Amman, describing the history of the site and the lives of the builders and inhabitants. Other contributors include Laila Nehme (CNRS) and Michael C. A. Macdonald (Oxford University), with a foreword by Faisal Abdulrahman bin Muaammar (Supervisor General, King Abdulaziz Public Library). Square quarto. Original reddish-brown cloth, embossed lettering to spine and front cover, greyish-red endpapers. With dust jacket and original slipcase. Illustrated throughout with black and white photographs by Humberto da Silveira. Slight bump to one corner of slipcase. An excellent copy. £2,250 [159332] 73 SILVESTRE DE SACY, Antoine Isaac. Bibliothèque de M. le Baron Silvestre de Sacy. Paris: a l’Imprimerie Royale, 1842–46–47 the finest oriental library ever assembled by one man – presented by the editor The sale catalogue for a landmark library, this apparently unique set fully annotated with prices and inscribed on the half-title to volume III by its editor, Romain Merlin: “á Monsieur Carey, bibliothécaire de la Chambre des Pairs, hommage de son tres humble serviteur, R. Merlin” (“to Monsieur Carey, librarian of the Chamber of Peers, tribute from his very humble servant, R. Merlin”). Diligently printed by the Imprimerie Royale, the catalogue of the great French orientalist’s library remains invaluable thanks to Merlin’s meticulous descriptions for the printed books, while those for the manuscripts being similarly handled by a team of eminent orientalists: Grangeret de Lagrainge, Salomon Munk, Samuel Cahen, François Alphonse Belin, and the Abbé Dubois. Brunet describes it as “a veritable bibliography of
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Oriental literature, particularly of Hebrew, Arabic and Persian languages. The titles are transcribed with exactitude, and many are accompanied by interesting notes”; and remarks that the Qu’ran collection “is without a doubt the largest ever formed by a private individual”. Merlin (1793–1871) was the scion of an erudite dynasty of Parisian booksellers that could trace its roots to the 16th century. He held several state positions, including that of Conservateur au dépôt de la Librairie from 1840 and assistant librarian at the Ministry of the Interior; he was responsible for cataloguing more than 80 significant libraries, including those of the eminent ethnographer and orientalist Julius Klaproth (1839) and the professor of the history of law at the Faculté de Paris, François-Frédéric Poncelet (1844). Silvestre de Sacy (1758–1838) was the “first publicly acclaimed Orientalist” (Divanna, p. 95) and a key figure in Arabic studies in the West. He founded the Societé des études asiatiques in 1822 and was inspector of oriental letters at the Imprimerie royale, publisher of the present work. His Chrestomathie arabe (1806) has been described by Edward Said in Orientalism as one of the “great Orientalist works of genuine scholarship”. The recipient of this set was Jean Arsène Carrey (1787–1860), his name misspelled by Merlin as “Carey”, who served as premier bibliothécaire du Sénat between 1811 and 1848, a position which would have included, as per Merlin’s inscription, that of librarian to the Chambre des Pairs, the upper house of the French parliament. This is well represented institutionally but scarce in commerce; the present set the only one that we have been able to trace that is annotated with prices – lending additional lustre to a superlative work. 3 volumes, octavo (213 × 128 mm). Contemporary red quarter morocco, spines gilt lettered direct, Papier Tourniquet pattern marbled sides, Shell pattern marbled endpapers, red speckled edges. Light scuffs to spine ends, a little shelf wear and slight bumps to a couple of corners, minor dog-earing to a handful of leaves in vol. I, scattered foxing. A very good set, attractively bound. ¶ Brunet V 390. Isabel Divanna, Reconstructing the Middle Ages: Gaston Paris and the Development of Nineteenth-Century Medievalism , 2008. £3,500 [159464]
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