REFERENCE LIBRARY – ORIENTAL CARPETS & RUGS

Approximately 400 volumes published between 1902 and 2006 in various European languages (mostly English and German)

This rich reference library on oriental carpets comprises around 400 volumes and is now for sale in its entirety. In addition to numerous handbooks and monographs, this reference collection also contains a range of im...
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Lekegian, Bonfils, et al.

ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE OF CAIRO (1890/1900)

Album with 96 photos exclusively on Islamic Architecture, mainly by Lekegian and Bonfils.

Our offer includes original photos, their digital reproduction, and cataloguing data. Reproduction and description of each photo as on the flyer.

Focus of this album is exclusively on Islamic Architecture of Cairo. It’s mosques are in the center of interest of the collector: Abu Bakr Mosque, Amr Mosque, Mosque of Ibrahim , Al-Azhar Mosque, Mosque of Barquq, Qalaw...
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Beato, Bonfils, Lehnert & Landrock, et al.

PHARAONIC MONUMENTS IN CAIRO AND UPPER EGYPT (1890/1900)

Album with 82 photos, half of which by Beato, Bonfils and Lehnert & Landrock, c. 1890-1900

Our offer includes original photos, their digital reproduction, and cataloguing data. Reproduction and description of each photo as on the flyer.

Focus of this album is exclusively on Pharaonic monuments in Cairo and Upper Egypt. 82 splendid, mostly large format photographs (mostly c. 20 x c. 26 cm) are in excellent condition. Of the photographs 41 are by Beato, B...
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ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE IN USBEKISTAN c. 1930

Lot of 15 Photographs taken in Samarkand, Bukhara, and Taschkent
Picture size between 8 x 11.1 cm and 16.5 x 12 cm
c. 1930

Our offer includes original photos, their digital reproduction, and cataloguing data. Reproduction and description of each photo as on the flyer.

Rare pictures from architectural sites in Samarkand, Taschkent and Bukhara such as the Madrasah at Registan square in Samarkand or the mosque in Bukhara. Some pictures verso with stamps in Cyrillic.  The collection is c...
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Lehnert & Landrock

GRANDE TOUR AROUND THE MEDITERRANEAN: Gibraltar, Spain, France, Italy, Greece, and Malta

Collection of 37 vintage prints by Lehnert & Landrock
Taken between 1910 and 1930.
Size of photos: 17 x 12.8 cm
c.1910-1930

Our offer includes original photos, their digital reproduction, and cataloguing data. Reproduction and description of each photo as on the flyer.

This very well preserved collection of 41 vintage prints by the famous photographers Lehnert & Landrock covers many well-known sujets in the Mediterranean. Lehnert & Landrock was based in Tunis before WW I and ...
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ALGERIA IN THE 1880s

Photos taken in Stora, Biskra, Tlemcen, Mansoura, Algiers, and Tunis
55 Albumen Prints in Album (36 x 26.5 cm)
Picture size c. 17 x 28 cm
1880s

Our offer includes original photos, their digital reproduction, and cataloguing data. Reproduction and description of each photo as on the flyer.

This well preserved heavy album with 55 mainly private albumen prints covers among others sujets at Tlemcen, Biskra, Algiers and in the countryside. The photographer had a good eye for composition and framing and a spe...
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BAALBEK, DAMASCUS, TRIPOLI IN 1932

Private Album of French Army Officer with 99 vintage prints
Size: 24 x 18 cm
1932

Our offer includes original photos, their digital reproduction, and cataloguing data. Reproduction and description of each photo as on the flyer.

The album contains 99 pictures which, in addition to illustrative scenes from army and camp life, mainly contain impressions of excursions to Baalbek, Damascus and Tripoli with numerous details. The unknown photographer...
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Philips Demonstration Tour "La voix du géant" – Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, 1930

Photographic diary of 89 concerts and demonstrations in three months on a tour over 9000 km through the three Maghreb countries

Our offer includes original photos, their digital reproduction, and cataloguing data. Reproduction and description of each photo as on the flyer.

Presumably an internal documentation of a promotion tour of the Philips company for a radio and speakers system called "La voix du géant". Stops of the tour through Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia from end of Feb...
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Risale-i kürre-i suri-i ufkî beyanı zat-ul kürsî'üddânî [Statement of the length of the horizon line of the celestial sphere and the statement of the earth sphere below]

Naskhī, title illuminated. Illustrations.
Unfinished copy without colophon.
Probably second half of the 18th or early 19th century.
22 leaves at 17 lines 
23,3 x 16.5 cm

Beautiful Ottoman-style leather binding with decorative stamps Astronomical text by an unidentified author. Special focus the topic “armillary sphere” (ẕāt-i kürsī-i ṣanāʿī). The images – e.g., the perspective view –...
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Müneccimbaşı / Chief Astronomer of Ottoman Sultan Abdulaziz (1830-1876)

Observations of the Movements of Sun and Stars during the year 1287 H. [1870 AD] for Submission to the Sultan.

Manuscript in Ottoman Turkish
54 pp., c. 16.5 x c. 10.5 cm
in acid-free cardboard box, includes original leather covers.

Restored in museum quality: Cleaning of surface, some pages stabilised with coated Japanese paper, glued by using alcohol.
Window fold for individual sheets

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Mustafa ibn Ali al-Muwaqqit, died 978 [1571]

Three Manuscripts (1) Kifāyat al-waqt li-maʿrifat al-dāʾir wa- faḍlihi wa-ʾl-samt. (2) Tashil al-miqat (3) Faraḥ Fazā

Three Manuscripts in Ottoman Turkish Bound in 1 Volume
Copied by Abdullah Seyyid Feyzullah b. Ahmad in 1166 H [1752 A.D.]
70 fol.,
20 x 13 cm.
Cardboard cover with leather spine

ad (1): Kifāyat al-waqt li-maʿrifat al-dāʾir wa- faḍlihi wa-ʾl-samt, also known as Risāla fī al-muqanṭarāt, 936 H [1529 AD] written in Ottoman Turkish; it deals with various aspects of geometry, trigonometry and astronom...
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Sundials – On Instruments to Measure Prayer Times

Attractive Naskhi script with 36 sketches and 6 tables.
54 pp., 13.5 x 22 cm
Unknown copist
Late 18th, possible early 19th century
Marbled binding

Sundials can be found on the walls of many Ottoman mosques to determine prayer times which are formed by the shadow formed by the angles of movement of the sun. The inscription on the marbled cover reads "the book ...
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RESEARCH LIBRARY – HISTORY OF BOOK PRINTING IN THE MIDDLE EAST

– Part 2 of the Research Library of Dr. Geoffrey Roper (Cambridge) –

Approx. 140 titles, some multi-volume, in various languages, principally English, Arabic, Turkish, Persian, French, German and other European languages. They are mainly on book history with a focus on printing and publishing history in the languages and countries of the Middle East and Islam. The collection also covers the history of book printing in Arabic in other parts of the world. Mostly publications of the last 50 years, but a few are older (19th century).

Pdf-Flyer and title list in Excel available for download.
(See links below!)

Geoffrey Roper, who compiled this collection over decades, was the driving force behind four symposia on the history of printing and publishing in the languages and countries of the Middle East, held in Leipzig, Mainz, P...
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Fāris al-Shidyāq

LIFE AND WORK OF FARIS AL-SHIDYAQ

The books in this collection come from, or relate to Fāris al-Shidyāq the Lebanese Arab writer, journalist and intellectual, who became a leading figure in the Arab and Muslim Renaissance (Nahḍah) of the 19th century.

The collection was part of the working library of Dr. Geoffrey Roper (Cambridge) who has published on Fāris al-Shidyāq.
It consists of:
- An autograph manuscript written by Fāris al-Shidyāq in February/March 1868: Sirr al-layāl fī 'l-qalb wa-'l-ibdāl. [Nights' secret, on transposition and substitution.]
- 27 other books written and published by Fāris, (about half of which published between 1836 and 1891)
- 19 books written on the author and his work, and
- Approx. 90 related journal articles and off-prints

> Pdf-Flyer and list of titles available for download. (See below!)

Fāris al-Shidyāq was born into a Maronite family in Lebanon in 1805 or -06, and was employed as a scribe there in his youth. He acquired an early taste for books, literature and calligraphy, which persisted throughout hi...
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HISTORY OF THE BOOK AND BOOK PRINTING IN THE MIDDLE EAST

– The Research Library of Dr. Geoffrey Roper (Cambridge) –

Approx. 900 titles, some multi-volume, in various languages, principally English, Arabic, Turkish, Persian, French, German and other European languages. They are mainly on book history with a focus on printing and publishing history in the languages and countries of the Middle East and Islam. The collection also covers the history of book printing in Arabic in other parts of the world. Mostly publications of the last 50 years, but a few are older (19th century).
Pdf-Flyer and list of titles (in Excel) available for download. (See below!) ]

Geoffrey Roper, who compiled this collection over decades, was the driving force behind four symposia on the history of printing and publishing in the languages and countries of the Middle East, held in Leipzig, Mainz, P...
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Evliya Çelebi

EVLIYA ÇELEBI – Collection of Sources & Working Library

Collection contains all indispensable sources and working tools related to Evliya Çelebi’s extensive opus.

This material served as Klaus Kreiser's working library for the publication of his latest book on the famous chronicler:
Evliya Çelebi: Das Reisetagebuch. Die Welt zwischen Wien und Mekka. München: C. H. Beck 2023 [Evliya Çelebi: The Travel Diary. The world between Vienna and Mecca].

Items as per flyer & pdf list. (Also available in Excel)

Evliya Çelebi (1611 - c. 1683) is the most important travel writer, chronicler and polyhistor of the Islamic early modern era. For almost two hundred years he has occupied Ottoman, historical and philological research in...
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Research Library on Islamic Law and History (approx. 1800 titles)

of the late Professor Rudolph "Ruud" Peters, Emeritus of Islamic Law, University of Amsterdam

Ruud Peters (1943-2022) was one of the world’s leading scholars in Islamic Law. His working library reflects the distinct research areas of its compiler in a unique way: From the history of Jihad, to Egyptian history in Ottoman and Khedival times to Islamic Law which was his main field of research over a period of 40 years.

The library consists of three main subject areas and counts a total of c. 1800 titles: 1. Islamic Law: c. 640 titles, 46% Arabic, 33% English, 7% Turkish, 15% other languages 2. Islamic Studies: c. 500 titles, 22% Arab...
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Scholarly Library on Islamic Art – Focus on Miniature Painting

Approx. 600 titles.

This very focussed working library is being put up for sale in its entirety. Main subjects covered are: - History of Islamic Arts, Architecture and Material Culture - Influences on Islamic Art - Painting and Calligraphy...
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Reference Library Oriental Carpets & Rugs

457 items published between 1891 and 2015

This beautiful and rich reference library on Oriental carpets and rugs consists of a total of 457 items of which 60% are monographs and 40% exhibition and auction catalogues. The books were published between 1891 and 20...
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Book Collection: Historical Photography of the Middle East

33 items

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Collection of Armenian Books

153 titles printed in Istanbul, Cairo, Beirut, Jerusalem, Alexandria, Aleppo, Yerevan, Edschmiadzin, Tblisi, Venice, Paris, Vienna, Sofia, Bucarest, Anvers, Marseille, Colombes (Seine), New York, Boston, and Buenos Aires.

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Collection of Armenian Books

70 items printed in Aleppo, Alexandria, Boston, Cairo, Cambridge, Istanbul, Jerusalem, Paris, Smyrna, Tblissi, Thessaloniki, Venice, Vienna, and Yerevan between 1851 and 1952.

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Three Series of Military Maps Middle East, North Africa & West Asia

A total of 158 rare and out of print military maps from US and Russian sources covering the Near and Middle East, dating from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.

(1) ONC - OPERATIONAL NAVIGATION CHART NORTH AFRICA, WEST & CENTRAL ASIA 1:1,000,000 Covering: The Balkans, Black Sea, Caucasus, Central Asia, Maghreb, Mashreq, Arabian Peninsula, Pakistan, West Africa, Sudan, Somali...
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Three Series of Military Maps Middle East, North Africa & West Asia

A total of 158 rare and out of print military maps from US and Russian sources covering the Near and Middle East, dating from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.

(1) ONC - OPERATIONAL NAVIGATION CHART NORTH AFRICA, WEST & CENTRAL ASIA 1:1,000,000 Covering: The Balkans, Black Sea, Caucasus, Central Asia, Maghreb, Mashreq, Arabian Peninsula, Pakistan, West Africa, Sudan, Somali...
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al-Qāḍī Abū l-Faḍl ʿIyāḍ

aš-Šifāʾ bi-taʿrīf al-Muṣṭafā

Richly illuminated manuscript in Arabic
Collated and commented text.
Reference to well-known commentaries in the margins
(mostly ʿAlī al-Qārī)
315 leaves at 17 lines
18.3 x 12 cm, paper binding

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Muḥammad al-Jazūlī aš-Šadhīlī died 869 H. [1465 AD]

Dalāʾil al-khayrāt wa shawāriq al-anwār fī dhikr aṣ-ṣalāt ʿala an-Nabī al-mukhtār Waymarks of beneficence and light in remembrance of the blessings of the Prophet

Illuminated manuscript in Arabic and Ottoman Turkish Elegant nasḫī with rich Illumination. Manuscript from an Ottoman-Turkish context.
36 leaves at 19 lines
16 x 10 cm
Beautiful Ottoman-style leather binding with flap and decorative stamps

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Muḥammad ibn Ḥusayn Bahāʾ al-Dīn al-ʿĀmilī (1547–1621)

Tashrīḥ al-aflāk (Anatomy of the celestial spheres) including Sharḥ Tashrīḥ al-aflāk (Commentary on Tashrīḥ al-aflāk)

Manuscript in Arabic
Copied by Muhammad bin Fazlullah Sharîf
1072 H (1656 AD)
186pp., c. 11 x c. 19 cm.
Simple leather cover

Muḥammad ibn Ḥusayn Bahāʾ al-Dīn al-ʿĀmilī (ca. 1547–1621), also known as Shaykh Bahāʾī, was one of the most respected Imāmī (Twelver Shīʿī) Ṣafavid theologians during the reign of Shah ʿAbbās I (1581–1629) was probably ...
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Al-Shaykh bin Dammam, 1265 H. [1848 AD]

Talisman Booklet with Petitionary Sufi Prayers

Manuscript in Arabic, Calligraphy from the Maghreb

75 leaves, 9.5 x 11 cm
bound in leather, with flap and in an ornate leather case

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Niyazi Dede

İlm-i cifir - The Science of Evocation (Spirit Conjuring). A unique manuscript, author's copy by Niyazi Dede, the Sheikh of the Mevlevi Monastery in Salonika, written in 1260 H. [1844 AD]

Manuscript in Ottoman Turkish
154 pages, 21 x 13 cm.
Cardboard cover with leather spine.

Two other small works are included in the manuscript: 1. A complete copy of Dîvânçe (Little Divan of 28 poems) by La'lî Mehmed Fenâî Efendi (998 - 1112 H / 1590 - 1700 AD) Only 4 copies are known in Istanbul librar...
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İzmirîzâde Ahmed Efendi (Pseudonym), 1192 [1778]

Kitab-ı İlm-i Remîl (The Book of Geomancy)

Manuscript in Ottoman Turkish
5 parts in one volume,
79 + 76 + 12 + 77 + 40 leaves,
21 x 15 cm.

Geomancy (Ancient Greek γῆ, earth, and μαντεία, divination or prophecy) from the earth is a form of clairvoyance using markings and patterns in earth or sand. It is thought to have originated in North Africa. In the twel...
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Muhammad Sulaiman al-Jazuli ash-Shadhili, died 869 [1465]

Dala’il al-Khayrat (Waymarks of beneficence and light in remembrance of the blessings of the Prophet)

Manuscript in Ottoman Turkish
by Hafiz Mahmud Imâmü’s-Saray-i Hazret-i Esma Sultan. On behalf of Nevreste Hanim, court lady of Esma Sultan, daughter of Sultan Abdulhamid I. Istanbul, c. 1184-1192 [1770-1778]
265 leaves, 19 x 15 cm,
original leather binding.

The Dala’il al-Khayrat is the first major book in Islamic history which compiled litanies of peace and blessings upon Muhammad. It is also the most popular and most universally acclaimed collection of litanies asking God...
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Khālid b.ʿAbdullāh al-Azharī, born c. 838 [1434/35]

Muwaṣṣil aṭ-ṭullāb ilā qawāʿid al-iʿrāb (A Student's Guide to Grammatical Analysis)

Manuscript in Arabic
Copied by Mehmed bin el hac Yusuf bin Ahmed Fasuhzade, 1269 [1852/53] ; 1270 [1853/54],
126 pp., 21 x 16 cm.

Zayn al-Dīn Khālid b.ʿAbdullāh b. Abī Bakr al-Jirjī (or al-Jirjāwī) al-Waqqād al-Azharī was a prolific Egyptian scholar of his time and the author of widely used textbooks and commentaries, especially in the field of gra...
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Urfî-i Shirazî, 963 - 999 [1556 - 1591]

Five Commentaries on Poems

Manuscript in Persian and Ottoman Turkish
16 + 6; 38 + 6; 16 + 3; 14; 21 pages
18.5 x 12 cm.

1st page: Handwritten ex libris of Hüseyin ibn Ahmet Ali Kuşîzade, grandson of the famous astronomer Alā' ad-Dīn ʿAlī ibn Muhammad al-Qūshjī, born 805 [1403] in Samarqand; died 878 [1474] in Istanbul), in the servic...
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Abdullah Frères, Sébah, et al.

CONSTANTINOPLE IN THE 1890s: Street Scenes, Daily Life, and Architecture

Album with 48 photos mainly by Abdullah Frères and Sébah & Joallier, dated 1890-1900.

Our offer includes original photos, their digital reproduction, and cataloguing data. Reproduction and description of each photo as on the flyer.

The focus of this album is on daily life, studio photographs, and architecture on Istanbul, then Constantinople, in the 1890s. Subjects covered are amongst others: - Market scenes, workshops, barbers, merchants, porters,...
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CAIRO AND SUEZ CANAL FROM THE AIR in 1925/26

Collection of 23 vintage prints, half of them aerial photographs
Picture sizes around 11 x 17 cm
1925/26

Our offer includes original photos, their digital reproduction, and cataloguing data. Reproduction and description of each photo as on the flyer.

What makes this collection of 23 images from 1925/1926 special are the 12 aerial photographs of, among others, Cairo, Ismailia, the Walda Palace, Port Suez and Port Said. These images paint a very clear picture of the si...
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TRIPOLIS/LIBYA: Sabratha, Leptis Magna, Zliten, Tegrinna, Yafran

Album with 98 b/w Photos by Anonymous Photographer ("G.S.W.")
Size: 30 x 30 cm
Package of original photos and digital files
c. 1937

Fine Album of a private trip to Libya with 98 well preserved photos giving rare insights of that time in Libya covering architecture, street and village scenes and portraits, including references to Italian Faschism. O...
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Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje (1857-1936)

MEKKA IN 1885: 63 Portrait Photographs from the Holy City

From Christiaan Snouck-Hurgronje’s “Bilder-Atlas zu Mekka”
Package of original photos and digital files

Following his PhD with de Goeje in Leiden and further studies with Nöldecke in Strasbourg Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje (1857-1936) went on an extended research trip to Jiddah and Mecca during the years 1884 and 1885. He c...
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Large Collection of Oriental Photographs

With Focus on Islamic Architecture & Daily Life in the Late 19th & Early 20th Centuries
Package of original photos and digital files

This unusual collection of Oriental Photography (late 19th and early 20th centuries) with focus on Islamic Architecture and Daily Life is being put up for sale in its entirety. Subjects covered are amongst others: - Mar...
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JOURNEY TO THE HOLY LAND IN 1928: Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nablus

Album (36 x 25 cm) with 109 vintage photographs,
17 large vintage printouts of the time (28 x 38.4 cm)
mounted on thick card board (48 x 63.5 cm)
Package of original photos and digital files
1928

This well-preserved album from 1928 shows a Heiliglandfahrt, 9. - 29. April 1928 of a German travel group, presumably from Stuttgart. In addition to well-known sights and interiors, the album contains a large number of ...
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’ALGERIE ET TUNISIE’ (1886)

Travel account with unknown views of Algeria and Tunisia
Size: 33 x 25 cm
Package of original photos and digital files
1886

Stunning and very well preserved travel account from a 1886 tour through Algeria and Tunisia. All photographs taken by the anonymous traveller himself who seemed to have a natural talent for good composition. Although he...
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A. Kerim, Hasso Bros.

‘CAMERA STUDIES IN IRAQ‘ (1925)

73 photogravures taken in Basra, Baghdad, Babylon, Ctesiphon, and Mosul
Size: 31.5 x 25 cm
Package of original photos and digital files
1925

Beautifully made photo book on Iraq from the 1920s in very good condition. 73 well preserved sepia photogravure images on 50 plates, providing a very good insight of Iraq between its shaping of its borders in 1920 and it...
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Zangaki, Bonfils, Neurdein, among others

HISTORIC PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHS with focus on Maghreb, Egypt and Sudan

Taken by Zangaki, Bonfils, Neurdein, among others
between c. 1890 and c. 1910
Package of original photos and digital files

Ninety portraits and groups photographs of artisans, merchants, farmers, Bedouins, women, children and families in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Sudan, Turkey and Syria. 37 of the photographs were taken by Zangaki, B...
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John Lewis Burckhardt (1784 – 1817)

Travels in Syria and the Holy Land

First Edition 1822

Published by John Murray, Albemarle Street, London
xxvi, 668 pp., 27.5 x 22.5 cm
Printed by William Nicol, Successor to W. Bulmer & Co. Cleveland-row.
Restored half-leather binding using original cover.

Maps and illustrations as listed on page „Directions for Placing the Plates“: 1. Portrait of Burckhardt in his Arab Bernous, sketched at Cairo Feb. 1817 by H. Salt, Esq. 2. Map to accompany the travels of J. L. Burckhar...
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Qur’anic Verse from the Kiswah, the Cloth that Covers the Kaaba in the Holy City of Mecca

Produced in Egypt, this piece of Kiswah dates back to the 1920s and was a present to a German scientist.
Size: 71 x 37 cm

Verse 255 (Ayat al-Kursi) from Sura 2, al-Baqara: „He knoweth (all) that is before them and (all) that is behind them, while they cannot compass it in knowledge.“ Every year during the Hajj, the old Kiswah is removed o...
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History of the Tatars

Lot of 5 Books Published in Kazan during the 1920s Printed in Cyrillic & Arabic Script

The five books originate from the 1920s just before Soviet authorities introduced Latin script for the Tatar language. During the early years of the Soviet Union secular schools had started using Cyrillic script and Tata...
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Ottoman Travel Reports

Printed between 1863 and 1919

Lot of 15 travel reports written by Ottoman travellers and printed between 1863 and 1919. Reports include travels to Middle Eastern regions like Yemen, Sudan, Egypt, Syria, Anatolia, Algeria but also to several European...
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