Photograph from the London Conference. - Rare Book Insider
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Photograph from the London Conference.

208 x 255 mm. Original black-and-white photograph. Typescript caption in English mounted on the reverse. Original press photograph of the Palestinian delegation to the 1939 London Conference, meeting with Prime Minister Chamberlain and other British officials in St. James's Palace. The conference was called by the British Government to plan the future governance of Palestine and an end of the Mandate. It took place between 7 February and 17 March 1939. - The photograph shows the Palestinian delegates sitting in the foreground, including Jamal Al-Husseini, Amim Tamimi, Fuad Saba, Yaqub Al-Ghussein, Musa Alami, Awni Abdul Hadi, George Antonious, and Alfred Roch. Facing are the British, with Neville Chamberlain presiding. To his right is Lord Halifax, and to his left, Colonial Secretary Malcolm MacDonald. Famously, MacDonald held a series of separate meetings with the Palestinian and Zionist delegations, because the Palestinian delegation refused to sit in the same room as the Zionists, a circumstance also indicated by the caption on the photograph: "Meetings have to be in two sections since Arabs refuse to meet in same room with their Jewish rivals". - Coming to an end after five and a half weeks, the conference remained inconclusive, the British announcing proposals which were later published as the 1939 White Paper. - Corners slightly creased; one small tear to lower margin, not affecting image.
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The Mahomedan Law of succession to the property of intestates, in Arabick, engraved on copper plates from an ancient manuscript, with a verbal translation and explatory notes.

Large 4to (236 x 294 mm). (40) pp. With 12 engraved plates (11 numbered) of facsimile Arabic manuscript on 6 leaves. This 18th century transcription, translation, and facsimile of a law manuscript by Muhammad ibn Ali al-Rahbi (d. ca. 1183 CE) marks a pivotal moment in the cross-cultural exchange of legal knowledge between the Muslim world and the European Enlightenment. The mind behind this work was William Jones (1746-94), a British philologist, orientalist, and judge famous for being among the first to point to a link between European and Indo-Aryan languages, which would later be known as the Indo-European language group. - As a judge in colonial British Bengal, Jones had a particular interest in Hindu and Muslim law codes, not only in theory but in practical application. This work was an ambitious project to produce an edition of a Muslim legal manuscript, one which resulted in a rare and insightful glimpse for English-speaking readers into the complexities, nuances, and deep history of Muslim jurisprudence. - The final engravings were executed with great care in order to preserve not only the meaning of the Arabic but also the handsome calligraphy of the source manuscript. This marriage of scholarly rigour and aesthetic appreciation are a testament to the intellectual curiosity and respect for (and interest in) diverse legal systems which characterized both Jones himself and the era of the Enlightenment. A copy of this work was found in the library catalogue of Benjamin Franklin (catalogue number 2826) - one of the very few documented Islamic texts owned by an American Founding Father. - Covers detached, paper slightly brittle, some offsetting to plates. - With the library stamp of the Library of the New York Law Institute on the title-page and following 2 leaves. - ESTC T57055.
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Ilm Tedbiri Milk. “The Science of the Administration of a State”; or, An Essay on Political Economy, in Turkish, Being the First Ever Written in That Language.

Small 8vo (115 x 175 mm). VIII, (2); (4), 87, (1) pp. Lithographed Ottoman Turkish and letterpress English. Publisher's purple cloth, ruled in blind, title and decoration in gilt, all edges gilt. Bound by Bone & Son. First edition: author's presentation copy of an economic treatise written in Ottoman Turkish by the British orientalist Charles Wells (1839-1917). One of the first treatises on political economy written in Turkish, it consists of an introduction and contents page in English, followed by a nine-chapter essay outlining key economic concepts. The essay, written in Well's hand, was lithographed, following the traditional style of Islamic manuscripts with gilt decorated opening pages, the text set within red double borders. - Charles Wells wrote this essay in 1860, when he was a student at King's College, and believed it to be the first example of political economy written in Turkish. Indeed, the concepts of political economy were already known in the Ottoman Empire, and John Baptiste Say's "Catechism of Political Economy" had been translated as early as 1852. However, Wells was right in believing that his was the first ever written in Turkish, and he was the first to present the British classical tradition, with its chapters on value, work and taxation introducing the ideas of, inter alia, Smith, Ricardo and Mill. Wells's effort to write in Turkish was recognized by his professor (and Council of King's College), and he received the "special prize for remarkable proficiency in the Turkish language". Following this encouragement, he decided to publish the book in lithographic form: "Having written the manuscript in the running hand of the Turks, very different from print, I knew that few, if any printer in England could read it. This, and the fact that Orientalists prefer manuscripts to printed books, will account for my having this essay lithographed" (Wells, p. VI). - The author presented this copy to the Royal Society of Literature, inscribed "To the Royal Society of Literature with the author's compliments" on the front endpaper. - Spine sunned and a little chipped. Light stain on the lower cover. Inside lower hinge weakened but holding. Interior clean. - Bonhams, 19 June 2013, lot 222. - Atabey 1325. Not in Blackmer. OCLC 23910113.
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Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Gospels.

[Ge'ez Gospels]. Folio (223 x 290 mm). 84 ff. Black Ge'ez script on vellum, with important words and phrases picked out in red. With 19 full-page paintings. Contemporary warm brown morocco, elaborately tooled. With nearly twenty full-page paintings on vellum of exceptional quality, this large manuscript of the Ethiopian Orthodox Gospels is a particularly beautiful exemplar of one of the most ancient continuous manuscript traditions of Christianity. The subjects of its illustrations are deeply traditional: the Passion, the Resurrection, the Virgin Mary holding the infant Jesus, and saints, all in the bright and bold style of Ethiopia and Eritrea; however, the skill with which these manuscript paintings are presented stands apart, in lush colours and confident lines, always in keeping with the bold and stylized forms of illustrated Ge'ez manuscripts. - The text itself comprises the Orthodox Gospels, which have retained their own distinct canon almost since the introduction of Christianity to the region in the 4th century. The earliest attested Ge'ez Gospels are dated (with some debate) to the 6th century, and it is in Ge'ez that the tradition of writing holy books by hand has persisted the furthest into the modern age, long after it had been abandoned by most of the Christian world. At once a spiritual practice, tradition, and an art form, Ge'ez manuscripts such as this one - from the 19th century - are quite unique. - Very little wear, and only minor soiling; quite well-preserved.
  • $9,419
  • $9,419