ibn abd rabbih abu umar (1 Ergebnisse)

7 vols. 4to. (27 x 20 cm). Text in Arabic. Contemporary roan-backed green cloth, spines with raised bands and lettered in gilt, decorative patterned endpapers. Green spines faded to tan and with some spotting, some light rubbing to extremites, contents clean and crisp, generally a very good set of this classic of Arabic literature. Al-'Iqd al-Faird, ('The Unique Necklace'), by Abu Umar Ahmad ibn Muhammad Ibn 'Abd al-Rabbih (860-940), is considered the most famous work of Andalusian belles-lettres. Ibn 'Abd al-Rabbih was a Cordovan who served the Umayyad rulers as a courtier and panegyric poet. Although he was a poet in his own right, he is most famous for a literary anthology of other men's flowers. He was at pains to include material by and about local authors, but his book looked to the East and was quite closely modelled on Ibn Qutayba's 'Uyun al-Akhbar. Each of the twenty-five chapters of the anthology is named after a different precious stone. It is an expression of the 'chancery culture' in that its contents embodied the adab, which a scribe working in the royal chancery might be expected to possess - a knowledge, above all, of the cream of past speeches and wisdom, as they had been transmitted from generation to generation. The chapters cover a wide range of subjects, including statecraft, the arts of war, oratory, lives of the famous, sayings of the prophets, proverbs, religion, poetry, songs, women, geography, the Muslim rulers of Spain, and so on. The 25 chapters for The Unique Necklace are as follows: 1. The Book of the Pearl on Rulership and Authority 2. The Book of the Nonpareil Jewel on Warfare 3. The Book of the Chrysolite on Generous Men and Gifts 4. The Book of the Nacre on Delegations 5. The Book of the Coral on the Etiquette of Addressing Kings 6. The Book of the Ruby on Knowledge and adab 7. The Book of the Gem on Proverbs 8. The Book of the Emerald on Sermonising and Asceticism 9. The book of the Mother-of Pearl on Condolences and Elegies 10. The Book of the Unique Jewel on Genealogy and Virtues of the Arabs 11. The Book of the Adorable Jewel on the Speech of Bedouins 12. The Book of the Flanking Jewel on Responses 13. The Book of the Middle Jewel on Orations 14. The Book of the Second Flanking Level on Signatures, Departments, Viziers and the Stories of the Secretaries 15. The book of the Second Adorable Jewel on Caliphs, their Histories, and Battles 16. The book of the Second Unique Jewel on Reports about Ziyad, al-Hajjaj, the Talibiyyin and the Barmakids 17. The Book of the Second Mother of Pearl on the Battle Days of the Arabs 18. The Book of the Second Emerald on the Merits of Poetry, its Meter and its Scansion 19. The book of the Second Gem on Prosody and Metrical Irregularities 20. The Book of the Second Ruby on the Art of Song and Dissenting Opinions Thereof 21. The Book of the Second Coral on Women and their Attributes 22. The Book of the Second Nacre on False Prophets, Lunatics, Misers and Parasites 23. The Book of the Second Chrysolite on the Nature of Humans and Other Animals and the contention for precedence among cities 24. The Book of the Second Nonpareil Jewel on Food and Drink 25. The Book of the Second Pearl on Tidbits, Gifts, Jokes and Witticism.