description larabie daprès observations recherches von niebuhr carsten (5 Ergebnisse)

Large 4to (205 x 262 mm). 2 volumes. (6), 56, 252 pp. (4), 315, (5) pp. With 1 folding genealogical table and 25 engraved plates (many folding), including maps, plans, costumes, and views, 2 showing Arabic text with vowel points, as well as 2 engraved headpieces. Contemporary full marbled calf with giltstamped spines and red spine labels. Blue coloured endpapers. All edges red. Third French edition (first published in German in Copenhagen, 1772). "Édition revue par de Guignes" (Gay). "Niebuhr (1713-1815) participated as astronomer and naturalist to the royal Danish expedition to Arabia in 1763-1767. Together with the naturalist Forskal, the philologist Van Haven and two others, he travelled up the Nile to Suez and Mount Sinai, and from there to Jeddah and Mocha. By the end of their stay in Mocha, all the memebers of the expedition but Niebuhr had died, and Niebuhr travelled on alone to India, returning via Persia, Syria, Cyprus, and Constantinople. The only surviving member of the hazardous expedition, he returned to an indifferent reception in Copenhagen [.] Niebuhr's comprehensive description, particularly of the Yemen region, was the best and most authentic of the day. Many subsequent travellers have acknowledged their debt to him, and only on a few minor points have they shown him to be in error. He was scientifically and philosophically minded, cautious and steady, and hardly the man to masquerade in Mekkah or wander with the Bedouins, but few contributed more solidly to the study of Arabia" (Atabey). - Noticeable worming to gutter, sometimes touching text but loss to legibility (more extensive in vol. I), much of which professionally repaired. A few handwritten pencil annotations in the margin. Bindings professionally restored. - Gay 3589. Howgego I, N24 (p. 752). Brunet IV, 74 (note). Cf. Atabey 873. Macro 1699. Not in Blackmer.

Large 4to. 2 vols in one. (6), 56, 252 pp. (4), 315, (5) pp. (pages 153-216 of part 2 transposed after p. 88). With 1 folding genealogical table and 25 engraved plates (6 folding), including maps, plans, costumes, views, and 2 showing Arabic text with vowel points, as well as 2 engraved headpieces. Contemporary full calf with giltstamped red spine label. Marbled endpapers. All edges sprinkled red. Third French edition (first published in German in Copenhagen, 1772). "Édition revue par de Guignes" (Gay). "Niebuhr (1713-1815) participated as astronomer and naturalist to the royal Danish expedition to Arabia in 1763-1767. Together with the naturalist Forskal, the philologist Van Haven and two others, he travelled up the Nile to Suez and Mount Sinai, and from there to Jeddah and Mocha. By the end of their stay in Mocha, all the memebers of the expedition but Niebuhr had died, and Niebuhr travelled on alone to India, returning via Persia, Syria, Cyprus, and Constantinople. The only surviving member of the hazardous expedition, he returned to an indifferent reception in Copenhagen [.] Niebuhr's comprehensive description, particularly of the Yemen region, was the best and most authentic of the day. Many subsequent travellers have acknowledged their debt to him, and only on a few minor points have they shown him to be in error. He was scientifically and philosophically minded, cautious and steady, and hardly the man to masquerade in Mekkah or wander with the Bedouins, but few contributed more solidly to the study of Arabia" (Atabey). - Extremeties a little bumped, hinges repaired. Occasional light browning or staining, more pronounced near beginning. Contemporary handwritten "Avis au Lecteur" bound before title-page, alerting the reader to the transposed quires in part 2. - Rare. - Gay 3589. Howgego I, N24 (p. 752). Brunet IV, 74 (note). Cf. Atabey 873. Macro 1699. Not in Blackmer.

FIRST FRENCH EDITION, 4to, pp. [ii], xliii, [iii], 372 + 25 engraved plates and maps (three with hand-colouring, a number of them folding) and 1 folding letterpress table. Contemporary sprinkled calf, spine gilt in compartments, red morocco label. One plate (XXI) shaved at fore-edge, a touch of minor spotting. Leather worn (especially at joints) and showing insect damage, label mostly defective, cords weakening but boards held. Carsten Niebuhr (1733-1815) was the astronomer, naturalist, and sole survivor of the malaria-stricken Royal Danish expedition to Arabia in the 1760s. This, his first book, was initially published in German the previous year and contains a number of important maps and much significant information, including the first European mention of Wahhabism. The plates include depictions of the mosques at Mecca and Medina.

First French edition and the second overall, translated from the German edition of the previous year, with fine engravings made after Baurenfeind (the artist on Niebuhr's expedition). The most arresting images include Baurenfeind's depiction of military exercises against the backdrop of a citadel and colour plates of Kufic calligraphy. Niebuhr was a conscientious and accurate observer, and his memoirs of his travels have long been considered one of the classic accounts of Arabia, his maps remaining in use for over 100 years. Reflecting the Enlightenment ideals of his expedition, his travelogue provides a detailed study of Arab culture, covering everything from dress and food to numismatics and poetry. The flora and fauna of the Arabian Peninsula are also discussed in some detail. In the second part, Niebuhr's survey of the provinces of Yemen provides a measured and informative account of the country's geography, politics and administration. Niebuhr studied mathematics at Göttingen, where he came to the attention of the renowned Biblical scholar Johann David Michaëlis (1717-1791). In 1756, he was invited to join the scientific expedition to Arabia that Michaëlis was organizing under the patronage of Frederick V of Denmark, and it was agreed that the king would sponsor Niebuhr to study cartography and astronomy at an advanced level. The expedition hoped to discover more about the geography, flora, fauna, and ethnography of Biblical Arabia. The party consisted of Niebuhr as surveyor, Friedrich Christian von Haven, a Danish linguist and orientalist, Peter Forrskål, a Linnaean naturalist, Christian Carl Kramer, a doctor and zoologist, Georg Baurenfeind, the expedition's artist, and Berggren, a Swedish ex-soldier. Niebuhr was the only one to return. From Istanbul, the party proceeded to Egypt and spent a year there, travelling up the Nile and visiting Suez and Mount Sinai. "Disguised as pilgrims they left Suez in October 1762 for Jiddah, from where they advanced down the coast in.an open boat., making frequent landings as far as Al-Luhayyah in Northern Yemen" (Howgego). On their way to Mocha, members of the party contracted malaria, and on arrival von Haven died, swiftly followed by Forrskål. By late 1763 the members of the expedition were so ill that they were carried onto a vessel bound for Bombay. On the voyage Berggren and Baurenfeind died, followed by Kramer in early 1764, leaving Niebuhr as the only survivor. Continuing alone, he travelled westwards through Iran, Iraq and Syria to the Holy Land, before returning to Istanbul, eventually arriving in Copenhagen in 1767. Niebuhr first published his memoirs in Denmark, under the patronage of King Christian VII, to whom the book is dedicated, the cost of the plates being defrayed by the government. The work Beschreibung von Arabien (Description of Arabia), of which the present copy is a translation, is to be distinguished from Niebuhr's slightly later work, Reisebeschreibung nach Arabien (Description of a Voyage to Arabia), which was first published in Copenhagen in 1774, and was translated into French in 1776 as Voyage en Arabie (Voyage to Arabia). This copy bears the inscription of the Comte de Neuviller on the title. The county (comté) of Neuviller was created in 1749 by Stanislas I (1677-1766), the exiled king of Poland, who was given the Duchy of Lorraine by Louis XV. In 1751, the county was handed to Antoine-Martin de Chaumont de La Galaizière (1697-1783), who governed Lorraine for Stanislas on behalf of France. By 1773, when Description de l'Arabie was published, Chaumont de La Galaizière's son, Antoine (1727-1812) had succeeded his father as Seigneur of the County of Neuviller. By 1776, the county had been renamed Chaumont-sur-Moselle in honour of the family. Brunet IV 74; Cox I, pp. 237-8; Graesse IV, p. 674; Howgego I N24. Quarto (255 x 200mm). With 18 plates engraved by Defehrt and Martin, of which 3 folding and 2 coloured, 7 maps, of which 6 folding, together with genealogical table appended to p. 170, 2 vignettes engraved by J. F. Clemens; additional engraved map of Arabia sometime glued to front pastedown. Inscription of Comte de Neuviller to title. Contemporary speckled calf, spine gilt in compartments, red mororcco label, gilt-tooled edges, manuscript title label to front cover. Some wear and soiling to covers, spine slightly cracked, spill marks to p.70 (I3) and p.77 (K3), slight water damage to end leaves, text and plates all unusually fresh and bright. A very good copy.

Second French edition, revised and corrected from the first complete French edition of 1776-80. This is the eyewitness account of the 1761-7 Danish expedition to Arabia, the first great scientific expedition to the Middle East, by its only survivor, the German-born surveyor Carsten Niebuhr (1733-1815). The first volume is an abridged translation of Niebuhr's Beschreibung von Arabien (1772), a description of the original expedition to Yemen. The second comprises excerpts from his Reisebeschreibung von Arabien und andern umliegenden Ländern (1774-8) and is almost entirely devoted to the peoples of Arabia and the Persian Gulf, with a brief relation of his return journey from India via Muscat and the Gulf to Bushire, and thence overland to Europe. The expedition, originally intended to "illustrate certain passages of the Old Testament, rapidly blossomed into a full-fledged scientific expedition", comprising six members (Howgego). The party left Copenhagen in early 1761, travelling via Constantinople to Alexandria and spending a year in Egypt, ascending the Nile, and exploring Sinai. They then crossed from Suez to Jeddah and sailed down the Arabian coast to al-Luhayyah in Yemen, making frequent landfalls, before continuing overland to Sana'a via Mocha, with two members of the party dying en route. On returning to Mocha, the remaining four collapsed with fever and were put on a ship bound for Bombay, and only Niebuhr survived the sea voyage. He remained in India until late 1764, when he sailed for Muscat, eventually reaching Copenhagen in November 1767 and receiving financial assistance to compile the Beschreibung, which has long been considered one of the classic accounts of the geography, people, antiquities, and archaeology of the Arabian Peninsula and wider Middle East, with maps which "remained in use for over 100 years" (ibid.) The second volume contains chapters on the Hejaz, the Nejd, Yemen, and Oman, and general accounts of Arabian culture, religion, science, and natural history. There is much valuable information on today's Gulf states, including a remarkable section on the "Principality of Seer" (pp. 123-4): a "sovereignty extend[ing] along the Persian Gulph" and encompassing "Dsjulfar" (Julfar, a former name for Ra's al-Khaymah), and "Scharedsje" (Sharjah). The "Prince of Seer", whose navy is "one of the most considerable in the Persian Gulf", is evidently Shaykh Rashid bin Matar Al Qasimi (r. 1760-7), the second-recorded head of the Al Qasimi dynasty, the modern rulers of the emirates of Sharjah and Ra's al-Khaymah. The territory of the Al Qasimi tribe is delineated in the map frontispiece of the first volume, which also accurately situates the "Beni Ass" the Bani Yas, antecedents of the ruling family of Abu Dhabi in their ancestral homeland around the Liwa oasis. There are similar sections on Kuwait (pp. 127-8) and Bahrain (pp. 152-3), making this a singularly important account of the Gulf in this still-obscure period. This work was originally published in German at Copenhagen (1772-8), a French translation of just the first part being issued there in 1772. The prefatory note states that the distinguished orientalist Joseph de Guignes was called in to oversee the text and correct the "gross faults" of the original edition. It also states that the plates and maps were entrusted to the "best artists" and newly engraved. These include costume, inscriptions, views of the Great Mosque (al-Haram) at Mecca, the Prophet's Mosque (Al-Masjid an-Nabawi) at Medina, and two leaves from the Qur'an. Gay 3589; Howgego I N24; Speake II, pp. 857-9. 2 vols bound as one, small quarto (254 x 184 mm). With 25 engraved plates, of which 7 are maps (6 folding), with folding genealogical table for the ruling house of Yemen (not in list of plates); wood-engraved head- and tailpieces. Early 20th-century sheep bound to style, decorative gilt spine, red morocco label, endleaves renewed. Front joint a little rubbed and somewhat crudely repaired, spine lightly varnished, covers minimally scuffed, scattered foxing and light toning, plate XVI shaved at right edge and sometime tipped in, neatly repaired closed tear to folding map of the Red Sea. A very good copy.