EXHIBITION
‘The Middle East is where three continents meet, where empires have waxed and waned, merchants have long traded and warriors have long clashed.’
Lonely Planet Guide, 2003
An imaginary circle that encompasses modern day Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Israel provides the boundaries for this exhibition on the Middle East. The lands beyond the borders of Turkey and Iran are excluded. The catalyst for this exhibition was the inventory of Middle Eastern and Islamic language materials compiled recently by Dr Majid Daneshgar, former lecturer at Theology and Religion at the University of Otago, now University of Freiburg, Germany. On display are a number of Arabic, Urdu, Persian, and Turkish language books and manuscripts. The printed books are scarce; the manuscripts unique. They are mainly from the collection of the Rev. William Arderne Shoults (1839-1887). There are also some modern publications in the exhibition. These are mainly from the library of Charles Brasch (1903-1973), who was an archaeological field assistant at Tell el Amarna, Egypt, from 1933 to 1935.
The choice travel and history books displayed not only help contextualise the language-based items, but also convey a wider picture and greater understanding on this area of the world, a region that has not only been called ‘the cradle of civilisation’, but also the ‘fertile crescent’. Indeed, the Middle East was once the greatest, most advanced and most open civilisation in history (Bernard Lewis).
The exhibition offers an overview of the Middle East. Importantly, it is historical, with those items displayed grounded in a past stretching back to antiquity. Please enjoy.
Exhibition poster (1.4MB)
Handlist (1.4MB)
This early 17th century engraved map contains much of what is now the Middle East (Arabic: الشرق الأوسط ash-Sharq al-Awsaṭ). The population of the region today is about 371 million (2010), with the largest ethnic groups being Arabs, Turks, Persians, and Kurds. Five languages dominate: Arabic (most widely spoken), Persian, Turkish, Kurdish, and Hebrew. Several major religions have their origin here: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam; others include the Bahá'í Faith, Yarsanism, Yazidism, and Zoroastrianism. With all its social, political, economic, ideological, historical and religious factors, it remains one of the most complex regions in the world. This is the first edition of George Sandys’ A Relation of a Journey (1615), a very popular account of the places he visited in the Middle East.
George Sandys, A Relation of a Journey begun An: Dom: 1610…Containing a Description of the Turkish Empire, of Ægypt, of the Holy Land. Printed for W. Barrett, 1615. De Beer Ec 1615 S
This colourful profile of elevations in Arthur P. Stanley’s Sinai and Palestine (1856) stretches from the African desert and the River Nile to Damascus, Syria. Two high peaks are shown: Mount Hermon (جبل الشيخ or جبل حرمون / Jabal al-Shaykh or Jabal Haramun; Hebrew: Har Hermon), which is at 2,814 m (9,232 ft) above sea level, the highest point in Syria; and Mount Sinai (طُور سِينَاء, Jabal Mūsā, lit. ‘Moses’ Mountain’ or ‘Mount Moses’; Hebrew: הַר סִינַי, Har Sinai), which is at 2,285 m (7,497 ft). The highest peak in the Middle East is Iran’s Mount Damavand, at 5,610 m (18,406 ft) above sea level. Stanley (1815–1881) travelled to Egypt, Arabia and Syria in 1852. This very popular work was the end-result. It also contains an appendix of Hebrew topographical words.
Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, Sinai and Palestine. 5th edition. London: John Murray, 1860. Special Collections DS107 S787 1860
The Scottish painter David Roberts (1796-1864) set sail for Egypt on 31st August 1838, and travelled through to Nubia, the Sinai, the Holy Land, Jordan and Lebanon. He sketched drawings and paintings in situ, which were later reproduced lithographically by the Belgian-born Louis Haghe. Some 247 views and two maps make up the six volumes of this monumental work, which has been described as ‘one of the most important and elaborate ventures of nineteenth-century publishing.’ (Abbey, 1970). Roberts visited the pyramids at Giza, sailed up the Nile, sketched street scenes in Cairo, visited tombs and sites at Philae, Karnak, Luxor, and Dendra, and drew interior views of mosques. He was one of the few Europeans to do so.
David Roberts, The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt & Nubia. London: Day & Son, 1856. Special Collections DS107 RM28
The Qur’an (Koran) is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims believe to be a revelation from God (Allah). It contains laws, commandments, and codes for social and moral behaviour. These were mainly revealed to the Prophet Muhammed in the towns of Mecca and Medina over a twenty-three-year period, beginning around 610 and ending with Muhammed’s death in 632 CE. The Arabic text is divided into 114 chapters (surah), which are then divided into verses. This Qur’an on display is a very unusual manuscript. Called by one scholar a ‘Baptized Qur’an’, it contains Christian crosses inside a number of the ornaments that resemble flowers. It once belonged to the Rev. William Arderne Shoults (1839-1887), whose collection is now housed here in Special Collections.
___, The Qur’an. Unpublished, c. 1846. Shoults MS. 11
At its peak, in the Middle Ages, Constantinople (Istanbul) was the richest and largest city in Europe. Its strategic position between trade routes also formed a significant religious divide between Christianity (the West) and Islam (the East). Although named Istanbul (derived from the Greek ‘στην Πόλη’, meaning ‘in the city’ or ‘to the city’) after the Ottomans took possession in 1453, the French traveller and artist Guillaume-Joseph Grelot persisted with the older name. This first edition account of his travels to Constantinople in 1680 is replete with illustrations, leading one scholar – Michèle Longino – to term it a ‘coffee-table book’. Perhaps the first. The engraving of the city, named after the Roman emperor Constantine I, is but one outstanding image of many within the book.
[Guillaume-Joseph Grelot], Relation Nouvelle d'un Voyage de Constantinople. Paris: Damien Foucault, 1680. Shoults Fb 1680 G
In 1820, the Rev. Robert Walsh (1772-1852) was chaplain to the British consulate in Constantinople. While there, he visited Halki (Chalce or Chalki), an island 6km west of Rhodes, and the imposing tomb of Sir Edward Barton, the first ambassador to Constantinople.
Rev. R. Walsh, A Residence at Constantinople, During a Period including the Commencement, Progress, and Termination of the Greek and Turkish Revolutions. Vol. II. London: Frederick Westley and A.H. Davis, 1836. Shoults Eb 1836 W
The Levant Company merchant Thomas Thornton (1762–1814) arrived in Constantinople in 1793, and lived there for 14 years. In his Present State of Turkey, he wrote favourably of the Turks and their architecture, such as the Great Ottoman mosques. The work established his reputation as an authority in the area. In the 20th century, events such as World War I and the Greco-Turkish War ended what was the Ottoman Empire. The 1923 Treaty of Lausanne formally established the Republic of Turkey, which moved its capital to Ankara.
Thomas Thornton, The Present State of Turkey. 2nd edition. Vol. I. London: Printed for Joseph Mawman, 1809. Shoults Eb 1809 T
The dominant language of the Ottoman Empire (c.1299-1922) was Ottoman Turkish, a mixture of Turkish, Persian and Arabic. Language reform began after the establishment of Turkey, which focussed on using only authentic Turkish words. One who documented early Modern Turkish was Franciscus à Mesgnien Meninski (1623-1698). He first published his Institutiones Linguae Turcicae, a Turkish-to-Latin dictionary and grammar, in 1680. It was ground-breaking in its comprehensiveness; the first on Turkish grammar. Modern-day language historians and linguists still find this publication a valuable reference work for the Turkish language of the early modern period. This copy is the second, enlarged edition, printed in Vienna in 1756.
Franciszek Meninski, Institutiones Linguae Turcicae, cum Rudimentis Parallelis Linguarum Arabicae & Persicae. Vol. I. [Vienna]: ex typographeo Orientali Schilgiano, 1756. Shoults Gb 1756 M
Sir Paul Rycaut’s The Present State of the Ottoman Empire was the first comprehensive description of the area, written in English. Importantly, it was based on Rycaut’s long residence in Constantinople and Smyrna, which began in 1661. Rycaut (1629-1700) played close attention to politics and customs, and learnt Turkish. Indeed, this work is of linguistic importance because of the words he introduced in the text. This is the fifth edition; the first edition being scarce because most copies were destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666.
Paul Ricaut [Rycaut], The History of the Present State of the Ottoman Empire. 5th edition. London: Printed by T.N. for John Starkey, 1682. Shoults Eb 1682 R
At a very early age, Arthur Lumley Davids (1811-1832) learnt oriental languages such as Hebrew, Arabic and Persian, and European languages such as Greek, Latin, French, Italian and German. He particularly liked Turkish. His Grammar of the Turkish Language (Kitāb al-ʿilm al-Nāfiʿ fī taḥṣīl Ṣarf wa Naḥw Turkī; 1832) was dedicated to Mahmud II, the Sultan of Turkey. Davids managed to enjoy the fruits of authorship; he died aged 21, three weeks after the book was published. It was a seminal work, one of the first to cover the topic in Europe since the early 18th century. The terms for ‘Arts, Trades, and Professions’ make interesting reading.
Arthur Lumley Davids, A Grammar of the Turkish Language. London: Sold by Parbury & Allen, and John Taylor, 1832. Shoults Ec 1832 D
This mid-18th century manuscript contains a commentary on the Preface (dībācheh) to the Gulistān (The Rose Garden), an important prose piece by Saʿdī Shīrāzī (d. c. 1292), a major Persian poet of the medieval period. Although there is some doubt about author attribution, the stamped seal of Sayyid Muḥammad (Mehmet) bin Ḥāfiẓ Osmān is present, dating the manuscript copy to 1178 AH (1764 AD). While the script of the commentary is in Ottoman Turkish, the text is replete with references to Persian poets and thinkers such as Ḥāfiẓ Shīrāzī (d. c. 1390 AD); Firdowsī (d. c. 1025 AD); Kamāl Khujandī (d. c. 1401 AD); and Nāṣir Khusraw (d. c.1088 AD). This manuscript once belonged to the Rev. William Arderne Shoults (1839-1887).
Maḥmūd ibn Osmān ibn ʿAlī al-Lāmiʿī, A Commentary on the Preface to the Gulistān by Saʿdī’. Unpublished, c. 1790. Shoults MS. 08
Suez City (top of map), in the northeast of Egypt, has been inhabited since at least the 7th century AD. Today, it has a population of 500,000 and sits at the southern end of the Suez Canal, named for the isthmus through which it was constructed. The Canal, built from 1859 to 1869, connects the Mediterranean to the Red Sea and obviates the need to sail the treacherous seas around the bottom of Africa. This map illustrates French author, smuggler, and adventurer, Henry de Monfried’s work Hashish – one of 70 works written by the opium addict and Islamic convert. De Monfried (1879-1974) bought a consignment of hashish in Greece and transported it to Egypt via Somalia, the Suez Canal, and a band of Bedouin nomads.
Henry de Monfried, Hashish. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin, 1946. Special Collections DT39 M582 1946
Mecca lies near the western coast, halfway down the Arabian Peninsula. The city is the birthplace of Muḥammad (570 AD) and where the prophet received the revelations of the Qur’an; it is the most holy site for the Islamic faith. Within the Grand Mosque of Mecca lies the Kaaba (pictured here). All Muslims, who are able, are expected to embark on a pilgrimage, or Hajj, there at least once in their lifetime. In 1925, Eldon Rutter (b. 1894), a British Islamic convert, posed as a Syrian merchant to make his journey to Mecca and his way into the cloth-draped Kaaba itself. Rutter’s recollections of his journey from Egypt to the holy city inform his book, The Holy Cities of Arabia, a veritable ‘treasure house of descriptive writing, social anthropology, Islamic history and scholarship’ (Shipman, 2016).
Eldon Rutter, The Holy Cities of Arabia. London: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1930. Brasch DS207 RZ35 1930
Lebanon is a small Middle Eastern country, encompassing about 10,000 km square. After gaining independence from the French in 1943, Lebanon suffered a fifteen-year civil war from 1975. Baalbek, at the foot of the Anti-Lebanon mountain range near the border with Syria, has been inhabited for thousands of years. What started as a small village associated with a temple to the sun god Hadad or Baal, became the magnificent Roman city, Heliopolis. Several Roman emperors initiated enormous building projects there. Some of these still stand today like the Temple of Bacchus, pictured here. Commissioned by Emperor Antoninus Pius (86-161 AD), the Temple is one of best preserved, with 19 of its 42 original Corinthian columns still standing. The ruins at Baalbek are a World Heritage site.
Michel M. Alouf, History of Baalbek. Beirut: American Press, 1941. Special Collections DS89 AE77 1941
In 1610, faced with claims of estate mismanagement and a bad marriage, George Sandys (1578–1644) decided that overseas travel was his best way out. He travelled to France, Italy, and then on to Turkey, Egypt, and Palestine. While in the Middle East he rode camels; survived attacks from desert Arabs; described religious services in Jerusalem and pigeon postal services between Aleppo and Babylon; and was one of the first Englishmen to mention coffee. Sandys was an observant traveller, and his account, enhanced by numerous engravings, was exceedingly popular. Indeed, it is regarded as one of the first important travel accounts to the East in English. Here is his description of the pyramids at Giza, the ‘chiefe of the worlds feuen [seven] wonders’. This is the third edition.
George Sandys, A Relation of a Journey begun An: Dom: 1610…Containing a Description of the Turkish Empire, of Ægypt, of the Holy Land. 3rd edition. London: Printed for [Robert] Allot, 1632. De Beer Ec 1632 S
This coloured image of the Sphinx and the pyramids at Giza is from sketches by the Scottish artist David Roberts (1796-1864). Roberts realized a boyhood dream when he left for the ‘remote East’ in 1838. During 18 months of travel, he sketched monuments, landscapes, and people. The results – his drawings combined with the lithographic process – are simply stunning. Indeed, there was no other 19th century publication like it. Constructed between 2589 and 2543 BC, the pyramids (Khufu (Cheops); Khafre; and Menkaure) continue to be major destinations for tourists travelling to Egypt. The Great Sphinx of Giza (Arabic: أبو الهول Abū al-Hawl, English: The Terrifying One; literally: Father of Dread), continues to guard the valley temple.
David Roberts, The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt & Nubia. London: Day & Son, 1856. Special Collections DS107 RM28
This map provides a basic guide to the economies of the countries of the Middle East in the mid-20th century. At that time, dates and cotton led the economy in Egypt. Today, the Egyptian economy is based around agriculture, natural oil and gas recovery, and tourism with almost 15 million people visiting each year. The country still produces the most dates of any worldwide and has a reputation for producing the best cotton in the world – an industry that was developed in the early 19th century by French entrepreneur, Monsieur Jumel, and the then Ottoman ruler of Egypt, Muhammed Ali. Note the map is pre-Suez Canal construction, a structure that now provides Egypt with five billion dollars of revenue per year.
George E. Kirk, A Short History of the Middle East: From the Rise of Islam to Modern Times. London: Methuen & Co., 1948. Brasch DS62 KK8
In 1189, physician and polymath, ʿAbd al-Laṭīf al-Baghdādī (1162-1231) left his hometown of Baghdad and for the rest of his life he travelled throughout the Middle East. His visit to Egypt in 1200 culminated in this treatise on Egypt. It is one of many he wrote in his lifetime on a range of subjects including medicine, philosophy, law, and grammar. Translated into Latin in the 18th century, al- Baghdādī describes Egypt as ‘ea vallis, quam ambient montes bini, orientalis et occidentalis’– ‘in a valley between two mountain ranges’. The author described in detail the many ancient Egyptian monuments like the Pyramids at Giza and wrote of the incredible engineering and technical skills of the Egyptians.
Muwaffaq al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Laṭīf al-Baghdādī, Abdollatiphi Historiae Aegypti Compendium, Arabice et Latine. [Oxford: J. Cooke, Hanwell, & Parker], 1800. Shoults Ec 1800 A
Before the Arab Conquest in the 7th century, the peoples of Egypt spoke the Coptic form of Greek or Egyptian. They soon adopted the Arabic language, which became Egyptian Arabic or Masri. In late 1932, Dunedin’s own Charles Brasch (1909-73) set out on a three-year archaeological expedition to the ancient Egyptian city of Tell el Amarna. He was to accompany his friend, papyrologist Colin Roberts, and the trip necessitated learning Egyptian Arabic. Brasch loved the language and described it in his memoirs as a ‘language organized with beautiful economy and concentration…’ Today, Egyptian Arabic is spoken by over eighty million people worldwide. Here is Brasch’s Egyptian Arabic Handbook, with notes in his neat, compact script.
J. Selden Willmore, Handbook of Spoken Egyptian Arabic: Comprising a Short Grammar and an English Arabic Vocabulary of Current Words and Phrases. London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co., 1927. Brasch PJ6779 WQ58 1927
In the 8th and 9th centuries, there was an intellectual awakening in the Orient, much of it centred around Bayt Al-Hikmah (The House of Wisdom) in Baghdad, which attracted scholars from all over the world. Tasks undertaken at the centre included the translation of major works of the Greeks, Indians, and Persians. Among the Greek works was Euclid’s Elements of Geometry, which is considered as one of the most successful and influential textbooks ever written. This is a battered Arabic manuscript in naskh script of chapters 1 to 3 of Euclid’s work, beginning in the middle of definition ten. It is an Isḥāq ibn Ḥunayn-Thābit ibn Qurra version, the most influential of Arabic translations. Euclid – the ‘father of geometry’ – first became known in Europe through Latin translations of these versions. The age of the manuscript is probably much later than given date of c.1800.
Euclid, Elements. Books 1-3. Unpublished, c. 1800. De Beer MS. 08
In the 16th and 17th centuries, Leiden was a thriving centre of Arabic studies. Scholars resident there included Joseph Scaliger (1540-1609); Franciscus Raphelengius (1539-1597); Jacob Golius (1596-1667); and Thomas van Erpe (known as Erpenius; 1584 -1624), the first European to publish an accurate book of Arabic grammar, Grammatica Arabica (1613). It contained the first Arabic typeface, designed by Raphelengius. Printers Bonaventure and Abraham Elzevir acquired the oriental (Syrian, Arab, Aramaic and Hebrew) fonts that once belonged to Erpenius. They printed this later edition of Erpenius’ Rudimenta Linguae Arabicae, which first appeared in 1620. This edition contains both Latin and Arabic, and where incomplete, a diligent person has written out the entire text by hand. There are numerous marginal notes throughout.
Thomas Erpenius, Rudimenta Linguae Arabicae. [Leiden: Bonaventure & Abraham Elsevir], 1628. Shoults Lb 1628 E
The first English printed book to contain Arabic was Wynkyn de Worde’s printing of Robert Wakefield’s Oratio de Laudibus in 1524. The cursive nature of Arabic script and the large number of characters needed to complete the font presented a vast number of complexities. In fact, in some instances books were printed with spaces left to write the Arabic in by hand. This edition of the Bible, the work of Arabic scholars J. D. Carlyle (1759-1805) and Henry Ford, is significant not only because of the work that it entailed, but because it was completed by Sarah Hodgson, a female printer living in Newcastle upon Tyne. It was sponsored by the British and Foreign Bible Society for distribution into the Middle East.
___, The Holy Bible. Sarah Hodgson: Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1811. Shoults Ec 1811 B
As Orientalist historian, Hamilton Gibb (1895-1971) says in the first page of his pamphlet, The Arabs, ‘[they] are a people clustered round an historical memory’. There is no definite delineated Arab territory, but parts of the African continent, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, and Palestine are part of the ‘Arab World’, an area of 13.6 million square kilometres. United by their language, Arabic, and their religion, Islam, Arabs began to populate various countries in the Middle East after Muhammed’s death in the 7th century. Arabs are townspeople and nomads, Sunni and Shi’ite, Asian and African. Today in the world, there are around 420 million people who identify as Arabian.
H.A.R. Gibb, The Arabs. Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1940. Brasch DS39 GD94
![Dalāʾil al-Khayrāt wa Shawāriq al-Anwār fī Dhikr al-Ṣalāt ʿAlā al-Nabī al-Mukhtār or ‘The Guide Book of Blessings and Enlightenment [that comes from] Invoking the Chosen Prophet in Prayer’](https://s3.amazonaws.com/ourheritagemedia%2Foriginal%2F96a0d555f398bbd2093e14e974964bf5.jpg)
While Europe was experiencing its supposed ‘Dark Ages’, the Arab World was going through a time of great learning and scholarship – its ‘Golden Age’. It began with the dissemination of the Islamic religion and culture throughout the Middle East in the 8th century. Many ancient works in Greek, Persian, Chinese, Indian, and Phoenician were translated into Arabic. This ‘Golden Age’ petered out with the invasion of the Mongols in the 13th century but scholarship continued. This Arabic manuscript is a copy from a 15th century original concerning religious matters – the title, as outlined on these pages above, essentially means ‘The Guide Book of Blessings and Enlightenment [that comes from] Invoking the Chosen Prophet in Prayer’.
Muhammad ibn Sulaymān al-Jazūlī, Dalāʾil al-Khayrāt wa Shawāriq al-Anwār fī Dhikr al-Ṣalāt ʿAlā al-Nabī al-Mukhtār or ‘The Guide Book of Blessings and Enlightenment [that comes from] Invoking the Chosen Prophet in Prayer’. Unpublished, c. 1804/05. Shoults MS. 12
British travel writer and polyglot, Freya Stark (1893-1993) travelled extensively in the Middle East – she spoke fluent Arabic and Persian. Her first trip to the Middle East was in 1927 and she was one of the first non-Arabians to trek across the deserts of Southern Arabia. During WWII, Stark was employed by the British Government’s Ministry of Information as ‘Assistant Information Officer’ for diplomat Stewart Perowne (1901-89), a man she would later marry. Essentially, she was a ‘propagandist’ for the British and tried to persuade the Arabs ‘to support the Allies or at least remain neutral’. Whether she was successful or not cannot be measured but her book East is West is a memoir of that time.
Freya Stark, East is West. London: John Murray, 1945. Brasch DS49 S78
Muḥammad, or Mahomet (570-632 CE) was the Messenger of God, the founder of Islam. His teachings, practices, and the Qur’an form the basis of Islamic religious belief. He had two distinct parts to his life: Mecca, where he was born and faced hostility and persecution; and Medina (Yathrib), where, before he died, he had success in uniting Arab tribes under the Constitution of Medina. His move to Medina in 622 CE marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar. The Ḥadīth (sayings and deeds of Muḥammed) and the sīra literature (accounts by others on the biography of Muḥammed) form much of what is known about his life. In 1697, Humphrey Prideaux (1648-1724) penned his Life of Mahomet. Although he gained some literary kudos from this volume, it was an error-ridden, valueless book. Somewhat unbelievably, this is the third edition of 1698.
Humphrey Prideaux, The True Nature of Imposture Fully Display’d in the Life of Mahomet. 3rd edition corrected. London: Printed for William Rogers, 1698. Shoults Eb 1698 P
‘It is the first and indispensable work upon the Arabs of the desert; and if it has not always been referred to, or enough read, that has been because it was excessively rare. Every student of Arabia wants a copy.’ So wrote T. E Lawrence in his introduction to Charles Doughty’s Travels in Arabia Deserta, which first appeared in 1888. Doughty (1843-1926) began his two year travel through the desert by joining a pilgrim caravan in November 1876, adopting the name of Khalil, ‘a Syrian of simple fortune’. Although maintaining his essential Englishness, Doughty admitted that the Bedouin way of life was the best in the world. His Travels remains a classic account of 19th century Arabia.
Charles M. Doughty, Travels in Arabia Deserta. London: Jonathan Cape, 1933. Brasch DS207 DQ35 1926
This is a second edition of The Eastern Traveller’s Interpreter (Turjumān Inklīzī wa ʿArabī) by Asʿad Yaqūb Khayyāṭ (c.1811-1870), who was a Christian Lebanese activist who advocated the liberation and the education of women. This pocket Arabic-English guidebook covers topics (among others) such as the Arabic alphabets and letters; discourse with a camel driver; discourse with a cook; and inquiries on holy places.
Asʿad Yaqūb Khayyāṭ (Assas Yacoob Kayat), The Eastern Traveller’s Interpreter; or, Arabic without a Teacher. 2nd edition. London: Printed for the author by W. M`Dowall , 1844. Shoults Eb 1844 K
Apart from the various types of spoken Arabic, the language (a Central Semitic one) is mainly divided into classical (فصحى اَلتُّرَاث fuṣḥá t-turāth); and modern standard Arabic (فصحى العصر fuṣḥá l-‘aṣr). These two carry subtle differences. With the increased number of travellers (be they adventurers or tourists) to the Middle East in the 19th and 20th centuries, and scholars increasingly interested in the language, a plethora of ‘How to’ Arabic grammars were produced. This Rev. G.W. Thatcher’s Grammar (1927) was once owned by Charles Brasch (1909-1973), who used it while in Egypt during the early 1930s.
G.W. Thatcher, Arabic Grammar of the Written Language. 3rd edition. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., 1927. Brasch PJ6307 H32 1927
America’s answer to Lawrence of Arabia, archaeologist and ‘swash-buckling adventurer’, Wendell Phillips (1921-75) was the first Westerner to dig in the Yemen in 1949. In ancient times, the area was central to the lucrative incense trade, and great city kingdoms were built from the riches gained. Phillips excavated ruins in two separate areas related to two kingdoms – Saba (that of Queen of Sheba legend) and Qataban (on map here). His team was safe while in the ancient city of Timna, as it was within the Aden Protectorate governed by the British. However in 1952, while Phillips and his researchers were in Maʾrib, a place ‘beset with political intrigues, and border disputes’, they were in grave danger of being killed. They escaped with their lives, but not much else.
Wendell Phillips, Qataban and Sheba: Exploring Ancient Kingdoms on the Biblical Spice Routes of Arabia. London: Victor Gollancz, 1955. Storage Bliss OR P
Oman is a small independent state on the southeastern side of the Arabian Peninsula. After escaping from Yemen in 1952, Wendell Phillips befriended the Sultan of Oman, Said bin Taimur. With the Sultan’s permission Phillips led an expeditionary archaeological dig in the country. Despite Oman’s history of involvement in the ancient incense trade, there were no huge kingdom complexes, similar to those in Yemen, for his team to unearth. Phillips’s subsequent publication on the country expounds on his ‘travels, explorations and excavations’ but also details some aspects of life in Oman – such as religion (Islam), disease (rife) and medicine (basic), treatment of women (not good), and historical aspects of the frankincense trade.
Wendell Phillips, Unknown Oman. Longmans, Green, and Co. Ltd, 1966. Storage Bliss OR P
Dutch diplomat, Daniel van der Meulen (1894-1989) was also an Islamic and Arabic scholar. In a bid to travel the ancient incense trade routes, van der Meulen embarked on a journey from Aden, on the west coast of Yemen, to the Hadhramaut Valley region – about 650 kilometres as the crow flies. He set off on the eve of WWII in 1939 and visited towns in the region that had, over time, been governed by the Portuguese, the Ottoman Empire, and the British, among others. These photographs from van der Meulen's Journey showcase the town of Tarim. It was, and still is, an important religious centre in the Hadhramaut Valley and contains over 300 mosques. According to Wikipedia, the town has the ‘highest concentration’ of the prophet Muhammed’s descendants in the world.
D. van der Meulen, Aden to the Hadhramaut: A Journey in South Arabia. London: John Murray, 1947. Brasch DS247 H32 MK82
‘I had for years cherished the wish to undertake a journey to the Holy Land.’ So wrote the Austrian Ida Laura Pfeiffer (1797-1858) in her very popular A Visit to the Holy Land, Egypt, and Italy. Pfeiffer, one of the first female explorers, began her journey in 1842, travelling along the Danube river to Istanbul and then on to Palestine and Egypt. Her journey, which took nine months, also included Jerusalem (Hebrew: יְרוּשָׁלַיִם; Arabic: القُدس), one of the oldest cities in the world. In 1845, just after her visit, Jersualem’s population was 16,410, with 7,120 Jews, 5,000 Muslims, 3,390 Christians, 800 Turkish soldiers and 100 European. A recent census (2015) has the population at some 850,000 residents: approximately 200,000 Jewish-Israelis, 350,000 Haredi Jews, and 300,000 Palestinian Arabs. The aquatints – of which this is one of eight – greatly enhance Pfeiffer’s text.
Ida Laura Pfeiffer, A Visit to the Holy Land, Egypt, and Italy. London: Ingram Cooke & Co., 1852. Special Collections DS48 P52 1852
Sites of religious importance such as the Temple Mount, the Dome of the Rock (Arabic: قبة الصخرة Qubbat al-Sakhrah, Hebrew: Kippat ha-Sela), the al-Aqsa Mosque (Arabic: المسجد الاقصى al-Masjid al-‘Aqṣā), and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (Arabic: كَنِيسَةُ ٱلْقِيَامَة Kaneesatu al-Qeyaamah), supposedly the site where Jesus of Nazareth was crucified, continue to attract visitors to the Holy City of Jerusalem. This late 19th century ‘bird’s eye view’ map conveys a certain simplicity, especially when compared to modern day maps. Jerusalem and Bethlehem is surrounded by Asia Minor (most of the modern Republic of Turkey), Mesopotamia (roughly most of Iraq plus Kuwait, the eastern parts of Syria, South-eastern Turkey), and Egypt and Sinai Peninsula. Much has changed since the 1880s.
Osmond Tiffany, Sacred Biography and History, Containing Description of Palestine, Ancient and Modern. Guelph, Ontario: J.W. Lyon & Co., 1878. Special Collections BS571 TJ58
Israel was established as a state for the Jewish people after WWII, on 14th May 1948. It is bordered on respective sides by Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea. In the past, the area was conquered and occupied by Romans, Crusaders from the West, and Turks; it continues to have a vibrant – some say turbulent – modern history. Although highly urbanised, with cities like Tel Aviv and Haifa, the countryside offers contrast: the hills of Galilee, the many Kibbutzim, those collective settlements where all property except intimate personal belongings are owned in common, or the desert of the Negev in the ‘Deep South’. The language and content in this ‘Photo Book’ is distinctly that of the 1950s.
T.R. Fyvel and Boris Kowaldo, This is Israel. Oxford: Bruno Cassirer, c. 1950. Brasch DS108.5 KV9
Hebrew is a Northwest Semitic language spoken today by some 9 million people world-wide. In antiquity, it competed with Aramaic and Greek, and survived as a language used mainly in Jewish liturgy, rabbinic literature, and poetry. In the 19th century, the language faced a revival, and those living in Israel today constitute the majority of speakers. The Froben family were Swiss printers, and Hieronymus (1501–1563) son of Johann Froben, continued the family business, providing texts like this Psalter of 1547 for Christian scholars interested in the Hebrew Bible, its language and grammar, and overall biblical studies. This copy once belonged to William Arderne Shoults (1839-1887).
___, Sefer tehillim. Psalterium Hebraicum. [Basel: Hieronymus Froben and Nikolaus Episcopius], 1547. Shoults Swa 1547 B
In the early years of printing, Italy reigned supreme when it came to the printing of Hebrew. In 1475, the first dated Hebrew book was completed in Reggio di Calabria; on 26 January 1482, the first edition of the Pentateuch (often called the Five Books of Moses or the Torah) appeared at Bologna; and on 22 April 1488, the first complete Hebrew Bible appeared at Soncino. Leiden also featured. This Latin-Hebrew Bible was printed in 1611 by Franciscus Raphelengius, a pioneer of Hebrew typography in the Netherlands. The interlinear Latin translation is by Santes Pagninus (1470-1536), whose Latin version of the Hebrew Bible greatly aided future scriptural translators and scholars. Here is an early portion of the Book of Genesis.
___, Biblia Hebraica. [Leiden: Officina Plantiniana Raphelengii], 1611. Shoults Lb 1611 B
This volume is part of a multi-volume set forming the Biblia Hebraica, a 1705 reprint of the original edition by Joseph Athias (1635-1700), a learned Jewish Rabbi and printer. This edition was prepared for the press by Everardus van der Hooght (1642?-1716), whose later editions form the basis of all the modern editions. By this time, printing not only standardized the halakhah (the entire body of Jewish law and tradition comprising the laws of the Bible, and the oral law as transcribed in the legal portion of the Talmud), but also assisted the dissemination of kabbalah (that mystical component in Jewish traditions that deal with the essence of God). The Bible has numbered verses, Latin subject headings in the margin, and vowel signs and points. Understandably, the inclusion of the latter made type cutting, composing and printing a very complex activity.
___, Torah, Neviʼim u-Khetuvim: Biblia Hebraica. Vol. I. [Amsterdam: Sumptibus & mandatis Societatis], 1700. Shoults Lb 1700 B
About 1770, Alexander Alexander, a member of the Jewish community in London, realized that there was a desperate need for a Hebrew printing press, and an English translation of the prayer book. One reason for the last was ‘a veneration for the Holy Language’ (Leshon Hakodesh (לשון הקדש)). Although not a scholar, Alexander produced, along with Benedict Just of Halberstadt (known as Baruch Meyers), the Tephilloth, the first Hebrew-English Prayer Book printed in England. Produced on a subscription basis, some of the buyers included many non-Jews. The preface also states: ‘The reader will observe that this book is printed from right hand to left, conformably to the Hebrew.’
___, Tephilloth, Containing the Forms of Prayers which are Publicly Read in the Synagogues, and Used in All Families. London: Printed by W. Tooke for the Translators, AM 5530, [i.e. 1770]. Shoults Eb 1770 J
H. R. Hall’s Ancient History of the Near East (first published in 1913) starts with pre-history Greece, Old Egypt, and Babylonia, and finishes with the Greco-Persian Wars, where at the Battle of Salamis in 480 BC Greek forces repulsed the Persian army under King Xerxes. Historians believe that a Persian victory would have hampered the development of Ancient Greece. Here is a map of Palestine during the Biblical era of the Period of Judges (1270–1030 BC), roughly equating to the occupation of Canaan and the establishment of the Hebrew monarchy. Canaan became the land of the Philistines, or ‘Palestine’, centred at first around coastal towns such as Gaza and Ashkelon.
H.R. Hall, The Ancient History of the Near East from the Earliest Times to the Battle of Salamis. 7th edition. London: Methuen & Co., 1927. Brasch DS H489 1927
Palestine is a geographic region, usually considered to include the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Israel, and in some definitions, parts of western Jordan. Throughout history, the boundaries have changed, and because of this, and the influx of various people, there was some language variation. About 1400 B.C. Babylonian cuneiform was the language of official documents in Palestine. Around Petra (originally Raqmu, southern Jordan), about the time of Jesus Christ, inscriptions were in standard Aramaic, yet Arabic was spoken. Indeed, somewhat simplistically, the succession goes: Hebrew, Aramaic, then Arabic. In Canaanite, Bethlehem was ‘The Temple of the God Lakhmu’; in Hebrew and Aramaic ‘House of Bread’; and in Arabic ‘House of Flesh’. The chart on display offers comparative symbols, hieroglyphics and letters showing the development of the alphabet.
William Foxwell Albright, The Archaeology of Palestine. Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin, 1949. Brasch DS111 AA63
In 1876, the Leipzig firm of Baedeker published their Palestine and Syria guidebook, which offered a description of the conditions in a region where travel was mainly by horse and camel. Publication of these guides were not without problems. In the 2nd edition, some disparaging remarks were made about some hotels owned by a Mr Howard. A legal case followed. This particular edition has the rare note tipped in which is often missing: ‘The excessive zeal of the Turkish censorship sometimes even extends to the confiscation of guide-books. The traveller is therefore advised to place this volume in his pocket before crossing the Turkish frontier or entering a Turkish port.’ Here is a 1906 engraving of Hebron, a Palestinian city located in the southern West Bank.
Karl Baedeker, Palestine and Syria with the Chief Routes through Mesopotamia and Babylonia. 4th edition, remodelled and augmented. Leipzig: Karl Baedeker, 1906. Special Collections DS103 B351 1906
‘The aspect of Gaza is imposing at a distance. As usual in Oriental cities, the illusion vanishes on entrance. But its connexion with the caravans renders it a place of considerable traffic, and consequently of considerable opulence.’ So writes David Roberts in his entry on Gaza, one of the earliest cities of Canaan mentioned in the Old Testament (Genesis X, 19). Gaza has always benefitted from its position, strategically placed as a key entrepôt for trade and commerce, not only for those traversing along the spice route, but also with local Arab and Bedouin tribes.
David Roberts, The Holy Land: Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt, & Nubia. Vol. 2. London: Day & Son, 1855. Special Collections DS107 RM28
‘We believe that it is precisely the traveller desirous of reconstructing the scenes of the Bible who will be most interested in the country’s present development, proceeding, as it largely does, on the lines of Biblical tradition…Spring and autumn are the most favourable seasons for visiting Palestine.’ So reads the ‘Foreword’ in this Guide to New Palestine, dated ‘Iyyar 5694 (May 1934).’ This guidebook was once owned by Charles Brasch, who could well have used it while he was living in the Middle East. The ‘Four-ton Candlestick’ from the Otago Daily Times (February 1956) was loosely tipped in.
Zionist Information Bureau for Tourists in Palestine, Guide to New Palestine. 8th edition. Jerusalem: Published by the Zionist Information Bureau for Tourists in Palestine, 1934-1935. Brasch DS103 Z179 1935
While at Oxford, William Jones, later Sir William (1746–1794), discovered the Arabic manuscripts that were in the Pococke Collection in the Bodleian Library. They were a catalyst for his endeavours in making linguistic connections between Arabic and Persian (Farsi (فارسی), and they fuelled his admiration of poems by the 13th century Persian poet Saʿdī. In 1771, he produced his Grammar of the Persian Language, a ground-breaking work noted for its literary focus. Indeed, it went through several editions, and provided a model that language scholars later followed. Jones later travelled to Calcutta, formed the Asiatick Society of Bengal, and developed a strong interest in Sanskrit.
William Jones, A Grammar of the Persian Language. [London: Printed by W. and J. Richardson], 1771. Shoults Eb 1771 J
Persia is the historic region of the Middle East associated with the area that is now modern Iran, the latter a name officially adopted in 1935. The current population is about 81 million; the land area about 1,648,195 km2 (636,372 square miles). It is the second-largest country in the Middle East. The area is home to one of the world’s oldest civilizations, and its ‘Golden Age’ was in the 10th and 11th centuries, when literature, philosophy, science, medicine, and art blossomed. In 1664, age 21, the Frenchman Jean (John) Chardin (1643–1713) travelled to Persia. It is said that he was an accurate recorder of what he saw and his Travels have stood the test of time. Here is his description of the ‘ill Habit’ of tobacco smoking and the Persian’s use of Callion (pipes). This Argonaut Press edition is a reprint of the two-volume London edition of 1720.
[Sir John Chardin], Travels in Persia. London: The Argonaut Press, 1927. Special Collections DS257 CF32
Kamāl al-Dīn Ḥusayn Vāʿiẓ Kāshifī (c.840/1436-37 - 910/1504-5) was an influential preacher (Vāʿiẓ) and scholar of Islam who wrote in his life-time some forty works, almost all in Persian. According to reports, his preaching drew large crowds, mainly because of his beautiful voice, rhetorical skills, and ability to explain Qu’ranic verses and prophetic traditions clearly and concisely. Although deemed a populariser, Kāshifī helped document a wide range of knowledge important to the Islamic world. Akhlāq-e muḥsinī (Akhlak-i Muhsini) was a treatise on ethics and statecraft that he completed in 907/1501-2. The Persian scholar, the Rev. Henry George Keene (1781–1864), translated a portion of it as The Morals of the Beneficent. This is a later printing of 1850.
Kamāl al-Dīn Ḥusayn Vāʿiẓ Kāshi, Akhlak-i Muhsini, or, The Morals of the Beneficent, Literally Translated from the Persian… by H. G. Keene.. Hertford, England: Stephen Austin, 1850. Shoults Eb 1850 K
Iraq holds an important place in the history of the world as it was part of Mesopotamia and the Cradle of Civilisation. About 10,000 years ago, the people living between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers began to develop methods of agriculture and animal husbandry. This in turn led to the formation of complex societies and the development of religion. Out of these developments was born the Epic of Gilgamesh, a work of literature written down for the first time about 4000 years ago by the Sumerians. Clay tablets, on which a 7th century BC version of the Epic was written, were found in Nineveh (northern Iraq, near Mosul) in the 19th century. The Epic tells the tale of Gilgamesh, King of Uruk and is a ‘mixture of pure adventure, of morality, and of tragedy.’
___, The Epic of Gilgamesh. Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin, 1960. Brasch PJ3771 G5 E5 1960
The long history of civilisation in Iraq is visible in the ancient ruins of the region. Palace complexes were first systematically excavated in the 1840s by Englishman Austen Henry Layard (1817-94) and Iraqi Hormuzd Rassam (1826-1910). The city of Nimrud, called Calah in the Bible and described by Xenophon as Larisa, was excavated in 1845. Several bas-relief were uncovered, most of which were shipped back to the British Museum in London. This image from Layard's Account details the kingly pursuit of lion hunting and is just one part of a long ‘story’, found in Nimrud, depicting King Ashurbanipal II (9th century BC). The city was abandoned in the 7th century BC, and unfortunately in the last few years, the ancient ruins have been destroyed by ISIS.
Austen Henry Layard, Nineveh and its Remains: With an Account of a Visit to the Chaldaean Christians of Kurdistan, and the Yezidis, or Devil-Worshippers; and an Enquiry into the Manners and Arts of the Ancient Assyrians. Vol. II. 3rd ed. London: John Murray, 1849. Shoults Eb 1849 L
In 1849, Layard and Rassam were back in Iraq to uncover the largest Assyrian palace, that of King Sennacherib (740-681BC), at Kouyunjik or Nineveh. A team of workers dug down and discovered a large, organised 29-acre palace complex within a larger 1700-acre organised city area. Serviced by a sophisticated canal system, which brought water to the city, it is thought by some that it was also the site of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. It is in these ancient city ruins that the cuneiform tablets containing the Epic of Gilgamesh were found in the Library of Ashurbanipal (d. 627BC), one of Sennacherib’s successors.
Austen Henry Layard, Nineveh and Babylon: A Narrative of a Second Expedition to Assyria during the Years 1849, 1850, & 1851. London: John Murray, 1874. Special Collections DS70.5 N47 LD546 1874
Wilfred Thesiger (1910-2003) was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and educated at Eton and Oxford. He spent much of his life living and travelling in Africa and the Middle East. In the 1950s, he spent eight years, on and off, with the Marsh Arabs, who lived an aquatic lifestyle in island villages between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in parts of Iraq, Kuwait, and Iran. Thesiger immersed himself. He travelled in his own canoe, learned their customs, and in his book, The Marsh Arabs, he ‘captured for posterity fast disappearing ways of life’. His visits coincided with the beginning of the systematic draining of the Marshes. Many inhabitants sought refuge in Iran. However, in 2016, UNESCO made the area a Heritage Site, which may in future facilitate the reestablishment of these traditional ways of life.
Wilfred Thesiger, The Marsh Arabs. London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1964. Brasch DS70.7 TC97
Roman Catholic Cardinal Henry Noris’s (1631-1704) work on the Syro-Macedonian calendar is considered one of his most learned and important. The map accompanying the text features ‘Coele Syria’ and ‘Syria Superior’ – both names for Syria in classical times. The country was part of the ‘cradle of civilisation’ and has over the years been ruled by the Persians (6th cent. BC); the Seleucids (4th cent. BC); and the Romans (1st cent. BC – 5th cent. AD). In the 7th century, Syria was conquered by Muslim Arabs and from 1518 to 1918, the Ottomans ruled the country. In 1920, France extracted a mandate from League of Nations to govern Syria and in 1946, it gained independence. Since 1970, Syria has been ruled by father and son Hafez al-Assad (1930-2000) and Bashar al-Assad (b. 1965).
F. Henrico Noris, Annus et Epochae Syromacedonum in Vetustis Urbium Syriae Nummis praesertim Mediceis Expositae…. . [Leipzig: Thomas Fritsch], 1696. Shoults Gb 1696 N
The Bible was translated into Syriac in about the 2nd century AD. Its proliferation and dissemination was instrumental in the expansion of the Christian faith in the Middle East in the early part of the first millennium AD. This volume contains the New Testament only and is open at Luke, Chapter 9, verses 23-51. Syriac is read right to left and books are read from the back to the front. There are three distinct scripts in the Syriac language and this Bible is printed in the Serto script; different scripts were used in different regions of Syria. This edition of 1816 was edited by orientalist and polyglot, Samuel Lee (1783-1852).
___, Syriac Bible. [London: British and Foreign Bible Society], [1816]. Shoults Ob 1800 B
Englishman Robert Wood (1716-71) travelled through Syria with an entourage of 200 men, and a large caravan of camels, asses, and horses. When he came upon the white marble ruins of Palmyra in Syria in 1751, he was awestruck. Surrounded by desert, the city, initially called Tadmor, was built on the commercial gains from trade routes in the region, mainly the Silk Road. The ancient Semitic city changed hands over time, from Persians to Greeks to Romans. This large format volume, published by Wood soon after his return to England, had a ‘profound effect on classical taste in England’ and influenced many European architects. Sadly, much of what you see here in this plate was destroyed by ISIS in 2015
Robert Wood, The Ruins of Palmyra, otherwise Tedmor, in the Desart. London: [Robert Wood], 1753. De Beer Ee 1753 W
Damascus, the capital city of Syria, has been inhabited for thousands of years. It is situated in a valley on the eastern plateau of the Anti-Lebanon Mountains, is watered by the Barada River, and in ancient times was at the convergence of many trade routes – all of which made it a rich and therefore desirable city. The Roman occupation (1st cent. BC – 4th cent. AD) is still visible in the many Roman ruins throughout the Old City. One of Jesus’s Apostles Paul, previously a persecutor of Christians, experienced his Christian conversion while travelling the ‘road to Damascus’. Hence the saying meaning ‘an important point in someone’s life with a great change, or reversal, of ideas or beliefs’. This guide map shows a route from Damascus to Homs in western Syria.
___, Steimatzky's Pocket Guide to Syria and the Lebanon. Jerusalem: Steimatzky Publishing Co., 1942. Special Collections DS94 ST37
The Middle East would have been a different place today if it were not for the ‘presence and domestication’ of the camel. Their ability to withstand extremes of temperature and up to ten days without water enabled the peoples of the Middle East to explore and inhabit the virtually waterless desert regions. They supplied wool, meat, milk, and transport, and they were essential in opening up the trade routes between the East and West. The Romans found them indispensable in monitoring and protecting their empirical dominions in the East; and as is evident in this image they were used by the Syrians as part of their army in the 20th century. Incidentally, the image of the Baptistery opposite, Qalʿat Simʿān, was the church complex built around Simeon of Stylites, who lived for 37 years perched atop a pillar near Aleppo
Robin Fedden, Syria: An Historical Appreciation. London: Robert Hale, 1946. Brasch DS94 F912
As a child, Thomas Edward Lawrence (1888-1935), ‘developed a taste for archaeology and chivalry’. His first visit to the Middle East was in 1909 when he visited Syria and Lebanon. In 1911, he returned to Syria as an employee of the British Museum, and took part in an archaeological dig, staying for three years. At the start of WWI, he joined the British Intelligence Service in the Middle East; he knew the region well and could speak Arabic. During the War, he sympathised with, and fought on the side of the local Arabs in their bid to gain political independence from the Ottoman Empire. Seven Pillars of Wisdom is Lawrence’s narrative of the Arab Revolt, which ends with the liberation of Damascus in October 1918. The image above is how most people picture the man who became the celebrated Lawrence of Arabia.
T.E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom. London: Jonathan Cape, 1935. Brasch D568.4 LD43 1935
Christian van Adrichem (1533-85) was a Delft-born priest who wrote several works on Jerusalem and the Holy Land. This is from the third edition of his Theatrum Terrae Sanctae et Biblicarum Historiarum (1600), a Biblical atlas that was extremely influential in its day, especially for the engraved maps. The work was translated into several languages, including English. The map of Jerusalem is simply outstanding.
[Christian van Adrichem], Theatrum Terrae Sanctae et Biblicarvm Historiarvm. [Cologne: Arnold Mylij], 1600. De Beer Gc 1600 A
Although attribution of this journey to Jerusalem is given to Henry Timberlake (H.T.), it was probably compiled by Nathaniel Crouch (1632?-1725?), a prolific author who used various nom de plumes such as Robert, or Richard Burton (R.B). His ‘travel tales’ were popular, gaining the phrase ‘Burton’s Books’. The two English pilgrims were Henry Timberlake (1570-1625) and John Burrell, who actually travelled to Jerusalem. This is the second ‘H.T’ edition, which contains other ‘tales’ by the initialled ‘T.B.’ and ‘S.B.’, that is, Crouch. The author uses a time-honoured sales pitch on the title-page: ‘And Beautified with Pictures.'
[Henry Timberlake], Two journeys to Jerusalem: Containing First, A Strange and True Account of the Travels of Two English Pilgrims. London: Printed for Nath Crouch, 1685. De Beer Eb 1685 R
Lady Isabel Burton (1831–1896) was the wife and partner of explorer and adventurer Sir Richard Francis Burton (1821-1890), who famously said, on first meeting him when very young: ‘I will marry that man.’ Encouraged to write by him, Isabel wrote Inner Life because she wanted ‘to convey an idea of the life which an Englishwoman may make for herself in the East (Preface). Shying away from history and geography, she covered topics such as ‘A Day’s Shopping in the Bazars’, ‘A Friendly Evening at a Harím’, and ‘Village Squabbles’. This is a colourful lithograph of her rendition of ‘Our Desert Camp’.
Isabel Burton, The Inner Life of Syria, Palestine, and the Holy Land: From My Private Journal. London: Henry S. King & Co., 1875. Special Collections DS94 B75 1875
In this wonderful image by Scottish artist David Roberts, the ‘Pyramids of Geezeh’ dwarf the well-known Great Sphinx. No matter what the perspective, big or small, the complex of monuments found on the Giza Plateau, some 13 kilometres from Cairo, is rightly one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
David Roberts, The Holy Land: Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt & Nubia. Vol. 5. London: Day & Son, 1856. Special Collections DS107 RM28
This double-page spread of Arabic-Latin printed text is from an important first edition of the Syriac Infancy Gospel, translated by Henry Sike, Professor of Oriental Languages at Cambridge, in 1697. Also known as the Arabic Infancy Gospel, Evangelium Infantiae concerns the childhood of Jesus. This apocryphal piece, originating from Syriac sources of the 5th and 6th centuries, reveals some amusing claims: a magic diaper that heals people; sweat (of Jesus) that turns into balm, and cures leprosy; and an early encounter for Jesus with Judas Iscariot.
___, Evangelium Infantiae: Vel Liber Apocryphus de Infantia Servatoris. Trajecti ad Rhenum: Franciscum Halmam and Guiljelmum vande Water, 1697. Shoults Lb 1697 B
The manuscript of Mishkāt al-Daʿwāt by ‘Abd al-Razzāq is written in Arabic with some minor Persian notes. It is a sample of a ḥadīthī detailing (among others) phrases concerning tasbīḥ (glorification), taḥmīd (praising), takbīr (magnification of God), al-ḥawqala (expressing there is neither might nor strength but in God) and the names of God. It is bound with another title - Munawwar al-Qulūb – that begins with a note suggesting to Muslims a formula on how to ward off enemies through reciting Qurʾanic verses. The manuscript was once owned by the Rev. William Arderne Shoults (1839-1887).
[ʿAbd al-Razzāq], Mishkāt al-Daʿwāt. Unpublished, c. 1722. Shoults MS. 13a
David Roberts sketched these magnificent rock figures when they were on their original site, near the second cataract of the Nile River. They form the ‘Great Temple of Aboo-Simbel’ (Abu Simbel). In 1968, these massive structures were relocated some 65 metres further up onto a high plateau. This was because there was a real fear of them being submerged by water during the building of Aswan High Dam. These ‘Nubian Monuments’, the most visited ancient site in Egypt after the Pyramids of Giza, are now a UNESCO World Heritage site.
David Roberts, The Holy Land: Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt & Nubia. Vol. 5. London: Day & Son, 1856. Special Collections DS107 RM28
This engraving of Aleppo, a city in Syria, is from Henry Maundrell’s account of his travels undertaken in 1697, when he was chaplain to the Levant Company. Aleppo is a very ancient city, known in antiquity as Khalpe, Khalibon, and Halab. Maundrell (1665-1701) was an excellent recorder of his experiences, and his work is now regarded as a minor travel classic. The engraving shows the Great Mosque of Aleppo, and the imposing Citadel (قلعة حلب).
Henry Maundrell, A Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem, at Easter, A.D. 1697. To which is added, An Account of the Author’s Journey to the Banks of the Euphrates at Beer, and to the Country of Mesopotamia. Perth: Printed by R. Morison for W. Morison, 1800. Shoults Eb 1800 M
While mastering Physics and Metaphysics at the University of Harderwijk, the Dutch scholar Adriaan Reland (1676-1718) also learnt Arabic, Hebrew, and other Semitic languages, as well as teaching in the area of comparative linguistics. His Religione Mohammedica was a seminal work, the first objective survey of Islamic beliefs and practices. This engraving of ‘S. Sophiae’ (Hagia Sophia) in Constantinople (Istanbul) is from the 1717 edition. The Church is now a museum.
[Adriaan Reland], De Religione Mohammedica Libri Duo. [Utrecht: Gulielmi Broedelet], 1717. Shoults Lb 1717 R
![[The Gospels in Coptic and Arabic]](https://s3.amazonaws.com/ourheritagemedia%2Foriginal%2F71f30e6359c612746facd88e256dbda6.jpg)
Coptic and Arabic languages sit side by side in this edition of the Gospels, published by the British and Foreign Bible Society in London in 1829. It is based on the first edition of the Coptic New Testament of 1716, compiled by the Prussian-born David Wilkins (1685–1745), who became Lord Almoner’s Professor of Arabic at the University of Cambridge in 1724. Wilkins not only had Coptic and Arabic, but he was also versed in Hebrew, Chaldaic, and Armenian. Anglo-Saxon was added to the language list, with some reservation by one biographer: ‘with a certain want of accuracy’.
Edited by Henry Tattam and Samuel Lee, [The Gospels in Coptic and Arabic]. London: British and Foreign Bible Society, 1829. Shoults Eb 1829 B
The first subtitle of Henry Timberlake’s travel account continues with: ‘and what admirable Accidents befel them in their journey to Jerusalem, Grand Cairo, Alexandria, etc.’ Sabbatai Zevi (1626–1676) was an Ottoman Jew who claimed to be the Messiah, but then later converted to Islam. Perhaps Timberlake had heard of this false or counterfeit messiah, and had him immortalised in his book.
[Henry Timberlake], Two Journeys to Jerusalem: Containing First, A Strange and True Account of the Travels of Two English Pilgrims. London: Printed for Nath Crouch, 1685. De Beer Eb 1685 R