Usamah ibn Munqidh / Derenbourg, Hartwig (ed.). [Kitab al-I'tibar, French]. Souvenirs historiques et récits de chasse par un émir syrien du douzieme siècle. Autobiographie d'Ousâma ibn Mounkidh intitulée: L'Instruction par les exemples. Traduction francaise d'après le texte arabe par Hartwig Derenbourg.

€ 850,00

First edition.

The autobiography of Usamah ibn Murshid ibn Munqidh (1095-1188), who introduced this genre of writing to Arabic literature (cf. GAL I, 319). Born in Shaizar in northern Syria, where his family ruled a small Emirate, he was banished by his uncle and for a time entered the services of Atabeg Sihabaddin ibn Buri, where he got to know members of the Knights Templar. After spending several years in seclusion as a hunter in Egypt, he returned to Damaskus in 1154, joining the campaign against the European crusaders. The editor H. Derenbourg was the first to discover the sole surviving manuscript of the "Kitab al-I'tibar" (in the Escorial in Madrid) and produced this first translation, afterwards the first Arabic edition (1886) and a biography of Usamah (1889).

A few repaired paper defects; well-preserved altogether.