From the library of the British Consul in Zanzibar

Said-Ruete, Rudolph. Said bin Sultan (1791-1856), Ruler of Oman and Zanzibar. His Place in the History of Arabia and East Africa.

London, Alexander-Ouseley, (1929).

Large 8vo. XVIII, 200 pp. With half-title, frontispiece portrait, 5 black-and-white plates, folding map and "Genealogical table of members of the Al Bu Said dynasty". Publisher's original blue cloth, title gilt on spine & upper cover, Said bin Sultan name gilt in Arabic on upper cover.

 9.500,00

Rare first edition. Said-Ruete was the son of Princess Salma (1844-1924), daughter of Sayyid Sai’id ibn Sultan (1791-1856), ruler of Oman and Zanzibar. The Princess married Friedrich Ruete, a clerk at the German embassy, and lived for 52 years as a widow in Germany. Their son Rudolph produced this remarkable survey of his grandfather’s life and times, considered as important as Vincenzo Maurizi‘s "History of Seyd Said, Sultan of Muscat" (London 1819). Sayyid Said ibn Sultan became the ruler of Oman in 1806, when he was about 15 years of age. After defeating the opposition with British help he determined to reassert Oman's traditional claims in East Africa. He eventually succeeded, and in about 1840 shifted his capital to Zanzibar, where he introduced the cloves that became the foundation of the island's economy. He also controlled the Arab traders that brought back slaves and ivory from the African interior. In this monograph the author highlights the early history of Oman, the rise of Said ibn Sultan to power in Oman and Zanzibar, and his relations with foreign powers (France, England, and the United States). In his foreword to this work, Major General Sir Percy Cox identifies the establishment of an Arab dominion in Zanzibar as Sultan Said's most lasting achievement.

Covers a little soiled (lower cover more so); light wear to extremeties; insignificant spotting confined to flyleaves. A fine copy with ticket of The Times Book Club to lower pastedown. Provenance: from the library of Christopher Palmer Rigby (1820-85), who served as the East India Company's agent and British Consul in Zanzibar from 1858 to 1861.

Literatur

Macro 1986. OCLC 5705061.

Art.-Nr.: BN#54166 Schlagwörter: , ,