The first philosophical novel: first edition of this English translation

Ibn Tufail, Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Malik / [Ashwell, G. (transl.)]. [Risalat Hayy ibn Yaqzan - English]. The History of Hai Eb'n Yockdan, an Indian Prince, or, The Self-Taught Philosopher. Written Originally in the Arabick Tongue by Abi Taafar Eb'n Tophail, a Philosopher by Profession, and a Mahometan by Religion [...].

€ 8.500,00

The rare first edition of this English translation, the second altogether, based on Edward Pococke's 1671 Latin version: the "Risalat Hayy ibn Yaqzan" by the Andalusian Muslim mystic Ibn Tufail (1110-85), or Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Muhammad ibn Tufail al-Qaisi al-Andalusi in full. Tremendously influential on Eastern and Western intellectual traditions alike, the book is widely considered the first philosophical novel.

The Arabic tale was known in Europe as early as the 15th century through Pico della Mirandola's 1493 unpublished Latin translation, and scholars have since asserted its influence on Francis Bacon, Baruch Spinoza, Robert Boyle, the modern novel, Enlightenment thought, and even Robinson Crusoe. "A medieval philosophical treatise in literary form, [...] it relates the story of human knowledge as it rises from a blank slate, through practical exploration of nature, to a mystical or direct experience of God. Its central argument is that human reason can independently access scientific knowledge unaided by religion or society and its conventions, leading not only to the tenets of natural philosophy but also to the attainment of mystical insight, the highest form of human knowledge" (Ben-Zaken, p. 2). The story follows the life of a young man stranded on an otherwise uninhabited island, and it is easy to appreciate comparisons to Robinson Crusoe. Given the protagonist's flair as an autodidact and his faith in empiricism, it is similarly not difficult to understand the story's appeal to Enlightenment thinkers. The work's Western influence does not obscure its importance within the Arabic and Persian literary traditions, nor its influence on Islamic philosophy.