Uighur lives of the Prophets, in a rare mimeograph from a small missionary press

Hunter, George W[illiam]. Mohammedan "Narratives of the Prophets" Covering the Period from Zachariah to Paul. Turki Text With English Translation. - (And): The same. Examples of the Various Turki Dialects: Turki Text with English Translation.

€ 8.500,00

Two rare Turkic chrestomathies, compiled and printed on a mimeograph machine by a linguist working in the field. Containing extracts in Uighur from the Muslim "Narratives of the Prophets" as well as examples of Kazakh, Tatar, Uzbek and Istanbul Turkish, they are a testimony to Central Asia as a linguistic and cultural crossroads between China and the Islamic world.

Produced from locally available materials, including leaves of desert iris, only 100 copies were printed of each of these volumes. The first contains lives of the prophets in the Muslim tradition (Qisas al-anbiya), covering Jewish and Christian figures from Zachariah to Paul. The second includes a variety of secular texts, such as Kazakh folk-tales and memoirs, Tatar legends, and Uzbek proverbs. All are accompanied by facing English translations. Together, they provided a Western audience with vital, living insight into the Uighur language and its close relations.

Both volumes are the work of George W. Hunter (1861-1946), a Scottish missionary who served the China Inland Mission in China and Turkestan for almost 60 years. An exceptional linguist, Hunter was able to preach in Uighur, Kazakh, Arabic, Manchu, Mongolian, Nogai, and Chinese. His knowledge of the languages and cultures of Central Asia was probably as extensive as that of any Westerner of his time.

A rarity: of the only 100 copies of each volume printed, fewer than ten of each are known today; OCLC locates nine copies of the first volume, and only eight of the second.

A remarkable document of a linguist at work in the diverse world of Central Asia.