[SOLD]

This item has sold. We are always interested in acquiring another copy or any item of comparable quality.

Inquire

The first book about America by a Muslim

Tarikh-i Hind-i gharbi. Tarikh-i Hind-i gharbi al-müsemma bi-Hadis-i nev [A History of the Western Indies].

Qustantaniyah (Istanbul), Ibrahim Müteferrika, mid-Ramazan 1142 AH [= 1730 AD].

4to (168 x 217 mm). (3), 91 ff. All pages ruled, border coloured in gilt. With an illuminated golden headpiece (serlevha), 4 double-page engraved plates in contemporary colour (celestial chart, diagram with table, 2 world maps), and 13 woodcut illustrations in the text, all coloured by a contemporary hand and partially heightened with gum arabic. Slightly later (c. 1840) half calf, with gilt ornament and the name of the previous owner in Arabic lettering gilt to spine. Marbled endpapers.

A unique copy, with notable provenance, of the first book published with Arabic lettering to contain illustrations, the earliest book about the New World published in the Islamic world, and one of the first titles printed by a Muslim in Turkey. Formerly in the possession of Ahmed Cevdet Pasha (1822-95), one of the most pre-eminent scholars of his time and a prominent figure in the Tanzimat reforms of the Ottoman empire, the present copy is ruled in gold throughout, printed on a variety of burnished papers (a total of 30 leaves dyed in yellow, green, and brown in addition to the standard white), and coloured throughout. It is especially the contemporary colouring of the woodcuts, which depict curious oddities, fantastic creatures and the native people of the New World, that lends the present specimen a visual appearance completely different from that of the rather plain copies in which this book is usually known (14 copies recorded by OCLC). The only similarly embellished copy of the Hind al-Gharbi we could trace is the one held by the Lilly Library.

"Despite the title, this is not a history of the West Indies. It opens with a general geographical and cosmological discussion, and follows with an account of the discovery of the New World, with considerable fantastic elaboration in the spirit of the more fabulous passages of Abu Hamid and Qazwini. Among the illustrations are depictions of trees whose fruits are in human form, long-snouted horses, mermen at battle with land-dwellers, and other men and beasts of nightmarish aspect" (Watson). The present work, which survives in a number of mss. (though in less complete variants than this printed edition), was composed in Istanbul around 1580 by an unidentified author. After a synthesis of Islamic geographical and cosmographical writings, notably drawing from al-Mas'udi, who is the most frequently cited source, and Ibn al-Wardi, mentioned almost 20 times, the book relates the discovery of the New World. In this Chapter 3, which comprises the final two thirds of the text, the author describes the explorations and discoveries by Columbus, Balboa, Magellan, Cortés and Pizarro. As Goodrich's study of the book's sources shows, this section is derived directly from Italian editions of 16th-century texts - particularly works by López de Gómara, Peter Martyr, Agustín de Zárate, and Oviedo - which the author excerpted, rearranged, and translated into Turkish. The history of their discoveries is enlivened with fantastic elaboration, some of which is visible in the woodcuts. The two world maps derive from those in Mercator-Hondius "Atlas minor" and reappear in Katib Celebi's "Cihânnümâ" atlas, printed by Müteferrika two years later, with California represented as an island. Complete examples are rare: the book was printed in an edition of only 500 copies, many of which were subsequently defaced or destroyed for contravening the Islamic teachings against the representation of living things. Toderini appears to call for an astronomical chart in addition to the 4 plates, but Watson describes an astronomical chart and 3 plates. Sabin calls for 3 plates only, as does the John Carter Brown library catalogue. The Bibliothèque nationale copy, sent from Constantinople by the press's patron, Sad Aga, contains 4 plates, as does the present copy, including the Ptolemaic astronomical chart.

Old annotations in Arabic script to front flyleaf. Three leaves remargined. Celestial map with closed tears and 2.5 cm loss to upper right corner (though slightly less near center) and minor loss to the cartouche at lower right corner; the other plates including the two coloured world maps in excellent condition, as most of the printed pages.

References

John Carter Brown 463. Toderini III, 41. Karatay 250. Sabin 94396. William J. Watson, "Ibrahim Müteferrika and Turkish Incunabula," in: Journal of the American Oriental Society 88, no. 3 (1968), pp. 435-441, no. 4. OCLC 416474553. Cf. T. D. Goodrich, The Ottoman Turks and the New World (Wiesbaden 1990).

Cat. no.: 12