Study in Middle Eastern sigillography
Abhandlung über die Siegel der Araber, Perser und Türken.
Large 4to (186 x 280 mm). 58 pp. With 1 folding engraved plate containing 72 illustrations. Later black half calf with the original printed upper wrapper bound within.
$1,054.00
First separate publication of this study of Middle Eastern sphragistics (sigillography), a treatise submitted before the Austrian Academy of Sciences in 1848. Hammer-Purgstall (1774-1856), a leading Austrian orientalist with an extensive knowledge of languages, took up a diplomatic position at the Austrian embassy in Constantinople in 1799 and remained in Turkey and the Middle East until 1807. One of the most prominent orientalists of the early 19th century, he is considered the first man to have initiated a genuine study of the Ottoman world based on the principles of critical scholarship.
Occasional light browning or very faint foxing. Original wrapper cover browned, with pasted bookseller's label: "In Commission bei C. Gerold & Sohn in Wien".
Wurzbach VII, 274, I B b 9. Cf. Goedeke VII, 768, 120.