Religio Turcica et Mahometis vita. Das ist: Kurtze, warhafftige, gründ- und eigendliche Beschreibung türkischer Religion, Wie auch Leben, Wandel und Tod des Arabischen falschen Propheten Mahometis [...].
4to. (14), 264 pp. With engraved illustrated title-page and 12 engraved plates; one line of musical notes showing the melody of the muezzin's call "la 'ilaha 'illa -llahu" (There is no deity but Allah). 19th century marbled half leather with giltstamped red spine label. Marbled endpapers. All edges sprinkled red.
€ 4,000.00
Second edition of Wallich's account of Islam, written in 1659 following his mission to the Porte. "The first part is a description of Turkish religion and customs [...] together with seven of the plates. The second part is a life of Mohammed, and the third part is a comparison of Pope Alexander VII with Mehmed IV (the two antichrists, oriental and occidental)" (Blackmer). The biography of the Prophet includes a genealogy and an engraving showing Ali with the Zulfiqar presenting the written Qur'an to the faithful.
Johann Ulrich von Wallich (1624-73), a Thuringian jurist in Swedish services, participated in several diplomatic missions, including the Swedish embassy to Constantinople in 1657/58, where he got to know the Muslim religion.
Binding very insignificantly rubbed along the hinges, corners a little bumped. A fine copy bound for the Ottoman-Greek diplomat Stephanos Carathéodory (1834-1908), who served as secretary to the Ottoman delegation at the 1878 Congress of Berlin and as Ottoman ambassador to Brussels, with his printed bookplate and motto ("Meden agan" - "nothing in excess") to front pastedown and spine.
VD 17, 39:134505B. Chauvin XI, p. 197, no. 720. Cf. Atabey 1761; Blackmer 1309.