The campaigns of Nadir Shah: rare first Spanish edition

[Krusinski, Tadeusz Judasz?] / Lisasueta, Jacinto de (transl.). Historia de Thamas Kouli-Kan, Sophi de Persia. Traducida del Frances en Castellano.

Madrid, en la Officina de los Herederos de Juan de Ariztia, 1740.

Small 8vo. 2 vols. (16), 286 pp. (8), 195, (1) pp. Contemporary limp vellum (modern endpapers).

 5,000.00

Very rare first Spanish translation of this sensational account, which spurred numerous re-printings, piracies, and abridgements. A perfect ideal of the 'Oriental despot', the recent exploits of Nadir Shah (Tahmasp Quli Khan, 1698-1747) fascinated his European contemporaries as much as the shocking overthrow of the Ming Dynasty by the barbarian Manchus a century earlier. From humble beginnings as a shepherd-boy, Nadir's rapid conquest of much of Western Asia and his prowess as a military leader earned him (later) comparisons to Napoleon.

The present work, translated by Jacinto de Lisasueta, was based on the "Histoire de Thamas Kouli-Kan, Sophi De Perse" published at Amsterdam earlier that year.

Barbier mistakenly supposed the French original to have been authored by J. A. du Cerceau, but “this attribution is clearly incorrect, because the book deals with events up to 1739, while du Cerceau died on the 4th of July, 1730" (Lockhart, Nadir Shah, p. 315). Today, it is supposed that the Histoire was based instead on the accounts of the Jesuit missionary Kruzinski (1675-1756) who was active in the Safavid Empire between 1707 and 1728.

Light browning; occasional repaired edge flaws. Recently rebound in slightly differing vellum, with new endpapers. Vol. 2 bears the collection drystamp of Victor Arce Blanchard.

References

Aguilar Piñal, 6, 684. OCLC 807763638. Not in Palau.

Stock Code: BN#53952 Tags: ,