Fine manuscript on the Persian language by one of the 18th century's most influential European scholars of Islamic culture

Reland, Adriaan, oriental scholar (1676-1718). Prima elementa linguae persicae nitidissime conscriptae.

A splendid manuscript on the foundations of the Persian language by the Dutch Golden Age scholar, cartographer and philologist Adriaan Reland. His knowledge of Arabic, Hebrew, and Persian led to Reland's appointment as Professor of Oriental Languages at Utrecht University by the age of twenty-five, where he made a name for himself as scholar and polyglot interested in all matters relating to the Middle East.

Reland ascribed great importance to the Persian language for Europeans interested in the study of Scripture and in the Persian influence on authors of classical antiquity. His "Dissertationes miscellaneae" included an essay on Persian influence on the Talmud. Reland remained interested in the Persian language and culture throughout his career and became one of the most influential proponents of the study of Persian in the 18th century.

An avid collector of books and manuscripts, which he acquired at auctions from the estates of deceased colleagues or through his international connections in the East, many of Reland's approximately 2,500 books and 200 manuscripts were sold at auction to individual scholars and collectors after the death of his son, with the Vatican Library being the only institution to buy a significant number of his works, where they form the foundation of the important "Vaticani Indiani" collection. The largest collection of his works, however, can be found in Leiden University Library.

Provenance: estate auction of Adrian Reland's son J. H. Relandt in 1761; estate auction of the German oriental philologist and reformed theologian Sebald Rau in 1818; later offered by the Parisian bookseller A. Franck Libraire Française et étrangère, Ancienne et Moderne (active during 1860s). Latterly in a Parisian private collection, kept in the family for several generations over the 20th century and dispersed in 2022.

Binding shows some wear, quires detached from spine. Shelfmark on spine, a few minor wormholes throughout and some leaves repaired, not affecting the text.