A history of the kings of Persia and Hormuz: one of the earliest Western books mentioning Qatar

Teixeira, Pedro, [Mir Khwand and Turan Shah]. Relaciones de Pedro Teixeira d'el origen descendencia y succession de los reyes de Persia, y de Harmuz, y de un viage hecho por el mismo autor dende la India Oriental hasta Italia por tierra.

€ 45,000.00

First edition of a "history of the kings of Persia compiled from the Persian histories of Mir Khwand and Turan Shah" (Howgego), in the original Spanish, by the Portuguese merchant adventurer Pedro Teixeira (1563-1645?). It is one of the earliest European sources to mention Qatar, with notes on the pearl fishing in the region that may be translated: "The pearl fishery at Bahrain begins some years in June, but generally in July, and lasts all that month and August … They generally go fishing around Katar, a port on the coast of Arabia, 10 leagues to the south of the Island Bahrain. As soon as an oyster is brought up, they open it, and take out the pearl. The pearls of this sea surpass all others in goodness and weight …". The work is divided into three parts. The first, which is the largest, deals with the kings of Persia. It is a summarized translation of the voluminous Rawzat as-safâ... by the Persian historian Mir Khwand (ca. 1434-1498), and is probably the first translation of the text into a European language. The second part is a translation of the chronicle of the kings of Hormuz by the Ayyubid emir Turan Shah (d. 1180), a text that survives only in translations. Though Teixeira's adventures started in 1586, he reached Hormuz in 1593, where he resided for several years to study its history. Both parts contain a chronological account of the kings, but also provide a more general history of the region. The third and last part contains an account of Teixeira's later travels from India to Italy in the years 1600-1601 and 1604-1605, visiting China, Mexico and the Middle East. In his preface Teixeira states that he originally wrote the work in Portuguese, but that it was first published in Spanish to appeal to a wider audience. The work appeared in a French translation in 1681, and extracts appeared in an English translation in 1711, followed by a translation of the full text in 1715.

Endpapers renewed, rebacked and restored, boards preserving the original calf. Some trimming by the binder, some quires uniformly toned, others more heavily, extensive pencil and ink notes on the first flying endpaper. In good condition overall.