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13. Poetry Collection of Ṣafī al-Dīn al-Ḥilli
- Description:
- Abstract: Scholars consider al-Hilli one of the leading poets of postclassical times, that is, the period following the fall of the Abbasid Empire in 1258. His Diwan (Collection of poems) is in 12 chapters, which cover a variety of personalities and occasions and recount in verse vignettes his travels with the Egyptian Mamluk ruler Qalāwūn (died 1290) on his campaign to Mardin in eastern Anatolia. The poems are preceded by an autobiographical note in saj’ (rhymed prose). Al-Hilli was a recognized master of all forms of classical and popular poetry as well as a theoretician of prosody and literary history. The present collection showcases the poet’s facility with numerous poetic forms and themes. The work was printed in Beirut in 1892 with support from Lebanese writer and journalist Nakhlah Qalfāṭ. It is not known who edited the text or what manuscripts were used in its preparation, but it seems likely that Qalfat, who had been a bookseller, might have financed publication because of his wide-ranging literary interests and appreciation for humor and satire, as many of the poems pertain to the enjoyments of life. The work was printed at al-Adab Press, which was owned by the teacher and author Amin al-Khuri. It is well printed, considering the irregularity of the stanzas and the need for careful vowel pointing.Physical description: 528 pages ; 20 centimeters
14. Secret of Success
- Description:
- Abstract: Samuel Smiles was a Scottish author and physician. He dropped out of school at 14 years of age but returned to finish the study of medicine at the University of Edinburgh. His most famous work, Self-Help, which Ya’qub Sarrūf here translates into Arabic, made him a best-selling author and celebrity. Sarrūf was one of the earliest graduates of the American University in Beirut. He was a significant figure in what is called the Arab renaissance of the second half of the 19th century and was awarded an honorary doctorate from his alma mater in 1890. As a publisher, Ṣarrūf founded the general interest magazines al-Muqtaṭaf in 1876 and al-Muqaṭṭam in 1889. He was an active translator. Secret of Success advocates self-reliance as the key to a life of advancement and prosperity. It includes biographies of notable personalities and their success stories. In this edition, he adds commentary and pertinent Arabic proverbs. Also included are indexes and a glossary of English terms. The book was first published in Beirut in 1880. This second revised edition, printed at Muqtataf Press in Cairo in 1886, added proverbs, quotations, and biographies of inspiring personalities from East and West.Physical description: 326 pages ; 21 centimeters
15. Nymphs of the Valley
- Description:
- Abstract: ʻArā'is al-Murūj (Nymphs of the valley) is a collection of short stories by the celebrated Lebanese-American author and artist Gibran Khalil Gibran. Gibran was born in 1883 to a Maronite Catholic family in the village of Bsharri in the north of Lebanon. His family immigrated to the United States in 1895, where he began his formal schooling, studying English and art. He is best known in the West for his book The Prophet, which was completed in 1923 and subsequently translated into more than 40 languages. Gibran died in New York City in 1931; he was buried in Lebanon according to his wishes. The book consists of three stories: Ramād al-ajyāl wa al-nār al-khālida (The dust of ages and the eternal flame), Martā al-bāniya (Martha of Ban), and Yūḥanna al-majnūn (Yuhanna the mad). Nymphs of the Valley was translated into English by H.M. Nahmad in 1948, and it has been translated as well into Spanish, Persian, and other languages. The present copy is the second printing of the book, published by al-Hilāl in Cairo in 1922.Physical description: 72 pages ; 20 centimeters
16. Ottoman Criminal Code
- Description:
- Abstract: Qanun al-jaza’ al-Humayuni (Ottoman criminal code) is a compilation of criminal law by Salim Baz (1859−1920), a Lebanese judge and member of the state council. The historian Stanford Shaw has written regarding the Ottoman legal system that the “most difficult aspect of the judicial sphere was its lack of unity.” Salim Baz set out to correct this deficiency, at least for the Arabic-speaking legal community. He drew upon many sources, including newspapers and magazines, to link amendments and court rulings to the texts of the laws as found in such sources as jara’id saniyah, ‘adliyah, and mahakim (the imperial, justice, and court gazettes). The Ottoman justice system underwent many changes during the period of reform and reaction in the 19th century. The most prominent focus of change was the need to balance Shari’ah (Islamic) law with modern criminal, commercial, and maritime codes imported from Europe. Changes also had to be made in the millet, the religious confessional system governing Christians and Jews, the treatment of foreigners, and the respect traditionally accorded to local practice in the sprawling empire of many cultures. The law governing antiquities provides one example of the how the authorities sought to modernize and bureaucratize legal and administrative practice. Excavation for the purpose of discovering antiquities was regulated, according to a directive issued in 1913−14. The new law forbade the practice of unlicensed excavation, export, or sale of antiquities by citizens and foreign persons and specified punishments for infringements of the law. The book contains a detailed table of contents and a useful alphabetical index. Salim Baz compiled other commentaries on Ottoman law, and he produced a history of the communal violence in Mount Lebanon of 1860.Physical description: 362 pages ; 24 centimeters
17. The Book of Literary Expressions
- Description:
- Abstract: Published in 1885 by the Jesuit Fathers’ printing press of Beirut, the present volume contains an edition of one of the three extant versions of Kitāb al-Alfāẓ al-Kitābiyya (The book of literary expressions) by the tenth-century grammarian, ‛Abd al-Raḥmān ibn ‛Īsā al-Hamḏānī. This work presents a collection of difficult words and expressions found in classical Arabic literary texts. For each word or expression, the author offers a number of synonyms and paraphrases intended to guide the reader to a better understanding of the lexical, grammatical, and syntactical peculiarities of the language used by authors writing in classical Arabic. There are no explicit references to the literary works where these expressions are found; they are all introduced by the phrase “it is said.” Qur'anic verses are mentioned as well, when the features discussed in the chapters have parallels in the Qur'ān. An index to all the expressions analyzed in the book and a word index conclude the work.Physical description: 339 pages ; 17 centimeters
18. The Hidden Treasure on Arts and Crafts
- Description:
- Abstract: Kitāb al-durr al-maknūn fī al-ṣanā’i‘ wa al-funūn (The hidden treasure on arts and crafts) is a compendium of several crafts and artisanal techniques by 19th century Lebanese author Jirjīs Ṭannūs ʻAwn. The book has nine chapters on different crafts: electroplating; the dyeing of fabric; photography; candle-making; and the manufacture of ink, glue, mirrors, ceramics, and soap. A tenth chapter discusses chemical compounds. Most of the book is devoted to three crafts: electroplating, including plating and galvanizing techniques involving copper, brass, gold, and silver; the dyeing of fabric, including natural and artificial dye sources for a variety of colors and fibers; and photography. The final chapter on chemicals includes a section on antidotes to be used in the case of poisoning. The book has numerous illustrations and a table of contents. Jirjīs Ṭannūs ʻAwn dedicates his work to the Ottoman statesman, author, and reformer Ahmet Cevdet Pasha (1822−95), a highly cultured and literate man. According to the cover, the author used his own funds for this printing.Physical description: 396 pages ; 20 centimeters
19. The True Account of Veterinary Medicine
- Description:
- Abstract: Kitāb ṣidq al-bayān fī ṭibb al-ḥayawān (The true account of veterinary medicine) is a late 19th century veterinary science manual by Lebanese author Jirjīs Ṭannūs ʻAwn. It is divided into two main parts, of which the first deals with common domesticated animals such as horses, cows, and pigs, and the second with diseases. The fourth section of the second part, “On Common Diseases,” comprises the bulk of the book and includes 24 chapters on diseases of the chest, the liver, the pancreas, and so forth. For each disease, the species of affected animals is generally stated, as well as the cause and the cure. The book contains numerous illustrations and concludes with a list of drugs and a table of contents. Jirjīs Ṭannūs ʻAwn dedicated the work to Pashko Váša, the Ottoman-appointed governor of the Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate (an administrative district of the Ottoman Empire). Pashko Váša governed from 1883 until his death in 1892 and is recognized for his enlightened policies, including his establishment of a hospital in Bayt ad-Dīn. In the introduction, the author pays homage to the governor as someone who, from his arrival in Lebanon, “has practiced virtue and perseverance, aiming at nothing but the comfort of the citizens and the flourishing of the country.”Physical description: 428 pages ; 21 centimeters
20. Literary Essays by Classical Arab Authors
- Description:
- Abstract: Jesuit scholar Louis Cheikho was born in Mardin, Turkey, and educated at the Jesuit school in Ghazīr, Lebanon. He remained associated with the seminary and its successor institution in Beirut, Université Saint-Joseph, throughout his life. Cheikho studied in Europe and eventually gained a world-wide reputation as a Semitist and authority on Eastern Christianity. Al-Machriq, the journal he founded in 1898, is a principal resource for scholars in these fields. It is supplemented by Melanges de l’Université Saint-Joseph and Proche-Orient Chrétien from the same publishers. The work presented here, ‘Ilm al-Adab (Literary essays by classical Arab authors), is the second of two volumes containing commentaries of leading authorities on rhetoric and public discourse, such as Averroes, Avicenna, and Ibn Khaldūn. The second half of the work is devoted to poetics. Cheikho opens the subject by discussing comments by Averroes on Aristotle. From there he covers the various goals of the poet, such as praise, persuasion, apology, and ridicule, giving examples of each. Despite his stature as a scholar, Cheikho has been criticized for some aspects of his work, which is seen by some as marred by parochialism and bias. ‘Ilm al-Adab is carefully printed with complete vowel pointing, footnotes, and indexing.Physical description: 1 book, volume 2 ; 20 centimeters
21. Selected Techniques in the Art of Agriculture
- Description:
- Abstract: The author of this book, Bishārah ibn Salwān Naḥūl al-Lubnānī, explains in the introduction how he had long desired to write an Arabic text on the agricultural sciences but was only able to do so after he obtained a series of agricultural texts that had been translated from French into Turkish. The book is arranged in two parts, the first on horticulture, and the second on animal husbandry. The part on horticulture opens with general topics, such as water, soil, and plant diseases. This is followed by sections on grains similar to wheat; nutritious roots; thick, rounded roots; legumes; plants that yield oils for lighting and other industrial uses; plants used for making rope, twine, and cloth; plants used as dyes; plants from which wine is extracted; sugar-bearing plants; fruit trees; trees that yield edible oils; trees with leaves that have industrial uses; annual and perennial herbs; and so on. The first part concludes with taxonomy; a temperature chart in Celsius, Fahrenheit, and Réaumur; and captions for the illustrations, all of which appear at the end of the book. Part two begins with Georges Cuvier’s classification of the animal kingdom (vertebrata, mollusca, articulata, and radiata). Practical topics discussed include: the raising of ungulates; domesticated birds; fish and fish farming; apiculture; sericulture; mammalian pests; avian pests; harmful insects; hunting; wine and beer making; and the operation of mills. The final sections of the book deal with the treatment of human diseases in the absence of a doctor.Physical description: 2 parts in 1 volume, 261 pages ; 22 centimeters
22. Coll 54/1(S) 'Middle East (Official) Committee: Reconstruction'
- Description:
- Abstract: The file contains papers relating to the Middle East (Official) Committee. It consists of: papers circulated to members of the Committee, received by the External Department of the Commonwealth Relations Office (CRO); a few items of CRO correspondence with the Foreign Office, the Cabinet Office, and Commonwealth governments; and a register of papers received or sent by the CRO relating to the Committee, with internal CRO correspondence (at the back of the file).The file includes agendas for meetings of the Committee, and minutes of the meetings on 28 April, 5 May, 5 July and 19 July 1949. Matters discussed and recorded in the minutes include: the reconstitution of the Committee; the re-settlement of Arab refugees from Palestine; the report on Economic and Social Development in the Middle East by the Working Party of the Committee; the future work of the Committee; the Conference of HM Representatives in the Middle East to be held in London from 26 to 29 July 1949; United States President Truman’s ‘Fourth Point’ (Truman’s message of 24 June 1949 to the United States House of Representatives, communicating a ‘Recommendation for the Enactment of Legislation to Authorise an Expanded Programme of Technical Assistance for Underdeveloped Areas of the World’); and further studies of the Working Party.The file also includes the following papers prepared by (or approved by) the Working Party of the Committee: draft, revised and interim versions of the report on Economic and Social Development in the Middle East; papers relating to the economic and social development of Iraq, Syria, Greater Transjordan, Egypt, the Lebannon, Saudi Arabia, Cyrenaica, Tripolitania, Eritrea and Somalia, and the Colony of Aden and the Aden Protectorate; and a paper on Middle East oil.In addition, the file includes other papers relating to matters discussed at the meetings, and the following subjects: Transjordan; irrigation development in Iraq; Persia’s [Iran’s] Seven Year Plan for development; informal conversations on social and economic affairs in the Middle East between representatives of the Foreign Office, the Treasury, the British Embassy in Washington, and the United States State Department; the work of the Development Division of British Middle East Office; a survey of the oil resources of the Middle East; and economic development in Cyprus in relation to the Middle East.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 468; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
23. Coll 54/1A(S) 'Middle East (Official) Committee: Reconstruction'
- Description:
- Abstract: The file contains papers received or created by the Commonwealth Relations Office (CRO) relating to the Middle East (Official) Committee. It mostly consists of papers circulated to members of the Committee, received by the CRO. The file also includes: a few items of CRO correspondence with the Cabinet Office and the Offices of the United Kingdom High Commissioners in Karachi and Pretoria; and a register of papers relating to the Committee received or sent by the CRO, with internal CRO correspondence relating to the file, at the back of the file.The circulated Committee papers consist of:The agendas for, and minutes of, the Committee meetings of 3 and 17 January 1950, at which was discussed Washington discussions on economic and social development in the Middle East, the utilisation of surplus oil revenues in the Persian Gulf, technical assistance to the Middle East, and possible requirements of Middle East governments for sterling assistance for economic development.Papers prepared by the Working Party of the Committee on economic and social development in Sudan, the Persian Gulf States, and technical assistance to the Middle East.A paper stating the Committee’s general policy regarding the promotion of social progress in the Middle East, entitled ‘The Social and Internal Political Implications of Economic Development in the Middle East’, prepared as a brief for the discussions of the Committee Chairman, Michael Wright, with the United States State Department.A record of discussions between Wright and the State Department, on long-range development in the Middle East, held on 14 and 17 November 1949.Minutes of meetings between Wright, and other Foreign Office and British Embassy representatives, and the International Bank, held on 21, 22 and 23 November 1949, and a joint memorandum summarising the result of the discussions.The final report of the United Nations Economic Survey Mission for the Middle East, entitled ‘An Approach to Economic Development in the Middle East’.The United Nations Resolution of 8 December 1949 to set up a Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East.Other papers relating to technical assistance to the Middle East, and possible requests by Middle East Governments for sterling assistance in connection with their development projects in 1950 and 1951.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 161; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
24. Coll 27/26 ‘PASSPORTS. VISAS FOR TRAVELLERS TO SYRIA AND THE LEBANNON. FROM KUWAIT.’
- Description:
- Abstract: The file contains correspondence between the Political Agent at Kuwait, and the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf , regarding visas for travellers to Syria and the Lebanon from Kuwait.The file includes a divider, which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.Physical description: Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 5; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio.
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