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1. Arabia: According To Its Modern Divisions
- Description:
- Abstract: “Arabia According to Its Modern Divisions” shows the Arabian Peninsula with the three-part division traditionally used in European sources into Arabia Petraea, Arabia Deserta, and Arabia Felix. Deserts, seaports, and the pearl beds along the coast are indicated. Qatar is shown as Catura. Four different distance scales—Arabian miles, Turkish miles, Persian parasangs, and British miles—are provided. Published in 1794, the map was compiled and drawn by Samuel Dunn (circa 1723−94), a teacher of mathematics and navigation who made original contributions to solving the problem of determining longitude. In addition to making maps, Dunn wrote a number of books on mathematics and navigation, including The Description and Use of the Universal Planispheres (1759) and The Theory and Practice of the Longitude at Sea (1778). This map was published by the firm of Laurie & Whittle, a partnership of the engraver Robert Laurie (circa 1755−1836) and print seller James Whittle (1757−1818) that was known for its accurate maps and nautical charts.Physical description: 1 map ; 47 x 59 centimeters
2. Pilgrimage to the Caaba and Charing Cross
- Description:
- Abstract: Hafiz Ahmed Hassan was an Indian Muslim, treasurer and advisor to the nawab of Tonk, Muhammad ‘Ali Khan (died 1895). Tonk was a principality in northwest India and is today part of the state of Rajasthan. When the nawab was deposed in 1867, the author accompanied him into exile, going first to Benares and then, in 1870, to the Muslim holy cities on pilgrimage. After completing the hajj, Hafiz proceeded to England where he spent a short time before returning to India. The focus of the book is his travel to Arabia on the hajj, with description of its rituals. It is a valuable record, in English, of the conditions and practices of his time. He describes the port of Jeddah, the buildings and surroundings of Mecca and Medina, and his fellow pilgrims, and he provides vivid descriptions of rapacious tax authorities and rough treatment by Bedouins on his journey. The book is an important companion to classic accounts in English of the holy cities by C. Snouck Hurgronje and Richard Burton. In addition to its Arabian chapters, the book details the unjust accusations against the nawab that led to his removal from the throne. The author concludes with a chapter about England and the English in which he, among other topics, contrasts the rigor of the British judicial system at home with the summary justice provided for Indian subjects, often at the whim of untrained British administrators. The book was published in London by W. H. Allen, a foremost publisher of works on India.Physical description: 174 pages ; 20 centimeters
3. Travels in Arabia: Comprehending an Account of those Territories in Hedjaz which the Mohammedans Regard as Sacred
- Description:
- Abstract: John Lewis Burckhardt (1784−1817) was born Johann Ludwig Burckhardt in Lausanne, Switzerland. His accounts of his travels in the Middle East in the early 19th century are among the earliest modern European descriptions of Syria, Arabia, Egypt, and Sudan. Upon finishing university studies in Switzerland, he went to England to enroll in Cambridge University, where he studied Arabic and Islam in order to prepare himself for a career as an explorer-adventurer. As his acquaintance Muhammad ‘Ali Basha, ruler of Egypt, said of his adventurism, he possessed the “travelling madness.” Burckhardt spent his early twenties in Syria, where he perfected his Arabic and established himself as a scholar of Islam and a mendicant. In 1814−15 he travelled to the western Arabian Peninsula. Travels in Arabia is one of several anthropological and geographical works written by Burckhardt before his life was cut short at age 33 by an illness that he contracted in Cairo. The chapter entitled “Remarks on the inhabitants of Mekka and Djidda” is rich in detail and opinions regarding domestic customs, tribes, treatment of slaves, everyday commerce, feast days, relations with other nationalities, and intellectual life. At the time of Burckhardt’s visit, Mecca and the whole of the Hejaz region was under the control of the governor-general of the Ottoman sultan, Muhammad ‘Ali Basha. His defeat of the Wahhabi forces affected daily life in the region. Burckhardt’s other works include descriptions of Syria, the Levant, Sinai, and the Nile Valley; Notes on Bedouins and Wahabys; and a collection of Arabic, primarily Egyptian, proverbs compiled posthumously from his field diaries. This book is in two volumes and contains several maps and diagrams. Appendices give details of pilgrimage and trade routes emanating from Mecca. Burckhardt personally traveled some of these routes; others he learned about from descriptions by travelers and Bedouin. The book was published under the auspices of the African Association for Promoting the Discovery of the Interior Parts of Africa, which was founded in England in 1788 to foster the exploration of Africa and abolition of the African slave trade.Physical description: 2 volumes ; 22 centimeters
4. A New Map of Arabia: Divided into Its Several Regions and Districts
- Description:
- Abstract: This map of Arabia, published in London in 1794, is an English translation of a map by the French cartographer and geographer Jean-Baptiste Bourguignon d’Anville (1697−1782). Appointed the first geographer to the king of France in 1773, d’Anville was one of the most important mapmakers of the 18th century, known for the accuracy and scientific quality of his maps. The work presented here is said to contain “Additions and Improvements from Mr. Niebuhr,” a reference to Carsten Niebuhr (1733–1815), a German-born Danish explorer and civil engineer who journeyed through Arabia and Yemen in 1762–67 and whose Travels through Arabia and Other Countries in the East (an abridged translation from the original German) was published in Edinburgh in 1792. The map includes cities and towns, coastlines, caravan routes to Mecca, wells, mines, and other geographic features, and brief notations on some of the peoples and kingdoms of the Arabian Peninsula. Qatar is shown as “Catura,” with the notation “Coast little Known” just south of its location. Four distance scales are given: great Arabian miles, great parasangs or Persian leagues, sea leagues, and British miles. The map was published by the London firm of Laurie & Whittle, a partnership of the engraver Robert Laurie (circa 1755−1836) and print seller James Whittle (1757−1818) that was known for its accurate maps and nautical charts.Physical description: 1 map ; 46.5 x 59 centimeters
5. A New Map of Arabia, Including Egypt, Abyssinia, the Red Sea, from the Latest Authorities
- Description:
- Abstract: John Cary (circa 1754−1835) was a leading London engraver, map-, chart- and print-seller, and globe maker, active between 1787 and 1834. This map of 1804 shows the Arabian Peninsula and neighboring parts of Africa and the Middle East. Important caravan routes are marked, including the “route of the grand caravan of Sudan from the Niger to Cairo,” “route of the caravan from Batsora [Basra] to Aleppo,” “caravan of Darfowar [Darfur] to Mecca by Dongola,” “caravan of Sudan directly to Mecca by Suakem,” and several other caravan routes to Mecca. Many African kingdoms are shown, their borders marked with colored lines, as is a speculative source of the Nile. The northern coast of Somalia is called “Myrrh and Incense Country.” The zigzag line in the Red Sea indicates the course of La Venus, a French frigate that sailed on a voyage of discovery in the Red Sea, Persian Gulf, and Indian Ocean in 1785−88. The map includes many other notes that reflect the state of European geographic understanding of this region at the beginning of the 19th century. Four distance scales are given: great Arabian miles, Persian parasangs, British statute miles, and common French leagues.Physical description: 1 map : hand colored ; 44 x 50 centimeters
6. Arabia
- Description:
- Abstract: This map of the Arabian Peninsula appeared in the 1856 edition of the world atlas that was first published by James Wyld (1790−1836) in 1824 and in successive editions by his son, James Wyld the younger (1812−87). Political divisions are indicated by colored lines and the scale is in English miles. Cities, towns, wells, and caravan routes to Mecca are shown. An annotation on the map reflects the limited state of European knowledge about geography of parts of the peninsula: “The interior of Arabia is probably a high plain inclining towards the Persian Gulf; a great proportion of it is occupied by extensive Deserts, occasionally seperated [sic] by small mountainous Oases.” After studying at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, James Wyld the younger joined his father’s mapmaking and publishing firm, which he eventually inherited. Wyld published numerous maps, many of which were intended to satisfy public interest in current events, such as the First Anglo-Afghan War, the California Gold Rush, and the Crimean War. Wyld’s maps were of high quality, and he was appointed geographer to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.Physical description: 1 map ; 21 x 26 centimeters
7. Arabia
- Description:
- Abstract: John Tallis and Company was a British mapmaking and publishing firm, founded by John Tallis (1817–76), which was active in London circa 1835−60. Tallis maps were known for their accurate information with numerous place-names and geographical details, as well as for the use of shaded areas to indicate topographical features. They are identifiable by the scrolling on the borders and the finely-drawn scenes inscribed on the margins of the maps, which John Tallis and his illustrators derived from travelogues and other written sources. John Rapkin (1815−76) was the principal engraver for the firm, who drew and engraved most Tallis maps. This map of Arabia by Rapkin shows physical features, towns and villages, and caravan routes across the desert, many leading to the holy city of Mecca. The geographic extent of the region defined as Arabia is marked with a red line, and includes not only the Arabian Peninsula but parts of present-day Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. Illustrations in the four corners of the map show a camel beneath a palm tree, Arab women carrying water jars, Mount Sinai, and two Arab men, one on horseback and another on foot. The illustrations were drawn by H. Warren and engraved by John Rogers, who produced numerous steel engravings for Tallis.Physical description: 1 map ; 26x 32 centimeters
8. Arabic Proverbs, or, the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians
- Description:
- Abstract: This collection of Egyptian proverbs was compiled in the early 19th century by the traveler and Arabist John Lewis Burckhardt (1784–1817). It is based on an unpublished manuscript by Sharif al-Din ibn Asad, an unknown author of the early 18th century. The proverbs are given in the original Arabic, as well as translated into English and provided with explanatory notes on language and cultural practices. Many of the proverbs can be readily understood by the non-Egyptian reader. “The beetle is a beauty in the eyes of its mother,” for example, needs no explanation. Others require the addition of context. “A thousand cranes in the air are not worth one sparrow in the fist” leads Burckhardt to explain that the crane is abundant in the Nile Delta and that “fist” stands for “hand” in colloquial usage, making this proverb the Arabic equivalent, in effect, of the English “a bird in hand is worth two in the bush.” Other proverbs require a good deal more explanation. One example is, “A thousand lovers bring less shame than one temporary husband,” which refers to al-mustahil (complex procedures for remarriage to a former husband). Burckhardt states that this was a common practice in Egypt at the time of his residency. Egyptian colloquial speech differs markedly from the classical Arabic, and it is thus unfortunate for today’s reader that the Arab text of the proverbs is not vowelled. Egyptians are known for their proverbs and sharp speech, so it is surprising that there are not more anthologies of sayings and proverbs. Perhaps the best known is al-Amthal al-‘ammiyah (Colloquial proverbs), a collection in Arabic by Ahmad Taymur Pasha (1871−1930). This work, which is vowelled, offers an interesting comparison with Burckhardt’s compilation of a century earlier.Physical description: 232 pages ; 28 centimeters