Large 4to. xii 1244 pp., double columns, +4 pp., in Arabic with a note from Rizkallah Hassoun, title printed in English and Arabic, half-title, contemporary green cloth, lightly rubbed, ex-libris stamp on title page, Label of Library of The Dropsie College verso front cover, small tear to right margin of page 3 without any loss, otherwise copy in very good condition, first edition, Kegan Paul & Co. London, 1881.

Synopsis

George Percy Badger was a printer by trade. His spent his youth in Malta, and his knowledge of the Maltese dialect was the foundation of his love of Arabic. He spent the greater part of 1835-36 in Beirut improving his Arabic. At Birejik he visited the expedition under Francis Rawdon Chesney for the exploration of the Euphrates Valley. On returning to Malta he was associated with Ahmad Faris Al-Chidyak in the editorial department of the Church Missionary Society’s Institution in Islington, and was ordained as a deacon in 1841 and priest the following year. Because of his intimate knowledge of the East, and unrivalled colloquial knowledge of Arabic, he was chosen by William Howley, Archbishop of Canterbury and by Charles James Blomfield, Bishop of London, as a delegate to the Eastern churches, and more especially the Nestorians of Kurdistan. On retuning to England from his first expedition in 1845, Badger was appointed government chaplain on the Bombay establishment, and a year later he was appointed chaplain at Aden. When Sir James Outram was sent to Aden in 1854 as commandant and political agent, he placed considerable reliance, in dealing with the Arab tribes, on Badger’s knowledge of the native chiefs and on his influence with them. When Outram was appointed commander-inchief of the Persian expedition in November 1856 he appointed Badger as staff chaplain and Arabic interpreter to the force. At the conclusion of the campaign in 1857 Badger received a war medal. In 1860 he was appointed coadjutor to Colonel (Sir) William Marcus Coghlan to settle the differences which had arisen between the sons of the renowned Sayyid Sa’id, the Sayyid Thuwainy, who ruled over Oman, and the Sayyid Majid, who ruled over Sa’id’s East African possessions.
Badger returned to England in 1861, and in October accompanied Outram on a visit to Egypt. In 1862 he retired from the service, and devoted himself chiefly to literature. In 1872 he was appointed secretary to Sir Henry Bartle Edward Frere, on a mission to Zanzibar to negotiate the suppression of the slave trade with the Sultan, Sayyid Burgash. In recognition of his services Badger was created D.C.L. by the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1873. Two years later he was appointed to attend the Sultan of Zanzibar during his visit to England. In 1873 he was created a Knight Commander of the Order of the Crown of Italy, and in 1880 the Sultan of Zanzibar nominated him for a Knight of the Gleaming Star. In 1881 Badger published this English-Arabic Lexicon, which has remained the standard work of its kind. It was especially notable for its command of current Arabic nomenclature and phraseology.