8vo. [18], 171 pp., [1], Latin and Arabic text translated & edited by Henricus Schultens, title vignette, period paper wrappers, rubbed round edges, new spine strip, small library blind stamp at top of title page, occasional spotting, bookplate of De Guinzbourg verso front cover, contents quite clean being an untrimmed copy very much as-issued with wide margins, Typographia Dammeana for Joannem Le Mair, Leiden, first edition, 1772.

Synopsis

The sources of Arab proverbs are numerous and old, some going far back into history. As early as 1107, for example, Abu al-Qasim Al-Zamakhshari completed a book of proverbs titled al-Mustaqsa fi Amthal al-Arab (“the sought-after Arabic proverbs”); it was in two volumes and included 3461 proverbs, along with notes on their sources and meanings. This work is a collection of maxims and Arabic proverbs compiled by al-Zamakhshari and presented both in Arabic and Latin by Schultens (1749-1793), who was a professor of Hebrew and Arabic and taught in London, Amsterdam, and Leiden.
Provenance: Bookplate of Victor de Guinzbourg to front pastedown. From the collection of Robert Easton.
Bibliographic references: Duplessis 74, for 1773 edition; Sarton II, 271-272.