8vo. [27], 179 pp., [13], [1, errata], Arabic text, [1, introductory note in English], title in English & Arabic, edited & introduced by Philip K. Hitti, 2 facsimile illustrations from original manuscripts, contemporary green cloth, lightly soiled & rubbed, remainder of stickers on spine & upper cover, small stamp on Arabic title page, index, Syrian-American Press, New York, first edition, 1927.

Synopsis

“This work by the famous Egyptian historian and traditionalist, Jalal-ud-Din as-Suyuti (1445-1505 A. D.), is based on two ancient manuscripts – the only two in existence – one in Cairo and the other in Leiden. Of the five to six hundred books sketched by the pen of this indefatigable author, whose knowledge was encyclopaedic in its range and character, this book is one of the few valuable ones that have hitherto been practically unknown to the world, neither Brockelmann, Nicholson, Huart, nor Zaidan having ever mentioned it, or referred to the manuscripts, in their histories of Arabic literature.
The book is a collection of 200 brief biographical sketches of the most distinguished men and women in the Muslim world who lived in or about the fifteenth century”. Editor’s note.