8vo. 142 pp., / 265 pp., Arabic text within borders, modern hard back binding with gilt lettering on spine, few pencil and ink annotations in margins, occasional foxing, heavy on preliminary and end leaves, otherwise copy in good condition, Matba’at al-Jawa’ib, Qustantiniyyah, first edition, Istanbul, 1299 A. H. / 1881.

Synopsis

Abu Muhammad al-Qasim bin ‘Ali al-Hariri (1054-1122), also known as al-Hariri of Basra. He was especially famous for his Maqamat (or Session), whose fame eclipsed that of al-Hamadhani, the founder of the genre. He also composed Mulhat al-i’rabi al-nahw, a poem on Arabic grammar, and wrote this work Durrat al-Ghawass fi awham al- khawass, a book devoted to errors of expression in the Arabic language. Durrat al-Ghawas was very popular throughout the years, and 35 editions appeared in five languages between 1853 and 2010 and were held by 155 WorldCat member libraries worldwide.