8vo. xi, 211 pp., cloth backed marbled boards, slightly faded & rubbed round edges, title gilt on spine, tables, speckled edges, scattered foxing throughout, Imprimerie Imperiale, Paris, first edition, 1880.

Synopsis

The author N. Siouffi possibly of Syrian origins, held a position as Vice-Consul of France at Mosul. Since he arrived to Baghdad in November 1873, his main interest was to study the beliefs, customs, and dogma of the secretive sect the Sabeans. After fifteen months of his arrival, Siouffi met with a young Sabean who had converted into Catholicism, and through him he was able to study and translate the religious books of the Sabeans.
This work is one of the earliest comprehensive studies about Sabeans in which the author traces their origins, theological beliefs, their major figures, their alphabets, women, literature, and their relationship with Islam and Christianity. At the period of this study, the author estimates the number of Sabeans living near Basra, and in Persia and Turkey for about four thousand people.