8vo. Volume I: Du IXe au XIIe Siecle: xi, 460 pp, 252 figures in & hors text /Volume II: Du XIIIeme au XIX eme Siecle: 465 - 967 pp; 254 figures in & hors text, original half-calf, title gilt on raised spine, of volume II repaired, vignettes on two title pages, Editions, Auguste Picard, Paris, first edition, 1926 - 1927.

Synopsis

Georges Marcais comes from a family of artists and scholars. He began his training at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. In 1902, he began studying history and geography at the Faculty of Letters Rennes. He was a painter and writer before discovering Muslim art in 1902 during a trip to Tlemcen where his brother William Marçais was a professor at the Madrasa. Arabist archaeologist, he taught at the Madrasa of Constantine then became the first holder of the Chair of Muslim Archaeology at the Faculty of Algiers. In 1929 he became head of the Museum of Muslim Antiquities and Art of Algiers and in 1935 and joined the Institute of Oriental Studies as director.
He was a leading French scholar in Islamic studies, he published several works covering Islamic architect and art in Syria, Egypt and North Africa. Bibliographic reference: Creswell 258.