PERTSCH, Wilhelm.

£4,500 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

Die arabischen Handschriften der herzoglichen Bibliothek zu Gotha. Auf Befehl Sr. Hoheit des Herzogs Ernst II von Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha verzeichnet. First editions, uncommon in complete state, WorldCat showing perhaps fewer than twenty such sets worldwide; Library Hub lists just two in UK libraries: SOAS and Glasgow, the Oxford set lacking the much later fifth volume; no other copies traced at auction. This set is from the library of the British Arabist and colonial agent Colonel Samuel B. Miles (1838-1914).The five volumes comprise the catalogue of the extraordinary collection of Arabic manuscripts at the ducal library at Gotha, most of which were originally purchased on behalf of Augustus, duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg by the German Orientalist Urlich Jaspar Seetzen (1767-1811) during his residence and travels in Constantinople, Aleppo, Damascus, Jerusalem, and Cairo. The compiler, Wilhelm Pertsch (1832-1899), had studied oriental languages in Berlin and Tübingen, with a nine-month Studienreise taking in Paris, London, and Oxford. He began work at the ducal library at Schloss Friedenstein in 1855, the start of nearly 25 years spent working with the more than 3,000 Oriental manuscripts in the library, which eventually resulted in the five volumes offered here, as well as another three covering the Persian and Turkish collections.Pertsch was also responsible for listing the Persian and Turkish manuscripts in the Prussian State Library in Berlin. In 1879 he was appointed chief l

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