WINNETT, Frederick Victor.

£450 · Offered by Peter Harrington

A Study of the Lihyanite and Thalmudic Inscriptions. First and only edition of this well-illustrated foundational text for the study of ancient Arabian epigraphy in northern Hijaz and northern Najd. Derived from the fieldwork of Doughty, Janssen and Savignac, and Huber and Euting, the work begins with a study of Lihyanite inscriptions - all transliterated and translated - from the area of al-Ula and Mada'in Salih, introducing the Lihyanite alphabet, letter signs for ta, dad, and jim, and the use of the article. There follows a section on Thamudic inscriptions, located around Jauf, Hail, taima, Tabuk, al-Ula and Mada'in Salih, which starts from contemporary archaeological and epigraphic debates and ends with the pioneering conclusion theorizing five types of inscriptions, labelled with the letters A to E. These types differ "quite noticeably in the type of script employed,... the vocabulary, and to a certain extent the direction of the writing". The plates illustrate specific rock inscriptions as well as a map of locations and various reproductions of ancient inscriptions.

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