FARIS, Nabih Amin, & Robert Potter Elmer.

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Arab Archery. First edition, first printing, of this translation of a 16th century treatise on Muslim bows and tactics. It contains plates and illustrations showing many types of bows and finger positions for archers.Nabih Amin Faris (1906-1968), an Arab historian and translator, partnered with the American archery champion Robert Potter Elmer (1877-1951) to create this translation. The original manuscript is held in the Garrett Collection of Arabic Manuscripts in Princeton University Library, which Faris had catalogued seven years before this present publication. The author is unknown but theorized from references in the text to be Moroccan. "This ancient Arabic manuscript is the only treatise on the archery of the medieval Orient that has been translated into English. It is thorough and authoritative, evidently the work of an expert bowman. A vast amount of information concerning the long-range artillery, by which one eastern empire after another had been won, is here brought forth into full light after having lain hidden for centuries" (p. vi).

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