History of the Caliphs.

AL-SUYUTI (Jalal al-Din). & JARRETT (Major H.S.), translator.

FIRST ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF AL-SUYUTI'S HISTORY OF THE FIRST FOUR CALIPHATES

First English edition. Tall 8vo. Later terracotta cloth, leather title label to spine, new endpapers; label scuffed, light wear to extremities, corners bumped, otherwise near very good. A little light foxing to opening and closing leaves, a few (defunct) wormholes, some general light browning, interior otherwise good. xxiii, [1 blank], 562, [2 errata] pp. Calcutta, published by the Asiatic Society, 1881.

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AL-SUYUTI (Jalal al-Din). & JARRETT (Major H.S.), translator.

History of the Caliphs.

The first English translation of al-Suyuti's Tarikh al-Khulafa, an exhaustive history of the Rashidun, Umayyad, Abbasid and Fatimid Caliphates. Al-Suyuti (849-911 AH, 1445-1505 CE) was an Egyptian polymath (of Persian descent) and one of the most important and prolific writers of the mid-Islamic Golden Age. The latter section of the history, concerning the Fatimid Caliphate, is especially valuable as al-Suyuti was witness to part of its evolution.

It was translated by the British soldier and linguist Henry Sullivan Jarrett (1839-1919), who prepared several famous Arabic and Persian texts for print during his time in India. Many, such as his edited versions of the Shahnameh and Alf Laylah wa-Laylah, were issued as examination texts for [British Indian] Officers in the military and civil services.

Rare in commerce, with no copies in auction records.

Stock No.

203535

Maggs Bros. Ltd.

History of the Caliphs.

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