Bibliotheque Orientale, ou Dictionnaire Universal, contenant généralment tout ce qui regarde la connaissance des peuples de l'Orient...

Full contemporary calf with lettering-piece, coloured edges.

Brunet II 664. H. Laurens, 'La Bibliotheque Orientale de Bartélemi d'Herbelot', 1978. D'Herbelot (1625-1695), studied Hebrew, Syriac, Aramaic, persian and Turkish in Paris and afterwards in Florence under the patronage of the Grand Duke, Ferdinand II. He was later professor of Syriac at the College de France. This is the first encyclopaedia of the Islamic world, from Arabia & Persia to the Maghreb & al-Andalus.The subjects; history, biographies, art, politics, traditions, sects, geography etc., are arranged alphabetically and, crucially, are based for the first time on original sources, Arabic, Persian and Turkish, which are listed in a 2-page bibliography. This is the second edition. The first, of 1697, was seen through the press after the death of Herbelot by the ditinguished orientalist Antoine Galland, who contributed a preface, also present in this second edition. In it he stresses the erudition and originality of the work. There are other editions of 1777-79 (4 vols. quarto), and 1781. Binding somewhat scuffed, with slight loss at head and tail of spine, one corner bumped, upper margins of a few leaves at beginning damp-stained, nonetheless a very good copy, clean and crisp, of a landmark in Islamic studies.