Qur'an

L’Alcoran De Mahomet. Translaté D’Arabe En François, Par Le Sieur Du Ryer, Sieur De La Garde Malezair

Quarto, contemporary French mottled calf, a little worn, spine with five raised bands richly gilt in compartments and label lettered in gilt, head and tail of spine worn, covers with triple gilt fillets and an inner panel of triple gilt fillets embellished at the corners with fleurions in the contemporary 17th century syle à la Duseuil, title with engraved woodcut, pp,(10), 648, (4), with the errata leaf, dedication and privilege, woodcut initials, old faint water stain in the upper outer margin, an attractive copy.

RARE FIRST FRENCH TRANSLATION OF THE QUR’AN AND THE FIRST COMPLETE TRANSLATION TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE VERNACULAR by André du Ryer. It inspired the later translations into English of 1649, Dutch of 1658, German 1703 and Russian 1776. André Du Ryer was French vice-consul in Egypt from 1623 to 1626, and both adviser and interpreter to the French ambassador in Istanbul and ambassador extraordinary of the sultan to France in the early 1630s. He assembled a fine collection of Turkish, Persian, and Arabic manuscripts most of which are now in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France.

See: Hamilton & Richard, André du Ryer and Oriental Studies in 17th century France. OUP 2004

Price-£5,000