L'Alcoran de Mahomet. Traduit d'Arabe en Francois, par le Sieur du Ryer, Sieur de la Garde Malezair. A La Haye, chez Adrian Moetjens, MDCLXXXIII (1683).
A RARE VERY EARLY EDITION OF THE QU'RAN, PRECEDING THE EARLIEST COMPLETE ENGLISH EDITION BY OVER 50 YEARS!
THE FIRST ILLUSTRATED EDITION OF THE QU'RAN.
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The Qu'ran is the central religious text of Islam. Muslims believe it represents the words of God revealed by the archangel Gabriel to Muhammad.
This edition of the Qu'ran (here transliterated as l'Alcoran de Mahomet) precedes the first complete English translation which appeared in 1734 by a significant amount of time, being 51 years, and follows the Elzevier editions of 1647 and 1672.
It is complete with a beautiful engraving from the Dutch Golden Age depicting Muhammad with the Qu'ran. This represents the first time the Qu'ran was illustrated in print, this illustration being done by J. Padebrugge.
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We could trace only one other example of this very rare edition having sold. This was at Sotheby's Auctions in 2007 (lot 21).
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Size: 83 x 138 mm (approx.)
Condition:
[(2), viii, pp.1-486, ii, (4)]
Probably original or very near contemporary full leather binding, rubbed and worn with joints cracked and front board detached. Some loss at the head of the spine with a identification label to the spine fragmented and thus currently illegible. The leather at the edge of the detached board is already raised and so would be fairly easy for a bookbinder to reattach/reback. Edge toning to endpapers as commensurate with the calf binding. Text block toned throughout but generally very clean without any loss to the text. Collated as complete including the lovely illustration frontispiece. Early ink ownership initials to head of frontis reading 'RB' thus otherwise unidentified.
