[Maronites - Library]. - Lot 190

[Maronites - Library]. CASIRI, Michaelis. Bibliotheca Arabico-Hispana Escurialensis sive Librorum omnium Mss. quos Arabicè ab auctoribus magnam partem Arabo-Hispanis compositos Bibliotheca Coenobii Escurialensis complectitur, Recensio & Explanatio [...]. Matriti (Madrid), Antonius Perez de Soto imprimebat, 1760-1770. 2 small folio volumes. (15)-XXIV-544 pp, (7)-352 pp. (107) ff. Contemporary or slightly later English shagreened calf, spine ribbed with gilt fleurons and gilt roulette, red morocco title-pieces, gilt roulette framing the boards with English Society gilt irons in the center of the boards, English marbled paper endpapers, blue head (binding a little rubbed at the edges, spine, corners and upper jaw a little worn, a few small stains or spots, scattered freckles, MS library marks on the endpapers, slight wear to the gilding, but a good copy). Copy on large paper. Beautiful woodcut vignette with coat of arms to title, entablature and woodcut cdl. Printed bibliographical and dealer's notes and typescript pasted opposite false-title. Very important Index and Mendorum Tum latinorum tum arabicorum... Arabic characters printed. Rare reunion of the 2 volumes. Casiri's catalog of over 1,800 Arabic manuscripts from the Escorial. This carefully compiled catalog was printed in a small number of copies (Brunet I, 1615). Michail el-Ghaziri, known as Casiri (1710-1791), a native of Ghazir in Lebanon, taught theology and philosophy in Arabic at the Maronite Alpine convent in Piazza San Petro in Vincoli. Called by his former teacher, François Ravago, confessor to Ferdinand VI, Casiri left for Spain to work at the Royal Library in Madrid and then at the Escurial. Appointed the king's interpreter for oriental languages in 1756, he became curator of the Escurial in 1763. Here, Casiri drew up a project for a catalog of oriental manuscripts in the style of Assemani's Biblioteca Orientalis. He classified the Arabic manuscripts, then enriched their descriptions with extensive extracts. By 1756, when he was awarded the title of "Bibliotecario Honorario", his Bibliotheca Arabico-Hispana Escurialensis was already in press. The first volume was published in 1760, the second in 1770. He was the first to explore a new field, the Arabic culture piled up in the Royal Monastery of L'Escurial. Hartwig Derenbourg, who undertook a new description of this collection a century later, paid him tribute: "on this monument - the B.A.H.E. (...) we must think back to the heroic age of our studies, when a Maronite did not shrink from the audacious project of erecting this monument in the learned language of Europe". At that time, in Casiri's picturesque phrase (preface to the second volume), it was necessary to "engage in combat to subdue an almost unexplored province". Provenances: Society of Writers to the bookplate on the boards, with the arms of the United Kingdom. Modern bookplate of the Theology Library School of theology at Claremont California on the first endpaper. Palau 47287. Moubarac, Recherches... 520. Gemayel, Echanges I-553 sqq. Derenbourg, Manuscrits arabes de l'Escurial. Brunet I, 1615.