Second edition of Pococke's elaborate Specimen historiae Arabum, an excerpt from Abu'l-Faraj's Islamic history, in Arabic and Latin. The excerpt is "accompanied by a lengthy commentary (printed first in 1648) illuminating Islamic history, geography, mythology, religion, and literature from a wealth of sources, mostly unpublished and previously unknown in Europe. It represents a revolution in Arabic studies, being Pococke's attempt to show that far from being a mere ancillary to biblical exegesis, Arabic literature (in the widest sense) was worthy of study in its own right in the same way that classical cultures were. It is his greatest work, and of permanent scholarly value" (Toomer). Abu'l-Faraj's account is followed by unpublished fragments, in Arabic, of Abu'l-Fida's account of pre-Islamic Arabia, edited by Sylvestre de Sacy.
From the library of the Ducs de Luynes, with their bookplate on pastedown. Foxed, leaf Y4 with tear, otherwise in very good condition and wholly untrimmed. Schnurrer 169; for Pococke: Toomer, "Pococke, Edward (1604-1691)", in: ODNB (online ed).