AN ACCOUNT OF SOUTH-WEST BARBARY: CONTAINING WHAT IS MOST REMARKABLE IN THE TERRITORIES OF THE KING OF FEZ AND MOROCCO...
London: Printed for J. Bowyer, at the Rose in Ludgate-Street; And H. Clements, at the Half-Moon in St. Paul's Church-Yard, 1713. First edition. Hardcover. Octavo. Blind stamped full calf binding, gilt tooled spine. Half title, factotum initials, head and tailpieces, marginal notes, errata (page 148), folded contemporary hand-colored map by John Senex facing page one. v-xxxi,152 pp. "A Letter from Muly Ismael, Emperor of Morocco, to Capt. Kirk of Tangier" (pages 129-152) has a separate title page, bearing the imprint: London: Printed by G. James, for Jonah Bowyer and Henry Clements. MDCCXIII; the letter is in Arabic and English parallel text. "As a specimen of the lofty way of writing, which is so much in use among eastern authors, I shall add the summons which Hulacu the Tartar ... sent to Almalek Alnaser, Sultan of Aleppo, in the year of the Hegjrah [sic] 657, of Christ 1259" -- pages 149-152. Leather binding is rather worn and weathered yet sturdy, gilt on spine bright; front free endsheet detached; some pencil notes in text, else good. Map, entitled "New Map of the KINGDOMS OF FEZ, MOROCCO & c." is clean and bright, as is most of the text block.
First edition. A scarce and important 18th-century Barbary captivity narrative edited from an "authentick manuscript" by the noted Cambridge Arabist Simon Ockley. The anonymous text delivers a gripping, firsthand account of an English Christian slave’s experiences under the brutal reign of Moroccan Sultan Moulay Ismail. Beyond detailing the harsh realities of Christian enslavement and local customs in Fez and Morocco, the work is highly valued for its historical appendices regarding Anglo-Moroccan diplomacy. It features the parallel Arabic and English texts of diplomatic correspondence between Sultan Ismail, Colonel Percy Kirke (Governor of Tangier), and Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell concerning privateering and captive redemptions. A foundational title for collections of North Africana, early naval history, and a lovely contemporary map.
OCLC: 8444394.
Price: $1,100.00