1925 Rare 1stED - Richard Burton's The Kasidah Of Haji Abdu El-Yezdi illustrated by John Kettelwell & bound by Sangorski & Sutcliffe.
Author: BURTON Richard (Sir). Hâjî Abdû El -Yezdî. (John Kettelwell, illustrator).
Title: The Kasidah Of Haji Abdu El-Yezdi.
Publisher: London, Philip Allan & Co., 1925. First edition illustrated by John Kettelwell.
Language: Text in English.
Size : 8 " X 6 ".
Pages: Unpaginated.
Binding: Attractive, beautiful and very good full leather binding bounded by Sangorski and Sutcliffe (hinges tight but scuffed, overall slightly worn and scuffed - as shown) under a protective removable mylar cover.
Content: Very good content (bright, tight and clean).
Illustrations: Nicely illustrated with twelve fantastic illustrations by John Kettelwell (1890-1933).
Estimate: (USD 300 - USD 500)
The book: A very attractive first illustrated edition curiosa of The Kasîdah of Hâjî Abdû El-Yezdî (1880) -- a long English-language poem written by "Hâjî Abdû El-Yezdî", a pseudonym of the true author, Sir Richard Francis Burton (1821-1890), a well-known British Arabist and explorer. In a note to the reader, Burton claims to be the translator of the poem, to which he gives the English title "Lay of the Higher Law." It is thus a pseudotranslation, pretending to have had an original Persian text, which never existed. The Kasidah is essentially a distillation of Sufi thought in the poetic idiom of that mystical tradition; Burton had hoped to bring Sufist ideas to the West.
This copy in a beautiful binding by Sangorski and Sutcliffe.
The author: Sir Richard Francis Burton KCMG FRGS (19 March 1821 – 20 October 1890) was a British explorer, geographer, translator, writer, soldier, orientalist, cartographer, ethnologist, spy, linguist, poet, fencer, and diplomat. He was famed for his travels and explorations in Asia, Africa and the Americas, as well as his extraordinary knowledge of languages and cultures. According to one count, he spoke 29 European, Asian and African languages.
The binder: Sangorski & Sutcliffe is a firm of bookbinders established in London in 1901. It is considered to be one of the most important bookbinding companies of the 20th century, famous for its luxurious jeweled bindings that used real gold and precious stones in their book covers.