CASIRI Miguel Bibliotheca Arabico-Hispana Escurialensis sive librorum omnium mss. quo Arabice ab auctoribus magnam partem Arabo-Hispanis compositos bibliotheca Coenobii Escurialensis complectitur, recensio & explanatio.

Palau, 47287; Guigard, I, 79.

First edition of this important catalogue of the Arabic manuscripts in the Escorial, including numerous long extracts illustrating the Arabic history of Spain. A magnificent copy, bound for Charles III, the dedicatee in richly gilt and tooled red morocco and printed on thicker paper. The book was printed at the expense of the king Charles III. A small number of copies were provided with such precious binding for distribution among the Royal household. The Arabic manuscript collection at the Royal Library in El Escorial, founded by king Philip II around 1565, includes incredibly valuable volumes, such as the autograph copy of the Lubâb al-Muhassal fî Usûl al-Dîn (Principles of Theology) by Ibn Khaldûn in 752 A.H./1351 A.D., and a copy of Kitâb al-Maqâmât (Book of Assemblies) by al-Harîrî, transcribed during the life of its author in 483 A.H./1090 A.D., the original Arabic text of Ibn al Khatib’s Muqni’at al-Sâ’il ‘an al-Marad al- Hâ’il, a treatise from c. 1362 about the Black Death, MS Arabic 1785. In his treatise about the plague Ibn al-Khatib explores the idea of transmission of disease through contagion, centuries before Louis Pasteur conducted his experiments in Europe. and many other valuable titles.

The Royal Library of El Escorial owns one of the best collections of Arabic manuscripts in the world, having begun the acquisition of such works in 1571 through Juan Páez de Castro. As of that date, the books purchased formed a collection which also included works seized in various battles, such as the Battle of Lepanto. The collection was increased by the manuscripts that belonged to the Library of the Sultan of Morocco Muley Zaydan which were incorporated to the Library of Philip III of Spain. By coincidence, the complete library of the sultan, known as the Zaydani Library, has been transmitted to us to the present day. During the revolt of Ahmed ibn Abi Mahalli in 1612, Muley Zaydan commissioned a French privateer, Jehan Philippe de Castelane, to shift his household goods from Safi to Santa Cruz do Cabo, Agadir, for a sum of 3000 escudos after suffering a defeat at Marrakesh. After waiting 6 days, without being paid, Castelane sailed north for Marseille, with the cargo still aboard, hoping to sell the goods to recoup his losses. Some 4 ships from the fleet of Spanish Admiral Luis Fajardo intercepted the vessel near Mehdya and took it to Lisbon (then part of Spain) and convicted the crew of piracy. From Lisbon, the Zaydani library was then taken to Cadiz and inventoried. After Cadiz, the collection would continue on its journey, by order of Phillip III and taken to the home of council member Juan de Idiáquez in Madrid. Two years later in 1614 the collection was transmitted to El Escorial for permanent storage.

In 1671, a fire engulfed El Escorial, burning a large portion of the manuscripts. Only approximately 2,000 (of about 4,000) were saved, and these are what remain of the Zaydani library today. It is considered the most important collection of Arabic manuscripts in Spain and one of the most relevant in Europe. Interestingly, at the time of this seizure of Zaydan’s manuscripts, written Arabic was largely prohibited in Spain, with the Spanish Inquisition behind the destruction of many Arabic works. During this period, officials would search the homes of Spanish Muslims to confiscate and destroy Arabic-language manuscripts. However, the wealthy and influential were somewhat exempt from these prohibitions and were able to save some Arabic manuscripts by sending them to the Escorial for study. Such was the case for the Zaydani collection. Idiaquez’s nephew, Francisco Gurmendi along with Juan de Peralta requested that the collection be brought to the Escorial for this purpose. Peralta was also interested in the Escorial’s acquisition of the collection since the addition would bolster the library’s prominence. Others, such as Thomas Erpenius, also advocated for the study of the Arabic language to use as a tool in forcing Muslims to convert to Christianity. Even so, the saved manuscripts, including Zaydani library, were not made available to the public, and kept separate from the rest of the Escorial’s collection.

Miguel Casiri (Mikhael Ghaziri, 1710-1791) was a learned Maronite and Orientalist from Lebanon. The name Al-Ghaziri is related to the village of Ghazir, in the Kisrawan district of Central Lebanon, from where his grandparents had emigrated to Tripoli where he was born in 1710. He studied in Rome at the Roman Maronite College, run by the Jesuits, where he arrived in 1721, and where he learnt Arabic, Syriac, Chaldean, philosophy and theology. He was ordained a priest in Rome, in the monastery of St. Peter and St. Marcellin on 29 September 1734. In 1736 he travelled to Lebanon, sent by Pope Clement XII, together with Joseph Assemani, as theologian of the apostolic legate at the provincial synod held on Mount Lebanon, in Louiaze, and as keeper of the seal of the diocese of Tripoli. In 1747, Felipe Ramírez, governor of Jaca, urged him to come to Spain as an interpreter of oriental languages for the Inquisition. Once in Jaca, he was slow to be given the job and also fell ill, so he moved to Saragossa and in 1748 contacted his former theology professor in Rome, the Jesuit priest Francisco de Rávago, confessor to King Ferdinand VI and director of the Royal Library in Madrid. The latter transferred him to Madrid to take up the post of advisor for oriental languages in the Royal Library. On 18 April 1748 he is appointed supernumerary scribe in the Royal Library of Madrid to be employed “in the translations that seem convenient of oriental books […]”, and in 1750 he is granted the post of scribe on his own account; in 1763 he is appointed librarian on his own account. Juan de Santander, Blas de Nassarre, librarian of the kingdom, Juan de Iriarte and Father Rávago urged King Ferdinand VI to have Casiri study and catalogue the Arabic manuscripts in the Royal Library of El Escorial.

The catalogue decribes 1851 Arabic manuscripts, with several excerpts of biography and history. The manuscripts are classified according to subjects. The work took the form of an annotated bibliography with excerpts, in Arabic, demonstrating the value of the manuscripts of particular importance, and translations of these excerpts into Latin. The second volume gives an account of a large collection of geographical and historical manuscripts, which contain valuable information regarding the wars between the Moors and the Christians in Spain. His work is linked to the Royal Library’s objectives of publishing useful works: “Spanish Arabism […] is driven by […] the conviction […] that in these manuscripts they were bound to find solutions to the problems of the time”.

A very fine copy bound for presentation.

Some small stains to cover of volume I, some occasional slight marginal stain to volume II.