VOLNEY Constantin F. de Chassebeuf Simplification des langues orientales, ou méthode nouvelle et facile d’apprendre les langues arabe, persane et turque avec des caractères européens.

First edition of this important grammar which was not destined for schools but written for travelers and merchants.

Count Volney (1757-1820), philosopher, writer and orientalist, was one of the first French scientists to understand the importance of the study of the Arabic language. A friend of Cabanis, Holbach, Condorcet and Benjamin Franklin, Volney travelled to Egypt in 1782 where he stayed for a good 2 years in order to learn Arabic, before moving on to Syria and Israel.

“…ayant formé le projet de visiter l’Égypte et la Syrie, il comprend que son projet exige une préparation sérieuse et s’initie à l’arabe qu’il étudie pendant deux ans… ‘Mon meilleur instrument, mon plus efficace passeport, fut de parler couramment la langue et d’agir directement sur les esprits… Le voyageur qui ne peut converser est un sourd et muet’ ” (Jean Gaulmier, Volney et la pédagogie de l’arabe).

This important grammar was not destined for schools but written for “travellers and merchants”. Much easier to use than the one written by Sylvestre de Sacy (Paris 1810) its application was simplified by using both written and spoken Arabic.

Fine copy, well preserved.