Specimens of Arabian Poetry
London: T. Caddell & Davies, 1810. Octavo. Item #027147
xvi, 143 pages, 70 pages of Arabic text, Leigh Hunt regarded the fable 'Abou ben Adhem' as one of the best and a translation of it adorns his tomb though he himself did not read Arabic. It is this work of J.D. Carlyle that first appeared in 1796 which became his source, though the numerous errors in the original edition were not corrected until the 1810 edition. Moses Stuart, the great Hebraist and master of a dozen near Eastern languages wrote Professor Carlyle's translation has enabled the wider English to discover the sweetness of the Arabian tales. Bookplate dated 1832 from Library of Mrs. Whitby [Mary Anne Theresa Whitby, 1784-1850] of Newlands. She was a landowner, antiquary, artist, silk producer and author. She was also a specimen collector, experimenter, and observer. In 1846 Whitby read a paper on silkworm cultivation at the Southampton meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, at which Charles Darwin was present. In 1848 Whitby published A manual for rearing silkworms in England. Whitby was an active participant in the British Association; her articles on silkworms and silk cultivation appeared in the Association’s 1844, 1846, and 1849 reports. In addition to her personal experiments, which she undertook at her home near Lymington in Hants, Whitby undertook experiments on Darwin’s behalf and sent him specimens. Whitby’s work on silkworms was referenced by Darwin in The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication (1868) [Univ. of Cambridge]. Bound in a newer 3/4 black leather over early marbled paper covered boards (retaining the original endpapers), raised bands, compartments decorated in gilt, double red leather spine labels gilt, all edges marbled. A very nice copy.
Price: $575.00