Geschichte der schönen Redekünste Persiens mit einer Blüthenlese aus zweyhundert Persischen Dichtern

First illustrated edition, with a frontispiece portrait of the author and a plate of music inserted at the end.

Not listed in Schwab.

Contemporary binding in half polished Havana calf, smooth spine decorated with gilt fillets, chain motifs and floral tools, saffron paper boards, marbled edges.

Joints split at foots and slightly at heads, a pleasant copy overall.

An important work by the renowned Austrian orientalist (1774–1856) devoted to ancient Persian poetry, containing a large number of extracts translated into German and an extensive index.

The work, dedicated to the great French orientalist Silvestre de Sacy, was carefully printed in Gothic type; the Persian translations are presented in two columns.

A handsome, large-margined copy in a period binding.

Having entered the Oriental Academy of Prince Kaunitz in Vienna in 1788, Hammer-Purgstall graduated in 1796 as secretary and collaborator to von Jenisch, editor of Meninski’s great Arabic–Persian–Turkish dictionary. He then served as a young interpreter to the internuncio Baron von Herbert and accompanied him to Constantinople in 1799. Herbert sent him on a mission to Egypt, where he joined the Anglo-Turkish army. He returned to the Imperial Library of Austria with a rich collection of Arabic manuscripts and precious artefacts (mummies, hieroglyphic stones, etc.). He was subsequently appointed secretary of legation at Constantinople to Baron von Stürmer (1802), consular agent at Jassy (1806), and privy councillor to the Imperial Chancellery (1807). He accompanied Archduchess Marie-Louise to Paris, where he met Silvestre de Sacy, and later became councillor of the court (1817). In 1835 he inherited the estates of the last Countess of Purgstall in Styria and was granted the title of baron. The newly founded Imperial Academy of Vienna elected him president in 1847. Hammer-Purgstall was a foreign associate of the Institut de France. His works constitute a veritable library in themselves, and he contributed numerous articles to learned journals in both German and French. Cf. "Grande Encyclopédie".