[Annali Musulmani].[Tuscany?, ca. 1825]. 4to (20.5 x 14 cm). Manuscript in Italian, written in dark brown ink on (mostly) laid paper. Contemporary or near contemporary half maroon cloth.

[531], [1 blank] pp.An Italian manuscript chronicle of the Islamic states from 635 to 1453 (from soon after the death of Mohammed to the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottoman Empire), largely excerpted from Rampoldi's twelve-volume Annali Musulmani. After a brief introduction, the bulk of the text is arranged under headings for the years in chronological order. The watermarks suggest the manuscript was produced around the time Rampoldi's publication was completed. Givanni Rampoldi (1761-1836), a customs official in Milan, learned Arabic in North Africa, Turkey and the Middle East in the 1780s. Though he never took an academic post, he became a leading Islamicist and historian of the Islamic world. He compiled his magnum opus in twelve volumes, published from 1822 to 1826, the most comprehensive history of Islamic states to that time and, in the Enlightenment spirit, unusually free of anti-Islamic prejudice.In very good condition, with only a couple small marginal tears and wholly untrimmed. The binding is slightly loose and has some worm holes in the cloth, bumped corners and slightly rubbed, but still generally good. An Italian manuscript chronicle of the Islamic World.l Cf. Ibrahim-Hilmy II, p. 150.