SALE, George (1697-1736, translator)
The Koran
London: C. Ackers, 1734. 4to. (9 3/4 x 7 1/2 inches). [vi], iii-ix, [3], 508, [16] pp. Illustrated with an engraved map of Arabia, geneological table, and a plan of Mecca.
Bound to style in quarter tan calf with five raised bands forming six compartments, red morocco lettering piece and marbled paper boards
First edition of George Sale’s English translation of the Qur’an, the first English version to be based directly on the Arabic text, and a defining work in the history of English encounters with Islam.
In this first edition, Sale's translation worked from the Arabic text and supplied extensive explanatory notes, together with a substantial Preliminary Discourse on Islamic history, belief, law, and practice. Although written within the religious and intellectual assumptions of eighteenth century Britain, the work gave English readers a far fuller account of Islam than anything available. Within Islamic belief, the Qur'an is the revealed word of God in Arabic, and translation has an interpretive status distinct from the Arabic scripture itself. Sale's version nonetheless occupies a central place in the history of Qur'anic translation. Its combination of English text, notes, and introductory scholarship shaped British and European understanding of Islam for generations, and remained widely read long after its first publication. Sale drew on Arabic commentary and European Orientalist scholarship, including the tradition of al-Baydawi and earlier Latin scholarship on the Qur'an. His Preliminary Discourse became nearly as influential as the translation itself, offering eighteenth century readers a broad account of Islamic origins, institutions, ritual, and doctrine. The result is both a landmark in English religious publishing and an important document in the intellectual history of the Enlightenment encounter with Islam. The present copy retains the three engraved folding accompaniments called for, the map, genealogical table, and plate of Mecca, which form part of the work's original apparatus for situating the text for its early English readership.
Item #42981
Price: $5,250.00