The Koran, Commonly called The Alcoran of Mohammed, Translated into English immediately from the Original Arabic; with Explanatory Notes, taken from the most approved Commentators. To which is prefixed A Preliminary Discourse. QUR'AN; SALE, George (trans.).

First edition of the first English translation of the Qur'an direct from the Arabic, the basis of all subsequent English editions for the next hundred years. Sale's edition was lauded by such figures as Gibbon and Voltaire and remained a valued piece of Middle Eastern scholarship until well into the 20th century. George Sale (c.1696-1736) neglected a promising legal career to pursue his oriental studies. He believed Muhammad sincere in his intentions, which earned him criticism from some of his contemporaries, and his edition also includes an extensive 187-page study of all that was known of Islam in Georgian England, making it "a landmark in the history of Qur'anic studies" (Holt, p. 58). Gibbon's treatment of Arabian history and Islam in the Decline and Fall relies heavily on Sale, while Edward Said praises his efforts to "deal with Arab history in terms of Arab sources" and to "let Muslim commentators on the sacred text speak for themselves" (p. 117). ESTC T146975. Peter Malcolm Holt, Studies in the History of the Near East, 2013; Edward Said, Orientalism, 1978. Quarto (246 x 193 mm), pp. [vi], iii-ix, [3], 187, [1], 508, [16]. Three plates of genealogies (two folding), the second tipped to the outer edge of the third, folding plate depicting Mecca, folding map of Arabia. Contemporary sprinkled calf, spine ruled and decorated in gilt and with brown morocco label, covers with double-fillet panel in gilt, marbled endpapers, edges red. With 19th-century engraved armorial library label of Forbes family of Fintray House, Aberdeenshire, on front pastedown and front free endpaper, related shelf label to spine. Later 20th-century bookplate of one John William Hutchinson. Joints and extremities repaired, light rubbing, minor browning and foxing to contents, slight chipping to lower margin of third genealogical plate: a very good copy indeed.