The Iliad and a Galileo edition presented in Abu Dhabi — The National
Rare books, manuscripts and photographs spanning nearly two thousand years of history were presented at the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair in the UAE. The exhibits include a second-century papyrus containing a fragment of Homer's Iliad, a first edition of Galileo Galilei's 1610 work The Starry Messenger, and archival photographs from the region's history, The National reports.
Parts of a papyrus containing the first 30 lines of the second book of the Iliad are on display at the stand of Austrian company Inlibris. They are dated to the middle of the second century, making the fragment about 1,850 years old. Inlibris owner Hugo Wetscherek said it is one of two known fragments of this particular papyrus, while its other part is held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Manuscripts and early prints
A copy of Galileo's Latin-language work Sidereus Nuncius, printed in Venice in 1610, is on display at the Peter Harrington stand. The book published the astronomer's findings from telescopic observations of the Moon and stars. The displayed copy, from a print run of about 550 copies, is being offered for £650,000.
Inlibris also presented a French translation of the collection Mukhtar al-Hikam wa Mahasin al-Kalim, compiled in the 11th century by Abu al-Wafa al-Mubashshir ibn Fatik. The manuscript was created in Paris between 1520 and 1525 for the French aristocrat Anne de Polignac. It is written on parchment and contains decorations and miniatures associated with the workshop of French illuminator Étienne Colaud.
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Other manuscripts include a miniature Quran from Qajar Persia, produced in 1286 AH, corresponding to 1869. The manuscript has retained its original lacquer binding, and its pages are decorated in red, blue and gold. It is being offered for £9,750.
Photographs from the history of the Gulf
Forum Rare Books is displaying an album compiled by Royal Navy officer Charles Courtney Bell between 1900 and 1909. It includes a photograph captioned “Sheikh of Sharjah and entourage,” taken in 1903 aboard HMS Argonaut during Indian Viceroy Lord Curzon's journey through the Gulf. The people in the photograph have not been conclusively identified, but Forum Rare Books representative Laurens Hesselink called it the earliest photograph of any sheikh from the Trucial States. The album, containing dozens of photographs of the region, is being offered for €250,000.
The same seller presented 183 photographs and original negatives documenting visits by Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan to Pakistan in 1967 and 1970, when he was ruler of Abu Dhabi. Separately, Arabic-language issues of vintage Grendizer comics, estimated by seller Mohamed Sadek to be between 40 and 50 years old, are being sold at the fair.
