L'Alcoran de Mahomet. Translaté d'Arabe en François.
DU RYER, André. L'Alcoran de Mahomet. Translaté d'Arabe en François.
Paris: Antoine de Sommaville, 1647
4to. (230 x 175mm). Faint marginal dampstaining to outer margin, mostly not touching text but growing stronger at end, a very little faint occasional browning, small marginal paperflaw to Dd4, not affecting text, otherwise clean and well-margined in near-contemporary speckled calf gilt, spine gilt in compartments, joints cracked at head of spine, head and foot of spine with with minor lacks, corners bumped, a little rubbed, but nonetheless elegant. A very good copy.
THE FIRST EDITION OF THE FIRST VERNACULAR TRANSLATION OF THE QUR'AN DIRECTLY FROM THE ARABIC. The work proved extremely popular and was republished in 1649, and appeared again in 1672. It was widely translated, including into English, German, and Dutch, and for decades served as the 'go-to' translation of the text.
Du Ryer was a French provincial nobleman who went to Constantinople to make his fortune, and was hired there for his linguistic abilities by the French ambassador. He was proficient in Turkish, Arabic and Persian and by the time this work was published, he had risen to be French Consul in Alexandria as well as serving as the King's Interpreter of Oriental Languages.
Until this work was published, most translations of the Qur'an into European languages had relied on the old version of Robert of Ketton (such as Bibliander's version published in the 1540s); in other words, vernacular translations had all had to go through the Latin. Du Ryer's was the leading and most popular translation throughout the Enlightenment, and was only slowly replaced by George Sale's superior version (and Claude-Etienne Savary in his own translation is certainly unkind about it a century or so later).
Du Ryer aimed his work primarily at the French Catholic missionaries going out to the Near East; although he also felt that an understanding of the Qur'an would help with dealings with the Islamic world generally. In this translation, there is little commentary on the Qur'an itself - his work is intended as a tool for Christian missionary work, to allow missionaries to debate with Muslims and convert them to Christianity.
An incomparably important moment in the dissemination of the Qu'ran in the West; the first translation directly from the Arabic, and not via Latin, that had up to then been the only option available.
Schnurrer pp. 427-28.
DU RYER, André. L'Alcoran de Mahomet. Translaté d'Arabe en François.
Paris: Antoine de Sommaville, 1647
4to. (230 x 175mm). Faint marginal dampstaining to outer margin, mostly not touching text but growing stronger at end, a very little faint occasional browning, small marginal paperflaw to Dd4, not affecting text, otherwise clean and well-margined in near-contemporary speckled calf gilt, spine gilt in compartments, joints cracked at head of spine, head and foot of spine with with minor lacks, corners bumped, a little rubbed, but nonetheless elegant. A very good copy.
THE FIRST EDITION OF THE FIRST VERNACULAR TRANSLATION OF THE QUR'AN DIRECTLY FROM THE ARABIC. The work proved extremely popular and was republished in 1649, and appeared again in 1672. It was widely translated, including into English, German, and Dutch, and for decades served as the 'go-to' translation of the text.
Du Ryer was a French provincial nobleman who went to Constantinople to make his fortune, and was hired there for his linguistic abilities by the French ambassador. He was proficient in Turkish, Arabic and Persian and by the time this work was published, he had risen to be French Consul in Alexandria as well as serving as the King's Interpreter of Oriental Languages.
Until this work was published, most translations of the Qur'an into European languages had relied on the old version of Robert of Ketton (such as Bibliander's version published in the 1540s); in other words, vernacular translations had all had to go through the Latin. Du Ryer's was the leading and most popular translation throughout the Enlightenment, and was only slowly replaced by George Sale's superior version (and Claude-Etienne Savary in his own translation is certainly unkind about it a century or so later).
Du Ryer aimed his work primarily at the French Catholic missionaries going out to the Near East; although he also felt that an understanding of the Qur'an would help with dealings with the Islamic world generally. In this translation, there is little commentary on the Qur'an itself - his work is intended as a tool for Christian missionary work, to allow missionaries to debate with Muslims and convert them to Christianity.
An incomparably important moment in the dissemination of the Qu'ran in the West; the first translation directly from the Arabic, and not via Latin, that had up to then been the only option available.
Schnurrer pp. 427-28.
DU RYER, André. L'Alcoran de Mahomet. Translaté d'Arabe en François.
Paris: Antoine de Sommaville, 1647
4to. (230 x 175mm). Faint marginal dampstaining to outer margin, mostly not touching text but growing stronger at end, a very little faint occasional browning, small marginal paperflaw to Dd4, not affecting text, otherwise clean and well-margined in near-contemporary speckled calf gilt, spine gilt in compartments, joints cracked at head of spine, head and foot of spine with with minor lacks, corners bumped, a little rubbed, but nonetheless elegant. A very good copy.
THE FIRST EDITION OF THE FIRST VERNACULAR TRANSLATION OF THE QUR'AN DIRECTLY FROM THE ARABIC. The work proved extremely popular and was republished in 1649, and appeared again in 1672. It was widely translated, including into English, German, and Dutch, and for decades served as the 'go-to' translation of the text.
Du Ryer was a French provincial nobleman who went to Constantinople to make his fortune, and was hired there for his linguistic abilities by the French ambassador. He was proficient in Turkish, Arabic and Persian and by the time this work was published, he had risen to be French Consul in Alexandria as well as serving as the King's Interpreter of Oriental Languages.
Until this work was published, most translations of the Qur'an into European languages had relied on the old version of Robert of Ketton (such as Bibliander's version published in the 1540s); in other words, vernacular translations had all had to go through the Latin. Du Ryer's was the leading and most popular translation throughout the Enlightenment, and was only slowly replaced by George Sale's superior version (and Claude-Etienne Savary in his own translation is certainly unkind about it a century or so later).
Du Ryer aimed his work primarily at the French Catholic missionaries going out to the Near East; although he also felt that an understanding of the Qur'an would help with dealings with the Islamic world generally. In this translation, there is little commentary on the Qur'an itself - his work is intended as a tool for Christian missionary work, to allow missionaries to debate with Muslims and convert them to Christianity.
An incomparably important moment in the dissemination of the Qu'ran in the West; the first translation directly from the Arabic, and not via Latin, that had up to then been the only option available.
Schnurrer pp. 427-28.