{"product_id":"lamartine-alphonse-de-souvenirs-impressions-pensees-et-paysages-pendant-un-voyage-en-orient-1832-1833","title":"LAMARTINE, Alphonse de. Souvenirs, impressions, pensées et paysages pendant un voyage en Orient, 1832-1833.","description":"\u003ch3 style=\"font-variant: small-caps\"\u003eThe first Novel in Arabic?\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLAMARTINE, Alphonse de.\u003c\/strong\u003e Souvenirs, impressions, pensées et paysages pendant un voyage en Orient, 1832-1833. \u003ci\u003eParis: Charles Gosselin, and Librairie de Furne.\u003c\/i\u003e 1835.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFour volumes, 8vo. Entirely uncut in the rarely seen original printed wrappers; pp. [2], xiii, [3], 340; [iv], 429; [iv]; 388; steel-engraved portrait, two folding engraved plates, one folding table of Arab tribes in French and Arabic; a little marking to wrappers, scattered foxing internally, otherwise very good.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFirst edition\u003c\/strong\u003e, as always encountered half-titles lettered \u003ci\u003eŒuvres complètes\u003c\/i\u003e (this as well on the spines). Lamartine (1790-1869), one of the major figures of the Romantic movement had shot to fame in Europe after the publication of his \u003ci\u003eMéditations poétiques\u003c\/i\u003e of 1820. After an electoral defeat (he was a leftist liberal) he, his wife and the young daughter embarked on a trip to the Levant on a well equipped private yacht. \"He travelled in the style of an Ottoman prince, presented costly gifts to his hosts, and was known in the East as 'l'émir français'. Lamartine left his family at Beirut and went on to the Holy Land alone. His daughter Julie died of consumption at Beirut, and Lamartine returned to France overland via Constantinople and the Danube valley. He spent 16 months in the Levant\" (Blackmer). He visited the Druze emir Bechir (Bashir Shihab II) at Beit Eddine Palace, and was enthralled by the beauty of the scenery of Hammana (as well known as Lamartine valley). The folding table is most interesting, as it lists Bedouin tribes on the Arabian peninsula, their leaders, number of tents and members. This illustrates the first edition of Fatallah Sayeghir's study of Bedouin tribes he apparently carried out while serving Lascaris, a spy of Greek origin working for Napoleon on the Arabic peninsula, in order to gather intelligence for a possible conquest of India. Whilst residing in Lebanon Lamartine had bought the manuscript for 2000 Piasters, and had it translated into French. Fatallah Sayeghir claimed to have travelled with Lascaris in disguise, compiled a large amount of information about tribal structures, the Wahhabi advance, customs and their complex relations to other tribes. This travelogue, written in the first person could be a rich source on Arab societies at the beginning of the 19th century. However, \"Fatallah's narrative is a unique and curious document. The story is vivid and exciting, but is too exciting to be true. The book is a fraud … The Arabic manuscript of Fatallah's work is to be found in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, \u003ci\u003efonds arabe\u003c\/i\u003e, MS no. 2298 … That Fatallah's narrative is a work of fiction makes it more rather than less interesting … While there is no agreement as to which was the first novel written in Arabic, the origins of the Arabic novel are conventionally sought in the late 19th century. Fatallah's fiction predates the earliest candidates by several decades\" (Irwin, pp. xii-xiv). This 'novel' takes up, with Lamartine's introduction, pages 55 to 285 in volume four. Indeed, it reads like an adventure novel, written in the first person, with intrigues, dangerous encounters and descriptions of conflict and life in the desert.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAt the end of volume four Lamartine publishes \u003ci\u003eMaouals ou romances vulgaires des Arabes modernes\u003c\/i\u003e by Joseph Agoub (Cairo 1795-Marseilles 1832), born to an Armenian father and a Melkite Catholic mother from Syria. Agoub was a celebrated Egyptian-French writer in French and Arabist, whose orientalizing poetry had influenced Lamartine.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eAtabey 659; Blackmer 942 (both \u003c\/i\u003eŒuvres complètes\u003ci\u003e and bound without wrappers); see \"Narrative of the Residence of Fatallah Sayeghir\", introduction by Robert Irwin, 1996.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSKU: \u003c\/strong\u003e2125002\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sotherans","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57114536575353,"sku":"2125002","price":1000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0045\/2178\/7426\/files\/2125002.jpg?v=1787055065","url":"https:\/\/sotherans.co.uk\/products\/lamartine-alphonse-de-souvenirs-impressions-pensees-et-paysages-pendant-un-voyage-en-orient-1832-1833","provider":"Sotherans","version":"1.0","type":"link"}