Annals of the Early Caliphate. From Original Sources London: Smith, Elder, & Co., 1883.
First edition.
Thick octavo. xix, 470, [2] pp., including index and two pages of publisher's ads. With fold-out map of Arabia. Publisher's full burgundy cloth, spine lettered in gilt. Extremities rubbed and lightly soiled, spine sunned, wear to head of spine, front hinge cracked but sound. Bookplate and previous owner's inscription to front pastedown. Fold-out map has a small tear to one crease and wear to edge. A good copy.
Sir William Muir (1819-1905) was a prominent Scottish scholar and Orientalist. Although he spent nearly forty years as an administrator in India (including an appointment as lieutenant-governor), Muir is best remembered as a scholar and author of several works on Islamic and Middle Eastern history. His best known works include Life of Mahomet; Annals of the Early Caliphate; and The Caliphate: Its Rise, Decline and Fall. Although Muir's work was criticized for his evangelical critiques of Islamic culture, they represent the first British approach to Islamic history based on actual Arabic sources, and were considered authoritative during his time. Muir's numerous academic honors include appointment as the Rede lecturer at Cambridge in 1881, an honorary degree from Oxford, election as president of the Royal Asiatic Society in 1884, and the Society's jubilee gold medal in 1903.
Avril A. Powell, ‘Muir, Sir William (1819–1905)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
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7075
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350