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THE FIRST AMERICAN QURAN. Springfield (Massachusetts): printed by Henry Brewer for Isaiah Thomas, Jun., Thomas & Whipple (Newburyport) and Thomas & Tappan (Portsmouth); October-1806. Octavo (8 1/8" x 4 13/16", 206mm x 123mm). [Full collation available.] Bound in contemporary sheep. On the spine, six panels. Title gilt to green sheep in the second panel. All edges of the text-block sprinkled blue. Starting at the head and tail, with some chips along the joints. A little skinning, and bumped corners. Foxed and tanned, mostly quite mildly but with passages moderate (quires R-T, Y and Aa). Ink gift inscription to the title-page: "A. Shelly/ from his friend/ E. Bingham/ 9 July '42" and a graphite gift inscription to p. iii (the first page of the preface): "Elizabeth S. Clark Jan 26th 1919/ from/ Grandmother". In Islam, the "people of the book" refers to those to whom divine revelation was made in written form; primarily this refers to Jews and Christians (in casual usage, this sometimes includes Muslims themselves). First printings of various sacred texts -- "bible" coming from the Greek ??????, "book" -- whether the Old Testament/Torah/Pentateuch/Septuagint or the New Testament, are among the great landmarks of the intellectual history of nations. The first bible printed in America -- the Eliot "Indian bible" (New Testament: 1661, full text: 1663) -- sells at auction for as much as $275,000, and a single leaf of the 1455 Gutenberg bible can sell at auction for well in excess of $100,000. The Koran (also Romanized Quran or Qur'an; "al" is the definite article in Arabic, and so "the Alcoran" is redundant) has its roots in the VIIc and the revelation of divine wisdom via the angel Gabriel. The text (first printed in 1538, traditionally copied scribally) is itself a holy object. Thus the present volume -- the first Quran published in America -- is both conceptually and literally important. The first translation of the Arabic text into English came via Alexander Ross's translation of André du Ryer's French translation (the first into any European language except Latin) published 1647; the present text is his, introduced (skeptically) by the publisher, Isaiah Thomas. Nevertheless, the Founding Fathers (John Adams's example of this edition held at the Boston Public Library, Thomas Jefferson's (more scholarly translation by Sale) at the Library of Congress) read the text with great interest. The marks of ownership indicate the book being in at least four sets of hands -- E. Bingham, who gave the volume to his or her friend A. Shelly on the 9th of July 1842; Elizabeth S. Clark and her grandmother, who gave it to her on the 29th of January 1919 -- and yet none is absolutely identifiable. Given the complex relationship between Americans and the Quran, it is nonetheless notable that it should be given as a gift between friends, as well as to a young woman from her grandmother. Shaw & Shoemaker, Early American Imprints II.10684. Seller Inventory # JLR0730
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