[JERUSALEM / MIDDLE EAST] Tarih-i fezâil ve Quds-i Serîf. [i.e. History of the virtues and the Great and the Noble Jerusalem]. Prep. by Muhammed Recai

MOLLA HIFZÎ, (17th Century), Darü't-Tıbaatü'l-Âmîre, Istanbul (Constantinople), [AH 1265] = 1849.

Contemporary cloth, marbled boards. Slight chippings on the panels' extremities, fading on board, and slightly stained front pastedown, overall a very good copy. Demy 8vo. (21 x 15 cm). In Ottoman script (Old Turkish with Arabic script). 101 p. Framed text.

First printed edition of this extremely rare description and account of Jerusalem narrated through the earliest Islamic, Jewish, and Christian legends and sources by a 17th-century Islamic scholar.

As stated in the preface of the book, the author came to Jerusalem in 1635 [AH 1051] and wrote this book based on his own observations in first-hand style for three years, gathered from the scholars and saints, from the oldest Arabic sources written in the Jerusalem where he came as a "contiguous" [Tr. mücâvî] and an observer.

This early Islamic work offers an invaluable insight into the early Jewish culture of the region in and around Jerusalem, the Christian culture and the arrival of Islam in the region, the Islamic history of the city, architecture, scholars, the legends formed around and the history of religions here, the prophets and most importantly the social structure of the region is compiled from unnamed sources.

Several manuscripts of the work are also available in important libraries such as Vatican, Cairo, Kastamonu, and Konya. (Demirci).

Not in Özege.; Eight copies in the US libraries in OCLC, in University of Michigan, Concordia Theological Seminary, Virginia Tech, Butler University Libraries, Concordia College Library, Morningside University, Dallas Theological Seminary, and Library of Congress (Karl Süssheim Collection (756161183, 933219362).