Un Dervich algérien en Syrie, peinture des moeurs Musulmanes, Chrétiens et Israélites, confirmée par un sejour de 36 années dans cette partie de l'Asie (An Algerian Dervish in Syria, a Depiction of Muslim, Christian and Jewish Customs Confirmed by a 36-Year Sojourn in this Part of Asia)
Paris: Just Bouvier / Bureau de la Revue de l'Orient et de l'Algérie, 1854. First edition. Octavo (20.8 by 13 cm.). viii, 412 pp. Text in French, with index. Contemporary green pebbled cloth (spotted and rubbed from water staining, especially at rear board), spine lettered in gilt; intermittent light foxing, else a good copy.
Scarce first edition of this semi-fictionalized account, "presented in the original form of a study of morals written by an Algerian dervish exiled in Syria and whose manuscript is said to have been entrusted to Henri Guys." The author is, in fact, clearly alluding to the French political prisoner emir Abd-el-Kader who was exiled to Constantinople. Guys adopts this strategy to "settle scores with the inhabitants of Aleppo" and to denounce what he sees as the defects of Turkish administration. The "tasty anecdotes" of the imagined dervish "poorly hide the verbal violence and hurtful remarks, in contrast to the tolerant and humanist spirit of the true emir Abd el- Kader. The reissue of these texts, embellished with a rich iconography, not only offers a remarkable source for the history of Aleppo but also an interesting example of a traveler blinded by his prejudices..." (El-Mudarris & Salmon).
Henri Guys (1787-1878) followed his father Pierre-Alphonse throughout his various French consul postings in Sardinia, Libya and Syria, which allowed the son to quickly introduce himself to the languages of the Mediterranean basin. He went on to have a distinguished diplomatic career in the Levant, being elevated to knight of the Legion of Honor and promoted to first class consul in 1833. He managed the Aleppo consulate between 1838 and 1847, after which he retired and devoted himself to literary matters for the remainder of his life. Guys was a member of he Institut d'Afrique, the Oriental Society of Paris, the Statistical Society of Marseille and the Academy of Marseille.
Provenance: Bookplate of Joseph M. Gleason at the front pastedown, along with his entry in ink at the top margin of the title. Stamp of the Librairie des Maisons d'Education Joseph Sfeir Beyrouth; the initials stamped at the spine tail F.J.S. suggest the book was bound for this library. Newspaper clipping (ca. 1900) which discusses in two paragraphs "The Druses of Lebanon." Good-. Item #54722
References: H. I. El-Mudarris & O. Salmon, Alep sous le consulat de Henri Guys (1838-1847), Aleppo: Ray Publishing, 2009 - contains the present title along with Guys' essay on the state of politics and commerce in Syria.
Price: $950.00