INTRODUCTIO. INTRODUCTIO. XXXI
may do without i t , h u t must have it copied. T h e n , th ough
Mess” . Brill of Leiden proposed to publish th e work a t th e ir
costs, I th in k it very p ro b ab le , tb a t a contribution towards
tb e expense of p rin tin g o u g h t to be paid, especially as we
must insist on two points, 1". th a t tbe price of a volume of
about 640 pages in 8' “ be no t above S. 16; 2“. th a t tb e
p rin tin g bo executed a t th e ra te of 3 sheets of 16 pages
p er fo rtn ig h t.
F o r tbese purposes a la rg e sum of money is requisite. My
learned friends. Prof. Dozy, in his le tte r to M. H. W. Freeland,
of C hichester (printed in th e Academy d. d. 27 Nov. 1875,
p. 557) and Prof. Amari, in bis le tte r to M. de Gubernatis
(printed in th e E iv is ta Europea) h av in g invoked th e assistance
of all who u n d e rs tan d tb e importance of th is publication for
th e promotion of science, I feel myself justified in appealing
to all who may deem th e success of th e en te rp rise an object
w o rth y of th e ir support, Tbe work of T ab a ri is tru ly a mine
of useful information for th e historian. Even for praeislamitic
h is to ry it is no t with o u t v a lu e ; Prof. Nöldeke calls its h istory
of th e Sasanides »a very precious source” . How very h ig h ly
P ro f. S p ren g e r, th e au th o r of tb e Life and Doctrines of
Mohammed, esteems th e w o rk , appears from a passage in
one of bis le tte rs to me quoted by Prof. Dozy. Dr. Zotenberg
says in bis P re fa c e , th a t especially for th e h isto ry of the
Omayades, tb e work of T ab a ri is th e principal and richest
source. Tbe Eu ssian h isto rian M. Kunik deems tb e publication
of th is work of »the fa th e r of Mohammedan universal h is to ry ”
so important, tb a t th e calls it a duty for th e empire, which
possesses th e Caucasus and reigns on th e shores of tb e Caspian,
to provide for a complete edition of Tabari.
T h e work is to be published in th re e parallel series, th e first
comprising th e praeislamitic history, th e life of Mohammed and
th e re ig n of tb e four »righteous” Kh a lifa ’s, tb e second th e h istory
o f tb e Omayades, tb e th ird th a t of th e Abbasides. In order to
b rin g th e parts p rin ted as soon as possible into tb e hands of the
student, it wilt bo issued in half-volumes of about 320 pages.
Ev e ry year one half-volume of each series will appear.
Hie libellus in varias p artes d istrib u tu s e t cum epistola
ad complures viros au c to rita te insignes missus fuit. Ab hoc
inde tempore au x ilia non defuerunt. Mense Ju n ii anni 1877
novum buno libellum d is tr ib u i:
I t is now more th a n a ye a r, since I first announced the
project of publishing th e g re a t Arabic Annals of Tabari, and
invoked tb e assistance of all who m ig h t deem the success
of this en te rp rise an object worthy of th e ir support. The
preparation of tb e te x t is now so far advanced, th a t Mess” Brill
must send out th e lists for subscription, in order to asc e rta in
the number of copies tb a t a re to be prin ted . I make use of
this opportunity to communicate some p a rticu la rs re g a rd in g
th e proceedings of our committee.
When th e prospectus was w ritten , we had still a hope,
though a fain t one, th a t a complete copy of tb e work existed
in one of th e lib ra rie s of Medina. The rumour as to th e
existence of snob a copy has now been proved to be unfounded.
In May 76 Yusuf Dhiya eddin al-Kb alid i wrote to M. von
Kremer, th a t, b y th e aid of friends, he had caused careful
investigations to be made in th e lib ra rie s of Mekka and Medina,
which led to th e result, th a t n o t even a fragmen t of th e
original work could be found; th e re were only some copies
of th e T u rk ish tran sla tio n of tb e Pe rs ian compendium, which
has been p rin ted in Constantinople. Some months la te r this
information was in every point confirmed by a le tte r (dated
25 Oct. 76) of His Highness Abdullah Pasha, S h e rif of Mekka,
to His E xcellency Subhi Pasha, who bad opened a correspondence
on th is m a tte r a t th e req u e st of Dr. Mordtmann.
The Mufti of tbe Sbafei rite , Sidi J aT a r bad, b y order of
the Sherif, examined all tb e lib raries a t Medina, with o u t
finding a tra c e of Tabari, .excepting a few copies of the
Turkish tran sla tio n , of no value for our purpose.
Happily this ill luck was counterbalanced by th e discovery