Markou Antoninou Autokratoros ton eis heauton biblioi 12. Guftar-i Marqus Antunin Padishah dar hal-i nafs-i hud-i 'ali-gah. (Ed. Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall).

Large 4to (210 x 267 mm). (2), 168, (2) ff. Publisher's original printed and illustrated boards with an oriental design in three colours and Persian letterpress on both covers. First and only edition of the "Meditations" of Emperor Marcus Aurelius both in the original Greek and in Persian, edited and translated by Joseph Hammer-Purgstall and printed in parallel on opposite pages throughout. "A meticulous typographical production" (Durstmüller). "The 1831 publication of Marcus Aurelius' Meditations in Persian comprises one of the 19th century's most intriguing cross-cultural and inter-religious texts. Produced by the Austrian Orientalist Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall, and addressed to the reigning Shah of Persia, this translation negotiates a wide diversity of concerns, including political diplomacy, literary aesthetics and religious difference" (J. Einboden, Stoicism or Sufism? Hammer-Purgstall's Persian Meditations, Middle Eastern Literatures 13.1 [2010], pp. 49-68). - Corners bumped, edges a little rubbed. Clean and uncut as issued in the publisher's charming original printed boards, a rare and early example of such a binding. - Hoffmann I, 187. Engelmann/Preuss I, 148. Goedeke VII, 766, 80. Durstmüller I, 263. Graesse I, 329. OCLC 257616436.