Description

Large 4°. VIII in French language with title in Franc and Arabic, contemporary piece of paper with hand written address in ink, pasted down with stamped postal stamps to the title page (uncut example, small tears in margins, soft folds with tiny holes, otherwise in a good condition)

This rare first issue of a scarce Muslim weekly was printed in French language in Cairo. It includes texts from the Quran, and mostly critical articles on the contemporary politics in the Middle East, on Dalai Lama, Ottomans, and on the attempt to assassinate the Zionist leader Max Nordau (1849 – 1923).

According to the known data, the newspaper was published every Thursday and there were 37 issues in the first year. All the numbers of this newspaper are extremely rare. We could trace one issue (no. 15) mentioned in the National Library of the Netherlands (Verslag omtrent de Koninklijke Bibliotheek, 1907, p. 300), and unknown number of examples in National Library of the Kingdom of Morocco (OCLC 929970162) and in Bibliothèque nationale de France (OCLC 472066606).

This example was sent to the Zionist Committee in Basel in Switzerland.

References: Wissenschaftlicher Jahresbericht über die morgenländischen Studien, Vol. 59, p. lxxxvii no. 12030.