Peregrinationum, ac de rebus Machometicis epistolae elegantissimae. Accessere autem supra priorem editionem aliquot epistolae ut amoenae ita salsae, sed citra gentis alicuius offensionem.

Second and Expanded Edition; "forte correcte" according to Roesch. 8vo (148 x 88mm.), Collation: A-K8 L4 (but lacking blank leaf L4). Bound in 18th century tan morocco, raised bands, gilt to spine, marbled endpapers, all edges sprinkled in red. Published by Leuven, (Reyner Velpius for) Martin Rotarius, 1551. A clean example in a pleasing binding; a little bowed and a touch of rubbing, otherwise fine. This work comprises of reports and letters sent home from Morocco by Nicolas Cleynaerts/Clenardus of Louvain (1493-1542), one of the earliest Orientalists and Arabic scholars of Western Europe. He visited Spain, Morocco and Portugal during the final years of his life, sending Latin letters "dated variously from 1535 to 1541" (Weber) to his friends back home in Belgium. To perfect his knowledge of Arabic literature he spent two years at Fez; he was then deported by the Moors for Christian propaganda (he had begun to translate the Bible into Arabic) and died at Granada in Spain, the last great bastion of Arab culture in the Western world, in 1542. "His letters to Latomus (1510-96) date from this time, when he was preoccupied with Qur'anic studies" (cf. Göllner I, p. 416); "his missives give a narrative of his journey to Morocco and provide critical commentaries on Islam" (cf. Göllner II, p. 18.) "Notably the letters to Latomus of July 1539 and of April 1541 contain quotations in Arabic in a barely readable version of the original script." (Smitskamp, PO 248.) Clenardus stated his opposition to the slave trade when he arrived in Morocco, and as a result he was forced by local supports of the slave trade to return to Spain. His letters provide a culturally significant account of Moroccan, Portuguese and Spanish society during this period of history. Clenardus' view on the harmony which could exist between Islam and Christianity continues to have significant relevance for today's global society. (Bakelants/Hoven 558; Roesch, Correspondance de Nicolas Clenard, 3 vol., Brussels, 1940-1941.) Please contact us for shipping costs if ordering from outside the UK.