Saadi

A first edition of the single most important publication for Western studies in Persian language and history in the seventeenth century. 

• Saadi (Persian).
• Musladini Sadi rosarium politicum, sive amoenum sortis humanae theatrum, de Persico in latinum versum, necessariisque notis illustratum a Georgio Gentio.
• Amsterdam: Joannis Blaev, 1651. 
• Small folio.
• 630 pages.
• Complete with the notes of Gentio bound at the end, printed in Persian and Latin.
• Bound in modern green half morocco over marbled boards, spine in compartments with gilt ornaments.  

Although the compiler Georgius Gentius (1618-1687) was best-known as a Dutch Hebraists, he was also a Persian scholar and this copy of the text includes an appendix of notes relating to the Gulistan by Gentius bound at the end (often lacking).  

The Gulstan, or Rose Garden, is one of the most important literary works in the Persian language. Sa’adi, being one of the most revered of Persian Poets, completed this masterpiece in 1258 AD and it has been a literary favourite since. Though a vast quantity of manuscripts of the text precede this publication, the delays in printing in the Middle East, which weren’t established until the nineteenth century, make this 1651 publication the earliest printed edition of the text. A partial French translation by du Ryer was published in 1634, and a German version of this French text appeared two years later, but this remains the earliest most complete appearance of this monumentally important work in print.