L'ALCORAN DE MAHOMET: THE THIRD WESTERN TRANSLATION OF THE QUR'AN
Paris, France, printed in 1649, translated by André Du Ryer

French printed book on lined paper, 431pp. and two fly-leaves, the title page and colophon printed in red and black and reading 'L'Alcoran de Mahomet, Translaté d'Arabe en François par le Sieur du Ryer, Sieur de la Garde Malezair. Paris: Antoine de Sommaville, 1649', with later-added notes in pencil, printed readers' introduction, and diplomatic appointments letters and acknowledgments of Monsieur Du Ryer (translator), the date printed in Roman numerals (MDCXLIX), re-bound in a brown calf binding, the spine gilt and marked with the title and date of printing, the page 12.5cm x 7cm, 13.5cm x 8.2cm including the binding.

André Du Ryer, Lord of La Garde-Malezair (ca. 1580 - 1660/1672?), was a French Orientalist, Islamic scholar, and diplomat, praised and renowned for his integral translation in French of the Qur'an in 1647. His work, the third known Western translation of the Islamic Holy Book, became the first one in a European vernacular language, considering that the previous two had only been in Latin. Indeed, the first Arabic translation into Medieval Latin was carried out by Robert of Ketton (ca. 1110 - 1160), bearing the title Lex Mahumet Pseudoprophete ('The Law of Muhammad, the Pseudo-Prophet'), and the second was by the Spanish physician, Mark of Toledo (active 1193 - 1216), who worked at the Toledo School of Translators in the 12th and 13th centuries, as part of a group of scholars united by the aim to research and translate many Judeo-Islamic texts from Classical Arabic into Latin.

Prior to his impressive scholarly achievements, André Du Ryer had also been an active diplomatic envoy to Constantinople and the French consul to Alexandria. In 1630, Louis XIII appointed him Secretary - Interpreter for Oriental languages and shortly after, sent him on a mission to Iran to take up negotiations to establish favourable commercial exchanges between France and Persia with the Safavid ruler, Shah Safi I (r. 1629 -1642), succeeding Shah 'Abbas I the Great.

Similar printed copies of L'Alcoran de Mahomet translated by Du Ryer have been offered at auction in recent years. For further reference, please see Christie's London, 20 March 2013, lot 284; and Sotheby's London, The Library of Mohamed and Margaret Makiya, 19 April 2016, lot 123.