HERBIN, Auguste F.J. Développemens des principes de la langue arabe moderne, suivis d’un recueil de phrases, de Traductions interlinéaires, de Proverbes arabes, et d’un Essai de Calligraphie orientale, avec onze planches.

First and only edition of Herbin’s Arabic grammar sought-after for its essay on calligraphy and for its plates.
Brunet III, 110 ; Graesse, III, 247.

Auguste François Julien Herbin (1783-1806) was a promising orientalist whose plans to also publish an Arabic-French and French-Arabic dictionary remained unfulfilled due to his premature death at the age of 24.

Herbin’s grammar sequentially treats orthography, syntax and elocution, followed by several texts in Arabic with Latin translations: the fables of Luqman, excerpts from Abu Al-Fida’s description of Egypt and Arabic proverbs.
It concludes with an essay on oriental calligraphy, illustrated with 10 fine plates plus the frontispiece, drawn by the author and engraved by E. Collin, including 3 in contemporary hand-colouring.

A precious copy of a work seldom found complete with all the plates, preserved in its original cased binding.