In 1827, a brilliant young French engineer and draftsman arrived in Alexandria at the start of a long and fruitful love affair with Egypt and its art, both ancient and contemporary. Emile Prisse d’Avennes (1807–79) spent a total of nineteen years in Egypt, traveling throughout the country to collect the stunning images that he later published in Paris in two collections, Atlas de l’histoire de l’art egyptien and L’ Art arabe. It is the illustrations from the latter that make up this volume. Prisse’s masterly renderings of Cairo’s mosques and their decorations more than retain their impact today: they still have the power to amaze and delight, while at the same time carrying valuable historical and artistic information for specialists studying Islamic art and architecture. As Professor George Scanlon says in his Introduction to the volume: “For those passionate about the Islamic legacy of Egypt—may they admire and stand grateful.”
Islamic Art in Cairo
From the 7th to the 18th Centuries
E. Prisse d’Avennes
Introduction by
George T. Scanlon
240 pp.
234 illus. incl. 153 color
21.5X24cm
ISBN 9789774161193
For sale worldwide
19.95
George T. Scanlon
Related products
Hassan Fathy and Continuity in Islamic Arts and Architecture
The Birth of a New Modern
Ahmad HamidHassan Fathy, the Egyptian architect known for his recognition of the potential of vernacular forms as a vital force in contemporary architectural design, sought to integrate the traditions of Islamic art with his modern visions for living. Guided by Fathy’s principles, Ahmad Hamid, an architect who collaborated with Hassan Fathy in the Institute for Appropriate Technology, identifies questions about the nature of Islamic art and its building culture, as well as the origins of modern architecture. This richly illustrated book provides new insights into Hassan Fathy’s profuse, pathbreaking design documents and built projects, while exploring the socioeconomic, environmental, psychological, and esthetic components of Fathy’s work in the light of a quest for a new universal modernity for the twenty-first century.
...read more
Hardbound
224 pp.100 b/w photographs and drawings
19X24cm
29.95
Creswell Photographs Re-examined
New Perspectives on Islamic Architecture
Edited by Bernard O’KaneThe Creswell photographic archive at the American University in Cairo is an invaluable resource of over 12,000 printed images of Islamic architecture, mainly in Cairo, but also including buildings in other important cities such as Córdoba and Baghdad. Creswell’s own photographs constitute the majority of the collection, but he also assembled work by photographers active in the decades before he began his systematic recording in the 1920s. This volume of collected studies seeks to highlight the value of this collection for scholars, who can examine the visual evidence of architecture now destroyed or altered in order to better understand various aspects of these significant buildings. Contributors discuss such issues as epigraphy in domestic and religious architecture, the use of early photographs as guides for modern restoration, and military architecture. Contributors: Tarek Galal Abdel-Hamid, Noha Abou-Khatwa, Conchita Añorve-Tschirgi, Dina Ishak Bakhoum, Nairy Hampikian, May al-Ibrashy, Hani Hamza, Chahinda Karim, Dina Montasser, Bernard O’Kane, Seif El-Rashidi, Ola Seif, Nicholas Warner.
...read more
Hardbound
416 pp.125 illus. incl. 25 color
16.5X23.5cm
29.95
Egypt and Nubia / The Holy Land
Deluxe Gift edition
Drawings byDavid Roberts, R.A.With historical descriptions byWilliam Brockedon
Lithographed byLouis Haghe
The genius and sensitivity of the justly celebrated nineteenth-century Scottish artist David Roberts are fully revealed in this outstanding new two-volume edition that reproduces for the first time since the original editions of the 1840s all 247 of Roberts’ published drawings of Egypt and the Holy Land. In 1838 and 1839, Roberts spent eleven months traveling and sketching throughout Egypt from Alexandria to Abu Simbel and through Sinai to Petra, Jerusalem, Palestine, and Lebanon. The 247 lithographs that Belgian engraver Louis Haghe then produced at the rate of one a month from the drawings executed during Roberts’ extraordinary trip were published in six volumes by Francis Graham Moon, as The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt and Nubia (1842–46) and Egypt and Nubia (1846–49). This monumental work assured the artist of a fame that has lasted until the modern day. Once again in this new edition, the wonders that Roberts saw on his trip and the style of life in the Middle East in the middle of the nineteenth century are brought vividly to life by the pictures and the original accompanying texts by the Reverend George Croly and William Brockedon. All admirers of David Roberts will want to own this very special boxed edition.
...read more
3 volume boxed set
320 + 288 + 32 pp.247 color plates
21X29cm
100.00
Early Persian Painting
Kalila and Dimna Manuscripts of the Late 14th Century
Bernard O’KaneKalila wa Dimna (or The Fables of Bidpai) is one of the gems of world culture, having been translated through the centuries everywhere from China to Spain. The stories of Kalila wa Dimna, like the Fables of Aesop or Lafontaine, are subtle and suggestive moral tales—a kind of repository of wisdom and understanding about the human condition. It was the most commonly illustrated medieval Islamic text. This book focuses on the group of seven Persian manuscripts from the second half of the fourteenth century, which contain several of the finest masterpieces of Persian painting. It is a work of enormous erudition and scholarly importance, a huge contribution for art historians and students interested in Persian painting and early Islamic art. In a world now besotted with images, these superb early paintings can give us a glimpse of the power and delight that they must have given their original viewers, and help explain the work’s attractiveness throughout the ages. “These pages will remain forever as a basic tool for all further work on this particular text and as a model for the study of illustrated manuscripts in general”—Oleg Grabar, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton
...read more
Hardbound
336 pp.50 b/w, 91 color illus.
25X28cm
35.00