Mecca and Bahrain

The scarce original printing of Schefer's translation of the Safarnama, an eleventh century account of a pilgrimage to Mecca from Persia and return via Bahrain.

Nasir was born in 1003 (394 A. H.) in Kubdiyan in the district of Balkh. In 1045 he went on pilgrimage to Mecca which he visited four times in the next six years. The description of his pilgrimage, the Safarnama, 'is an exceedingly valuable source of the most varied information' (Encyclopaedia of Islam, Brill, 1987, vol. vi, p. 870). The author includes much information on Jeddah and Mecca.

In 1051, on his return journey, Nasir visited the town of al-Ahsa (Lahsa) in the coastal province of Bahrain. According to Sir Arnold Wilson al-Ahsa (Lahsa) was originally a fortress in Bahrain not far from Hajar, the ancient capital of the district (The Persian Gulf, 1928, p. 87). He describes Nasir-i Khusraw's relation of al-Ahsa as 'a most enlightening and interesting account of the history and social conditions of the place in his time'.

8vo; 4 chromolithograph plates, Persian text with coloured decorated title and headpiece; modern half cloth over marbled boards, a very good copy; [iii], lviii, 348, 97 [Persian text] pp.

Macro BAP 1686; Wilson p.156.