VENTURE DE PARADIS, JEAN-MICHEL / JAUBERT, PIERRE AMÉDÉE EMILIEN PROBE: - Grammaire et dictionnaire abrégés de la langue Berbère, revus par P. Amédée Jaubert. Paris, Imprimerire Royale, 1844.

. 4to. Pp. (iv), xxiv, 236. With French and Arabic text. Uncut copy bound in recent half calf, spine ruled in gilt and with title label. Some foxing throughout, mainly in margins. First edition of this rare work which had been preserved in MSS form at the Bibliothèque Nationale after Venture's death (1799). In 1844 Amédée Jaubert arranged with printing and it was included in "Recueil de voyages et de mémoires, Société de Géographie" (volume 7). Venture, renowned French orientalist and the king's interpreter for oriental languages. He held various positions of dragoman in Syria, Egypt, and North Africa and was chief interpreter to Napoleon on his expedition to Egypt. However, he had not studied Arabic in academic circles. Venture advocated for the need to study oriental languages in order to promote commercial and political relations. The Berber languages are spoken by groups on the North African coast and far down into the Sahara. Venture incorrectly treats it as a single language but nevertheless his work seems to be one of the earliest of importance on the Berber language(s).Comprises an advertisement by Jaubert and a bibliographical note on Venture by Edme François Jomard (a travel companion in the Egyptian expedition). At end a chapter including Venture's itineraries from North Africa in 1788 which are part of Raynal's papers in the Bibliothèque Nationale. They are mainly devoted to geographical observations. Playfair, Algeria, no 1031. Playfair, Morocco, no 660. Irwin, p.138. Not in Vater, Zaunmüller or Zenker.

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