Author: Burton, Captain Sir Richard.
Title: THE KASîDAH (Couplets) of Hâjî Abdû Al-Yazdi a Lay of the Higher Law. Translated and Annotated by His Friend and Pupil, F.B.
Description: H.J. Cook, 1900. 3rd Ed. Thin royal 8vo. Title page in red and black. 6 leaves + [iv] + 42 leaves. Light age toning, e.ps. browned, original gilt lettered blind embossed black cloth, corners frayed, spine worn with loss, some marking, t.e.g. ¶ Limited to 250 Copies. Preface by Isabel Burton. Penzer p.99. The Kasîdah of Hâjî Abdû El-Yezdî first published privately in a very small edition in 1880 is a long English language poem written by Hâjî Abdû El-Yezdî, a pseudonym of the true author, Sir Richard Francis Burton (1821-1890). In a note to the reader, Burton claims to be the translator of the poem, to which he gives the English title Lay of the Higher Law. It is thus a pseudotranslation, pretending to have had an original Persian text, which never existed. The Kasidah is essentially a distillation of Sufi thought in the poetic idiom of that mystical tradition; Burton had hoped to bring Sufist ideas to the West.

Keywords: VOYAGES AND TRAVEL; NEAR AND MIDDLE EAST


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