BROWN, John P.

The Dervishes; Or, Oriental Spiritualism

London: Trubner and Co., 1868. First U.K. Edition. Octavo. 20cm. Publisher's green bevelled cloth boards titled in gilt to spine. 415pp. Strong and solid, light shallow fraying and bumping to spine ends, some scuffing to corners and some cosmetic wear and discoloration to the boards; internally clean and fresh, dark blue coated endpapers, some small damage to the gutter where the front flyleaf meets the title page, illustrated throughout. A very good copy of a scarce and specialized book.

For a long period of time after publication, Brown's work on Dervishes and Sufi mysticism was not only the required text, but the only text dealing with the foundation, organization, lineages and sub sects of the Dervishes of Ottoman Constantinople and surrounding regions. Brown's primary advantage was that he was "on the ground" in the region as a US diplomat stationed in Constantinople, and he had the patronage and support in his anthropological endeavors of Edward Salisbury, Professor of Arabic and Sanskrit at Yale, and the man described as "America's first genuine 'orientalist'" [Journal of the American Oriental Society]. Clearly a labor born out of a deep interest, Brown's immersion in Dervish cultures gave rise to one of the few texts to attempt "accurate" descriptions of the distinctive traditions of Dervish like the Mevlevi, the Naqshbandi, Malami, Qadiri etc. and ventured into the minutiae of dress, dance styles, diets and domestic habits of their practitioners. A small but respectable showing on OCLC, with US holdings in the 20's, but only appearing in auction and trade in reprinted form.

Price: $450.00

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