The Kasidah of Haji Abdu El-Yezdi

E-267. Very Good. Hardcover. Hardcover. 12mo. Published by Limited Editions Club, New York, 1937. 92 pgs. Limited and numbered copy, this is #536 of the limited edition of 1500 copies. Signed by illustrator Valenti Angelo on the colophon page. Illustrated. Slipcased. Slipcase is rubbed, worn and chipped. Bound in cloth boards with titles present to the spine and blindstamped designed boards. Boards have shelf-wear present to the extremities (spine is lightly sunned and faded). No ownership marks present. Text is clean and free of marks. Binding tight and solid. This scarce, beautiful poem, asserts that Happiness and Misery are equally divided and that Self-cultivation with due regard to others is the sole and sufficient object of human life. Written by Sir Richard Burton under the pseudonym of Hâjî Abdû El-Yezdî after his return from Mecca in 1854. The Kasîdah contains many references to 19th Century scientific and philosophical concepts, most notably the evolution of species. Nonetheless, it is a Sufi text to the core, and one of the few instances of Burton writing in the first person about his belief system, albeit under the cloak of pseudonymity. A Kasidah is a classical Arabic or Persian panegyric, which must begin with a reference to a forsaken campground, followed by a lament, and a prayer to ones comrades to halt while the memory of the departed dwellers is invoked. The same rhyme must run through the entire composition, no matter length of the poem. ; 8vo 8" - 9" tall .