Leading rare book dealer Peter Harrington returns to the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair this year with a collection of rare books, manuscripts, maps and archives tracing more than six centuries of Middle Eastern history from the medieval period to the twentieth century, documenting pilgrimage, religion, diplomacy, exploration, transport, archaeology and the formation of the modern Middle East.
A highlight of this year’s offering is Ludolphus de Suchen’s Iter ad Terram Sanctam (Journey to the Holy Land), among the earliest printed eyewitness accounts of medieval life in the Levant, printed in Strassburg between 1475 and 1480. It will be offered for sale at £200,000.
The work is regarded as the most valuable fourteenth-century European account of the Holy Land under the Mamluk Sultanate. It predates Bernhard von Breydenbach’s famous Peregrinatio in Terram Sanctam (1483). Peter Harrington has traced only two other copies of this edition to have appeared on the market in the past sixty years.
The German cleric Ludolphus de Suchen travelled between 1336 and 1341. More than a travel narrative, his account served as a practical guide for medieval pilgrims, offering advice on navigation, routes to celebrated and lesser-known holy sites, and places to stay along the journey.
Its enduring importance lies in the vivid detail of its observations. Ludolphus records the appearance of religious monuments and buildings, and describes everyday life among the region’s various communities, paying unusual attention to the interactions between Muslims, Christians and Jews.
From Egypt, where he visits the Red Sea coast, he sets off for Palestine. He describes the contemporary appearance and decorated architecture of Acre. Visiting Gaza, Caesarea, Deir Yassin (where he sees a church adorned with beautiful mosaics and marble), and Dura, south of Hebron, with its hospice run by local Muslims.
In Hebron, he visits the holy site containing the tombs of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their wives. In Jerusalem, he undertakes the customary pilgrimage to Bethlehem, Mount Calvary, the Holy Sepulchre, the village of Zakariyya, the Valley of Jehoshaphat, Jericho, and Bethany. He also visits the less frequented destinations of Bela on the Dead Sea, Ar-Ramtha in present-day Jordan, and Sychar near Nablus, before continuing to Damascus.
Peter Harrington’s presentation at this year’s Abu Dhabi International Book Fair explores the region through a much wider selection of rare books, manuscripts and archives that would appeal to both private and institutional collectors in the region.
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:
- Three rare works documenting the construction of the Hejaz Railway, including an important official Ottoman map issued in 1903 while the railway was still under construction; the first contemporary Western eyewitness account of the opening of the Damascus–Ma’an section of the railway, published in 1905; and a rare Ottoman decree of 1914 authorising construction of the railway’s northern extension through Jenin and Nablus in Palestine during the opening months of the First World War.
- Rare material relating to Palestine during the late Ottoman and British Mandate periods, including A Guide-Book to Central Palestine, edited by a colleague of T. E. Lawrence in the Arab Bureau, and archive material relating to the Palestine Police Force, documenting the region during a period of profound political and social change.
- Private and apparently unpublished photographs of scenes from Howard Carter’s (1874-1939) excavations of Tutankhamun’s tomb in the Valley of Kings – captured by a British tourist couple who happened to visit around the time of Carter’s groundbreaking discovery.
- An Ottoman Turkish edition of General Savary’s History of Bonaparte, printed at the Alexandria Palace Press in 1833. One of the earliest biographies of Napoleon published in the Middle East, it recounts his Egyptian expedition, including the landing at Alexandria, the Battle of Aboukir, the march into Upper Egypt, and the campaigns at Gaza and Jaffa.
Peter Harrington has exhibited in the UAE since 2016. The Middle East region currently accounts for between 15 and 20 per cent of the firm’s international sales, with the majority of buyers comprising regional museums and libraries, government institutions and private collectors.
The UAE remains Peter Harrington’s largest market in the region, alongside a growing collector base in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain. Working closely with both private and institutional clients, the firm’s specialist booksellers advise on building collections ranging from medieval manuscripts and Islamic printing to travel, exploration and the political history of the Middle East.
Peter Harrington will exhibit at Abu Dhabi International Book Fair (13-18 September 2026), stand 5A15.
