Antiquities Of 'Iraq - Ukhaidir. Iraq.

First edition, first printing, of this illustrated trilingual guide to the Abbasid fortress of Al-Ukhaidir, "where many elements of what was to become known as Muslim architecture were elaborated and developed" (Akram, p. 2). Al-Ukhaidir, located 30 miles south of Karbala, was erected around 775 CE. For the palace's mosque, the architects used ribbed vaulting, a technique also employed in the construction of Madinat al-Zahra in Andalusia. Excavations commenced in the early 20th century, Gertrude Bell surveying the site in 1909 and publishing her findings in Palace and Mosque at Ukhaidir: A Study in Early Mohammadan Architecture (1914). The fortress was added to the UNESCO Tentative List on 7 July 2000. Omar K. Akram, Nada F. Mohammed Jamil, et al., "The Importance of the heritage values of Al-Ukhaidhir palace, Karbala city, Iraq", IOP Conference Series: Materials, Science and Engineering, 2018. Small octavo. Original pale green printed wrappers, wire-stitched as issued, spine and covers lettered in black in Arabic and English. With 30 sepia and 16 half-tone plates, all captioned in Arabic, French, and English, illustrations in the text. With the ink stamp of the Directorate of Antiquities (mudiriyyat al-athar al-qadima) on Arabic cover. Wrappers neatly reattached to text block, minor loss to wrappers at spine ends, edges, and at rusted staple points, also with some staining and toning, spine lettering rubbed, corners bumped. A good copy of a fragile publication.