[RA’S AL-GHOUL / CONQUEST OF YEMEN / YA KABIKAJ] كتاب فتوح اليمن المعرف برأس الغول/ Kitâb futûh al-Yaman al-ma’ruf bi-Ra’s al-ghûl [i.e., The book of the conquests of Yemen, known as the Head of the Ghoul]

ABU AL-HASAN BAKRÎ (Ahmad ibn ‘Abd Allah) (13th-14th centuries). Jurnal Kevakib al-Misrî / Matbaat al-Kastiliyah, Cairo, AH 1297 Jumada I [= 30 April 1880 CE]. Contemporary burgundy quarter calf. Roy. 8vo. (24 x 16 cm). In Arabic. 144 p. Occasionally browned and foxed on pages and edges, fading on the boards. Marginal manuscript notes in Arabic on the first four pages. On the colophon page, the phrase “Yâ Kabîkaj” is handwritten. In Islamic culture, this name refers both to a jinn believed to be the protector of books and paper, and to the bookworm itself. Traditionally, writing this invocation inside a book was believed to protect it from worms and other pests. Overall, a very good copy. Scarce second Castel edition (third in the literature) of this book attributed to Hasan al-Bakrî, featuring popular historical and legendary tales of a highly romanticized and mythologized account of the Islamic expansion into Yemen. The work recounts early Muslim warriors' Islamic conquests and hero