200-year-old manuscript top draw at Abu Dhabi book fair

Abu Dhabi: A 200-year-old manuscript pertaining to Arab culture, traditions and monuments attracted a large number of visitors at the 28th edition of the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair, which concluded on Tuesday.

The rare manuscript titled ‘Sur Les Chevaux Orientaux et Provenants des Races Orientales’, which means ‘Horses from east oriental races ’, was the main attraction at the Polish pavilion. It was written in French by Waclaw Seweryn Rzewuski. Born in 1784 in Lviv, Ukraine, Rzewuski was a poet, scientist and explorer who was fascinated with the Orient.

The pavilion of Poland, which was the guest of honour this year, showcased hundreds of books translated from Polish into Arabic, English, French, German and Chinese.

Speaking to Gulf News, Artur Sobolewski, owner and publisher of Manuscriptum, the Warsaw company that brought a copy of the manuscript to the fair, said: “The original manuscript is at the National Library of Poland in Warsaw. A few years back, Saudi Arabia wanted to buy it, but the library refused to sell.”

Rzewuski spent two years in the Gulf region from 1818 to 1820. He mingled with the local community and adopted their culture, traditions and learnt a lot about the Arab lifestyle.

“This is a rare and important piece of literature by a non-Arab from the early 18th century. At that time, there were no established modes of communication. People used to receive information from person to person. Rzewuski noted all this information in his diary, which was later compiled into a manuscript,” Sobolewski said.

The manuscript details Arab culture, tradition, cuisine and attire. Rzewuski even learnt Arabic music and compiled lyrics in Arabic. He also drew a map of the Kaaba, the Grand Mosque in Makkah and its surroundings even though he never visited the place.

Sobolewski said: “Rzewuski never visited Makkah, but had read and heard a lot about it and its other sacred places in the Arab world. He lived with Arabs and adopted their culture and traditions and even accompanied them in wars in the region in 18th century.

“As many as 200 copies of the original manuscript have been made so that we can tell the world about Poland’s links to Arabian Peninsula.”

Copies of the original manuscript were on sale at the fair for €7,900 each.

Sobolewski said copies of the manuscript were presented to Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, and Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation on Friday.

Poland is celebrating the 100th anniversary of it independence this year while the UAE is celebrating the Year of Zayed to mark the 100th birth anniversary of Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan.

“So 2018 marks three celebrations — 100th anniversary of Poland’s independence, Year of Zayed and 200th anniversary of the rare manuscript written by Rzewuski in 1818,” Sobolewski said.