The History of the Assassins – Joseph von Hammer (1926)

S$350.00

The History of the Assassins – Joseph von Hammer (1926)

S$350.00

An early reprint of the first book on the Order of the Assassins, first published in English in 1835, with an introduction by a prominent Indian Independence activist.

Title: The History of the Assassins, derived from Oriental Sources.

Author: Chevalier Joseph von Hammer, Oswald Charles Wood (trans), Swami Shraddhanand (intro)

Publisher: Gyanmandal Press, Benares, 1926.

Condition: Hardcover, boards. Fair. Blank leaves missing at the front and back, causing some bad restoration of tears  to front and back hinges (see photos). Binding not affected and is still tight. Slight foxing to edges, and first few pages. Text unmarked. 304pp., app 7″ by 4.5″

SKU: assassins Categories: , ,

An early reprint of the first book on the Order of the Assassins, first published in English in 1835, with an introduction by a prominent Indian Independence activist.

About the Assassins (from Wikipedia):

The Assassins were a Nizari Isma’ili sect who lived in the mountains of Persia and in Syria between 1090 and 1275. During that time, they held a strict subterfuge policy throughout the Middle East through the covert murder of first Muslim and later Christian leaders that were considered enemies of their state. The modern term assassination is based on the tactics used by the Assassins. Nizari Isma’ilism formed in the late 11th century after a succession crisis within the Fatimid Caliphate between Nizar ibn al-Mustansir and his half-brother, caliph al-Musta’li. Contemporaneous historians include Arabs ibn al-Qalanisi and Ali ibn al-Athir and the Persian Ata-Malik Juvayni. The first two referred to the Assassins as batiniyya, an epithet widely accepted by Isma’ilis themselves.