Rare texts and art attract buyers at Abu Dhabi Book Fair
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At the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair, Inlibris, an Austrian rare-book dealer, is offering historical items for sale, including ancient manuscripts and artwork.
Yasser Raad, director of Inlibris, is displaying a fragment of Homer’s Iliad written on papyrus around 1,800 years ago, alongside another ancient manuscript from the same poet. These fragments appeal to museums, libraries, and collectors who aim to preserve historically important materials.
The display also features a 17th-century Bible, priced at €65,000, that was given as a wedding gift and once belonged to a German princess. The Bible’s gold-plated cover is decorated with precious stones and a design symbolizing the wedding. In addition, collectors can view a set of five Japanese picture scrolls from 1658, which, when fully unrolled, measure nine metres long and depict a story of romance, revenge, and war, and are priced at €450,000.
Beyond books and scrolls, the stand presents an early 20th-century photograph of the “Sheikh of Sharjah” taken by British naval officer Charles Courtenay Bell during his travels in the Gulf region. The collection includes a bronze sculpture of Sheikh Zayed’s favourite falcon, “No. 1,” created by British artist David Cemmick after being invited to Abu Dhabi in 2000 to study the ruler’s birds.
Raad noted that another sculpture of the falcon, potentially made for Sheikh Zayed, may still be located elsewhere.
