Rare Ibn Battuta manuscript sells for nearly Dh1 million
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Peter Harrington, a London-based rare book dealer, sold a 700-year-old manuscript of Ibn Battuta’s Rihla at the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair for almost Dh1 million.
The Rihla details Ibn Battuta’s travels from 1325 to 1333, starting in Tangier and extending through regions including the Hejaz, the Gulf, and Central Asia. This manuscript preserves Ibn Battuta’s account of his journeys through these areas, offering one of the earliest eyewitness descriptions of the region and a key record of medieval travel.
The manuscript includes a significant account of the Hajj, one of only three major medieval firsthand descriptions of the pilgrimage. It also provides the earliest known description of the southern Gulf after the rise of New Hormuz in 1300, detailing visits to locations in present-day Oman, Sharjah, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia, and documenting pearl fishing practices. Only seven complete or incomplete copies of the Rihla are known to exist worldwide, with most being partial or abridged versions.
Harrington has regularly participated in book fairs in the UAE since 2016, previously offering other valuable items like a First Folio of Shakespeare and manuscripts by Ibn Sina.
