Title:

The Alcoran of Mahomet translated out of Arabique into French by the Sieur Du Ryer, Lord of Malezair, and Resident for the King of France, at Alexandria. And Newly Englished, for the satisfaction of all that desire to look into the Turkish vanities.

Short title

The Alcoran of Mahomet

Title variations

Title in English

Section

Language

English

Creation date

1649

Genre

Translation of the Qur’an

Content

Translation

Content table

The translator to the Christian reader; The French Epistle to the Reader; A Summary of the Religion of the Turks; The Alcoran of Mahomet; The Life and Death of Mahomet; A needfull Caveat or Admonition for them who desire to know what use may be made of, or if there be danger in reading the Alcoran

Formal Expression

Prose

Qur'an quotations

Yes

Original

No

Source

3

Use (macro-category)

Use (micro-category)

Polemics against Islam

Bibliographical references

https://www.zotero.org/groups/2447618/euqu_european_quran/collections/AV8TFA2Z

Descriptive card

"The Alcoran of Mahomet", printed in London in 1649, constituted the first rendition of the Qur'an into English. Published in the highly unstable period of the English Civil War, the translation was instantly controversial. The title page does not identify a printer or translator. The identity of the translator and author of some of the paratexts remains uncertain. Alexander Ross, who wrote the "Needfull Caveat" that follows the translation of the Qur'an, was early on taken to be the anonymous translator but this has recently been doubted on the basis that he does not seem to have known French well enough. The publication was a best-seller in seventeenth-century England and may have been printed partly for profit.

Entry author

Emmanuelle Stefanidis