Origins.

London: Chroniclers,, 1989. First and sole edition, number 107 of an unspecified but presumably very small edition; presentation copy from the author, inscribed on the front free endpaper, "?S. M. Lisburn with best wishes, Lucien Gubbay, 24.10.90". An online search of institutional libraries locates one copy only, at University of California. "Origins traces the history over the past two hundred and fifty years of several Jewish families from the Near East whose descendants now live in Europe or the Americas. It also deals with the beginnings, the development and the eventual destruction of the most ancient Jewish communities of the Arab world. Of particular interest to English readers is the account of how a few Jewish families acquired British nationality in the Ottoman Empire during the early years of the nineteenth century" (jacket blurb). Origins was the basis for Gubbay's later book Two Worlds (2004). Gubbay has written a number of books that focus on Jewish history, including Sunlight and Shadow: The Jewish Experience of Islam (2001) and, with Abraham Levy, The Sephardim: Their Glorious Tradition from the Babylonian Exile to the Present Day (1992). Octavo. Illustrated throughout with plates from photographs and genealogical tables. Original grey cloth, gilt-lettered spine and front cover. With dust jacket. Jacket spine sunned, with a few light scratches at foot. An excellent copy.