The Life and Death of Mahumed, the Author of the Turkish Religion. Being an Account of His Tribe, Parents, Birth, Name, Education, Marriages, Filthiness of Life, Alcoran, First Proseytes, Wards, Doctrines, Miracles, Advancement, &c.

London, William Croke, 1679. . First edition, collation: [8], 136pp, 8vo (180 x 115 mm); pen trials to title verso and final leaf footer, light dampstaining and browning (mostly to margins), upper margin shaved touching a few pagination numerals, mispaginated but complete; contemporary sheep, worn, upper cover near detached, housed in modern drop-box. The first edition of Lancelot Addison's (1632-1703) biography of the Prophet Muhammad and examination of Muslim teachings. A scholarly work much informed by Addison's seven years living amongst the Jews and Muslims of Tangier, The Life and Death of Mahumed presented a revisionist account of the history of Islam 'free' from the 'many ridiculous but usual Stories... which the present Mahumedans laugh at as the malitious Inventions of the Enemies of their Prophet' (Epistle Dedicatory). It was published during the short-lived English colony at Tangier in north western Morocco, where Addison had been stationed from 1663 to 1670 as chaplain to the unfortunate garrison. The territory was acquired in the marriage treaty of Charles II with Portugal, but proved a sore thumb in England's colonial ambitions from the beginning. Shortly after Addison's arrival the newly appointed governor Andrew Rutherford, 1st earl of Teviot was killed in an ambush which left nearly 500 soldiers dead. Addison lamented the loss of man who 'would have made Tanger as famous an English Colony as it was once a Roman' (The Moores Baffled, pp.25-2). An uncommon work, ESTC records only 11 copies in institutional collections. It was reissued the same year under the revised title The First State of Mahumedism. ESTC R33059; Wing A523.