Includes bibliographical references and index.

Part I. Learning Arabic in Renaissance Europe (1505-1624): Introductory Remarks -- 1. 'The Books' -- 2. 'The Teachers' -- 3. 'The Rules' -- Supplement -- Part II. The Arabic and Persian Studies of Giovan Battista Raimondi (c. 1536-1614): 4. The Alphabetum Arabicum -- 5. The Grammars of 1592 -- 6. The Liber Tasriphi -- 7. Arabic Grammar Translated in Manuscript -- 8. Grammars of Persian Translated in Manuscript -- Concluding Remarks -- -- Appendix 1. The Identification of a copy of Bartholomaeus Radtmann's Introductio in linguam arabicam, Frankfurt a.d. Oder, 1592, now in the British Library -- Appendix 2. Systems of Transliteration -- Appendix 3. Saltini's Manuscript Descriptions Extended -- Appendix 4. Raimondi's General Comments on Arabic and Persian and Other Languages -- Appendix 5. Raimondi's Latin Translation of a Passage from Avicenna's Arabic Canon -- Appendix 6. The List of Grammars and Dictionaries in Raimondi's MS. Catalogue with Their Identification and Present-Day Location -- -- Appendix 7. Raimondi's Parsing of a Passage from the Lead Books of Granada-- Bibliography -- Index.

"From the first Arabic grammar printed at Granada in 1505 to the Arabic editions of the Dutch scholar Thomas Erpenius (d.1624), some audacious scholars - supported by powerful patrons and inspired by several of the greatest minds of the Renaissance - introduced, for the first time, the study of Arabic language and letters to centres of learning across Europe. These pioneers formed collections of Arabic manuscripts, met Arabic-speaking visitors, studied and adapted the Islamic grammatical tradition, and printed editions of Arabic texts - most strikingly in the magnificent books published by the Medici Oriental Press at Rome in the 1590s. Robert Jones' findings in the libraries of Florence, Leiden, Paris and Vienna, and his contribution to the history of grammar, are of enduring importance".