The author of this history, known in Europe simply as Abulfeda, was born in Damascus in 1273. He was related to the Ayubid clan, chiefly known for its most illustrious member, Saladin.
The present volume is perhaps the greatest of Abulfeda's works. Roughly translated he title is
A History of Mankind,
and it spans the period from the biblical Adam to the year 1329. Here reproduced in facsimile is the first part of this work, which is still considered to contain essential souce material for historians. It was edited by the renown orientalist, Fleischer, from two manuscripts in the Paris Library, and was first published in 1831. It is hoped that by reissuing the work, new interest in it will be stimulated.