A Book of Wisdom and Lies

London: Octagon Press, 1982. First Edition (presumed; no prior editions or printings cited). Octavo in pale yellow boards, gilt titles to spine; 174 pp; 23 cm Near fine; boards very clean, near imperceptible wrinkle to front board; pages clean and crisp; binding tight. Lacks jacket. Hardcover. ISBN: 900860982

Uncommon.Translation of: Sibrżne sicʹruisa Lacks jacket. | Orbeliani (სულხან-საბა ორბელიანი); (1658–1725) was a key figure of early modern Georgia: court intellectual, monk, diplomat, lexicographer, and moral satirist, active during a period of acute political pressure and cultural transition. Raised within the learned aristocracy of Kartli and closely associated with the reforming court of King Vakhtang VI, he composed the first major Georgian explanatory dictionary and the celebrated Book of Wisdom and Lies, whose fables and parables combine folkloric sharpness with ethical instruction in a manner comparable to Aesop and Near Eastern mirror-for-princes literature. His diplomatic missions to Rome and Paris sought Western alliances against Persian and Ottoman domination, exposing him to European intellectual currents but yielding little political relief. Orbeliani’s lasting importance lies in language and literature rather than diplomacy: he helped regularize literary Georgian, enriched prose narrative with irony and moral clarity, and stands as a defining voice at the hinge between Georgia’s medieval inheritance and its early Enlightenment aspirations. | Sufi Mythology, Abab Literature | Translated from the Georgian by Katharine Vivian Islamic ethics, Sufi parables, Sufi tales - Anthologies, Sufism