RARE critical edition of a biography of the renowned blind Arab philosopher, poet and writer Al`-Ma`ari (973-1057), known as a `pessimistic freethinker` and a controversial rationalist of his time, who cited reason as the chief source of truth. This biography was written by an eminent 17th-century Syrian man of letters Yusuf Al-Badi`i (d.1662). Contains a b&w plate. 245x175mm. 176 pages. Softcover. Cover and spine yellowing and stained. Cover corners and edges worn. Spine worn. Spine edges and hinges bumped and peeling. Spine rear hinge upper edge cracked. Cover coming loose from binding between front cover and title page. Light water-stain on extreme pages bottom corner/edge. Title page partly missing. Extreme pages browning. Small stain on plate; plate bottom edge water-stained - NO damage to text. Pages yellowing and rough-cut as published. [SUMMARY]: This extremely rare critical edition of an influential text in the history of literary criticism in Medieval Arabic-Islamic culture is otherwise in good condition.