Book excerpt: Ibn al-Faqīh was the Iranian author of a Geography in Arabic entitled Kitāb al-buldan written around the year 903. The original work is lost, but the abridged version, possibly composed around 1022, has survived in a handful of manuscripts. Only three manuscripts were known during De Goeje’s life and he used them all for his edition, which was originally published in 1885. Its introduction includes a summary of Ibn Faqīh’s life on the basis of the classical sources by De Goeje. Ibn al-Faqīh’s Kitāb al-buldan offers geographical and historical details not found in other sources, and it was in itself an important source for later works, for example by Muqaddasī and Yāqūt.