Early Printed Koran in English, 1795

George Sale (1697 – 1736) was an Orientalist and practicing solicitor.  Besides helping with this project, he was author of The General Dictionary, in ten volumes, folio, but is widely known by his translation of the Qur'an.  Sale was, until his death, a member of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. He acquired a library with valuable rare manuscripts of Persian, Turkish, and Arabic origins (which is now held in the Bodlein Library, Oxford). His family consisted of a wife and five children.  Sale was a scholar of considerable literary talent, but very few particulars have been transmitted to us by his contemporaries.  He was educated at the King's School, Canterbury.  In 1720, he became a student of the Innder Temple.

Sale reportedly spent 25 years in Arabia, thus acquiring his knowledge of the Arabic language and customs during this time; but evidence of dates and facts refute this, such notion are dismissed as fictions by which biography have often been encumbered and disgraced.  It is known that he trained as a solicitor in his early years but took time off from his legal pursuits (returning as need to this profession).   He took the time to apply himself in the study of the eastern and other languages, both ancient and modern.  Mr. Dadichi, the king's interpreter, helped Sale in his studies of oriental dialects.   Sale was an early member of a society that was established for the encouragement of learning.  The society helped finance the cost of publishing for authors.  Sale was also a corrector of the Arbic New Testament (1726) issued by the S.P.C.K.

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In 1734, the Oriental scholar published the translation of the Qur'an, dedicated to John Lord Carteret.  This was the first English translation directly from Arabic.  Sale provided numerous notes and a "Preliminary Discourse" which was manifest with in-depth knowledge of Eastern habits, manners, traditions, and laws.  Voltaire bestowed high praise on Sale's version of the Koran.  Sale did not, however, place Islam at an equal level with Christianity. 

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