William McGuckin de Slane

William McGuckin (12 August 1801 – 4 August 1878), known as Baron de Slane, was an Irish orientalist, philologist, academic and Principal Interpreter to the French African Army.

Biography De Slane was born in Belfast, the son of James McGuckin and Euphemia Hughes. After graduating from Trinity College Dublin, in 1822 The society financed Joseph Toussaint Reinaud and de Slane to prepare a critical edition of Abu'l-Fida (أبو الفداء)'s Arabic geography, Taqwīm al-Buldān (تقويم البلدان) – "Locating the Lands" (1321). This was published in 1840. He served as Professor of Arabic at the École de langues orientales in Paris and from 1849 also taught Turkish. Founding Member of the Association Historique Algérienne

Selected publications

Arabic text of Abu'l-Fida's Takwin al-Buldan, one volume, 1840

Translation of a section of Ibn Battuta's rihla, 1843

Translation of Ibn Khallikan's biographical dictionary, four volumes, 1843–1871

Arabic text of Ibn Khaldun's Histoire des Berbères, 2 volumes, 1847–1851

Translation of Ibn Khaldun's Histoire des Berbères, 4 volumes, 1852–1856

Translation of Al-Bakri, 1859, one volume Revised edition with corrections (1913), Tangiers: Adolphe Jourdan.

Translation of Ibn Khaldun's Muqaddimah (Prolegomena), three volumes, 1863-1868