Volney, Constanin-Francois

Travels through Syria and Egypt I-II

G. G. J. and J. Robinson, London, 1787. First edition in English. In full leather binding, title on morocco label. Gilt spines. With marbled end papers. Some wear to hinges and some creasing to spine on vol. II as well as rubbing to corners. Otherwise very fine copies. Illustrated with copper plates. With 4 out of 5 folding plates (map of Syria missing). With small tear in edge of folding plate of the ruins of Palmyra. With ex libris of The Earl of Ilchester.

Constantin-Francois de Volney: Travels through Syria and Egypt.
In the years 1783, 1784 and 1785.
Containing the present Natural and Political State of those Countries, their Productions, Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce; with Observations on the Manners, Customs, and Government of the Turks and Arabs.

Count de Volney (1757-1820) was a French historian, travel writer and philosopher, most famous for his work 'Les Ruines' (1791) (Ruins, or Meditations on the Revolutions of Empires), but he had already made a name for himself through his travel writings. He had close ties to both Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson and was temporarily in exile in the United States during the Reign of Terror. After his return he became a close advisor to napoleon Bonaparte. Volney spent over 6 months in Egypt and nearly two years in Greater Syria learning Arabic, and upon his return to France in 1785 started work on his 'Travels through Syria and Egypt', which was published in 1787. The first english translation appeared the same year.

Volney, Constanin-Francois

Travels through Syria and Egypt I-II

Bestillingsnummer: DAB 480-49566