LABORDE, Leon de. Journey through Arabia Petraea, to Sinai, and the Excavated City of Petra, the Edom of the Prophecies. London, John Murray, 1836.
8vo. Publisher's original cloth, central panel in blind to upper cover, lettered in gilt to spine; pp. xxviii, 331; lithographic frontispiece, one folding engraved map, 1 single-page engraved plan of Petra, 14 engraved plates of views and 10 lithographs of views and artefacts, numerous wood-engraved vignettes (a few full-page); fading to spine and partly to cover, small nicks to cloth at head of spine, some spotting to many plates, as usual (but retainig tissue guards), a good tight copy and relatively well-preserved in the original cloth; provenance: contemporary armorial engraved bookplate of Edmund Edward Meyrick, on Cefn Coch in Wales inside front cover, Bangor bookseller's ticket above; later rubber stamp of Joseph Lowrey on opposite fly-leaf.
First English edition (first in French, 1830) of this highly illustrated travelogue. 'Laborde travelled with the well-known Linant de Bellefonds, who at the time was in service with Mehmet Ali as an hydraulic engineer. They set out from Cairo in February 1828, where Laborde had established himself after his long journey in Asia Minor and Syria (1826-7), and made their way to Petra via Suez and Mt. Sinai. Both Burckhardt and Mangles had explored Petra before Laborde but Laborde was the first to be able to make plans, views and maps of the area. An important work' (Blackmer 929). This English translation is enlarged by two additional chapters; one about the ancient region of Idumea and the other with a summary of the reports on Petra by earlier travellers.
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