“THE FIRST MODERN DESCRIPTION OF THE VALLEY OF THE KINGS”: FIRST EDITION OF POCOCKE’S DESCRIPTION OF THE EAST, 1743-45, WITH 178 SPLENDID ENGRAVED FOLIO PLATES OF EGYPT AND THE HOLY LAND

POCOCKE, Richard. A Description of the East, and Some Other Countries. London: Printed for the Author by W. Bowyer, 1743-45. Two volumes. Tall folio (10-1/2 by 16-1/2 inches), contemporary full speckled brown calf rebacked, raised bands, red and navy morocco spine labels.    $16,000.

Rare first edition of Pococke’s significant account of his extensive travels in Egypt, Syria, Palestine, Mesopotamia, Cyprus, Greece and Asia Minor, copiously illustrated with 178 spectacular large engraved plates and maps (several folding) depicting plans, views, monuments, architectural details and botanical specimens.

The Rev. Richard Pococke was “an inveterate traveller and his detailed descriptions, comments and measurements are invaluable for a number of monuments that disappeared between his visit to Egypt in 1737-38 and the French and German records not a hundred years later” (Clayton, 13). At first, Pococke’s only intention was “to give the world the plans he had taken of the Egyptian buildings, together with some drawings of them, and to add an account and designs of all the different orders of Egyptian architecture… By persuasion of some friends, [he has also provided] an account of his travels, and of several accidents, that might give an insight into the customs and manners of the people so different from our own, in order to render the work more acceptable to the generality of readers” (Preface). “Pococke’s work attained great celebrity. Hallam regarded Pococke as the equal of any oriental scholar. Gibbon described his book as of ‘superior learning and dignity’” (Cox I:224). “His account of the Valley provides us with the first modern description of its landscape… This first map of the Valley has become, in part, a sort of treasure map” (Romer, 32-33). The map of Jerusalem by Thomas Jefferys, moreover, is considered one of the first scientific maps of Jerusalem, with the aspect of the city from a vertical viewpoint, the way one would see it today, oriented toward the north. Volume II appeared in two parts with separate title pages containing engraved vignettes and dedication page by Gravelot. Plate 33 of Volume I was never issued. Brunet IV:750. Armorial bookplates of two Barons Willoughby de Broke. Early shelf notations to endpapers.

Plates and text quite fresh, with only occasional minor faint foxing, a few instances of very faint marginal dampstaining. Bindings quite handsome. An exceptional copy of one of the finest travel narratives of the time.