THE FIRST CHRISTIAN KNOWN TO COMPLETE A PILGRIMAGE TO MECCA

BURCKHARDT, John Lewis [i.e., Johann Ludwig]. Notes on the Bedouins and Wahabys, Collected During His Travels in the East. London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, 1831. Two volumes. Octavo, period-style three-quarter polished tan calf gilt, raised bands, contemporary marbled boards. $4200.

Second edition (first octavo edition) of the celebrated traveler’s observations and impressions of Bedouins and Wahabis, in contemporary boards.

"The first foreigner in the 19th century to write at length about the Middle East, to an awed audience, was Johann Ludwig Burckhardt, a Swiss scholar who learned Arabic and was hired by an association in England to explore the Sahara. He became sidetracked in the Middle East and in 1812 found forgotten Petra in Transjordan, journeyed up the Nile and discovered Abu Simbel and finally, disguised as one Sheikh Ibrahim ibn Abdullah, completed a pilgrimage to Mecca, the first Christian known to have done so" (Vaczek and Buckland, 46-47). "Daring and yet prudent, a close and accurate observer, with an intimate knowledge of the people among whom he traveled, their manners and their language, he was able to accomplish feats of exploration which to others would have been impossible" (DNB). With folding frontispiece map in Volume I. First published as a single quarto volume in 1830. Wilson, 34. See: Howgego I:B76; Brunet I:1401; Graesse I:575. Booksellers' small blindstamp. Owner inscription in Volume I largely effaced.

Text generally clean, light foxing to map. Marginal closed tear to pages 353-54, Volume II, affecting only running head. Mild rubbing to contemporary marbled boards. Near-fine condition.