March II 2021 Catalogue

B a u m a n R a r e B o o k s F a i t h 2 0 2 1 66 First Edition Of Burton’s Rarest Title, His Travel Narrative Of El-Medinah And Mecca 67. BURTON, Richard Francis. Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to El-Medinah and Meccah. London, 1855-56. Three volumes. Octavo, early 20th-century three-quarter navy morocco gilt. $11,000. Click for More Info First edition of “a most remarkable work of the highest value” (T.E. Lawrence), Burton’s scarce and lushly illustrated narrative of his journey to Mecca, handsomely bound. After years of studying Muslim customs and manners, Burton offered his services to the Royal Geographical Society “for the purpose of removing that opprobrium to modern adventure, the huge white blot which in our maps still notes the Eastern and Central Regions of Arabia” (Penzer, 44). Burton resolved to wend his way to Mecca to observe Muslim rites witnessed by few westerners. Donning a variety of disguises and learning the mannerisms common to Islam— how to dress, eat, sit, sleep, pray, etc.—Burton was accepted as a native. Over the course of his journey he visited the prophet Muhammad’s tomb (which was located not, as many Christians had hitherto believed, in Mecca, but in Medina); commented extensively on the practice of female circumcision; and brought back the first accurate observations by a Westerner on the holiest of Muslim holy cities, Mecca. In his bibliography of Burton’s works, Norman Penzer remarks, “I questioned Colonel Lawrence [i.e., “Lawrence of Arabia”] about the accuracy of Burton’s description of the journey to Mecca and Medina, and he said that it was absolutely correct in every detail” (Penzer, 7). Bound without publisher’s catalogue. First several leaves of Volumes I and II with some chipping to edges not affecting text, rehinged and with some expert repairs affecting frontispieces, title pages, and two folding maps, minor rubbing to joints, morocco-gilt bindings sound and quite handsome. An extremely good copy.