SHAW, Thomas (1694-1757). Travels, or Observations relating to Several Parts of Barbary and the Levant. Oxford, 1738. 1ST EDITION.
SHAW, Thomas (1694-1757). Travels, or Observations relating to Several Parts of Barbary and the Levant. Oxford, 1738. 1ST EDITION.
Folio (343 x 212 mm). 12 engraved maps (7 folding), 20 engraved plates, numerous engraved and woodcut headpieces, initials, and illustrations; half-title, title printed in red and black, engraved vignette on title-page. Contemporary calf (rebacked, preserving spine label). Provenance: Rev. Peter Gunning, Farnborough (his bookplate, possibly his purchase note); Joseph Griffiths Swayne (bookplate); Dorothy C. Heckell (bookplate). FIRST EDITION. "Thomas Shaw, who travelled in North Africa, Egypt, the Sinai Desert, Palestine and Syria in the 1720s, can in many respects be considered the precursor of later and enlightened writers on the Arab world such as the Russell brothers and John Lewis Burckhardt. His aim to provide a 'natural history,' especially of Algeria, where he was appointed chaplain to the factory of English merchants in 1720 and where he spent thirteen years, the valuable information -- botanical, zoological and topographical -- which his Travels contain, his habit of giving a number of toponyms in Arabic characters, the care he took to copy Roman inscriptions in North Africa and hieroglyphics in Egypt, and finally, the exceptionally good plates and maps in his work, all entitled Shaw to a place among the most observant and reliable visitors to the east" (Hamilton, Europe and the Arab World p. 40). Cox I, 377; Nissen ZBI 3839; Roehricht 1352.
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SHAW, Thomas (1694-1757). Travels, or Observations relating to Several Parts of Barbary and the Levant. Oxford, 1738. 1ST EDITION.
Folio (343 x 212 mm). 12 engraved maps (7 folding), 20 engraved plates, numerous engraved and woodcut headpieces, initials, and illustrations; half-title, title printed in red and black, engraved vignette on title-page. Contemporary calf (rebacked, preserving spine label). Provenance: Rev. Peter Gunning, Farnborough (his bookplate, possibly his purchase note); Joseph Griffiths Swayne (bookplate); Dorothy C. Heckell (bookplate). FIRST EDITION. "Thomas Shaw, who travelled in North Africa, Egypt, the Sinai Desert, Palestine and Syria in the 1720s, can in many respects be considered the precursor of later and enlightened writers on the Arab world such as the Russell brothers and John Lewis Burckhardt. His aim to provide a 'natural history,' especially of Algeria, where he was appointed chaplain to the factory of English merchants in 1720 and where he spent thirteen years, the valuable information -- botanical, zoological and topographical -- which his Travels contain, his habit of giving a number of toponyms in Arabic characters, the care he took to copy Roman inscriptions in North Africa and hieroglyphics in Egypt, and finally, the exceptionally good plates and maps in his work, all entitled Shaw to a place among the most observant and reliable visitors to the east" (Hamilton, Europe and the Arab World p. 40). Cox I, 377; Nissen ZBI 3839; Roehricht 1352.
Books and Manuscripts
