First and only edition. Hanson, 'Late Assistant Quarter-Master-General with the Field Army of the Madras Establishment', acted as ADC to Sir Miles Nightingall, commander-in-chief of the Bombay Army, on his return home from India in 1819. The party sailed on the Teignmouth, an East Indiaman, from Bombay to Suez via the Red Sea but were grounded on a sandbank in the Gulf of Aden, before landing at Jeddah where they were welcomed by the Turkish governor, newly installed following the restoration of Ottoman rule in Egypt. Having taken advice from Henry Salt, consul-general in Egypt, they decided on an overland route across the desert that would take in the 'most interesting and marvellous ruins' at Thebes.

Hanson's book is dedicated admiringly to Lady Nightingall - Florentia Darell, daughter of Sir Lionel Darell, chairman of the East India Company - who underwent 'fatigues, privations, and even dangers 'with an admirable sangfroid and 'characteristic cheerfulness'. Decidedly uncommon - the subscribers' list accounts for only 145 copies.

First and only edition; viii, [ii], 284pp., errata leaf at end, folding map; later half calf gilt, marbled boards, a very good example.