A Journal from Calcutta in Bengal, by sea, to Busserah:

Scarce first edition of this early description of a journey from Calcutta to Aleppo by way of the Gulf.

Under the employment of the East India Company the author journeyed from India to Basra, stopping at Bandar Abbas, Hormuz, and Bushehr, before trekking through the desert to Baghdad and Aleppo. He describes in detail the town of Bandar Abbas and its inhabitants, including a mention of the pearl trade from Bahrain and Indian immigrant settlers. It wouldn't be long after this journey that, in 1763, most British and Dutch merchants would relocate to Bushehr amid the rise in influence of the Immamate of Oman.

Plaisted also describes his trek cross the Iraq desert, and includes a list of essentials for desert travel including a camel or two, water skins, the right sort of tent, etc., but also bottles of liquor, copper plates and cutlery, as well as describing how to properly wear a turban and use green glass as rudimentary eye wear. He also encountered several caravans of the marsh Arabs and conveys some sense of the internal politics of the local Sheikhs.

At the end Plaisted includes advice from a friend, 'Capt. Eliot', who gives instructions 'for passing over the Little Desart, from Busserah by the way of Baghdad, Mousul, Orfa and Aleppo'. 'A useful, entertaining, sensible little work' (Lowndes).

Scarce with the first edition in only 4 UK institutions (Edinburgh, National Trust, Oxford, RGS, not in BL).

First edition; 8vo (17 x 10.5 cm); armorial bookplate to pastedown; contemporary speckled calf, gilt ruled boards, spine in six gilt ruled compartments, expert restoration to joints, a near fine copy; [4], 222 pp.

Cox I, p.296; Wilson p.307; Roscoe A408/1.