Travels to the City of the Caliphs,

Wellsted's classic work on Arabia and the Persian Gulf. Much of this work is based on the travels of Lieut. Ormsby, conveyed to Wellsted verbally or through manuscripts. He travelled to Muscat, Gambrun, Bushire, Basra, Bagdad, Damascus and Tripoli, as well as in the eastern Mediterranean, before retracing his tracks to return to India. The voyage to Arabia and Socotra is Wellsted's own.

Wellsted's short career was almost entirely devoted to surveying and exploration of the Red Sea, Arabia and Oman during a number of expeditions between 1830 and 1837, including being the first European to venture into the Omani interior. His death at the age of 37 was attributed to a failed suicide attempt made in the grip of fever while exploring Oman.

First edition; 2 vols, 8vo (22.5 x 15 cm); 2 lithographed frontispieces, folding map in vol. I, contemporary ownership inscription to first blanks; contemporary polished calf, gilt red and green morocco lettering pieces, spines lightly rubbed, scuff marks to covers, neat repairs to spines, a very good set; xvi, 405; viii, 347 pp.