London, Longmans, 1855-56.
Finely bound set. Widely regarded as one of the greatest works of travel ever published, Burton's Pilgrimage to Mecca is rarely found in such a handsome binding.
Burton was the first English Christian to enter Mecca freely as a true Mohammedan pilgrim (travelling in disguise as an Afghan Pathan) and the first European to travel between the Holy Cities by the eastern route. Burton had originally intended to cross the peninsula but was frustrated by fierce fighting among the interior tribes. He spent a month at Medina before going on to Mecca where he performed all the rituals of the Hajj.
First edition; 3 vols, 8vo, xiv, 1(errata), 388; iv, 426; x, 1 (list of plates), 448 pp., half-title in vol. III, folding map, 5 coloured plates, 3 plans of which 2 folding, 9 plain plates, fine red straight-grained morocco gilt with gilt device of Robert Tyndall Hamilton Bruce (1847-1899), spines gilt, by Zaehnsdorf, green silk endpapers with gilt device of R.T.H. Bruce, gilt edges, tiny light water stain to 2 plates vol. III, a fine set.
Abbey Travel 368; Ghani p62; Penzer pp.43-50.
Burton was the first English Christian to enter Mecca freely as a true Mohammedan pilgrim (travelling in disguise as an Afghan Pathan) and the first European to travel between the Holy Cities by the eastern route. Burton had originally intended to cross the peninsula but was frustrated by fierce fighting among the interior tribes. He spent a month at Medina before going on to Mecca where he performed all the rituals of the Hajj.
First edition; 3 vols, 8vo, xiv, 1(errata), 388; iv, 426; x, 1 (list of plates), 448 pp., half-title in vol. III, folding map, 5 coloured plates, 3 plans of which 2 folding, 9 plain plates, fine red straight-grained morocco gilt with gilt device of Robert Tyndall Hamilton Bruce (1847-1899), spines gilt, by Zaehnsdorf, green silk endpapers with gilt device of R.T.H. Bruce, gilt edges, tiny light water stain to 2 plates vol. III, a fine set.
Abbey Travel 368; Ghani p62; Penzer pp.43-50.
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