Laborde's illustrations were, before the publication of Roberts' views, the only published visual representations of Petra available to western scholars. Laborde and his travelling companion Louis 'Linant Pasha' de Bellefonds set off for Petra from Cairo via Mt. Sinai dressed as Bedouins.

'Simon Joseph Léon Emmanuel, Marquis de Laborde (1807-1869) was a French archaeologist and politician. At the age of twenty he accompanied his father on a journey throughout most of Southern Europe and Asia Minor, drawing monuments of the East with exceptional talent. Laborde continued on to Egypt and Arabia (1828) and remained a traveller throughout his life, residing in various countries of Europe for long periods.

Laborde was secretary of the French embassy in Rome, alongside Chateaubriand. However, in 1845 he gave up his diplomatic career and dedicated himself to writing historical and literary works, while remaining in charge of the antiquities in the Musée de Louvre. He published accounts of his travels in Arabia (the present work) and Asia Minor (1838 -1862), as well as a study on the history of engraving' (Ioli Vingopoulou, for the Lacarides Foundation).

First edition. Large folio (59.5 x 41.5 cm), [4] leaves (including half-title, title, dedication and preface) 87, [1] pp., with [1] leaf plate list at rear; the title page with vignette illustration (on India paper), and with 68 plates (most on India paper) and a large folding map. The lithography is mostly by Adam for Engelmann, after drawings by Laborde. Contemporary olive green half morocco gilt, neat repairs to joints and extremities, slightly rubbed, a very good copy.

Blackmer 929; Tobler p150; Rohricht 1731.