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Richard Pococke. A Description of the East, and Some Other Countries. Volume the First. [Vol. II. Part I.... (Total: 3 Items)
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Description
A Work Gibbon Praised for "Superior Learning and Dignity"
Richard Pococke. A Description of the East, and Some Other Countries. Volume the First. [Vol. II. Part I. Observations on Palestine or the Holy Land, Syria, Mesopotamia, Cyprus, and Candia. Vol. II. Part II. Observations on the Islands of the Archipelago, Asia Minor, Thrace, Greece, and some other Parts of Europe.] London: Printed for the Author, by W. Bowyer; and sold by J. and P. Knapton [and 9 others], MDCCXLIII-MDCCXLV, [1743-1745].[Vol. II. Part II bound with:] Richard Pococke. Inscriptionum Antiquarum Græc. Et Latin. Liber. Accedit, Numismatum Ptolemæorum, Imperatorum, Augustarum, et Cæsarum, in Ægypto cusorum, e Scriniis Britannicis, Catalogus. London: Typis Mandati, MDCCLII [1752].
First edition. Three folio volumes (15.8125 x 10 inches; 402 x 253 mm.). [2], vi, [8], 310; xi, [1], 268; vii, [1], 308, [8], 127, [1, blank] pages. With three engraved title page vignettes, one engraved headpiece, and typographical (i.e., letterpress) tail-pieces throughout. Complete with 178 engraved plates, fourteen of which are folding, and an engraved dedication in Volume I.
Contemporary speckled calf with triple filleted borders rolled in gilt; Volumes I and III rebacked with original spines laid down. Spines lettered and tooled in gilt in compartments, contrasting morocco lettering pieces lettered in gilt, six raised bands. Marbled endpapers, all edges sprinkled red. Some light offsetting and toning throughout, but leaves a1 and a2 of Volume II with significant marginal toning, and twentieth-century ownership inscription in blue ink to Volume II title page. Boards abraded and repaired in a few places and extremities worn. Corners bumped, exposing pasteboards, most notably on Volumes I and III. Volume II headcap perished, with leather beginning to split along the front joint (exposing cords), and lettering piece torn, affecting the "A" in "EAST." A few small tears along folds of several plates, generally not affecting images. A 2.25-inch marginal tear, expertly repaired, to lower outer corner of Ll2 in Volume I; plate XXIV of Volume II with a two-inch closed tear to middle outer edge and a 0.25-inch tear to middle inner age, unaffecting the image. A small hole in plate XCVIII of Volume III. A very small, very light water stain to middle lower margin of some plates in Volume III; plate LXXIX with a slightly larger, slightly more pronounced water stain to lower inner corner. Overall a very good copy of this famous description of the East.
"Pococke was a great traveller and visited many other places besides the East. He toured the British Isles as well, but his account of these journeys was not published until 1888-1891. He visited Egypt in 1737-38, ascending the Nile as far as Philae, and then passed into Palestine and the other places mentioned above [in his title], in 1738-1740. The work attained great celebrity. Hallam regarded Pococke as the equal of any oriental scholar. Gibbon (Decline and Fall LI, note 60) described his book as of 'superior learning and dignity,' though he objected to the confusion between what the author saw and what he heard. He became bishop of Ossory in 1765" (Cox).
Atabey 965. Blackmer 1323. Brunet IV, 750. Cox I, 224.
Auction Info
2011 April New York Signature Rare Books Auction #6053 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
April, 2011
7th-9th
Thursday-Saturday
Bids + Registered Phone Bidders: 8
Lot Tracking Activity: N/A
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