[CARNE, JOHN]. Syria, the Holy Land, Asia Minor, &c., Illustrated. In a Series of Views from Nature by W. H. Bartlett, William Purser, &c., with Descriptions of the Plates by John Carne, Esq. London: Fisher, Son, & Co., 1836-38.
FIRST EDITION. Complete in three volumes [first series 1836, second series 1837, third series 1838], leather bound, hardcover, quarto (27.5 x 21 cm), pp. [6], ii, 80; [2], 76; [2], 100, [4] index. English text, the descriptions by John Carne. Handsomely bound in contemporary full leather gilt, all page edges gilt, yellow endpapers, engraved half-titles, two maps, 120 steel-engraved plates after W.H. Bartlett, William Purser, and Thomas Allom, rear index to vol. III. Condition: VERY GOOD. Bindings tight and secure, the joints and hinges perfectly intact. Some minor marks to boards. Interiors largely very well-preserved with some light spotting in the margins. Previous owner signature to front pastedowns. Scarce thus.
Notes: First edition. A superbly illustrated travel book on the Middle East from the early 19th century in three parts. Most of the views are done by W.H. Bartlett and are from his journey to the Middle East between 1834 and 1835. The plates from the last portion of the book are done after Thomas Allom, who traveled in the area between 1836 and 1837. Carne (1789-1844) travelled throughout the Ottoman Empire in 1821, recounting his adventures in a series of articles in The New Monthly Magazine; these were later published in book form as Letters From the East (1830). Carne's biographer notes that the book is singular "for the fact that there is not a single date to be found in it, except the title-page." As a work of travel writing, the current title, though beautifully illustrated, is also rather on the impressionistic side - short on physical detail and rather over-written, perhaps bolstering the same biographer's backhanded observation that "Among those who knew him, [Carne's] fame as a story-teller far exceeded his renown as a writer" (DNB). Blackmer 291. Aboussouan 187. Weber I, 1125. Cf. Howgego II, E4 (p. 194). Tobler 167.
