The fourth and least common of Buckingham’s works, relating to his travels in the Near and Middle East, made when journeying to and from India. It importantly contains an early description of Ras al-Khaimah, which Buckingham entered as part of an official British mission in 1816.
Buckingham commenced his journey by joining a caravan to Persia, visiting Kermanshah, Hamadan, Isfahan and Shiraz. He then proceeded to Bushire, where he was given the opportunity to explore both the Persian and Arabian coasts of the Gulf.
Travels in Assyria… includes a fascinating account of the pearl fisheries on the Arabian coast near Bahrain and Qatar, with a discussion of the decidedly imperfect mapping of that coast. Kuwait (Graine) is described, as is a diplomatic mission to the so-called “pirate chief” Hassan bin Rahma Al Qasimi, Sheikh of Ras al-Khaimah (see Lorimer’s Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, Historical Section, pp.654-656, for an official British perspective on the mission; and Sultan Muhammad Al Qasimi’s The Myth of Arab Piracy in the Persian Gulf, for a rebuttal of Lorimer’s stance on the Al Qasimi’s role in piracy).
Buckingham’s description of the mission and his further comments on the military strength of the Sheikh and his allies on the Trucial Coast and inland — together with a geographical description of the area — is probably the first such description to have been printed in any language.
The book was published first in quarto, and subsequently, in 1830, in this two-volume octavo edition.
Provenance: John Brinton, American businessmen, journalist and book collector. Brinton wrote several articles on rare books for Saudi Aramco World and built a large library on the Middle East. A short pencil note to the front pastedown of vol.I records that he purchased this book at Francis Edwards in June 1956.
Macro, 608; cf. Wilson, p34 (listing the 2nd ed.); not in Blackmer or Hamilton.
