First edition. With a portrait frontispiece of the author, 6 engraved maps and plans (2 folding) and a few in-text illustrations. 4to. Later half green morocco with marbled paper boards, the spine with raised bands ruled in gilt. Browned, some pages severely so. Quite a few quires uncut. Bookplate to upper pastedown and ffep. [4], xxvi, 668pp. London, John Murray, 1822.
In this work Burckhardt describes his famous travels to Petra: “In following the rivulet of Eldjy westwards the valley soon narrows again; and it is here that the antiquities of Wady Mousa begin. Of these I regret that I am not able to give a very complete account: but I knew well the character of the people around me; I was without protection in the midst of a desert where no traveller had ever before been seen; and a close examination of these works of the infidels, as they are called, would have excited suspicions that I was a magician in search of treasures… Future travellers may visit the spot under the protection of an armed force… and the antiquities of Wady Mousa will then be found to rank amongst the most curious remains of ancient art” (pp. 421-422).
