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This collection of travel narratives, primarily from the nineteenth century, describes the topography, antiquities and inhabitants of the Middle East, from Turkey, Kurdistan and Persia to Mesopotamia, Syria, Jerusalem, Sinai, Egypt and Arabia. While some travellers came to study Christian sites and manuscripts, others were fascinated by Islamic culture and still others by the remains of ancient civilizations. Among the authors are several daring female explorers.

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87 results in Cambridge Library Collection - Travel, Middle East and Asia Minor

Page 3 of 5

Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to El-Medinah and Meccah
  • Volume 3, Meccah
  • Richard Francis Burton
  • Published online:
    05 February 2013
    Print publication:
    29 December 2011
    First published in:
    1856
  • The British explorer Sir Richard F. Burton (1821–90) was a colourful and often controversial character. A talented linguist and keen ethnologist, he worked in India during the 1840s as an interpreter and intelligence officer for General Sir Charles Napier, and published several books about his experiences in 1851–2. He first gained celebrity, however, for his adventurous 1853 trip to Mecca, under the disguise of a pilgrim, which is described in this lively three-volume publication (1855–6). Few Europeans had ever visited the Muslim holy places; one of them was John Lewis Burckhardt, whose 1829 account is also reissued in this series. Volume 3 of Burton's book vividly describes the pilgrims' journey from Medina to Mecca, with catering including coffee, rice and 'occasionally … tough mutton and indigestible goat', crowded camp-sites and all-night prayers and singing. Finally he arrives at the Kaabah and witnesses the culminating ceremonies of the hajj.

In the Shadow of Sinai
  • A Story of Travel and Research from 1895 to 1897
  • Agnes Smith Lewis
  • Published online:
    05 February 2013
    Print publication:
    23 February 2012
    First published in:
    1898
  • The Scottish twin sisters Agnes Lewis (1843–1926) and Margaret Gibson (1843–1920) between them spoke modern Greek, Arabic, Hebrew, Persian and Syriac, and were pioneering biblical scholars and explorers at a time when women rarely ventured to foreign lands. The sisters made several journeys to the Monastery of St Catherine on Mount Sinai, discovering ancient biblical manuscripts, and their first two visits there were described in the 1893 publication How the Codex was Found (also available in this series). Lewis' In the Shadow of Sinai of 1898 was composed as a sequel to this work, dealing with the third and fourth journeys to Sinai, in 1895 and 1897. She gives a vivid account of the practicalities of desert travelling, as well as the excitement of the sisters and their academic colleagues as they recognised the significance of their discoveries in the monastic library.

Researches in Asia Minor, Pontus, and Armenia
  • With Some Account of their Antiquities and Geology
  • Volume 1
  • William John Hamilton
  • Published online:
    05 February 2013
    Print publication:
    26 January 2012
    First published in:
    1842
  • The diplomat and M.P. William Hamilton (1805–67) was also a keen geologist and a protégé of Sir Roderick Murchison. In 1835 he set off with a companion for the eastern Mediterranean, visiting the Ionian Islands, the Bosphorus and the volcanic area called the Katakekaumene. Hamilton then continued alone on horseback through Armenia and Asia Minor before returning to Smyrna (Izmir). Having already published some of his notes as papers for the Geological Society, he published this two-volume account in 1842. The work was praised by Alexander von Humboldt, and in 1843 it won Hamilton the founder's medal of the Royal Geographical Society (of which he was one of the secretaries from 1832 to 1854). Volume 1 describes Hamilton's outward journey to Smyrna, and the archaeological sites, geological features, landscapes and people he observed on a long series of excursions across Anatolia, as far as Trebizond and Erzurum.

The Land of Israel
  • A Journal of Travels in Palestine, Undertaken with Special Reference to its Physical Character
  • Henry Baker Tristram
  • Published online:
    05 February 2013
    Print publication:
    19 January 2012
    First published in:
    1865
  • Ornithologist and clergyman H. B. Tristram (1822–1906), who became both a Fellow of the Royal Society and Canon residentiary of Durham, began his literary career with an account of his ventures into the desert of Algeria, where he had travelled seeking a salubrious winter climate. This subsequent book, published in 1865, narrates his journey through Palestine in 1863–4. An engaging account, written for a popular audience, it combines detailed observations of antiquities, geography, and the native wildlife with scriptural quotations; its stated aim is to demonstrate that the Bible accurately describes the region. Tristram was one of the earliest public supporters of Darwin's theories, noting their relevance to his own studies in his 1859 paper 'On the Ornithology of North Africa'. This book, and his later work of 1873 The Land of Moab (also reissued in this series), illuminate the complex contemporary relationship between religion and the natural sciences.

Our Journey to Sinai
  • A Visit to the Convent of St Catarina
  • Agnes Bensly
  • Published online:
    05 February 2013
    Print publication:
    19 January 2012
    First published in:
    1896
  • First published in 1896, this work by Agnes Bensley (d. 1900), wife of the Orientalist and biblical scholar Robert Bensly (1831–93), describes the journey undertaken by a party of scholars to St Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai in 1893. In the previous year, sisters Agnes Smith Lewis and Margaret Dunlop Gibson had discovered the Sinai Palimpsest, the earliest-known Syriac version of the Gospels. The purpose of the Bensly's mission was to aid them in transcribing and deciphering the Palimpsest. Beginning with the party's arrival in Cairo, the book describes the preparation for the trip, their journey across the desert, and life in the monastery. However, relations between the members of the party deteriorated; Gibson and Lewis wrote their own accounts of the expedition (also available in this series), and Mrs Bensly's narrative is defensive of the role of her husband, who died days after their return to England.

Researches in Asia Minor, Pontus, and Armenia
  • With Some Account of their Antiquities and Geology
  • Volume 2
  • William John Hamilton
  • Published online:
    05 February 2013
    Print publication:
    26 January 2012
    First published in:
    1842
  • The diplomat and M.P. William Hamilton (1805–67) was also a keen geologist and a protégé of Sir Roderick Murchison. In 1835 he set off with a companion for the eastern Mediterranean, visiting the Ionian Islands, the Bosphorus and the volcanic area called the Katakekaumene. Hamilton then continued alone on horseback through Armenia and Asia Minor before returning to Smyrna (Izmir). Having already published some of his notes as papers for the Geological Society, he published this two-volume account in 1842. The work was praised by Alexander von Humboldt, and in 1843 it won Hamilton the founder's medal of the Royal Geographical Society (of which he was one of the secretaries from 1832 to 1854). Volume 2 describes Hamilton's journey along the coast of Ionia to archaeological sites including Ephesus and Rhodes, and his expedition inland to explore the Taurus mountains before his final return to Smyrna.

The Land of Moab
  • Travels and Discoveries on the East Side of the Dead Sea and the Jordan
  • Henry Baker Tristram
  • Published online:
    05 February 2013
    Print publication:
    19 January 2012
    First published in:
    1873
  • Clergyman and ornithologist H. B. Tristram (1822–1906), an early supporter of Darwin, became both a Fellow of the Royal Society and Canon Residentiary of Durham. His literary career began with an account of his ventures into the desert of Algeria, where he had journeyed seeking a salubrious winter climate. This 1873 volume, one of his many popular works on the Biblical Lands, records his adventures and discoveries east of the Dead Sea. Its engaging narrative recounts the hazards and vexations of travel amongst the local tribes, as well as the sites Tristram visited, many of them biblical (with corresponding quotations from scripture), and many previously unvisited by Europeans. (Tristram's The Fauna and Flora of Palestine was subsequently published by the Palestine Exploration Fund and laid the foundations of systematic biological research in Palestine.) This book thus illuminates the complex interactions between religion, archaeology, and the natural sciences in the period.

Travels in Palestine, through the Countries of Bashan and Gilead, East of the River Jordan
  • Including a Visit to the Cities of Geraza and Gamala, in the Decapolis
  • James Silk Buckingham
  • Published online:
    05 February 2013
    Print publication:
    29 December 2011
    First published in:
    1821
  • Cornish-born writer, traveller and controversialist James Silk Buckingham (1786–1855) spent much of his early life as a sailor in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean and went on to publish accounts of his extensive travels to India, Palestine and Persia. His criticisms of the East India Company and the Bengal government led to his expulsion from India in 1823. In the 1830s he became a Member of Parliament and campaigned for social reforms and for the promotion of the temperance movement. He founded several journals, including the periodical The Athenaeum, covering a wide range of topics from literature to popular science. In this work, first published in 1821, Buckingham describes his journey from Egypt by sea to Syria and then to Palestine. He ascended Mount Tabor and visited the Holy Sepulchre, but considered his experiences in Bashan and Gilead, east of the Jordan, to form the climax of his journey.

Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to El-Medinah and Meccah
  • Volume 1, El-Misr
  • Richard Francis Burton
  • Published online:
    05 February 2013
    Print publication:
    29 December 2011
    First published in:
    1855
  • The British explorer Sir Richard F. Burton (1821–90) was a colourful and often controversial character. A talented linguist and keen ethnologist, he worked in India during the 1840s as an interpreter and intelligence officer for General Sir Charles Napier, and published several books about his experiences in 1851–2. He first gained celebrity, however, for his adventurous 1853 trip to Mecca, under the disguise of a pilgrim, which is described in this lively three-volume publication (1855–6). Few Europeans had ever visited the Muslim holy places; one of them was John Lewis Burckhardt, whose 1829 account is also reissued in this series. Volume 1 of Burton's book describes his arrival in Egypt, the weeks he spent in Alexandria and Cairo polishing his linguistic and cultural skills, and how, at the end of Ramadan, he travelled to Suez by camel, and from there by boat to Yanbu al-Bahr.

Eastern Pilgrims
  • The Travels of Three Ladies
  • Agnes Smith Lewis
  • Published online:
    05 February 2013
    Print publication:
    08 March 2012
    First published in:
    1870
  • The Scottish twin sisters Agnes Lewis (1843–1926) and Margaret Gibson (1843–1920), heiresses of an extremely wealthy man, between them learned numerous languages, including Modern Greek, Arabic, Hebrew, Persian and Syriac, and became pioneering biblical scholars and explorers at a time when women rarely ventured to foreign lands. Their initial desire to travel to the Holy Land was encouraged by their Presbyterian minister. Setting out with their former teacher, Grace Blyth, in 1868, they travelled across Europe to Greece, Turkey, Egypt and Palestine. In this 1870 account, Lewis vividly describes the discomfort of long-distance travel, especially for women, and their encounters with the people they met on the way. At Constantinople they were struck by the beauty of Hagia Sophia, and saw whirling dervishes. They had some difficulties with their guide in Egypt, but this did not deter them, and they continued on to Palestine before returning to Europe.

Travels in Assyria, Media, and Persia
  • Volume 2
  • James Silk Buckingham
  • Published online:
    05 February 2013
    Print publication:
    08 March 2012
    First published in:
    1830
  • Cornish-born writer, traveller and controversialist James Silk Buckingham (1786–1855) spent much of his early life as a sailor in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean and went on to publish accounts of his extensive travels to India, Palestine and Persia. His criticisms of the East India Company and the Bengal government led to his expulsion from India in 1823. In the 1830s he became a Member of Parliament and campaigned for social reforms. He founded several journals, including the periodical The Athenaeum. This illustrated two-volume work, published in 1829 and reprinted here from its second edition of 1830, recounts Buckingham's journey through Assyria and Persia en route for India, giving vivid descriptions of its ancient sites and his views on the modern inhabitants of the region. In Volume 2 he travels from Shiraz down to Bushire on the Persian Gulf, a haunt of pirates, before sailing for Bombay from Muscat.

How the Codex Was Found
  • A Narrative of Two Visits to Sinai, from Mrs Lewis's Journals 1892–1893
  • Agnes Smith Lewis
  • Edited by Margaret Dunlop Gibson
  • Published online:
    05 February 2013
    Print publication:
    26 January 2012
    First published in:
    1893
  • The Scottish twin sisters Agnes Lewis (1843–1926) and Margaret Gibson (1843–1920) between them spoke modern Greek, Arabic, Hebrew, Persian and Syriac, and were pioneering biblical scholars and explorers at a time when women rarely ventured to foreign lands. The sisters made several journeys to the Monastery of St Catherine on Mount Sinai, and their first two visits there are described in this 1893 publication. Using her sister's journals, Margaret Gibson tells how Agnes discovered a version of the Gospels in Syriac from the fifth century CE. This text is immensely important, being an example of the New Testament written in the eastern branch of Aramaic, the language that Jesus himself spoke. Meanwhile, Margaret Gibson studied other manuscripts in the library and photographed them; the sisters later transcribed and published many of these. Controversy over the circumstances of the discovery led to Margaret publishing this account in 1893.

Travels in Assyria, Media, and Persia
  • Volume 1
  • James Silk Buckingham
  • Published online:
    05 February 2013
    Print publication:
    08 March 2012
    First published in:
    1830
  • Cornish-born writer, traveller and controversialist James Silk Buckingham (1786–1855) spent much of his early life as a sailor in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean and went on to publish accounts of his extensive travels to India, Palestine and Persia. His criticisms of the East India Company and the Bengal government led to his expulsion from India in 1823. In the 1830s he became a Member of Parliament and campaigned for social reforms. He founded several journals, including the periodical The Athenaeum. This illustrated two-volume work, published in 1829 and reprinted here from its second edition of 1830, recounts Buckingham's journey through Assyria and Persia en route for India, giving vivid descriptions of its ancient sites and his views on the modern inhabitants of the region. In Volume 1 he starts his narrative at Baghdad, describing Isfahan and the Achaemenid capital, Persepolis, before arriving at Shiraz.

The Penetration of Arabia
  • A Record of the Development of Western Knowledge Concerning the Arabian Peninsula
  • David George Hogarth
  • Published online:
    05 December 2012
    Print publication:
    29 December 2011
    First published in:
    1904
  • The archaeologist D. G. Hogarth (1862–1927) was, when he died, keeper of the Ashmolean Museum and president of the Royal Geographical Society. During the First World War he was acting director of the Arab Bureau in Cairo, where he was instrumental in launching the Arab Revolt, in which T. E. Lawrence, a protégé of his, played so prominent a part. This book, published in 1904 as the Hejaz railway was being built, is a summary of earlier explorations in the Arabian peninsula, by both Muslim and European travellers. Hogarth's first visit to Arabia was not made until 1916, when he travelled to Jeddah with £10,000 in gold to finance the revolt; this book is instead based on his extensive reading of travel literature, included in a bibliography for each chapter. It is thus interesting for its historiographical analysis as well as a background to Hogarth's subsequent political involvement with the region.

Travels in Mesopotamia
  • With Researches on the Ruins of Nineveh, Babylon, and Other Ancient Cities
  • Volume 1
  • James Silk Buckingham
  • Published online:
    05 December 2012
    Print publication:
    29 December 2011
    First published in:
    1827
  • Cornish-born writer, traveller and controversialist James Silk Buckingham (1786–1855) spent much of his early life as a sailor in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean and went on to publish accounts of his extensive travels to India, Palestine and Persia. His criticisms of the East India Company and the Bengal government led to his expulsion from India in 1823. In the 1830s he became a Member of Parliament and campaigned for social reforms and for the promotion of the temperance movement. He founded several journals, including the periodical The Athenaeum, covering a wide range of topics from literature to popular science. This illustrated two-volume work, published in 1827, recounts Buckingham's journey through Mesopotamia, giving descriptions of its ancient sites and opinions of its modern inhabitants. In Volume 1, Buckingham recounts in great detail his journey from the historic city, Aleppo in Syria to Sinjar (now in north-western Iraq).

Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to El-Medinah and Meccah
  • Volume 2, El-Medinah
  • Richard Francis Burton
  • Published online:
    05 December 2012
    Print publication:
    29 December 2011
    First published in:
    1855
  • The British explorer Sir Richard F. Burton (1821–90) was a colourful and often controversial character. A talented linguist and keen ethnologist, he worked in India during the 1840s as an interpreter and intelligence officer for General Sir Charles Napier, and published several books about his experiences in 1851–2. He first gained celebrity, however, for his adventurous 1853 trip to Mecca, under the disguise of a pilgrim, which is described in this lively three-volume publication (1855–6). Few Europeans had ever visited the Muslim holy places; one of them was John Lewis Burckhardt, whose 1829 account is also reissued in this series. Volume 2 of Burton's book vividly describes the heat and dangers of the journey to Medina, the behaviour and conversation of the pilgrims from many different tribes and nations, and the mosques, tombs and other sights of the bustling city, complete with traders and beggars.

Travels in Mesopotamia
  • With Researches on the Ruins of Nineveh, Babylon, and Other Ancient Cities
  • Volume 2
  • James Silk Buckingham
  • Published online:
    05 December 2012
    Print publication:
    29 December 2011
    First published in:
    1827
  • Cornish-born writer, traveller and controversialist James Silk Buckingham (1786–1855) spent much of his early life as a sailor in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean and went on to publish accounts of his extensive travels to India, Palestine and Persia. His criticisms of the East India Company and the Bengal government led to his expulsion from India in 1823. In the 1830s he became a Member of Parliament and campaigned for social reforms and for the promotion of the temperance movement. He founded several journals, including the periodical The Athenaeum, covering a wide range of topics from literature to popular science. This illustrated two-volume work, published in 1827, recounts Buckingham's journey through Mesopotamia, giving descriptions of its ancient sites and opinions of its modern inhabitants. In Volume 2, Buckingham continues his travels through Mesopotamia, from Sinjar in the north-west of the region to the city of Baghdad.

Safar Nameh
  • Persian Pictures: A Book of Travel
  • Gertrude Bell
  • Published online:
    05 December 2012
    Print publication:
    22 December 2011
    First published in:
    1894
  • This book of 'Persian Pictures' is the first published work of Gertrude Bell (1868–1926), the celebrated traveller, archaeologist, Orientalist and supporter of Arab independence. She first visited Persia in 1892, when a relative by marriage was British minister there, and published her impressions in a series of essays in 1894. Her subjects range from Roman ruins to Ottoman graves to shopping in the bazaars, and from the bustling life of cities to the isolation of the desert. Having studied the Persian language in preparation for her journey, she was able to enter into the life of the country, and especially of its women, more deeply than a casual visitor, and indeed her second publication was a free-verse translation of the fourteenth-century poet Hafiz. Bell captures a sense of delight at a mysterious land still marked by the traces of many of the great civilisations of the past.

On Horseback through Asia Minor
  • Volume 1
  • Fred Burnaby
  • Published online:
    05 October 2012
    Print publication:
    22 December 2011
    First published in:
    1877
  • Frederick Burnaby (1842–85) joined the Royal Horse Guards in 1859, but, when not assigned to active duty, he crafted his own adventures. He ballooned across the English Channel, and travelled in Spain, Asia Minor and Russia. He was wounded, and eventually killed, fighting for the British Empire. His book, A Ride to Khiva (1876) gave a personal account of his hazardous mission into Russian territory during the 'Great Game' when the British and Russian Empires were vying for power in central Asia. It was an instant bestseller, and brought him overnight fame. This two-volume work, published in 1877, recounts his next adventure: a two-thousand mile journey through Asia Minor to assess Turkey's chances in the impending war with Russia. On the way, he creates vivid snapshots of the region and of the people he encounters. This first volume covers Burnaby's journey from Constantinople to Arabkir and includes a map of the entire route.

On Horseback through Asia Minor
  • Volume 2
  • Fred Burnaby
  • Published online:
    05 October 2012
    Print publication:
    22 December 2011
    First published in:
    1877
  • Frederick Burnaby (1842–85) joined the Royal Horse Guards in 1859, but, when not assigned to active duty, he crafted his own adventures. He ballooned across the English Channel, and travelled in Spain, Asia Minor and Russia. He was wounded, and eventually killed, fighting for the British Empire. His book, A Ride to Khiva (1876) gave a personal account of his hazardous mission into Russian territory during the 'Great Game' when the British and Russian Empires were vying for power in central Asia. It was an instant bestseller, and brought him overnight fame. This two-volume work, published in 1877, recounts his next adventure: a two-thousand mile journey through Asia Minor to assess Turkey's chances in the impending war with Russia. On the way, he creates vivid snapshots of the region and the people he encounters. Volume 2 covers the journey from Armenia to the Black Sea and includes numerous appendices.

Page 3 of 5