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  3. Cambridge Library Collection - Travel, Middle East and Asia Minor

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 5 of 5

Notes on the Bedouins and Wahabys
  • Collected During His Travels in the East
  • Volume 1
  • John Lewis Burckhardt
  • Edited by William Ouseley
  • Published online:
    05 August 2011
    Print publication:
    25 November 2010
    First published in:
    1830
  • John Lewis Burckhardt (1784–1817) was a Swiss explorer who is best remembered for his rediscovery of the ancient city of Petra, in Jordan. In 1809 he was commissioned by the African Association to discover the source of the River Niger. In preparation for this journey, for which he needed to pass as a Muslim, Burckhardt spent two years exploring and studying Arabic in Aleppo, before travelling widely in Arabia and Egypt. These volumes, first published in 1830, contain Burckhardt's description of Bedouin society and his history of the Wahhabi sect of Islam. He describes the different Bedouin tribes of Arabia and the Middle East and their political allegiances, and recounts in fascinating detail aspects of their society. He also narrates the history of the Wahhabi sect from its founding, and discusses its effect on the contemporary politics of the region. Volume 1 contains his description of the Bedouin.

Reise in den Orient
  • Volume 1
  • Constantin von Tischendorf
  • Published online:
    12 April 2011
    Print publication:
    05 August 2010
    First published in:
    1846
  • Reise in den Orient (1846) is the German biblical scholar Constantin von Tischendorf's recollection of his journey to Egypt, Israel and Greece at the beginning of the 1840s. The work is a travel diary that vividly describes Tischendorf's meeting with mythological places and impressive men, and a learned account of the Christian history of the area. Volume 1 describes his encounter with Ibrahim Pasha and the humanism of Mehmet Ali. Tischendorf undertakes research in the Library of the Patriarch of Alexandria and visits the pyramids, only to compare them with one of the great German cathedrals. At the Monastery of Saint Catherine on Mount Sinai, Tischendorf makes an extraordinary and significant discovery - a fourth-century manuscript, one of the main witnesses to the Septuagint. Thereafter he sets off for Jerusalem and en route takes delight in the fascinating and ancient traditions of the Bedouins, and their camels.

Reise in den Orient
  • Volume 2
  • Constantin von Tischendorf
  • Published online:
    12 April 2011
    Print publication:
    05 August 2010
    First published in:
    1846
  • Reise in den Orient (1846) is the German biblical scholar Constantin von Tischendorf's recollection of his journey to Egypt, Israel and Greece at the beginning of the 1840s. The work is a travel diary that vividly describes Tischendorf's meeting with mythological places and impressive men, and a learned account of the Christian history of the area. Volume 2 of this work largely focuses on Tischendorf's time in Israel. He writes about Jesus' crucifixion and Golgotha's significance, and gives an historical account of Jerusalem as the centre of all religions. He pays particular attention to the Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem, which leads him to explain the differences between German and English Protestantism. On his return journey, he is enraptured by Smyrna and Constantinople, and enjoys visiting the Athenian Acropolis and the other ruins of the ancient city.

A Brief Description of the Holy Sepulchre Jerusalem and Other Christian Churches in the Holy City
  • With Some Account of the Mediaeval Copies of the Holy Sepulchre Surviving in Europe
  • George Jeffery
  • Published online:
    12 April 2011
    Print publication:
    31 October 2010
    First published in:
    1919
  • As the purported site of the resurrection of Jesus, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre has been a centre of pilgrimage since at least the fourth century CE. The church has survived through fire, invasion, neglect and near-destruction. The result of such a turbulent history is an extraordinarily intricate and intriguing building. George Jeffery's 1919 book, compiled from his own meticulous scrutiny of the site, is an in-depth chronicle of the church's amazing history and serves as an informative guide to many of its most interesting details. The book features plans and illustrations of the church's numerous phases of construction, and historical accounts of the building from its earliest origins, as well as descriptions of the nearby Augustinian convent and other holy sites of interest within the walls of Jerusalem. Also included is a comprehensive discussion of the many European copies of the church constructed during the middle ages.

Arabic Proverbs
  • Or, The Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians
  • John Lewis Burckhardt
  • Edited by William Ouseley
  • Published online:
    11 April 2011
    Print publication:
    25 November 2010
    First published in:
    1830
  • John Lewis Burckhardt (1784–1817) was a Swiss explorer who is best remembered for his rediscovery of the ancient city of Petra in modern Jordan. In 1809 he was commissioned by the African Association to discover the source of the River Niger. In preparation for this journey, for which he needed to pass as a Muslim, Burckhardt spent two years exploring and studying Arabic and Islamic law in Aleppo, before travelling widely in Arabia and Egypt. This volume, first published posthumously in 1830 by the African Association, contains a collection of Arabic proverbs. The main group derives from an eighteenth-century collection, to which Burckhardt added proverbs he had heard during his residence in Cairo. Given in both Cairene Arabic and English, with Burckhardt's explanations of the context in which they were used, these proverbs provide a valuable source for the language and culture of nineteenth-century Cairo.

Travels in Arabia Deserta
  • Volume 1
  • Charles Montagu Doughty
  • Published online:
    06 December 2010
    Print publication:
    17 June 2010
    First published in:
    1888
  • Western exploration of the Arabian Desert began in the mid-eighteenth century, but it was not until the nineteenth century that the British officers of the Indian colonial government undertook surveys of the areas remote from the major pilgrimage routes. Charles Doughty (1843–1926) spent two years among various nomad tribes and wrote in 1888 what would be the first comprehensive Western work on the geography of Arabia, in an attempt, as he says in the preface, to 'set forth faithfully some parcel of the soil of Arabia smelling of sàmn and camels'. His classic and justly famous account is a fantastic piece of travel writing that shows full understanding of the area, the people and all aspects of nomadic life in the desert.

Journeys in Persia and Kurdistan
  • Including a Summer in the Upper Karun Region and a Visit to the Nestorian Rayahs
  • Volume 2
  • Isabella Bird
  • Published online:
    10 November 2010
    Print publication:
    01 July 2010
    First published in:
    1891
  • Isabella Bishop (née Bird) published her Journeys in Persia and Kurdistan in 1891, compiled from a series of letters home. Recommended an open-air life from an early age as a cure for physical and nervous difficulties, Bird toured the United States and Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and the Far East. After her marriage, and her husband's death, she did missionary work in India and, in 1890, travelled to little-known parts of Turkey, Persia and Kurdistan. This was her most challenging journey, with extremes of temperature and harsh living conditions for the sixty-year-old, although she was able to provide medical care for the local people. Despite vicissitudes, her passion for travel is clear throughout. Volume 2 of this fascinating account continues into Kurdistan and towards the end on the Black Sea. The appendices include prayers from Mecca and a record of her itinerary, including journey times.

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