Rich, Narrative of a journey to the site of Babylon in 1811
Rich, Narrative of a journey to the site of Babylon in 1811
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Rich, Claudius James. Narrative of a journey to the site of Babylon in 1811. Memoir on the ruins … Remarks on the topography of ancient Babylon, in reference to the memoir: Second memoir of the ruins; in reference to Rennell’s remarks. With narrative of a journey to Persepolis: now first printed, with hitherto unpubl. cuneiform inscriptions copied at Persepolis. Edited by his widow. London, Duncan & Malcolm 1839. 8°. XLII, 324 p. with an engraved frontispiece, 1 woodcut illustration and 26 engraved plates, some of which are folded. Modern leather binding with a gold-embossed title on the spine. DNB XLVIII, 114 ff. Lowndes IV, 2084. – First complete edition of Rich’s archaeological investigations on the ruins of Babylon. – Claudius James Rich (1787-1821) „passed his childhood at Bristol. As early as the age of nine his curiosity was aroused by some Arabic manuscripts, and he applied himself with eagerness to various oriental languages. In 1803, by the influence of friends, he was appointed a cadet in the East India Company’s service. … After several journeys into the interior of Asia Minor he was appointed assistant to Colonel Missett, the new consul-general in Egypt, and in this post perfected himself in Arabic, and amused himself by acquiring the skill in horsemanship and the use of the lance and scimitar in which the Mamlûks were past masters. From Egypt he travelled in Mamlûk disguise over a great part of Syria and Palestine, visited Damascus in the pilgrimage time, and even ventured to enter the great mosque, undetected. … For six years he lived at Baghdad, collecting materials in his leisure time for a history and statistical account of the Pashalik. Some of his researches may be traced in papers contributed to the ‘Mines d’Orient’, at Vienna. An excursion to Babylon in 1811 bore fruit in the ‘Memoir on the Ruins of Babylon,’ originally contributed to the ‘Mines d’Orient,’ but reprinted at London in 1815 (3rd edit. 1818), and amplified, after a second visit to the site, in the ‘Second Memoir on Babylon’ (London, 1818). In 1813 ill-health compelled Rich and his wife to go for change of air to Constantinople, where he stayed with Sir Robert Liston [q. v.], the ambassador, and in 1814 he prolonged his journey through the Balkan provinces to Vienna, and thence to Paris, then in the hands of the allies. Upon his return through Asia Minor and Mesopotamia to Baghdad, he resumed his studies and collections, made his second visit to Babylon, and in 1820, being again in bad health, travelled in Kurdistan“ (S. Lane-Poole in DNB). – Slightly browned throughout and with faint brown spots in places; a very fine copy.
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