8vo. viii, 486 pp., [1 p. errata], [3 adverts], 2 folding maps including a frontispiece map, cloth, appendix, index, previous owner’s signature on front and back end paper, copy in very good condition, from the Middle East Collection, a reprint of the 1813 edition, Arno Press, New York, 1973.

Synopsis

The work describes the general geography and a brief history of the Persian Empire, it also describes government, military, population, trade, education, architecture etc. and gives a detailed description of 23 provinces including Irak, Azerbijan, Laristan, Khorassan, Kabul, Armenia, Georgia, etc. In the Appendix (page 363) the author lists a large number of detailed routes, many supplied by other travellers.
John MacDonald Kinneir (1782-1830) was a Scottish traveller and diplomat. A captain in the Indian army, he was seconded to the East India Company’s political department and in 1808-1809 he was attached to the mission of Sir John Malcolm to the court of Persia. He returned to England in 1810 where he prepared this work from his own observations and largely from a mass of information supplied to him by Sir John Malcolm to whom the book is dedicated. Later he was appointed by the East India Company as their official envoy to Persia (1824- 30), and his mediation brought to an end the Russo-Persian War 1827- 28.