Enlightened Observers. British Travellers to The Near East 1715 – 1850.
Damiani, Anita.
8vo. ix, 198 pp., b/w illus., cloth in d/w, biblio, index, jacket lightly rubbed round edges, otherwise copy in mint condition, American University of Beirut, Beirut, first edition, 1979.
Synopsis
Until the beginning of the nineteenth century in Europe, travel was considered a necessary adjunct to education. Eventually the Near East was added to the “Grand Tour” of the Continent. Many of these travelers recorded and later published what they observed. Ms. Damiani has chosen to write about four British travelers: Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Richard Pococke, Robert Wood and Alexander Russell, all of whom vividly portray their views of the history, customs and manners of Near Easterners in the eighteenth century.