4to. xxix, 502 pp., half-title page inserted from another copy, hand-coloured engraved frontispiece, 1 large folding map of India, 1 map of Egypt, 5 plans of which 4 partly hand-coloured, 5 hand-colour plates aquatints after Fitzclarence, 3 b/w plates (Lacking three plates V, VI, XII), 4 partly coloured by hand, one folding, later half-calf with marbled boards, new spine, small mark on upper cover, occasional spotting, light offsetting and closed tear to folding map, small library stamp on half-title page, otherwise copy clean, John Murray, London, first edition, 1819.

Synopsis

George Fitzclarence (1794-1842), president of the Royal Asiatic Society, was engaged in the campaigns against the Mahrattas in 1816 and 1817. In this work he discusses various proposals on the best route between India and England, and remarks on the trade between Persia, Arabia and India. In February 1818, Fitzclarence returned to England and he explains in this work his observations of Muslim worship, the recruitment of Arabs and Abyssinians to the British Army, building vessels for the Imam of Muscat, and his impression on the Island of Socotra, Bab el-Mandeb, the Imam of Muscat, and the best way to fight the Wahhabi “Pirates?” Fitzclarence also crossed the Egyptian desert, explored the pyramids with Salt and Belzoni, descended the Nile and reached London via Alexandria and Malta. A German edition appeared in 1820.
Bibliographic references: Abbey Travel 519; Blackmer 597; Hilmy I, p. 233; Tooley 222; Wilson p. 7.