8vo. xvi, 395 pp., [3], large folding map of North-Western Arabia at the end, dedication leaf, lacking half-title, illustrations in text, appendices, contemporary green cloth, rubbed and faded, title gilt on spine, closed tear along outer edge of title page without any loss, pages 135-138 loose, remainder of label verso lower cover, else in general good condition, C. Kegan Paul & co., London, first edition, 1878.

Synopsis

Burton’s original expedition to Midian, the narrative of which had been published in 1878, provided valuable information on the hitherto unexplored region to the North East of the Red Sea. He was hopeful he could find gold in North West Arabia for the Khedive of Egypt. This short trip led to a longer exploration the next year, and the two-volume work, The Land of Midian. Unfortunately, no gold was found, but this remains a sequel to his first Arabia venture, Pilgrimage to El-Medinah and Meccah.
“In the relentless pursuit of grand fortune in his waning years Burton travelled in November 1877 into the Empty Quarter of the Arabian Peninsula, following the natives’ tales of “ruined towns once prosperous with dense populations, of quarries where King Solomon found gold for the walls of the Temple, his drinking vessels, and his lion throne, of turquoise mines”. (Rice, p. 433). What he brought back from this first trip (a second one followed in October) was “not an impressive amount of geological samples but notes”- notes which he quickly put together to form this book. The book was extremely well received at publication, and went into two editions in the following year.
Bibliographic references: Penzer pp. 96-97; Rice p. 433.