8vo. x, 420 pp., frontispiece engraving, 1 double page colour map, original green gilt cloth, rubbed, several ink ownership stamps, weak spine, partly detached, Macmillan & Co, London, third edition, 1878.

Synopsis

James Bryce, 1st Viscount Bryce (10 May 1838 – 22 January 1922) was a British academic, jurist, historian and Liberal politician. He was a notable mountain climber, ascending Mount Ararat in 1876, after which he published these notes on Transcaucasia and Ararat in 1877; in 1899–1901 he was president of the Alpine Club. This volume covers his visit to Armenia and the Caucasus, including his ascent of Mount Ararat. Chapters cover Bryce’s journey down the Volga, the people and geography of the Caucasus, impressions of Tiflis, Bryce’s journey through Armenia and his ascent of Ararat, and his subsequent travel from Erivan (Yerevan) to the Black Sea and thence to Constantinople. The book includes a discussion of Armenian history, and the political situation. From this journey, Bryce brought back a deep distrust of Ottoman rule of Asia Minor and a distinct sympathy for the Armenian people. Bryce was later among those who strongly condemned the Armenian genocide, being the first to speak on that subject in the British House of Lords in October 1915.