8vo. Volume I: xx, [1 list of plates], 404 pp., 11 plates including a frontispiece, 1 folding map & 1 folding plate at rear, partly removed library stamp on page vi / Volume II: xii, 398 pp., frontispiece, 1 folding map, 1 folding plate of inscriptions, 2 out of 4 plates (Lacking 2 plates), title vignettes, contemporary calf, re-backed with new endpaper, repaired small tear at top corner of title in volume 1, previous owner’s red ink inscription on title pages, frail outer edges of frontispiece, heacy foxing to frontispiece of volume, occasional spotting, otherwise text clean and in good condition, J. Madden, London, first edition, 1845.

Synopsis

“Luristan, or the land of the Lurs, embraces the greater portion of the mountainous country of Persia … The low country, lying to the south of this Chain of mountains … is denominated Khuzistan or Arabistan. These regions, which in general now offer to the eye the melancholy spectacle of decay, of devastation, and even spread out at intervals into utter wilderness, were not so in former ages. There was a time when they must have teemed with an industrious population, as the vestiges of ruined towns plainly denote … It is with a view of rescuing from a second oblivion this once classical ground, that the author has endeavoured to draw aside a corner of the veil which still covers this mysterious region” (preface, pp. iv-vii).
Clement Augustus de Bode, a member of the Russian legation in Tehran, filled some empty spaces in existing maps” (Howgego). “It is mostly a travel book … the author gives a good picture of tribal life and especially the political situation in Fars; principally the hostility between the Qashqai tribe which controlled Shiraz. There are also descriptions of historical sites and monuments along the way”.
Bibliographic references: Ghani, p. 93; Abbey, Travel, 391; Howgego II, G2; Henze I, 281; NYPL Arabia coll. 165.