8vo. viii, 412 pp., half-title, contemporary quarter calf with marbled boards, lightly rubbed round edges, title gilt on raised decorated spine, marbled endpaper, light spotting, book plate of Dampierre verso front cover, small marginal ink stain on pages 49-50 not affecting text, otherwise copy in good condition, Just Rouvier, Paris, first edition, 1854.

Synopsis

Rare. The author presents this story as the work of an Algerian political prisoner imprisoned by the French after the conquest of Algeria. Released on the condition not to return to his homeland, he chooses to go to Syria. This attribution is absolutely fictitious and the author clearly alludes to the Emir Abd-el-Kader, who was imprisoned in France and then exiled to Constantinople, and is mainly an excuse to denounce indirectly the defects of the Turkish administration and praise Christianity. Henri Guys served as a French Consul in Turkey and Beirut. He resided in Beirut for fourteen years collecting the necessary information about the mysterious Druze sect. This work discusses the beliefs and philosophy of the Druzes. Guys also wrote several other works discussing the political development of Syria under Ottoman rule, and the activities of Catholic missions in the Holy Land.