8vo. xxiii, [1], 439 pp., half-title, engraved frontispiece portrait, 11 engraved plates hors text, 1 folding map, contemporary half calf with renewed marbled boards, small ink marking on title page, occasional spotting, some damp staining to head margin, spine rubbed, otherwise copy in very good condition, Bookplate + mounted catalogue description verso front cover, errata, tables, Arthus Bertrand, Libraire-editeurs, Paris, first edition, 1841.

Synopsis

This book is considered a landmark in the history of geographical discoveries after the discovery of the New World. It appeared during the intensive French-British rivalry to control the navigation in and from the Red Sea. During the period from 1830 end 1848 the French and their alliance with Mohammed Ali Pasha of Egypt gained the upper hand in Syria after the Egyptian campaign their, and at the same time they started since 1830 to draw maps of the Red Sea coasts, and they sent their travelers and officers to the Arabian Peninsula, such as Tamisier, Galinier, and Rochet.
Rochet visited Abyssinia for the second time in 1843, crossing through Al-Kassim Jeddah, Houdeida and Mokha. He describes in details the situation in Arabia, and later he presented the results of his explorations to the Societe Geographique in Paris. ( More details of the circumstances surrounding Rochet travels. See ”A La decouverte de l’Arabie” by Jacqueline Pirenne , Paris 1858. Bibliographic references: Chadenat 682; Fumagalli 169; Gay 115; Hilmy II, 178; Henze IV, 631..