2 volumes. [iii]-xxxv, [1], 438; [iii]-x, 421, [1] pp. Folding lithographed map of the course of the Nile; folding lithographed plan of the Temple of Jerusalem. 8½x5¼, 19th century half calf & marbled boards, spines tooled in gilt, raised bands, morocco lettering pieces. Third Edition.
An Italian showman, engineer and explorer (whose gigantic physique allowed him briefly to earn a living in circuses in England, Spain and Portugal, where he was billed as “The Great Belzoni”), Giovanni Battista Belzoni in 1815 went to Cairo to offer to Mohammed Ali Pasha, the founder of modern Egypt, a hydraulic machine he had invented, which worked extremely well. While in Egypt he met the British Consul General, Henry Salt, who engaged him to travel to Thebes to remove the colossal stone head of Rameses II (The Young Memnon) to be delivered to the British Museum. In 1823 Belzoni set out for Timbuktu in West Africa, but died at the village of Gwato, near Benin, Nigeria December 3, 1823. There was an atlas volume issued with this edition of the book, quite scarce and not present here.
Condition:
Rubbing to covers, paper peeling from the boards in a few places; some marginal staining and occasional foxing within, small bookplate of Foulis Court, else very good.