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493 pp. Illustrated with 12 full-page wood engravings including the frontispiece with tissue guard; lacking folding map, printed facsimile loose and laid in at rear. 23.4x14 cm (9¼x5½"), rebound in half leather, marbled boards, spine lettered in gilt, all edges marbled; new marbled endpapers. First American Edition.

A Hungarian Jew, Arminius Vámbéry was as a young man attracted by the literature and culture of the Ottoman Empire including Turkey, and became a tutor of European languages in Constantinople. In 1861, disguised as a Sunnite dervish under the name of Reshit Efendi, he set out from Constantinople, and joined a band of pilgrims returning from Mecca, spending several months with them traveling across Central Iran. He then went to Shiraz, through Ispahan, and in June, 1863, he reached Khiva (Central Asia). He then crossed Bokhara and arrived at Samarkand. After many adventures, he made his way home in 1864. Former library stamp on title page.