Lettre sur la topographie de Babylone, écrite à M. Mohl[Letter on the Topography of Babylon, Written to M. Mohl]
First edition, printed in a small number of copies, of this offprint from the Journal asiatique.
A single copy recorded in the CCF (BnF).
Losses to the spine and to the margins of the boards, the interior remaining in pleasing condition.
Fulgence Fresnel (1795-1855) developed an early passion for Oriental languages and attended the Arabic and Persian lectures of Sylvestre de Sacy, before studying with the Maronites of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith.
He resided in Egypt, served as a consular agent at Djidda (a port on the Red Sea), travelled through part of Arabia and learned the Himyarite language. In 1852 he was appointed to head the scientific and artistic expedition to Mesopotamia and Media, in which Félix Thomas, Jules Oppert and Edouard Perreymond also took part, commissioned by the French government to explore the antiquities of Mesopotamia.
He died of the plague in Baghdad in 1855.