Arthur de GOBINEAU

First edition of this finely crafted narrative retracing the journey of the author, appointed in December 1854 as First Secretary to the French legation in Persia, under the direction of Prosper Bourée.

Some foxing.

Bound in half bottle-green shagreen, spine with four raised bands decorated with triple gilt compartments, blind-tooled borders on morocco-grained cloth boards, school emblem gilt-stamped at the centre of the upper cover [Lycée de Nevers], marbled endpapers and pastedowns, sprinkled edges, contemporary binding.

The journey was undertaken by sea from Marseille to Bushir, then by caravan to Isfahan and Tehran: Malta, Alexandria, Cairo, Jeddah, Aden, Muscat...

First edition. Numerous contributions, including those by R.Dreyfus (Gobineau, qui est-ce ?), J.Cocteau (Eloge des Pléiades), Alain (Gobineau romanesque), J.Prévost (Gobineau et l'amour), Ernest Seillière (la philosophie religieuse de Gobineau), Léon Trotsky (qu'est ce que le national-socialisme ?), J.Giraudoux (combat avec l'ange II) as well as several texts by Gobineau (Notes inédites, le village de Saint-Georges, Lettres à Marie Dragoumis, lettre à Dom Pedro). Some foxing to the cover and a small lack to the upper right corner, otherwise a handsome copy.