Nouvelle relation en forme de journal, d'un voyage fait en Egypte. En 1672. & 1673

First edition, rare and valuable.
Contemporary full brown sheep binding. Spine with raised bands, gilt tooling. Binding with some surface wear. Losses to the joints at headcap and to the upper joint at tail. One corner rubbed.

An important account for Western knowledge of Egypt. Vansleb, a German philologist and theologian, entered Colbert’s service for a planned voyage to Ethiopia, but he never went beyond Egypt, where he spent twenty months observing and gathering information, undertaking numerous excursions and journeys. Vansleb refrained from repeating descriptions already given by others (such as the pyramids), conscious of offering his readers entirely new information. If it was not the very first account of Egypt, it was the first by a man who had resided in the country for an extended period; in any case, one of the earliest, and the very first of its kind. The author had already travelled once to Egypt, from which he produced a narrative in Italian, but at that time he lacked the knowledge of Arabic necessary for contact with the population, and he had not remained in the country.