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  3. Cambridge Library Collection - Travel, Middle East and Asia Minor

This collection of travel narratives, primarily from the nineteenth century, describes the topography, antiquities and inhabitants of the Middle East, from Turkey, Kurdistan and Persia to Mesopotamia, Syria, Jerusalem, Sinai, Egypt and Arabia. While some travellers came to study Christian sites and manuscripts, others were fascinated by Islamic culture and still others by the remains of ancient civilizations. Among the authors are several daring female explorers.

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87 results in Cambridge Library Collection - Travel, Middle East and Asia Minor

Page 1 of 5

A Voyage into the Levant
  • Perform'd by Command of the Late French King
  • Volume 2
  • Joseph Pitton de Tournefort
  • Translated by John Ozell
  • Published online:
    18 December 2014
    Print publication:
    22 May 2014
  • Joseph Pitton de Tournefort (1656–1708) was originally destined for the church, but his interest in botany led him to become professor of botany at the Jardin des plantes in Paris, and to travel all over Europe and beyond in search of interesting specimens. He was chiefly interested in the classification of plants, but is now best remembered for the accounts he wrote of voyages undertaken for the purpose of scientific discovery. This illustrated two-volume work, published posthumously in French in 1717 and translated into English the following year, recounts a journey begun in 1700, around the eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea, visiting Crete and other Greek islands, Istanbul, Armenia and Georgia. Tournefort notes not only plants, but geographical features, antiquities, the people he encounters, and their way of life, agriculture and industry. Volume 2 continues the journey around the Black Sea and describes the voyage home.

A Voyage into the Levant
  • Perform'd by Command of the Late French King
  • Volume 1
  • Joseph Pitton de Tournefort
  • Translated by John Ozell
  • Published online:
    18 December 2014
    Print publication:
    22 May 2014
  • Joseph Pitton de Tournefort (1656–1708) was originally destined for the church, but his interest in botany led him to become professor of botany at the Jardin des plantes in Paris, and to travel all over Europe and beyond in search of interesting specimens. He was chiefly interested in the classification of plants, but is now best remembered for the accounts he wrote of voyages undertaken for the purpose of scientific discovery. This illustrated two-volume work, published posthumously in French in 1717 and translated into English the following year, recounts a journey begun in 1700, around the eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea, visiting Crete and other Greek islands, Istanbul, Armenia and Georgia. Tournefort notes not only plants, but geographical features, antiquities, the people he encounters, and their way of life, agriculture and industry. Volume 1 begins with a biography of Tournefort, and ends with an account of Constantinople.

An Englishwoman in Angora
  • Grace Ellison
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    17 April 2014
  • Grace Ellison (d.1935) was a journalist with an enthusiasm for Turkish culture. She had previously published works on life in a liberal Turkish family, and on the experiences of two modern Turkish women in Europe, which have also been reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection. In this 1923 book, she recounts what she found on revisiting Turkey in the aftermath of the First World War and the war between Turkey and Greece which had arisen after the dismemberment of the Ottoman empire. Passionately pro-Turk, Ellison was dismayed at the peace treaties' punitive effect on Turkey. This work describes a journey via Athens (filled with destitute refugees) and devastated Smyrna to Angora (Ankara), the small town which was the new capital of the Turkish Republic, where she had several meetings with Mustafa Kemal, the reforming president. This is a partisan but fascinating view of the birth of modern Turkey.

Voyage en Syrie et en Égypte pendant les années 1783, 1784 et 1785
  • Constantin-François Volney
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    06 February 2014
  • The French author and traveller Constantin-François de Chasseboeuf (1757–1820) adopted the pen name Volney, which combined the name of Voltaire and Ferney, where the great philosopher lived. A friend of Thomas Jefferson and other Enlightenment figures, Volney used an inheritance to further his education by travelling to Ottoman Egypt and the historical region of Syria, visiting areas of present-day Lebanon and Israel. He chose these lands as he believed he would gain political and philosophical insights from their ancient heritage. Very little had been written in the West about these areas before he published this two-volume account in 1787. It enjoyed great popularity and even accompanied Darwin aboard the Beagle on his own voyage of discovery decades later. Reissued here is the revised and corrected French second edition, which also appeared in 1787. Volume 2 is devoted to Syria. It looks in detail at the region's history, justice, trade and customs.

Amurath to Amurath
  • Gertrude Bell
  • Published online:
    05 November 2014
    Print publication:
    23 January 2014
  • Traveller, archaeologist, mountaineer and diplomat, Gertrude Bell (1868–1926) poured her extraordinary talents into a series of adventures through Europe and the Middle East. Addressing her experiences in Persia and Syria respectively, Safar Nameh (1894) and The Desert and the Sown (1907) are both reissued in this series. The present work, first published in 1911 and among Bell's most acclaimed, describes her recent expedition to Mesopotamia. She recounts her outward journey to the Abbasid palace of Ukhaidir and her return via Baghdad and Asia Minor. Notably discussing changes in the region after the rise of the Young Turks, including their easing of restrictions throughout the declining Ottoman Empire, Bell also saw this book as 'the attempt to record the daily life, the speech of those who had inherited the empty ground where empires had risen and expired'. Replete with photographs, it vividly opens up Middle Eastern history and archaeology.

Voyage en Syrie et en Égypte pendant les années 1783, 1784 et 1785
  • Constantin-François Volney
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    31 October 2013
  • The French author and traveller Constantin-François de Chasseboeuf (1757–1820) adopted the pen name Volney, which combined the name of Voltaire and Ferney, where the great philosopher lived. A friend of Thomas Jefferson and other Enlightenment figures, Volney used an inheritance to further his education by travelling to Ottoman Egypt and the historical region of Syria, visiting areas of present-day Lebanon and Israel. He chose these lands as he believed he would gain political and philosophical insights from their ancient heritage. Very little had been written in the West about these areas before he published this two-volume account in 1787. It enjoyed great popularity and even accompanied Darwin aboard the Beagle on his own voyage of discovery decades later. Reissued here is the revised and corrected French second edition, which also appeared in 1787. Volume 1 delves into the geography, ethnic divisions, religious beliefs, commerce and politics of Egypt and Syria.

Jerusalem
  • The Topography, Economics and History from the Earliest Times to AD 70
  • Volume 2
  • George Adam Smith
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    31 October 2013
  • First published in two volumes between 1907 and 1908, this major work by the Scottish biblical scholar and geographer Sir George Adam Smith (1856–1942) is organised into three books. Volume 2 contains the third book and consists of a historical narrative that clarifies political and religious developments in ancient Jerusalem. It contains a number of useful maps, plans and photographs. Best known for his celebrated Historical Geography of the Holy Land (1894), Smith provides here a more detailed and specialist analysis, based on first-hand knowledge derived from the visits he made to the region over the years. Spanning more than fourteen centuries of Jerusalem's history from 1400 BCE to 70 CE, these well-illustrated volumes remain a standard work of scholarship, expertly elucidating the changing shape of the city.

Jerusalem
  • The Topography, Economics and History from the Earliest Times to AD 70
  • Volume 1
  • George Adam Smith
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    31 October 2013
  • First published in two volumes between 1907 and 1908, this major work by the Scottish biblical scholar and geographer Sir George Adam Smith (1856–1942) is organised into three books. Volume 1 contains the first two books. Book 1 covers the topography, geology and climate of ancient Jerusalem, while Book 2 focuses on the economic and political development of the city. Best known for his celebrated Historical Geography of the Holy Land (1894), Smith provides here a more detailed and specialist analysis, based on first-hand knowledge derived from the visits he made to the region over the years. Spanning more than fourteen centuries of Jerusalem's history from 1400 BCE to 70 CE, these well-illustrated volumes remain a standard work of scholarship, expertly elucidating the changing shape of the city.

A Brief Description of the Holy Sepulchre Jerusalem and Other Christian Churches in the Holy City
  • With Some Account of the Mediaeval Copies of the Holy Sepulchre Surviving in Europe
  • George Jeffery
  • Published online:
    12 April 2011
    Print publication:
    31 October 2010
    First published in:
    1919
  • As the purported site of the resurrection of Jesus, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre has been a centre of pilgrimage since at least the fourth century CE. The church has survived through fire, invasion, neglect and near-destruction. The result of such a turbulent history is an extraordinarily intricate and intriguing building. George Jeffery's 1919 book, compiled from his own meticulous scrutiny of the site, is an in-depth chronicle of the church's amazing history and serves as an informative guide to many of its most interesting details. The book features plans and illustrations of the church's numerous phases of construction, and historical accounts of the building from its earliest origins, as well as descriptions of the nearby Augustinian convent and other holy sites of interest within the walls of Jerusalem. Also included is a comprehensive discussion of the many European copies of the church constructed during the middle ages.

An Englishwoman in a Turkish Harem
  • Grace Ellison
  • Introduction by Edward Granville Browne
  • Published online:
    05 May 2013
    Print publication:
    07 June 2012
    First published in:
    1915
  • Grace Ellison (d.1935) was a journalist and suffragette with a fascination for Turkish culture. This book, first published in 1915, is a collection of accounts originally written for the Daily Telegraph about her stay in the harem of a Turkish nobleman. Keen to dispel the sensationalist Western view of the harem, Ellison paints an intimate portrait of the luxurious but secluded life of women in their segregated portion of the household. Subjects covered include fashion, social events, polygamy and the bonds between family members. As well as describing life within the harem, the author provides an impassioned critical commentary on the lives and treatment of women in Turkey, attending a suffragette meeting and discussing the role of religion and nationalism in women's lives. Finishing as the First World War begins, this is a captivating snapshot of Turkish society in transition from the Ottoman era to becoming a modern republic.

Modern Egypt
  • Evelyn Baring
  • Published online:
    07 October 2011
    Print publication:
    23 December 2010
    First published in:
    1910
  • Evelyn Baring, 1st Earl of Cromer (1841–1917), was a British statesman and colonial administrator. After a successful career in the War Office he was appointed the Controller General of Egypt in 1879. After the 1882 Anglo-Egyptian War, Baring became Consul General of Egypt, a position he held until his resignation in 1907. Modern Egypt, published in 1908 and revised in 1910, can be regarded as his justification for his actions in Egypt, and has been described as 'one of the classic works of Victorian imperialist writing'. It explains why Britain became involved in Egypt, when the collapse of the economy threatened the political stability of the region. Subsequently Britain and France took dual control, to keep Ottoman Turkey out, and to protect access to the Suez Canal. Cromer was an influential player in the events he describes, and, allowing for bias, the book remains a valuable record.

The Thousand and One Churches
  • William Mitchell Ramsay, Gertude L. Bell
  • Published online:
    05 February 2013
    Print publication:
    19 January 2012
    First published in:
    1909
  • Written by two of the most eminent Anatolian experts of the day, this book on church history and architecture in Turkey was first published in 1909. Sir William Mitchell Ramsay (1851–1939), Scottish classical scholar and archaeologist, and Gertrude Bell (1868–1926), traveller, archaeologist and diplomatist, joined forces for an expedition investigating the Hittite and Byzantine site of Bin-Bir-Kilisse in Turkey in 1907. Bell was successful in establishing the chronology of Byzantine churches, and her findings constitute the middle two parts of the book, on buildings and ecclesiastical architecture. Ramsay contributed the first and last parts, on the historical and geographical details of the churches and an account of other notable monuments in the region. Ramsay was knighted in 1906 and both scholars were honoured by the Royal Geographical Society. In 1913 Bell became one of the first women to be elected a Fellow of the Society.

The Desert and the Sown
  • Gertrude Lowthian Bell
  • Published online:
    07 October 2011
    Print publication:
    28 October 2010
    First published in:
    1907
  • Athletic, intellectual and sensitive, even in her youth, Gertrude Bell was an ideal chronicler for a public fascinated by the Orient. Blending descriptions of customs, communities, archaeology, agriculture, The Desert and the Sown (1907) recounts a dramatic portion of her expedition across Syria. Enriched by over three hundred photographic illustrations, Bell's prose leads readers from the Mosque of 'Umar to the shores of the Dead Sea, the Castle of Salkhad and the dramatic landmarks of Kanawāt. Notwithstanding the inclusion of such picturesque sites, the author never allows the spectacular to overshadow the significant. As she herself professed, her narrative contains frequent references to the 'conditions of unimportant persons', arguing that 'they do not appear so unimportant to one who is in their midst'. As such, this volume reflects a compassionate and respectful attitude to other civilizations, the implications of which are as significant today as they were to Bell's contemporaries.

The Penetration of Arabia
  • A Record of the Development of Western Knowledge Concerning the Arabian Peninsula
  • David George Hogarth
  • Published online:
    05 December 2012
    Print publication:
    29 December 2011
    First published in:
    1904
  • The archaeologist D. G. Hogarth (1862–1927) was, when he died, keeper of the Ashmolean Museum and president of the Royal Geographical Society. During the First World War he was acting director of the Arab Bureau in Cairo, where he was instrumental in launching the Arab Revolt, in which T. E. Lawrence, a protégé of his, played so prominent a part. This book, published in 1904 as the Hejaz railway was being built, is a summary of earlier explorations in the Arabian peninsula, by both Muslim and European travellers. Hogarth's first visit to Arabia was not made until 1916, when he travelled to Jeddah with £10,000 in gold to finance the revolt; this book is instead based on his extensive reading of travel literature, included in a bibliography for each chapter. It is thus interesting for its historiographical analysis as well as a background to Hogarth's subsequent political involvement with the region.

In the Shadow of Sinai
  • A Story of Travel and Research from 1895 to 1897
  • Agnes Smith Lewis
  • Published online:
    05 February 2013
    Print publication:
    23 February 2012
    First published in:
    1898
  • The Scottish twin sisters Agnes Lewis (1843–1926) and Margaret Gibson (1843–1920) between them spoke modern Greek, Arabic, Hebrew, Persian and Syriac, and were pioneering biblical scholars and explorers at a time when women rarely ventured to foreign lands. The sisters made several journeys to the Monastery of St Catherine on Mount Sinai, discovering ancient biblical manuscripts, and their first two visits there were described in the 1893 publication How the Codex was Found (also available in this series). Lewis' In the Shadow of Sinai of 1898 was composed as a sequel to this work, dealing with the third and fourth journeys to Sinai, in 1895 and 1897. She gives a vivid account of the practicalities of desert travelling, as well as the excitement of the sisters and their academic colleagues as they recognised the significance of their discoveries in the monastic library.

Our Journey to Sinai
  • A Visit to the Convent of St Catarina
  • Agnes Bensly
  • Published online:
    05 February 2013
    Print publication:
    19 January 2012
    First published in:
    1896
  • First published in 1896, this work by Agnes Bensley (d. 1900), wife of the Orientalist and biblical scholar Robert Bensly (1831–93), describes the journey undertaken by a party of scholars to St Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai in 1893. In the previous year, sisters Agnes Smith Lewis and Margaret Dunlop Gibson had discovered the Sinai Palimpsest, the earliest-known Syriac version of the Gospels. The purpose of the Bensly's mission was to aid them in transcribing and deciphering the Palimpsest. Beginning with the party's arrival in Cairo, the book describes the preparation for the trip, their journey across the desert, and life in the monastery. However, relations between the members of the party deteriorated; Gibson and Lewis wrote their own accounts of the expedition (also available in this series), and Mrs Bensly's narrative is defensive of the role of her husband, who died days after their return to England.

Ludolph von Suchem's Description of the Holy Land, and of the Way Thither
  • Written in the Year A.D. 1350
  • Ludolf von Suchem
  • Edited and translated by Aubrey Stewart
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    31 October 2013
    First published in:
    1895
  • Beyond the fact that he made a journey to the Holy Land between 1336 and 1341, very little is known about Ludolf von Suchem (whose first name may in fact have been Rudolf). However, his work has long been regarded as a major source of information about the eastern Mediterranean in the fourteenth century, owing to its high level of detail. Ludolf states his intention to describe the region, its buildings, towns, fortified places, people, customs, stories and legends, drawing on both his own observations, and on information from the 'kings, princes, nobles and lords' with whom he spent days and nights in conversation. Some stories are clearly travellers' tales, but others, like his account of the fall of Acre (1291), based on reports by eyewitnesses, are both full and convincing. This English translation, by Aubrey Stewart (1844–1918), of Ludolf's Latin text was published in 1895.

Safar Nameh
  • Persian Pictures: A Book of Travel
  • Gertrude Bell
  • Published online:
    05 December 2012
    Print publication:
    22 December 2011
    First published in:
    1894
  • This book of 'Persian Pictures' is the first published work of Gertrude Bell (1868–1926), the celebrated traveller, archaeologist, Orientalist and supporter of Arab independence. She first visited Persia in 1892, when a relative by marriage was British minister there, and published her impressions in a series of essays in 1894. Her subjects range from Roman ruins to Ottoman graves to shopping in the bazaars, and from the bustling life of cities to the isolation of the desert. Having studied the Persian language in preparation for her journey, she was able to enter into the life of the country, and especially of its women, more deeply than a casual visitor, and indeed her second publication was a free-verse translation of the fourteenth-century poet Hafiz. Bell captures a sense of delight at a mysterious land still marked by the traces of many of the great civilisations of the past.

How the Codex Was Found
  • A Narrative of Two Visits to Sinai, from Mrs Lewis's Journals 1892–1893
  • Agnes Smith Lewis
  • Edited by Margaret Dunlop Gibson
  • Published online:
    05 February 2013
    Print publication:
    26 January 2012
    First published in:
    1893
  • The Scottish twin sisters Agnes Lewis (1843–1926) and Margaret Gibson (1843–1920) between them spoke modern Greek, Arabic, Hebrew, Persian and Syriac, and were pioneering biblical scholars and explorers at a time when women rarely ventured to foreign lands. The sisters made several journeys to the Monastery of St Catherine on Mount Sinai, and their first two visits there are described in this 1893 publication. Using her sister's journals, Margaret Gibson tells how Agnes discovered a version of the Gospels in Syriac from the fifth century CE. This text is immensely important, being an example of the New Testament written in the eastern branch of Aramaic, the language that Jesus himself spoke. Meanwhile, Margaret Gibson studied other manuscripts in the library and photographed them; the sisters later transcribed and published many of these. Controversy over the circumstances of the discovery led to Margaret publishing this account in 1893.

Persia and the Persian Question
  • Volume 1
  • George Nathaniel Curzon
  • Published online:
    05 June 2016
    Print publication:
    05 February 2016
    First published in:
    1892
  • Following his election to Parliament, George Nathaniel Curzon (1859–1925) embarked on extensive travels and research in Asia, spending several months in Persia in 1889–90. Later viceroy of India, Curzon believed that growing Russian influence in Asia threatened Britain's interests, and that Persia was an important buffer state. Highly regarded upon publication in 1892, this illustrated two-volume work is a mix of history, geography, travel narrative, and social and political analysis. Intended to educate readers at home as to Persia's strategic significance, the work reflects its author's staunch support for British imperialism. Volume 1 describes Curzon's journey to Tehran, offering observations on the situation in the provinces which bordered Russian-controlled territory. Curzon then gives an overview of Persian institutions, including the monarchy, government, and the army. His Problems of the Far East (1894) is also reissued in this series.

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