A Narrative Of Travel
INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR ON PUBLICATION
Aei: Arabia Egypt India A Narrative Of Travel
William Mullan and Son, 1879.
First edition. 8vo. Half red morocco by Bayntun, lettered gilt to spine. Top edge gilt. Inscribed on publication by Isabel Burton to the half title, "To Mrs Bailey, with Isabel Burton's kind regards 21 Feb 1879". Map frontispiece and additional folding map, both in colour. Fifteen black and white plates. A clean, near fine copy, some spotting to endpapers and page edges.
An attractive, inscribed copy of Isabel Burton's account of her and her husband's travels through Egypt, Arabia and India in 1876. It was inscribed on publication day, on 21st February 1879:
"Early in February, 1879, her book A. E. I. came out, and the publisher was so pleased with it that he gave a party in honour of the authoress. There were seventeen guests, and there were seventeen copies of the book piled in a pyramid in the middle of the table. After supper one was given to each guest. They must have made a merry night of it, for Isabel notes that the gaieties began at 11 p.m. and did not end until 5 a.m." (The Romance Of Isabel Lady Burton, W. H. Wilkins, 1897).
Also in attendance that evening were Bram Stoker, Henry Irving and Lord Houghton. Stoker's Personal Reminiscences Of Henry Irving (1906) records the the dinner took place on 21st February, and so it is likely that this copy was inscribed at the same dinner.
The Burtons left Trieste on New Year's Day 1876 sailing through Suez into the Red Sea. They stopped at Jeddah to explore the historic sites, and also at Aden while en route to India. In India they landed at Bombay, ventured inland to Hyderabad and then back west to Goa. On the return journey they stopped again at Aden, before heading through Suez to return to Trieste.
Stock ID: 42461
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