A Map of the Lake Thrasimene, and the Country about it

Map of the Lake Trasimeno from A Description of the East, and some other Countries, Vol. II. Part I. Observations on Palaestine or the Holy Land, Syria, Mesopotamia, Cyprus, and Candia. Vol. II. Part II. Observations on the Islands of the Archipelago, Asia Minor, Thrace, Greece, and some other Parts of Europe…, vol. II, London, W. Bowyer, MDCCXLV[=1745] by Richard Pococke.

After graduating from Oxford, Pococke spent three years travelling in the Middle East, from 1735 to 1738. Upon his return he combined scholarly curiosity with artistic ability, and the result was the present work, in which he provides descriptions of all aspects of the region, its history and cultures, illustrated by detailed plans and fine plates of costumes, plants and views. As one of the first Englishmen to record his journey up the Nile, his illustrated account is particularly valuable as an early record of Egyptian antiquities as they stood at the start of the modern era. Pococke visited Thebes and travelled as far south as Philae and the First Cataract at Philae. On his return journey northwards he met, by chance, Danish traveller Frederik Norden. Norden continued southwards, eventually reaching Derr. Both travellers made careful drawings of the Great Sphinx at Giza, but Pococke employed some artistic license and replaced the colossal statue's missing nose. The publication of the present work brought prestige to Pococke and he was subsequently made a founder member of the Egyptian Club.

The two parts of volume II were issued together in 1745, with separate title-pages, pagination and register and the imprints reading: printed for the author, by W. Bowyer. Pococke's work, based on his travels in Europe and North Africa between 1733 and 1742, was influential for showing the first detailed images of buildings such as the ruins at Baalbek and Athens.

Copperplate, good condition.