India - Egypt - Abyssinia - Lot 724

India - Egypt - Abyssinia VALENTIA (George Annesley) Viscount - [SALT (Henry)] Voyages and travels to India, Ceylon, the Red Sea, Abyssinia, and Egypt, in the years 1802, 1803, 1804, 1805, and 1806. London, Miller, 1809. 3 volumes in-4; illustrated with 69 plates (17/ 25/ 27) including folding maps. Handwritten bookplate to be identified. Contemporary glazed fawn calf, spine ribbed and decorated with gilt and cold irons, some rubbed jaws (one or two slightly cracked at the entrances), triple gilt fillet framing a cold garland on the boards, rubbing, gilt fillet on the edges, interior gilt roulette, marbled edges. A fine copy. Valentia accompanied the British mission to Abyssinia, to secure a port on the Red Sea as Napoleon threatened to seize Egypt. The book contains descriptions of Lucknow, Benares, Seringapatam, Jeddah, Moka, Calcutta, Madras and Ceylon, as well as an ethnographic and historical overview of the Abyssinian regions of Aksum and Adwa. Volume III contains an account of the Ethiopian highlands by Salt. Henry Salt accompanied Viscount Valentia as secretary and draughtsman.