Bonhams 1793 : BURTON (RICHARD FRANCIS) Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to El-Medinah and Meccah, 3 vol., FIRST EDITION, AUTHOR'S PRESENTATION COPY INSCRIBED "J. Grant Lumsden DD, R.F.Burton, August 1855" on title-page of volumes one and 2, 1855-1856

Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to El-Medinah and Meccah, 3 vol., FIRST EDITION, AUTHOR'S PRESENTATION COPY, inscribed to "J. Grant Lumsden DD, R.F. Burton, August 1855" on title-page of volumes 1-2, 14 plates (5 chromolithographed), one folding engraved map, 3 plans (2 folding), green half morocco gilt by H. Sotheran, t.e.g [Abbey, Travel 368; Penzer, pp.49-50], 8vo, Longman, 1855-1856

Sold for £11,875 inc. premium

Footnotes

A FINE ASSOCIATION COPY of "one of the greatest works of travel ever published" (Penzer), inscribed on publication by Burton to James Grant Lumsden. In 1853 Burton, disguised as a Pathan, travelled to Medina and Mecca where he performed the Haj. Having completed the pilgrimage Burton, rather than returning to England, sailed for India to join his regiment in Bombay. "He stayed at the house of James Grant Lumsden, a senior member of the Bombay Council, and there wrote the three-volume Pilgrimage... unwilling to return to the routine of regimental life he now petitioned the directors of the East India Company for permission to visit northeast Africa... [and] visit the legendary walled city of Harar. Through the influence of Lumsden the venture was immediately approved" (Howgego, Encyclopaedia of Exploration 1850-1940). Burton's narrative of this journey, First Footsteps in East Africa (1856), was dedicated to Lumsden: "within your hospitable walls my project of Africa travel was matured... [a] record of adventures in which you took so warm an interest".

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