CAILLIAUD Frédéric Voyage à l’oasis de Thèbes et dans les déserts situés à l’orient et à l’occident de la Thébaïde, fait pendant les années 1815, 1816, 1817, et 1818. Rédigé et publié par M. Jomard. Contenant: 1°. Le voyage à l’Oasis du Dakel, par M. le chevalier Drovetti. 2°. Le Journal du premier voyage de M. Cailliaud en Nubie. 3°. Des Recherches sur las oasis, sur les mines d’émeraude, et sur l’ancienne route du commerce entre le Nil et la Mer Rouge.

Blackmer, 269 ; Brunet, I, 1466 ; Quérard, II, 16.

First edition. A  copy complete of the second part, published 41 years after the first. Complete copies of both volumes are very rare.

Frédéric Caillaud (1787-1869), explorer, took part in two expeditions to Egypt, the first of which took place between 1815 and 1819, and the next between 1819 and 1822. Appointed official mineralogist to Mehmet Ali in 1816, the latter commissioned him to explore the deserts east and west of the Nile. He then travelled through Upper Egypt with Bernardino Drovetti (1776-1852), penetrated Nubia, and explored the monuments located towards the last cataracts of the Nile. He crossed a large part of the desert to reach the great Oasis and the city of Thebes where he stayed for nine months before returning to France in 1819. Returning to Egypt in September 1819, Cailliaud travelled from Fayun westwards to Siwa, where he carried out important research that formed the basis for the scientific discovery and exploration of the Siwa oasis. In 1820, Bernardino Drovetti arrived in Siwa with Mehmed Ali’s expedition.

Accompanied by two draughtsmen and protected by Egyptian troops, Drovetti was able to explore the oasis and have plans and views drawn. He thus managed to complete the image that Cailliaud had previously given of Siwa. The two explorers then sent their reports which Jomard had published. The account of the Voyage à l’oasis de Thèbes was the first to be published; it was followed by the Voyage à Méroe (1823-1827), as well as the Voyage à l’oasis de Syouah (1823).

The Voyage à l’oasis de Thèbes is richly illustrated with 45 large plates, including 2 maps. The plates show views as well as relics and objects found during the archaeological excavations.

“Volume II was published over 40 years after volume I and is scarce. Jomard edited this work from Cailliaud’s notes and journal. Volume II contains a description of the objects which Cailliaud brought back to Paris with him. He had been travelling in the Levant ; in May, 1815 he left Constantinople for Egypt where he was well received by Mehmet Ali and engaged by him to explore the desert ad to search for the emerald mines of Mt. Zabarah known to the ancient Egyptians. He found the mines, which had been exhausted by previous workings and were no longer commercially viable. During this expedition he explored the grand oasis of Kargeh and found temples mentioned neither by Poncet nor Browne. When he returned to Paris in 1819 his collection was acquired by the ministry of public instruction and entrusted to Jomard, who was keeper of the geographical collection in the Imperial Library and had been a member of the scientific commission which accompanied Napoleon’s Egyptian expedition” (Blackmer).

Very nice copy.