BELON Pierre Les Observations de plusieurs singularités et choses mémorables trouvées en Grèce, Asie, Judée, Egypte, Arabie, & autres pays estranges.

Brun p. 120 ; Weber n° 153 ; Nissen, ZBI n° 304. Cf. Blackmer 115 and Atabey 93 (both for the second edition 1554), Koç n° 12 (for the 1555 edition). Not in Adams.

First edition of one of the first accounts on the Middle East by a French naturalist traveller.

Pierre Belon (1517-1564) went on an expedition to the Levant between 1546 and 1549 passing by Mount Athos, Turkey, Egypt, where he visited Alexandria and Cairo. He continued his travel through Judea, Arabia, and Persia and was able to assemble detailed information on habits of its people as well as in depth information on the flora and fauna of the visited countries. After his return to France in 1553 he published Les Observations de plusieurs singularitez et choses memorables trouvées en Grèce, Asie, Judée, Egypte, Arabie, & autres pays estrangers.

The book is in fact one of the first travel accounts by a French naturalist. Divided in three parts, the book starts with the travel account until reaching Constantinople, followed by the description of the journey from Constantinople through Turkey to Egypt, the last part gives an insight to the rites and beliefs of the Turkish population as well as travel accounts to Mecca.

The 34 fine woodcuts depict plants and animals including one of the first images of a chameleon and an armadillo; the two maps depict the Bosporus and the city of Alexandria.

“His journey was inspired by a desire to see the plants and medicinal substances of which he had read, but his travels through Greece, Asia Minor, Egypt and the Holy Land resulted in observations more than merely botanical, in a most remarkable work, which discusses the antiquities, customs and manners of the countries Belon visited, as well as the natural history. His was the most documented account of the Levant which had appeared up to that time in French. Of importance is his description of Cairo after 30 years of Turkish occupation” (Blackmer).

Light occasional staining. Very good and broad margined copy in its first binding.

Provenance: book plates of Louis Duhamel and D’Henry.