Asie Mineure.

depuis les Temps les plus anciens jusqu'a la Battalille d'Ancyre, en 1402. [With] TEXIER (Charles). Asie Mineure Description Géographique, Historique et Archéologique des Provinces et des Villes de la Chersonnése d'Asie. 2 vols. 6 folding maps & 64 plates. 8vo. Contemporary quarter cloth, French marbled boards spines gilt. [iv], 530; [iv], 758pp. Paris, Firmin-Didot, 1878 &

A very attractive set of volumes bringing together the work of two of the most important writers on Asia Minor. In order to make a more balanced pair the first 32 plates of Texier are bound in at the end of the Le Bas volume.

Trained as an archaeologist, Texier superintended excavations at Ostia before departing for the Levant. He made three journeys to the region between 1834 and 1836, returning to France in 1837 to start work on Description of Asia Minor. This book, "probably the greatest work of exploration made by a single traveller" (Blackmer), was not so much an account of his journey but rather the summation of the information he had collected en route. Le Bas meanwhile started his archaeological travels some ten years later, travelling throughout Greece and Asia Minor from January 1843 to December 1844, and collecting more than 4000 inscriptions along the way. Blackmer, 1646; Atabey, 1212.

Stock Code: 184728