157 - [Turkey]. DELLA VALLE, Pietro.

[Turkey]. DELLA VALLE, Pietro. Travels of Pietro Della Valle, a Roman gentleman, through Turkey, Egypt, Palestine, Persia, the East Indies, and other places. New, revised, corrected, and expanded edition. Paris: Ganeau, 1745. 8 volumes in-12. Non-uniform marbled fawn calfskin of the period (6 volumes; volumes 6 and 7 differ in a complete set), ribbed spine with title and volume number labels, gilded floral panels, speckled red edges (title and volume number labels missing from volumes 1 through 6; spine worn; some minor worm damage to the bindings or missing leather; interior remains fresh; maps and one plate are missing). The most complete edition of this work according to Chadenat. Illustrated with a portrait of the author and his wife, who died during the journey, Sitti Maani Gioerida della Valle, an Iraqi woman he had married in Baghdad, engraved in black on copper. Pietro Della Valle (1586–1652), known as il Pellegrino (“the traveler”), a 17th-century Italian adventurer, poet-musician, and explorer who identified Babylon, revealed the existence of cuneiform, and was one of the first Assyriologists, famous for introducing Persian cats and Turkish coffee to the world. Compiled from letters written by the author to his friend Schipano, describing his travels in the East, which began in 1614. Translated from Italian by Fathers Etienne Carneau and François-Célestin Le Comte. Chadenat, 1771.