196 - [Levant]. MARITI, Giovanni Francesco.

[Levant]. MARITI, Giovanni Francesco. Travels in the Island of Cyprus, Syria, and Palestine, with a General History of the Levant. Paris: Belin, 1791. 2 volumes, in-8, VIII-327 pp. and (2) ff., 410 pp., Light fawn sheepskin with fine speckles, smooth spine, red morocco title label, title and volume number in gold (scuffing and wear to the leather, cap ends worn down, spine joints slightly split at the bottom, slight foxing or marginal water stains on a few ff.). French first edition of Abbé Giovanni Mariti’s (1736–1806) travel account of his journey to the Middle East between 1760 and 1768, based on the original Italian *Viaggi per l’Isola di Cipro, e per la Soria e Palestina*, translated by Jean Castilhon (1720–1799) and Jean-Baptiste Robinet (1735–1820). The first volume offers one of the most comprehensive descriptions of Cyprus available in the 18th century, enriched with information on Cypriot wines drawn from the work Mariti himself devoted to this subject, *Del Vino di Cipro*. This information is found in the last five chapters, which are devoted to viticulture, the quality of the wines, their transport, their trade, and methods for preserving Cypriot wines in Europe. The second volume contains the account of the journey through Syria and Palestine. An old handwritten ex libris [Gaunie(z)] on the title pages. An autograph in period brown ink on the colophons. OENOLOGY. WINEMAKING. Blackmer, 378 [816].