197 - [Levant]. MARITI, Giovanni Francesco.

[Levant]. MARITI, Giovanni Francesco. Travels in the Island of Cyprus, Syria, and Palestine, with a General History of the Levant. Neuwied: Typographic Society, 1791. 2 volumes in-12, 342 pp. and 423 pp. Marbled fawn sheepskin, ribbed spine, title and volume number labels, gilt title, gilded floral panels, gilded roulette on the edges, marbled edges (binding worn, a few discreet marginal foxing spots, small tear with no loss on pp. 7–8 of volume 2). French edition of Abbé Giovanni Mariti’s (1736–1806) travelogue 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 is one of the most comprehensive descriptions of Cyprus available at the time, enriched with information on Cypriot wines drawn from Mariti’s work on the 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. This Neuwied edition is sometimes referred to as a counterfeit or pirated edition compared to the official Paris edition, but it was in fact published in the same year. OENOLOGY. WINEMAKING. Blackmer, 378 [816].