El Yèmen. Tre anni nell' Arabia felice. Escursioni fatte dal Settembre 1877 al Marzo 1880.
Large 8vo. (8), VI, (2), 446 pp. With portrait frontispiece, 21 plates (7 of which double-page sized; last single-page plate included in pagination), 2 folding coloured maps of Yemen, folding plate of the game "abdùr", folding coloured plan of Sana'a, folding view of Sana'a, folding view of Aden, as well as numerous woodcut illustrations in the text. Contemporary half calf over marbled boards with blindstamped spine and giltstamped spine-title. Marbled endpapers.
€ 2.500,00
First edition, rare. Richly illustrated account of Yemen, without doubt "one of the fullest descriptions of life in San'a' and Turkish-occupied North Yemen" (Auchterlonie) ever to be published. The Italian explorer Manzoni (1852-1918) spent three years travelling the Yemen, altogether staying an entire year in Sana'a, his "citta bellissima". He "investigated the city more thoroughly and described it more vividly than any of his predecessors [...] also, he was the first to draw a map of the city" (cf. Henze). The illustrations include pretty views of Sana'a and Aden, as well as portraits of the local population.
Extremities very slightly rubbed; some remnants of ink stains on the frontispiece; minor browning to margins throughout; last folding map with small tears (repaired). Library stamp of the Paris École des Langues Orientales Vivantes to title-page, somewhat rubbed. Marked as a duplicate in red pencil on the blank recto of the frontispiece.
Auchterlonie 138. Henze III, 366.