Discoveries in the Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon…
Discoveries in the Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon; With Travels in Armenia, Kurdistan and the Desert: Being the Result of a Second Expedition Undertaken for the Trustees of the British Museum.
London: John Murray, 1853.
Two parts bound as two volumes, octavo; with five folding maps, eleven lithographed plates, and more than 200 woodcuts in the text, some of them full-page; bound without a final leaf of publisher's advertisements in fine contemporary full polished tree calf, sides bordered in gilt, spines ornately panelled in gilt between raised bands, red leather lettering- and numbering-pieces.
Layard's Nineveh and Babylon, finely bound
A very attractive set of this archaeological classic in a beautiful tree calf binding of the period. "During [his] expeditions, often in circumstances of great difficulty, Layard despatched to England the splendid specimens which now form the greater part of the collection of Assyrian antiquities in the British Museum. Layard believed that the native Syriac Christian communities living throughout the Near East were descended from the ancient Assyrians.
A very attractive set of this archaeological classic in a beautiful tree calf binding of the period. "During [his] expeditions, often in circumstances of great difficulty, Layard despatched to England the splendid specimens which now form the greater part of the collection of Assyrian antiquities in the British Museum. Layard believed that the native Syriac Christian communities living throughout the Near East were descended from the ancient Assyrians.
Apart from the archaeological value of his work in identifying Kuyunjik as the site of Nineveh, and in providing a great mass of materials for scholars to work upon, these two books of Layard [the other being his Nineveh and Its Remains, 1848–49] were among the best written books of travel in the English language".
Provenance: Alfred Tomlinson (with pictorial bookplates); with the bookseller's ticket of James G. Commin, Exeter.
Abbey, Travel, 364; Atabey, 687; Blackmer, 969.
Condition Report: A little very light rubbing to the joints of the bindings.
Price (AUD): $2,100.00
US$1,345.88 Other currencies