Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Price: US$150.00 + shipping
Condition: Fair
Description: 492 pages, plus frontispiece and illustrated half title, and folding map. Original red cloth is torn along joints and worn at spine ends. Lighter wear at corners. Lettering and decoration on spine is faded. Book plate on front free end leaf. Scattered foxing throughout, and marginal tide mark seen on about half of the leaves. Folding map shows some misfolds and a small closed tear on bound edge. Volume remains fairly tight.
Seller: Lloyd Zimmer, Books and Maps, Chanute, KS, U.S.A.
Price: US$175.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: frontis, vignette second title, folding map, xv, [17]-492p. Rebound sometime in the 19th century in 1/2 leather (marbled-paper backed in leather with matching leather corners). 19 cm. Endpapers and page edges also marbled. Ends of backstrip lightly chipped (with some glue repair). Joints and edges rubbed with loss of leather at corners. Internally nice and tight but with considerable, mostly light foxing throughout. This American edition, which we've also seen in brown (and perhaps blue) cloth, is abridged from the English first edition (1855-56 in 3 volumes). The "Publishers' Preface in this volumes assures the reader that "The portions omitted . do not affect the narrative or the incidents of the visit to the Holy Places, but chiefly relate to . Burton's preliminary residence in Egypt and to historical and ethnological considerations. An Appendix containing a resume of former explorations, is also omitted, but its place is supplied by the introductory essay by Bayard Taylor."
Seller: McBlain Books, ABAA, Hamden, CT, U.S.A.
Price: US$250.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: pp. xv, [1], Map, [1], 18-492. Thick 12mo. First American Edition. Originally published in three volumes in the UK. Two illustrations with tissue guard and folding map are present. Map is in excellent condition, but has a 1 1/2" tear. Original publisher's binding has edge and corner wear, some minor chipping at head and foot of spine, a slight lean, but overall solid, no cracks in hinges or joints. One signature slightly pulled, but holding tight. Book now protected in mylar. Blue end papers. No previous owner's names or marks. A few pages have light browning. The daring travels of Richard Burton to be the first English Christian to enter Mecca.
Seller: ARABESQUE BOOKS, Atlanta, GA, U.S.A.
Price: US$275.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Stated First American Edition. Fold-out map present and clean. Contains 2 illustrations including the frontispiece - tissue guard present. Introductory notice by Bayard Taylor. The true first edition of this title (UK) was 3 volumes. The US first is abridged. Bound in red cloth with gold spine titles and a gold moon on front cover. Previous owner bookplate on front pastedown. Previous owner name in pencil on free endpaper. Pages clean. Binding is bumped at both ends of spine. Cloth has cracks and chips at both ends of spine with loss of cloth - see our photo or ask us for additional photos. Corners rubbed with some loss of cloth. Light to moderate soiling to covers. Spine faded and age darkened. Book now protected in clear plastic jacket. Ships same or next business day well protected in a box. ; 8vo 8" - 9" tall; 492 pages
Seller: Good Books In The Woods, Spring, TX, U.S.A.
Price: US$288.19 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Covers somewhat faded, spine slightly worn at head and tail, corners rubbed, some foxing in text; but a very good, firm copy. Inscribed in pencil on the first blank, "F.L. [= Francis Lee?] Higginson from J.A.H." First American edition of a 19th-century travel classic.
Seller: James Fergusson Books & Manuscripts, London, United Kingdom
Price: US$375.00 + shipping
Description: First American Edition. Publisher's cloth (minor spotting); very moderate foxing; an excellent copy of Burton's account of his disguised penetration of Islam's holiest shrine. All books described as first editions are first printings unless otherwise noted.
Seller: Peter L. Stern & Co., Inc, Newton, MA, U.S.A.
Price: US$450.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: New York: G.P. Putnam & Co., 1856. This is a Very Good copy of the First American Edition of Burton's classic incursion on the Haj. Originally three volumes when first published in England; here reduced to a one-volume condensation for America. Bound in brown cloth withdecorative stampings; titling on the spine and a crescent moon on the front cover in gilt. Introductory Notice by the poet and fellow-traveller Bayard Taylor (1825-1878), who had published his own "A Journey to Central Africa" two years prior. Text is clear and bright but has scattered spotting; xv, 492 pages; fold-out map (complete, with a small closed tear). Two frontis plates. Armorial bookplate on the front paste-down, with the owner's signature opposite. Faint rubbing to the tips and the spine gilt dulled but perfectly readable. Top edge a bit dusty; light spotting to the other edges. A solid copy. In an archival plastic protector. First American Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good/No Jacket. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.
Seller: Quercus Rare Books, Chico, CA, U.S.A.
Price: US$500.00 + shipping
Description: First American edition of one of "the greatest works of travel ever published" (Penzer, 49). Octavo, original publisher's decorative cloth with gilt titles and ornamentation to the spine, gilt central crescent moon to the front panel, pale yellow endpapers, tissue-guarded lithographic frontispiece of El Medinah, additional pictorial title page, folding map of the route of Richard F. Burton from Yambu to El Medinah and Meccah. In very good condition with some toning to the page edges and rubbing to the spine extremities. Impelled by wanderlust and the spirit of adventure and aided by an extraordinary facility in Eastern languages, Sir Richard Burton was one of the great explorers of history. He was the first European to enter the capital of Somaliland and the first to discover the Great Lakes of Central Africa. He was also an Orientalist of the first rank. But it is for his pilgrimage in 1853 to Mecca and Medina and the most sacrosanct shrines of Islam that Burton is best known â" and for his celebrated book that recorded his experiences during the journey. Successfully posing as a wandering dervish, he gained admittance to the holy Kaabah and to the Tomb of the Prophet at Medina and participated in all the rituals of the Hadj (pilgrimage). He is still one of the very few non-Muslims to visit and return from Mecca. Above all, Burton was a sharp observer â" of character, customs, and physical surroundings. These pages contain a treasury of material on Arab life, beliefs, manners and morals; detailed descriptions of religious ceremonies, mosques, temples, etc.; and a variety of ethnographic, economic, and geographical information. Whether telling of the crowded caravan to Mecca, engaging in minute analysis of Bedouin character, waxing lyrical about a desert landscape, or reporting conversations with townsfolk or fellow pilgrims, Burton gives us a vivid picture of the region and its people.
Seller: Raptis Rare Books, Palm Beach, FL, U.S.A.
Price: US$500.00 + shipping
Description: First American edition. First published in 1855. WITH MAP and 2 lithographs (frontipiece of Medinah. & additional title). 492 pp. 1 vols. 8vo. cfPenzer pp. 49f Original brown cloth, neatly recased with spine laid down, new endpapers WITH MAP and 2 lithographs (frontipiece of Medinah. & additional title). 492 pp. 1 vols. 8vo First American edition. First published in 1855.
Seller: James Cummins Bookseller, ABAA, New York, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$550.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: 8vo. [5], vi-xv, [2], 18-492, [2] pp. Brown publisher's cloth with decorations in blind on each board, a gilt crescent moon on the front board, copper-coloured lettering on the spine. Brown coated endpapers and pastedowns. Illustrated with a frontispiece, a vignette title page, and with a folding map. With an introduction by Bayard Taylor. Casada 53. Penzer 49. Casada refers to this work as "the best known of all of Burton's works", with "the multitude of editions indicative of its popularity". The nearly unbelievable story of Burton disguising himself and sneaking into Mecca, difficult to find in collectible condition. Light wear to the boards' corners, moderate foxing to the pageblock.
Seller: Evening Star Books, ABAA/ILAB, Madison, WI, U.S.A.
Price: US$575.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: New York: G.P. Putnam & Co., 1856. First U.S. Edition. Octavo. 492 pp. Two lithographs with tissue guard (Sketch of Medinah and additional title); fold-out map of Burton's route. Original brown publisher's cloth, recased, brown endpapers. Originally published in three volumes the year prior in England, here condensed to one volume. Boards show some light scuffing, slightly heavier to rear board. Tight in binding. Foxing to endpapers and margins, ownership signature in pencil to front fly leaf, and otherwise pages unmarked. An attractive copy of Burton's most famous work, and, according to Penzer one of "the greatest works of travel ever published" along with Doughty's Arabia Deserta. [Penzer p. 49].
Seller: Capitol Hill Books, ABAA, Washington, DC, U.S.A.
Price: US$854.21 + shipping
Description: 8vo. pp. xv, [1]blank, [17]-492. folding lithographed map. 2 tinted lithographed plates (frontis. & additional title). original blind & gilt-stamped cloth, rebacked with spine mounted, endpapers retained (corners frayed, some foxing throughout - generally light except for outer leaves, trace of former owner's signature on title). First American Edition. Burton's popular work was originally published in three volumes (1855-56). The American edition is abridged, concentrating on Burton's adventuresome travels to Moslem Holy Places. Burton was the first English Christian to enter Mecca as a true Mohammedan pilgrim. During his arduous and dangerous journey, he disguised himself at various times as a Persian Mirza, a Dervish and a Pathan doctor. "As a story of bold adventure, and as lifting a veil from the unknown, its interest will never fade." (DNB) cfGay 3634. cfIbrahim-Hilmy I p. 111. cfPenzer pp. 49f.
Seller: D & E LAKE LTD. (ABAC/ILAB), Toronto, ON, Canada