JOURNAL OF A TOUR IN ASIA MINOR, with comparative remarks on the ancient and modern geography of that country by LEAKE, William Martin, 1777-1860 - 1824

London: John Murray. 1824. First Edition. Hardcover. Quarter bound in original green patterned cloth and tan boards, paper spine label, page edges rough trimmed. pp (xxx), 362, (2, ads) + frontispiece illustration + large folding map + 2 full-page plans of Troas. Illustrations in text, indexed. Spine label tanned; partial cloth split to front joint neatly repaired; slight damp and soil spotting to boards; front inner hinge neatly repaired with rice paper; two old private ink ownership inscriptions at front (person at King's College, Toronto); damp stain to corner of frontispiece; bit of foxing to the two full page maps and only occasional foxing spots in text; large chip to fore margin of last two leaves of text (no printing affected); soft corner creases to late leaves; page edges tanned; leaves unopened at edges of last quarter of the text; one inch tear to inner margin of folding map neatly repaired with clear archival paper tape on the blank side; in all, a VG clean, tight and unworn pleasant copy. As an officer in the Royal Regiment of Artillery, Leake was in 1799 sent to Constantinople to train the Ottoman army for its defense against Napoleon. A journey through Asia Minor in 1800 to join the British fleet at Cyprus kindled his interest in antiquarian topography. He was later sent out again to survey the coasts of Albania and Morea. He retired from the army in 1815 and devoted the rest of his life to antiquarian topology. He was elected to the Royal Society in 1815 and was a founding member of the Royal Geographical Society. "His account is the first complete and systematic description of the geography of Asia Minor. All of his work is equally precise as regards geography, antiquities and philology." - Blackmer 972.; Octavo .