Researches in Assyria, Babylonia, and Chaldaea; Forming Part of the Labours of the Euphrates Expedition. by William Ainsworth - 1838

John. W. Parker, 1838. 1st Edition . Hardcover. Very Good. First edition. Rebound in quarter leather. Binders label on the rear pastedown in arabic. Library stamp to the title page, frontis: Bibliotheque Geographique, Hachette & Cie. (4), 343p. Fold-out frontis, title page vignette, three black and white in-text vignettes, and three hand coloured fold-out plates, collated complete. The fold-out map is by the cartographer John Arrowsmith (1790-1873). William Francis Ainsworth (1807-1896) was a geographer and geologist. "In 1835 Ainsworth was appointed surgeon and geologist to the expedition to the Euphrates under Francis Rawdon Chesney to examine the feasibility of opening up the Mesopotamian rivers to steam navigation as a new route to India, as well as asserting British political presence in the area, promoting British commercial ties, and gathering scientific and archaeological data. Ainsworth constructed geological sections across northern Syria and the Taurus Mountains, discovered several deposits of commercially important minerals in Mesopotamia and Anatolia, and explored a substantial part of south-east Persia. With Chesney, Ainsworth published the first account of the expedition in the 'Journal of the Royal Geographical Society' (1837) and the next year wrote his own fuller account as 'Researches in Assyria, Babylonia and Chaldaea' (1838)." - ODNB Condition: Very good. Pencil inscription to the frontis, title page, and one of the plates. Tidemarks to plates. Three of the plate have several small closed tears that have been repaired, measuring no more than 2cm. The fore edge of one of the plates is grubby and edge-worn. Some offsetting from the plates. Light scattered foxing to the first and last few pages only. Tear measuring under 2cm with a small chip to the front blank.