Voyages d'Ali Bey : Explication Des Planches Composant l'Atlas des Voyages D'Ali Bey

14 pp. descriptive texts and 92 illustrations in all, including a series of 85 plates, several folding, numbered as I-LXXXIII (incl. XII bis. and XXVIII bis.) ; 5 unnumbered maps, four of them large, folding (Carte géographique de l'île de Chypre, Carte géographique du royaume de Maroc, Carte géographique de l'Afrique septentrionale, Carte géographique de la côte d'Arabie, Carte routière du voyage d'Ali Bey du Caire à Constantinople) ; the frontispiece portrait of Badia y Leblich as Ali Bey El Abbassi ; and one additional unidentified architectural drawing of a mosque in profile. Oblong folio. Good to very good overall ; usual degree of foxing and offsetting throughout ; a few closed tears at the margins, esp. of the large folding plates. Original boards rubbed at the extremities and repaired at the corners. Rebacked in modern leather, preserving much of the original spine. Endpapers are new. [1297]

A handsome and intact first-edition copy of the rare Atlas, often pillaged for its impressive maps and attractive views. Badia y Leblich was a Spanish traveller and spy who disguised himself as an Arab diplomat under the name of Ali Bey El Abbassi [Arabic: علي باي العباسي‎]. It is thought by modern historians that he acted as an agent of the Spanish government, who sought to extend their influence in the region. In 1803, he departed for Tangier and travelled through North Africa to Egypt, then continued on to Cyprus. He reached Mecca in early1807, then returned to Spain via Jerusalem, Damascus and Constantinople the same year. As a supporter of Joseph-Napoléon Bonaparte, Badia y Leblich fled to France after Napoleonic forces in Spain were defeated in 1813, leading to the first publication of his travel memoirs in Paris. After the celebrated success of his Voyages, he embarked on a second trip to the Near East under the pseudonym "Ali Othman," initially returning to Syria where his ruse was discovered leading to his 1818 death in Aleppo. Much mystery and controversary still surrounds Badía y Leblich's legacy