Travel journal from Italy to the Middle East
Published: 1666
Language: fre
Number of pages: 60
Subjects: Buildings, structures; Social life and customs; Coins; Description and travel; Visits of state; Antiquities; Pyramids; History
Other titles: Voyage à Gierusalem ms
Description: This anonymous seventeenth-century account of a trip from Rome to Jerusalem and Egypt begins with a glossary of Neapolitan terms, followed by two pages of detailed renderings of coins from Naples and Malta. After these preliminaries the account of the voyage begins with departure from Rome on 21 December 1666. The description of Naples includes an account of the antiquities of Pozzuoli, which the traveler visits on 4 January 1667 while waiting for a favorable wind to speed him to Sicily. Having reached the island, he departs from Messina on February 19th for Malta. The description of Malta includes  numerous ink sketches of monuments and views shaded in pencil. Sailing from Malta on March 16th, the traveler stops at the Cyclades, Rhodes, and Cyprus before reaching Tyre in Lebanon. Following the coast of the Mediterranean Sea southwards, he visits Acre and Jaffa, then sets out for the holy sites of Palestine.  Five full-page pencil illustrations include the skyline of Jerusalem, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Mount Olive, and a three-dimensional plan of the Via Dolorosa. The traveler departs Jerusalem on June 16th and continues his trip towards Egypt. After arriving in Damietta, he seeks out the French consul in Cairo, then takes a tour of the pyramids. Also, he witnesses the splendid entry of the Pacha of Baghdad into Cairo and gives a detailed account of the pomp arranged for the Pacha's reception in the city. He embarks then for Alexandria where he describes the St. Mark's Coptic Cathedral; then sails for Crete and, after more adventures, returns to the south of France, and from there, on horseback, to Rome. The final leaf, in the same hand, contains an Italian key to a map of Jerusalem.

The text contains several small corrections and revisions by the author, perhaps evidence of the manuscript being composed and illustrated during the journey.
Notes: The manuscript is neatly handwritten in French in brown ink. It consists of 60 unnumbered pages of text and is illustrated with several drawings of floor plans and elevations of church buildings and details of architectural decorations executed in pencil and pen, and ink drawings of coins.

Open for use by qualified researchers.

Antiquariat Inlibris Gilhofer Nfg. GmbH; Rathausstrasse 19, A-1010 Vienna, Austria; Purchase.

Inlibris acquired this work at auction in the UK (Dominic Winter, sale 15 May 2013, lot 265); it has previously been in a private UK collection for more then 50 years.  Formerly in the Gloucester City Libraries, with their old ownership and withdrawal stamp on endpapers at front and rear.

Bound in early-19th century royal blue morocco with gold-stamped spine title. All edges gilt.  Bound in at rear are twenty blank leaves watermarked 1818.