A Voyage into the Levant 2 Volume Set: Perform'd by Command of the Late French King(Cambridge Library Collection - Travel, Middle East and Asia Minor)

Joseph Pitton de Tournefort (1656–1708) was originally destined for the church, but his interest in botany led him to become professor of botany at the Jardin des plantes in Paris, and to travel all over Europe and beyond in search of interesting specimens. He was chiefly interested in the classification of plants, but is now best remembered for the accounts he wrote of voyages undertaken for the purpose of scientific discovery, 'by the King's express command'. This illustrated two-volume work, published posthumously in French in 1717 and translated into English the following year, recounts a journey begun in 1700, around the eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea, visiting Crete and other Greek islands, Istanbul, Armenia and Georgia. Tournefort notes not only plants, but geographical features, antiquities, the people he encounters, and their way of life, agriculture and industry, providing fascinating insights into areas then little known in western Europe.

Table of Contents:
Volume 1: Dedication; The life of M. Tournefort; The elogium of M. Tournefort; The occasion and design of this voyage; 1. Description of the island of Candia; 2. Description of Candia continued; 3. The present state of the Greek church; 4. Description of the islands of Argentiere, Milo, Siphanto, and Serpho; 5. Descriptions of the islands of Antiparos, Paros, and Naxia; 6. Description of the islands of Stenosa, Nicouria, Amorgos, Caloyero, Cheiro, Skinosa, Raclia, Nio, Sikino, Policandro, Santorin, Nansio, Mycone; 7. Description of the islands of Delos; 8. Description of the islands of Syra, Thermia, Zia, Macronisi, Joura, Andros, and Tinos; 9. Description of the islands of Scio, Metelin, Tenedos, and Nicaria; 10. Description of the islands of Samos, Patmos, Fourni, and Skyros; 11. Description of the strait of the Dardanelles, of the cities of Gallipoli and Constantinople; 12. Continuation of the description of the city of Constantinople. Volume 2: 1. Of the government and polity of the Turks; 2. Of the religion, manners and customs of the Turks; 3. A description of the canal of the Black Sea; 4. Description of the south coasts of the Black Sea, from the mouth of it as far as to Sinope; 5. Description of the coasts of the Black Sea, from Sinope to Trebisond; 6. Journey to Armenia and Georgia; 7. Journey to three-churches, description of Mount Ararat, and our return to Erzeron; 8. Of the manners, religion, and commerce of the Armenians; 9. Journey to Tocat and Angora; 10. Journey to Smyrna and Ephesus; Index.