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A VISIT TO THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA; WITH AN EXCURSION INTO PISIDIA; CONTAINING REMARKS ON THE GEOGRAPHY AND ANTIQUITIES OF THOSE COUNTRIES. A MAP OF THE AUTHOR'S ROUTES, AND NUMEROUS INSCRIPTIONS.
(London: John Rodwell, 1828). 217 x 138 mm. (8 1/2 x 5 1/4"). iv, 339, [1] pp. FIRST EDITON.
Contemporary diced russia, raised bands, spine attractively gilt in an arabesque style, gilt-rolled turn-ins, pink moiré endpapers, all edges gilt. With a folding map of the travel routes and 23 pages reproducing inscriptions, three of these folding. Front flyleaf inscribed in ink: "Juliana Calvert / from A. C. / 1838." Blackmer 48; Weber I, 159. Joints and extremities a little rubbed (tiny crack just beginning at top of front joint), two tiny chips to foot of spine, very minor offsetting and foxing to map, a couple of patches of marginal foxing, but INTERNALLY AN ESPECIALLY FINE COPY--unusually clean, fresh, and surprisingly bright--in a good-looking well-preserved binding.
In especially desirable condition, this is quite a scarce travel account by the English antiquary, explorer, and clergyman Francis Vyvyan Jago Arundell (1780-1846), who visited the so-called Seven Churches of Asia (also called the Seven Churches of the Apocalypse and the Seven Churches of Revelation), locations in present-day Turkey of central importance to St. John and the Book of Revelation. In that book, John, who was a threat to Roman officials as leader of the new Christian religion in Asia, had been banished to Patmos, where he was visited by an apocalyptic vision, directing him to write to the churches at Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea, commending their successes, pointing out their failures, and prevailing upon them to repent. These seven Turkish churches reflect a surprisingly significant role in the region's early Christian history, with some scholars maintaining that as many as 18 of the 27 New Testament books were written there--and Arundell's narrative would have helped to raise the popular understanding of this importance. Following his marriage to the daughter of the British consul-general at the Levant Company in Constantinople, Arundell became chaplain to the company's trading center in Smyrna (now Izmir) in 1822. From there, he embarked on a series of tours through Asia Minor, including places that, according to DNB, "until then had for the most part not been described by any European traveller." The present work is the product of the author's first tour, which included two separate excursions between March and September of 1826. Despite being a clergyman, Arundell's interest in these sites was primarily archaeological and historical, and this work includes his firsthand descriptions of the ruins he encountered, facsimiles of Greek inscriptions found there, and narratives of the arduous journeys between sites that were well off the beaten path. This work is surprisingly scarce in commerce, suggesting that copies were often read with avidity. (ST20535-01)
Price: $850.00