Author: WORTLEY MONTAGU, LADY MARY:
Title: Lettres, écrites pendant ses voyages en diverses parties du monde. Traduits de l'anglois. Nouvelle édition. Beacoup plus correcte que les éditions qui viennent de paroître. Two parts in one volume. Paris, Duchesne, 1764.
Description: . 12mo. Pp. viii, 240; (ii), 223. Contemporary calf, richly gilt, gilt inner dentelles, rubbed. Front cover and the first part of the book have small wormholes running through the text, more severe at pages 79-139 with slight loss of text. A French edition of Lady Wortley Montagu famous Letters first published in London the previous year. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu was the first lady to travel abroad for mere curiosity's sake. In 1716 her husband was appointed Ambassador to the Porte and she decided to join him, which was considered a scandalous decision. They settled into a hilltop palace at Pera in Constantinople, which became their home for 18 months. Her letters (written after her return to England) provide an intriguing example of authorial selectivity. She treats the political, historical and social morals of the Germans, Austrian and Turkish courts. She became a great admirer of Turkish culture and her work includes insights that were exceptional for their time; the paradoxical freedoms conferred on Muslim women by veil, the value of experimental work by Turkish doctors on inoculation and the beauty of Arab poetry and culture. Cf. Atabey 829-30. Cox p. 229. Robinson p. 32.

Keywords: Near East, turkey, turkish, asia, asie, asien, asiatic, travel, travels, exploration, explore, oriental, levant, lady traveller


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