MANZONI, Renzo.
El Yèmen. Tre anni nell'Arabia felice. Escursioni fatte dal Settembre 1877 al Marzo 1880.
Rome, Botta heirs, 1884. 8vo. With a frontispiece portrait, 21 plates (including 7 double-page sized; the last single-page plate included in pagination), 2 folding colour-printed maps of Yemen, folding plate of the game "abdùr", folding coloured plan of Sana'a, folding view of Sana'a, folding view of Aden, as well as numerous woodcut illustrations in the text. Contemporary half calf over marbled boards with blind-stamped spine and gold-stamped spine-title. Marbled endpapers. [8], VI, [2], 446 pp.
€ 2,500
Rare first edition of a richly illustrated account of Yemen, without doubt "one of the fullest descriptions of life in San'a' and Turkish-occupied North Yemen" (Auchterlonie) ever published. The Italian explorer Manzoni (1852-1918) spent three years travelling in Yemen, including an entire year in Sana'a, his "citta bellissima". He "investigated the city more thoroughly and described it more vividly than any of his predecessors ... also, he was the first to draw a map of the city" (cf. Henze). The illustrations include pretty views of Sana'a and Aden, as well as portraits of the local population.
Library stamp of the Paris École des Langues Orientales Vivantes on the title-page, somewhat rubbed. Marked as a duplicate in red pencil on the blank recto of the frontispiece. Extremities very slightly rubbed; some remnants of ink stains on the frontispiece; minor browning to margins throughout; last folding map with small tears (repaired). Auchterlonie 138; Henze III, 366.
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