Early Voyages and Travels in the Levant

by James Theodore Bent (Editor)

The publications of the Hakluyt Society (founded in 1846) made available edited (and sometimes translated) early accounts of exploration. The first series, which ran from 1847 to 1899, consists of 100 books containing published or previously unpublished works by authors from Christopher Columbus to Sir Francis Drake, and covering voyages to the New World, to China and Japan, to Russia and to Africa and India. Thomas Dallam, an organ-builder, was sent by Queen Elizabeth to the sultan of Turkey at Constantinople. His diary reveals a lively curiosity towards the sights, but a dislike of foreigners. Dr John Covel, later vice-chancellor of the University of Cambridge, went to Constantinople as chaplain to the ambassador Sir Daniel Harvey in 1670. While there, he travelled widely, and collected books, manuscripts and other items. He was one of the first Western visitors to write about Mount Athos, and studied the Orthodox Church.

Genres: Nonfiction

366 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1893

About the author

James Theodore Bent was an English explorer, archaeologist and author. He was educated at Repton School and Wadham College, Oxford, where he graduated in 1875. He went abroad every year and became thoroughly acquainted with Italy and Greece. In 1879 he published a book on the republic of San Marino, entitled A Freak of Freedom, and was made a citizen of San Marino. Bent then visited at considerable risk the almost unknown Hadramut country (1893-1894), and during this and later journeys in southern Arabia he studied the ancient history of the country, its physical features and actual condition.
Mrs. Bent, who had contributed by her skill as a photographer and in other ways to the success of her husband's journeys, published in 1900 Southern Arabia, Soudan and Sakotra, which she recorded the results of their last expedition into those regions.

Reviews

[Bruce · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anecdotes from two British men who traveled, half a century apart, to Turkey as part of the Levant Company. There is much of the exotic, and a bit of ethnocentrism. The first writer's diary is presented without regularizing the spelling, which makes it harde tow reade.

[Ig-88 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Libero animi est perferendis. Ut et quibusdam sapiente quod at. Doloremque nostrum pariatur delectus numquam.