The Walls Of Constantinople

by Bernard Granville Baker

Leather Binding on Spine and Corners with Golden Leaf Printing on round Spine (extra customization on request like complete leather, Golden Screen printing in Front, Color Leather, Colored book etc.) Reprinted in 2019 with the help of original edition published long back [1910]. This book is printed in black & white, sewing binding for longer life, Printed on high quality Paper, re-sized as per Current standards, professionally processed without changing its contents. As these are old books, we processed each page manually and make them readable but in some cases some pages which are blur or missing or black spots. If it is multi volume set, then it is only single volume, if you wish to order a specific or all the volumes you may contact us. We expect that you will understand our compulsion in these books. We found this book important for the readers who want to know more about our old treasure so we brought it back to the shelves. Hope you will like it and give your comments and suggestions. - English, Pages 392. EXTRA 10 DAYS APART FROM THE NORMAL SHIPPING PERIOD WILL BE REQUIRED FOR LEATHER BOUND BOOKS. COMPLETE LEATHER WILL COST YOU EXTRA US$ 25 APART FROM THE LEATHER BOUND BOOKS. {FOLIO EDITION IS ALSO AVAILABLE.}

Genres: History

Paperback

First published September 12, 2013

About the author

A British soldier and painter specialising in military subjects.

Reviews

[Shira Baharin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked this up from a gift shop in Turkey, mostly because I couldn't figure out what it was about. Having now read it, I can tell you that it's mostly historical vignettes and anecdotal musings as the author journeys along the walls of Istanbul. The bits of history that he shares are non-chronological, so it can be confusing if you don't already know some of it. I could follow for the Ottoman bits, but the Roman/Byzantine bits not so much.

The writing style is poetic and romantic, which I found ok but might be a bit much or old fashioned depending in your preference. A lot of the Ottoman names are also spelled using an outdated convention (to be fair this was also written in the early 1900s).

TLDR: An ok book for some light reading if you already have some familiarity with the history of the city; otherwise skip it.

[Shane · Rating 2 out of 5]

I bought "The Walls of Constantinople" on vacation a year ago in Istanbul and saved it for this year's vacation. Perhaps that long lead-up contributed to the disappointment but overall this book wasn't that great.
There are some interesting historical facts and tales, and I liked the descriptions of the walls and towers. There was also some fun just from having been to a few of the places he's describing.
However, this book read like someone took their travel journal and then looked up all the fanciest words they could find and mashed it together. The prose is overly flowery to the point of confusing, and the structure is random: in theory geographical but even that falters, with no sense of pace or chronology. The author also inserts random stories about his own life that don't help the flow and refers to himself in the dual third person as both Author and Artist, a style I for one did not appreciate.
A short read and as I said fun to re-visit places I went in Istanbul so in that sense not a waste of time or money, but as an actual book it doesn't hold up very well.