Israel Joseph Benjamin. Eight Years in Asia and Africa from 1846 to 1855.

AUCTION 60 | Thursday, November 14th, 2013 at 1:00

Fine Judaica: Printed Books, Manuscripts, Autograph Letters, Graphic Art and Ceremonial Objects

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Lot 268

(TRAVEL)

Israel Joseph Benjamin. Eight Years in Asia and Africa from 1846 to 1855.

Second English edition. Some Hebrew text. Numerous illustrations of Holy Land sites. At conclusion, fold out map of author’s travels. On front fly, signature of former owner: Manuel Costello, April 1864 pp. xxii, 376, (2). Gutter split, browned and dampstained. Contemporary boards, heavily worn, backstrip laid down. 4to.

Hanover: Wm. Riemschneider 1863

Est: $300 - $500

An invaluable source of intimate information concerning the Jews of North Africa, the Near and Far East, especially India and China. On the penultimate page we find a “List of Subscribers in Bombay,” namely various members of the affluent Sassoon clan. The self-styled “Benjamin II” (after the medieval globe-trotter Benjamin of Tudela) was a native of Foltischeny, Moldavia. He died in London in abject poverty while making preparations for a second journey to the Orient. See EJ, Vol. IV, cols. 526-7.