Richard Francis Burton

An inscribed first edition copy of The Land of Midian Revisited, detailing Burton's second expedition to the area.

• Sold as a set of 2 volumes.
• Richard Francis Burton (English).
• London: Kegan Paul, 1879.
• Octavo.
• 319 pages.
• Includes folding map, six colored plates, 10 plain plates (inscriptions), illustrations in the text and half-titles to both volumes.
• Inscribed on the half-title in Burton’s hand: "To my friend J. J. Aubertin/ [in Arabic] Abdullah."
• Bound in original yellow ochre cloth gilt, pictorial vignette to covers.

Burton's second expedition to Midian, the area of northwest Arabia on the opposite bank of the Red Sea from the Sinai Peninsular, resulted in increased geographical knowledge, particularly regarding the western fringe of the peninsula north of Muelah and of the interior south of that place beyond the plateau. He mapped a 600-mile route through the northern and southern Midian recording its ancient cities. For the Khedive, he brought back 25 tons of minerals to be assayed.

Burton traveled in Arabia using the name Sheikh Abdullah. Aubertin, a traveler and writer, who translated an edition of the Lusiads, was Superintendent of the São Paolo Railway, Brazil, 1860–9. Isabel Burton, an old friend of Aubertin, met up with him in Paris in 1869 and traveled with him to Vichy to meet Richard.