Baron de Tott

A first edition in English of Memoirs Of The Baron de Tott.

• Sold as a set of 2 volumes.
• Baron de Tott (French).
• Memoirs of the Baron de Tott, on the Turks and Tartars. Translated from the French, by an English Gentleman at Paris, under the immediate Inspection of the Baron.
• London: Jarvis, circa 1785.
• Octavo.
• Bound in contemporary sprinkled calf gilt, spine gilt extra.

Baron de Tott (1733-1793) went to Constantinople in 1755 and stayed until 1763, at first with his father and then with de Vergennes. His knowledge of Turkish language and customs and his ideas for extending trade and diplomatic relations recommended him to the duc de Choiseul for the post of consul in the Crimea. On his return to Constantinople in 1769, he set about reorganising the army and navy and fortifying the banks of the Black Sea. He was promoted again to the post of inspector general in the Levant and travelled with Sonnini between 1776 and 1778. In spite of strong criticism from more prejudiced quarters, this highly successful work set new standards of objectivity in its description of the Ottoman Empire.