[Rarebooks] fa: JOURNEY OVERLAND by EGYPT AND THE RED SEA to INDIA - Mrs. Anne Elwood - 1830

[ArCh]

Listed now, auction ending Sunday, March 7. Images and more details can be found at the URL below or by searching for the seller name arch_in_la. 

https://tinyurl.com/y7vp8rhy

Thanks,
Ardwight Chamberlain
Ann Arbor, MI, USA


Mrs. [Anne Katharine] Colonel Elwood: Narrative of a Journey Overland from England, by the Continent of Europe, Egypt, and the Red Sea, to India; Including a Residence There, and Voyage Home, in the Years 1825, 26, 27, and 28. London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, 1830. First edition. Two volumes, 8vo (22 cm), in early half plum calf over marbled boards; 429, 400 pp.; with 6 aquatint plates (complete).

Bindings somewhat rubbed, with wear to the edges and extremities, lacking spine labels; a few occasional light spots to the leaves, otherwise the contents are unusually clean and bright, with nice fresh examples of the charming plates (engraved after drawings by the author and her husband). Anne Katharine Elwood (née Curteis) was the wife of an officer in the army of the East India Company. "They set out for India overland in October 1825, reaching Egypt in April 1826 and India some months later, where Charles Elwood took command of a regiment in Kutch province after being promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel. The Elwoods returned to England by sea in 1828,.. Anne Elwood's experiences and observations during her period abroad were committed initially into a journal she kept en route, and then refashioned into letters to her younger sister, Elizabeth Julia Curteis.... In the Narrative, Elwood describes herself (not entirely accurately) as 'the first and only female who has hitherto ventured over-land from England to India', and her accomplishment earned her some renown. The Morning Post and other papers puffed her book as surpassing Lady Mary Wortley Montagu's Turkish letters for novelty. 'The private lives of Mahometan and Hindoo Ladies (hitherto a mystery),' wrote the correspondent, "have been unveiled to our new female traveller'" (ODNB). With descriptions of Alexandria, Cairo, the Nile, Thebes, travel on the Red Sea, Djidda [Jeddah], life in Bombay and Cutch [Kutch], Ceylon, St. Helena, etc. etc.