Iter Palæstinum eller Resa til Heliga Landet, förrättad ifrån år 1749 til 1752, med beskrifningar, rön, anmärkningar, öfver de märkvärdigaste naturalier, på hennes Kongl. Majt:ts befallning, utgifven af Carl Linnæus.
Inbunden bok.
Mycket gott skick. Stockholm, trykt på Lars Salvii kåstnad, 1757. 8vo. [16] + 209 + 230-619 + [2] pp. Complete despite the jump in pagination, due to a printer’s error. Contemporary Swedish half calf on five raised binds, title label lettered in gilt. Slightly worn, head of spine chipped with small loss of leather, small corner of title label missing, dampstaining to inner margin of pp. 125-148. Friedrich Hasselquist (1722-1752) was a Swedish zoologist and botanist, and one of the “apostles” of Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778). This is the first edition of his travels in Turkey, Egypt and Palestine. After Hasselquist’s untimely death in Izmir, his collections and manuscripts were purchased by Queen Louisa Ulrika and brought to Sweden. Linnaeus was assigned to publish both the travel account and the species descriptions. This volume also includes letters from Hasselquist and an interesting preface by the editor Linnaeus. Hasselquist’s vivid account begins with his journey from Stockholm to Izmir in 1749, his further excursions in Turkey, and his travel in 1750 to Egypt where he was based in Cairo for a year, visiting other places of natural and cultural importance during his stay. In March 1751 he left for Palestine, continued on to Syria, and sailed back to Izmir over Cyprus and Rhodes. His plan was then to go back to Sweden, but a chronic illness, probably tuberculosis, took his life in the evening of 9 February 1752. Soon after its publication, the travelogue was translated into English, German, French and Dutch. Contributing to its success was no doubt the book’s dual nature. It is in part an inspired first-hand account of everything from the tombs in the pyramids to the multi-religious society of Bethlehem, and in part a strict scientific, and as such groundbreaking, work on the flora and fauna of the regions covered. Atabey 564 for the English edition. Blackmer 668 for the French edition. Soulsby 3577.
