Patrick Brydone - Voyage en Sicile et à Malthe - 1776

BRYDONE, Patrick.
Voyage in Sicily and Malta, translated from the English of Mr. Brydone by Mr. Démeunier. New edition, revised and corrected.
Amsterdam; Paris: Chez Pissot & Le Jay, 1776.
Complete in 2 volumes, octavo (approx. 17 × 10 cm).

Full contemporary marbled calf binding. Smooth spines richly decorated with gilt floral compartments and stars on a dotted ground. Garnet morocco title labels (“VOYAGE EN SICILE”) and gilt volume numbers (“2” on the second volume). Original red edges.

A handsome contemporary copy, with very well-preserved bindings and bright gilt. Very slight rubbing and minor losses to the headcaps and corners; slight wear at the head of the upper joint of Volume I.
The interior is exceptionally fresh, printed on laid paper. Includes the large folding map of the Kingdom of Naples and Sicily, engraved by E. Dusy after Le Sieur Robert de Vaugondy (dated 1776).

1776 edition of the celebrated Grand Tour account by Scottish traveler and scientist Patrick Brydone (1741–1818). Translated by Jean-Nicolas Démeunier, this series of letters (addressed to William Beckford) is one of the most influential eighteenth-century travel narratives about southern Italy, Sicily, and Malta. The work combines vivid descriptions of local customs, volcanological observations of Mount Etna, and archaeological information about Magna Graecia.
Complete copy with its map engraved by Robert de Vaugondy, preserved in its contemporary binding adorned with gilt tooling.

Brydone’s Voyage in Sicily and Malta is an essential classic of travel literature from the Age of Enlightenment.