This is available from a colleague in Toronto
June S
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Item Description
Title: 1883 ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT DIARIES OF A GRAND MEDITERRANEAN
TOUR: ITALY, THE LEVANT, GREECE, TURKEY AND EGYPT Publisher:
Author: B.B. LE TALL Publication Date: 1883
Binding/Format: Edition:
Condition: Good
Inventory #: 0001221
On offer are a superb pair of original manuscript travel diaries
handwritten as stated by: "B.B. Le Tall - Day-Book of my tour in Italy
& The Levant. Vol I - Italy. Paris. Athens. Egypt 8.I-9.III 1883" and
"Day-Book of my tour in Italy & The Levant. Vol IV Constantinople and
Homewards 29.iv - 1883." Mr. Le Tall provides a unique diary
experience given his keen eye and obvious love for details. Other
journals provide that Mr. Le Tall is a railway engineer and surveyor
and highly educated and travel wise.
Over 300 pages in the first book [18 x 12 cm] and 70 pages in the
second [19 x 11 cm] give the reader an extraordinary account of his
travels for the year including a very detailed expense report. An
English gentleman, Le Tall starts from his home in Yorkshire then to
Rouen, Paris, Basle, Milano, Venezia, Pisa, Ravenna, Firenze, Roma,
Napoli, Athens, Aohnai, Piraeus, Constantinople, Alexandria and Cairo
and many more.
Collectors and historians will be hard pressed to find more detailed
diaries as Le Tall incredibly provides historical perspective and his
keen observations as an engineer on the affect and wonderment and
concerns of many of the things he observes - a water delivery system
in Naples, the biblioteca of the Abbey in Ravenna, difficulties in
Athens being understood, [he mentions how a few words in Italian is
better than many sentences of French], plants and herbs on Italian
mountainsides [research suggests Le Tall was a botanist too],
Schliemann's Museum +++.
He even has subheadings: State of the Streets, Figs, Market Gate etc.,
as he highlights areas of interest. Rarely have we seen so
comprehensive a travel diary but he writes as he is - a cultured,
learned engineer and surveyor! Ephemera such a tickets, passes, news
clippings are littered throughout the books adding further depth to
this super narrative. Both diaries have some physical trauma but
overall G.
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June Samaras
KALAMOS BOOKS
(For Books about Greece)
2020 Old Station Rd
Streetsville,Ontario
Canada L5M 2V1
Tel : 905-542-1877
E-mail : kalamosbooks(a)gmail.com
www.kalamosbooks.com
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