Voyages de Richard Pockocke, membre de la Société Royale, & de celle des Antiquités de Londres, &c. en Orient, dans l'Egypte, l'Arabie, la Palestine, la Syrie, la Grèce, la Thrace, &c. &c. &c

Paris: J P Costard, 1772 6 volumes: viii+485 pages; 500 pages; 501 pages; 479 pages; viii+456 pages; 466 pages. Small octsvo (7 1/4" 4 1/2") issued in original vellum with labels to spine. First French edition translated from the second English edition.

Richard Pococke was an English prelate and anthropologist. Spelling in the French [Peckocke]. He was Protestant Bishop of Ossory (1756-65) and Meath (1765), both dioceses of the Church of Ireland. However, he is best known for his travel writings and diaries. Pococke was born in Southampton and educated at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, receiving a Bachelor of Law degree. His father was Rev. Richard Pococke and his mother was Elizabeth Milles, the daughter of Rev. Isaac Milles. His parents were married on 26 April 1698. Pococke's uncle, Thomas Milles, was a Professor of Greek. He was also distantly related to Edward Pococke, the English Orientalist and biblical scholar. His family connections meant he advanced rapidly in the church, becoming vicar-general of the diocese of Waterford and Lismore. He seems to have spent far more time traveling than attending to his duties as a churchman and spent 1733-36 undertaking a series of tours in Europe. From 1737-42 he visited the Near East, visiting Egypt, Jerusalem, Palestine and Greece. These travels were later published in his 'Description of the East' of 1743 and 1745, works which were praised by Edmund Gibbon. During the years 1747-60, Pococke made a number of tours around various parts of Ireland. The longest of these tours occurred in 1752, when he traveled to just over half of Ireland's counties. He kept a record of this tour, but did not publish it. It ended up in the library of Trinity College, Dublin. Eventually, in 1891, an edited edition of Pococke's 1752 tour was published by George Thomas Stokes. He was made bishop successively of Ossory, Elphin and of Meath in 1765. He spent many of his later years in travel throughout Britain and Ireland, publishing accounts of many of his journeys. He died during a visitation at Charleville Castle, near Tullamore, County Offaly, Ireland, in 1765. On his death, many of his manuscripts were given to the British Library. He was buried at Ardbraccan, County Meath, Ireland. Condition: 6 of 7 volumes. Volume 7 was published in 1773, a year later, and is usually not found with the six volumes published in 1772. Bound in the original velum, which has stiffened with age and chipped away at spine ends and on some volumes of the spine. This was first published in English in three parts, bound in two, in 1743 and volume 2 in 1745 in folio format.

Condition:

6 of 7 volumes. Volume 7 was published in 1773, a year later, and is usually not found with the six volumes published in 1772. Bound in the original velum, which has stiffened with age and chipped away at spine ends and on some volumes of the spine. This was first published in English in three parts, bound in two, in 1743 and volume 2 in 1745 in folio format. Internally a very good copy.