First and only edition of this groundbreaking geographical and sociological commentary on the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt described in the Old Testament. This work by the French archaeologist and traveler Léon Emmanuel Simon Joseph Laborde (1807-1869) is particularly impressive due to the bold and cleanly lithographed plates produced by the Parisian firm of Formentin, Kaeppelin, and Thierry after his detailed drawings. These plates show the following images, which also contained new cartographic findings at the time: an overview map of the route of the Exodus, parts of the former Roman province of Arabia Petraea (roughly encompassing the Sinai Peninsula and the west of present-day Jordan), the western part of present-day Egypt and the area around the city of Suez, the Gulf of Suez, Wadi Feiran on the Sinai Peninsula, the mountain range around Horeb and Mount Catherine in the south of Sinai, the area around Dahab on the Red Sea, and the Gulf of Aqaba. Also noteworthy is Laborde's knowledgeable analysis of the biblical texts, which are also printed in ancient Greek and Latin versions. "One would like to read, for example, the observations on magic effected on Egyptian beaches, or everything that Laborde wrote on animals, illnesses, or the costumes of the Orient" (François Laplanche).
With an owner's inscription on the flyleaf, the binding is slightly rubbed, the edges and corners of the boards are slightly bumped, foxed throughout. Otherwise a compact, beautifully bound copy with the well-preserved, only slightly stained, maps. Mayeur/Hilaire, zit. in WBIS/ABF 3.0266.378.