The American writer and diplomat John Lloyd Stephens (1805-52) was effectively the founder of Mesoamerican archaeology, through his rediscovery of the Mayan civilization (his two-volume Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan is also reissued in this series). But before that, having qualified and practised as a lawyer in New York, he went on a two-year journey through Egypt and the Near East, publishing an account of his experiences in 1837 (under the name of George Stephens): this reissue is of the expanded 1838 edition. The work was extremely popular, possibly because, as he states in the preface, Stephens writes 'without perplexing himself with any deep speculations upon the rise and fall of empires', nor does he give much archaeological detail. Volume 2 sees Stephens heading towards Aqaba, whence he moves northward, visiting Petra, Gaza, Hebron, Jerusalem and the Dead Sea before returning to the coast at Tyre and sailing back to Alexandria.
- ISBN10 1235027260
- ISBN13 9781235027260
- Publish Date 16 October 2012 (first published 10 January 2010)
- Publish Status Unknown
- Out of Print 10 November 2016
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Rarebooksclub.com
- Format Paperback (US Trade)
- Language English