Sieber, F.W. “Reise nach der Insel Kreta im griechischen Archipelagus im Jahre 1817”. Leipzig und Sorau, Friedrich Fleischer, 1823. FIRST EDITION in German. Volume 1 (of two). 8vo, pp.xxii, [2], 548. Including 11 (of the 13) numbered full-page copper engravings (missing plates 11 & 12). Contemporary binding: half leather. Extensive external wear: rubbed, bumped corners, worn along spine and joints but tight. Light spotting inside. Franz Wilhelm Sieber (1789-1844) was a naturalist of Austrian descent. He travelled to several parts of the world (Italy, Crete, Greece, Egypt, the Middle East, Australia etc), and collected specimens of the flora of each land, as well as antiquities and ethnographic material. In January 1817 Sieber reached Crete, then under Ottoman rule. He toured the whole island collecting specimens of plants and offering his medical services to the locals. After Joseph Pitton de Tournefort (1700), Sieber is the first European traveller to have toured Crete and collected information on the island. He provides plenty of data on Ottoman administration, social life (nutrition, music and dance), religious ceremonies, empirical medicine (medication, vaccines, potions etc.), singularities of language and place names, and, naturally, on the rich flora of the island. Very Rare. This edition not in Blackmer or Atabey, (Atabey 1131 & Blackmer 1542 for the second edition in English).