KINGLAKE A. W., EOTHEN, or Traces of Travel Brought Home from the East. London: John Ollivier, 1844. 1st edition, in 8vo, pp. a folding hand-colored lithographed frontis+xi+418. 1 colored plate in the middle of the book. First edition. Alexander William Kinglake (1809-1891) was an English travel writer and historian, who, in 1834, undertook a long journey across the Balkan frontiers of the Ottoman Empire, through Constantinople, Smyrna, Cyprus into the Near eastern cities of Jerusalem, Cairo and Damascus. This journey turned to a delightful travelogue of a young Englishmans experiences from the Middle East. Eothen, which means ‘news from the east’ started out as a few notes scribbled on the back of a map, to amuse a friend who wanted some advice for his own youthful ‘year off’ travels, but it became one of the most influential, witty and idiosyncratic of travel books. It took Kinglake seven years before he had finished crafting this ‘lively, brilliant and rather insolent’ tale. The physical details of the journey are never as significant as the conversations, chance encounters and attitudes of the author. Modern half leather binding (spine and corners), gilt decorated spine and title, minor wear. Slight foxing and spotting throughout, clean and tight inside. Original publisher’s canvas covers and spine (green cloth and gilt-impressed decoration) are preserved as attachments on last three sheets.