Dec 10 at 12:00 PM - Sale 2689 -
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Sale 2689 - Lot 173

Estimate: $ 7,000 - $ 9,000
(MIDDLE EAST.) James Felix Jones; and R. Hughes Thomas, ed. Memoirs by Commander James Felix Jones, I.N. xxii, [2], 500 pages, and 30 hand-colored lithographed views, diagrams, and maps (most folding, 3 large and separately enclosed in a rear envelope). 8vo, 9½x6½ inches, later calf-backed marbled boards to style, minor wear; a few short closures at plate mounts, pocket maps sensitively reinforced along fold versos but overall quite nicely preserved. Bombay: For the Government at the Bombay Education Society's Press, 1857
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Additional Details

Rare first edition, serially-issued as Selections from the Records of the Bombay Government. No. XLIII - New Series. The volume is comprised of six sections, each with a separate divisional title:

Journal of a Steam-Trip to the North of Baghdad; Performed in April 1846... with Notes on the Various Objects of Interest Met with en Route.

Narrative of a Journey, Undertaken, in April 1848... for the Purpose of Determining the Tract of the Ancient Nahrwan Canal... with a Glance at the Past History of the Territory of the Nahrwan.

Narrative of a Journey to the Frontier of Turkey and Persia, Through a Part of Kurdistan.

Researches in the Vicinity of the Median Wall of Xenophon, and Along the Old Course of the River Tigris; and Discovery of the Site of the Ancient Opis.

Memoir on the Province of Baghdad; Accompanied by a Ground-Plan of the Enceinte of Baghdad.

Notes on the Topography of Nineveh, and Other Cities of Assyria; and on the General Geography of the Country Between the Tigris and the Upper Zab.

Felix Jones joined the Bombay Marine at the age of fourteen and first saw service in the Palinurus surveying the northern part of the Red Sea, whilst a later commission found him engaged on the first British survey of the Persian Gulf under L. B. Haines. In 1839 he surveyed the harbor of Kuwait (then referred to as Graine), and this led to an almost continuous period of service in the Middle East, ending in 1862 as Political Agent in the Persian Gulf, in which capacity he planned the British invasion of Persia. The "Memoirs" relates to his travels, surveying and archaeological research in Ottoman Iraq, Kurdistan and the Kermanshah province of western Iran. For historians, the outstanding paper in this volume is the one on Baghdad. In just under a hundred pages, Jones unfurls an abundance of intelligence; including lists of principal buildings, size of population (Jones estimates 60,000), diversity (communities, languages etc.), and lists of trades and occupations. Accompanying Jones' notes on Baghdad is a beautiful colored lithographed map of the city (held in the back pocket). Measuring 32 by 52 inches, it is remarkably detailed and accurate, so much so that in 1912 the Ottoman Governor of Baghdad made an official request for a copy, in order to assist with the implementation of various schemes of municipal reform. Jones' text is tight-lipped about the survey for the map which had to be carried out in secret, to avoid Ottoman suspicion.

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