This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/26/2022
LAYARD, Austen Henry (1817–1894). Discoveries in the Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon; with Travels in Armenia, Kurdistan and the Desert; Being the Result of a Second Expedition Undertaken for the Trustees of the British Museum. London: John Murray, 1853. 8vo. Half–title, 2 folding maps, 14 plates (4 folding including frontispiece), and numerous woodcuts in the text. Late 19th century full blue calf gilt, 6 compartments with 5 raised bands, burgundy and orange morocco lettering–pieces gilt, compartments tooled with gilt centerpieces and scrollwork, all edges marbled, dentelles in blind, marbled endpapers (spine sunned with some rubbing along bands and corners). FIRST EDITION, of Layard’s important second British Museum archaeological expedition that identified Kouyunjik as the site of Nineveh and is considered one of the best written books of travel in the language. Abbey, Travel, 364; Atabey 687; Blackmer 969.