London: John Murray, 1856. First edition. Octavo. Original publisher's green blindstamped cloth gilt with Persian-style oval device to upper cover. Frontispiece and 6 tissue-guarded plates; xii, 402 pp; leaf size 199 x 120 mm. Contemporary ink inscription "Grace Grace" to front blank, a little foxing to preliminary and rear leaves, hinges a little tender but holding firm, binding a little marked and rubbed with small split in cloth to head of rear joint. A Very Good copy of a scarce work, especially so in original cloth.

An important political account of Qajar Persia, the "first travel book on Persia by a woman" (Nash, p.114).

Mary Anne Leonora Woulfe married Captain Justin Sheil in 1849 and moved to Tehran, passing through Poland, Russia and Circassia in a journey that took three months. Captain Sheil served as British envoy and minister at the court of the shah, with Tehran being at the time one of the key diplomatic battlegrounds of the Great Game. This account contains one of the earliest accounts of the civil unrest in Qajar Persia, with well-informed commentary on unfolding political events. In addition to this, the work contains descriptions of places further afield, such as Ani, Khiva and Maragha.

Keighren, Withers, & Bell 230; Geoffrey P. Nash, Travellers to the Middle East from Burckhardt to Thesiger, 2011. Very Good (Item #8128)