Account of Captain Robert Coverte's voyage, with descriptions of Esfahan, Baghdad and Aleppo

Coverte, Robert. A True and Almost Incredible Report of an Englishman, that (being cast away in the good Ship called the Assension in Cambaya, the farthest part of the East Indies) travelled by Land thorow many unknowne Kingdomes and great Cities [...].

€ 18.000,00

An absorbing, very rare early account of an overland journey through India and the Middle East, presented in the form of a travel diary.

The author and his men left Plymouth in March 1607 aboard the Ascension and were among the first Englishmen to see the Cape of Good Hope, arriving there in July 1608. Coverte eventually reached Gujarat, where the ship ran aground while approaching Surat. Not granted permission to remain in Surat, the crew departed to various destinations. Coverte and others set out overland for the Moghul Court at Agra via Burhanpur (describing the important military post as larger than London), arriving at Agra in December 1609. Although asked by the emperor Jahangir to serve in his military service, Coverte and other crew members left Agra in January 1610 "with the intention of making their way back to the Levant by the overland route. Travelling by way of Kandahar, Esfahan, and Baghdad, they reached Aleppo in December 1610 and from the coast of the Levant sailed for England. They subsequently arrived home in April 1611" (Howgego).

"Most of [Coverte's account] treats his overland journey from Surat to Aleppo with brief but fairly good descriptions of the towns and countryside along the route" (Lach & Van Kley). Penrose described this work as a "vigorous narrative. It relates its author's reception by the Emperor Jahangir, and his [...] journey across India, Afghanistan, and Persia, and [...] is one of the best examples of a travel journal that the period produced". The work was first published in 1612, with a second edition appearing two years later before the present third edition. It was one of the first descriptions of the Middle East available in Europe, and all English editions are rare and desirable. Two German translations followed, and the account was further published in compilations of discovery and exploration, including those published by De Bry, Hulsius, and van der Aa.