Two separate works on Stonehenge and its surroundings from 1829 and 1880, reissued here in a single volume.

Well versed in oriental languages and antiquities, Claudius James Rich (1786/7-1821), the East India Company's resident at Baghdad, visited and described many historic locations in present-day Iraq and Iran. Following his early death from cholera in Shiraz, Rich's widow prepared his writings for publication. His two-volume Narrative of a Residence in Koordistan, and on the Site of Ancient Nineveh (1836) is also reissued in this series. The present work, which appeared in 1839, contains Rich's 1811 journal of his first visit to the site of the ancient city of Babylon, followed by the...

This book contains two works by William Kennett Loftus (1821 58) in which he describes his archaeological surveying and excavations in Mesopotamia between 1849 and 1855. An enthusiastic antiquarian and geologist, Loftus was appointed to the staff of the Turco-Persian Frontier Commission. On his travels, he located many ruins later identified as biblical cities, including Warkah (Uruk) and Tell el-Muqayyar (Ur). In 1854 Loftus was enabled by the newly formed Assyrian Excavation Fund to return to Warkah, and he excavated over a three-month period, discovering artefacts and cuneiform tablets...

Well versed in oriental languages and antiquities, and possessed of an 'insatiable thirst for seeing new countries', Claudius James Rich (1786/7-1821), the East India Company's resident at Baghdad, set out for Kurdistan in 1820 despite his delicate health. Before he succumbed to cholera the following year, he had visited and described many historic locations in present-day Iraq and Iran. His written account has long stood as an important early record of the region's geography, culture and archaeology. This two-volume work was edited by his widow and published, with maps and other...

Well versed in oriental languages and antiquities, and possessed of an 'insatiable thirst for seeing new countries', Claudius James Rich (1786/7-1821), the East India Company's resident at Baghdad, set out for Kurdistan in 1820 despite his delicate health. Before he succumbed to cholera the following year, he had visited and described many historic locations in present-day Iraq and Iran. His written account has long stood as an important early record of the region's geography, culture and archaeology. This two-volume work was edited by his widow and published, with maps and other...

The Hungarian-born archaeologist Marc Aurel Stein (1862-1943) is probably best remembered today for his explorations in Chinese Turkestan, and especially his discovery of the Buddhist treasure of Dunhuang, described in his earlier works, Sand-Buried Ruins of Khotan and Ruins of Desert Cathay (also reissued in this series). Stein was equally interested in the territory north-west of the North-West Frontier, and in this highly illustrated 1929 work he describes an expedition to survey the route of Alexander the Great's invasion of India in 326 BCE. Having long been intrigued by 'that...

Richard Inwards (1840-1937) won renown as the author of the highly popular Weather Lore (also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection). For many years he worked as a mine manager, and in 1866, while working in Bolivia, he visited the site of Tiwanaku. Although the ruins of this once great city were first described by the conquistadores, it was not until the nineteenth century, with the development of more rigorous archaeological methods, that the site began to be more fully studied. Although published in 1884, this brief account is based on Inwards' 1866 visit, and so is contemporaneous...

Although best known as an archaeologist, William Greenwell (1820-1918) was also ordained as a priest and served as librarian of Durham Cathedral. A keen angler into his later years, he is known too for his creation of 'Greenwell's glory', a famous British trout fly. As an archaeologist, Greenwell excavated nearly 300 burial mounds, carrying out intensive fieldwork from 1862. First published in 1877, this work is a detailed account of some 230 Bronze Age barrows across England, largely in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Organised by parish, this work records these excavations, giving dimensions...

Born in Hamburg to Jewish parents, Julius Oppert (1825 1905) later moved to France, where he established a reputation as a remarkably gifted Assyriologist, making significant contributions to the decipherment of cuneiform Akkadian. Between 1851 and 1854, he accompanied the orientalist Fulgence Fresnel (1795 1855) on the French expedition to Mesopotamia. In recognition of his role, involving important excavations at the site of the ancient city of Babylon, Oppert was granted French citizenship. In May 1855, however, a great many of the discovered antiquities were lost when the raft...

Born in Hamburg to Jewish parents, Julius Oppert (1825 1905) later moved to France, where he established a reputation as a remarkably gifted Assyriologist, making significant contributions to the decipherment of cuneiform Akkadian. Between 1851 and 1854, he accompanied the orientalist Fulgence Fresnel (1795 1855) on the French expedition to Mesopotamia. In recognition of his role, involving important excavations at the site of the ancient city of Babylon, Oppert was granted French citizenship. In May 1855, however, a great many of the discovered antiquities were lost when the raft...