In the 1840s the Finnish orientalist Georg August Wallin traveled in the Middle East, where he collected material on Arabic dialects. Considered an eminent scholar by his contemporaries, he died an untimely death shortly after his seven-year journey and was therefore able to publish only a fraction of his material. Gathering together what we know of Wallin s work, the scholars in this book tell the fascinating story of his life and travels in Egypt, the Arabian Peninsula, and Persia.
In order to make contact with local inhabitants, Wallin assumed a Muslim identity and disguised himself...