[ARABIA / FIRSTHAND ACCOUNT OF YEMEN AND THE 1871-1874 OTTOMAN EXPEDITION] Tarih-i Yemen ve Sana'a. [i.e., History of Yemen and Sana’a]. 2 volumes set

FERÎK EBU SAID AHMED RASID PASHA, (Ottoman Lieutenant General), (?-1891), Basiret Matbaasi, Istanbul, AH 1291 = [1874]. Contemporary fine half and quarter calf. The title ("Tarih-i Yemen") lettered gilt on spine of the first volume with volume no and four decorative elements gilt on the compartments; the second volume's spine is decorated fully. Bindings are not homogeneous. Roy. 8vo. (24 x 17 cm). In Ottoman script (Old Turkish with Arabic letters). 2 volumes set: (3, 322, 20 p.; 6, 374 p.), no illustrations and maps. Occasional foxing on pages, a very good set. Extremely rare first edition of this two-volume set including Lieutenant General Ahmed Rashid Pasha's firsthand account of a fourteen-month expedition of Yemen he participated in with the Ottoman army between 1871-1874. The book also enlarged with the author's detailed eyewitness descriptions of the South Arabian Peninsula's agricultural and natural resources, geographical structure, climate, various sects, and beliefs of the