Travels and Adventures in the Persian Provinces on the Southern Banks of the Caspian Sea

Scottish explorer and author James Baillie Fraser (1783-1856) was already known for his narratives of travel in the East (his 1820 journal of a journey through the Himalayas being also reissued in this series) when in 1826 he published this account of his journey into the lesser known provinces of Persia. Though it includes an appendix containing information on geology and commerce, it dwells less on statistical and historical details than it does on the author's personal experiences and impressions. In his preface, Fraser summarily rejects factual material as 'insignificant', preferring to describe the manners of a people seldom encountered by Europeans. The work captures both the sights and sounds of bazaars and cities, and the characters of the people, from princes to peasant boys; and Fraser provides facts on topics ranging from rice cultivation to the architecture of ancient tombs and methods of cooling water.