Remarks and Observations on the Plain of Troy, Made During an Excursion in June, 1799. FRANCKLIN (William).

HOMER WAS RIGHT

By William Francklin, Captain in the Service of the East India Company, and Author of a Tour to Persia, &c.

Folding Engraved frontispiece map with outline hand-colouring.

First Edition. 4to. [283 x 223 x 8 mm]. vii, [i], 53, [3] pp. Bound c.1940 by New of Eton in black cloth, the spine lettered in gilt on a tan goatskin label, uncut edges.
London: printed by C. Clarke for R. Faulder, New Bond Street, 1800.

With the final errata leaf. Lightly foxed but a good copy with untrimmed edges. The work is quite well represented in British libraries, but ESTC locates only four copies abroad (Getty Center, Lilly Library, University of North Carolina and University of Toronto), and there are no copies currently being offered for sale online.

A detailed and personal record of four days of exploration on the plains of Troy, and confirmation of the accuracy of Homer's accounts in the Iliad and Odyssey. William Francklin (1763-1839) was educated at Westminster and Trinity College, Cambridge and was admitted as a cadet in the service of the East India Company in 1782. He rose to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel before retiring to India. He enjoyed considerable reputation as an oriental scholar. Observations Made on a Tour from Bengal to Persia was published in Calcutta in 1788, and he wrote on aspects of India, the military adventurer George Thomas and the worship of snakes. He maintained a learned correspondence with William Vincent, the Head Master of Westminster, to whom this work is dedicated.

Stock no. ebc8178