SANDY (George): A relation of a journey begun An: Dom: 1610. Fovre bookes. Containing a description of the Turkish Empire, of Ægypt, of the Holy Land, of the remote parts of Italy, and ilands adioyning London: W. Barrett, 1615. -In-folio, dark brown basane à la Bradel, smooth spine, speckled edges (modern binding). Rare first edition of the account of the voyage undertaken by the poet and politician George Sandys (1578-1644) to the Orient between 1610 and 1611. Containing "a description of the Turkish Empire, Egypt, the Holy Land, the remote regions of Italy and the neighboring islands", Sandy's chronicle is the first detailed and carefully documented travel account, drawing on ancient sources mentioned in marginal notes. It marks the transition from 16th-century to 17th-century travel literature. Representative of this literary genre, this account oscillates between geography, history and autobiography, with a fluid and sometimes contradictory style. Sandys strives to convey original geographical and anthropological knowledge, while increasingly sharing his own opinions and interpretations of his observations (Source site "Travelogues travellers' views", https://eng.travelogues.gr/collection.php?view=100). The edition is illustrated with an engraved title, a double-page hors texte map and 47 intaglio engravings, including 2 full-page ones. This copy is unfortunately incomplete of the hors texte panoramic view of Constantinople, entitled "Prospect of the Grand Signiors Serraglio from Galata", usually found between pages 33 and 34. Instead, it has been enriched with a fold-out plate depicting an entire skeleton, with reference to a page 355, which does not belong to the work. A peculiarity to be highlighted here is that page 309 does not feature a cul-de-lampe, unlike the digitized copies we have been able to find, which do. Copy in modest modern binding. The title, which has been doubled and rebacked, is torn, missing and damaged. The second leaf has also been restored and rebacked, glued to the margin of leaf B1, covering the first letters of the latter's text. Non-missing tears to several leaves in the book, with restoration and damage to the text on leaf Q1, ink stain on the top of page 232. Some light wetness.