Travels in Syria and the Holy Land is a masterpiece in descriptive and scholarly travelogue. It describes the author's various journeys throughout the Holy Land between 1810 and 1816 win which he records every aspect of the life of the inhabitants, their religion and culture. He also provides fascinating details of topography, natural history and archaeology.

John Lewis Buckhardt (1784-1817) is among the most intrepid and veracious o all the early European explorers of the interior of Africa. His many journal, published, after his death, by the African Association are remarkable alike for their interst and evident truthfulness.

Having studied and prepared himself for the rigours of the life of an explorer, Burckhardt travelled widely throughout North Africa and Asia, surviving in a hostile Muslim world by passing himself off as a pilgrim. Indeed, so proficient was he in the Arab language and knowledge of their religion that learned Arabs unwittingly commended him as a great Muslim scholar.

The present edition is taken in facsimile from the rare first edition of 1822, including its maps and line drawings.