Rafalovich, Artemy Alexeevich (1816-1851). Puteshestvie po Nizhnemu Yegiptu i Vnutrennim Oblastiam Delty [Travel to Lower Egypt and the Inner Regions of the Delta]. Saint Petersburg: Typ. of Yakov Trey, 1850.

First and only edition. Octavo. xii, 433 pp. With four lithographed maps (three folding). Period Russian dark green quarter sheep with cloth boards; spine with blind-stamped decorations and a gilt-lettered title. Corners slightly bumped, the rear cover with a minor scrape, pages slightly age-toned and with occasional foxing, map at rear with minor tear but overall a very good copy.

Very Rare Russian imprint with only one paper copy found in Worldcat (British Library). First and only edition of the original Russian travel account to the Lower Egypt and Nile River Delta, written by a doctor and criminal medical expert, Artemy Rafalovich. A son of a wealthy Jewish merchant from Odessa, he studied medicine at the Berlin and Dorpat Universities, graduating with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. In February 1846 – November 1848, Rafalovich travelled to Ottoman Turkey, Egypt, Syria, Palestine, Algeria and Tunisia on the special assignment of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs to survey the causes of plague epidemics in the Middle East and to define the most effective methods of their control and medical treatment. After his return, Rafalovich became a member of the Russian Geographical Society (1849) and joined the Imperial Medical Council (1850). He died a year later; his health was never fully recovered from the hardships endured during his Middle Eastern travel.

The present edition is Rafalovich’s only printed book and the only account of his Middle Eastern travel published in book form. It was never reissued or translated into other languages. The account covers Rafalovich’s travels in Lower Egypt and consists of two parts: “Voyage down the Nile River from Cairo to Rosetta and Damietta” (in January-March 1847) and “Travel by land from Cairo to Alexandria through the inner regions of the Nile Delta” (in March-April 1848).

The book contains detailed descriptions of the Nile’s Rosetta and Damietta branches, the Delta Barrage, Egyptian cities, towns and villages (Cairo, Alexandria, Rosetta, Damietta, Fuwwah, Dayrout, Mutubas, Shabur, An Nijaylah, Shirbin, Faraskur, Mansoura, Minuf, Shebeen El-Kom, Tanta and many others), Nile canals, Egyptian hospitals and medicine, common diseases of people and stock, the death rate of the local population et al. It also gives a broad overview of the Lower Egypt’s geography, climate, flora and fauna, economy and population, as well as anti-plague and quarantine measures introduced by the government of Muhammad Ali Pasha (1769-1849). The last chapter of the second part describes Rafalovich’s audience with Muhammad Ali Pasha in April 1848. Rafalovich joined the team of doctors who examined the Khedive of Egypt, who exhibited signs of a mental disorder. He was declared senile later that year and died in August 1849.

The lithographed maps include 1) A large folding map of Lower Egypt and the Nile River Delta from Alexandria and Damietta to Cairo and Suez (showing the main settlements, Nile branches and canals, roads, monasteries, &c.); 2) A plan of the Nile Delta Barrage (showing the Rosetta and Damietta branches, irrigation canals, gateways, bridges and a “brick embankment around the top of the Delta”); 3) A plan of the “old Kafr-Ziat village”, modern-day Kafr-el-Zayat, Gharbia Governorate of Egypt (marking the mosque, houses of fellahs, graves and holes of stagnant water); and 4) A plan of the new, “exemplary Kafr-Ziat village” (marking the houses of the Sheikh, Imam, Qadi, the Scribe, market, warehouses, public mills, plantations, remnants of the old village, &c.). Overall, a rare content-rich piece of Russian Africana with interesting notes about public medicine and anti-plague and sanitary measures in Lower Egypt.