TOURNEFORT (Joseph Pitton de). Relation d'un voyage au Levant fait par ordre du Roy. Paris, Imprimerie royale, 1717. 2 volumes in-4, seeded calf, double fillet and fleurons at the corners, spine decorated, marbled edges (Binding of the period). First edition of this remarkable work. It is illustrated with 152 plates engraved after Aubriet's drawings, showing monuments, views of islands, coasts or villages, costumes, fauna and flora, etc. This voyage was ordered by Louis XIV in 1700 and lasted two years, during which time the Aix botanist Joseph Pitton de Tournefort, accompanied by the draughtsman Claude Aubriet and the German physician Andreas von Gundelsheimer, travelled through the Greek archipelago, Turkey, the southern coasts of the Black Sea, Turkish and Persian Armenia, Georgia, Mount Ararat and Asia Minor as far as Smyrna, bringing back more than 1,500 botanical species. On his return, Tournefort was appointed Professor of Medicine at the Collège de France and Director of the Jardin des Plantes. Upper spine frayed, corners worn, occasional foxing and slightly yellowed sections. Blackmer, n°1318 - Atabey, n°960 - Hage Chahine, n°4828 - Ibrahim-Hilmy, II, 292 - Nissen, ZBI, n°4154.