CHRISTIAN COOKE: A Journey due East. London 1864 First edition. In 8vo (20x14 cm), modern leather. Text clean and bright with very light scattered spotting in a few pages. Complete: [25], 278 p., [1], one folding map, one lithographed plate, and six early chromolithographed plates. Overall in very good condition. Cooke departed for the Levant in October 1862. He visited Egypt, the Holy Land, and Syria before heading to Constantinople. On his way, he passed Rhodes, visited Kos, and Smyrna, where he noted both the large Greek population and the city’s multinational character. After a visit to Mytilini, he reached Constantinople, where he spent considerable time. On his return journey through Athens in early spring 1863, he provides a vivid description of the city immediately after the departure of King Othon. A rare travel account, absent from the major collections of the Levant.