CONSTANTIN TISCHENDORFF: Travels in the East. London 1847 First edition in English, following the German edition. In 8vo, contemporary publisher’s cloth, sunned, spine restored. Text clean and bright. Complete: [16], 287 p., [32]. Manuscript ownership inscription of William St Clair, leading Hellenist, on front pastedown. Overall in very good condition, with fine provenance. Constantin von Tischendorff (1815–1874) was a German biblical scholar and renowned hunter of ancient manuscripts. He is most famous for discovering the Codex Sinaiticus, the oldest and most complete Bible known (4th century), at St. Catherine’s Monastery in Sinai. On his first visit to Sinai in 1844, he located the ancient codex and carried off 43 leaves, presenting them to the King of Saxony. In later visits, acting as a Russian agent, he persuaded the monks to send the Codex Sinaiticus to the Tsar, under the promise of its eventual return. The monks, unaware of his true intentions, complied, and the manuscript was never restored. By the 1860s, Tischendorff had achieved international fame as a scholar but also a reputation as a ruthless pillager of monasteries across the Levant. His expeditions extended through Greece, the Archipelago, and Asia Minor, although none yielded finds comparable to Sinai. This volume is his travel account of the Levant in the 1840s, with descriptions of many Eastern Mediterranean sites. An important and rare work by a controversial yet pivotal figure in biblical scholarship. References: Blackmer 1661 (this edition). Rare.