[A. de Saint Martin]: Memoires historiques et geographiques sur l Armenie.Paris 1818-1819 First edition,tall in 8vo,complete in two volumes,contemporary full leather rubbed,upper covers detached,spine of volume one with loss on down part, generally a nice binding with wear,text clean and bright with some light spotting in very few pages,overall in good condition. The author was the father of modern Armenian studies in the West.Saint-Martin was not a traveler, he was a scholar, who mastered Old Armenian (Grabar). Before this book, European knowledge of Eastern Asia Minor and Armenian lands was fragmented and often based on legend. Saint-Martin used primary Armenian sources,such as the work of the Armenian historian Moses of Chorene and many others ancient Armenians writers to construct a rigorous, scientific history of the region of Eastern Asia Minor. Volume one focuses on Geography. It provides a detailed breakdown of all the relevant provinces of Anatolia. Second volume cover History and Philology. It includes translations from Armenian of ancient documents referring to the history of Anatolia and the peoples of the area.The work cover several fields of Greek interest,describing in details places and history of eastern Asia Minor and Pontus areas,as the Greek and Armenian worlds were adjacent for almost two millennia and have been separated by the Turkish occupation of Pontus in late 15th century and completely cut only in early 20th century..At the time of publication the Armenian Question was beginning to emerge as Russia and the Ottoman Empire vied for control of the Caucasus. Saint-Martin’s book was the most accurate representation of the region available to European diplomats and scholars for decades.A seminal rare pioneer work