Torkington R.:Ye oldest diarie of Englysshe Travell being the hitherto unpublished narrative of the pilgrimage of Sir Richard Torkington to Jerusalem in 1517.London [1883].First edition.In 12o 15x12cm,modern hard cover preserving original paper covers slightly restored at the edges,internally brilliant, overall very good. Richard Torkingthon,an English priest and pilgrim visited the Levant in 1517.He reached Zakynthos early summer 1517 and was very impressed by the Venetian navy, present all along the Adriatic and the Mediterranean.He had briefly visited Methoni, Cerigo and Crete during his travel to Holy Land where he arrived in middle July 1517.He stayed there for just two weeks visiting the main pilgrimage places where he focused his descriptions.His return to England was more troubled that his outward passage.He stayed in Cyprus for more than a month.The 25th of September 1517 arrived in Rhodes, which was still in a possession of the Knights and stayed there up to middle November,he went to Milos where he stayed six weeks before reaching Kefalonia in early 1518 where he also stayed a month.After one other full month in Kerkyra he returned via Rome. Torkington was a bit of a "complainer." His diary is loved by historians because he focuses on the practicalities: the bad food, the "rude" sailors, the cost of various bribes to Ottoman officials, and the difficulty of riding donkeys in the heat.His very early travel account is an important source of information for the Mediterranean travelling during the early 16th century. Not in Atabey,Blackmer or any other known collection.Very rare