JEAN ANTOINE SIEUR DU LOIR: LES VOYAGES DU SIEUR DU LOIR,ENSEMBLE DE CE QUI SE PASSA…. PARIS 1654 First Edition.In large Quarto,contemporary full vellum slightly soiled,title page with few marginal loss at upper edge,text clean and bright,some very light spotting in few pages, complete [16],358p.,[24],overall in very good condition The author, Jean-Antoine du Loir, was a member of the retinue of the French Ambassador to the Sublime Porte, Jean de La Haye. The work is a collection of ten personal letters written from the Levant between 1639 and 1641 This particular book is the much rarer variant,with a title page that omits the words Contenus en plusieurs lettres... Du Loir’s work stands out for its originality and insider perspective,it contains one of the earliest Western attempts to transcribe Ottoman music, it includes a musical score for a Mevlevi,Dervish, hymn, printed using characters provided by Ballard, the King's music printer. It provides a rare contemporary account of the Ottoman-Safavid war, specifically the recapture of Baghdad by Sultan Murad IV.He was in Constantinople when Murad IV died in 1640. He provides a vivid, eyewitness description of the palace intrigue and the funeral ceremonies,details that were usually inaccessible to foreigners. Du Loir was fascinated by languages. He includes transliterations of Arabic, Ottoman and Greek texts.Du Loir traveled to the Levant through Greece and the Greek Islands, he includes detailed descriptions of several,particularly Milo and Tenedos.He had stayed in Athens for a month,very early descriptions of the Acropolis, still intact..Fine descriptions of Constantinople,his primary residence and the focus of his political and cultural observations.He was particularly interested in religious ceremonies and provide detailed information for the Greek traditional feasts.A very important early 17th century source for Greece and the Levant.