John Galt: Voyages and Travels in the years 1809,1810 and 1811 containing statistical, commercial and miscellaneous observations on Gibraltar, Sardinia,Sicily, Malta,Serigo and Turkey. London 1812 First edition, large Quarto, contemporary leather over boards, joints restored, text clean and bright with some scattered spotting in few pages, complete and in very good condition A key primary source for the Mediterranean during the Napoleonic era.Galt was not just a tourist; he was attempting to find commercial routes that could circumvent Napoleon's Continental System,a blockade against British trade. While traveling from Gibraltar to Malta, Galt met and befriended Lord Byron and John Cam Hobhouse. He later wrote one of the first biographies of Byron.Galt spent time in the Ottoman Empire,specifically in Constantinople and Greece investigating how to smuggle British goods into Europe via the Balkans. Unlike many writers of the Levant who focused purely on art and ruins, Galt’s focused on economics, trade statistics, and local governance. His goal was to establish a base for trade with the Mediterranean, though the venture ultimately proved unsuccessful due to shifting political tides.