Arabia Felix: The Danish Expedition of 1761-1767 (NYRB

Arabia Felix: The Danish Expedition of 1761-1767 (NYRB Classics)

A riveting account of a landmark expedition that left only one survivor, now back in print for the first time in decades.

Arabia Felix is the spellbinding true story of a scientific expedition gone disastrously awry. On a winter morning in 1761 six men leave Copenhagen by seaâ€”a botanist, a philologist, an astronomer, a doctor, an artist, and their manservantâ€”an ill-assorted band of men who dislike and distrust one another from the start. These are the members of the Danish expedition to Arabia Felix, as Yemen was then known, the first organized foray into a corner of the world unknown to Europeans. The expedition made its way to Turkey and Egypt, by which time its members were already actively seeking to undercut and even kill one another, before disappearing into the harsh desert that was their destination. Nearly seven years later a single survivor returned to Denmark to find himself forgotten and all the specimens that had been sent back ruined by neglect.

Based on diaries, notebooks, and sketches that lay unread in Danish archives until the twentieth century, Arabia Felix is a tale of intellectual rivalry and a comedy of very bad manners, as well as an utterly absorbing adventure.

Arabia Felix includes 33 line drawings and maps.
Country USA
Brand New York Review Books
Manufacturer NYRB Classics
Binding Paperback
ItemPartNumber Illustrated
Color Multicolor
ReleaseDate 2017-06-13
UnitCount 1
EANs 9781681370729

Country	USA
Brand	New York Review Books
Manufacturer	NYRB Classics
Binding	Paperback
ItemPartNumber	Illustrated
Color	Multicolor
ReleaseDate	2017-06-13
UnitCount	1
EANs	9781681370729

Arabia Felix: The Danish Expedition of 1761-1767 (NYRB Classics)

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