[CAMPBELL (John)]. The Travels and Adventures of Edward Brown, Esq; Formerly a Merchant of London. Containing His Observations on France and Italy; His Voyage to the Levant; His Account of the Isle of Malta; His Remarks in His Journies thro' the Lower and Upper Egypt; together with a brief Description of the Abyssinian Empire. Interspersed throughout with several curious Historical Passages relating to our own as well as Foreign Nations; as also with Critical Disquisitions as to the present State of Sciences in Egypt, particularly Physic and Chemistry.1739

London: Printed by J. Applebee, First edition, 8vo (200 x 120), xvi, 434, [14]pp., endpapers lightly waterstained and just impinging onto title, cont. full calf, joints slightly split otherwise a nice copy. This was Campbell's first original work, and purports to be an account of travels made in about 1670. In fact it is a compilation of facts relating to the topography, natural products, political conditions, and manners and customs of the countries supposed to be visited, which are held together by a thread of fictitious autobiography. It was of Dr. Campbell, LL.D., that Johnson said "I am afraid he has not been in the inside of a church for many years; but never passes a church without pulling off his hat. This shews that he has good principles", and on another occasion to Joseph Warton "[he is] the richest author that ever grazed the common of literature". Provenance: Early signature in ink to front endpaper "Wigley". Blackmer, 278.