Home / Browse / Travel & Exploration / Observations of the Manners and Customs of the Egyptians,
ANTES, John.
Observations of the Manners and Customs of the Egyptians,
the Overflowing of the Nile and its Effects; with Remarks on the Plague, and other Subjects. Written during a Residence of Twelve Years in Cairo and its Vicinity.
First edition. Antes was born in Frederick, Pennsylvania, his father Heinrich, a member of the German Reformed Church being largely responsible for the establishment of the Moravian Brotherhood in the state. John was a talented musician, watch- and instrument-maker, a violin that he made in 1759 is held by the Moravian Historical Society Museum at Nazareth, PA. In 1769 he was ordained in the Moravian ministry and travelled out to Egypt as a missionary. From his arrival in 1770 to his departure in 1781 Antes "endured a series of ordeal not at all unlike the extraordinary plots concocted by adventure story writers." (McKorkle, "John Antes; American Dilettante", Musical Quarterly 1956.) The most horrifying incident was his imprisonment and beating by the Bey in an attempt to extract a ransom. On leaving Egypt he spent 2 years in Germany, before joining the Moravian congregation at Fulneck, Yorkshire as warden, he remained in England until his death in Bristol in 1808. Antes developed a number of innovations, improved piano hammers, violin bows and tuning pegs for violins and cellos, a door-lock he invented was further refined by his nephew, the American architect, Benjamin Henry Latrobe. In musical circles he probably best remembered as a putative friend of Haydn, and the composer of a considerable number of religious vocal works. An interesting and uncommon account of Egypt before the French expedition. An account of Napoleon's invasion, and of the Battle of the Nile was added to a subsequent edition in order to cash in on popular interest.
Quarto (260 × 204 mm) contemporary half calf on marbled boards, rebacked with the original spine laid down. Large folding map frontispiece of the Nile from D'Anville's 1765 map. A little rubbed, light browning, but overall very good.
