Described by one commentator as 'a man of sterling common sense, intellectual rigour and ability', the distinguished naval officer Sir Adolphus Slade (1804 1877) was one of the best-informed and engaging travel writers of the nineteenth century. Later in his career he was to spend 17 years on secondment to the Turkish navy, heading its administration and improving its efficiency, but already in his twenties, having served in Russia and South America, he was keen to commit his observations of foreign lands to paper. First published in 1832, Slade's two-volume account of his travels in the Mediterranean and Turkey responded to the public's appetite for colourful chronicles. Containing descriptions of fashions, superstitions, diets, dignitaries and despots, and covering topics ranging from antiquities and architecture to piracy and cricket, this book remains of interest to historians, archaeologists and travel enthusiasts alike."
