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Letters Written During a Ten Years' Residence at the Court of Tripoli, 1783-1795 - Published from the Originals in the Possession of the Family of the Late Richard Tully, Esq., the British Consul, Comprising Authentic Memoirs and Anecdotes of the Reigning Bashaw, His Family and Other Persons of Distinction, Also an Account of the Domestic Manners of the Moors, Arabs and Turks (Paperback, Revised)
Loot Price: R965
Discovery Miles 9 650
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Letters Written During a Ten Years' Residence at the Court of Tripoli, 1783-1795 - Published from the Originals in the Possession of the Family of the Late Richard Tully, Esq., the British Consul, Comprising Authentic Memoirs and Anecdotes of the Reigning Bashaw, His Family and Other Persons of Distinction, Also an Account of the Domestic Manners of the Moors, Arabs and Turks (Paperback, Revised)
Series: Travellers in the Wider Levant
Expected to ship within 10 - 15 working days
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Miss Tully's Letters form a clear and eminently readable narrative
of her years in Tripoli and the political situation there in the
late 18th c, as well as a unique account of relationships within
the harem of the ruler. She and her nieces had free access to the
women of the family of the Bashaw (Pasha) and an intimate
relationship developed. The Preface to the first edition of 1816,
tells us that Miss Tully's nieces had spoken Arabic all their
lives, and she herself clearly learned some, but it would still be
fascinating to know whether this was the only common language of
the harem or whether they also made use of the lingua franca in use
at the time. The ruler's wife was a Georgian, his favourite was a
local, presumably Arabic-speaking, Jewish woman, his daughters were
married to renegade south Italians and the other inmates of the
harem were of European, Circassian and possibly Berber origin,
together with numerous Africans from various points south of the
Sahara. Not much is known of the Tully family and a summary of the
little available background is given below. The following notes
attempt to provide a historical context for some of the main issues
mentioned by Miss Tully: nomad raids, piracy, slaving and famine
had been problems on and off for a couple of thousand years. Miss
Tully sets down the story of the bitter quarrels among the young
Karamanli brothers and their conclusion has been added for the sake
of completeness and because of its broader historical interest. The
period between the writing of the letters and their publication saw
major changes in Europe, among them the French Revolution, the
Napoleonic Wars and the abolition of slavery; optimism and the hope
of political advance was in the air. The words of the 1816 Preface,
explaining why Miss Tully's view of Tripoli is of particular
interest, seem to echo a very modern preoccupation: ..".the
expectation of seeing there a nearer approximation to the
enlightened principles of other nations, with regard to the
personal rights and liberties of mankind....."
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