Layard, Austen Henry

Discoveries in the Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon; with Travels in Armenia, Kurdistan, and the Desert: Being the result of a Second Expedition Undertaken for the Trustees of the British Museum

London: John Murray, 1853.

First Edition. Hardcover. 8vo 8" - 9" tall. Near Fine. xxiii, 686 pp, with 14 plates (some folding), 2 folding maps, numerous woodcuts in the text. One folding plate repaired, otherwise a lovely copy. Layard's second expedition to Mesopotamia (1849-1851) discovered thousands of cuneiform tablets from the Royal Library of Ashurbanipal at Kuyunjik (said to be the Alexander the Great's inspiration for creating his own library). Later deciphered, they proved conclusively that ancient Ninevah was located at the Kuyunjik Mound outside Mosel. (Blackmer #969).