CARTWRIGHT, John.

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The Preachers Travels. First edition of the travel narrative of the first Englishman known to have visited all four principal sites of Near Eastern antiquity - Babylon, Nineveh, Persepolis, and Susa.John Cartwright, described on the title page as "sometimes student in Magdalen Colledge in Oxford", is almost universally known as "The Preacher", after the title of his book, and is often said to have been employed by the Levant Company in that role. Yet one of the more curious features of his account is that Cartwright never once refers to preaching, whether to congregations or individuals, anywhere on his travels. It is entirely possible that he travelled simply for the sake of seeing the world. If so, his narrative provides early evidence for travel undertaken out of personal curiosity rather than for commerce, diplomacy, or pilgrimage - a mode of travel not usually thought to be established until the 18th century.Cartwright probably left England in April 1600, travelling to Aleppo via Sicily, Zante (Zakynthos), and Crete. In Aleppo he was received by the consul, Richard Colthurst, and met John Mildenhall, then in the service of Richard Staper of the newly formed East India Company. After a stay of about two months, the two men travelled together for part of the journey as members of a caravan numbering some 1,000 people. After separating from Mildenhall, Cartwright proceeded to Isfahan and continued to travel widely in the Middle East. The work also includes a brief account o

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