ONCE TO SINAI

by H.F.M. Prescott ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 24, 1958

This scholarly and beautifully written book by the author of the best-selling novel, The Man On The Donkey, is a continuation of the pilgrimage journals of Friar Felix Fabri, of which the first volume, Jerusalem Journey, also translated and retold by Miss Prescott, told of Felix's pilgrimage to that city in 1483. Many made the journey to Jerusalem -- Chaucer's Wife of Bath had been there three times -- but few to Mount Sinai, which involved a long and difficult desert trek by camel and donkey-back. Leaving Jerusalem late in the summer of 1483 Friar Felix and a score of other pilgrims made the pilgrimage to Sinai, from there going to Cairo and Alexandria and by spice- galley to Venice from Venice Felix returned by way of the Alps to Ulm and the Dominican monastery of which he was a member, where he died in 1502. Humorous, kindly, pious and insatiably inquisitive, an explorer of the breed of kinglake, Doughty and Gertrude Bell, Felix poked his way into odd spots, climbed mountains, got lost, talked with robbers, Mamlukes, slaves and ship-captains, and noted it all in his journals, here superbly translated and annotated together with excerpts from other journals and bound together with the author's own comments. A travel narrative comparable to Eothen and Arabia Deserta. This will have a limited but continuing appeal and delight literate readers of many kinds, and should find a permanent place on the shelves of all libraries sheltering works of travel, history and plain scholarship.

Pub Date: June 24, 1958

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Macmillan

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1958

Categories: NONFICTION