Journey from Moscow to Constantinople, in the Years 1817, 1818.

'Macmichael was elected a Radcliffe travelling fellow in 1812, and he made several journeys to the Levant between 1812 and 1817. On this last journey he was accompanied by Thomas Legh who had just produced an account of his own travels in Egypt' (Atabey).

About a quarter of Macmichael's book is taken up with an account of Thomas Legh's tour in Palestine and Syria from Jerusalem on his way to Constantinople via Hebron, the Dead Sea, Acre, Tyre, Baalbec, Damascus, Palmyra and Aleppo, which is not covered in Legh's own book. 'Legh travelled up the Nile in the winter of 1812 13 with the Rev. Charles Smelt, whose journal he uses in the narrative' (Navari).

Thomas Legh (1792-1857) was an English politician and heir, who had travelled extensively in his youth and at 21 became one of the first Europeans to travel the Nile as far as Nubia. William Macmichael, was an English physician, author and traveller. Macmichael and Legh were both Oxford graduates and made the voyage from Moscow to Constantinople together. In Constantinople Legh separated from Macmichael and took a ship to Jaffa, travelling consequently to Jerusalem and Petra. This book offers a rare opportunity to view two different accounts of the same journey and its challenges in early 19th century.