Constantinople and the Scenery of the Seven Churches of Asia Minor / Series One and Series Two in one Volume

Transcriber’s note: Two volumes of this book have been put together as a single volume. The pages have been rearranged so that the text describing the illustrations follow immediately the illustrations. Captions of the illustrations have been used as Chapters’ headers. The original spellings of Turkish names have been retained except where they are misleading, such as “Babu (Gate in Old Turkish) Humayun” for Baba (Father in Turkish) Humayun. Also consistency in these names have been sought by using the most frequent spelling of these names. The erroneous statement by author about the emigration of Muhammad from Medina to Mecca has been corrected as from Mecca to Medina. The the header Sultan Selim’s Palace at Scutari is replaced by the caption of the related illustration Mosque of Sultan Selim at Scutari as the illustration displays a mosque. “Fisher, & Co. London, & Quai de l’Ecole, Paris.” line which is repeated in all captions has been omitted to avoid redundancy. The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.
ILLUSTRATED. IN A SERIES OF DRAWINGS FROM NATURE BY THOMAS ALLOM. WITH AN HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF CONSTANTINOPLE, AND DESCRIPTIONS OF THE PLATES, BY THE REV. ROBERT WALSH, LL.D. CHAPLAIN TO THE BRITISH EMBASSY AT THE OTTOMAN PORTE. FIRST AND SECOND SERIES. FISHER, SON, & CO. NEWGATE ST., LONDON; & QUAI DE L’ECOLE, PARIS.
Nothing can form a stronger contrast in modern times, than Asiatic and European Turkey. The first preserves its character unchanged−men and things still display the permanency of Oriental usages; and they are now as they have been, and will probably continue to be, for an indefinite period.
Not so the second−Constantinople having for centuries exhibited the singular and extraordinary spectacle of a Mahomedan town in a Christian region, and stood still while all about it were advancing in the march of improvement, has at length, as suddenly as unexpectedly, been roused from its slumbering stupidity; the city and its inhabitants are daily undergoing a change as extraordinary as unhoped for; and the present generation will see with astonishment, that revolution of usages and opinions, during a single life, which has not happened in any other country in revolving centuries.