'An Intrepid Scot' makes an important new contribution to the growing literature on the perceptions of the Islamic world and the 'Orient' in early modern Europe, at the same time as illuminating the attitudes of a Protestant from Northern Europe towards the Catholic South. In addition to the entertainment of the travel narrative, the book shows how one Westerner of the time interpreted the alien East for his readers, and how the Ottoman Empire and its apparently unstoppable might both fascinated and struck fear into the hearts of those outside it.

Contents: Preface; Introduction; Prologue to peregrinations: the Scottish setting and Lithgow's early life; The first journey, 1609-12; The second journey, 1613-16; The abortive third journey to the East, 1619-21, and Lithgow's later years; Appendix; Bibliography; Index.

C. Edmund Bosworth is Emeritus Professor in the Department of Middle Eastern Studies, University of Manchester, UK.