Sir Richard Francis Burton

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Sir Richard Francis Burton

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | 2008 | The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Sir Richard Francis Burton 1821-90, English explorer, writer, and linguist. He joined (1842) the service of the East India Company and, while stationed in India, acquired a thorough knowledge of the Persian, Afghan, Hindustani, and Arabic languages. In 1853, in various disguises, he made a famous journey to Mecca and Medina, about which he wrote the vivid Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to El-Medinah and Meccah (3 vol., 1855-56). With John Speke he took a party to Somaliland; he alone, disguised as an Arab merchant, made the journey to Harar, Ethiopia, where he met with the local ruler. He went with Speke to uncharted E central Africa to discover the source of the Nile; he found Lake Tanganyika (1858) but abandoned the attempt to reach Lake Nyasa. After a visit to the United States, Burton published an account of the Mormon settlement at Utah in his City of the Saints (1861). While consul (1861-65) at Fernando Po (now Bioko), off W Africa, he explored the Bight of Biafra and conducted a mission to Dahomey, Benin, and the Gold Coast. He explored Santos, in Brazil, while consul (1865) there, and after crossing the continent wrote Explorations of the Highlands of Brazil (1869). After a short period (1869-71) as consul at Damascus he was consul (1872-90) at Trieste, where he died. His last years were devoted chiefly to literature. He published remarkable literal translations of Camões and of the Arabian Nights (16 vol., 1885-88).

Bibliography: See annotated bibliography by N. M. Penzer (1923); biographies by his wife (2 vol., 1893, repr. 1973), G. M. Stisted (1893, repr. 1970), A. Bercovici (1962), and F. M. Brodie (1966), and biography of Burton and his wife by M. S. Lovell (1998).

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"Sir Richard Francis Burton." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. 24 Nov. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

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Burton, Sir Richard Francis

The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature | 2003 | | © The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature 2003, originally published by Oxford University Press 2003. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Burton, Sir Richard Francis (1821–90), joined the Indian army in 1842. He left India in 1849, and subsequent travels took him to the forbidden city of Mecca, to Africa on several expeditions, to the Crimea, to Salt Lake City (where he studied the Mormons), and as consul to Brazil, Damascus (1869–71), and Trieste (1871) where he died. He published over 40 volumes of travel, including his Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to El-Medinah and Meccah (1855–6) and The Lake Regions of Central Africa (1860). He is best remembered for his unexpurgated versions of the Arabian Nights (1885–8), The Kama Sutra (1883), The Perfumed Garden (1886, from the French), and other works of Arabian erotology. His interest in sexual behaviour and deviance (which he shared with his friends Milnes and Swinburne) and his detailed, frank, and valuable ethnographical notes led him to risk prosecution many times under the Obscene Publications Act of 1857.

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MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Burton, Sir Richard Francis." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 24 Nov. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Burton, Sir Richard Francis." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (November 24, 2009). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-BurtonSirRichardFrancis.html

MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Burton, Sir Richard Francis." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Retrieved November 24, 2009 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-BurtonSirRichardFrancis.html

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Late, great geographers.(Sir Richard Francis Burton (1821-1890))(Brief Article)
Magazine article from: Geographical; 2/1/2001; 700+ words ; Sir Richard Francis Burton (1821-1890) This renowned explorer...forbidden Muslim cities For what is Sir Richard most famous? He was renowned for travelling...towards a life of travel. How did Sir Richard become a traveller? Burton attended...
Travel: Grand tours - Tanganyika: a near-death experience The series which follows the literary adventures of the world's great writers. This week, Sir Richard Burton risks all in search of the source of the Nile
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Newspaper article from: Guelph Mercury (Guelph, Ontario); 11/22/2008; 700+ words ; ...the man seated on the right is Sir Richard Burton, the English explorer who was...is whether this is really Sir Richard Francis Burton. In addition to being an English explorer, Sir Richard Burton (1821-1890) was also...
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Newspaper article from: The Record (Kitchener, Ontario); 11/22/2008; 700+ words ; ...the man seated on the right is Sir Richard Burton, the English explorer who was...is whether this is really Sir Richard Francis Burton. In addition to being an English explorer, Sir Richard Burton (1821-1890) was also...
`A Rage to Live: A Biography of Richard and Isabel Burton,' by Mary S. Lovell; W.W. Norton (910 pages, $39.95).
Newspaper article from: Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service; 1/20/1999; ; 700+ words ; ...historical era, Sir Richard Francis Burton (1821-1890...in accordance with Burton's wishes and the...the marriage of the Burtons as a long and loving...Hanning Speke, Isabel Burton's distant cousin and Richard Burton's comrade...
SAFARIS, FROM RICHARD BURTON TO BARTLE BULL
Newspaper article from: The Boston Globe; 1/6/1989; ; 700+ words ; BURTON. A Biography of Sir Richard Francis Burton, by Byron Farwell. Viking...Viking. 383 pp. $40. Illustrated. Richard Burton was an incomparable human...evokes the memory of a more recent Richard Burton. Both men squandered themselves...
Tintype is nobody famous so its value is limited; From the 1800s and made of iron, they're tricky to appraise.(Condo Living)
Newspaper article from: The Toronto Star (Toronto, Ontario); 11/1/2008; 700+ words ; ...the man seated on the right is Sir Richard Burton, the English explorer who was...is whether this is really Sir Richard Francis Burton. In addition to being an English explorer, Sir Richard Burton (1821-1890) was also...
Two for the Road.(Review)
Magazine article from: National Review; 12/7/1998; ; 700+ words ; ...days, the name Richard Burton inevitably...s biography is Sir Richard Francis Burton (1821...namesake, Sir Richard Burton was something...name beneath it. Burton spent the final...Nights earned the Burtons the equivalent...
Bookmarks
Newspaper article from: Deseret News (Salt Lake City); 3/22/2009; 700+ words ; ...American Babylon: Notes of a Christian Exile," by Richard John Neuhaus (nf); "Shadows of Death," by David...Dean Falk (nf); "Collector of Worlds: A Novel of Sir Francis Burton," by Iliya Troyanov (f) PAPERBACKS "NOTE BY NOTE...
Museum sponsorship - Running in the family.
Magazine article from: The Economist (US); 4/22/2000; 700+ words ; ...Ondaatje found in a private Australian collection, of Sir Richard Burton in Afghan dress before his ill-fated journey to...Revisited--A Journey in the Footsteps of Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton 1842-1849: The India Years" is now out...

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