Meine Pilgerfahrt nach Jerusalem. (1902.)

4to. German ms., ink on paper. 180 pp. (on 91 unnumbered leaves). Contemporary half calf over green cloth boards, spine on five raised bands, titled in gilt with giltstamped covers; all edges red. Bookbinder's label of Albert Günther, Vienna, on lower flyleaf. A clean and well-legible manuscript describing the author's six-week pilgrimage to Jerusalem undertaken in February and March 1902 from Vienna via Budapest, Fiume, Ancona, Rome, Naples and Messina to Alexandria, Jaffa, and Jerusalem. Proksch gives an extensive and colourful account not only of the holy sites of Palestine, which he has long wished to visit, but also of various sites in Egypt, including the Al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo and the oriental bazaars. - Dedicated to Princess Marie (Wilhelmine Franziska) "Maritschy" Auersperg (1880-1960), daughter of Prince Franz Joseph Auersperg: "Der Prinzessin Maritschy gewidmet, zur freundlichen Erinnerung an den alten Procksch" ("To Princess Maritschy, so that she may fondly remember old Procksch"). Proksch, a doctor of canon and civil law, had been the private educator of Prince Auersperg and his siblings. In 1905 the princess would marry Karl von und zu Trauttmansdorff. The family acquired Weissenegg Castle (near Mellach in Styria) in 1923; the castle library's bookplate (dated 1935) is affixed to the pastedown. Remains of a pasted shelfmark label to spine; very well preserved.