In the 1820s, Rifa a al-Tahtawi, a young Muslim cleric, travelled to Paris as a leading member of the first Egyptian educational mission, where, during a stay of five years, he documented his observations on European culture. His account, Takhlis al-Ibriz fi Talkhis Bariz (The Quintessence of Paris), is one of the earliest and most influential records of the Muslim encounter with Enlightenment-era European ideas, introducing ideas of modernity to his native land. In addition to its historical and literary value, al-Tahtawi s work offers invaluable insight into early conceptions of Europe and the Other . Its observations are as vibrant and palpable today as they were over 150 years ago; informative and often acute, to very humorous effect. An irrefutable classic, this new edition of the first English translation is of seminal value. It is introduced and carefully annotated by a scholar fluent in the life, times and milieu of its narrator.