Lyde wrote two books on the Alawites: The Anseyreeh and Ismaeleeh: A Visit to the Secret Sects of Northern Syria with a View to the Establishment of Schools (1853) and The Asian Mystery Illustrated in the History, Religion and Present State of the Ansaireeh or Nusairis of Syria (1860).[14] The latter is considered to be a pioneering work, and was the first monograph to be written on the Alawite-Nusayri religion.[15][16] It remained the only Western book on the subject until 1900, when René Dussaud published his Histoire et religion des Nosairîs.[16]