‎Moyen orient‎

‎[Mekka].‎

‎Mekke'nin Umumi Görünüsü [General View of Mecca]. [Probably Istanbul, 1950s].‎

‎Halftone photolitho, 50 x 67 cm. A large bird's-eye view of Mecca showing the city with its main pilgrimage routes, centered on the Kaaba. The principal monuments and places in the city and its surroundings are identified by 64 numbers, with the key printed in the lower margin. The view is based on the classic engraving issued by the Austrian orientalist Andreas Hunglinger in 1803, itself a copy of a print by Ignace Mouradgea d'Ohsson made in 1791. - Overall in good condition.‎

‎Morier, James Justinian.‎

‎Haji Baba-yi Isfahani. [The Adventures of Haji Baba of Isphahan - Persian]. Lahore, Alamgir Electric Press, November 1931.‎

‎8vo (160 x 244 mm). 456 pp. Lithographed Persian text, 25 lines of Urdu script to the page. Contemporary half leather with cloth covers (wants spine); original wrappers (front cover forming the title-page) bound within. Third Persian edition, printed in India, of "The Adventures of Haji Baba of Isphahan". The picaresque novel by the British diplomat James Morier (1782-1849), first published in English in 1824, satirised the Qajar dynasty in Iran, which supposedly caused the Iranian ambassador to Britain to lodge an official complaint. Translated by Mirza Habib Isfahani under the editorship of Shadan Bilgrami. - Binding rubbed and scuffed, extremeties chipped and bumped, spine missing. Interior clean and well preserved. Rare; no copy in institutional libraries listed in OCLC.‎

‎Müller, Karl.‎

‎Sinus Arabici pars meridionalis secundum Agatharchidem, Arthemidorum, Plinium, Ptolomaeum. [Paris, 1860].‎

‎Engraved map, outline coloured. 730 x 260 mm. An antique map of the upper portion of the Red Sea, referred to on the map as the Sea of Arabia, stretching from the western Gulf of Aden to central Eritrea. This region, one of the most important shipping lanes in the world, also includes parts of the modern-day nations of Yemen, Djibouti, and Somalia. The work was originally included in Karl Müller's "Geographi Graeci minores", along with many other maps of the region. - The map is highly detailed, showing many settlements, mountains, wadis, and more. Most interestingly, Müller provides Ptolemaic coordinates for some of these features, and the map credits Agatharchides, Arthemidorus, Pliny, and Ptolemy as its sources. Place names given range from Arabic to Greek. Seven inset maps are provided, including one showing the full Red Sea. The map also includes a view of the "Pic de Bab-El-Mandeb" (the "gate of tears"), a mountain which lies above the straits at the entrance to the Red Sea.‎

‎[Photos] - Middle Eastern Diplomacy.‎

‎A trove of more than 600 photographs. Kuwait City, Manama, Muscat, Beirut, Tunis, Khartoum, London, Seattle, Washington D.C., and other places, 1950s to early 2000s.‎

‎Ca. 620 original photographs (ca. 460 in black-and-white and ca. 160 in colour), 1 portrait reproduced from a painting, and 2 small portrait drawings. Various sizes (ca. 39 x 40 to 202 x 300 mm). Most photographs with handwritten Arabic captions in ballpoint on versos, some of which with official stamps, some with pasted mimeograph typescript captions in English. Stored in 11 display books. A handsome trove of photographs, apparently assembled by a Middle Eastern political scientist or journalist, illustrating the evolving history of various countries of the Arabian Peninsula and their political leaders during the second half of 20th century, with an emphasis on the Sheikhs of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, and Bahrain. - Some volumes focus on one or two politicians, with their portrait photographs and their various official appearances while welcoming foreign dignitaries, attending summits, military parades, celebrations, and competitions or award ceremonies. A large section of the archive shows King Fahd bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, including a photograph of him with his brother Turki Bin Abdul-Aziz (vol. 1), depicting him in London on the occasion of a lunch given by Margaret Thatcher, at a diplomatic meeting with Ronald Reagan, and at the "10th Arabian summit" in Tunis (vol. 6). Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz is seen meeting political leaders and ministers (among them Yasuhiro Nakasone and François Mitterrand, vol. 3), and the diplomat and Ambassador to the U.S. Prince Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud meeting Bill Clinton, then Gouverneur of Arkansas, and Vice President George Bush Sr. (Oval Office) for the AWACS plane contract (vol. 10). Another part is dedicated to the OPEC summits under Saudi oil minister Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani, meeting Bruno Kreisky in Vienna, as well as at venues in Algiers, Kuwait, Yugoslavia, Caracas, Geneva, Oslo, and other places (vol. 4). King Abdullah Bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud is given a splendid state visit in Britain, where he is welcomed by Prince Charles and shares a carriage with Queen Elisabeth (vol. 5). Other photos show Prince Mashour bin Saud bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, King Fahd's nephew, in London after being freed on bail for smuggling cocaine, and King Faisal during a stay in Khartoum (vol. 8). Another part of the collection shows Kuwaiti leader Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah receiving Yemeni representatives, as well as his successor Saad Al-Abdullah Al-Salim Al-Sabah and his predecessor Sabah III Al-Salim Al-Sabah (vols. 2, 5, 8). Furthermore, Bahrain's royal family is shown: Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa is depicted at a young age practising riding and falconry, and Sheikh Hamad Bin Isa Al Khlaifa (vols. 7, 10, 11) meeting Oman's royals, such as Sultan Qaboos bin Said, the Saudi minister Ghazi al-Gosaibi, and the Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi. Dubai's ruler Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum is depicted at the opening of "Asry dry dock", pouring holy water (vol. 11). - Two original photographs of well-known views of Mecca's Masjid al-Haram with the Kaaba from ca. 1885 and 1920 are added. The photographs are partly stamped and mostly annotated in Arabic (some in English and French), often with mounted labels on the versos for possible use by the press, some with small labels bearing Arabic captions. One photograph has a portion whited out for reproduction, a few photographs with studio imprint ("Zamani"), others with more detailed information, such as the name of the photographer ("Alain Nogue") or agency ("Sygma") on versos. - A wide-ranging, hitherto untapped archive which allows for various perspectives toward an analysis of international, global political diplomacy by Middle Eastern rulers and members of the Arab League, including numerous candid, personal images of the actors involved.‎

‎[RAF - Middle East Force].‎

‎Air Route books for pilots flying from Cairo to Karachi. Navigation Branch H.Q. 216 Group. No place, 1944.‎

‎Two 4to files of ca. 30 leaves each, including distress signal code tables, tips for forced landings, colour-printed route maps, radio beacon maps, emergency airfield maps (folded), and double-sided airfield leaves dedicated to single airfields along the designated route. Original printed wrappers. Perforated and handbound with cords. Two air route books for pilots of the Royal Air Force flying from Cairo to Karachi during World War II, "designed to help [them] to execute flights vital to our fronts in all theatres of war. The information which [they] contain is therefore also of use to the enemy, and must be safeguarded at all times" (p. 1). - The books are in fact useful guides to airports along the way, the plans depicting airfields in Egypt (Cairo West, Almaza, Payne, Heliopolis, Lydda and Luxor), as well as in Bahrein, Sharjah, Jiwani, Karachi, Wadi Halfa, Khartoum, Sheikh Othman, Khormaksar, Riyan and other places. For each airfield general information like coordinates, the length of the runways, the nature of ground signals, existing hangars, repair and fuel facilities, expectable weather conditions, distances to other places, radio aids, and local currency, as well as timetables of morning and evening twilight are given. The folding plans show emergency airfields in Egypt, Palestine and Syria, Iraq, Persia, and the Arabian Gulf area, as well as the routes between the Middle East and India. - Further, the booklets include instructions on what to do after a forced landing in unknown territory, advising to ration water and attract attention of rescue aircraft through a spread-out parachute or fires, including the order: "Don't drink the compass alcohol". - There is no standard collation for the books, as they were added to with monthly supplements. With the handwritten note "Compiled 21.2.45" as well as a signature to inner covers. The "from" and "to" fields on the title-pages (i.e., the front covers) are filled out by the same hand. - Covers show some small creases and edge tears; a few small ruststains, but on the whole well-preserved specimens from wartime Royal Air Force use.‎

‎Saadi.‎

‎Kulliyat-i Sa'di (Saadi's Collected Works). Lucknow & Cawnpore, 1869-1917.‎

‎Large 8vo (180 x 270 mm). 6 parts in one volume. 38, 12, 124, 134, 71, (1), 256 (instead of 258, lacking 253-254) pp. Each part with separate title-page. Lithographed Persian verse and prose, 19 lines of Urdu script to the page. Early 20th century green half cloth over red printed paper boards. Handwritten spine label. Indian-produced single volume set containing the works of Sheikh Saadi: the Qasids (elegies), the famous Gulestan (Rose Garden), Bustan (Orchard), Gjaualiat (lyrical poems), Mofradat, Rubayyat, etc. All pages divided into an inner and outer writing field. - Binding rubbed and a little wormed. Interior browned throughout, light worming and edge flaws to beginning and end; lacks a single leaf near the end of the volume. A few 20th century annotations in English and Persian.‎

‎Thomas, Bertram.‎

‎Arabia Felix. Across the "Empty Quarter" of Arabia. London, Jonathan Cape, 1932.‎

‎8vo. XXIX, (3), 397, (1) pp. With 3 maps (one a large folding map of the Empty Quarter at the end of the volume), 74 photo illustrations on plates, and 7 text illustrations. Publisher's brown cloth with title in gilt to spine. First edition, published simultaneously with the New York one. The preface was contributed by T. E. Lawrence. Among the many photograph illustrations is one of the earliest portraits of the Qatar royal family (facing p. 298). "In this book, Bertram Thomas relates some aspects of his journey in which he crossed the Rub' Al Khali (Empty Quarter) from Oman to Qatar, and provides geographical information about the peninsula of Qatar, especially the southern part. He also recorded his observations of the region stretching from the Gulf of Salwa to Al-Rayyan, where he met Sheikh Abdullah bin Jassim Al Thani, Emir of Qatar at the time (1930). The book includes photographs he took of Sheikh Abdullah, Mohamed bin Abdul-Latif bin Mani', and his brother Saleh bin Abdul-Latif bin Mani'. He gives some concise information about Al-Nuaija, Doha towers, and the castle" (Fikri). - Provenance: armorial bookplate of Arthur Garrard to front pastedown. Later in the collection of the Dutch traveller Ruud Verkerk. Macro 2185. M. H. Fikri, Qatar in the Heart and in History (2011), p. 46f. (illustrated).‎

‎[Algerian piracy].‎

‎Breve relacion de la refriega que la Capitana Real de Espana con otras quatro galeras de su guarda, ha tenido con una nao grande de cossarios de Argel [...]. (Barcelona, Estevan Liberos, 1621).‎

‎4to. (4) pp. With 2 woodcut vignettes. Sewn. Extremely scarce pamphlet on a naval battle in the Mediterranean near Cabo de Gata (Andalusia). It describes the destruction of a ship of corsairs from Algiers by the Spanish vessel "San Pedro" on 7 January 1621, killing 70 men. The victory proved important for the Spaniards, as the surviving corsairs provided them with useful intelligence, including information regarding the deployment of 30 Algerian vessels in the area, all seeking to rob other ships. However, the Ottomans were ignorant of any Royal Navy galleys which the Spanish suspected in the area, rather presuming them near Mallorca or Sardinia. - Large Jesuit woodcut vignette to the otherwise blank final page. Somewhat browned. Near-contemporary foliation in ink (205-206), suggesting the work was originally part of a larger volume. No copies traceable in libraries worldwide. Not in OCLC.‎

‎[Arabian Nights]. Burton, Richard Francis.‎

‎A Plain and Literal Translation of the Arabian Nights' Entertainments, Now Entituled the Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night. (Including: Supplemental Nights). [Boston?], The Burton Club, [ca. 1904].‎

‎Royal 8vo (24 x 16 cm). 14 (instead of 17) vols. With frontispieces and numerous illustrations (vol. 8 lacking one image). Contemporary richly gilt full cloth. Top edges gilt. - (2) The same. The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night. A Plain and Literal Translation of the Arabian Nights Entertainments. Vol. IV. (Including: Supplemental nights, vol. VI). (Colophons: USA), ibid., [ca. 1940]. Contemporary richly gilt and silvered full cloth. Top edges red. The first Burton Club edition of Richard Burton's celebrated translation of Alf Laylah wa-Laylah, commonly known in English as the Arabian Nights. These Arabic tales, cherished in Europe since the early 18th century, are often erotic in content, and in Burton's unexpurgated translation they outraged Victorian England. Burton included numerous footnotes and a scholarly apparatus, offering a vivid picture of Arabian life, which set his translation apart from earlier English renderings. Bold to a fault, Richard Burton travelled to Mecca, explored the African Great Lakes, shocked his readers with his candid travel accounts, and gained fame and riches with his translation of the Arabian Nights. The first edition was published in 1885-88 and re-issued by the Burton Club shortly thereafter. - The present set lacks volume 4 of the "Nights", as well as volumes 4 and 7 of the "Supplemental Nights". The volumes numbered "IV" and "V" of the "Supplemental Nights" are in fact volumes 5 and 6. In lieu of the missing tomes the collection includes volume 4 of the "Arabian Nights" and volume 6 of the "Supplemental Nights" from a later 16-volume Burton Club edition, which Ross dates ca. 1940. This later date is supported by the fact that this edition is not included in Penzer's thorough bibliography published in 1923. - Spines slightly faded; extremities lightly worn. A fine set, uncut and partly unopened. Penzer 131. (2) Scheherazade's Web: The 1001 Nights & Comparative Literature, J. Ross 10 & 11.‎

‎Committee on Foreign Affairs.‎

‎The Persian Gulf, 1975: the continuing debate on arms sales. Hearings before the special subcommittee on investigations of the committee on international relations, house of representatives, ninety-fourth congress, first Session. June 10, 18, 24 and July 29, 1975. Washington, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1976.‎

‎8vo. VI, 261 pp. Original printed paper wrappers. Document printed by the government of the United States of America, concerning "the escalating level of arms sales to Gulf states" (p. V). Included are statements of witnesses, memorandums, tables and other important documents concerning the (illegal) arms trade. Occasionally a marginal annotation in red ink. Otherwise in very good condition.‎

‎[Conquest of Oran].‎

‎Nova relaçam da famoza, e admiravel batalha, que tiverao os castelhanos com os mouros, em que triunfarao delles na praça de Orao [...]. Lisbon, Pedro Ferreira, 1754.‎

‎4to. 8 pp. With woodcut title vignette. Printed sheet folded into a pamphlet, unsewn and unbound. Rare Portuguese account of one of several unsuccessful 18th century attempts by Muslim forces to recapture Oran. This operation took place in March of 1754, more than two decades after the Spanish conquest of the city in 1732. Oran was repeatedly attacked by Algerian and Ottoman forces, but remained under Spanish rule until 1792. - Uncut and untrimmed. BGUC Misc. 24, 459. OCLC 27754498.‎

‎Coon, Carleton S[tevens].‎

‎Measuring Ethiopia and Flight into Arabia. Boston, Little, Brown, and Company, 1935.‎

‎8vo. IX, (5), 333, (1) pp. With 8 plates. Yellow cloth with title information in blue on front cover and spine, with a dust jacket designed by Paul Wenck, map of Ethiopia and Arabia on the endpapers. First edition of Coon's account of his experiences in Ethiopia and Arabia. From 1933 to 1934 Coon travelled through Ethiopia to conduct physical anthropological research, but after conflicts with the authorities he had to escape to Arabia. He states in his foreword that the purpose of the present work is a memoir, since it was not meant to "impress the public with our scientific findings, for, interesting as these results may or may not be, they are reserved for more formal publication", but simply to tell what he and two others did during the expedition. C. S. Coon (1904-81) was an American anthropologist and professor of anthropology at Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania. He spoke ten languages and made notable contributions to the fields of cultural and physical anthropology and archaeology. He was the author of multiple works, including highly controversial works on race, such as "The Origin of Races" (1962), which were widely disputed during his lifetime and are considered pseudoscientific by modern anthropology. - Dust jacket somewhat damaged, covered with clear protective plastic, edges foxed. Otherwise in very good condition. Macro 747. Shapero, The Islamic World (2003), 178. Sotheby's, Burrell sale, lot 889.‎

‎[Hogarth, David George (ed.).].‎

‎A Handbook of Arabia. Volume I: General. Volume II: Routes. London, H. M. Stationery Office (Frederick Hall, Oxford) and (vol. 2) Admiralty War Staff, Intelligence Division, [1916]-May 1917.‎

‎8vo. (3)-708, (2) pp., XV pp. of plates. With four folding maps within pouch inside lower cover. 519, (3) pp., IX pp. of plates. Lacks the map, but with a different, supernumerary map within pouch inside lower cover. Modern (vol. 1) and original (vol. 2) blue cloth with giltstamped cover and spine titles (vol. 2 with closing fore-edge flap). Only edition of this rare, secret Naval Intelligence Handbook, compiled by D. G. Hogarth, Keeper of Antiquities at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (and close friend of T. E. Lawrence) for the British Admiralty's new Naval Intelligence Division, intended for the exclusive use of British officers operating on the Arabian Peninsula during the Great War. Although the information contained was classified as confidential, it could "in certain cases be communicated to persons in H.M. Service below the rank of commissioned officer", though officers exercising this power were warned to impart such data only with "due caution and reserve". As the introductory "Note" informs the reader, "The sources from which this work has been compiled include native information obtained since the outbreak of the war [...] Separate chapters are devoted to each of the great districts of Arabia [...] After the area of the territory under review has been defined, its physical character is described unter the subsections of Relief and Climate. Then follow social and political surveys of the district, the former usually arranged under the sub-headings of Population, Life and Appliances, Products and Trade, Currency, and Weights and Measurements, the latter describing the system of Government, Recent History, and Present Politics. The last section of such a chapter is purely geographical and is devoted to the Districts of the territory [...] In a composite chapter, such as that on the Gulf Coast, dealing with several independent territories, the same general arrangement, when practicable, has been followed for each area [...] The plates at the end of each volume have been chosen to illustrate the varieties of country which are characteristic of Arabia". The second volume is devoted "mainly to detailed routes, preceded by two chapters on methods of transport and lines of communication [...] Chapters have been incorporated on Meteorological Observations, Hygiene and Disease, and Vocabularies". All four maps of the first volume (Districts and Town; Orographical Features; Land Surface Features; Tribal Map) are present as called for; the "Key Map of Routes" in the second volume has been replaced by an orographical map of Palestine and Trans-Jordan (1933). While the first volume (I. D. 1128) has been rebound to style (lacking the half-title noting the confidential character of all information contained), the second volume (C. B. 405) is preserved in its original binding as issued, bearing also the copy number "Copy 117" in gilt on the upper cover. A Note of Confidentiality calls attention to "the penalties attaching to any infraction of the Offical Secrets Act". Stamps on flyleaf and pastedown trace its provenance to the Royal Central Asian Society, founded in 1901, and the book remained on the shelf of that Society's secretary when it was renamed the "Royal Society for Asian Affairs" in 1975. This ownership is cancelled in ballpoint, with a note "Sold to Mr. M. Graham" (i.e., Murray Graham, British collector and exploration agent in Arabia, d. 2008). Acquired from UK trade. OCLC 29922535, 775016994. Not in Macro.‎

‎Lamm, Carl Johan / Geijer, Agnes.‎

‎Orientalische Briefumschläge in schwedischem Besitz. Stockholm, Wahlström & Widstrand, 1944.‎

‎4to. 47, (3) pp., final blank leaf. With 11 plates with black and white photographic illustrations on recto and verso, as well as 2 plates with 2 mounted colour illustrations on recto. Contemporary green half calf over marbled boards with giltstamped title to spine. Original printed wrappers bound within. The first art-historical examination ever published of the 17th century oriental (Turkish, Persian and Crimean Tatar) cloth envelopes kept at the Swedish Reichsarchiv. This work discusses the use of the textile envelopes as well as their production, fashioning, material and patterns. The personal copy of Carl Johan Lamm with pencil inscription to pastedown: "From the library of C. J. Lamm". - Carl Johan Lamm studied archaeology at the University of Stockholm. He wrote about the glass excavated at Samarra in 1928 and became a leading scholar on Islamic arts and crafts, notably in glass and carpets. He was on the staff of the Stockholm Museum and taught at Uppsala University. - Agnes Geijer was a Swedish textile historian and archaeologist. She received a doctoral degree from Uppsala University in 1938 and started working at the Swedish History Museum in 1941, where she was active from 1947 as a textile conservator. - Unobtrusive scratch to lower board, otherwise in excellent condition. Yuan 2172. OCLC 871325817.‎

‎Marcandier, M.‎

‎Traité du Chanvre. Paris, Nyon, 1758.‎

‎Small 8vo. (4), VII, (1), 138, (2) pp. Modern half calf with giltstamped red spine label, light cloth covers. All edges red. Rare first edition of one of the earliest treatises devoted exclusively to cannabis, extolling its virtues as a medicine, industrial fibre, seed oil, soap, animal feed, and so on. Marcandier in particular recommends the cultivation of the plant in the "Nord d'Amerique" (p. 46), and indeed the Traité du Chanvre was read by perhaps that region's most famous hemp enthusiast, George Washington - whose library contained a copy of the English translation printed in 1764, cataloged as Wa/549. - Marcandier begins with a scholarly account of the herb as it was known to the Romans (quoting Dioscorides, Pliny, and Herodotus), presenting intriguing theories of the etymology of the term cannabis: from the Celtic canab; the Greek kanna; the Hebrew kanneh; the Latin canna; etc. Although he is most concerned with its cultivation and medical applications, in his surveys of cannabis in non-European cultures we find descriptions of what can be termed 'recreational use': for example, "the Hottentots use a plant, named Dakha, instead of tobacco, or at least mix them together, when their provision of the latter is almost exhausted. They say that it is a kind of wild hemp" (pp. 19f.), while the 'flour' (farine) of the plant mixed into a drink "renders those who use it drunk, stupid, dazed; they say that the Arabs make of it a type of wine, which intoxicates" (p. 37). - Evidently drawing on personal experience, Marcandier describes the female flower as a "tender, sweet, and oily, white kernel, of a strong smell, that intoxicates when it is fresh" (p. 28) and even gives lengthy advice on how to inspect and purchase good-quality hemp (p. 76) and how to dry the plant properly, to avoid 'black spots' i.e. mold from forming (p. 54). - Cannabis is also recommended for myriad medicinal uses: "The grain and the leaves being squeezed, while they are green, and applied, by way of cataplasm, to painful tumors, are reckoned to have a great power of relaxing and stupefying ... The root of it boiled in water, and applied in the form of a cataplasm, softens and restores the joints of fingers or toes that are dried and shrunk. It is very good against the gout, and other humours that fall upon the nervous, muscular, and tendinous parts. It abates inflammations, dissolves tumours, and hard swellings upon the joints. Beat and pounded in a mortar, with butter, when it is still fresh, it is applied to burns, which it relieves greatly when it is often renewed" (pp. 38, 40f.). Marcandier also finds it useful as a spermicide (p. 35) and against gonorrhea, jaundice, smallpox, and 'vermin of the ear'. - A few contemporary ink annotations throughout. Provenance: from the library of the noted French botanist Philippe de Vilmorin (1872-1917) with his bookplate and separate shelfmark label ("a progenie in progenies") to pastedown. An excellent copy. Very rare: OCLC records 8 copies in US institutions (Chicago, Princeton, Lloyd Museum (OH), American Philosophical Society, Carnegie Mellon (Hunt Institute), Harvard, Minnesota, and the JCB). Not in Kress. Cf. Clarke & Merlin, Cannabis: Evolution and Ethnobotany (University of California Press, 2013), p. 202; and Gibson, "Bibliotheca Cannabinacea", in: Journal of Industrial Hemp 13 (2008), pp. 176-188.‎

‎Philby, Harry St John Bridger.‎

‎Arabian Days. An Autobiography. London, Robert Hale Ltd., 1948.‎

‎8vo. XVI, 336 pp. With a portrait of the author as a frontispiece and 24 double-sided plates. Blue cloth. First edition, second impression. The autobiography of the noted British Arabist, explorer, writer, officer and adviser to Ibn Saud, Harry St John Bridger Philby (1885-1960). In the preface Philby states that he mainly describes the essential and most notable features and events of his public life. He began writing this work in 1934, but the next decade was filled with activity and adventure, both in Britain and abroad, which kept him from writing and publishing the work until after the Second World War. During this time, he was asked by King Ibn Sa'ud of Saudi Arabia to map the border between his newly formed kingdom and the Yemen. This gave Philby the opportunity to explore Southern Arabia, where he also made archaeological discoveries. - Philby undertook his first journey to Arabia in 1917 in order to complete a mission to Ibn Sa'ud; once there he formed a lifelong acquaintanceship with the future king of Saudi Arabia. In 1930 Philby officially converted to Islam. - The present copy is the second impression of the first edition which were published mere months apart in the same year. Philby's descriptions of his many experiences in Britain, India and the Middle East are accompanied by numerous images of him, his family, King Ibn Sa'ud, government officials, and buildings and landscapes he encountered. - Binding shows very slight signs of wear, small inscription in blue ink to the verso of the first flyleaf, very slight browning throughout. Howgego IV, P 31. Macro 1776. Shapero, The Islamic World (2003), 394. Sotheby's, Burrell sale, lot 623.‎

‎Philby, Harry St John Bridger.‎

‎Halévy in the Yaman (The Geographical Journal Vol. 102, no. 3). [London, The Royal Geographical Society], September 1943.‎

‎8vo. 115-124 pp. Contemporary blue cloth with giltstamped title to upper cover: "Philby - Yaman". First edition. A brief investigation of Joseph Halévy's journey through the Jawf region of Yemen, comparing the account given by Hayyim Habshush, recently published, with Halévy's own. - St John Philby (1885-1960), also known by his Arabian name "Sheikh Abdullah", was an Arabist, explorer, writer, and British colonial office intelligence officer. Educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, he studied oriental languages and was a friend and classmate of Jawaharlal Nehru, later prime Minister of India. Philby settled in Jeddah and became famous as an international writer and explorer. He personally mapped on camelback what is now the Saudi-Yemeni border on the Rub' al Khali; in 1932, while searching for the lost city of Ubar, he was the first Westerner to visit and describe the Wabar craters. At this time, Philby also became Ibn Saud's chief adviser in dealing with the British Empire and Western powers. He converted to Islam in 1930. The personal contacts between the United States and Saudi Arabia were largely channeled through the person of Philby. - Very slight browning, a few minor stains to the first page. Macro 1782. Smith, The Yemens, 84.‎

‎Philby, Harry St John Bridger.‎

‎The Land of Sheba (The Geographical Journal Vol. 92, no. 1). [London, The Royal Geographical Society], July 1938.‎

‎8vo. 21, (1), 107-132 pp. With 1 large folding, coloured map, 1 smaller, uncoloured folding map, and numerous photographs on 7 plates. Later half cloth over marbled paper boards with giltstamped title to spine. First edition. Important account of travels in southern Arabia performed in 1936, particularly in the Hadhramaut, by the Arabist, explorer, writer, and British colonial office intelligence officer St. John Philby (1885-1960), also known by his Arabian name "Sheikh Abdullah". It describes the longest of Philby's journeys, ostensibly to map the new frontier with Yemen, containing excellent photographs taken for the first time in that area by a European. Until the 1930s the highlands of the south-western corner of Arabia were among the world's few remaining lands not fully explored or charted. - Educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, Philby studied oriental languages and was a friend and classmate of Jawaharlal Nehru, later prime Minister of India. Philby settled in Jeddah and became famous as an international writer and explorer. He personally mapped on camelback what is now the Saudi-Yemeni border on the Rub' al Khali; in 1932, while searching for the lost city of Ubar, he was the first Westerner to visit and describe the Wabar craters. At this time, Philby also became Ibn Saud's chief adviser in dealing with the British Empire and Western powers. He converted to Islam in 1930. The personal contacts between the United States and Saudi Arabia were largely channeled through the person of Philby. - Clear tape on the first page, covering part of the title of the journal without affecting the page or legibility of the text; very slight foxing on the large coloured map (mainly on the back). In very good condition. Macro 1788.‎

‎[Red Sea - Hunter, Frederick Fraser].‎

‎Arabia and the Persian Gulf. N.W. Section, S.W. Section. [Map of Arabia and the Persian Gulf with additions and corrections to 1916]. Dehra Dun, Survey of India Offices, published under the direction of Colonel Sir S. G. Burrard, Surveyor General of India, 1916.‎

‎Large folding heliozincographed colour map, 2 (of 4) sheets, each measuring 940 x 700 mm (lacking the eastern sections). Both sections with original printed covers. Two sections of Hunter's large and extremely detailed map of the Arabian Peninsula and Gulf, showing the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia with the 'Asir, Hejaz and Nejd regions, as well as most of Yemen, with Kuwait and Southern Iraq. The two eastern sections, which covered Oman, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and part of eastern Saudi Arabia, are not present. - The Canadian-born Hunter later became a major figure in British India's Intelligence Service. He initially compiled the map between 1905 and 1908, to accompany J. G. Lorimer's "Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf". As the author recalls in his 1919 "Reminiscences", "a great deal of the information on the map was from sources considered secret at the time" (p. 357). Special surveys of the country's interior areas were carried out to achieve a hitherto unprecedented degree of accuracy: "The map was a distinct advance on anything which existed, as in 1908 no general map of Arabia on such a large scale existed" (p. 360). The "Hunter" map was used (and praised) by St John Philby during his journey across Arabia. - Such was the detail of Hunter's map that the Survey of India reissued it, with corrections, several times during the First World War and interwar period. As the maps were issued in parts and used on active service it is not unusual for sections to be missing. Many of the surviving copies show signs of official use; this issue bears a flight route, sketched out in red ink, along the southern Gulf coast to Baghdad. - Some light browning, several small tears to folds, otherwise very good. - Scarce. OCLC locates complete copies at the Library of Congress, University of Wisconsin, National Library of Israel and the BNF. Cf. Macro 1228.‎

‎Stark, Freya.‎

‎Beyond Euphrates. Autobiography 1928-1933. London, John Murray, 1951.‎

‎8vo. XIII, (3), 341, (1 blank) pp. With a double-page map on green paper, 40 double-sided plates, a green ornament on the title-page and some decorations in the text. Green cloth with gold lettering on front cover and spine. With dust jacket designed by F. Quilter. First edition of the second part of Freya Stark's autobiography, detailing her first extensive travels through the Middle East. Stark (1893-1993) was one of the first European travellers in certain parts of the Middle East, for example Southern Arabia. Apart from a four-volume autobiography, she has 21 other works to her name. Her autobiography and other works are illustrated with images of her own photographs she took of family and of the landscape and peoples during her travels. Her writing style was unusual for her time, since she wrote multifaceted works in a highly personal style, not only about her own life and travels but also about the geography, history, politics, and anthropology of the places she visited. In the present work Stark describes her experiences during the years 1928-1933. - Dust jacket is very slightly damaged with a small tear at the foot of the spine, restored with tape, edges are untrimmed, very slight browning throughout. Overall in very good condition. Bergé, Vente Collection Lazard L'Orient et la Terre Sainte (2008), 404. Blackmer 1470. Howgego IV, S 61. Shapero, The Islamic World (2003), 457. Cf. Canton, From Cairo to Baghdad British travellers in Arabia, pp. 118-121; cf. article "Freya Stark" in Encyclopaedia Britannica.‎

‎Stark, Freya.‎

‎East is West. London, John Murray, 1945.‎

‎8vo. XXII, 218 pp. Red and black title-page with a small illustration of two people. With a frontispiece, a map of the Middle East on green paper, titled: "East is West by Freya Stark", and 32 double-sided plates. Blue/green cloth. With dust jacket. First edition, detailing the author's experiences in the Middle East during the Second World War. Stark (1893-1993) spent the duration of WWII travelling from Egypt to Iraq and from Syria to Southern Arabia. She had offered her services to the British Ministry of Information and was sent to the Middle East to persuade government officials, among others, to join, or keep on supporting, the Allied cause. - The book was written "with the freedom of the independent and adventurous traveller but also with the authority of an official of the Diplomatic Corps" (dust jacket blurb). Stark's writings are accompanied by many images of her own photographs, taken during her travels, showing the landscapes and peoples she encountered. - Dust jacket slightly soiled, binding shows some minor signs of wear, slight browning throughout. Overall in good condition. Howgego IV, S 61. Macro 2111. Shapero, The Islamic World (2003), 460. Smith, The Yemens, 95. Cf. article "Freya Stark" in Encyclopaedia Britannica.‎

‎Stark, Freya.‎

‎The Coast of Incense. Autobiography 1933-1939. London, John Murray, 1953.‎

‎8vo. XIII, (3), 286, (2) pp. With 1 map of the Hadhramaut printed on green paper, 20 double-sided plates, 3 illustrations in the text on pp. 76, 77 and 85, a few small tail pieces throughout, and a green ornament on the title-page. Green cloth with gold lettering on spine. Third part of Freya Stark's (1893-1993) autobiography, in which she describes her life and especially the travels she undertook between 1933 and 1939. During this time, her first four works were published, starting with "The Valley of the Assassins" in 1934. The present account focuses mostly on Stark's travels in South Arabia and is illustrated with images of photographs she took herself. It is a very personal account of her life and travel experiences, alongside significant historical, political, geographical and anthropological information about the places she visited. This writing style was quite unique and unusual for her time, but since she was one of the first European travellers in parts of Southern Arabia, "unique and unusual" were, in a positive way, accurate descriptors. - Edge at the head of the book is green and the edge at the foot is untrimmed. Small marking in blue ink on p. 79, lacking dust jacket, otherwise in very good condition. Blackmer 1470. Howgego IV, S 61. Shapero, The Islamic World (2003), 458. Cf. article "Freya Stark" in Encyclopaedia Britannica.‎

‎[Tangier].‎

‎Curiosa, e verdadeira noticia da famosa acçao, e inclyta victoria, que o famigerado espanhol, tenente General D. Diogo Maria Ozorio, Governador de Praça de Ceuta, alcançou contra os mouros no porto de Tangere [...]. Lisbon, Ignacio Nogueira Xisto, 1764.‎

‎4to. 8 pp. With 2 woodcut vignettes. Sewn. First Portuguese edition. Exceedingly rare account of an attack on an Ottoman corn vessel by Spanish forces in the port of Tangier in Morocco. Essentially an encomium of Domingo Pignatelli and the 42 men who approached the Ottoman ship under heavy fire. Simultaneously published in Spanish in the Gaceta de Madrid. - Near-contemporary foliation in ink (77-80), suggesting the work was originally part of a larger volume. Slightly browned. BGUC Misc. 24, 488. Palau 66444. Not in OCLC.‎

‎[Arabian Peninsula - Near and Middle East].‎

‎Blizhnij i srednij vostok. Moscow, [Main Directorate of Geodesy and Cartography under the Council of Ministers of the USSR], 1972.‎

‎88 x 100 cm. Original colour-printed map. Scale 1:6,000,000. Rare political map of the Middle East from the Cold War era, centred on the Arabian Peninsula and the Gulf region, but also comprising Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia, as well as Greece, Turkey and the Levant, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. With Cyrillic titles and captions. - Small marginal flaws.‎

‎Boustead, Hugh.‎

‎The Wind of Morning. The Autobiography of Colonel Sir Hugh Boustead. London, Chatto & Windus, 1974.‎

‎Large 8vo. 240 pp. With 8 double-sided plates with multiple images and 4 maps. Orange cloth with title information in gold on spine. With dust jacket, designed by John Woodcock, with a photo of a caravan of people on camels on front cover and one of H. Boustead on a horse on the back, title information in purple on front cover and on spine of dust jacket. The autobiography of Colonel Sir (John Edmond) Hugh Boustead (1895-1980), Britain's political agent in Abu Dhabi during the early 1960s. - A British military officer and diplomat, Boustead served in numerous posts across several Middle Eastern Countries, including Ethiopia, Sudan, Aden, and the Hadhramaut in Southern Arabia. For his remarkable military career, he received a knighthood, multiple military crosses and other honours. Boustead started as a midshipman with the Royal Navy before switching to the British Army to fight in France during the First World War and later in Turkey, the Mediterranean, and even in Sudan with the Camel Corps. His work in the Middle East was geared towards generally improving the living conditions of the local people, by helping to establish peace between tribes, improving agriculture, building schools and hospitals, and training Sudanese and Arab administrators. Boustead also took part in the 1920 Olympics and went mountaineering in the Alps and even the Himalayas. He ended his career as the political agent (ambassador) to Abu Dhabi from 1962 until his retirement in 1965. The present work was written during the first few years of his retirement and was first published in 1971, the year in which the United Arab Emirates achieved independence. The present copy is one of the third impression. - Slight foxing throughout (including on the dust jacket, not on the outside of the covers), a few brownstains on pp. 56-57 and 59, mostly in the margins and not affecting the legibility of the text. Overall in fine condition. OCLC 255358654.‎