A Handbook of Arabia. Volume I General.

[HOGARTH (David George), editor.] & ADMIRALTY WAR STAFF, INTELLIGENCE DIVISION.

Edité par [1920]., 1920

A propos de cet article

Second edition. 15 photographic plates and 4 folding maps in end pocket. Original navy blue cloth, spine lettered in gilt; spine sunned, a few small professional repairs to joints, hinges reinforced, dent to rear board, otherwise near very good. Stamp of the Bibliothèque Institut Missionnaire de l'Assomption (Ecully) to title-page. Ms. date of 1920 also added to title-page. 708pp. [London], His Majesty's Stationery Office, A rare handbook on the Arabian Peninsula, prepared by the Admiralty during the First World War. Compiled by the Naval Staff Intelligence Department it includes an impressive range of information gathered from the reports of Western explorers and indigenous informants. Very few English-language publications, of an official or non-official status, contained detailed up-to-date information on the Arabia and the Gulf, so the sections on Nejd, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and the UAE (then called Trucial Oman) are of great interest. Though not stated, this is the second edition of the handbook. The first edition was issued in 1916-17 in two volumes: 'Vol. I General' (May 1916) and 'Vol. II Routes' (May 1917). As an official publication, it was intended for an exclusive readership of British officers, with the title-page stating ?For Official Use only. Attention is called to the penalties attaching to any infraction of the Official Secrets Act.? This edition does not have that stipulation and was published by H.M.S.O. instead of the Admiralty, suggesting it is the public issue of the handbook. The title-page is undated but there is a date of 1920 in gilt at the foot of the spine, indicating it was published after WWI. Volume II was not reissued, making this a complete example of the second edition.  The remarkable fullness of the handbook reflects the depth of British interest in Arabia before and during the war, drawing on the accounts of explorers, scholars, soldiers and political officers, such as Captain W.H.I. Shakespear and Lt.-Col. S.B. Miles. Although the Peninsula was not directly involved in the main campaigns of the Middle Eastern Theatre of WWI, it was the locus of the Arab Revolt, in which Hashemite-led Arab forces took up arms against the Ottoman presence in the Hejaz. It is likely that copies of the handbook were issued to officers serving across the Middle East, for wartime use and then retained by those individuals and entities (political residencies, embassies, colonial libraries etc.) that persisted in the region.  In addition to covering the Hejaz and other active sites of conflict, it contains uncommon information on Qatar and Trucial Oman (modern-day United Arab Emirates). The section on Qatar, which is unusually thorough for the time, relies on ?fairly comprehensive native accounts? (p.326) and provides good accounts of Doha, which was under Ottoman occupation, and Al Wakrah. The same is true of the Trucial Oman section, which gives an overview (climate, population, trade etc.) and individual descriptions of Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman and Umm Al Quwain. Several passages record recent changes, such as Dubai?s increasing significance as ?a port of call for steamers, which lie outside the creek; the place has largely supplanted Lingeh in Persia as the chief distributing centre of foreign goods to the interior, especially to the Bireimi oasis.? (p.340). The text is complemented by four folding maps ? ?Districts and Towns?, ?Orthographical Features?, ?Land Surface Features? and ?Tribal Map of Arabia?  ? all of which were specially designed for the publication. There are also photographic plates at the end of the volume, showing architectural and geographical features in, inter alia, Tabuk, Riyadh and Diriyah. Not in Macro. .

N° de réf. du vendeur 260027

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: A Handbook of Arabia. Volume I General.
• Éditeur: [1920].
• Date de parution: 1920
• Reliure: Couverture rigide
• Édition: Edition originale