A Handbook of Arabia. Volume I General.

£3,750 · Offered by Maggs Bros Ltd · No longer available

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 offic

• Year: 1920

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