The Persian Gulf and South Sea Isles.

£2,500 · Offered by Shapero Rare Books

free diving for Bahraini pearls - presentation copy Early description of Muscat and Bahrain as visited in 1901. Inscription reads: 'E.C.B. Boehm / Compliments for / pleasant days sport / at Mildenhall / Oct 18'. Boehm travelled from Karachi to Baghdad, alongside a civil servant from the embassy at Constantinople, to try a British subject. Along the way he travelled up the Arabian Gulf and visited 'the small fortified village of Muscat', accompanied by an early photograph and recounting a history of the Bedouin attacks on the city, as well as Bahrain, describing the pearl fishing industry and the free diving of the pearl divers. He also stopped off at Bandar Abbas, Bushehr, Basra, and travelled up the Euphrates, as well as describing Baghdad and the already declining pure Arab horse breed, recounting how most purebreeds were kept in Nejd to protect from crossbreeding. The South Seas section of the book contains encounters with cannibals in Fiji, including a couple of gruesome photographs. First edition; 8vo (22 x 15 cm); presentation inscription to front free endpaper, 14 photographic plates, original lilac cloth gilt, a fine copy; xvi, 104, [ii], 105-180 pp.

• Binding: Hardcover

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