(Asia, Travel, History), a collection of thirty eight titles...

Hammer

£360

(Asia, Travel, History), a collection of thirty eight titles relating to Arabia, the Middle East, Central Asia, the Silk Road, China, including Bertram Thomas: 'Arabia Felix: Across the Empty Quarter of Arabia', foreword by T.E. Lawrence, London, Jonathan Cape, February 1932, 2nd impression, large folding coloured map of Southern Arabian Desert, + 2 maps and numerous plates, many from photographs, as called for, original cloth gilt, dust wrapper (15s price intact). English diplomat and explorer Bertram Thomas undertook a number of expeditions into the Arabian desert and became the first European to cross the Rub' al Khali from 1930 and 1931, a journey he recounted in Arabia Felix with detailed descriptions of the animals, inhabitants, and culture; Eric Newby: 'A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush', L, Secker & Warburg, 1958, 1st edition, 1st impression, frontis + 40 illustrations from photographs as called for, original cloth lettered in silver (VGC), dust wrapper (slightly worn/small part loss at top edge, else 25s price intact, generally VGC). A generally very good first edition example of Newby's most celebrated and sought after famous travel book; Freya Stark: 'The Southern Gates of Arabia: A Journey in the Hadhramaut', London, John Murray, 1936, 1st edition, 1st impression, 2 folding maps plus numerous illustrations from photographs by the author as called for, original cloth gilt. The author's first book to recount her remarkable journey into the Hadhramaut, into which no previous European had ever ventured so far. She would receive the Royal Geographical Society's Founder's Gold Medal in 1942 for her travels in, and accounts of, southern Arabia; Esther Fihl: 'Exploring Central Asia: From the Steppes to the High Pamirs 1896-1899', Seattle WA, University of Washington Press, 2010, 2 volumes, profusely illustrated with photographic and other illustrations throughout, large 4to, original pictorial boards; John Hedley: 'Tramps in Dark Mongolia', L, T. Fisher Unwin, 1910, 1st edition, large folding map at end + 50 illustrations from photographs as called for, original pictorial cloth gilt; Sven Hedin: 'Jehol City of Emperors', L, Kegan Paul, 1932, 1st edition, frontis + 62 illustrations from photos + 4 line ills./maps as called for, orig. cloth gilt; Frederic Villiers: 'Port Arthur: Three Months with the Besiegers', L, Longmans, 1905, 1st edition, maps and ills. as called for, original cloth gilt; Gorm Pedersen: 'Afghan Nomads in Transition, a Century of change among the Zala Khan Khel', Copenhagen, 1994, profusely illustrated from photographs in colour and black & white, 4to, original cloth, dust wrapper; plus Sykes 'Persia and Its People', 1910, Morden 'Across Asia's Snow and Deserts', 1928, Galwan 'Servant of Sahibs', 1924, Forbes 'The Afghan Wars 1839-42 and 1878-80', 1892, Wendell Phillips 'Unknown Oman' and 'Oman a History', 1st editions in wrappers, 'The Country of the Turcomans', 1977, plus others Opium Wars, Great Game, Silk Road, Syrian Desert, Ondaatje 'Sindh Revisited a Journey in the Footsteps of Captain Sir Richard Burton', etc etc (38)