NAVAL STAFF INTELLIGENCE DEPARTMENT. A Handbook of Abyssinia. Volume I.

NAVAL STAFF INTELLIGENCE DEPARTMENT. A Handbook of Abyssinia. Volume I. No place or printer. June 1917.

8vo. Original blue cloth with fold-over flap and press stud for closing, lettered in gilt, this being Copy 414; pp. 551, three sketch maps; flap with one marginal fold, inside of flap a little foxed, otherwise very clean, stamp Sold by H. M. Stationery Office at head of title-page.

Scarce first edition of this top-secret handbook, a treasure trove of well-researched information on all aspects of the country, compiled by the anonymous spy-masters of the British Empire (probably with information provided by Meinertzhagen, among others). This book contains a very detailed and comprehensive survey of all that was known at the time about the topography, peoples, administration, military forces, colonial influences, customs, climate, religions, railways, transport, agriculture, natural resources, and industry of Abyssinia in 1917. Among the appendices is a useful bibliography, rating books for good cartographic material and 'first-rate importance'. This is followed by an assessment of the strength, armament and tactics of the Abyssinian Imperial Army, partly based on observations made during the civil war of October 1916. At the end of the volume is an over 170-pages long introduction to the local languages with parallel vocabularies and phrases in in English, Amharic, Tigrinya, Galla and Somali. In 1922 appeared a second volume which is even rarer.

SKU: 2124899