PHILBY, H. St. J.B. A Pilgrim in Arabia. The Golden Cockerel Press, [March, 1943].
4to. Original quarter Niger morocco over cream cloth by Sangorski & Sutcliffe, raised bands to spine, lettered in gilt to 2 compartments, top edge gilt, others uncut; pp. 191, [1, colophon]; portrait frontispiece of the author (in pagination), light fading to spine, as often, lower board with one tiny indentation near the centre, light discoloration to small portions of endpapers due to offsetting of the leather spine, as usual, else a fine copy.
First edition, number 231 of a total printrun of 350. After an early career in the Indian civil service and the Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force in 1915-17, Philby went on to pursue his fascination with the Arab world. His exploration of Arabia - he was the first Englishman to make an east-west traverse of the region - and his knowledge of its politics - he became an unofficial counsellor to Abdul Aziz ibn Saud and in 1930 embraced the Moslem faith - resulted in several works. Philby was also father of Harold (Kim) Philby, the spy. A Pilgrim in Arabia offers first hand accounts of the Pilgrimage to Mecca, of the cities of Madina and Riyadh, and of a journey through Persia.
'It must be clear to collectors that our first endeavour as printers is to match our typography to the text we have to print. For plain, straightforward narrative we plan a plain, straightforward book. The material - type, ink, paper, leather and boards - are of the best, and the arrangeemnt of the type is the subject of great care' state the bibliographers.
Bibliography of the Golden Cockerel Press 154.
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