ARABIA CATALOGUE

Arabian Publishing Ltd

4 B LOOMSBURY PLACE , L ONDON WC1A 2QA TEL . 020 7580 8456 • E MAIL : [email protected] Arabian Publishing Ltd The Principles of 4 Bloomsbury Place, WC1A 2QA Tel. 020 7580 8456 Arab Navigation Email: [email protected] Edited by Anthony R. Constable and William Facey Trade distribution ISBN: 978-0-9571060-1-7 Hardback, jacket • representation 160 pages; 258 x 200 mm Oxbow Books Colour throughout; 11 maps 10 Hythe Bridge Street, Oxford, OX1 2EW, UK Appendices, Notes, Bibliography, Index www.oxbowbooks.com Publication: February 2013 Email: [email protected] Price: £35.00 Tel. 01865 241249 Fax 01865 794449 Subject areas: Sailing ships; Dhows; ; Navigation; • United States and Astronomy; ; Arab World; Arab seafaring; Order from: ; Red Sea The David Brown Book Company PO Box 511 (28 Main Street), Oakville, CT 06779, USA www.oxbowbooks.com/home.cfm/Location/DBBC HROUGHOUT HISTORY , the Indian Ocean Drawing on source material such as the Email: [email protected] Thas been a zone of interaction between far- guides written by the renowned southern Toll-free: 800 791 9354 flung civilizations, connected with the Mediter- Arabian navigators Ahmad ibn Majid and Tel. (860) 945-9329 ranean by the Gulf and Red Sea. The dhows Sulayman al-Mahri in the 15th and 16th cent- Fax (860) 945-9468 that were the vehicles of commercial and uries AD , as well as surviving logbooks of dhow cultural exchange over this vast expanse of captains in the early 20th, the authors cover the • UK, and Rest of the World ocean ranged from small craft rarely venturing principal ideas, techniques, instruments and Order from: out of sight of land, to cargo vessels carrying calculations used, deploying astronomy, geo- Oxbow Books navigators skilled in the art of deep-sea sailing. metry and mathematics to explain their 10 Hythe Bridge Street, Oxford, OX1 2EW, UK These Arab, Persian and Indian seamen used methods. It includes an account of a practical Email: [email protected] the seasonal monsoon winds, and applied attempt in 2010 to apply these methods on an Tel. 01865 241249 navigational techniques that relied on their adventurous voyage from to Fax 01865 794449 ability to read the stars in the night sky – skills in a reconstructed early medieval dhow, and that had developed down the generations from concludes with an analysis of sailing conditions time immemorial. in the Red Sea. About Arabian Publishing This stellar navigation, based on measuring the altitude of the Pole Star to establish latitude Arabian Publishing Ltd is a niche publisher based in central London, and on the risings and settings of certain stars to focusing on the Arabian Peninsula countries and related and topics. find direction, grew into a complex art, belying AP books are researched, edited, designed and produced to the highest the simplicity of the instruments used. Bringing standards, to appeal to both scholars and general readers. together six scholars specializing in the maritime history and culture of the , this AP also carries out research programmes into documentary and book makes a new and vital contribution to photographic sources relating to Arabian history and culture. the study of a nautical culture that has hitherto For further information, email William Facey not received its due share of attention, and at [email protected] which is vital to an understanding of Indian Ocean history. Sea of Pearls Seven Thousand Years of the Industry that Shaped the Gulf by Robert A. Carter

ISBN: 978-0-9571060-0-0 330 x 245 mm, hardback, jacketed xx + 364 pages 338 colour and b/w photographs 26 maps, 32 tables and charts Appendices, Notes, Bibliography, Index Publication: August 2012 Retail price: £95.00

Subject areas: Arabian/Persian Gulf; Gulf States; Arabian Peninsula; Arab world; Arab and Persian maritime history; Iran; Middle Eastern history; Middle Eastern archaeology; Pearls; Gemstones; Jewellery

INCE ANTIQUITY the natural pearls of the Lavishly illustrated, it covers in unpreced- SGulf have been famed as the finest, most ented detail the history, development, conduct, lustrous and most plentiful in the world. From florescence and catastrophic collapse of the the beginnings of trade till the 1930s, they were industry in the early 20th century. It will a major product of the Gulf’s coastal peoples. fascinate not only those wishing to understand From the 17th to the early 20th centuries, rising the growth and conduct of the pearl fishery, but demand turned pearling into their economic also those interested in the history of the mainstay. By this time pearls were fished in their and the origins of the Gulf states, and in the millions, and the industry dominated the lives, colourful story of the global taste for one of health and expectations of entire shaikhdoms. mankind’s most highly prized precious stones. The influx of people and wealth to the coast permanently transformed the Gulf, providing the manpower and capital to nurture the city- states – Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah and Ras al-Khaimah – which endure there today. Despite its formative role, there has till now been no book dealing with the pearl industry’s entire history. This ground-breaking work traces its evolution on the Arabian and Persian sides of the Gulf, and explores the role it played in shaping the political, social and urban config- uration of the region today. It shows the extent to which the Gulf economy became dependent on a single commodity, and thus how pearling resembled the oil industry to come. Encountering Islam Seen in the Joseph Pitts: An English Slave Travelling with Freya Stark and Others in 17th-century Algiers and Mecca by Paul Auchterlonie by Hugh Leach A critical edition, with biographical introduction and notes, of Joseph Pitts of Exeter’s A Faithful Account of ISBN: 978-0-9558894-5-5 the Religion and Manners of the Mahometans , 1731 320 pages; 244 x 180 mm

ISBN: 978-0-9558894-9-3 Hardback, jacketed 234 x 156 mm, hardback, jacketed 148 duotone photographs; 2 maps 368 pages Glossary, Bibliography, Index 2 maps; 17 engravings and line illustrations Publication: 2011 Notes, Bibliography, Index Publication: Feb. 2012 Price: £45.00 Price: £48.00 Subject areas: Subject areas: Yemen; Arabian Peninsula; Arab world; Middle East; Algiers; Mecca; North ; Islam; Hajj; Pilgrimage; Jews; Travel and exploration; Freya Stark; Photography; Arabian Peninsula; Arab world; Middle East; Captivity; Leica cameras Slavery; Travel and exploration

OR THREE CENTURIES after 1500, Britain had the advantage of living as a Muslim within EMEN IS JUSTLY famed as one of the world’s Freya and other noted Arabian travellers such as Fwas brought face to face with Islam through a Muslim society. Encountering Islam contains a Ymost dramatically beautiful countries. Seen Wilfred Thesiger and Dame Violet Dickson. The the activities of the Barbary corsairs. Muslim faithful rendering of the definitive 1731 edition in the Yemen brings the people, architecture and prints are introduced by a short description of ships based in North African ports terrorized of Pitts’s book. The introduction tells what is landscapes of this ancient culture alive to the those notable 1930s screw-thread Leica cameras European shipping, enslaving hundreds of known of Pitts’s life, and places his work against reader through the medium of the author’s used by so many early explorer-photographers. thousands of Christians. Encountering Islam is the its historical background of captivity narratives remarkable black-and-white photographs, taken Yemen today, like the rest of Arabia, is fascinating story of one Englishman’s exper- and Anglo-Muslim relations of the period. in the 1970s, and here reproduced in duotone. undergoing rapid and inevitable change. This ience of life within a Muslim society, as both His book is also a tribute to one of the most book records a time when town and country Christian slave and Muslim soldier. famous of all Arab and Asian travellers, the late had only recently embarked on the decades of Born in Exeter around 1662, Joseph Pitts was Dame Freya Stark (1893–1993). In the mid- upheaval, and much was visually unchanged. captured by Algerian pirates on his first voyage “Pitts … now lives and breathes before us. … As close to 1970s, at the age of eighty-three, she made two The author’s artistic eye imparts an unforget- definitive as the nature of scholarship permits. … Another in 1678. Sold as a slave in Algiers, he underwent example of Arabian Publishing’s notably high production visits to the author, who was then serving in table aura of romance and nostalgia to his forced conversion to Islam. Sold again, he acc- standards.” Sana‘a. Their travels together through north pictures which, like Freya Stark’s, will cast their ompanied his kindly third master on pilgrimage Studies in Travel Writing Yemen marked the start of a long friendship. spell over readers present and future. to Mecca, so becoming the first Englishman The volume is also designed to emulate Freya “An exemplary edition of an important work.” Seen in the known to have visited the Muslim holy places. The Historian Stark’s earlier classic, , Granted his freedom, he became a soldier, published by John Murray in 1938. Beginning “The lost world the photographs evoke is indeed before venturing on a daring escape. Crossing “This book will remain the best edition of Pitts’s narrative with reminiscences of Dame Freya, the author remarkable. … Taken little more than 30 years ago, they are much of Italy and Germany on foot, he finally for many years to come.” recalls the time they spent together in Yemen, … jarringly at odds with the frenzy of the political upheaval International Journal of Maritime History coming out of Yemen today.” reached Exeter seventeen years after he had left. her musings on the past, and their mutual The Spectator Pitts’s book, first published in 1704, is a devotion to Leica cameras. He goes on to give a “The production, as we have come to expect from Arabian “Magnificently produced …. Anyone with even the briefest unique combination of captivity narrative, travel Publishing, is faultless.” brief account of Yemen’s history and geography, acquaintance with the people and landscape will love it.” account and description of Islam. It describes The Middle East in London and describes his adventurous rediscovery of the Asian Affairs his life in Algiers, his conversion, his pilgrimage remaining ancient Jewish community around “The photographs have a strange way of transfixing you. to Mecca (the first such detailed description in “Pitts was the first Englishman to give a reliable account of Sa‘dah in the far north. All this is brought alive the hajj to Mecca. It is now republished with a fascinating Spend some time with them and you, too, will feel yourself English), Muslim ritual and practice, and his introduction by Paul Auchterlonie.” in his extraordinary images, taken on his own succumbing to the spell of far Arabia.” escape. A Christian for most of his life, Pitts also The Daily Telegraph wanderings and also on journeys with Dame British-Yemeni Society Journal Dubai High Weaving A Culture Trip of and Its Neighbours BEDOUIN

by Michael Schindhelm by Joy Totah Hilden WEAVING With photographs by Aurore Belkin of SAUDIUDI ARAABIABIA ISBN: 978-0-9558894-7-9 ISBN: 978-0-9558894-8-6 AND ITS EIGHBOURS 240 pages; 228 x 155 mm 288 pages; 258 x 200 mm N Hardback, jacketed Paperback 43 black-and-white photographs Full colour throughout; maps and drawings Publication: 2011 Appendices; Glossary; Notes; Bibliography; Index Price: £25.00 Publication: 2011 Price: £35.00 Subject areas: Dubai; ; Arabian Peninsula; Gulf States; Subject areas: Arab world; Culture studies; Arts funding; International Saudi Arabia; Arabian Peninsula; Arab world; Middle East; JOY TOTAH HILDEN culture; Globalization; Tourism Islamic Art; Crafts; Textiles; Weaving

N EARLY 2007 , writer and theatre director marketing tool to boost Dubai’s brand as a ORTABLE AND PRACTICAL , tough and and the material of everyday life in the desert. IMichael Schindhelm was appointed by the premier global tourist resort. His woes were Pcolourful, Bedouin textiles played a vital This is the most exhaustive study to date of Dubai authorities as consultant on a projected compounded by the lack of clear distinction and functional part in the life of the Arab the weaving methods practised by the Bedouin opera house, and in early 2008 found himself between government and private enterprise, nomads. Bedouin women were expected to of Saudi Arabia. Profusely illustrated, and giving with a broader remit as director of the newly and by the very Arabian custom of bringing in master the art of making entire tents as well as a thorough instruction in techniques, Bedouin founded Dubai Culture and Arts Authority. His privileged outsiders to advise on, and occasion- wide range of rugs, saddlebags and other Weaving is an essential companion for collectors diary of 2008 is a partly fictionalized account of ally to compete with, schemes supposedly under equipment able to withstand the rigours of the and connoisseurs of flat-weave textiles. his first twelve months of both working and his direction. Ultimately, his projects were un- desert. They took a fierce pride in their work living in Dubai. It is a meditation, from a done by the global financial crash of late 2008. and produced, on the simplest ground looms, “This handsome book makes a significant contribution to cultural perspective, on the nature of this Despite such travails, the author is able to see textiles that were at once hard-wearing and of textile history, is an important text for the collector, curator, extraordinary city and its project to reinvent the funny side and retains some sympathy for vibrant aesthetic appeal. The true craftspeople of or craftsman, and captures the essence of Bedouin weaving as it was in the past.” itself according to new rules of its own devising. the Dubai project, seeing in Dubai and other the desert, Bedouin women wove to provide HALI Magazine From the outset there were profound cultural Gulf States a glimmer of hope for cultural the very fabric of day-to-day living. issues to be faced. Can essentially alien art forms dialogue between the Arab world and the West. Joy Hilden, a leading authority, describes the “A comprehensive textile and cultural study …. Weavers of be transplanted effectively? Can they be weaving techniques in the context of the indigenous-style textiles or anyone interested in textile history will find this impressive work to be a thorough labor imposed top-down by the authorities? Can Bedouin’s transitional mode of life, as they adapt of love.” high culture ever be financially self-supporting? from their centuries-old nomadic existence to Handwoven In a society run like a business by a tiny, unacc- “Cultural Klondike exposed. … A very funny book by an being semi- and fully settled. She gathered her ountable elite, in which freedom of speech is outrageously talented man.” information on dyeing, spinning and weaving “[No other book] describes the research process in such a The Art Newspaper limited and 90 percent of the inhabitants are while living and travelling in Saudi Arabia, charming and illuminating way, nor covers the weaving techniques in such instructive detail. … Textile lovers will transient, expendable expatriates, can the arts “Dubai High is the story of why the cynics, unfortunately, extending her scope with trips to other parts of appreciate the wealth of coloured illustrations of a wide realistically be nurtured as a form of social were right. … The cast of characters is familiar: scheming the Arabian Peninsula and adjacent Arab variety of woven pieces with their stunning geometric expression and self-examination? interlopers; arrogant shyster consultants; money-hungry, countries. She describes visits to Bedouin patterns … and the detailed descriptions of techniques and The author’s efforts to create projects were ignorant developers; useless individuals trying to make families, desert markets and urban centres where motifs.” careers in the Gulf because they’ve failed elsewhere. … The The Middle East in London undermined by misunderstandings over the book captures the strange, elegiac sense of lost opportunity Bedouin gathered. Her work comes at a time nature and purpose of the arts – in his that Dubai represents.” when many tribal peoples are losing their “A completely compulsive read.” employers’ conception, little more than a ICON Magazine cultural traditions and, with them, their crafts Journal for Weavers, Spinners and Dyers Kuwait and the Sea Roads to Nowhere John Harding A Brief Social and Economic History A South Arabian Odyssey, 1960–1965 roads by Yacoub Yusuf Al-Hijji by John Harding to nowhere A South Arabian Odyssey, 1960–1965 ISBN: 978-0-9558894-4-8 228 x 155 mm ISBN: 978-0-9558894-2-4 228 pages 336 pages; 228 x 155 mm Hardback, jacketed Hardback, jacket 3 maps; 43 black-and-white photographs and illustrations 61 black-and-white photographs, 1 map Footnotes, Appendices, Glossary, Bibliography, Index A BBriefrief SSocialocial Bibliography; Index Publication: 2010 aandnd EEconomicconomic HHistoryistory Publication: 2009 Price: £30.00 Price: £30.00

Subject areas: Subject areas: Kuwait, Arabian Gulf; Arabian Peninsula; Arab world; Middle ; Hadhramaut; Yemen; Arabian Peninsula; Arab world; East; Arab maritime history; Traditional society; Traditional Middle East history post-World War II; ; economy; Dhow building; Dhow trade; Navigation; Decolonization Indian Ocean YAACOUBC OU B Y US UF A L- HIJ JI

HOUGH INHABITED for millennia, Kuwait analysing how they organized themselves ODAY PART OF THE Republic of Yemen, tribal rulers. Along the way, we are treated to Tbegan to emerge as an Arab shaikhdom according to the customary law and traditions TAden was for 128 years a vital British tales of tribal feuds and dissident skirmishes, relatively late. Entering the historical record of a tribal, pre-bureaucratic era, he conveys a strategic base and commercial staging post. In feudal rule, intelligence and internal security during the early 18th century as a junction of compelling picture of the bustle and hardships the immediate aftermath of World War II, failings, frustrated reconstruction schemes, and caravan and sea routes, it quickly grew to be a of a way of life which, during the 1940s and Britain was still the predominant foreign power the valiant efforts of the British armed forces to commercial rival to Basra at the head of the Gulf. 1950s, was to be erased by prosperity from oil. in the Middle East. But in 1967, overwhelmed hold the ring. Written with a sharp eye for the As its prosperity increased, it had to negotiate by crises, the Labour government abandoned tragicomic, and ranging deftly between the a precarious autonomy amongst its larger “Al-Hijji has rendered a service in recording the exper- Aden. This precipitate withdrawal left the newly political and the personal, this is above all a neighbours. By the end of the 19th century, iences and socio-economic contexts of past mariners in a formed Federation of to the book about individuals, both British and Arab, despite their complete lack of natural resources country whose headlong economic development has rapidly mercies of rival national socialist revolutionaries and how they interacted as they tried to make of any kind, even water, Kuwait’s people had expunged much of their material and cultural traces.” who, after a period of bloody civil war, the best of their impossible predicament. managed to exploit their geopolitical position Journal of Arabian Studies established the Arab world’s only Marxist- to turn their town into the busiest dhow port “Undoubtedly useful for those interested in Kuwaiti or Gulf Leninist tyranny, and left a 27-year legacy of maritime history.” “A riveting book which carries the reader along page after on the Gulf. International Journal of Maritime History impoverishment and repression. page.” Without the sea, Kuwait’s rise would have Roads to Nowhere is a candid account of the Bulletin of the Society for Arabian Studies “Kuwait and the Sea takes up an important position on the been impossible. Its society was formed by the shelf of both Middle Eastern and Indian Ocean author’s experiences as a young British colonial “Picaresque, funny, tragic, Harding’s narrative fairly bowls trade in Iraqi dates and by its dhow-building historiography … [and] makes great strides in resurrecting officer, describing a bizarre world of outsize along. … [He] has done a superb job of throwing the that largely forgotten but critically important past.” and pearling industries, which attracted both colonial characters and desert adventure during complexities of the region into sharp relief.” The Middle East in London Arabs and Persians to the town. Focusing chiefly Aden’s moment of glory as the “Hong Kong of Bookdealer on the first decades of the 20th century, Yacoub “A distillation of the vast body of knowledge this renowned the Middle East”. It focuses on the flawed Al-Hijji paints a vivid portrait of the merchants, maritime historian has acquired over several decades of Federal constitution unequal to its avowed “John Harding’s remarkable book …[is] both fascinating and research, travel and study. … Both scholarly and highly captains, navigators, dhow builders, sailors, pearl purpose of bringing Aden and its hinterland to amazingly detailed … a frank account of the day-by-day readable … [and] fills a gap in the economic history of the experiences of a young Colonial Service Officer in a unique divers and fishermen of this remarkable Gulf before oil.” orderly independence, and the fatal mismatch territory in a bygone era. I recommend it.” shaikhdom. In explaining their techniques, and Arab Times between Aden’s politicians and the traditional The Overseas Pensioner Ihlal al-salam fi Hadhramaut Pilgrimage to Mecca Lady Evelyn Cobbold Dirasah tarikhiyyah li-tajribat Hadhramaut by Lady Evelyn Cobbold fi al-qada’ ‘ala al-tha’r al-qabali P ILGRIMAGE [Establishing Peace in Hadhramaut] Biographical introduction by to William Facey and Miranda Taylor by ‘Abd al-‘Aziz bin ‘Ali bin Salah MECCA Al-Qu‘aiti Introduction by ISBN: 978-0-9558894-3-1 WilliamFaceyandMirandaTaylor ISBN: 978-0-9558894-1-7 Paperback NotesbyAhmadS.Turkistani Hardback, jacket 352 pages; 228 x 155 mm 432 pages; 258 x 200 mm 50 b/w photographs; 1 map 40 b/w photos, 170 documents, 2 maps Footnotes; Bibliography; Index Bibliography; Index Publication: 2009 Publication: 2009 Price: £20.00 Price: £50.00 Subject areas: Subject areas: Islam; Hajj; Pilgrimage; Women travellers; Middle East; South Arabia; Hadhramaut; Tribes; Middle East history in Arab world; Saudi Arabia; British Muslims; Female converts 20th century; British Empire; Peace-making to Islam; Muslim Holy Cities; Mecca; Medina; Jiddah; Scotland

HIS BOOK , IN , describes a crucial by local leaders, obliging them to put an end to S THE FIRST BRITISH WOMAN CONVERT TO travelogue, takes the form of a day-by-day Tepisode in Yemeni history, during which feuding amongst themselves. AIslam on record as making the pilgrimage journal interspersed with digressions on the tribal feuding was brought to an end. The Focusing on the enlightened peace-making to Mecca and visiting Medina, Lady Evelyn history and merits of Islam. She is the first Hadhramaut region, by the 1930s under British efforts of local leaders, supported by the tireless Cobbold (1867–1963) cuts a unique figure in English writer to give a first-hand description tutelage as part of the Eastern Aden efforts of a representative of an outside power, the annals of the Hajj. of the life of the women’s quarters of the , comprised a patchwork of tribal the author aims to show that the remorseless Anglo-Scottish aristocrat and landowner, households in which she stayed in Medina, groups forming the Qu‘aiti and cycle of revenge need not be as unstoppable as Evelyn Murray had spent childhood winters in Mecca and Muna – an account remarkable for Sultanates, and was riven by tribal rivalries and it may seem to those caught up in it. The book North Africa. There she was imbued with the its sympathy and vividness. This paperback infighting. includes 40 photographs and 170 historic docu- Muslim way of life, becoming, as she puts it, “a edition, with a substantial biographical intro- In the mid-1930s, the British in Aden were ments, most reproduced here for the first time. little Muslim at heart”. While travelling widely duction, serves to rescue this unique and interested in pacifying the area in order to as an adult in the Arab world, she also intriguing Anglo-Muslim from the obscurity strengthen it against outside claims. Taking maintained a conventional place in society at that has since befallen her. advantage of the desire among local leaders to home, marrying the wealthy John Cobbold in establish political stability, they appointed 1891 and devoting herself to her Suffolk and “In the current atmosphere, when there is much debate and controversy regarding what it means to be a Muslim, Harold Ingrams as Resident Adviser, based in London houses and her Scottish estate, where Pilgrimage to Mecca offers a timely opening for new reflection.” the main town and port, , capital of the she became a renowned deer-stalker. Bulletin of the Society for Arabian Studies

Qu‘aiti Sultanate. Between 1936 and 1939, in Deciding to perform the pilgrimage in 1933, “A well-produced, well-documented, and fascinating book. collaboration with Ali bin Salah Al- at the age of 65, she stayed with the Philbys in … A deeply moving account of a lady who was fundament- Qu‘aiti, Sultan Ali bin Mansur Al-Kathiri and Jeddah while awaiting permission to go to ally changed by the Hajj.” Abu Bakr Shaikh Al-Kaf, Ingrams and Mecca, and received visits from various digni- Muslim World Book Review his wife, Doreen, travelled on camel and donkey “The author deserves to be congratulated on making such a taries, notably the King’s son the Amir Faysal “One of the most fascinating of women travellers of to all parts of the region, negotiating with local wealth of original material accessible [and] for his readable (later King Faysal). the early 20th century. … Required reading for anyone and balanced presentation of the historical background. … A interested in the history of women travellers, early 20th- leaders and helping them to resolve their production of exceptional quality.” Pilgrimage to Mecca , as much an account of century travel in the Middle East, or simply Islamic affairs.” disputes. In all, about 1,400 treaties were signed Bulletin of the Society for Arabian Studies an interior journey of faith as a conventional Geographical Magazine The Sanusi’s Little War The Arab Chest The Amazing Story of a Forgotten Conflict in by Sheila Unwin the Western Desert, 1915–17 Foreword by Sir Terence Clark

by Russell McGuirk

ISBN: 978-0-9544792-6-8 ISBN: 978-0-9544792-7-5 Hardback, jacket Hardback, jacket 144 pages; 258 x 200 mm 352 pages; 234 x 156 mm Full colour throughout; 3 maps 50 b/w photographs; 3 maps; 7 line illustrations Appendices, Glossary, Bibliography, Index Footnotes; Appendices; Bibliography; Index Publication: 2006 Publication: 2007 Price: £25.00 Price: £25.00 Subject areas: Subject areas: Antiques; Furniture; Islamic Art; Arabian Peninsula; Arab Military history; First World War; North Africa; ; world; Maritime history; Gulf studies; India; Indian Ocean; Libya; Sanusi movement; Islam; Western Desert; East Africa; Arab history; Middle East; T. E. Lawrence; Model T Fords; Rolls Royce

HIS IS THE EXCITING STORY of a forgotten Sanusi’s Little War tells for the first time the full HIS IS THE FIRST EXHAUSTIVE STUDY of a chests. It is lavishly illustrated with archive and Twar, fought out on the fringe of the great story of the Turco-Sanusi invasion and the Tpiece of furniture that has been used in the contemporary photographs and maps, while First World War campaigns. At its centre stands subsequent military campaign. The author Arab world for centuries, and on the East line drawings demonstrate the differences in Sayyid Ahmad al-Sharif, the Grand Sanusi, a describes secret German missions and Turkish African coast since the early 1800s. The Arab classification and type of chests and fittings. charismatic Arab leader caught between the efforts to win over the Grand Sanusi. He reveals chest caught the attention of expatriates and Owners of these fine pieces will find this an rival war aims of the Turco-German alliance and the fascinating role played in the campaign by travellers throughout these regions, and by the invaluable companion and resource. Sheila the British Empire. British officers, particularly Leo Royle. Most mid-20th century it had become a collector’s Unwin greatly enriches our appreciation of an In November 1915 HMS Tara , a requis- unexpected of all is his discovery that T. E. item in the West. artefact which can now be seen, in the light of itioned ferryboat, is torpedoed by a German Lawrence played a role in these events. The author, Sheila Unwin, first came across her research, as a fascinating embodiment of the U-boat off Sollum on the north-west coast of the chests in East Africa in the early l950s, and old Indian Ocean trading network. Egypt. The 92 survivors, nearly all Welshmen, “[A] masterly study of the Sanusi campaign. The author became determined to discover their pro- are handed over to Turkish and Sanusi soldiers provides … the details of personalities, places and events, and venance and unravel their stylistic origins. This the sympathetic understanding that this extraordinary but across the border and sent as prisoners of war hitherto disregarded historical episode fully deserves.” journey of detection is reflected in her historical deep into the Libyan Desert. The Turco-Sanusi The Review overviews, which cover the early Arab trading “Essential [for] anyone interested in furniture and in the Army then overruns Sollum and pushes into “McGuirk provides a new level of detail, based on thorough networks, Arabs and Persians in East Africa, the material culture of the Indian Ocean world.” Egypt. The British occupiers are caught off research of the available sources. … [He] tells a grand story Gulf and , the Mughals in India, and the Asian Affairs guard and forced to launch a military campaign well. … A much welcome addition to the literature of the early explorations and trading expeditions of First World War and its aftermath in the Middle East.” to expel the invaders. Over the next few the Portuguese, Dutch and British from East “This book is a treasure. … The fruit of a lifetime of Libyan Studies months, four battles are fought before Sollum is Africa to the . Her study of these research and travel. … [it] is an invaluable guide, but much retaken and the threat contained. Finally, the “The author draws skilfully upon a wealth of primary enables her to trace the cultural influences that more than a collector’s guidebook.” Duke of Westminster leads a column of Rolls sources both archival and oral in Arabic, English and have combined to produce the chests, and to British-Yemeni Society Journal Royce armoured cars and Model T Fords into German. … The excellence of this history … lies in its chart their complex origins. intricate tapestry of detail concerning the setting and “This enchanting book is required reading for anyone lucky Libya to rescue the Welshmen. background to the conflict. … A well-told war story.” More than a historical survey, the book is also enough to possess one of these chests.” Based on original source material, The Sudan Studies Association Bulletin a guide to the classification, care and cleaning of The Overseas Pensioner Sons of Sindbad Sons of Sindbad THE PHOTOGRAPHS by Alan Villiers by Alan Villiers With a new Introduction by William Facey, Yacoub Al-Hijji and Grace Pundyk Selected and introduced by William Facey, Yacoub Al-Hijji and Grace Pundyk

ISBN: 978-0-9558894-6-2 Paperback ISBN: 978-0-9544792-5-1 448 + 32 pp. of photographs; 234 x 156 mm Hardback, jacket 50 b/w photographs, 1 map 224 pp.; 330 x 245 mm Notes, Bibliography, Appendices, Index 164 b/w photographs reproduced in duotone; 11 maps Publication: 2010 Notes, bibliography, index Price: £20.00 Publication: 2006 Price: £30.00 Subject areas: Sailing ships; Dhows; Maritime history; Navigation; Yachting; Subject areas: Arabian Peninsula; Arab world; Arab seafaring; Gulf studies; Arabian Peninsula; Arab world; Arab seafaring; Maritime Indian Ocean; Kuwait; Pearls. history; Navigation; Sailing ships; Yachting; Dhows; Gulf studies; Indian Ocean; East Africa; Kuwait; Pearls.

LAN VILLIERS (1903–82) , the Australian companions as an equal, while deferring to their LAN VILLIERS (1903–82) WAS a renowned Bahrain and finally Kuwait. Here he spent four Asailor and maritime historian, first made a toughness and fortitude, and to their superior AAustralian sailor, writer and photographer. months in the summer of 1939, including a name for himself as an adventurer in the 1920s knowledge of their trade. Originally published in 1940, Sons of Sindbad is month among the pearl divers of the northern and 1930s by combining his seafaring skills with This great classic of Arabian travel and his account of sailing with the Arabs in their Gulf. his talent as a pioneering photojournalist. He maritime adventure is reprinted for the first dhows in southern Arabia, along the East This book depicts the experiences of the visited Arabia in 1938 because he was certain time since 1969, with a new introduction by African coast and in the Arabian Gulf, to record sailors and divers and the hardships they faced in that he was living through the last days of sail, William Facey, Yacoub Al-Hijji and Grace a nautical and cultural tradition that even then their perilous environment. Villiers’s powerful and was determined to record as much of them Pundyk. As in the original 1940 edition, 50 of was disappearing. Arabian Publishing, in photographs and words form a fine tribute to as he was able. Villiers’ many photographs are published here – association with the National Maritime the skills and endurance of the Arab sailors, and At Aden, Villiers found an Arab dhow master images that complement the text with strikingly Museum in Greenwich, has now republished a fitting valediction to the age of sail before the prepared to take on a lone Westerner as a vivid depictions of the life and skills of the Arab this sailing and adventure classic in an abridged onset of oil and modernization. crewman. Ali bin Nasr el-Nejdi and his Kuwaiti dhow sailors, of the ports along the route, of form and a large format, and with many more crew were making the age-old voyage from the Kuwait itself, and of the pearl divers of the photographs, previously unpublished, from the “A travel classic on the level of Wilfred Thesiger’s Arabian Gulf to East Africa, coasting on the north-east Arabian Gulf. Museum’s Villiers Collection. The book estab- Sands , with marvellously evocative images and a revealing and perceptive text.” monsoon winds, with a cargo of dates from lishes Villiers’s reputation as a photographer to The Sunday Times Basra. The return voyage would be made in the compare with Wilfred Thesiger. early summer of 1939, on the first breezes of the His lifelong fascination for traditional sailing “A splendid book.” “Arabian Publishing are to be congratulated on producing a The Sunday Telegraph south-west monsoon, from East Africa to book of such excellent quality. [The] Introduction combines techniques led him to embark on his remark- “Remarkable … A fascinating glimpse into another world” Kuwait. a biographical account of Villiers’ remarkable life with a able voyage in 1938. Joining the crew of a large The Guardian From this voyage Villiers fashioned Sons of thoughtful assessment of the place of Sons of Sindbad in the Kuwaiti boom , the Triumph of Righteousness, he Sindbad . First published in 1940, it is the sole travel literature on Arabia.” sailed with them on the monsoon winds from The British-Yemeni Society Journal work of Arabian travel to have at its centre the Aden, down the East African coast, to NOTE seafaring Arabs. In a real sense the Thesiger of “A fascinating and vivid study of a vanished way of life.” Mombasa, Zanzibar and the Rufiji Delta. He This edition available in North America only the , Villiers voyaged with his WoodenBoat Review then made the homeward voyage to Oman, The Birth of the Islamic Mubarak Al-Sabah Reform Movement in Founder of Modern Kuwait, 1896–1915 Saudi Arabia by B. J. Slot b. ‘Abd al-Wahhab (1703/4–1792) and the Beginnings of Unitarian Empire in Arabia ISBN: 978-0-9544792-4-4 by George S. Rentz Hardback, jacket Edited with an Introduction by William Facey 480 pp. + 32 pp. of photographs; 234 x 156 mm 40 b/w photographs; 2 maps ISBN: 978-0-9544792-2-0 Footnotes, bibliography, index Hardback; jacket Publication: 2005 320 pages; 234 x 156 mm; 10 maps and tables Price: £30.00 Footnotes; Bibliography; Index. Publication: 2005 Subject areas: Kuwait; Gulf studies; Arabian Peninsula; Arab world; Middle £25.00 East; Iraq and Kuwait; Ruling families; Al-Sabah; Political Subject areas: biography; History; State formation; International status and Saudi Arabia; Arab world; Middle East; Political Islam; sovereignty; International relations Wahhabism; Hanbalism; 18th-century Arabian history; Al Saud; al-Dir‘iyah

URRENT TROUBLES IN THE MIDDLE EAST University of California, it has never before now N THIS POLITICAL LIFE of Mubarak Al-Sabah, Persians would serve to keep Britain engaged in Chave focused much international attention been published. Rentz (1912–87) went on to Iruler of Kuwait from 1896 to 1915, B. J. Slot Kuwait’s protecion. on Saudi Arabia. However, little has been become head of Aramco’s research department. examines his career in unsurpassed detail, Only with the outbreak of the First World published in English on the background to its Closely basing his account on the local Najdi analysing its significance and presenting a War did Britain dare publicly to declare Kuwait culture and its roots in the First Saudi State that chronicles which were contemporary with balanced assessment of the man and his a protectorate, by which time its autonomy had arose in 18th-century (central Arabia). The many of the events they describe, Rentz pieces achievement. In doing so, he draws on a much become an accepted fact. Mubarak’s reign was Islamic reform movement that imbued it with together the life and thought of the thinker wider range of sources than any previous thus pivotal in establishing Kuwait as a separate its sense of mission, and the life and thought of who set out to purify Islam as he saw it biography. and sovereign entity under international law. its proponent Shaikh Muhammad b. ‘Abd al- practised around him, and to direct Muslims Mubarak Al-Sabah took control of his tiny Wahhab (1703/4–1792), have been similarly back to the fountainhead of their faith. In the state in 1896, just as the Ottoman Empire neglected. process Rentz tells the colourful story of the seemed on the point of swallowing it up. He “The portrait sketched by B. J. Slot is that of a small Often referred to outside Arabia as creation of the First Saudi State (1745–1818) then played for time, kindling a hesitant British shaykhdom at the mercy of complex international Wahhabism, the Shaikh’s teachings have been a with its capital at al-Dir‘iyah, near present-day interest in Kuwait by deftly exploiting the machinations involving the British, the Ottomans, the fundamental influence on the lives of Saudi Riyadh. rivalry among European powers interested in Germans, the Russians, the French, the Al Sa‘ud, and the Al Rashid. … The book includes a very useful guide to archival Arabians and their government ever since his Kuwait’s strategic possibilities as the terminus of sources, and it is a relief to be able to read a book with death in 1792. His ideas continue to inspire his “Rentz’s dissertation was in its day the only genuine a railway – conceived as the vital link in rapid actual footnotes.” many followers, both inside the Kingdom and scholarly, adequately footnoted, source-critical account of communication between Europe and India. International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies abroad. A knowledge of his life and thought is the early Saudi state. Amazingly, it still is.” By the Agreement of 1899, concluded The Times Literary Supplement “A meticulously researched political biography of Shaikh vital to a proper understanding of both Saudi secretly, Mubarak contrived to make Kuwait a Mubarak Al-Sabah that also serves as a first-class history of Arabia and the Arab world of today. “Anyone interested in the rise of Islam, Islamic state British protectorate, but in the vaguest and most Kuwait at the turn of the last century and during the build- Students of Saudi Arabian history have long formation, the complex relationships between tribes and deniable way. The Agreement’s very secrecy up to the First World War.” recognized George S. Rentz’s thesis on the towns and, above all, the unifying power in an Islamic afforded him wide freedom of action, especially Asian Affairs Shaikh’s life and the origins of the First Saudi context of a simple message of “return” … should find in tribal conflicts in the Arabian hinterland. He much to ponder in this book. … This is a major “A useful addition to the historical literature on the political State as a work of pioneering scholarship. contribution to Arabian studies.” could be confident that well-timed overtures to development of Kuwait.” Despite this, since its acceptance in 1947 by the Bulletin of the Society of Arabian Studies Turks, Russians, Germans, French or even MESA Bulletin Sabah al-Salim Pearling in the Al-Sabah Arabian Gulf Amir of Kuwait 1965–77 A Kuwaiti Memoir A Political Biography by Saif Marzooq Al-Shamlan Translated by Peter Clark by Robert L. Jarman ISBN: 978-1-900404-19-8 Hardback, jacket ISBN: 978-1-900404-21-1 190 pp. + 16 pp. of photographs; 234 x 156 mm Hardback with jacket 19 black-and-white photographs; 1 map 368 pp. + 20 pp. of photographs; 234 x 156 mm Glossary; Index Frontispiece and 28 b/w photographs Publication: 2000 Notes; Bibliography; Genealogical Tables; Index Price: £25.00 Publication: 2002 Price: £29.50 Subject areas: Kuwait; Arab world; Middle East; Arab seafaring; Subject areas: Maritime history and traditions; Pearls; Dhows Kuwait; Arab world; Middle East; Iraq; Gulf history; Al-Sabah; Arab history/international relations ORN IN KUWAIT IN 1926 , into a disting- industry from 1900 to the slump of the 1930s, Buished Kuwaiti family of pearl merchants when the development of the Japanese cultured and seafarers, Saif Marzooq al-Shamlan pearl led to economic disaster for the people of describes the final generation of the pearling the Gulf. HIS BIOGRAPHY OF Sabah al-Salim Al- ence and borders of Kuwait. The full story of TSabah assesses his contribution to the these is told here for the first time in English, as political history of Kuwait. Relying on is his handling of the subsequent 1973 crisis in documents from the British and US archives, as Kuwait–Iraq relations. Britain’s withdrawal from Kuwait well as frank reminiscences of former colleagues the Gulf in 1968–71 necessitated a fundamental The Growth of a Historic Identity within Kuwait, it covers his entire career, from rethink of Kuwait’s foreign policy, and Sabah al- Edited by B. J. Slot his entry into public life in 1939, to his reign as Salim’s leading role in Kuwait’s realignment Amir from 1965 to 1977. towards the USA is documented in full. ISBN: 978-1-900404-32-7 In domestic affairs, particular attention is paid Hardback, jacket to his growing public stature through the 1950s 144 pp. + 16 pp. of photographs; 234 x 156 mm and early 1960s, leading to his appointment in Colour frontispiece; 24 b/w photographs; 1 map 1962 as Kuwait’s first-ever Crown Prince. His Notes, Bibliography, Index handling of the “131” constitutional crisis of Publication: 2002 1964–5, when the National Assembly Price: £30.00 challenged the ruling family for the first time, is described in detail, drawing on participants’ Subject areas: reminiscences as well as reports by foreign Kuwait; Arab world; Middle East; Iraq–Kuwait relations; Gulf diplomats. history; Al-Sabah; Arab history/international relations In external affairs, Sabah al-Salim’s attitude towards the Palestinian issue and his contri- bution to the stabilization of relations with Iraq “At first sight this is a book for the specialist. … But Robert IVE EXPERTS IN THE FIELD – Dr B. J. Slot, Dr processes governing the birth, survival, Jarman has produced a thoroughly good read, which is well Ulrich W. Haarmann, Prof. G. Bondarevsky, prosperity and ultimate sovereignty of this are extensively documented. He masterminded worth the time of anyone interested in the governance and F the secret negotiations in 1962–63 which power politics of the Gulf during the 1960s and 1970s.” Dr Richard Schofield and Dr Suhail Shuhaiber unique Arab maritime polity. resulted in Iraq’s acceptance of the independ- Asian Affairs – explore the historical, political and social Yes, (Saudi) Minister! Sheba Revealed A Life in Administration A Posting to Bayhan in the Yemen

by Dr Ghazi Algosaibi by Nigel Groom

ISBN: 978-1-900404-31-0 ISBN: 978-1-900404-17-4 Hardback, jacket Hardback; jacket 312 pp. + 32 pp. of photographs; 234 x 156 mm 272 pp.; 234 x 156 mm 37 black-and-white photographs ; 3 maps Index Appendix; Glossary, Bibliography; Index Publication: 1999 Publication: 2002 Price: £20.00 Price: £24.95

Subject areas: Subject areas: Saudi Arabia; Arab world; Middle East; Public Yemen; Arab world; Middle East; Sheba; Qataban; Arabian administration; Arab government; Al Saud; Humour archaeology; Arab tribes; British colonial history

ORN INTO A LEADING MERCHANT FAMILY in up to be perpetrators of it too. Illustrating his URING THE LATE 1940 S, British govern- doubts and moral dilemmas, his personal BSaudi Arabia’s Eastern Province, Dr story with vivid and occasionally hilarious Dance of the Western was relationships, and the pitfalls of inexperience Algosaibi not only experienced but, as a incident, he reflects on what he calls his own being tentatively extended by a handful of hardy amongst the intricacies of a tribal society, are government minister, played a leading part in “aggressive” style of administration in contrast officials whose reputation for incorruptibility honestly described, and add depth, dramatic the Kingdom’s rapid modernisation during the to the “defensive” style, the pitfalls of popularity and even-handedness went before them. tension and occasional hilarity to the tale. 1970s and 1980s. and media stardom, the requirements of Of these the young Nigel Groom was one. Sheba Revealed depicts the people, customs In this administrative autobiography, we are education and development, the relative merits Posted to the almost inaccessible Bayhan and antiquities of this remote part of Arabia treated to the wit and wisdom of one of Saudi of state ownership and privatisation, the in 1948, he was to spend nearly two years with compelling verve and candour. Its close, Arabia’s leading technocrats who, as poet, challenges of national healthcare, and the claims amongst the people of what in antiquity had sympathetic and skilful observation of a single writer, broadcaster, ambassador and minister of family life. The book is packed with judicious been Qataban, once part of biblical Sheba. The locality places it in a special niche among once again, was also one of its most prominent tips for budding administrators and diplomats. Bayhanis and their neighbours, whose ancient, accounts of Arabian travel. And it will engage all intellectuals and gifted communicators. In All those interested in the workings of pre-Islamic lineage was evident all around in the those with an interest in pre-Islamic archaeo- recounting his career, he provides us with a government in this most conservative of imposing remains of cities, irrigation works and logy, colonial history, Arabian society and series of profound and penetrating insights into modern Islamic states will find in Dr Algosaibi’s formal inscriptions, exerted a powerful Yemen’s transition to the world of today. the relationship between the political life in administration an essential and enter- fascination on the young Political Officer which leadership, the executive and the administrative taining companion. has never since waned. “[His] assignment to a remote corner of the Aden Protectorate enabled Mr Groom to discover ancient ruins machine. Along the way we are given an “This excellent and entertaining book … should be read by As representative of a distant government, and epigraphy. His account of his life and finds is personable insider’s view of the personalities of successive all who seek to gain an understanding of the workings of Groom naturally met with an ambivalent and highly readable.” monarchs, the whirlwind transformation of the the highly complex country that is Saudi Arabia today.” reception from the local people, many of whom Antiquity Kingdom’s infrastructure, the tensions between RUSI Journal lived in areas that were still uncontrolled and conservatives and modernisers, and Saudi “A sparkling account spiced with humour and verve. unadministered. His book recounts a young “Later generations will be grateful to the author for preserving … this compelling portrait of an antique land on Arabia’s relations with its neighbours. Readers … will be struck by the book’s frankness. … His official’s brave efforts to influence obstinate views on the ambassador’s role and his comparison of the the threshold of change and, ultimately, of upheaval.” In Dr Algosaibi’s view of the human diplomatic services of the West with those of the Arab states rulers and to demonstrate, to clans and tribes Asian Affairs condition, we are all victims of administration are full of meat and controversy.” who for centuries had settled disputes by “This is a wonderful book.” from the day we are born, and inevitably grow Asian Affairs violence, the benefits of the rule of law. His The Overseas Pensioner Tarikh al-Imarat al-‘Arabiyyah al-Muttahidah: Mukhtarat min ahamm al-watha’iq al-Britaniyyah, 1797–1965

[History of the United Arab Emirates: Selections from the Most Important British Documents, 1797–1965] Ed. Mohamed Morsy Abdullah and Leslie McLoughlin 4 volumes, in Arabic

ISBN: 978-1-900404-04-4

Vol. 1: Britain and the Emirates, 1797–1960. ISBN: 978-1-900404-05-1 Vol. 2: The Emirates at the Beginning of Modernization, 1945–1965. ISBN: 978-1-900404-06-8 Vol. 3: Britain and the Emirates’ Rulers, 1945–1965. ISBN: 978-1-900404-06-8 Vol. 4: The Internal Situation, 1600–1966. ISBN: 978-1-900404-08-2

Hardback 626 + 556 + 510 + 664 pages; 248 x 157 mm Publication: 1996 Price: £995.00

Arabian Publishing Ltd