THE FORBIDDEN COAST JOHN LODWICK THE TRAVEL BOOK CLUB 1956 22 x 15 cm. ix + 286 pp + 8 pages of photographs. HB/DJ From the dustjacket. “The Rio de Oro, a Spanish possession on the north-west coast of Africa, is not a particularly important area in a world preoccupied with either trade or strategy. But to an ardent Hispanophile like John Lodwick, it represented a goal made all the more desirable by the official barriers placed in his way. The Spanish authorities, already dismayed by the published reports of previous ill-informed touring journalists, were loath to allow another Anglo-Saxon writer to visit their jealously guarded lands. But the author of this book, by perseverance, luck, a knowledge of the Spanish mind and a certain amount of cheek, managed not only to travel to the various staging points on the coast, but to get himself into the "forbidden" hinterlands. This is the absorbing story of how he finally reached the Rio de Oro, of what he saw and, above all, of the people he came to know. Some were friends, like the amorous Miguel, the darkly sardonic Francisco, and the disconcertingly tough Frenchwoman Solange; others were antagonistic from the beginning— Boaida, the wily Moor who traded in all conceivable objects down the coast and collected useless gadgets; Senor Abella who had a spy-complex; and an ulcer-ridden, atheistic engineer. In making the journey through Spanish Sahara, Southern Morocco, Ifni and the Canary Islands, John Lodwick unearthed the most esoteric details of many natural oddities -—such as desert shrubs that really do cure a whole variety of ailments, and the peculiar sex life of the locust. It is the author's interest in such small "domestic" matters that make this book so lively and so fascinating. He is not much interested in history and places as in people and their attitudes and motives; there are few whys and wherefores in this book, even on the perennially painful Franco-Spanish question, in which he is unashamedly pro-Spanish. It is a deeply human book, often moving in its portrayal of human relationships, and the unaffected warmth of friendship shown to a lone traveller. Mr. Lodwick loves Spain and the Spanish. Here, frivolous and serious, acid and sentimental by turn, he exhibits all the characteristics of the true lover— criticizing, praising, despairing, but always whole-heartedly attached to the object of his love.”

THE FORBIDDEN COAST

JOHN LODWICK

THE TRAVEL BOOK CLUB
1956

From the dustjacket. “The Rio de Oro, a Spanish possession on the north-west coast of Africa, is not a particularly important area in a world preoccupied with either trade or strategy. But to an ardent Hispanophile like John Lodwick, it represented a goal made all the more desirable by the official barriers placed in his way. The Spanish authorities, already dismayed by the published reports of previous ill-informed touring journalists, were loath to allow another Anglo-Saxon writer to visit their jealously guarded lands. But the author of this book, by perseverance, luck, a knowledge of the Spanish mind and a certain amount of cheek, managed not only to travel to the various staging points on the coast, but to get himself into the "forbidden" hinterlands.

This is the absorbing story of how he finally reached the Rio de Oro, of what he saw and, above all, of the people he came to know. Some were friends, like the amorous Miguel, the darkly sardonic Francisco, and the disconcertingly tough Frenchwoman Solange; others were antagonistic from the beginning— Boaida, the wily Moor who traded in all conceivable objects down the coast and collected useless gadgets; Senor Abella who had a spy-complex; and an ulcer-ridden, atheistic engineer.

In making the journey through Spanish Sahara, Southern Morocco, Ifni and the Canary Islands, John Lodwick unearthed the most esoteric details of many natural oddities -—such as desert shrubs that really do cure a whole variety of ailments, and the peculiar sex life of the locust. It is the author's interest in such small "domestic" matters that make this book so lively and so fascinating. He is not much interested in history and places as in people and their attitudes and motives; there are few whys and wherefores in this book, even on the perennially painful Franco-Spanish question, in which he is unashamedly pro-Spanish. It is a deeply human book, often moving in its portrayal of human relationships, and the unaffected warmth of friendship shown to a lone traveller. Mr. Lodwick loves Spain and the Spanish. Here, frivolous and serious, acid and sentimental by turn, he exhibits all the characteristics of the true lover— criticizing, praising, despairing, but always whole-heartedly attached to the object of his love.”

22 x 15 cm. ix + 286 pp + 8 pages of photographs.

Very good condition, dust jacket has some edge wear and a repaired tear at the head of the spine. Corners of boards lightly bumped. Pages age toned but clean and tidy.





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