WE POST WORLDWIDE
Please enquire for postage to your country
Ctesiphon Books
SA'UDI ARABIA
By:
H. St.
John Philby
LONDON: First Edition 1955
Publisher/Year: LONDON: Ernest Benn, First Edition, 1955. Binding: Original Cloth hardcover, in DUST WRAPPER, 22x14 cm. Pages: 394 Illustrations: 4 Illustrations, 1 fold-out Map (37x35cm.)
жжж Please see book CONDITION at end жжж
ST.
JOHN
PHILBY,
was a lover of the desert, he won fame as an explorer and
mapmaker as well as his long and close friendship of King Ibn Saud.
As a writer he was prodigious, producing many articles
and books from as early as 1920 to as late
as 1960, the year of his death.
John Philby has lived in Saudi Arabia for many years and has carried out many notable journeys of explorations in the Arab peninsula. In 1917-18, when he was in charge of the British political mission to Central Arabia, he explored Southern Central Arabia, and was the first European to visit the southern provinces of Najd. Later, Brigadier Philby carried out further important explorations, and, since the war, has travelled widely in Northern and Southern Arabia. He was an advisor to King Ibn Saud.
≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈≈
SCARCE
ORIGINAL 1955 FIRST EDITION
in DUST WRAPPER
PHILBY'S GREAT WORK
on
ARABIA
& IBN SAUD DYNASTY
With
Illustrations
& Folding Map
From Foreword ...
THE death of ‘Abdul-’Aziz ibn Sa’ud on November 9th, 1953, closed a brilliant chapter in the history of the Arabs: second in importance, perhaps, only to the Meccan episode of the early seventh century, from which Islam emerged as a vital and permanent factor in human evolution.
This work was designed for publication in the lifetime of the great king to whose memory it is dedicated, and whose title to fame is now universally acknowledged by a world once sceptical of his claim and capacity to rule the Arabs, His death while its last chapter was actually in process of preparation necessitated some adjustment of the text to round off a great story without any attempt to assess the significance of his long reign, much less the prospects of the new régime under his eldest surviving son and successor, Sa’ud, the fourth of his name to rule in Arabia. It does, however, now seem desirable to preface this record of Wahhabi achievement with a tentative analysis of the contribution of the late king and of the problems left by him for his successor.
The early struggles against adversity and parochial enemies: the succeeding stage of expansion on an international scale: and a period of consolidation: all these activities, occupying a space of about forty years, have been fully set forth in these pages. Up to that point, it may be claimed—and it was Sir Percy Cox who asserted the fact—Ibn Sa’ud had never made a mistake. That in itself was an astonishing achievement for any man. In 1942, say, he was at the peak of his career and reputation; but some ten years earlier he had taken a characteristically unorthodox decision, which was now beginning to cast its shadows ahead. He had allowed the Americans to enter his domain in search of oil; the oil had been found; but its development had been arrested by the outbreak of war. Sa’udi Arabia was back in the doldrums of penury, as the flow of pilgrims to Mecca had been discontinued simultaneously. Ibn Sa’ud, who had kept his country going comfortably enough in the old days on an income of £100,000 a year, and had latterly become accustomed to an annual revenue of fifty times that amount, was in despair. Britain and America came forward with generous, even lavish, financial help during the remaining years of the war. Their bounty was squandered; some of it was misappropriated by dishonest officials. Then the oil began to flow in a satisfying trickle. The flood which ensued swept sway every barrier of reason, religion and morality. .......
Contents ...
Chapters
The Barony of Dar'iya
Muhammed ibn Sa'ud
'Abdul-'Aziz I ibn Sa'ud
Sa'ud II ibn Sa'ud
'Abdullah I ibn Sa'ud
Turki ibn Sa'ud
Faisal ibn Sa'ud
'Abdullah II and Sa'ud III abna Saud
'Abdul-'Aziz II ibn Sa'ud
Expansion and Consolidation
Arabia Felix
Illustrations ...
H. M. King 'Abdul-'Aziz II ibn Sa'ud
H. M. King Sa'ud IV ibn Sa'ud
H. M. the Imam 'Abdullah I ibn Sa'ud
H. R. H. Amir Faisal ibn 'Abdul-'Aziz
MAP of Sa'udi Arabia. (37x35cm) folded at end of book.
Condition ...
Library copy with book-plate and stamp inside front cover and front end-paper, otherwise book and dust wrapper in very good condition.
|