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14 ARVIEUX, Laurent d’. The Travels of the Chevalier D’Arvieux in Arabia the Desart. London: B. Barker and C. King, 1732 “I thought myself indispensibly obliged to follow him to the Levant” A gripping memoir by Laurent d’Arvieux (1635–1702), a French traveller and diplomat who journeyed extensively in the Middle East. Second edition in English; first published in French in 1717 from the author’s posthumous papers by Jean de la Roque, who had himself participated in two expeditions to the Arabian Peninsula. D’Arvieux left his native Marseilles for the Middle East in 1653, settling first in Sidon with his cousin Bertandie, who was a merchant, and subsequently travelling throughout the region. “In 1672 he was sent to Constantinople where he assisted Nointel and in 1679 he was named Consul at Aleppo” (Blackmer). He learned to speak Arabic, Turkish, Persian, Hebrew, and Syriac. Because of his knowledge of Turkish manners and dress he was able to furnish Molière with the Turkish element in Le Bourgeois gentilhomme . “My first care, after letting my beard grow, was to get into an Arabian dress . . . I got me turbant, which was red cloth cap, done round with a veil or black silk scarf stripped with gold” (p. 3). A lengthy stay in a Bedouin camp on Mount Carmel enabled d’Arvieux to offer “some very remarkable observations of that nation, which differed greatly from previous reports, and were doubted until confirmed by later travellers such as Niebuhr” (Henze). D’Arvieux retired to Marseilles in 1686 and lived there until his death in 1702. It was almost certainly there that he met La Roque who was the son of a Marseillaise merchant. La Roque had been interested in d’Arvieux for some time, making enquiries of the French chaplain at Sidon during an expedition in 1688–9, and it was through d’Arvieux’s friend, the orientalist and first translator of the Thousand and One Nights , Antoine Galland, that he obtained the manuscript on which this work was based. The second part was translated by de la Roque from the Arabic of Abu’l-Fida (1273–1331), the renowned Kurdish historian and geographer, the first translation from his work.
Duodecimo (165 × 95 mm). Contemporary speckled calf, gilt double-rule border to covers, spine gilt in compartments, raised bands, dark red morocco label, sprinkled edges. Engraved frontispiece and 4 similar plates; without initial blank A1. Some rubbing of extremities, especially at joints, spine creased, morocco label chipped, inner hinges cracked but firm, H9 to I6 with small worm tracks at foot affecting text, “The Camp of the Arabs” plate shaved with loss of text, loose, evidently never bound in (worming at foot concomitant with previous text leaves). A very good copy with bright plates. ¶ Blackmer 8 (for the French edition); ESTC N21540; Henze I, 101 (for the first edition in English). £3,250 [156251] 15 BRAY, Norman Napier Evelyn. Shifting Sands. Foreword by Right Honourable Sir Austen Chamberlain. London: Unicorn Press, 1934 First edition, second impression, published in the same month as the first; this controversial account by a Bengal Lancers officer and passionate anti-jihadist who served under A. T. Wilson during the war is uncommon, particularly so in the jacket. Among other propositions Bray considers Lawrence’s contribution as against those of lieut.-col. Gerard Leachman and finds the former wanting: “Lawrence was enabled to carry out his task by calling on vast supplies of money and abundance of every kind, and was assisted by the fact that the Arab forces were in close contact with, and supported by, the British armies in the field, Leachman on the other hand, in many instances worked quite alone and almost unaided”. Bray published a full biography of Leachman two years later. Octavo. Original black cloth, spine lettered in gilt, publisher’s device in gilt to the front board. With the yellow textured dust jacket. Frontispiece and 29 other plates, 2 folding maps. Foxing to the edges, and to first and last few pages, else very good indeed in unclipped jacket, the slightest touch sunned on spine. ¶ O’Brien F0139. £450 [157195]
sharjah international book fair
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