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31 INGRAMS, Harold. A Report on the Social, Economic and Political Condition of the Hadhramaut. London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1937 “there is an extraordinary complexity of social and governmental organization in the hadhramaut” First edition, first impression, one of 250 copies only. This exhaustive report, rare in commerce, is the first detailed account of the region by European visitors, collected during a nine-week tour by the author and his wife, Doreen. This in-depth study reports on the geography, history, development, social organisation, living conditions, production and resources, communication and transport, and commerce of the Hadhramaut region of the eastern Aden Protectorate. With accounts of inter-tribal relations and appendices detailing tribes, treaties, and genealogical tables also included, this report stands as one of the most detailed contemporary accounts of the area. Harold and Doreen Ingrams had been dispatched to Hadhramaut to reconnoitre the region following the exhortations of the Yemeni magnate, Sayyid Abubakr bin Sheikh Al-Kaff in 1934. The region was wracked by internecine conflict and tribal feuding, making normal life “almost impossible” (Bidwell, p. 185). Harold (1897–1973) had recently begun working as a political officer at the Aden Colony, with Doreen (1906–1997) working alongside him in a role in which she, in the words of St John Philby, “hid her light under the bushel of her husband’s fame” (The British-Yemeni Society). Hadhramaut was a region little explored by either Europeans or travellers from other parts of the Arabian Peninsula, and indeed the Ingrams were the first Europeans to visit some of the remoter wadis and villages in the region; Doreen became the first European woman to visit the city of Seiyun, the home of the Kathiri sultan’s royal palace. The couple would prove instrumental in the signature of a 1937 truce among the tribes in the area, known as the “Ingrams’ Peace”, for which they would be jointly awarded the Lawrence Memorial Medal of the Royal Central Asian Society in 1939.
Written at a time when colonialism and modernity were engendering significant changes on the Peninsula, this report recognises Hadhramaut’s increased contact with the outside world and the need for mutual trust and co-operation between the British and the principal rulers in the protectorate. Octavo. Original green wrappers, lettered in black. With folding map of Hadhramaut to rear. Contemporary accession inscription to front wrapper. Spine creased, minor marks to wrappers, short tear and minor loss to top corner of rear wrappers. A very good copy indeed. ¶ Robin Bidwell, Travellers in Arabia , 1976; “Ingrams, Doreen”, The British-Yemeni Society , accessible online. £1,750 [158945] 32 INGRAMS, Harold. Arabia and the Isles. London: John Murray, 1942 “it is an arab country and arab it must remain” First edition, third impression, a fine presentation copy with a lengthy, topical inscription on the front free endpaper by Ingrams to a respected and valued colleague. The esteemed British colonial administrator (see previous item), first posted to Aden in 1934, recounts his experiences working in Zanzibar, Mauritius, and southern Arabia. It is scarce with the jacket in such good condition. Ingrams served as resident advisor to the Hadhramaut sultanates from 1936 to 1944. He was a consummate colonial modernizer, pushing for road building and development in the region, and was described by Doreen as having “quite uncolonial ideas” ( ODNB ). Octavo. Original light brown buckram, spine lettered in gilt. With photographic dust jacket. Photographic frontispiece and 30 similar plates, of which all but 4 were taken by the author himself, 2 folding maps at the rear, the Indian Ocean, the East Aden Protectorate and Hadhramaut. Newspaper cutting entitled “Air Service Bolsters Arabian Market Day” from the The Times , 10 September 1962, loosely inserted. Inscribed in July 1944 to “Dear Fortescue”, a stubbornly unidentifiable member of the Famine Relief Flight of the RAF, established in 1944 to assist the people of the Hadhramaut region beset by famine from 1943 to 1944. Spine
sharjah international book fair
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