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to establish the facts of the position of the Jews during World War II, to determine their causes and to suggest how Jewish rights might be claimed in a post-war settlement. The opening essay, “The Limits of Egypt, before and after 1906”, which was not included in the published edition, discusses the Egypt- Palestine border under the Ottomans, its status in 1906, and the opinions of Meinertzhagen and Lord Soulbury in 1957, undermining Egypt’s claims to Sinai. The excerpts, presented sequentially, include text from the dust jacket and those passages relating to Zionism, Palestine, Israel, the Arabs, and the Suez Crisis and its aftermath up to 25 July 1958. Of the two loosely inserted maps, that headed “The Jewish State” is a larger colour version (190 × 280 mm) with additional printed notes of the Meinertzhagen Line map reprinted in the Diary at p. 64 and in the Excerpts at p. 12. The other, entitled “Les Territoires occupes aux mains des etats de la Ligue Arabe” (colour 280 × 220 mm), bears neither author nor publisher credit, and is undated; it shows Arab League states, Arab satellite states, Israel, wars of occupation and oppression, and Biafra. Interestingly, a comparison of this copy against that held by the Bibliothèque nationale de France shows that the present copy includes additional material not present in the BnF copy: the 4-page introductory essay and two loosely inserted maps. The BnF copy includes page 31 (absent here but apparently never present) but with pp. 55 and 61 missing or blank (but present here). Narrow quarto (300 × 205 mm). Typescript wire-stitched in pale green printed wrappers with black cloth spine. Approximately 95 pp. printed on rectos only, comprising (4) pp. essay not in the published Diary , (2) pp. , pp. 2–12a, 13–14a, 15–26a, 27–30, 31a, 32–34a, 35–85. In-text map at p. 12, with 2 additional maps laid in (“The Jewish State” and “Les territoires occupies au mains des etats de la ligue arabe”). Covers variably toned, light creasing and creased short closed tears, front wrapper with old pale coffee cup stain at head and pencilled number; internally very good except for omission of, p. 31, although with no sign of removal. Published edition: Octavo. Original blue cloth, spine lettered in gilt on red ground. With dust jacket. Touch of foxing to edges, price-clipped jacket lightly foxed and spine panel slightly sunned. A very good copy, bright and sharp. Label of Institute of Jewish Affairs to front wrapper verso. ¶ Israeli institutional holdings: National Library of Israel, Ben Gurion University, Bar Ilan University, Israel Institute of Technology, and Oranim Academic College; European: BnF, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, University of Bern, and University of Vienna; Middle East: Abu Dhabi Dept of Culture and Tourism. £3,750 [159208]
prints, captioned in the negative in Arabic, typed compliments slip and 3-page English descriptive captioning loosely inserted. Just a little rubbed, very good indeed. ¶ For another album issued by Haji Nawab Ali see Qatar National Library (QNL 00028261). £8,750 [159482] 48 MEINERTZHAGEN, Richard. Excerpts from . . . Middle East Diary 1917–1956; [together with a copy of the first edition]. [London: The Cresset Press ?, c.1959] siding against arab interests A fascinating document, perhaps intended to inform pro-Israel lobbying in the wake of the Suez Crisis of 1956, containing material not included in the published edition. Marked “Not for Sale”, it is extremely scarce: an institutional search lists 11 locations only, with Oxford University alone in the UK. It is accompanied by a sharp copy of the first published edition. Although neither editor nor statement of purpose are identified here, it is quite possible that the wealthy philanthropist Dennis Cohen (1891–1970), fellow Harrovian, founder of the Cresset Press and publisher of Middle East Diary , may have been the moving force. In the preface to the published Diary , Meinertzhagen writes that “Mr Dennis Cohen is responsible for the inception of this book. In March 1958, whilst browsing among my seventy volumes of diary, he was impressed by various hitherto unpublished passages which he regarded as of historical importance” (p. ix). Cohen certainly had a direct interest: after serving in the First World War he joined High Commissioner Herbert Samuel’s staff in Jerusalem. Samuel, a fellow Zionist, appointed Cohen as an officer in the Department for Immigration and Travel, where he served with British Jews Albert Hyamson and Nathan Mindel. Meinertzhagen, himself a convinced Zionist, says he strongly urged Curzon and Lloyd George to appoint Samuel High Commissioner ( Diary , p. 81). Cresset Press published Samuel’s Memoirs (1945) and other of his works. This copy carries the library label of the Institute of Jewish Affairs (IJA), of whose work Cohen and Meinertzhagen would certainly have been supportive. The IJA was founded in 1941 by the World and American Jewish congresses: “its aims were to conduct a thorough investigation of Jewish life over the preceding 25 years,
All items are fully described and photographed at peterharrington.co.uk
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