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3 ABU DHABI COMPANY FOR ONSHORE OIL OPERATIONS. The Gifts of the Desert. Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi Oil Company for Onshore Oil Operations, 1982 Celebrating the first oil shipments from a key port First and sole edition of this specially produced work, published to commemorate the 20th anniversary of ADCO’s first crude oil shipment from Jebel Dhanna; rare, an online institutional search showing one copy only, at Exeter University. Provenance: lid of box lettered in gilt “J. Turnbull” with a compliments slip loosely inserted with typed name of the same; this is almost certainly John Turnbull, BP’s General Manager Production (Overseas) and later chief executive of BP Indonesia. Quarto. Original presentation binding of moderate blue padded leatherette, gilt-lettered on covers within gilt and blind ornamental borders, bright blue watered silk endpapers. Housed in the original matching box. With colour illustrations throughout. Box showing just light signs of handling, light scratch to front cover of book. A very good copy, bright and sharp. £1,750 [159397] 4 ADEN; YEMEN. Annual Report on the Social and Economic Progress of the People of Aden, 1938. London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1940 First edition, first impression, one of 750 copies only, of this official governmental report on socio-economic concerns in the Aden Colony, scarce in commerce and an excellent resource for research into the social and economic history of a key strategic colony of the British Empire. This report provides a snapshot of some of the final peaceful years in Aden before the upheaval of the Second World War and the subsequent anti-imperial insurgency against the British, leading to Aden’s independence from the British Empire as part of South Yemen in 1967. A functional document, this work details a range of developments with respect to geography, government, population, health, housing, production, commerce, labour, education, communication and transport, public works, justice, legislation, and other miscellaneous concerns.
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The recent discovery of oil in Persia and latterly Saudi Arabia had focussed international attention on the Arabian Peninsula and the Gulf, with Aden being the closest major port to the Iranian oilfields on the main shipping route between Britain and India. The increasing threat of war in Europe further encouraged the British to shore up their imperial superstructure, and Aden would become a key strategic outpost during the Second World War. Octavo. Original green wrappers, lettered in black. Strong vertical crease where once folded and pocketed, other general creasing, small chip and a couple of minor spots to front wrapper and title page, an ephemeral work in surprisingly good condition. £750 [159011] 5 AL-GURASHI, Salem Monis. A History of the Violence in the Grand Mosque; [together with 16 original black and white photographs of Mecca and Medina]. Sacramento, CA: 1985 The siege of the Masjid al-Haram – a defining moment in modern Saudi history Extremely rare thesis, motivated by the attack on hajj pilgrims at the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca between 20 November and 4 December 1979, an event that “shook the Muslim world to its foundations and changed the course of Saudi history” (BBC). An institutional search shows two locations only: California State University, where it was presented, and King Fahd National Library. The seizure of the Grand Mosque was conducted by insurgents led by “a charismatic 40-year-old preacher called Juhayman al- Utaybi” (ibid.), a follower of Mohammed Abdullah al-Qahtani, whom they considered to be the Mahdi, or divinely guided one. It was the bloodiest assault on the Mosque to date and saw the taking of 50,000 hostages and the deaths of over 300 soldiers, civilians, and terrorists. “The men who took over the Grand Mosque belonged to an association called al-Jamaa al-Salafiya al-Muhtasiba (JSM) which condemned what it perceived as the degeneration of social and
sharjah international book fair
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