SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR
The Marsh Arabs.
London: Longmans, 1964.
Price: $1,150.00
About the item
First edition. [xii], 242 pp. Profusely illustrated with maps and photographs by the author. 8vo. SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR. A near fine copy in original green cloth, gilt, with a price-clipped dust jacket, somewhat shook, with two closed tears to front cover (one with tape repair on verso).
Item #345985
Signed by the author in 2000. The Marsh Arabs is an account of Thesiger's time in the marshes of southern Iraq where he lived from the end of 1951 until June 1958. He writes in the introduction: "From my recollections, helped by my diaries, I have tried to give a picture of the Marshes and of the people who live there. Recent political upheavals in Iraq have closed this area to visitors. Soon the Marshes will probably be drained; when this happens, a way of life that has lasted for thousands of years will disappear."
After the enthusiastic reception of Arabian Sands, this second work "confirmed Thesiger's reputation as a writer and a photographer ... [He was celebrated for] the manner in which he travelled, the enduring relationships he forged among tribes in remote, seldom visited areas, and the way he captured for posterity fast disappearing ways of life. By the time of his death he was widely acknowledged as among the greatest of twentieth-century explorers" (ODNB).
