RIHANI, Ameen.
Around the coasts of Arabia.
London, Constable & Co., 1930. 8vo. With a pictorial map as frontispiece, 31 photographic half-tone plates and a full-page map on an integral leaf. Original publishers black cloth, with title in gold on spine. X, [2], 364 pp.
€ 1,500
First edition, British issue, of a travelogue by the distinguished Lebanese Arab-American writer Ameen Rihani (1876-1940). This work is part of a trilogy: Around the Coasts of Arabia (1930), Arabian Peak and Desert: Travels in Al-Yaman (1930) and Ibn Sa'oud of Arabia: his people and his land (1928). Divided into 5 parts, in Around the Coasts of Arabia Rihani describes his time with King Husein in the Hijaz, the Idrisi in Asir, Aal Sabah, the sheiks of Kuwait, Aal Kalifah, the sheiks of Bahrein, and Aden and the protectorates. It is one of the most important sources for the historical background of the Idrisid Emirate of Asir.
Rihani, who moved to New York when he was 12, is considered the founding father of Arab-American literature. His early English writings mark the beginning of a school of literature that is Arab in its concern, culture and character, English in language, and American in spirit and platform.
A few occasional spots, but otherwise in very good condition. Literature of travel and exploration, an encyclopedia III, p. 1012; The Edinburgh Companion to the Arab novel in English: the politics of Anglo Arab and Arab American Literature and Culture, p. 474; The Encyclopedia of Islam, p. 809.
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