Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates.

First Edition of Lady Anne Blunt's Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates

Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates.

BLUNT, Lady Anne.

Item Number: 111632

London: John Murray, 1879.

First edition of this classic work in travel literature. Octavo, original cloth, with twelve engraved plate, (including two frontispieces, one colored folding map entitled “A Map of the Euphrates District” and a folding chart of Arabian Thoroughbreds. Edited, with a Preface and Some Account of the Arabs and Their Horses by Wilfrid Scawen Blunt. From the library of James Stephen “Steve” Fossett with his bookplate to the pastedown of both volumes. American businessman and record-setting aviator Steve Fossett became the first person to fly solo nonstop around the world in 2002 in his 10-story high balloon Spirit of Freedom. He completed the 2002 trip in 13 days, 8 hours, and 33 minutes and set records for both the Longest Distance Flown Solo in a Balloon and Fastest Balloon Flight Around the World. Fossett was also one of sailing’s most prolific distance record holders set the Absolute World Speed Record for airships with a Zeppelin NT in 2004. He received numerous awards and honors throughout his career including aviation’s highest award, the Gold Medal of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), which he was awarded in 2002. Fossett disappeared on September 3, 2007 while flying a light aircraft over the Great Basin Desert, between Nevada and California. In near fine condition. Uncommon in this condition and with noted provenance.

Lady Anne Blunt was a traveller and breeder of Arab horses, and the granddaughter of Lord Byron. "With [her husband] Blunt she travelled extensively in the Middle East: her scientific interests are manifest in the mass of aneroid readings, barometric pressures, and compass bearings in her journal entries of their travels in the Arabian deserts. There she found happiness, and her numerous journals give a fascinating account of their experiences. Written simply as a private daily record, they provide frank insights into every aspect of her life, including her views on the political events in which her husband was involved...In 1882 the Blunts purchased a 37 acre walled garden outside Cairo...ady Anne became fluent in Arabic, and the insights she gained into the people and their customs ensured an encyclopaedic knowledge of the Bedouin and their horses. She also translated original Arab texts, two of which were put into verse by Blunt and published in England. She spent many years compiling a book on Arabian horses, but died just before its completion; happily much of this work is incorporated in the classic work by her daughter, Judith, Lady Wentworth, The Authentic Arabian Horse (1945). Two travel books, The Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates (2 vols., 1879) and Pilgrimage to Nejd (2 vols., 1881), despite appearing under Lady Anne's name, were not written by her. Purporting to be extracts from her journals, whole sections describing their travels were rewritten by Blunt" (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography).

We're sorry, this item has sold.

Ask a Question SHIPPING & GUARANTEE