The book once belonged to "Caulfield Grammar School Library" Its stamp is on the title page and the Dewey number handwritten on the tail of the spine. Another stamp on the front paste down has been covered with blue biro. There is also a handwritten accession number on the back end paper and a borrowing slip and its pocket glued to the back paste down. The front cover, red boards with a gilt depiction of a camel, has an ink stain and page 35 has a small triagle missing from the blank edge at the tail. The hinge on the front end paper and on the one the following blank page, are exposed, though the binding remains very good. The verso of the front end paper and the opposite blank page are stained head and tail with remnant sticky tape marks. The plates opposite page 40 and page 200 are missing, and the plate opposite page 228 has been clipped and then reattached with sticky tape; one map is missing. My guess is that it's the one facing the front end paper. The contents give no page references for the 3 maps. Sounds hideous, but it's not. Most of the faults, with the exception of the missing 2 plates and map, are aesthetic, the pages are clean and the binding solid. King's 3 years of exploration were 1909 -1912. "W.J. Harding King makes several camel trips out of Dakhla Oasis , reaching 'Two Peaked Hill' some 200 kms to the South West of Dakhla in 1909. In 1911 He attempts to go further south, but only reaches 50 kms beyond 'Two Peaked Hill', thwarted by a native guide loyal to the Senussi tampering with his water supplies. He makes a remarkably accurate map of the Libyan desert based on information gathered from natives, including the 'oasis' of Owenat. He also predicts oases somewhere 400 kms to the south west of Dakhla based on the stomach content of migrating birds. King published several articles in the Geographical Journal, and wrote a book about his travels, published in 1925." (The Libyan Desert, History and Exploration).

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Bibliographic Details

Title: Mysteries of the Libyan Desert A Record of Three Years in the Heart of That Vast & Waterless Region
Publisher: Seeley, Service and Co., London
Publication Date: 1925
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Good
Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket

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Good Reading was established in 1991. In early 2013, I downsized from a shop which spanned a block and two stories to a largish house which resembles a rabbit warren. There are at approximately 40,000 titles, including over 10,000 books in Italian, French, German, Modern Greek, Latin and classical Greek., most of which have not yet been catalogued. I also have a very large Theology section, and a substantial cookery and Australian History one. Please contact me if there is a specific title you are chasing as it may be languishing on the shelf uncatalogued. All enquiries will be answered promptly, books will be mailed out swaddled like Russian babies, and all faults honestly described. I do a full refund for any book sporting nasty surprises.

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