The Manners and Customs of the Rwala Bedouins by Musil Alois (2 results)

First editions. 6 volumes and a map case. Each vol. has a frontispiece and numerous maps and illustrations in the text. Some also have loose maps in end-pockets, a total of two large folding maps, 2 (of 4) index maps and a genealogical table of the Al Saud. (Vol.1 and vol.2 are lacking the index maps; vol.2 Arabia Deserta calls for a loose index map but this copy, as with most others, was issued without it & the corresponding end-pocket.) The map case contains a large four-part folding colour map of Northern Arabia. Large 8vo. Original grey cloth, with black labels to spine and upper board; marks to spine of vol.2, spine of vol.3 sunned and scuffed, a few small stains to covers, some corners bumped, a few labels abraded, light foxing to endpapers, otherwise good. xii 374pp; xviii, 631; xvi, 426; xiv, 367; xiv, 368; xiv, 712pp. New York, The American Geographical Society, 1926- A good set of Musil?s important expeditions in Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq), Jordan, Syria and Central Arabia (now Saudi Arabia), with the oft-missing map case containing a large four-part map of Northern Arabia. Alois Musil (1868-1944) was a remarkable scholar and explorer whose achievements were initially quietly registered outside German-speaking Europe, but have since garnered increasing attention. Born into a farming family in Moravia, his academic ability set him on course for the Church, leading to a doctorate in theology in 1895. That same year he continued his studies at the French Biblical and Archaeological School of Jerusalem, where his fascination with the Middle East truly took hold. Further study in the library of St. Joseph University (Beirut) prepared him for field work and he commenced the first of many journeys into the deserts of Syria, Jordan, Sinai and Northern Arabia. Though those travels yielded myriad rediscoveries, that of Qusayr ?Amra, an eighth-century Umayyad lodge, is best known, as the walls, much to Musil?s own incredulity, bore figurative frescoes. The present set documents his expeditions between 1896 and 1914, with the first five volumes organised geographically and written as topographical itineraries. A significant part of the content covers what is now northern Saudi Arabia and volume five, Northern Negd, includes a history of the Al Saud (see Appendix IX). The sixth volume, devoted to the Ruwallah, is arguably the most important as it was the most in-depth study of an Arab tribe produced in the period. Musil spent long periods with the Ruwallah, including their migration of 1909, and became firm friends with their foremost leader Prince Nuri ibn Hazza ibn Sha?lan. It was Ibn Sha?lan that bestowed an honorary title on the outsider in his midst, ?Shaykh Musa al-Ruwayli? (Cf. Harrigan, Peter, 'From Moravia to Arabia' in Saudi Aramco World, Nov.-Dec. 2009, pp.8-16). Macro, 1666 (Arabia Deserta), 1671 (Rwala Bedouins), 1673 (Northern Arabia), 1674 (Northern Hegaz), 1675 (Northern Negd).

6 volumes. 8vo. XII, 374 pp. with 2 folding maps in rear pocket. XVII, (3), 631, (1) pp. with folding map in rear pocket. XV, (3), 426 pp. with 2 folding maps in rear pocket. XIV, (2), 367, (1) pp. with 1 folding map in rear pocket. XIII, (1), 368 pp. with 2 folding maps in rear pocket. XIV, 712 pp. Together with 4 large folding maps in dedicated slipcase. Publisher's original grey cloth boards. A complete set of publications with the American Geographical Society on travels in the Arabian Peninsula and across the wider Middle East by the famous Czech explorer Alois Musil (1868-1944). Musil was said to be fluent in 35 Arabic dialects, and in 1898 he had rediscovered the lost desert castle of Qusayr Amra (built ca. 715) in the Jordanian desert north of Amman. During WWI Musil was sent to the Middle East to thwart British operations against the Ottoman Empire, thus becoming the opponent of T. E. Lawrence. - Musil's works in English, edited by J. K. Wright and not often found in a complete set, lay the groundwork for many Western studies of the Arabian Peninsula. Accompanied by 12 loose folding maps, Musil's six volumes cover the topography of the Hejaz with notes on tribes and the Hejaz Railway; the area between Damascus, the ancient ruins of Dumat al-Jandal in modern Saudi Arabia, and Mayadin in modern Syria with notes on contemporary local politics; the regions along the Euphrates from Resafa in Syria to Al-Najaf in Iraq with notes on ruins and ancient canal systems; travels to Palmyra and surroundings from Damascus to Aleppo and as far East as Mayadin with notes on Roman roads, and finally a journey through the Nejd in the heart of the Arabian peninsula from Al-'Ula to Hajel, Al-Najaf, and Dumat al-Jandal, ending with two extensive histories detailing the lineages of Abdulaziz bin Mutaib Al Rashid (1870-1906) and Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud (1875-1953), respectively. - The sixth and final volume, "extremely informative regarding Bedouin culture of all times" (Fück), comprises a work on the "Rwala Bedouins" (the Ruwallah). It includes a frontispiece photographic illustration of a dignitary named as As-Sejh Musa ar-Rwejli and chapters on beliefs regarding the heavenly bodies and weather, knowledge and use of animals including falconry, food and preparation, dress and weapons, marriage and divorce, merchants and blacksmiths, poetry, omens and spirits, judicial procedure, hospitality, vengeance and war, and death. - Light external wear and ex-library markings; maps are bright and clean. - Macro 1674, 1666, 1675, 1671. Howgego III, M103, p. 665. Fück 263f.