The Wild Flowers of Kuwait and Bahrain by Dickson Violet (2 results)

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. No Jacket. First Edition. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1955. 144 pp. 22.5 x 14.5 cm. Red cloth covered boards with gilt titling to spine, top edge stained red; illustrations (2 color plates) and maps. Very light rubbing to spine ends and corners of boards. Bookseller's label at bottom corner of front pastedown (Arthur Probsthain, London). Interior is clean and umarked. Binding firm. Although this lacks a dustjacket, it is an exceptionally crisp copy. Born in 1896, the writer and botanist Violet Dickson lived in Kuwait for 61 years. She was married to Harold Dickson, who was a British Political Agent to Kuwait, and later worked for the Kuwait Oil Company. Violet became fluent in Arabic, and ended up writing her autobiogrtaphy, 'Forty Years in Kuwait' upon the urging of Ian Fleming, the author of the James Bond novels. Violet contributed many botanical specimens to the botanic gardens at Kew Gardens, and the plant Horwoodia dicksoniae was named in her honor. . First Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good/No Jacket.

First edition, scarce in the jacket in any condition, of this attractively illustrated monograph. Dickson's book, "now a precious rarity, is full of interest. She describes the flowers simply and accurately, capturing the essence of each one and making it clearly recognisable" (Shuaib, p. 20). Violet Dickson (1896-1991) was married to Harold Dickson, a British political agent in Bahrain (1919-20) and Kuwait (1929-36) and subsequently an employee of the Kuwait Oil Company. She stayed in Kuwait after her husband's death in 1959 until the Iraqi invasion in 1990, becoming a prominent member of the expatriate community. A desert flower, Horwoodia Dicksoniae, is named after her. Not in Macro. Linda Shuaib, Wildflowers of Kuwait, 1995. Octavo. With 5 plates (2 colour, 3 half-tone), 4 maps, illustrations and maps in text. Without errata slip sometimes found at p. 98. Original red cloth, spine lettered in gilt, top edge red. With dust jacket. 1961 Bahrain ownership signature on front free endpaper recto. Cloth generally bright, spine ends and board edges discoloured and lightly worn, endpapers spotted, even toning internally; jacket unclipped, losses to spine, heavily repaired on recto and verso with adhesive tape: a very good copy in an acceptable example only of the scarce jacket.