The Arab of the Desert. A Glimpse into Badawin Life in Kuwait and Sau'di Arabia.

London: George Allen & Unwin, 1949. First edition, first impression, pp.648, many illustrations, some in colour, 9 folding maps on seven sheets, and 6 folding genealogical tables. A very good copy in lightly soiled original cloth. Corners bumped, occasionally very lightly foxed. One of the most important accounts of Bedouin nomadic life around the Arabian Gulf by British administrator Lieutenant Colonel Harold Richard Patrick Dickson (1881-1959). Dickson served as British official in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Kuwait from 1919 until 1941. This work was the first, and only biographic, book he wrote on the now endangered way of life of the northern Arab Gulf. This work is considered 'monumental' in preserving Bedouin life and history, especially because Dickson recounts the detailed family and tribe relations he witnessed and heard in the oral histories told over evening campfires. He credits his friendly relations with the Bedouins to the circumstances around his nursing. He was wet-nursed by a member of the "Anizah tribe, as arranged by Shaikh Mijwal al Mazrab, which made him an honorary member of the tribe. He stated that this blood tie 'in later life has been of assistance to me in my dealings with the Badawin [Bedouin] of the high desert and around Kuwait".