8vo. viii, 154 pp., [1 Table des Matieres], half-title, contemporary half-calf, title gilt on raised decorated spine, previous owner’s name stamped on title page, marbled endpapers, otherwise copy in very good condition, Jourdan, Alger, 1912.

Synopsis

Melchior Joseph Eugène Daumas (1803-1871), was a French general and writer. He is considered the first French army general to study the social conditions of Algerian women. In 1835 he was posted to Algeria, which Charles X had invaded in 1830. But the new colony proved difficult to subdue. Under the orders of Marshal Bertrand Clausel, Daumas took part in the campaigns in of Mascara and Tlemcen. While in Algeria, Daumas learned the Arabic language and started organising the Arab Bureau. He became one of the French army’s best experts on the Arab culture in North Africa.
This work on Arab women in Algeria is divided into fourteen chapters that discusses the childhood of Muslim women, their domestic life, the idea of marriage, women in Arabic literature, nomad women, women and horses, women and religion, women and love, ect.