8vo. 274 pp., Arabic text, translated from English & introduced by Hussain Abdullah al-Umari, 1 errata slip, publisher’s original wrappers, title in English and Arabic, index, copy in very good condition, Hurst & Company, London, 1978.

Synopsis

First published in English in 1968. The author chronicles the kaleidoscopic coming and going over the centuries of coffee traders, naval captains, travellers, political agents – often masquerading as doctors or archaeologists – Turkish pashas, oilmen, purveyors of ‘aid’, freelance pilots in the Imam’s primitive air force and UN fact-finders.