Travels in Arabia Deserta

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The First and Indispensable Work Upon the Arabs of the Desert Two volumes in their gilt pictorial green cloth. Spines, lacquered & re-backed with original back strips preserved, gilt titles. Vol 1, half title, [5], (vi-xx), 623 pp, map (large folding col. map, in pocket), 8 plates (5 folding), numerous text illustrations & plans, appendix. Vol 2, half title, [5], (vi-xiv), 690 pp, illustrations within text, appendix, index & glossary of Arabic words, book label to fpds (RS Fox), evidence of book plate removal to feps - 3 tiny holes. A Very Good set. (225*146 mm). This is the very rare first edition of perhaps the most important book upon Arabia and the Arabs, It is alleged that only 500 copies were printed and that many of these were destroyed during WW1. T.E. Lawrence regarded it very highly & said in his introduction, to the 1 vol. edition of 1926 (subsequently reissued in 2 large volumes in 1936 as the Definitive Edition) I do not think any traveler before or since Mr. Doughty has qualified himself to praise the book  much less blame it. The more you learn of Arabia the more you find in Arabia Deserta.... The book has no date and can never grow old. It is the first and indispensable work upon the Arabs of the desert, & if it has not always been referred to, or enough read, that has been because it was excessively rare. Every student of Arabia wants a copy. In addition to its huge merit as a travel book and record of fact, the work is one of the great pieces of English Literature, it has been described as the greatest travel book ever written.