"HELP THOU A LAND WHILE THOU DWELLEST THEREIN AND SAY NOT—"I AM A STRANGER HERE": PHILBY'S ARABIA OF THE WAHHABIS, 1928 ILLUSTRATED FIRST EDITION, WONDERFULLY INSCRIBED BY PHILBY IN ENGLISH AND ARABIC

PHILBY, Harry St. John Bridger. Arabia of the Wahhabis. London: Constable & Co., 1928. Octavo, original green cloth. Housed in a custom clamshell box.

First edition of this illustrated travelogue and firsthand history, with 29 photographic plates, large folding map of Central Arabia, plan of Buraida and numerous in-text diagrams, inscribed in the year of publication by Philby on the half title, "28.iv.28. To Doreen and Jasper Blunt with the author's best wishes for long years of happiness. H.St.J.B. Philby. 28.xi. 28," followed by another line in Arabic which translates "Help thou a land while thou dwellest therein, and say not, "I am a stranger here."

Harry St. John Bridger Philby, an officer with England's Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force, was sent in 1917 on a mission to Abdul Aziz ibn Saud (later King of Arabia) in order to secure his help against the Turks. At the end of this mission Philby made the second ever east-west crossing of Arabia. Succeeding T.E. Lawrence as the chief British representative in Trans-Jordania in 1921, he later converted to Islam and became an unofficial counselor of the Saudi King. "It is mainly to him that the world owes its present knowledge of Central Arabia" (DNB). Philby's only son was Harold (Kim) Philby, one of the most notorious and successful spies of the 20th century. Without very scarce dust jacket. This copy is inscribed by Philby to Jasper Scawen Blunt. Blunt served in the Royal Artillery from an early age and saw action in the Middle East towards the end of WWI, including in Hejaz. He subsequently served as a British military attaché in Greece and Turkey before seeing active service again in WWII when he eventually attained the rank of Brigadier. This book was inscribed to the couple as a gift on their marriage, the line of Arabic verse coming from the "Diwans" of the pre-Islamic poet Abid Ibn al-Abras, with Philby clearly reflecting on the lifestyle of a military family. Interestingly, Blunt was (like Philby) almost certainly the relative of a notorious spy, also a member of the Cambridge Five spy ring; Anthony Blunt's older brother was named Wilfred Jasper Blunt, suggesting a close (if not immediately identifiable) family connection.

Folding map fine, scattered light foxing to text; cloth with some wear to extremities. An extremely good copy, scarce and desirable signed.