THESIGER, Wilfred ~ Desert, Marsh and Mountain. The World of a Nomad. Signed by the author.

FIRST UK PRINTING. Collins, London: 1979.

Small Folio., light brown publisher's boards, lettered in gilt to spine; together in the photographic dustwrapper designed by Trevor Vincent; proliferated with numerous black and white photographs and maps throughout; THE BOOK a fresh, near-fine copy, a touch bumped at spine tips with very light spotting to the outer edges of the text block; THE WRAPPER neatly clipped, near-fine with only faint traces of wear. The wrapper is protected in a removable Brodart archival cover. First UK edition. This copy neatly signed by the author in black ink to the title page. Widely known for his best-selling travel books 'Arabian Sands' and 'The Marsh Arabs', Thesiger here recreates a story of his travels in some of the most remote places on earth, accompanied by an extensive collection of his own photographs showing people and places in the Desert, Marshes and Mountains. From Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he was born and raised, to imperial India (where his uncle was Viceroy), it covers his five years with the Sudan Political Service, his journeys in the Sahara, and his travels in Iraqi Kurdistan, Iran and the Yemen. With most of his journeys undertaken either on foot or by animal transport, Thesiger was able to access incredibly remote locations, and was perhaps the last in a line of 20th century explorers to truly experience wild, nomadic ways of life before encroaching technologies and building wiped them away for good. "I have led a hard life", he writes in his Foreword, "this was from choice. It was also an inexpensive one: this was essential. I would not have had it otherwise, nor asked for more. Looking back, I would happily live these years again, in the context of the past." A wonderful copy.

BINDING: Hardcover
CONDITION: Near Fine
JACKET: Near Fine