Voyages & Visions: Nineteenth-Century European Images of the Middle East from the Victoria and Albert Museum

Published in conjunction with an exhibition organized by the Smithsonian Institution and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Eighty-two watercolors and drawings selected from the extensive Searight Collection in London present a variety of 19th-century artists' encounters with the diverse cultures and dramatic lands of the fabled Ottoman Empire. Complementing the artworks are essays by experts in Middle Eastern studies elucidating the exchange of ideas and influences between East and West. 9x11.5" Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Arts & Photography

Newton, Charles

Searight, Sarah

Atıl, Esin

Victoria And Albert Museum

Other Media

Smithsonian Inst Traveling Service

The British in the Middle East (A Social history of the British overseas)

History

Historical Study & Educational Resources

Weidenfeld&Nicolson

London, Bodley Head (1991) First Edition, 1st printing. Slight dusting to top page edge, else very good hardcover. Clean, tight and straight. Dustjacket has a small closed tear, soft crease at front, slight rubbing, bit of edgewear, and a small scrape at back, else vgood+ in archival mylar cover. B107

STEAMING EAST

RANDOM HOUSE UK

New Orleans

UNKNO

The British in the Middle East

East-West Publications (U.K.)

Book by Atil, Esin, Newton, Charles, Searight, Sarah

Sites

Travelling in the Eastern Mediterranean was a common activity for the more adventurous of North European scholars in the 18th and 19th Centuries and many of the papers in this book discuss the adventures of Colonel Leake, Sir William Gell, Edward Lear and Lady Hester Stanhope. However there are also interesting studies of less well known Muslim and Italian travellers. Contents: Colonel Leake traveller and scholar (Malcolm Wagstaff); William Martin Leake and the Greek Revival (Hugh Ferguson); Leake in Kythera (Davina Huxley); Straddling the Aegean: William Gell 1811-1813 (Charles Plouviez); The Anger of Lady Hester Stanhope (Norman Lewis); Jacob Jonas Bjornstahl and his Travels in Thessaly (Berit Wells); the level of contact between East and West: pilgrims and visitors to Jerusalem and Constantinople from the 9th to the 12th Centuries (Peter Frankopan); Muslim Travellers to Bilad al-Sham (Syria and Palestine) from the 13th to the 16th Centuries: Maghribi travel accounts (Yehoshu'a Frenkel); Italian travellers to the Levant: retracing the Bible in a world of Muslims and Jews, 1815-1914 (Barbara Codacci); The Norths in Syria, Egypt and Palestine, 1865-1866 (Brenda Moon); The Pilgrimage to Budding Tourism: the role of Thomas Cook in the rediscovery of the Holy Land (Ruth Kark); J F Lewis 1805-1876: mythology as biography (Emily Weeks); Edward Lear's Travels to the Holy Land: visits to Mount Sinai, Petra and Jerusalem (Hisham Khatib); Oriental novellas in the works of Gerard de Nerval, 1840s (Marianna Taymanova).

Travellers in the Levant: Voyagers and Visionaries (Astene Publications)

Wagstaff, Malcolm

Ancient Civilizations

Astene

The first time I visited Simeon Stylites on his pillar was in 1970, just when Hafez al-Assad had become President of Syria. The pillar - in northern Syria - was the centre piece of a magnificent basilica built around it soon after Simeon's death in 459. The site is known as Qalaat Simaan, hill of Simeon. For some 40 years this holy eccentric chained himself to the top of a high pillar beside a major East-West Road that crossed northern Syria between the worlds of the Mediterranean and the Orient. His shrine has subsequently been visited by passers-by from all over the region. That link, that Road, explains so much of Syria's history. I travelled on it whenever I visited Simeon - the Jinn as he was known locally - and his shrine. That is set some thirty kilometres west of the great mercantile city of Aleppo. Much further to the west is city of Antioch - Antakya in today's Turkey. The Road was traversed by armies, merchants, churchmen, and pilgrims. A small patch of the ancient road still remains beside the modern road. The pillar also came to symbolise for me the history of this tragic, beautiful country. My 'timetable' for this story starts in 1970, three years after the 1967 war in which the Arabs were roundly defeated by Israel and which led to Assad's rise to the Syrian presidency. It is over fifty years since that first visit, years that have been marked by the chronic instability of the region in contrast with the immobility. I was fascinated by the immobility (and logistics!) of this man compared with the mobility of those who crowded to, past, by, near him, moving on that axial Road between East and West. In this fictional account I saw Simeon as a symbol of stability in the maelstrom of the Middle East. Many of his visitors were seeking comfort, consolation for the tragedies of their lives. Many also came to give thanks for happy moments. I was fascinated by the locality of his pillar - where it stood beside a road passed by caravans, armies, tourists, above all pilgrims - Christian and Muslim - travelling through what? - the Middle East after all. Everyone now as then on the move. Not forgetting in all this the anguish of Syria, much of the latest instalment taking place while I have been writing. Qalaat Simaan - Simeon's citadel, the hill on which he stood - used to symbolise for me the one point of stability in the turmoil of the Middle East. But now? Where is Simeon now? Where is the Jinn?

Simeon

Literature & Fiction

Claret Press

Yemen, “that opal land” of the Queen of Sheba, has inspired travelers for thousands of years. Historically, culturally, and scientifically, it lies at the crossroads of the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea, its landscape formed by the upheavals of the Rift Valley, refreshed by the monsoon rains of the Indian Ocean. It is a uniquely rugged yet verdant landscape that encouraged the growth of the ancient incense trade route. As a mountain people, Yemenis are fiercely individualistic, passionate devotees of their history, the beauty of their land, and the rich architectural heritage that grew out of this “glittering, wrinkled country of peaks and plains, towers and surprises." Readers can explore this remarkable land in this enlightening, photo-laden volume. Sarah Searight is the author of The British in the Middle East and Steaming East; Jane Taylor’s previous books include Imperial Istanbul and Testament to the Bushmen.

Yemen: Land and People

Photography & Video

Pallas Athene

Dr Hisham Khatib has spent almost 40 years amassing the vast and historically valuable collection of representations of the Near East featured in this book. The artworks included here (paintings, prints, maps, books, photographs, and even postcards) depict the Holy Land during the Ottoman period (1517-1917). The stunning images are accompanied by an engaging and deeply informative text.

Jerusalem, Palestine & Jordan: In the Archives of Hisham Khatib

Khatib, Hisham

History & Criticism

Gilgamesh Publishing

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Books by Searight, Sarah