London: Edward Arnold, 1916. Octavo, dark blue cloth.pp (xvi), 310, (2, blank), 12 (ads) + frontispiece portrait with tissue guard and three other plates. Spine has very light darkening, light damp streaks, minor rubbing to tips; light tanning to endpapers; tissue guard browned with consequent tanning to the portrait and the title page; else fine. Chapter XXIV is "Mr. Huntington and the Central Pacific Railway, 1894" and Chapter XXV (pp 267-82) covers his time as President of Canada's Grand Trunk Railway, 1895-1909. The book has quite a bit on Egypt. Wilson was Britain's Minister of Finance 1878-79. "It was largely through his efforts that Egypt gained a constitution, and he played a historic part in the closing scenes of the reign of its last despotic ruler, Ismail Pasha." - preface.

New York: Harper, 1909. Octavo, green pictorial cloth stamped in gilt, top edge gilt, other edges rough trimmed. pp (10), (211), [3] + colour frontispiece with tissue guard and 16 b&w plates. Spine gilt just a mite darkened; nice bookplate inside front cover of Adelaide Person; Boston bookseller's ticket (Lauriat); else a fine, bright copy. An account of a journey in January from Damascus to Jerusalem, Hebron, Beersheba, El Airsh on the coast, and thence to the Suez Canal and Kantara. Much on the Bedouin and desert travel, one amusing chapter on an avaricious third generation bookseller of Damascus and his dusty store room full of what would be very valuable stock today. Duncan, from Brantford, Ontario, after graduation from the University of Toronto in 1895, was on staff of The New York Evening Post 1897-1901, and lived mainly in the USA after 1900. He worked as a professor at Washington and Jefferson College and the University of Kansas. He made and wrote about several trips to Newfoundland and Labrador and in 1907-08 was a correspondent for Harper's magazine in Syria, Palestine, Arabia and Egypt. The present book records his travels made with the illustrator, a young Lawren Harris, who became a famous Canadian painter and member of the Group of Seven. The book is based on articles he published in Harper's. Adelaide Pearson (1874-1960), from a wealthy Boston family, was a classically trained violinist, the founder of Rowantrees Pottery in Blue Hill, in 1934, long time social worker and a generous benefactress and patron to the arts in Blue Hill, Maine. She was a classically trained musician as a young woman, travelled around the world every year of her life beginning at age 17, and having inherited a house from her maternal grandfather brought to Blue Hill a great cultural influence which extended to many people over the course of many years.

New York: American Tract Society, c1845. Contains the Preface to the 1840 second edition. Original brown cloth decorated in blind, spine lettered and decorated in gilt. pp [2], 396, [2] + engraved frontispiece portrait with tissue guard. Small worn spots to front joint and head of spine; moderate wear to outer corners; considerable foxing, typical of American books of this period, else a VG tight and unworn copy. Pencil ownership of a Port Abino (Fort Erie), C.W. (Ontario) resident. Mrs Smith (1802-36) ministered to Mohegan Indians in her native Connecticut befor she and her husband sailed for Beruit. "Sarah Smith learned Arabic, French, and Italian, which allowed her to better understand the cultural context and help her husband with translation work. Because she wanted to improve life for women, Smith also founded a mission school for Arab girls, which was attended by girls from Christian, Druze, Muslim, and Jewish families. She hoped the school would give her the opportunity to evangelize, a goal she also worked towards by starting prayer meetings for women.. Smith’s previous mission experience with the Native Americans prepared her for her new mission context. Although she was at first judgmental of Syrian culture, she gradually developed a more nuanced understanding of both Syrian and American culture. She realized that not all Syrian practices had to be rejected before a person could become Christian and that some American approaches to mission repelled the Syrian people. She also decided that since Syrian culture was saturated with “pious language,” Christian ministry should focus more on deeds than words, so she developed a ministry of hospitality and service to the poor. After only three years in the field, Smith died. Unlike the spirit of quiet acceptance that marked the deaths of most missionary wives, Smith expressed anger and frustration; she had finally mastered Arabic, only to die. Despite her short missionary tenure, Smith offers us some of the most thoughtful and culturally-sensitive, female mission theory of the period." - Anneke Helen Stasson.

Amsterdam: No publisher, 1784. Four volumes, in old quarter mottled calf and patterned boards, tan morocco titling pieces. pp lvi, 274; 301; 252; 208; half-title in each volume; woodcut title page vignette and head pieces. Bindings with modest rubbing and wear to the edges and spines; some inner hinges cracked but all quite firm; Vol. I has a very small chip at head of spine and a small abrasion to upper front joint; otherwise VG+ externally, internally fine, with normal paper rippling. >>>De Tott was a French military officer and diplomat of Hungarian origin. Upon first traveling to Constantinople in 1755 as the secretary of his uncle ambassador Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes, de Tott learned Turkish and made the political situation in the Crimea his special study. Returning to Crimea in 1767 as French consul, he incited the Tatars to rebel against Imperial Russia and subsequently played a significant role on the side of the Ottoman Empire during the Russo-Turkish War of 1768-1774, being tasked with defending the Dardanelles against the Russian fleet. He travelled across the Ottoman Empire, visiting coastal cities around the Mediterranean Sea, mainly Alexandria, Aleppo, Smyrna, Salonika and Tunis. De Tott lived in Turkey for 23 years. He also prospected the area for the construction of a canal in Suez and was appointed Inspector-General of the Levant for France in 1776. This work is credited with being the first objective account of Turkey by a Western writer. "According to Herold, Bonaparte in Egypt, De Tott was in fact an agent of the French secret service, and his inspection tour was a cover for exploring the possibility of a French seizure of Egypt; he prepared a special report on this subject for the French Foreign Office. His memoirs had a great success; they provide objective information and a new unromantic view of the Ottoman Empire." (Blackmer Collection 1667). 2 kg parcel.

Waterloo, Ontario: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1985. Tan printed cloth. (xxii), 250 pp, photos, four folding plans in pouch at rear. A fine copy. The Joint Archaeological Expedition to Tell el-Hesi, Volume Two. "Tell el-Hesi, located in southern Israel at the juncture of the Negev Desert and the foothills of the Judean Mountains, provides an excellent opportunity for the archaeological study of the impact of a variety of physical environments on the peoples who inhabited a single site. The site has been occupied at various times from the Early Bronze Age through to the military trenching of 1948. Level one revealed the modern military trenching. Level two contained a Muslim cemetery that the author has dated to the period 1600-1800 A.D. This work analyzes the military trenching and provides the first statistical analysis of an entire cemetery in this geographic region. Using a computer code to analyze numerous attributes describing the burial cysts, skeletal data, and grave goods, the author has developed a typology of burials and drawn conclusions about the community which they represent. More than eighty photographs of individual burials and burial goods in addition to tables, plans, and section drawings illustrate the text. The methodology employed in this work makes it a valuable source of information for archaeologists investigating burials in any cultural context. The broader audience of anthropologists interested in burial customs will also find the book useful." Note: 1.5 kg parcel, extra postage may be required.