Baghdad Sketches by Freya Stark first edition 1932

STARK, Freya – Baghdad Sketches
 
Baghdad: The Times Press Ltd. (1932)
 
8vo; in the original red boards with paper labels applied to the upper board and spine, typed in black font, giving only the title of the book and on the spine, the author; pp [viii], 132; with 12 plates illustrated by E.N. Prescott; the upper board has a circular stain to the top edge, and has a ding to the same place and to the lower edge of the lower board, there are flecks of ink to the lower board also, there is general minor soiling to the boards and the spine label has tiny amounts of loss, on the front free end paper is a previous owner’s contemporary gift inscription, however the pages and plates are clean and well bound, it is a decent copy, and overall very good. 
 
In 1928, 35-year-old Freya Stark set out on her first journey to the middle east. Her quest would lead her over four years through Iraq and Persia and so begin her travel writing career. For large parts of her journey, she travelled alone outside of the safety of the expatriate scene at a time when the region had gained wider geopolitical importance.
 
Stark ventured out of Baghdad travelling to Mosul, Nineveh, Tikrit and Najaf, where she described the culture and communities there, perceptively describing the tensions between Sunni and Shi’a. She documented down all that she found, and the result was one of the classic travel books of the 20th Century.