Documents of Near East Diplomatic History.

Hurewitz, J[acob] C[oleman] (ed.).

Published by New York, Near and Middle East Studies, School of International Affairs, Columbia University, 1951.

About this Item

4to. XV, 332 pp. Published as a typescript printed on one side. Original cloth. An invaluable collection of primary source documents, mostly in English (a few in French), related to international relations and the Middle East. The volume is composed as an aid to students at Columbia University, using documents available from that library only, covering nearly every nation in the Middle East and their relations with European nations. Topics include the texts of commercial and territorial treaties (including regarding the Dardanelles and Bosporus straits), Napoleon's proclamation to the Egyptians, territorial negotiations, proclamations of goodwill and protection of foreign merchants, the Suez Canal concession, regulations for colonies in the region, the Baghdad railroad, the mandate for Palestine, World War I and World War II regional restructuring discussions, etc. Most documents are from the 19th and 20th centuries, with the earliest being "Capitulation with France of February 1535", and the most recent, "Nationalization of the Oil Industry in Iran, 2-30 May 1951." A brief commentary is provided before each document describing context and significance. These papers represent an enormously important work for scholars, students, historians and diplomats, bringing together, as they do, such core reference material. In 1956, Hurewitz would expand this collection to the two-volume publication "Diplomacy in the Near and Middle East: a documentary record". - J. C. Hurewitz (1914-2008) did his graduate work at Columbia, making what was then an unusual decision to concentrate on the Middle East. He worked for the Near East section of the OSS during World War II, then worked successively at the State Department, as a political adviser on Palestine to the President s cabinet and for the UN secretariat. As a Professor, Hurewitz began studying Middle Eastern politics in 1950, before the field had emerged as an academic discipline. From 1970 until his retirement in 1984, he was director of Columbia's Middle East Institute. - Handwritten ownership (dated Washington, October 1952) on half-title; later in the collection of the professor of oriental studies and Brandeis librarian Miroslav Krek (1924-2014), with his ownership stamp on the reverse. - OCLC 5749457. Seller Inventory # 46766

Bibliographic Details

Title: Documents of Near East Diplomatic History.

Publisher: New York, Near and Middle East Studies, School of International Affairs, Columbia University, 1951.

Binding: Hardcover