National Museum of Ras al Khaimah

A rare early guide and description. Original colour illustrated wraps 17x24cm. (68)pp English and Arabic texts with colour royal portraits, several colour and vintage b/w photos, full-page floor plan, and double-page map showing RAK's position in the UAE. Near fine, rubbed and lightly bumped at the corners. Undated, but the latest reference spotted in the text is to happenings during 1987 (it apparently predates the findings of Burkhard Vogt's Umm an-Narr era rescue excavations at Asimah in 1987-88). No author is indicated, but the Preface by Sheikh Khalid Bin Saqr Al Qassimi, Deputy Ruler of RAK and Director of Antiquities and Tourism, credits the Museum's formation to Beatrice de Cardi, Walter Dosal, Carl Phillips, Vogt, Major Tim Ash and Jayanth Laxman among others. This guidebook describes the Museum's fine historic building, its collections and benefactors. It was originally built as a fort during the Persian era (1736-49), after which it became a family home for the Qasimi Sheikhs up to the early 1960s, a Police HQ, and then a prison. Ash initiated plans for the Museum and its ethnographic collection in the 1970s, with de Cardi leading the archaeological excavations. In 1984, Jayanth Laxman began restoration using traditional methods and locally sourced materials as far as possible. The Museum opened in 1987. Other sections describe its natural history collections, Archeology Gallery, ethnography (pearling, fishing, agriculture, crafts, Bedouin, falconry, silver, weapons, costume), and the Quwasim Room.…