Sons Of Sinbad: The Photographs

Alan Villiers

ISBN 10: 0948065753 / ISBN 13: 9780948065750

Published by National Maritime Museum, 2006

About this Item

Book is in fine condition, appears unread. 222pp with b/w photographs. Dust jacket in very good condition. Beautiful book. Seller Inventory # 007913

Bibliographic Details

Title: Sons Of Sinbad: The Photographs

Publisher: National Maritime Museum

Publication Date: 2006

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Fine

Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good

About this title

Synopsis:

Alan Villiers (1903–1982) was a renowned sailor, writer, and photographer. Originally published in 1940, Sons of Sindbad is his account of his journey, with local Arab traders, by dhow in southern Arabia, along the East African coast and in the Arabian Gulf with Arabs. It records a nautical and cultural tradition that even then was disappearing. The National Maritime Museum now republishes this sailing and adventure classic in an abridged form and larger format; with many more photographs from the Museum’s Villiers collection. This new book will be published as a companion volume to LAST OF THE WINDSHIPS (Harvill, 2000), and will further establish Villiers’ reputation as a photographer to compare with Wilfred Thesiger.

Villiers’ lifelong fascination for traditional sailing techniques led to him to embark on his remarkable voyage in 1938. Joining the crew of a large Kuwaiti boom, the Triumph of Righteousness, he sailed with them on the monsoon winds from Aden, down the East African coast, to Mombassa, Zanzibar and the Rufiji Delta. He then made the homeward voyage to Oman, Bahrain and finally Kuwait. Here he spent four months in the summer of 1939, including a month among the impoverished pearl divers of the northern Gulf.

This book depicts the experiences of the sailors and divers and the hardships they faced in their perilous environment. Villiers’ powerful photographs and words form a fine tribute to the skills and endurance of the Arab sailors, and a fitting valediction to the age of sail before the onset of oil and modernization

About the Author:

Alan Villiers was a noted writer and photogrpaher. William Facey is an expert in Arabian culture and history.