Jamil Moses (1 results)

Hardcover. Condition: Poor. An imperfect copy, missing 8 pages. Untitled red cloth 9x13cm. (4), 97, (3)pp. Covers very good, interiors near fine with previous owner's name dated 3-8-28 to the ffep, a few penciled additions and corrections, lightly tanned with some spotting. Graded as poor overall, as missing pp29-36. Extremely rare, unrecorded on Worldcat and Library Hub, with few other references found. Rachel Mairs lists it in her "Catalogue of Arabic Phrasebooks, 1798-1945" indicating it as "not seen" (no.39, University of Reading). This was one of a small number of Mesopotamian Arabic language guides produced towards the end of the Mesopotamian Campaign and during the early stages of the British occupation of Baghdad. Others include van Ess (1917 published in Oxford), Bahoshy (1918 in Cairo), and Seresser (1918 in Bombay), with this alone among them published locally. Moses makes no mention of these other works in his Preface, stating "the books in the libraries contain grammatical Arabic current in Egypt, but they are of little use to the travellers in Mesopotamia". Intended to make the British easily understood in conversation, it includes a guide to pronunciation, a "usual vocabulary", conjugation of verbs, and useful simple phrases and sentences. The vocabulary is organised thematically, covering geography, epochs, days, months, seasons, flora and fauna, the human body, clothes, house and contents, eating and drinking, trades, instruments, metals and precious stones, sickness, military terms etc. The missing pages lose the end of the section on instruments, the sections on metals, colours, places, numbers, sickness, and the start of the section on military terms. The phrases relate to salutation, rising in the morning, buying and selling, travelling, meals, time, sickness, and service in the house. Unfortunately there is presently very little other information on this work: "E.R.C.P." remains unidentified, no further information has been found on Moses, and references to a Dar-es-Salam (Salaam) Press are not contemporary.