Jong Everdene (1 results)

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. Printed blue cloth boards quarter bound with green cloth spine 18x25cm. Printed at the American Press, Beirut. (6), 196pp + 52pp "The Key to the Spoken Arabic of the Arabian Gulf" also by De Jong separately numbered with its own title page. Covers about very good, spotted, and rubbed to the edges. Interiors near fine, lightly tanned. Scarce with 19 locations on Worldcat and Library Hub (OCLC 580288667, 899069796). Everdene de Jong was in charge of the American Mission's evangelical work in Kuwait, Bahrain, and Amarah with her husband Garrett, founder of the Kuwait Mission Church. Their field station at Kuwait was one of several jumping off points into the Peninsula, with others at Basrah, Bahrain, Muscat, Amara, Nasiriya, Matrah and Qatar. The stations also performed healthcare and education functions. The Kuwait station was especially important given its nearness to the Tigris and Euphrates, caravan routes into the interior, and for maintaining diplomatic ties with Ibn Saud, whom they held in high regard. Contemporary with the early wave of pioneering oil company Gulf Arabic language guides, this was prepared for Mission staff with themed exercises covering home life, family, school, shopping, world affairs, agriculture, parts of the body, a visit to the oil fields, etc. The training was done at the Kuwait, Basrah, and Bahrain stations. De Jong contributed to this, as did John van Ess whose "The Spoken Arabic of Mesopotamia" (first issued in 1917) remained in use. (Reference: Scudder, "The Arabian Mission's Story", 1998).