Jerash, Signed (2 results)

Large 8vo. pp 224. Colour illustrated dust jacket. Publisher's mustard yellow boards lettered in gilt at spine. Illustrated throughout in black and white. Signed and inscribed by the author; "For David and Louise, With my warmest best wishes and greetings, Iain, August 1983." ISBN: 0701125918 Very good indeed, pages a little yellowed at edges. In very good dust jacket with light shelfwear along top edge.

First edition, first printing, presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper verso, "To Mummy and Daddy, with all much love Paul, July 5th 1945". The author (1915-2008) worked for the British Council between 1940 and 1975, including in Greece and Egypt during the Second World War and later in Iran (1959-66) and Lebanon (1972-5). He amassed a large collection of Middle Eastern antiquities, a portion of which was given to the British Museum with the consent of his sisters, Linnet and Sheila. Below his inscription is a near-contemporary note, in a different hand, recalling the end of his parents' wartime residence in Greece: "The day after they all returned from Greece after 6 1/2 years - with Linnet aged 2 years and 10 months and Sheila aged 1 year and 4 months". In Greece, Gotch befriended Lawrence Durrell (Gotch called him "Larry"), who joined the British Council in the same period. In his introduction, Durrell invokes Chesterton's belief that "writers of travel-books may be divided into two categories: the Plain and the Fancy. It is a most accurate proposition. The self-indulgent literary man will get so excited about the landscape that he will forget to tell you where the road ends and the camel-track begins; the Plain Traveller with his passion for facts will give you five separate warnings against the fleas and omit to mention that an exquisite desert shrine lies not two hundred yards from the main road. This comprehensive guide to the Three Caravan Cities not only avoids the pitfalls of both methods, but fills a distinct gap on the bookshelf of any traveller in the Middle East". Octavo. With half-tone frontispiece and 16 plates, all after photographs of author; 4 folding plans. Original printed boards, map endpapers. Binding rather worn in places, rear board foxed, contents browned as usual with cheap wartime paper, plates and plans well preserved: a very good copy.