Services Guide Iraq (3 results)

Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. Pale green card staple-bound wraps 11x15cm, illustrated to the front with map to the back. 46pp including 2 full-page maps, (2)pp adverts, with additional adverts inside wraps. Wraps very good with tear around the staple. Interiors very good, tanned, with some marks, creasing to a few corners, and closed tear to p23/4. This was prepared and published by the Welfare Committee of the Persia and Iraq Force (PAIForce) General HQ; undated, but Paiforce was approved in August 1942, and its GHQ established in Baghdad in September. It opens with Seton Lloyd's potted history "The Story of Iraq" (reprinted from "Maps of Iraq with Notes for Visitors", 1929). Most of it however contains practical advice covering the SSAFA (Soldier's, Sailor's and Airmen's Families Association), legal aid, clubs and hostels (in Baghdad, Ashar, Shueiba, Hillah, Musaiyib, Margil, Mosul, and Kirkuk), education (PAIForce's Army Education Corps aiming to develop interests servicemen hope to pursue in civilian life), sport (by "Commentator" at the Iraq Times), tours by the Baghdad YMCA, advice on writing home, music, PAIForce paper "Trunk Call", NAAFI (Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes), entertainment, churches (in Iraq and Bahrain), currency, and health. The 3 maps include Places of Interest in Iraq, Baghdad and Environs, and Baghdad Amenities Area. The latter shows 27 locations along both sides of the Tigris bounded by the King Faisal Statue (NW) and YMCA (SE). The adverts feature several well known local hotels and suppliers. Extremely rare institutionally, unrecorded on Worldcat and Library Hub.

A very rare guide intended for British armed forces stationed in Iraq during the Second World War. It was probably handed to the soldiers soon after arrival. Works like these were often discarded when they were no longer needed. As such, there are usually few of them left. This particular military guide is likewise extremely rare. We have only been able to find 3 other copies, 2 of which are located at the Imperial War Museum in London.The Services guide to Iraq was probably published by the welfare committee of the British PAI force, which is short for "Persia and Iraq Force". The British were stationed here to prevent Nazi Germany from invading the region for oil, among other reasons. The guide was meant to teach the soldiers the basics of finding their way in this new country. It explains where to go for sports, music, religion, legal aid, education, the costs of sending letters home, and how to recognize and prevent various tropical diseases. It also aims to instill some cultural awareness in the reader: included is an excerpt of a work about the history of Iraq by Seton Lloyd (1902-1996), archaeologist and then curator at the Baghdad museum.The paper wrappers are torn at the bottom of the spine, with some loss of material, barely affecting the integrity of the binding, a small stain and two small pen marks in red and green on the front wrapper. Somewhat browned throughout. Otherwise in good condition.l Not in WorldCat. Original publisher's beige printed paper wrappers. With two full-page maps of Iraq and Baghdad on page 24 and 25, and a full-page map of the "Baghdad Amenities area" on the back wrapper. Further with 6 pages of advertisements, serving as endleaves. Pages: 46, [2] pp.

12mo. 46, (2) pp. (ads). With full-page maps of Iraq and Baghdad and map of Baghdad amenities area on back cover. Original illustrated wrappers, stapled. First edition. An extremely rare guide to Iraq, produced for members of Paiforce (Persia and Iraq Force). It covers the expected subjects of health, hostels, clubs, sports and tours but also aims to instill a degree of cultural and historical awareness, principally with Seton Lloyd's short history of the country. Lloyd was the curator of the Baghdad Museum at the time, an institution mentioned in the guide as home to "astonishingly beautiful specimens of early Sumerian art, and the whole of Iraq's history . within well laid out rooms" (p. 23). - Less routine sections highlight Trunk Call (the Paiforce paper) and list Christian churches in Iraq and Bahrain. The advertisements, acting as front and rear endpapers, give a sense of the establishments catering to the troops, including an advert for a shopping centre belonging to the Hasso Brothers, who issued many fascinating photographic postcards of Iraq. - A few small stains to wrappers, a little dusty, otherwise very good. Rare, with no copies in Copac/Jisc or OCLC. We have only been able to trace one example, located at the Imperial War Museum.