Travels in Araby of Lady Hester Stanhope

London: Gordon Cremonesi, 1975. First Edition (presumed; no prior editions or printings cited). Large octavo in blue leatherbound boards with gilt spine title and floral motifs; dark blue and multicolor pictorial DJ; [5], 294 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates: illustrations (some color), facsimiles, portraits, index; 24 cm. A near fine copy, clean and bright; binding loose but sturdy; DJ is very good (+) with a slight curl to top edge and small chips near spine. Hardcover. ISBN: 0860330052

"Aristocrat, Prime Minister William Pitt's niece. Lady Hester Stanhope grew up at Chevening in Kent, the home of the Earls of Stanhope (now the residence of the Prince of Wales). 100 years before Lawrence of Arabia, she travelled throuhgout the Arab world on her own, adopting the customs, tongues and dress of her exotic Arab companions. Shipwrecked off Rhodes, attacked by BEduin at night in the Syrian desert, the first European woman to visit Palmyra, nearly killed by the Plage, she courted extraordinary adventures and surrounded herself with extraordinary people. Before her death her reputation was so great that not even the Sultan dared defy her. She became an oriental potentate in her own right." --Jacket.

// 1800-1899, Biographies, British, British Middle East History 19th century, Eccentrics and eccentricities, Eccentrics and eccentricities Great Britain Biography, Great Britain, History, Middle East, Middle East Description and travel, Nobility, Nobility Great Britain Biography, Stanhope, Hester, Lady, 1776-1839, Stanhope, Hester, Lady, 1776-1839 Travel Middle East, Travel, Women travelers, Women travelers Middle East Biography