Traveller's Prelude. An Autobiography.

8vo. XII, (2), 346 pp. With a double-page map on blue/green paper, 22 double-sided plates, a green ornament on the title-page, a small woodcut of Asolo on p. 336, and some small decorations in the text. Green cloth with gold lettering on front cover and spine. With a dust jacket designed by F. Quilter. First part of Freya Stark's autobiography, spanning the years until her early thirties (1893-1927), immediately before embarking on her travels. The author was one of the first non-Arabs to journey through the southern Arabian Desert, in the 1930s. - The present copy is a reprint of the first edition; it was published in 1951, merely months after its first appearance in September 1950. Even though Stark's uniquely personal writing style was considered unusual at the time, her books proved very popular. Stark was of Italian and British descent; she was born in Paris and grew up in several places throughout Europe. - Freya Stark's autobiography includes three additional works: Beyond Euphrates (1951), The Coast of incense (1953), and Dust in the Lion's Paw (1961). - Dust jacket is somewhat damaged and partially repaired with tape, edges are untrimmed, small repair to the inner front hinge with tape. Overall in very good condition. - Howgego IV, S 61. Cf. article "Freya Stark" in Encyclopaedia Britannica. Shapero, The Islamic World (2003), 470 (other ed.).