From Cairo to Siwa Across the Libyan Desert with Armoured Cars - Signed and Inscribed -
Major T. I. Dun, D.S.O., M.C., R.A.M..
1933 - Messrs E. & R. Schindler, Cairo - First Edition, number 26 of 75 De Luxe Morocco bound volumes
Scarce first edition of this magnificently illustrated large and luxuriously presented account of this 1,100 mile reconnaissance trek from Cairo to Siwa across the Libyan desert with the XIIth Royal Lancers and their ten Rolls Royce armoured cars commanded by Major J.R.C. Rawnsley in October of 1932. To add to the challenge, it had only been three years since the regiment had switched from Horses to armoured cars (left to them by the Royal Tank Corps in 1929).
Number 26 of only 75 deluxe quarter morocco bound volumes, housed in bespoke black illustrated slipcase, present here. Signed and then inscribed twice by the author, Major Dun, to ’my friend E.S. Millar, March 1939’, both on the fabulous bookplate and to the limitation page. Illustrations and decorations by N. Strekalowsky, together with many other artists as well as students of the School of Fine Art, Egypt. Sixteen pages of photographs, 1 full-page illustration printed in gold, 1 tipped-in plate printed in silver and another in gold, folding map of Egypt showing the route taken, and a coloured plan of Cairo; text printed in red and black, numerous substantial marginal woodcut illustrations in a variety of colours, decorative gold endpapers. After the delightful and thoroughly British foreword by Field Marshal Sir William Birdwood, Bt., G.C.B, G.C.S.I., G.C.M.G., C.I.E., D.S.O., LL.D., Indian Army, Colonel, XIIth Royal Lancers, the book is divided into four parts. The first is a narrative of the journey from Cairo to Siwa and back; the second is a short history of the customs and superstitions of the Siwa Oasis and adjacent Libyan Desert. Then come photographic pages and lastly a map drawn by J. H. Rowntree, supplementing the sketch map in the text.  More Details
Price: HK$ 15,000 |
