To the outsider, the lands of Arabia have over many centuries represented a great mystery, a vast space on the map crossed by largely imaginary pathways, a terrain mastered only by skilful trackers, the "bedu" who could survive and thrive within that seemingly barren landscape. But in those travellers like Charles Doughty, T.E. Lawrence, Alois Musil, Harold Philby, Wilfred Thesiger and Bertram Thomas, who came to know the reality and true richness of the Arabian landscape, it engendered a passion and inspiration that perhaps no other land could have inspired. Arabia was for them a union formed of both land and people; it was not at all the void that so many of the early visitors had believed. Their respect and understanding for the peoples of Arabia is at the heart of this photographic record that they and other visitors have bequeathed to us. The images in this volume are unique in two senses. Firstly, the difficulties of producing any photograhic images at all in the arid and difficult conditions at the heart of the peninsula, or in the soaking humidity of the Red Sea or the Gulf coasts, makes them both scarce and precious; and these are also images of the highest visual quality.Secondly, the styles of life, the buildings and the landscape depicted here have, for the most part, disappeared for ever. These images are the last relics of a lost way of life. The selection reflects the approach of the author, who looks first for photographs which are fresh in their visual appeal and, where possible, unpublished. He then looks for images with a context - which relate to a specific event, or historical development. Finally, he looks for the rationale behind a photograph, the reason why it was taken or the purposes to which it has been put. The book records, at one remove, the heroic story of the creation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, illustrating the stages of the foundation of the Kingdom, leading to the peace and prosperity of the present day. The book also contains a number of images concerning King Abdul Aziz, one of the truly great figures of the 20th century.
