G. Rex Smith is retired and was previously Professor of Arabic, University of Manchester. B.R. Pridham is the former Director of the Centre for Arab Gulf Studies, University of Exeter. J.R. Smart is retired and was previously a lecturer in Arabic, University of Exeter

"The cement that holds this wonderful, widely diverse collection together is the superb editorial treatment: transliteration and transcription from the Arabic uniformly accurate; the English context soundly standardized and regularized, and the illustrative material clearly reproduced." (Journal of Semitic Studies, Vol. XLIII, No. 1, Spring 1998)

• Contents: The correspondence of Iman Yahya Hamid al-Din with the tribes of Eastern and Southern Yemen - a rare and unpublished document, Dr Hussayn 'Abd Allah al-'Amri; the Arabian travels of Johann Wild, Professor C.H. Beckingham; early Islamic painting - from Samarra to Northern Sicily, Professor P.M. Costa; observations on measures of capacity in present-day northern Yemen, Dr W.J. Donaldson; the special features of the Yemeni weekly market system - an attempt at an anthropological interpretation, Professor Dr Walter Dostal; a letter from Imam Yahya concerning the Idrisi, Dr Paul Dresch; smuggling and international politics in the Red Sea in the late Ottoman period, Professor Caesar E. Farah; bibliography of Robert Bertram Serjeant, Dr R.E. Kon; the sad fate of Bishr and Hind and the diffusion - an ancient Arabian love story, Professor H.T. Norris; coins and money in the Tahirid period, Dr Venetia Porter; poetry and power in Hadramawt - homage to Bob Serjeant, Professor Mikhail Rodinov; the old south Arabian so-called Bulawayo stone (CIF 458) recovered, Professor Jacques Rychmans; the birth of an archaeological journal in the Middle East - reminiscence and comments, Dr Sami Al-Sakkar; women in Arabic proverbs from Yemen, Dr Avihai Shivtiel; the establishment of the British Council in the Yemen Arab republic 1973-78, Clive Smith; more on the port practices and taxes of mediaeval Aden, Professor G. Rex Smith; review notice of Paulo Costa, "studies in Arabian architecture", Professor G. Rex Smith; the concept of "fasahah" in Ibn Sinan al-Khafaji, Professor Yasir Suleiman; water source and traditional irrigation in Yemen, Dr Daniel Martin Varisco; a Kufic inscription from Hamdanah in southern Hijaz referring to Amir Ibrahim b.Ziyad, Professor Ahmad 'Umar al-Zayla 'i.

G. Rex Smith is retired and was previously Professor of Arabic, University of Manchester. B.R. Pridham is the former Director of the Centre for Arab Gulf Studies, University of Exeter. J.R. Smart is retired and was previously a lecturer in Arabic, University of Exeter

"The cement that holds this wonderful, widely diverse collection together is the superb editorial treatment: transliteration and transcription from the Arabic uniformly accurate; the English context soundly standardized and regularized, and the illustrative material clearly reproduced." (Journal of Semitic Studies, Vol. XLIII, No. 1, Spring 1998)

• Contents: The correspondence of Iman Yahya Hamid al-Din with the tribes of Eastern and Southern Yemen - a rare and unpublished document, Dr Hussayn 'Abd Allah al-'Amri; the Arabian travels of Johann Wild, Professor C.H. Beckingham; early Islamic painting - from Samarra to Northern Sicily, Professor P.M. Costa; observations on measures of capacity in present-day northern Yemen, Dr W.J. Donaldson; the special features of the Yemeni weekly market system - an attempt at an anthropological interpretation, Professor Dr Walter Dostal; a letter from Imam Yahya concerning the Idrisi, Dr Paul Dresch; smuggling and international politics in the Red Sea in the late Ottoman period, Professor Caesar E. Farah; bibliography of Robert Bertram Serjeant, Dr R.E. Kon; the sad fate of Bishr and Hind and the diffusion - an ancient Arabian love story, Professor H.T. Norris; coins and money in the Tahirid period, Dr Venetia Porter; poetry and power in Hadramawt - homage to Bob Serjeant, Professor Mikhail Rodinov; the old south Arabian so-called Bulawayo stone (CIF 458) recovered, Professor Jacques Rychmans; the birth of an archaeological journal in the Middle East - reminiscence and comments, Dr Sami Al-Sakkar; women in Arabic proverbs from Yemen, Dr Avihai Shivtiel; the establishment of the British Council in the Yemen Arab republic 1973-78, Clive Smith; more on the port practices and taxes of mediaeval Aden, Professor G. Rex Smith; review notice of Paulo Costa, "studies in Arabian architecture", Professor G. Rex Smith; the concept of "fasahah" in Ibn Sinan al-Khafaji, Professor Yasir Suleiman; water source and traditional irrigation in Yemen, Dr Daniel Martin Varisco; a Kufic inscription from Hamdanah in southern Hijaz referring to Amir Ibrahim b.Ziyad, Professor Ahmad 'Umar al-Zayla 'i.

G. Rex Smith is retired and was previously Professor of Arabic, University of Manchester. B.R. Pridham is the former Director of the Centre for Arab Gulf Studies, University of Exeter. J.R. Smart is retired and was previously a lecturer in Arabic, University of Exeter

"The cement that holds this wonderful, widely diverse collection together is the superb editorial treatment: transliteration and transcription from the Arabic uniformly accurate; the English context soundly standardized and regularized, and the illustrative material clearly reproduced." (Journal of Semitic Studies, Vol. XLIII, No. 1, Spring 1998)

• Contents: The correspondence of Iman Yahya Hamid al-Din with the tribes of Eastern and Southern Yemen - a rare and unpublished document, Dr Hussayn 'Abd Allah al-'Amri; the Arabian travels of Johann Wild, Professor C.H. Beckingham; early Islamic painting - from Samarra to Northern Sicily, Professor P.M. Costa; observations on measures of capacity in present-day northern Yemen, Dr W.J. Donaldson; the special features of the Yemeni weekly market system - an attempt at an anthropological interpretation, Professor Dr Walter Dostal; a letter from Imam Yahya concerning the Idrisi, Dr Paul Dresch; smuggling and international politics in the Red Sea in the late Ottoman period, Professor Caesar E. Farah; bibliography of Robert Bertram Serjeant, Dr R.E. Kon; the sad fate of Bishr and Hind and the diffusion - an ancient Arabian love story, Professor H.T. Norris; coins and money in the Tahirid period, Dr Venetia Porter; poetry and power in Hadramawt - homage to Bob Serjeant, Professor Mikhail Rodinov; the old south Arabian so-called Bulawayo stone (CIF 458) recovered, Professor Jacques Rychmans; the birth of an archaeological journal in the Middle East - reminiscence and comments, Dr Sami Al-Sakkar; women in Arabic proverbs from Yemen, Dr Avihai Shivtiel; the establishment of the British Council in the Yemen Arab republic 1973-78, Clive Smith; more on the port practices and taxes of mediaeval Aden, Professor G. Rex Smith; review notice of Paulo Costa, "studies in Arabian architecture", Professor G. Rex Smith; the concept of "fasahah" in Ibn Sinan al-Khafaji, Professor Yasir Suleiman; water source and traditional irrigation in Yemen, Dr Daniel Martin Varisco; a Kufic inscription from Hamdanah in southern Hijaz referring to Amir Ibrahim b.Ziyad, Professor Ahmad 'Umar al-Zayla 'i.