Tiflis Tabris Persian Kurdistan/W.Harris/1896
From Batum to Baghdad Via Tiflis, Tabriz, And Persian Kurdistan by Walter B. Harris, F.R.G.S., with illustrations and maps, William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh and London: MDCCCXCVI (1896) FIRST EDITION
A fascinating first hand account of travels through the Middle East including: Tangier, Tiflis, Transcaucasia, Tabriz, Kurdistan, Bagdad, Iraq, Persia, Armenia, Mt. Ararat, and much more.
This is superb reading of a highly observant British traveller to ancient lands that were little known by the West and little appreciated at the time. Important account of the Kurds given in greater depth and with various illustrative plates than is to be found perhaps anywhere at the time.
The author of the present work was; a flamboyant socialite, accomplished traveler and diligent journalist, Walter B. Harris (1866-1933) served as special correspondent to Morocco for The London Times for forty years. He was adept at disguising himself as a native with suitable costumes and make-up and travelled far and wide through the middle east, making his home in Tangiers, Morocco and was believed to have been fluent in Arabic. A true adventurer, Harris, it was said, would stop at nothing to capture his story. Indeed this led him into a number of precarious situations including a 36 hours stint in a Moroccan prison with nothing to eat and only a corpse for company. But Harris was ever the Orientalist, and loved the people and cultures he thoroughlyu examined with his pen. Indeed he chose to be buried in his beloved Morocco, and to this day his tomb can be seen in the Anglican cemetery in Tangiers. If ever there was a real Indiana Jones, he would have had to have been something like Walter B. Harris. "The Kurd has a prejudice against travel; nor is this difficult to understand, as he is surrounded on all sides by the two worst Governments in the world, those of Turkey and Persia,but though the Kurd is ready, no doubt, to murder and rob the Persian or Turki, his reason is more a religious one than desire of plunder alone..."writes Harris (p.182).
And later Harris' detailed descriptions of the city of Baghdad team with details that bring the dusty ancient city very much to life.
