Iraq in the Early 20th Century
Explore a rare collection of military intelligence guides, vintage photography books, and signed travel accounts that trace Iraq's turbulent journey through the early 20th century, contrasting its ancient heritage with the realities of British occupation and disappearing traditional ways of life.
My earliest memory of anything Iraqi was probably the Ray Harrihusen film of Sinbad the sailor who hailed from Baghdad. Later I came to realise that writing, the law, mathematics, astronomy, and the modern idea of urban living either originated or were developed in that same magical land situated between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
Sadly, there has been nothing very magical about Iraq going back to the early twentieth century, and the country has been riven by war for far too long.
A Sketch of the Political History of Persia, Iraq, and Arabia
Leading up to the overthrow of Turkish rule, the British suffered one of the most humiliating defeats in the history of the British army at the siege of Kut (Al-Kut), southeast of Baghdad, during the winter of 1915-1916. Partly because of this, A Sketch of the Political history of Persia, Iraq and Arabia (1917) was published to provide army officers with up-to-date intelligence on the region. Much of the material deals with the Arabian Peninsula including the Gulf states and is significant for its insights in to the period leading up to the establishing of Iraq’s borders in 1922. The author was the well-known authority on the Gulf, Arnold Wilson, who at that time was Deputy Political Officer in Iraq. A slight volume printed in Calcutta for Official Use Only and not for sale to the public, it has survived in very few copies and is one of the rarest books on the region.
The British were so keen to get information out to their officers that they brought out a new enlarged edition of Field Notes, Mesopotamia (1917), a confidential intelligence guide. This is arranged as routes from Baghdad and other centres to facilitate troop movements in the region. There is much on the Gulf, showing the intimate connection between it and Iraq which would lead at the end of the century to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. Like the previous work, this was also printed in Calcutta for official use only. The map provides a very detailed record of Southern Mesopotamia and the Gulf and is particularly sought after.
Camera Studies in Iraq (circa 1925), is a great photo book. Its fifty sepia plates provide an idyllic record of Iraq and its people, although you would never know that there was a struggle for independence going on. Basra, Baghdad, Mosul, Nineveh, all are represented, and there are even a few Kurdish studies. There are market scenes, women cooking rice, and other domestic scenes. A bygone age preserved by the Baghdad publisher, Kerim.
In more recent times one of the most important chroniclers of Iraq has been Wilfred Thesiger, a man who valued simplicity over ‘civilization’. We are fortunate to have three special books by him. The first is a signed copy of his 1954 publication, The Marsh Arabs, which documents the unique way of life of the Ma’dan people in Southern Iraq. Living in reed huts, their way of life had been unchanged since ancient times. Thesiger provides us with an evocative record of their traditions which are now fast disappearing.
The second is Desert, Marsh, and Mountain (1978); the signed edition of only 160 copies, in a beautiful morocco binding. This is a large format photographic work which includes Thesiger’s travels in Iraq, Yemen, the Gulf, and Ethiopia and is a very handsome book.
Travels in Koordistan, Mesopotamisa, etc.
The third is Thesiger’s own copy, with his stylish bookplate, of Travels in Koordistan, Mesopotamia, etc. (1840), by James Baillie Fraser. This is one of the earliest accounts of Kurdish village life and must have held a great appeal to Thesiger. It was subsequently in the collection of the noted adventurer and aviator, Steve Fossett, with his ballooning bookplate, adding an extra bit of interest to the provenance.
