Item 5 is a copy of Albert Armitage’s Two Years in the Antarctic. To my mind this is one of the most important narratives of the Antarctic ‘Golden Age’, being one of the few first-hand accounts of Scott’s ‘Discovery’ Expedition. With its fugitive green cloth binding it is tricky to find a good-looking copy but here there is only minor fading to the spine and the copy is further elevated by having a lengthy presentation inscription from Armitage.

In what is quite a strong section on Africa, my favourite is item 52. This is the individual issue of the Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society for 1857. It contains the first account of David Livingstone’s discoveries in South Africa. It is just such a beautifully preserved copy, and the chances of finding another are very slim.

I don’t buy many books on Europe outside of Greece and the Balkans,  but I do have a soft spot for the chilly northern climes. Item 73 is the privately printed account of William Hooker’s Notes on Norway(1839). As a doctor and botanist, Hooker brings a scientific mind to his observations. This, combined with the atmospheric lithographs of the far north, the original nondescript brown wrappers, and the fact that it is an inscribed presentation copy, really appeal to me. 

A small book printed anonymously in Basra in 1917 might not attract too much attention but The Arab of Mesopotamia (item 86) is by Gertrude Bell. In it she turns her attention to a variety of subjects including not only the tribes and chiefs of Iraq, Syria, and Eastern Arabia, but also Palestine and Zionism, as well as Kurdistan. Hot topics then as now.