A Pilgrimage to Nejd, the Cradle of the Arab Race (Volume 1)

About this book

In the winter of 1878 and 1879, Lady Anne Blunt and her husband, the poet Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, set out from Damascus with a small caravan across the Nafud, the great red-sand desert of northern Arabia, to reach the oasis town of Ha'il, capital of the powerful Emir Muhammad ibn Rashid of the Shammar. She describes Bedouin hospitality, the dangers of the desert crossing, the emir's court and his famous horses, with drawings of her own. This is the first of two volumes; the second tells of their return through Iraq and Persia.

Context and significance

Lady Anne Blunt (1837–1917), a granddaughter of Lord Byron, was among the first European women to travel in central Arabia, and she learned Arabic thoroughly. She and her husband founded the Crabbet Arabian Stud in England, which preserved bloodlines of Arabian horses still bred today. Compare Lane's Arabian Society in the Middle Ages.

About the author