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GENIESSE, JANE FLETCHER: : Freya Stark - PASSIONATE NOMAD

LONDON.CHATTO & WINDUS,1999.

ISBN 070113710X.

UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.[Complete number line 2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1.].FINE/FINE.No owner inscrptn and no price-clip to dw/dj.Bright, crisp,clean, glossy,subject contemporary biographical photographic illustrated front panel of dw/dj with a superimposed red horizontal band/stripe to lower edge with white capitalised author name and other yellow+white capitalised lettered title on the same band/stripe,similarly coloured lettering to spine/backstrip,rear panel with b/w scenic photograph by freya Stark (South Gate of Tarim,Yemen) with black-lettered critic's (Colin Thubron) review; with negligible shelf-wear, bumping,creasing to edges and corners - no nicks,tears or splits present.Top edges+fore-edges with faint,minimal and sporadic foxing/ spotting but still bright; contents bright, tight,clean,solid and sound – no intentional dog-ear reading creases to pages' corners – an accidental,lower corner tips' uniform creases to pp261-284 - else near pristine,possibly unread, apart from my own collation.Publisher's bright, crisp,clean,sharp-cornered,original plain black cloth boards with bright,crisp,blocked silver gilt lettering to spine/backstrip and immaculate /clean maroon endpapers.UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn, x-xviipp+4-402pp [paginated] includes acknowledgements,contents list/table,a Prologue, Pts One - Five comprising 21 chapters,with profuse contemporary b/w subject biographical photographs,contemporary b/w scenic photographs interspersed throughout,Books by Freya Stark,a 4pp Bibliography,20pp Notes,an Index; plus [unpaginated] half-title,author's other works, with subject's b/w portrait painting illustrated frntis to its verso,subject's contemporary biographical photographic illustrated title page,a dedication with blank verso,9pp b/w regional travel maps with insets,individual Pts separator pages - Pt One with subject's contemporary b/w portrait to its reverse, illustration/picture credits towards the rear, followed by 4pp blanks as last pages. In 1927 a small,slight young Englishwoman,with an odd accent, slipped through a military cordon in the Druze mountains of Lebanon and was aprrehended by French military police.This marked the start of a life of adventure for Freya Stark and a dazzling career as explorer, writer,photographer and unofficial diplomat for this audacious,charismatic,exasperating, extravagant and remarkable woman. Leaving behind a broken engagement,and a childhood in Italy overshadowed by a wayward, domineering mother,and blighted by a hideous accident,she grasped life on her own terms and set off to explore ancient trading routes in the Yemeni desert,to discover Crusader castles in Syria,an unknown fortress in Persia,to map unchartered regions of Arabia,or follow Alexander the Greek's path through Turkey,often travelling,alone and female,through dangerous and uncomfortable territories - once having to be airlifted to safety by the RAF.Fluent in at least seven languages,she wrote ravishing prose accounts of her travels.In 1934 her first book, 'Valley of the Assassins',was hailed as a classic and T. E. Lawrence pronounced Stark 'a gallant creature. . . .a remarkable person'. During the Second World War,she worked for the Foreign Office in Baghdad and Cairo,was befriended by General George Wavell,and made an ill-fated tour of America for the Ministry of Information,where she was called an 'agent prrovocateur' and a 'modern Molly McGuire'.She married late - and unwisely - but continued to travel and write well into her old age,going to the Himalayas aged 89,and lived to be 100, leaving a legacy of over 30 volumes of travel writing, autobiography and letters. Her life reads llike an adventure story,imbued with the captivating spirit of the East.Jane Geniesse's ebullient yet touching account uncovers the complexity,the charm and the contradictions surrounding this extraordinary woman,hugely feted yet repeatedly disappointed in her private life - a romantic,a complete original and one of the century's finest travel writers,an inspiration to those who followed. Dame Freya Madeline Stark,Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire [DBE],(b. 31st January,1893 – d. 9th May,1993),was a British-Italian explorer,travel writer and accomplished photographer.She wrote more than two dozen books on her travels in the Middle East and Afghanistan,as well as several autobiographical works and essays She was one of the first non-Arabs known to travel through the southern arabian Desert in modern times. Please contact seller for correct shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas customers - BEFORE ordering through the order page! ** N.B. ALL buyers please note,stocks' actual shipping/P+p costs are adjusted and any difference is refunded,after order's receipt and before the order's despatch,especially if the item(s) are offered either P+p included/FREE. ** N.B. US/Canada customers please be aware: Standard AIRMAIL postage from UK to these destinations can now cost more than the price of the book! 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UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.
Not SIGNED.

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