S.O.S. A Story of the World War at Sea

Indianapolis, IN: Bobbs-Merrill Company. Very Good+ in Good dust jacket. 1928. 1st Edition; 1st Printing. Hardcover. B&W Illustrations; This book is Very Good+ condition and has a Good dust jacket. The book and its contents are in mostly clean, bright condition. There is some light bumping and rubbing to the spine ends and corners of the book covers. There is a rectangular pictorial pastedown on the front cover of the book that is in clean, bright condition. The text pages are mostly clean and bright. There are several spots of foxing to the edges of the text block. The dust jacket has several edge tears and nicks, along with several small to medium sized chips missing from the dust jacket. The white covers of the dust jacket have some generalized toning. Illustrated throughout with black and white illustrations by the author. " John D. Whiting (1882-1951) was a notable member of the American Colony, a Christian community of Americans, Swedes, and others based in Jerusalem. Born in 1882, a year after his parents John C. And Mary Whiting immigrated to Jerusalem with other Colony members, Whiting lived most of his life in the city. In 1909, he married Grace Spafford (1881-1964) the daughter of Horatio and Anna Spafford, the Colony's founders. The Whitings raised three children; sons Spafford, David, and Edmund Wilson. A daughter, Grace, died in infancy in 1915. John Whiting led a varied and multi-faceted professional life in Jerusalem. He worked with the American Colony Photo Department as a photographer and also helped run the business. With his brother-in-law, Frederick Vester, he was a partner and manager of the Vester & Co. -American Colony Store near the Jaffa Gate, where American Colony Photo Department prints, lantern slides, and postcard images were sold along with other merchandise. He was involved in starting a short-lived New York City branch of the American Colony Store, which failed due to economic recession. Whiting was fluent in Arabic. He collected antiquities such as pottery and figurines that were sold at the store, as well as Palestinian needlework and other artifacts. From 1908 to around 1915, Whiting was deputy American consul for Jerusalem, specializing in issues of commerce and agriculture. During World War I he supplied aid to wounded soldiers as a volunteer with the Turkish Red Crescent and the American Colony Nurses. In 1918 he began service as an intelligence officer for the British Army. Whiting had widespread knowledge of the landscapes and historic sites of the Middle East. He often guided visitors on tours of Palestine, Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon. He wrote numerous articles for National Geographic Magazine illustrated with photographs produced by the American Colony Photo Department and its successor studio, the Matson Photo Service." (from Wikipedia) .