Through Persia on a Side-Saddle.

Philadelphia, PA J.B. Lippincott , 1898. Hardcover RE-BOUND LIBRARY COPY, discarded, with the usual stamps, call numbers, and a pocket removed from the front pastedown endpaper. Very Good: shows very mild external wear; a bit of dust-darkening to the top edge of the text pages. The binding is square and secure; the text clean. Free of creased or dog-eared pages in the text.. Free of any underlining, hi-lighting or marginalia or marks in the text. An attractive copy, given its rebound library status, structurally sound and tightly bound, showing the noted flaws: remains clean, sturdy, and quite presentable. NOT a Remainder or Book-Club. 8vo. (8.5 x 5.75 x 1.8 inches). 362 pages. Frontispiece portrait of the author. Illustrated with 31 full-page vintage duotone photographs. The fold-out map at rear.is no longer present. Language: English. Weight: 30.9 ounces. Green cloth hardcover with gold impressing at the backstrip. Hardback: No DJ 'as issued'. Ella Constance Sykes (1863-1939) paid two visits to Persia, spending nearly three years there in all. The first took place in October 1894, when her brother Percy invited her to accompany him on his trip to the districts of Kerman and Baluchistan, where he was being sent to establish British consulates. She spent two years in the interior of Persia and was one of the first European women to visit the area. Ella also traveled with her brother on his subsequent missions along the Persian Gulf, visiting the major coastal settlements on the way, and spent the winter of 1896-97 with him in Tehran before returning to England at the end of February 1897. She paid her second visit to Iran some 10 years later when she stayed with her brother in Mashad. Ella's interest in and affection for Persia and its people is evident upon reading this, the first of her three books about the country. She vividly describes her first visit, her long horseback travels, and life in Kerman where she was probably the first European woman ever seen. Her descriptions of Tehran, Fatima's shrine at Koom, Persian ladies and their customs, Persian marriage customs and childrearing, make for entertaining reading to this day.