IN UNKNOWN ARABIA.

London, Macmillan and Co., Limited, 1926.. FIRST EDITION 1926, With a foreword by Major.-General. Sir Percy Z. Cox. Tall 8vo, approximately 250 x 170 mm, 10 x 6¾ inches, 66 photographic illustrations on 32 plates including frontispiece, large folding map in colour at rear, 2 sketch maps and a sketch of a fish in the text, pages: xx, 1-447 including appendices and index, original publisher's dark green cloth, gilt lettering to spine, central gilt picture of a bedouin riding a camel on upper cover, gilt top edge. Pale stain to rear cover (see attached illustration), 4 leaves have small dark brown stain to edge of top margin, and 2 pages have a pale brown spot to top margin, occasional small fox spot and a few fox spots to edges, otherwise a very good tight copy. Major Robert Ernest Cheesman, CBE (1878 – 1962) was a military officer, explorer and ornithologist. Cheesman was Private Secretary to Sir Percy Cox during his tenure as High Commissioner in Iraq. In 1923, during a journey into the Arabian Peninsula, Cheesman collected over 300 specimens from the Hasa oasis, several of them previously unknown to science. These specimens are currently in the British Museum. He is credited with discovering Cheesman's Gerbil (Gerbillus cheesmani). Cheesman was the first man to map the Arabian coast from the Gulf of Salwa to Uqair. In 1924 he fixed the position of Hofuf and identified the site of ancient Gerrha. He presented his findings to Ibn Sa'ud at his court in Hofuf. He was later given the Gill Memorial Award for this work by the Royal Geographical Society. See: Encyclopedia of Exploration 1850 to 1940 by Raymond John Howgego, Volume 4, page 185. MORE IMAGES ATTACHED TO THIS LISTING, ALL ZOOMABLE. FURTHER IMAGES ON REQUEST. POSTAGE AT COST.