Beschreibung:

A silver case given by Stark to Wavell, on the occasion of his being appointed Viceroy of India, inscribed with original verse by King Abdullah of Jordan.
W.H.M. (maker). Birmingham: 1941. Silver case milled with parallel groves (102 x 80 x 10mm.) with a gilt metal clasp to the hinged lid, the exterior of the lid with a panel engraved with two lines in Arabic from the poet al-Mutanabbi, followed by two lines composed by King Adullah while at tea with West. The interior base of the box gilded, the interior of the lid engraved with a map of North Africa, the Middle East and India, with symbols (a Tank, a Camel and an Elephant) and various places pin-pointed, with a lettered border listing the places of particular importance to Wavell: Benghazi, Tobruk, Sollum Halfayah, Eritrea, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Palestine, Somaliland, Abyssinia, India, Burma, Greece, Crete. Within an associated velvet-lined brown pebble-grained cloth-covered box. Provenance: Earl Wavell (see letter below). [With:] Freya STARK . Autograph letter signed, to "Dear Chief & Lady Wavell", "7 Airlie Gdns. / Campden Hill [London], dated 3rd October 1943. 2pp., 8vo (202 x 126mm). "I hope you like my / box & keep it as a remembrance of the Middle East in India. The first 2 lines of the Arabic are from the poet Mutanabbi & say: "The horses & the night & the desert know me And the sword & the spear & the paper & the pen". When I was lunching with the Emir Abdullah in July I asked him if he approved of the quotation, & after meditating a minute or two he added the following lines: "The West & the East & the Germans know me And the Greeks, & India & the waste lands & the banners" At least he did in the first place put Turkey instead of India; I objected that possibly it would not be very suitable to have a neutral country in this gallery. I send it you with very much love indeed.” [And:] Freya STARK . East is West. London: John Murray 1945. 8vo (197 x 130mm). Plates. Original green cloth, dust-jacket. Condition: covers bumped, tears to dust-jacket with slight loss to head and foot of spine, light soiling. first edition. a fascinating memento of a tumultous time in the middle east "I was invited to lunch with at the palace… I was planning a little box at that time with an inscription for General Wavell, and asked him [the Emir] what he thought of Mutanabbi: 'The night, and the horse, and the desert know me: And the sword, and the lance, and the paper, and the pen.' 'I never liked Mutanabbi,' said the Amir. '… He is all courtier. But that particular quotation is right for General Wavell…’ See East is West (pp.114-115)