A Paladin of Arabia: The Biography of Brevet Lieut.-Colonel G. E. Leachman of the Royal Sussex Regiment

London: John Heritage, Unicorn Press, 1936

8vo, xvi + 429pp. Hardcover binding, gilt lettering to spine, inlaid gilt publisher’s device on front board, with frontispiece, 3 fold-out maps, and various fine monochrome plates, collated and complete.

Lieutenant-Colonel Gerard Evelyn Leachman, CIE, DSO (1880–1920) was an English soldier and intelligence officer who travelled extensively in Arabia. Leachman also made various expeditions further south into Arabia, where he contacted Ibn Sa'ud on behalf of the British government. He travelled as a naturalist of the Royal Geographical Society, but was in fact a British agent. With his dark, Semitic looks and skill at riding a camel, Leachman was easily able to pass as Bedouin and often travelled incognito. (wikipedia.com)

Condition: Good. Light rubbing to boards, light shelfwear to top and tail of spine, small closed tear to top of rear hinge, previous owner’s bookplate on front pastedown, inscription and various signatures to front endpaper, notes and underlining with pencil to several pages and rear pastedown. Some splitting to gutters between endpapers and pastedowns. Still well bound.