[IRAQ.] &
ARMY Y.M.C.A. OF INDIA.
Baghdad: The City of the Caliphs.
RARE GUIDE TO BAGHDAD FOR BRITISH SOLDIERS
A short guide to Baghdad, issued a year and two months after British forces captured the city in March 1917.
Produced for members of the Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force, it provides a brief historical sketch, details on the city’s trade, places of interest, four suggested walking tours, and some brief notes on Islam. The walking tours are arguably the most interesting section, as they take the reader through the streets of wartime Baghdad, describing several institutions, shops and buildings that have not survived to the present day.
The booklet is offered together with a Y.M.C.A. unused Christmas card for 1917, stating “Season’s Greetings from Mesopotamia”.
Rare. LibraryHub locates just one copy in the UK, at the British Library. OCLC adds just three more, at the Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo (Madrid), New York University and NYU Abu Dhabi.
