Maggs Bros.

A scarce handbook, compiled a year before the founding of the Kingdom of Iraq. Alongside more the scientific and geographical sections are explicit statements of intent for control of the formerly-Ottoman territory: “No power in the world has any claim comparable with that of Great Britain to control the destinies of Mesopotamia.” (p.43).

In the Spring of 1917 the Foreign Office started work on a series of handbooks for the use of British delegates attending the Peace Conference. Published in 1918 and 1919, the handbooks were only issued to officials and all were marked ‘Confidential’ on the upper wrapper. In late 1919 it was decided that a revised version should be made available to the British public. The present handbook is among the rarest of that series. It contains a wealth of information on Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq), covering, inter alia, geography, political history and economic conditions.

Much of the information would have been gained during the Mesopotamian Campaign of WWI, in which the British, in tandem with other Allied forces, drove the Ottomans out of their Middle Eastern territories and took up occupation of key cities such as Baghdad. The political history chapter is surprisingly frank about the build-up of tensions between the two Empires over the period 1834-1914, citing “the growth of German influence at Constantinople” (p.26). Other sections look to the future and sketch out Britain’s plans for state-building, stressing the need for investment and political direction to restore “Mesopotamia to prosperity.” (p.42).

Fairly well-held institutionally but scarce in commerce, with no copies appearing in auction records.