A lovely copy of this uncommon work, handsomely illustrated with Bell’s photographs of the Fortress of Al-Ukhaidir, one of the most remarkable surviving examples of Abbasid architecture. It was presented to Lady George Campbell, but does not appear to be in Bell’s hand, suggesting that the press or a secretary of Bell’s inscribed some copies on her behalf.
After graduating in Modern History from Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford in 1892, Gertrude Bell (1868-1926) engaged in a period of world travel that led to her initial experiences of the Middle East. She first visited the fortress of Al-Ukhaidir in March 1909 as a part of an expedition to survey the Roman and Byzantine fortresses on the banks of the Euphrates, which gave her the material for one of her most important books, Amurath to Amaranth (London, 1911).
Just two years later, she made a second trip “to undertake a fuller survey of the palace of Ukhaidir, completing her initial sketches and drafts while exchanging notes with a German archaeological team [Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft] … [T]he palace on the west bank of the Euphrates, some 120 miles south-west of Baghdad, remains one of the finest surviving examples of early Islamic architecture. Ukhaidir had not been scientifically explored until 1908–9 when Louis Massignon published some preliminary notes in the Bulletin de l’Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres (March 1909) …[Bell’s] own findings were initially published in the Hellenic Journal (1910, pt 1, p. 69), a preliminary to her most important contribution to archaeology, a scholarly monograph, The Palace and Mosque of Ukhaidir: a Study in Early Mohammadan Architecture (1914). Ukhaidir was presented by Bell in her letters as a national symbol representing the historical continuity linking ancient Mesopotamia to modern Iraq” (ODNB).
Palace and Mosque at Ukhaidir is significantly different to many of Bell’s best known works in that it is not a travelogue, but a rigorous archaeological study aimed at an academic readership. Though it was preceded by the Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft’s Ocheïdir (Leipzig, 1912) and later improved on by the works of K.A.C. Creswell, Bell’s study was well-received and contained important findings, such as the correct identification of the structure’s Mosque and a concave mihrab, which dated the complex to post 709 CE. Lisa Cooper stresses the degree to which her work provided a template for Creswell, and how certain aspects of the publication were arguably unmatched, such as the photographic plates: “his [Creswell’s] photos duplicate, sometimes to a lesser effect, her detailed and informative shots.“
With the commencement of the Great War, Bell returned to England and worked in a special branch of the Red Cross, before being called to Egypt to join a team (including T. E. Lawrence) that was engaged in planning the Arab Revolt and the creation of the Arab Bureau in Cairo. In 1916, she left Cairo and was employed as an Assistant Political Officer in Baghdad. It was there that she proved to be instrumental in establishing the national state of Mesopotamia (now known as Iraq) and instating Faisal as king. She continued to live in Baghdad until dying quite suddenly in 1926 (at the age of 57), leaving behind a legacy of remarkable service and the Baghdad Antiquities Museum, which she founded in that last year of her life.
Uncommon in commerce, with three copies listed in auction records: Francis Edwards in 1944, then Sotheby’s in 1998 and 2016.
Provenance: Lady George Campbell (née Sybil Lanscelles Alexander), 1860-1947. The inscription reads “To the Lady George Campbell [/] with the kind regards of the author of the author [/] 23rdMay 1914”. The repetition of ‘of the author’ firmly bolsters the likelihood of it being in the hand of someone inscribing multiple copies on behalf of Bell.
Cooper, L., In Search of Kings and Conquerors: Gertrude Bell and the Archaeology of the Middle East, (London, I.B. Tauris, 2016).
