Title: A HISTORY OF THE ART OF WAR : The Middle ...
Publisher: Methuen & Co, London
Publication Date: 1898
Binding: Hardcover
Book Condition: Near Fine
Edition: 1st
xv, [1], 667, [1], printed pages; 24 plates. Marbled endpapers. Signature of Matlbys handtooled in gilt at the foot of the front paste-down endpaper. All edges marbled (slightly faded). Preliminary pages maginally browned. 15 x 22 cm. Rebound by Matlbys of Oxford in sumptuos brown half morocco. Spine in six compartments with gilt lettering & date, and raised bands with double blind rules. Matching brown buckram over the boards. This first edition had a profound influence on Lawrence of Arabia. In what became his trademark style, the young T.E.Lawrence was not afraid to take on an opposing viewpoint, even if it meant going against Sir Charles Oman, the Oxford academic expert on Crusader castles at the time, whose own stance was that East had influenced West, not vice-versa. Lawrence, not without basis, was confident he could out-research Oman and convince his examiners that the Crusaders took their own architecture to the Holy Land. This interest in the Middle East was to become a lifelong passion for Lawrence. The bindery of Alfred Maltby & Son Ltd. was founded in 1834 by Henry Maltby and Charles Bloxham, and the first workshop was based in St Helen s (Hell) Passage, New College Lane, Oxford. Since then, three generations of Maltbys have passed through the business: Alfred Maltby, Alfred Henry Maltby and Raymond Maltby. In 1944 Maltby s acquired the business of J. H. Fensham, Law Bookbinders, of Featherstone Buildings, Holborn, London, who bound for the Inns of Court. Maltby's is a hand bindery specializing in single copies, often for Royal Libraries, making this a desirable copy in such good condition. Bookseller Inventory # 4415