Persian Pictures by Gertrude Bell
Are we the same, I wonder, when all our surroundings, association, acquaintances are changed? I conclude that it is not the person who danced with you at Mansfield St who writes to you today from Persia. Yet there are dregs, English sediment at the bottom of my sherbet, and perhaps they flavour it more than I think. I write to you of Persia: I am not me, that is my only excuse. I am only I am merely pouring out for you some of what I have received in the last two months. When Gertrude Bell's uncle was appointed Minister in Tehran in 1891, she declared that the great ambition of her life was to visit Persia. Several months later, she did. And so began a lifetime of travel and a lifelong enchantment with what she saw as the romance of the East, which evolved into a deep understanding of its cultures and people. This vivid and impressionistic series of sketches, her first foray into writing, is an evocative meditation that moves between Persia's heroic past and its long decline; the public face of Tehran and the otherworldly 'secret, mysterious life of the East', the lives of its women, its lush, enclosed gardens; from the bustling cities to the lonely wastelands of Khorasan.As a scholar, historian, linguist, archaeologist, photographer, secret service agent and traveller, (1868–1926), Gertrude Bell was a hugely significant figure of her time. Her early travels were made in Europe and Persia; she made two round-the-world trips (1897–98 and 1902–03). She was instrumental in creating the new state of Iraq and as Honorary Director of Antiquities in Iraq, she established the Iraq Museum in Baghdad.
Dr Liora Lukitz has for several years been a research fellow at the Centre for Middle East Studies at Harvard University.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781843311690 |
| ISBN 10 | 1843311690 |
| Title | Persian Pictures |
| Author | Gertrude Bell |
| Series | Anthem Travel Classics |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Anthem Press |
| Year published | 2005-05-15 |
| Number of pages | 136 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |