Three volumes containing research by Alois Musil (1868-1944), the Austro-Czech researcher, Orientalist and theologist who mastered 35 dialects of Arabic. Musil started his studies in the Dominican Biblical School in Jerusalem after its opening in 1890, but left the institute after 14 months and started his journeys in the Middle East and the Arab world.
In 1902 Musil was appointed Professor of Theology in the University of Olomouc (Czechoslovakia) and in 1909 Professor of Theology in the University of Vienna. He toured the Negev in 1901 and later published a detailed mapping of the area, as well as reports and photographs that served for many years as references regarding the Negev. During World War I, Musil was sent to the Middle East in order to eliminate British attempts to instigate a revolution against the Ottoman regime, provoked by Lawrence of Arabia. After the war, in 1920, he was appointed professor by Karl University in Prague. In cooperation with the American industrialist Charles Richard Crane, Musil published his works in English in the 1920s. Presented here are three volumes of this edition, published by the American Geographical Society, Oriental Explorations and Studies:
No. 2 – Arabia Deserta. New-York, 1927.
No. 4 – Palmyrena. New-York, 1928.
No. 5 – Northern Neğd. New-York, 1928.
An original set of maps is included, "Musil: Map of Northern Arabia", which consists of four maps. Good to very good condition, ink stamps and ownership inscriptions.