Oak Knoll

First edition of the author's first book issued anonymously (BAL 4259). Presentation by George William Curtis on the front free endpaper in ink. Spine faded, some rubbing to the extremities, moderate foxing throughout. Else a very good copy.

In the early nineteenth century a trip to Egypt and up the Nile aboard a native dhahabîyeh (large sailing craft) was reserved for only the most adventurous traveler, or howadji, a Turkish word originally meaning "merchant" or "shopkeeper." Howadji soon became a term applied by local inhabitants to all foreign travelers. In 1851, George William Curtis popularized the term in his travel account, Nile Notes of a Howadji, explaining it as "the universal name for traveler. Contents include: Going to Boulak; The Ibis Sings; The Crew; The Landscape; Tracking; Flying; Thebes Triumphant; Nubian Welcome; and much more.