One of the important scholarly anthropological studies on the original inhabitants of the southern Arabic Peninsula/Jemen by the first documented Westerner to cross the Rub' al Khali (the sand desert encompassing most of the southern third of the Arabian Peninsula), Bertram Sidney Thomas (1892-1950). Thomas was an English diplomat and explorer who was also a scientist who practiced craniofacial anthropometry as also in this article.
After working for the Civil Service in the General Post Office, he served in Belgium during World War I before being posted to the Somerset Light Infantry in Mesopotamia (now Iraq) between 1916 and 1918. He worked from 1918 to 1924 as Assistant British Representative in Iraq and Transjordan (now Jordan). He was appointed as Finance Minister and Wazir to Taimur bin Feisal, the Sultan of Muscat and Oman, a post he held from 1925 to 1932. In this capacity, he undertook a number of expeditions into the desert, crossing the Rub' al Khali, from 1930 and 1931, a journey he recounted in his book Arabia Felix (1932), in which he described this desert's animals, inhabitants, and culture. Thomas wrote several other books, including The Arabs: The Epic Life Story of a People who have left their deep impress on the World (1930). During World War II, Thomas headed the Middle East Centre for Arab Studies in Jerusalem, where British Army officers were taught Arabic language and culture.
In very good condition.