Record Number: 33590
Reading Experience:
Evidence:
'When the sun had set and I was in bed again, the Mansab's brother, the Qadhi, came to help with explanatory notes for the names of places in the manuscript. We discussed Maqrizi, who says the Se'ar tribe can change themselves into wolves. The Se'ar have stolen forty-two camels and are probably going to be bombed by the R.A.F., so that it might be a useful accomplishment just now."It is not true, however", said the Qadhi seriously. "It is a pure fairy tale of Maqrizi's. But it is quite true of the Beni Shabib near Qatn."'
Century:1900-1945
Date:2 Jan 1938
Country:Yemen
Timeevening
night
city: Huraidha
county: Shibam, Hadhramaut
(Reader):
silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown
(Listener):
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown
Reader / Listener / Reading Group:
Reader: Age:Adult (18-100+)
Gender:Female
Date of Birth:31 Jan 1893
Socio-Economic Group:Professional / academic / merchant / farmer
Occupation:Explorer and travel writer
Religion:Christian
Country of Origin:England
Country of Experience:Yemen
Listeners present if any:e.g family, servants, friends
n/a
Additional Comments:
n/a
Text Being Read:
Author: Title:[untitled commonplace book]
Genre:Other religious, Fiction, Essays / Criticism, History, Geography / Travel, Politics, Miscellany / Anthology, untitled commonplace book
Form of Text:Manuscript: Codex, Arabic commonplace book
Publication DetailsArabic (Yemeni) 19th century scribal commonplace book drawing upon older texts
Provenanceborrowed (other)
Borrowed from the Mansab of Huraidha - ms compiled by his grandfather Habib Ahmed
Source Information:
Record ID:33590
Source:Freya Stark
Editor:n/a
Title:A Winter in Arabia: A Journey through Yemen
Place of Publication:London
Date of Publication:1972
Vol:n/a
Page:81
Additional Comments:
Pagination is from the 2011 IB Tauris edition. The book was first published by John Murray in London in 1972.
Citation:
Freya Stark, A Winter in Arabia: A Journey through Yemen, (London, 1972), p. 81, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=33590, accessed: 29 March 2024
Additional Comments:
Dame Freya Madeline Stark (31 January 1893 - 9 May 1993) was a British explorer and travel writer. The untitled manuscript commonplace book belonged to Habib Ahmed, the grandfather of the Mansab of Huraidha at the time. Reading and copying of the manuscript commonplace book took place from 2-10 January 1938 in Huraidha in the Qu'aiti State of Hadhramaut, which was a British protectorate from 1858 until its abolition in 1967. The Qadhi (the Mansab's brother) offered to explain place names from the ms, which was presumably read out aloud in Arabic (shared reading).