First edition. Octavo, pp282. Bound in burgundy colour cloth covered hard boards with gilt lettering to the spine and a gilt scorpion to the upper board; in the original dust jacket, un-clipped (15/- net). Folding map tipped in at the rear.  With 23 illustrations from photographs. Neat previous owner’s name and date to ffep: “P.B. Hooper | 30 Jan 42”. As part of a group which was led by Bill Kennedy Shaw, Michael Mason recounts their journey, 6.300 miles travelling by motor car south from Cairo into Anglo-Egyptian Soudan, across the desert of what forms parts of Egypt and Libya today and back to the Mediterranean coast. Mason was later recruited to Naval Intelligence by Ian Fleming during the war and was one of Fleming’s associates who inspired the character of James Bond. An uncommon and exceptional account.


Fine condition book in a Very Good jacket which is a little worn and rubbed at the top of the spine. Rare in jacket.