First and only edition of a geographical handbook on Iraq and the Persian Gulf, published on behalf of the Naval Intelligence Division (NID) of the British Admiralty. Written as part of the Geographical Handbook Series of which 58 volumes were written between 1941 and 1946 by two teams of British academics, this volume aims to educate Naval Officers on all matters related to Iraq, under military occupation by Britain since 1941, and the Persian Gulf. The book is divided into twelve chapters, dealing with a wide array of subjects: geology, geography, history, vegetation, agriculture, administration, ethnography, economy etc. As the book was written by English academics, the section devoted to the climate and weather is particularly extensive.
The majority of the text was produced by Professor Kenneth Mason of the School of Geography at Oxford. Mason had trained at the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich and seen service in France and the Middle East during World War I. He was part of the Survey of India in the 1920s, appointed to the chair of Geography at Oxford in 1932 and subsequently led the Oxford team producing the handbooks. "The purpose of the handbooks was to supply, by scientific research and skilled arrangement, material for the discussion of naval, military, and political problems ..." (p. III). The handbooks were for the use of naval officers only, but were made public after the NID was dissolved in 1964.
With a few markings in pencil. Spine worn with a large tear at the back hinge and thumbed throughout; nevertheless a good, structurally sound copy. Cf. Clout & Gosme, "The Naval Intelligence Handbooks", in: Progress in human geography XXVII,2 (2003), pp. 153-173.