A biography of Saudi Arabian king Abdul-Aziz bin Abdul Rahman al Sa'ud by his adviser Harry St John Bridger Philby. Ibn Sa'ud was the founder of modern Saudi Arabia, when after a conquest spanning 30 years he united most of the Arabian Peninsula under his rule. The present work, the second reprint (March 1954) of the first edition (April 1952), is not a complete and final biography; at the time of writing and publication the king was still alive and Philby states in the preface that "it is rather a pageant of his [Ibn Sa'ud's] achievement, set forth in a series of tableaux illustrating characteristic phases of his career". The work is illustrated with numerous images of the king and his family, and important landmarks in Saudi Arabia.
Binding shows slight signs of wear, mostly around the spine, sticker and 2 stamps of the library of the University of Amsterdam respectively on the front pastedown, the first flyleaf, and the verso of the title-page, very slight foxing on pp. 193-197, inscription in red and a white label ["Rev.: C.D. Matthes in: MW (1954), p. 139-40"] on back pastedown. Overall in very good condition, especially for a library-copy. Howgego IV, P31. cf. (other ed.) Shapero, The Islamic World (2003), 395; Sotheby's the library of Robert Michael Burrell, 623.