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"For Official Use only." An important, Early British Intelligence Handbook on the Arabian Peninsula, with Four Separate Thematic Maps.

The Handbook was published at the outset of the Great Arab Revolt of 1916, a military uprising against the Ottoman Empire, which was intended to create an Arab state stretching from Syria to Yemen.  The Revolt took place in the Middle Eastern theater of World War I and was backed by the British, who had promised to recognize the new state. T. E. Lawrence "of Arabia" famously worked with the Arabs in their fight against the Ottomans. This book was intended for officers such as Lawrence, many of whom worked in the Arabian Peninsula with the same goal of defeating the Ottomans.

The Arab Revolt and contemporary British military action resulted in the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in the Arabian Peninsula and the eventual creation of a number of Arab states in the Middle East. It is seen by many historians as the first organized movement of Arab nationalism.

The Qatar Digital Library includes the following summary of the contents of this volume:

This volume is A Handbook of Arabia, Volume I, General (Admiralty War Staff, Intelligence Department: May, 1916) and contains geographical and political information of a general character concerning the Arabian Peninsula. The volume was prepared on behalf of the Admiralty and War Office, from sources, including native information obtained for the purpose of compiling the volume, since the outbreak of the First World War. Separate chapters are devoted to each of the districts or provinces of the Arabian Peninsula and include information on the physical character, as well as social and political surveys.

The volume includes a note on official use, title page, and a 'Note' on the compilation of the volume. There is a page of 'Contents' that includes the following sections:

• Chapter 1: Physical Survey;
• Chapter 2: Social Survey;
• Chapter 3: The Bedouin Tribes: A. Northern Tribes, B. Tribes of the Central West, C. Tribes of the Central South, D. Tribes of the Central East, Supplement: Non-Bedouin Nomads;
• Chapter 4: Hejaz;
• Chapter 5: Asir;
• Chapter 6: Yemen;
• Chapter 7: Aden and Hadhramaut: A. Aden and the Interior, B. Hadhramaut;
• Chapter 8: Oman: A. The sultanate of Oman, B. Independent Oman;
• Chapter 9: The Gulf Coast: A. The Sultanate of Koweit [Kuwait], B. Hasa, C. Bahrain, D. El-Qatar, E. Trucial Oman;
• Chapter 10: Nejd;
• Chapter 11: Jebel Shammar;
• Chapter 12: The Northern Nefūd and Dahanah Belts;
• Chapter 13: Settled Tribes of the North-West;
• Chapter 14: Settled Tribes of the West;
• Chapter 15: Settled Tribes of the South;
• Chapter 16: Settled Tribes of the Centre;
• Appendix: Note of Topographical and Common Terms;
• Index;
• Plates.

The front of the volume includes a 'List of Maps' and a 'Note on the Spelling of Proper Names'. Maps contained in this volume are:

• Map 1: Arabia: Districts and Towns;
• Map 2: Orographical Features of Arabia;
• Map 3: Land Surface Features of Arabia;
• Map 4: Tribal Map of Arabia.

The volume also contains fifteen plates of photographs and sketches by Captain William Henry Irvine Shakespear, Douglas Carruthers, Captain Gerard Leachman, Dr Julius Euting, George Wyman Bury, and Samuel Barrett Miles.