The Voyage of the Mir-El-Lah by Lorenzo Ricciardi lands on the |> SALE <| shelves in my shop.
Collins, 1980, Hardback in dust wrapper.
Illustrated by way of: Black & White Photographs; Colour Photographs; Diagrams [2]; Maps [2];
From the cover: Lorenzo Ricciardi tells with panache the story of his dream of sailing in a dhow, of how his dream came true and of his voyage from the head of the Arabian Gulf to the coast of East Africa. He travelled in the company of his photographer wife, Mirella. Her spectacular photographs and his text are a record of a rapidly disappearing world, the world of the dhows.
Since childhood when he ran away from his home, Lorenzo Ricciardi has been an incurable romantic. The overriding passion of his life has been the sea: as a small boy he watched the fishing vessels in the harbour in Genoa but later in his life it was the dhows he gazed at in Mombasa harbour which really caught his imagination. Lorenzo Ricciardi had a dream: he would acquire a dhow, the mysterious craft with lateen sails, as old as Solomon, and would sail on the ancient route down the Arabian Gulf to the coast of East Africa. With the backing of a film company and a reckless night in a Swiss casino he managed to get enough money to purchase the vessel of his dream and finally to set sail.
The story of the journey of the dhow, the Mir-El-Lah, with her quixotic nakhoda (captain) is told in this remarkable book. With his wife, Mirella, and their crew, this intrepid traveller sailed from the Shatt Al Arab on the Iran/Iraq border to East Africa on the classic monsoon route which Arab sailors have travelled for thousands of years. Political turmoil, shark spearing, earthquakes, erupting volcanoes and cyclones all form part of the saga, as does the unwelcome intrusion of the Iranian secret police (Savak), Yemeni guerrillas and Somali commissars The crew was motley, and his wife Mirella, renowned photographer and author of Vanishing Africa, contributed the pictures for this story. It is the tale of a modern Sinbad, the tale of a man whose dream came true.
Very Good in Good+ Dust Wrapper. A little rubbing to the edges of the dust wrapper, pulled slightly at the head of the upper panel. Price Clipped. Text complete, clean and tight.
Blue boards with Gilt titling to the Spine. 256 pages. Index. 9¾” x 7″.
Of course, if you don’t like this one there are plenty more available here!
BookLovers of Bath 