The Cave Dwellers of Southern Tunisia: Recollections of a Sojourn With the Khalifa of Matmata
London: W. Thacker & Co., 1898. First English language edition. Hardcover. Quarto (9 x 6"). 335, [1]pp, [4]pp (Publisher's catalogue). Original gilt-stamped brown cloth, with gold lettering to spine and front cover. Tissue-guarded frontispiece.
Illustrated throughout with 38 in-text and full-page b/w illustrations and photographic reproductions, this work, first published in the Netherlands in 1894, is one of the most extraordinary accounts produced by any of the 19th-century travellers in Tunisia. Despite the French refinement of coastal Tunisia in the 1890s, the tribesmen from inland were largely untouched by colonialism, allowing their culture to remain preserved.
"Bruun describes his journey through the mountainous deserts where the people live in dwellings excavated from the earth. Some are spacious houses with ‘regular well-shaped chambers’, whilst others are tenement-like, clustered upon one like cells of a behive. The poorest are mere holes driven into the mountainside which thus has the appearance of a giant termite mound standing high above the stark landscape. Indeed, the whole lifestyle of these cave dwellers takes on an insect-like quality, at once communal and predatory. The author has left to us this fascinating account of their lives and manners." (Darf Publishers for the 1985 edition).
Binding with minor age-wear. Previous owner's name and address in blue ink on inside of front cover. Moderate age-toning along paper margin. Binding in overall good to good+, interior in good to very good condition. g to vg. Item #46171
Price: $125.00