Very Rare 1st Edition “Pilgrimage to Mecca” by Lady Evelyn Zainab Cobbold 1934

“Pilgrimage to Mecca”

by Lady Evelyn Zainab Cobbold

1^st Edition, London 1934

This is a wonderful book recounting the Pilgrimage by Lady Cobbold when she was 65 years of age in 1933. As she was of high status in Britain, she was able to meet the young Prince Faisal and was the guest of King ibn Saud.

The internet is awash with information about this amazing woman who travelled alone and became the first British woman to perform the Hajj.

She was born as Lady Evelyn Murray, becoming Cobbold when she married. She was born in Edinburgh in 1867. Throughout her childhood, her father took her family to North Africa every winter, spending half her upbringing in Algiers and Cairo. There she learned to speak Arabic and loved keeping company with the local children, visiting mosques with them and she was tended to by Muslim nannies.

She took the name ‘Zainab’ when she became a Muslim but she later claimed that she had no recollection as to when she first became Muslim and felt that she had always been.

In fact, she first declared herself as a Muslim when she met the Pope in her youth:

“Some years went by and I happened to be in Rome staying with some Italian friends when my host asked if I would like to visit the Pope. Of course I was thrilled…. When His Holiness suddenly addressed me, asking if I was a Catholic, I was taken aback for a moment and then replied that I was a Moslem. What possessed me I don’t pretend to know, as I had not given a thought to Islam for many years. A match was lit and I then and there determined to read up and study the Faith.”

There are some amazing photographs taken by Lady Zainab herself in the book during her journey.

Please note that we also have available a copy of the Geographical Journal 1936 with an article written by Lady Zainab about her Pilgrimage that contains additional photographs not found in this book.

This rare first edition has her name embossed in gold on the front cover in Arabic: “Zainab”

We have handled three copies of this first edition in thirty years and all three have had no introduction despite it being listed in the contents and there is no evidence that it was ever bound in by the printer. The fact that there are so few copies that come onto the market for sale for a book published in 1934 indicate some level of censorship.

We are able to provide a comparison as we acquired a very rare novel printed in London in 1936 (R E Howard’s “A Gent from Bear Creek”). When we put it on the market we were contacted by specialist dealers from around the world who informed us that it was only one of ten known copies. Further investigation uncovered that although 500 copies were printed of the first and only edition, a decision by the publisher was made to ‘pulp’ (destroy) all copies prior to distribution when the author committed suicide (something considered as ‘immoral’ in that time). Only around ten copies had entered circulation as they had been released to libraries.

We have located only eleven copies in UK institutional libraries and have identified seven copies that have been offered for sale in the past ten years, making a total of eighteen. This is a very low number for a book printed in 1934 which was not a limited edition. We would suggest that at least 500 copies were printed of this first edition.

Please note that this book is in very good condition with minimal wear to the extremities. There are what appear to be two drops of tea that have left a mark on the first few pages.

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