Sep 17, 2015 - Sale 2391

Sale 2391 - Lot 326

Price Realized: $ 5,250
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 2,000 - $ 3,000
T.E. LAWRENCE, INDIAN NATIONALISTS, ZIONISTS, AND MORE (TRAVEL.) Merz, Charles. Diary of My Trip Around the World. 362 manuscript pages. 12mo (6 3/4 x 3 3/4 inches), unbound on lined notebook sheets, laid into a contemporary plain cloth binding with manuscript paper label; minimal wear and foxing to contents. Vp, 20 January to 14 August 1921
Set Alert for Similar Items

Additional Details

This wide-ranging travel diary--London, Paris, Rome, Egypt, Jerusalem, India, China, Japan, and much more-- was kept by Charles Andrew Merz (1893-1977), a well-known journalist from Ohio who got his start with Harper's Weekly and the New Republic shortly after graduating from Yale, Upon his return from this trip, he became a correspondent for the New York World, and went on to become the editor of the New York Times from 1938 to 1961. Merz experienced far more than a typical tourist; he arrived with sheaves of letters of introduction, and met with a wide variety of important diplomats, industrialists, and authors during his various stops. He had a particular interest in nationalist movements. As a professional writer, he described all with a keen eye.
Merz met five times in England and Cairo with Colonel T.E. Lawrence--the famous Lawrence of Arabia--describing him as "an intensely alive young man, and certainly one of the most romantic figures of our western world today." Lawrence joined them for a visit to the London home of Emir Feisal, King of Iraq, and "joked with us about America's abandonment of the 14 Points; warned us to go into Arab territory with a sign declaring 'We Are Not French.'" He met George Bernard Shaw in Oxford, and witnessed Winston Churchill's arrival in Cairo. He flew from London to Brussels in an open cockpit, with no goggles. In Jerusalem, he discussed Zionism with a variety of Muslims, Christians, and Jews, most notably Hadassah founder Henrietta Szold, Hebrew revivalist Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, and Sir Herbert Samuel, High Commissioner of Palestine, described as "a passionate Zionist, for all that a man who saw much of the Arab point of view and who wanted a fair deal." In Rawalpindi, he attended a large "non-violent non-cooperation" nationalist meeting, and met with important early nationalist Lala Lajpat Rai. In China, he barely missed a major looting incident in Wuchang, where hundreds were killed, and met with visiting philosophers John Dewey and Bertrand Russell. He received perhaps his warmest reception in Japan, where the Bankers' Club arranged a luncheon in his honor, and he had two meetings with Viscount Shibusawa Eiichi, a key figure in early Japanese capitalism: "We talked for several hours, or rather, the Viscount talked. He's a hard man to interrupt." All in all, a fascinating account of Europe and Asia in the wake of the first World War.