Böcker av Alastair (Arcadian Visiting Research Professor at the School of Advanced Study Hamilton

This book surveys the main holdings of a major private library devoted to published works and documents produced in Europe concerning the Arab and Islamic world. Travel reports, history, religion, science, languages, and literature are all covered in what is both an introduction to the whole field and a scholarly reference work.

It was not until the 19th century that explorers ventured beyond Muscat and the coast of Oman. This book examines the process from the earliest times up to 1970 and discusses the way in which the growing knowledge of Oman was propagated in the West.