Rare Persian Gulf gazetteer coming up in Cheltenham auction Hugh Gordon Lorimer's 1908/1915 Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, Oman and Central Arabia is set to take the book world by storm in a unique appearance at auction – The Cotswold Auction Company's 29th September Books and Collectables Sale at Chapel Walk, Cheltenham. No auction records exist and only one other copy is known in the British Library. Later republished in many volumes, the original work was a daunting endeavour – Lorimer printed the second volume in 1908, having failed to complete the table of contents and introduction to the first volume (which eventually numbered over 130 pages!) in his lifetime. The first volume was only published after Lorimer's death in 1914 by L Birdwood, who finished the work, in 1915. This is the most important single source of historical material on the Gulf States and Saudi Arabia, issued as a secret document by the British Government in India . It was compile
