From Khartoum to Jerusalem : the Dragoman Solomon Negima and his clients (1885-1933) / Rachel Mairs.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mairs, Rachel, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Negima, Solomon N.

Dragomen--Middle East--Biography.

Dragomen.

Travelers--Middle East--19th century.

Travelers.

Travelers--Middle East--20th century.

Middle East--Description and travel.

Middle East.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xvi, 261 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

London ; New York, NY : Bloomsbury Academic, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2016.

Summary:

In 2014, a collection of papers was found on eBay: a scrapbook, inside which was written 'Testimonial Book of Dragoman Solomon N. Negima'. The letters pasted into the testimonial book bear recommendations of Negima's services as dragoman - a combination of tourist guide and interpreter - in the Holy Land, from travellers of different nationalities, social classes, religions, genders and races. Using these reference letters, and the first-hand published and unpublished accounts of the travellers themselves, this book tells the stories of several such tourists, including the intrepid Victorian female traveller, Ellen E. Miller, and an African-American minister, Rev. Charles T. Walker, who had been born into slavery. Between the lines of others' letters, Solomon Negima's remarkable life story also emerges: from a German mission school in Jerusalem, to the British army in the Sudan, to a successful career as a dragoman in Palestine and Syria, and finally to comfortable retirement with his son, Aziz, and daughter, Olinda, at a Mormon mission in Jerusalem. The discovery of this unique scrapbook allows us an insight into the lives of individuals whose histories would otherwise be lost to us, and a new perspective on the history of travel in the Middle East.

Contents:

Introduction

The Sudan, 1885

Tourists and pilgrims

Alone through Syria

Rev. Charles T. Walker

Floyd House

The letters.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 250-257) and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Mairs, Rachel, author. From Khartoum to Jerusalem

ISBN:

9781474255004

1474255000

OCLC:

948360863