First, it was a heavy book, in the way of that at reference 1. The same thick white paper and the same profusion of illustrations, although in this case they were all black and white, perhaps reflecting their mostly dating from the first half of the last century.
Second, it was a first edition, limited to 1,000 copies.
Third, it was an Egyptian book, a book which was printed in Egypt (at least they print their own picture books. So many of ours seem to come from the Far East) and which was sold by the Diwan Bookstore for L.E. 250. Probably the Cairo establishment of reference 2. And I guessed rightly that LE's are Egyptian Pounds. The name being a relic of the days when we looked after Egypt to make sure that they looked after the Suez Canal in our interest? In any event, at around around 8.5 of our pence for their pound, an expensive book, limited or not. Furthermore, the only Egyptian book in my possession. A pity that I will never know how it came to be in Hook Road. An expatriate doctor from Egypt who used to work one of our mental hospitals?
Fourth, while first impressions were of a vacant royal, mostly interested in her wardrobe and social calendar, there was more to it than that. The Egyptian royals were also, until 1950 or so, the rulers, for much of that period uncomfortably positioned between us and their people. On the one hand they were much like our own royals, probably lunching with them on occasion, on the other they chafed under foreign rule. I notice in passing that it seems that some of our supervising officials were rather unpleasant and overbearing, which may have made the problem of Egyptian rulers siding with Germany during the second war rather worse than it might otherwise have been. With the nocturnal behaviour of our allied troops not being much better.
Be that as it may, the Egyptian king of around 1950 was not much good and was swept away by the army, in the form of Nasser, who for a while seemed to represent a more rosy future for the Arabs than has, in the event, come to pass. With the royals generally going into exile over the following ten years or so, some having managed to get their dosh out and some not. And with the religious gradually pushing the secular leaders of the first revolution aside - rather as they have in a number of our former colonies. See the June 4th number of the NYRB for a review of a book by Michael Walzer about this very subject.
But maybe I should read this book all the way through, before going on to waltz.
PS: Amazon know all about the book, but say that it is presently unavailable. No indication of what they would charge for it if it were.
Reference 1: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/phi.html.
Reference 2: https://www.diwanegypt.com/.
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