Book

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

Mairs, Rachel, author

Overview

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 Using these reference letters, and the first-hand published and unpublished accounts of the travellers themselves, this book tells the stories of several such tourists, including the intrepid Victorian female traveller, Ellen E.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.

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
• Subject: Negima, Solomon N. / Dragomen Middle East Biography. / Travelers Middle East History 19th century. / Travelers Middle East History 20th century. / Middle East Description and travel.
• ISBN: 9781474255004

Item info:

1 item available

1 item total in all locations

Holdings :

Call Number	Copies	Material	Location
DS125.3.N44 M35 2016	1	BOOK	AUTOSTORE