Maggs Bros. Ltd.

A rare official compilation of treaties and agreements between Britain and the countries and states of the Arabian Peninsula and Persian Gulf. It is a highly valuable source on the political history of, inter alia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman and the United Arab Emirates.

Charles Umpherston Aitchison (1832-1896) was a civil servant in the Government of India when he began compiling his comprehensive set of treaties, eventually published in a series of eleven volumes between 1862 and 1892. The present volume is the most prized, primarily for its remarkable wealth of information on the Gulf. Stretching from the end of the eighteenth century to 1906, it covers a period in which Britain was the dominant colonial power there, entering into agreements with every State along the Arabian coast, from Muscat in the South to Kuwait in the North. In compiling every treaty and engagement, it records how that presence was cultivated, maintained and, at times, enforced.

Several of the treaties are of great historical importance, such as the ‘General Treaty with the Arab Tribes of the Persian Gulf, 1820’, which saw the rulers of the Trucial Coast (now United Arab Emirates) agree to the complete suppression of piracy. This was a significant moment, not for its move against piracy (the prevalence of which has been strongly challenged by revisionist histories) but more for the cementing of diplomatic ties between the Arab rulers and British India.

Though not a secret or confidential publication, the book would have kept a limited, mainly official, readership.

Cf. Macro, 18.