Taha Hussein – The Stream of Days – 1948 – Inscribed

An exceptionally rare example of an inscribed book by Taha Hussein, arguably the most influential Arab intellectual and writer of the 20th century. This is a 1948 English translation of his autobiography (al-Ayyam in the original Arabic), which contains an inscription by his son Moenis. Taha Hussein was blind from birth, but would dictate gift messages to his family or secretary to write into books. This specific book was gifted in 1950 to a Mr Burbridge, in Stratford, England, when Taha Hussein was Egypt’s education minister. The inscription is in French, which was regularly used by the family at home, and reads: “A Monsieur Burbridge, en souvenir de ma visite a Stratford et de son aimable acceuil”. Hardback, Published in 1948 by Longmans. Contains a second gift inscription from a later owner, on title page. Book itself is in very good condition. Minor wear to boards. Clean inside except for inscriptions. Little to no tanning or foxing. Original dust jacket is unclipped but has missing sections to bottom and top areas of spine, and along top cover.