Freya Stark in the Levant (St Antony's College Middle East Archives)

In 1927 Freya Stark stayed in Beirut, taking lessons to improve her Arabic, before moving on to Damascus in 1928. Returning in 1939 to Aleppo, and again in the 1950s to explore the deserted Byzantine cities of the Orontes valley, for Freya Stark the Levant was the foundation for her love of the Middle East. This volume includes some of her best photographs.