1951 Augustan Press Pictorial Map of Bahrain

Belgraves and Bahrain.

This is a 1951 pictorial map of Bahrain published by the Augustan Press for James Belgrave's guidebook Welcome to Bahrain. It captures the island at a time when it was undergoing a social, economic, and cultural transformation driven by Belgrave's own father, a long-time British 'advisor' and effective ruler of the island.

A Closer Look

The map covers the Bahrain Island along with its surrounding outlying islands, although it does not include the Hawar Islands just off the coast of Qatar. Areas of vegetation are shaded green while cities, towns, and large economic facilities such as refineries and shipping terminals are marked by diagonal line shading. Additional features such as roads, tracks, pipelines, piers, police outposts, salt flats and pans, hunting lodges, and a golf course are also recorded. At the top-right are illustrations of ships, a whale, and a merman, lending this piece pictorial elements.

Historical Context and the Belgrave Family

This map appeared in the first edition of James Hamed Dacre Belgrave's (1929 - 1979) guide Welcome to Bahrain. Belgrave was the son of Sir Charles Dalrymple Belgrave (1894 - 1969), who was a British advisor and de facto ruler of Bahrain between 1926 and 1957. Under Belgrave's tutelage, the island underwent major social and economic reforms that angered clerics and conservatives within the island's elite families, including the abolition of slavery, expanded schooling, including girls' education, and the location of oil reserves. The Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO) was founded in 1929 as a joint venture between American Standard Oil of California (Chevron) and Texaco, as British companies were uninterested in the area. But in 1932, BAPCO discovered the Bahrain Field (Awali Field), located south of the Jabal Dukhan (Mountain of Smoke) near the center of the island, which became the island's main source of oil in the following decades.

In the postwar period, Belgrave increasingly became the target of anti-imperial criticism, resulting in large demonstrations in 1956 that led to limitations on his influence and his retirement the following year. Despite this somewhat ignominious end, Belgrave undoubtedly left a major and enduring mark on the modern history of Bahrain, not only in the focus on oil as an economic driver but also through schools, hospitals, and courts. Having grown up in Bahrain in such a prominent family, the younger Belgrave made a career publishing English-language guidebooks of Bahrain that were a staple for visitors in the 1950s - 1970s.

Publication History and Census

This map was prepared in 1951 by an unknown cartographer (a very small signature appears to the left of the date) and published by the Augustan Press in Manama for James H. D. Belgrave's guide Welcome to Bahrain. Though the map was prepared in 1951, the guide was not published until 1953 and then was published on an annual or nearly annual basis afterwards for about 25 years, sometimes in Arabic as well as English.

Despite being published in many editions, the guide's print run appears to have been quite low, and both the map and guide are scarce in any edition, especially this first edition. The OCLC only independently catalogs the map at the Library of Congress and the National Library of Scotland, while the first edition of the entire guide is only held by the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik in Lebanon.

Condition

Good. Top margin extended with some manuscript infill to border. Closed tear extending 1 inch into printed area in upper left corner professionally repaired on verso.

References

OCLC 764558547.