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Baghdad Sketches
In the fall of 1928, thirty-five year-old Freya Stark set out on her first journey to the Middle East. She spent most of the next four years in Iraq and Persia, visiting ancient and medieval sites, and traveling alone through some of the wilder corners of the region.
177 pages, Paperback
First published December 4, 1932
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About the author
Freya Stark
132 books176 followersFreya Stark was born in Paris, where her parents were studying art. Her mother, Flora, was an Italian of Polish/German descent; her father, Robert, an English painter from Devon.
In her lifetime she was famous for her experiences in the Middle East, her writing and her cartography. Freya Stark was not only one of the first Western women to travel through the Arabian deserts (Hadhramaut), she often travelled solo into areas where few Europeans, let alone women, had ever been.
She spent much of her childhood in North Italy, helped by the fact that Pen Browning, a friend of her father, had bought three houses in Asolo. She also had a grandmother in Genoa. For her 9th birthday she received a copy of the One Thousand and One Nights, and became fascinated with the Orient. She was often ill while young, and confined to the house, so found an outlet in reading. She delighted in reading French, in particular Dumas, and taught herself Latin. When she was 13 she had an accident in a factory in Italy, when her hair got caught in a machine, and she had to spend four months getting skin grafts in hospital, which left her face slightly disfigured.
She later learned Arabic and Persian, studied history in London and during World War I worked as a nurse in Italy, where her mother had remained and taken a share in a business. Her sister, Vera, married the co-owner.
In November 1927 she visited Asolo for the first time in years, and later that month boarded a ship for Beirut, where her travels in the East began. She based herself first at the home of James Elroy Flecker in Lebanon and then in Baghdad, where she met the British high commissioner.
By 1931 she had completed three dangerous treks into the wilderness of western Iran, in parts of which no Westerner had ever been before, and had located the long-fabled Valleys of the Assassins (hashish-eaters). During the 1930s she penetrated the hinterland of southern Arabia, where only a handful of Western explorers had previously ventured and then never as far or as widely as she went.
During World War II, she joined the British Ministry of Information and contributed to the creation of a propaganda network aimed at persuading Arabs to support the Allies or at least remain neutral. She wrote more than two dozen books based on her travels, almost all of which were published by John Murray in London, with whom she had a successful and long-standing working relationship.
In her lifetime she was famous for her experiences in the Middle East, her writing and her cartography. Freya Stark was not only one of the first Western women to travel through the Arabian deserts (Hadhramaut), she often travelled solo into areas where few Europeans, let alone women, had ever been.
She spent much of her childhood in North Italy, helped by the fact that Pen Browning, a friend of her father, had bought three houses in Asolo. She also had a grandmother in Genoa. For her 9th birthday she received a copy of the One Thousand and One Nights, and became fascinated with the Orient. She was often ill while young, and confined to the house, so found an outlet in reading. She delighted in reading French, in particular Dumas, and taught herself Latin. When she was 13 she had an accident in a factory in Italy, when her hair got caught in a machine, and she had to spend four months getting skin grafts in hospital, which left her face slightly disfigured.
She later learned Arabic and Persian, studied history in London and during World War I worked as a nurse in Italy, where her mother had remained and taken a share in a business. Her sister, Vera, married the co-owner.
In November 1927 she visited Asolo for the first time in years, and later that month boarded a ship for Beirut, where her travels in the East began. She based herself first at the home of James Elroy Flecker in Lebanon and then in Baghdad, where she met the British high commissioner.
By 1931 she had completed three dangerous treks into the wilderness of western Iran, in parts of which no Westerner had ever been before, and had located the long-fabled Valleys of the Assassins (hashish-eaters). During the 1930s she penetrated the hinterland of southern Arabia, where only a handful of Western explorers had previously ventured and then never as far or as widely as she went.
During World War II, she joined the British Ministry of Information and contributed to the creation of a propaganda network aimed at persuading Arabs to support the Allies or at least remain neutral. She wrote more than two dozen books based on her travels, almost all of which were published by John Murray in London, with whom she had a successful and long-standing working relationship.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
February 25, 2024
This is prolific author Freya Stark's first published book, dating from 1932 - although this edition is from 1937 and contains eight additional chapters written some six years later than the original essays.
Contained in this book are a series of what she calls 'sketches', but are more accurate vignettes or essays as they were mostly intended articles for the Baghdad Times, in approximately 1931. Each provides a curated glimpse at her life, living cheaply in Baghdad, and experiencing the Iraqi and Bedouin cultures around her. Travel to and from Syria and time in Kuwait are all included - a significant number of the later chapters feature Kuwait.
The writing shows a willingness of Stark to learn and be taught about different cultures, she turns nobody aside without engaging to try and gain some insight; she shows she is willing to share he knowledge also. With a grounding like this is easy to see why she became such a popular author.
I enjoyed the earlier essays more, I think because they were simpler and more focussed. Some of the final essays became complex, and although nicely composed, I found myself re-reading paragraphs to pick out the point being made, or what the link with the following paragraph was, as I had missed it.
A number of photographs (black & white), which are good for the time - especially the portraits, and a series of ink sketches (attributed to EN Prescott) are scattered through the book, which definitely add to the picture painted by the words.
4 stars
Contained in this book are a series of what she calls 'sketches', but are more accurate vignettes or essays as they were mostly intended articles for the Baghdad Times, in approximately 1931. Each provides a curated glimpse at her life, living cheaply in Baghdad, and experiencing the Iraqi and Bedouin cultures around her. Travel to and from Syria and time in Kuwait are all included - a significant number of the later chapters feature Kuwait.
The writing shows a willingness of Stark to learn and be taught about different cultures, she turns nobody aside without engaging to try and gain some insight; she shows she is willing to share he knowledge also. With a grounding like this is easy to see why she became such a popular author.
I enjoyed the earlier essays more, I think because they were simpler and more focussed. Some of the final essays became complex, and although nicely composed, I found myself re-reading paragraphs to pick out the point being made, or what the link with the following paragraph was, as I had missed it.
A number of photographs (black & white), which are good for the time - especially the portraits, and a series of ink sketches (attributed to EN Prescott) are scattered through the book, which definitely add to the picture painted by the words.
4 stars
July 1, 2016
For over forty years (except for a brief interlude when she was married), Freya Stark spent some 40 years traveling by herself in the Middle East. I have just finished reading her first book, Baghdad Sketches (1932), consisting of columns written for the Baghdad Times plus some 8 pieces added later for the British edition.
I am amazed that she was able to not only survive traveling in a difficult part of the world roughly between 1928 and 1970, but she lived to the age of 100.
She is not the first to do sir. Gertrude Bell (who died in Baghdad just a couple years before Freya arrived there), also covered much of the same ground. Still, I cannot imagine in this period of violent jihad and xenophobia that their travels could be duplicated without a military escort.
Freya had interesting attitudes about solitude and travel. On the former, she wrote that “solitude is the one deep necessity of the human spirit to which adequate recognition is never given in our codes. It is looked upon as a discipline or penance, but almost never as the indispensable, pleasant ingredient it is to ordinary life.” For the modern traveler, she felt with distaste that its purpose “is to give people a glimpse of the exotic places without the least bit of inconvenience to themselves.”
In Baghdad Sketches, she gives a picture of a much more diverse population than exists now in the era of ISIS/ISIL/Daesh. Stark frequently visited among the Kurds, Yezidis, Shi’as, and Eastern Christians living in Iraq during the 1930s.
Among her books that I have read with pleasure, in addition to Baghdad Sketches, are:
The Valleys of the Assassins and Other Persian Travels (1934)
The Southern Gates of Arabia: A Journey to the Hadhramaut (1938)
Alexander’s Path: From Caria to Cilicia (1958)—about Turkey
Many of her books are still in print.
I am amazed that she was able to not only survive traveling in a difficult part of the world roughly between 1928 and 1970, but she lived to the age of 100.
She is not the first to do sir. Gertrude Bell (who died in Baghdad just a couple years before Freya arrived there), also covered much of the same ground. Still, I cannot imagine in this period of violent jihad and xenophobia that their travels could be duplicated without a military escort.
Freya had interesting attitudes about solitude and travel. On the former, she wrote that “solitude is the one deep necessity of the human spirit to which adequate recognition is never given in our codes. It is looked upon as a discipline or penance, but almost never as the indispensable, pleasant ingredient it is to ordinary life.” For the modern traveler, she felt with distaste that its purpose “is to give people a glimpse of the exotic places without the least bit of inconvenience to themselves.”
In Baghdad Sketches, she gives a picture of a much more diverse population than exists now in the era of ISIS/ISIL/Daesh. Stark frequently visited among the Kurds, Yezidis, Shi’as, and Eastern Christians living in Iraq during the 1930s.
Among her books that I have read with pleasure, in addition to Baghdad Sketches, are:
The Valleys of the Assassins and Other Persian Travels (1934)
The Southern Gates of Arabia: A Journey to the Hadhramaut (1938)
Alexander’s Path: From Caria to Cilicia (1958)—about Turkey
Many of her books are still in print.
June 9, 2016
I've only read a handful of Freya Stark's travelogues, but this one is up there for beautiful writing. She describes many of the scenes and countryside in a vivid manner and you can see it with your imagination. Her adventures in Baghdad and trips around the country were great fun to read. It would be nice if my copy of the book had a map to show where she traveled, especially since the names of many of the cities had older spellings or used an older name rather than a modern one.
Some favorite lines:
"The desert felt immense at night. The lop-sided moon was setting between two hills with a faint and dusky glow, fit light for two dead worlds to look upon each other. But in the East we had the rising stars against us: one after another they sprang from the dark horizon and climbed into the cold air: Orion, green and brilliant, swung across the arch of heaven on our right."
"To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world. You are surrounded by adventure. You have no idea of what is in store for you, but you will, if you are wise and know the art of travel, let yourself go on the stream of the unknown and accept whatever comes in the spirit in which the gods may offer it."
"I used to wander of an evening outside the town, under this great wall in the dusk, and admire the new moon hanging above the windowless buttress in a daffodil sky."
Some favorite lines:
"The desert felt immense at night. The lop-sided moon was setting between two hills with a faint and dusky glow, fit light for two dead worlds to look upon each other. But in the East we had the rising stars against us: one after another they sprang from the dark horizon and climbed into the cold air: Orion, green and brilliant, swung across the arch of heaven on our right."
"To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world. You are surrounded by adventure. You have no idea of what is in store for you, but you will, if you are wise and know the art of travel, let yourself go on the stream of the unknown and accept whatever comes in the spirit in which the gods may offer it."
"I used to wander of an evening outside the town, under this great wall in the dusk, and admire the new moon hanging above the windowless buttress in a daffodil sky."
February 7, 2014
I really loved this charming book, written by one of my favorite authors. Freya Stark traveled to Iraq in the 1920s and 1930s, found an apartment in the Old Quarter of Baghdad and lived there for a time. This book is a sort of compilation of mini-stories and observations about everyday life in Iraq during that time. There is no narrative or overarching story, but rather more like a journal with witty, thoughtful insights. Her descriptions are fantastic, and you can't help but like her. She is balanced and even-handed about her countrymen in the region, and yet doesn't fall prey to the over-orientalized exoticism of the Middle East either. A fantastic read, and particularly valuable as I prepare for my assignment in Iraq.
December 16, 2009
Stark's experiences living as a single woman in Baghdad in 1928: a lost world, beautifully described. I rarely give a book 5 stars, but this one was a constant source of inspiration and delight.
September 12, 2009
A travel journal of a woman journeying in Iraq at the turn of the 20th century. Not only was she traveling in a British-controlled area (just a decade or two after the Victorian era) and not only was she doing it alone, but she was journeying through the Arab world. She did an excellent job portraying a time when the British (and Americans) were welcomed in Iraq and she displayed a beautiful and ancient culture that today's TV viewers would have difficulty believing.
Three takeaways:
1. You aren't really traveling on a tour bus or a cruise ship. You need to interact with the local people to actually be traveling. Seems Rick Steves was not the first person to try to get that point across.
2. Observing the everyday life of another person is just as fascinating as observing a famous tourist site.
3. Showing an interest in another person's life or culture will typically get you a more positive reaction than showing disdain.
Three takeaways:
1. You aren't really traveling on a tour bus or a cruise ship. You need to interact with the local people to actually be traveling. Seems Rick Steves was not the first person to try to get that point across.
2. Observing the everyday life of another person is just as fascinating as observing a famous tourist site.
3. Showing an interest in another person's life or culture will typically get you a more positive reaction than showing disdain.
January 15, 2018
Baghdad Sketches was the first of Stark's writings to be published and presents a series of short essays on her experiences in and around Baghdad. Her writing is simply breathtaking, whether she is describing the landscape or the people, and she has such great respect for what she's writing about. She's definitely one of my heroes, both as a traveller and as a writer.
August 9, 2013
This book made me feel very ignorant of Middle Eastern history (not a difficult task) It was interesting to read these little essays by an intrepid woman traveller from pre-WWII Iraq and thereabouts - to read Kuwait described as a village for example. I most enjoyed the accounts of her domestic life, renting homes in Baghdad.
June 11, 2009
I picked up this book on the recommendation of a friend. Baghdad 1938...can't lose track of the fact that this is an ancient city. I am now reading Three Cups of Tea, modern Pakistan, in which the travel and cultural issues are similar.
June 26, 2015
really loved this charming book, written by one of my favorite authors. Freya Stark traveled to Iraq in the 1920s and 1930s, found an apartment in the Old Quarter of Baghdad and lived there for a time.
June 21, 2018
Four stars because it's certainly worth reading if you're interested in what life felt (and smelled) like in Baghdad during the pivotal interwar years. There are a few empty chapters, but those go by quickly enough. The rest of it is entirely charming and insightful.
July 1, 2020
Very interesting portrayal of war-torn places in the middle east that were once peaceful
Want to read
April 23, 2013Freya Stark was mentioned in To War with Whitaker
By Hermoine Ranfurly. They met during WW2.
By Hermoine Ranfurly. They met during WW2.
May 1, 2016
The writing style is not that easy to follow and I really don't like that orientalist tone but overall it draws sketches of Iraqis cities that I am sure are completely changed.
December 9, 2017
What a dreary book! Sand, filthy city hovels and streets, oppressed women hidden behind veils. Scanned forward, looking for something more interesting or important, to no avail.
July 24, 2019
Freya takes us through the streets of Iraq in 1927, to meet her neighbours and see Iraqi culture through her incredible eyes. Having lived in Libya myself, I found this book interesting and surprisingly similar to my own experiences (of another Arab country) in many ways. I particularly like her observations of the differences in hospitality between Iraqi people and Westerners. There are shocking passages, such as how she talks with what seems to be acceptance of the slavery which is commonplace at that time, and also her encounter with Yazidi people. I was uncomfortable with her portrayal of their belief system and I wonder over the accuracy of this, particularly given that this also modern-held belief of what they are about has led to their persecution in recent years. This book offers a fascinating insight into this part of the world, from almost a century ago. I particularly enjoyed her refreshing views on the 'expected behaviour' of a lady, which of course she didn't subscribe to.
October 1, 2022
“To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasentest sensations in the world. You are surrounded by adventure. You have no idea of what is in store for you, but you will, if you are wise and know the art of travel, let yourself go on the stream of the unknown and accept whatever comes in the spirit in which the gods may offer it.”
You don’t need to be “the poet of travel”, an Arabist, a Middle East lover, a prolific and funny writer and a witty and observant traveller like Dame Freya Stark to enjoy Baghdad Sketches and be completely in awe with her. But when you too know the Middle East, you will find her observations even sharper and funnier as you will recognise yourself in them:
“The letter, which was addressed merely ‘Baghdad’, had reached him with this remarkable rapidity. How they do it in large Eastern cities is always a mystery to me: all the explanation I got this time was that there was an ‘acquaintance’ in the post office.”
“... the w’Allahs and y’Allahs expended over quarter of a pound of meat...”
You don’t need to be “the poet of travel”, an Arabist, a Middle East lover, a prolific and funny writer and a witty and observant traveller like Dame Freya Stark to enjoy Baghdad Sketches and be completely in awe with her. But when you too know the Middle East, you will find her observations even sharper and funnier as you will recognise yourself in them:
“The letter, which was addressed merely ‘Baghdad’, had reached him with this remarkable rapidity. How they do it in large Eastern cities is always a mystery to me: all the explanation I got this time was that there was an ‘acquaintance’ in the post office.”
“... the w’Allahs and y’Allahs expended over quarter of a pound of meat...”
September 7, 2025
A collection of almost thirty sketches. Not the first-published but the first-written of her Middle East exploits; these are short pieces of journalism mostly written for the ex-pat Baghdad Times on Miss Stark’s first stay in 1931. Others are added from a return visit in 1937.
If you’ve come across anything at all by this most remarkable of women, then you’ll need no recommendation from me. If you haven’t then these are treasures to dip into, for a flavor of the adventures of a gifted, spirited Victorian discovering a remote and now long-lost world.
How lost? Well, consider that in 1937 Kuwait there still isn’t any oil yet, though the geology does look promising.
These are indelible glimpses into ages-old lands and civilizations that she loves and sees to be disappearing under the twentieth-century tide. And she’s a lady that started out writing as she meant to go on—the atmospheres, casts of characters, takes on east and west are vintage Freya Stark.
Don’t hesitate to make the discoveries with her.
If you’ve come across anything at all by this most remarkable of women, then you’ll need no recommendation from me. If you haven’t then these are treasures to dip into, for a flavor of the adventures of a gifted, spirited Victorian discovering a remote and now long-lost world.
How lost? Well, consider that in 1937 Kuwait there still isn’t any oil yet, though the geology does look promising.
These are indelible glimpses into ages-old lands and civilizations that she loves and sees to be disappearing under the twentieth-century tide. And she’s a lady that started out writing as she meant to go on—the atmospheres, casts of characters, takes on east and west are vintage Freya Stark.
Don’t hesitate to make the discoveries with her.
March 30, 2020
A collection of 31 short articles, sketches as Stark describes them, most of which appeared in the Baghdad Times in 1931, but with eight later articles written about fiv years later prior to publication as a book in 1937.
Being newspaper articles they vary widely in subject matter, although most relate to Iraq, some recount visits to Kuwait (fascinating) and travelling through Syria. However they are all enchanting, noticing the advantages and disadvantages of both the original habits of the Iraqi peoples, as well as modernising (1930’s) Western habits. Although from an acknowledged privileged position, these sketches provide an insight into a rapidly disappearing society, especially of the Beduin (sic).
The Nisibin Road article and the early articles describing Stark’s first impressions of Iraq were my favourite, but overall the articles provide a fascinating historic snapshot of a changing society.
Being newspaper articles they vary widely in subject matter, although most relate to Iraq, some recount visits to Kuwait (fascinating) and travelling through Syria. However they are all enchanting, noticing the advantages and disadvantages of both the original habits of the Iraqi peoples, as well as modernising (1930’s) Western habits. Although from an acknowledged privileged position, these sketches provide an insight into a rapidly disappearing society, especially of the Beduin (sic).
The Nisibin Road article and the early articles describing Stark’s first impressions of Iraq were my favourite, but overall the articles provide a fascinating historic snapshot of a changing society.
October 20, 2021
It's an interesting travelogue into early colonial Iraq. Some things ring familiar, some things are different.
What was jarring was Freya's unapologetic colonial attitude. Of course, this is to be expected as she's a product of her era. But still, on occasion a sense of confusion with how she would be viewed by Iraqis is surprising. Also, there is some casual racism that just comes out every now and then - like a view on how annoying Armenians are, dwelling on the genocide. Truly a bit shocking to read.
One quote stuck out to me:
"Our people have given you Iraq as a present" ... "I hope you won't forget it too soon."
That's some blinkered view to think that Iraqis haven't fought for their country and to become a nation, and the long history that lies in that land.
It's for these reasons that I can't give it a higher rating.
What was jarring was Freya's unapologetic colonial attitude. Of course, this is to be expected as she's a product of her era. But still, on occasion a sense of confusion with how she would be viewed by Iraqis is surprising. Also, there is some casual racism that just comes out every now and then - like a view on how annoying Armenians are, dwelling on the genocide. Truly a bit shocking to read.
One quote stuck out to me:
"Our people have given you Iraq as a present" ... "I hope you won't forget it too soon."
That's some blinkered view to think that Iraqis haven't fought for their country and to become a nation, and the long history that lies in that land.
It's for these reasons that I can't give it a higher rating.
October 17, 2024
I'd been looking in used book stores for a long time to find an edition of any work by Stark, and finally found this. I was not disappointed. There is definitely a difference between the first and second halves of the book. The first involves smaller vignettes, much personal to her and with much greater depth of portrait of the individuals involved in each episode. It presents a much more human side of her exploration. The second half is much broader in scope and view - more of the forest than the trees, which still are peppered with small individual touches, but views things with a more universal eye. Places are explored in greater context in this second half.
Despite the differences, both halves are successful and present wonderful glimpses through a stranger's eyes into the very removed times, when Iraq and its neighbors were dealing with the important changes of the day.
Despite the differences, both halves are successful and present wonderful glimpses through a stranger's eyes into the very removed times, when Iraq and its neighbors were dealing with the important changes of the day.
April 12, 2019
Excellent prose and insight
May 21, 2020
A brave soul if there ever was one especially in the middle east.
A lot more safer to travel back in those days then what is facing us now.
A lot more safer to travel back in those days then what is facing us now.
August 14, 2020
It’s so easy to see, experience and practically even smell the places she describes. Her writing is THAT good and THAT interesting.
Read
March 24, 2023Samarra and Tekrit baghdad sketch freya stark picture
May 12, 2024
'Baghdad Sketches' offers insight into Iraq in the early 20th century. I found it fascinating to read a travel book depicting familiar places from nearly a century ago.
January 28, 2025
Written in 1938, this book is quite informative of how all the different peoples in Iraq lived and worked together.
January 22, 2026
I found this beautiful 1952 Portuguese edition of Baghdad Sketches in a second-hand bookshop in Lisbon, and it turned out to be a remarkable read. Freya Stark’s writing is travel writing at its best.
it struck me recognizing place names like Mosul, Fallujah, Tikrit, and Samarra, and realizing that many of these places were heavily damaged or destroyed during the war, while Stark describes them as living, beautiful cities less than a century ago. And yet, despite all the changes of the last 100 years, her descriptions of Arab hospitality and gentleness feel strikingly familiar—something I’ve experienced myself in other countries of the region, even if not yet in Iraq.
In that sense, this book is not only great travel writing but also an extraordinary historical document. Stark opens by noting that Baghdad was soon to be linked to Europe by railway—a line that now reads with quiet irony.
it struck me recognizing place names like Mosul, Fallujah, Tikrit, and Samarra, and realizing that many of these places were heavily damaged or destroyed during the war, while Stark describes them as living, beautiful cities less than a century ago. And yet, despite all the changes of the last 100 years, her descriptions of Arab hospitality and gentleness feel strikingly familiar—something I’ve experienced myself in other countries of the region, even if not yet in Iraq.
In that sense, this book is not only great travel writing but also an extraordinary historical document. Stark opens by noting that Baghdad was soon to be linked to Europe by railway—a line that now reads with quiet irony.
April 22, 2021
I found this writers world view to be racist. I think I tried to overlook my feeling until we got to the point where it was implied that Armenians deserved the Armenian genocide.
There aren’t many books about Iraq in English and this one has really high overall rating. So this review is a caution to other Iraqi diaspora as I wish there had been one before I bought this book.
There aren’t many books about Iraq in English and this one has really high overall rating. So this review is a caution to other Iraqi diaspora as I wish there had been one before I bought this book.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews