Passenger to Teheran (Tauris Parke Paperback S.) [Paperback]

Vita Sackville-West (Author), Nigel Nicolson (Introduction)

Book Description

Series: Tauris Parke Paperback S. | Publication Date: May 1, 2007

In 1926 Vita Sackville-West travelled to Iran to visit her husband, Harold Nicolson, who was serving as a diplomat in Teheran. Her route was deliberately slow-paced - she stopped in Egypt, where she sailed up the Nile to Luxor; and India, where she visited New Delhi and Agra before sailing across the Persian Gulf to Iraq and on through bandit-infested mountains to Teheran. She returned to England in an equally circuitous manner and despite travelling under dangerous circumstances, through communist Russia and Poland in the midst of revolution, her humour and sense of adventure never failed. Passenger to Teheran is a classic work, revealing the lesser-known side of one of the twentieth century's most luminous authors.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Bloomsbury writer Sackville-West's lively intelligence and independence of spirit animate this glittering jewel of a book. A travelogue of her circuitous, four-month journey to Iran (then Persia) via Egypt, Aden, India and Iraq, it is notable for the author's open-mindedness and her empathy for the diverse peoples she encountered--whether potters in an Egyptian village, Arab women by the Tigris or Kurdish farmers. Teheran, where her husband Harold Nicolson was stationed as a British diplomat, seemed "a squalid city of bad roads, rubbish heaps and pariah dogs," yet the Persia she conjures up is full of life for those who unnecessary. it's implied. aa seek it. Here is Sackville-West the adventurer, philosopher of travel just 'philosopher', or 'on travel'? aa/leave as is.gs , humorist, word-painteror 'word smith'?aa/leave as is.gs and political satirist (of Iran under the shahs, and of the fledging Soviet Union, glimpsed on her return trek). Originally published in 1926 and long out of print, this memoir includes 65 photographs and a new introduction in which Nigel Nicolson, the author's son, adds key personal details omitted by his motheror call her 'Sackville-West'.aa .
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Sixty-five years ago, Sackville-West traveled by train, ship, and motorcar from London to Persia to visit her diplomat husband Harold Nicolson. A member of the literary Bloomsbury Group and close friend of Virginia Woolf, Sackville-West is described in the introduction by her son Nigel as "a born traveller, with that rare capacity to love equally" her home and the place she visits. She wrote as she traveled, so the narrative imparts her sense of wonder. Her writing shows deep reflection and brilliant style. This work, while not one of her best, is a lyrical period piece which contains passages of unquestionable beauty about places like Isfahan and Baghdad. There are 65 photographs from the author's private library. For travel or academic libraries who do not own the first edition (1926. o.p.).
-Susan Fifer Canby, National Geographic Soc . Lib., Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Tauris Parke Paperbacks (May 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1845113438
• ISBN-13: 978-1845113438
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #825,272 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #34 in Books > Travel > Middle East > Iran

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Travel in the Golden Age with V. Sackville-West, March 6, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Passenger to Teheran (Paperback)

If you are fascinated by English travelers accounts of exotic journeys undertaken in the Golden age of Travel, then V. Sackville-West's record of her journey by rail and road from London to Iran in the 1920s will delight you. Her sensibility as a novelist and poet enrich this book of impressions and her strong personality shines through every comment on her adventures. Ms. West follows a meandering and leisurely land route to the Near East from England and, later, returns via Mother Russia, using all means available at the time: automobile, train, donkey, camel, and her own two feet. She braves bandits in the mountain passes of Iran; street beggars in Baghdad, English travelers who dismay and bore her at every turn. She conveys the pageantry of Iranian royalty during a Coronation; surveys the ancient landscape and ruins of Persian gardens on her tramps through the mountainsides of Tehran. She takes the reader on as a fellow passenger and you feel at once you are in the company of an exceptional, if eccentric, traveling companion. After reading this book, you would gladly follow her anywhere

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars In Love With Travel, October 25, 2000

By 

nancy l. galloway (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Passenger to Teheran (Hardcover)

For anyone who loves to travel to strange and distant lands - or wishes they could - this may be the quintessential travel book. Vita Sackville-West was a great friend of Virginia Woolf, and shared her gift for superb storytelling as well as her love of the language.

From the opening page, where she describes and beckons to fellow travelers, through the wild ride across the Yemeni sands and the drive over the mountains of Persia, the reader is enthralled.

She opens the door to travel in the 'teens, when a journey like this was truly arduous - and yet you are quite certain she always looked fabulous and was witty - at least after she'd had her tea.

It is a great regret that this book is out of print, as it is such a treasure.