Of historical rather than linguistic interest, this mistaken prophecy sent a shiver down my spine: By the loss of the horses [in a battle with 'Uteyba] the Waháby rule, which had lasted an hundred years, was weakened to death; never — such is the opinion in Nejd — to rise again!

It is so weird that in 2006 Muhammad Iqbal is deemed a heretic and that those who do the deeming are internationally powerful. Oh well, just one more datum in the external experiment as to whether economics matter.

I read that T.E. Lawrence was responsible for bringing Arabia Deserta back into print after years of obscurity. After reading these passages, I can see why he was so taken with the book.

Reading to a partner is a very sweet thing to do. I hope and trust it earns you credits. I recall getting through one of the Tolkein series with a (one book) long departed, but not forgotten lass.

An Arabian travel story puts me in mind of the womanizing, death-ridden intrigue surrounding Carsten Neibuhr's ill-fated trip to the region in the 1770s. I'm not necessarily sure Neibuhr's own book is worth the effort but I wouldn't mind getting hold of Hansen's 1964 book "Arabia Felix.." - referenced in this review

Proust? Does the strength of a relationship dictate the length of the night reader? I should have realized early on that I had picked [a] one-Tolkein girl..

I'm not so sure that Lawrence brought it back from obscurity, or "rediscovered" it as the Wikipedia puts it. Granted the 1888 edition was out of print, and granted Lawrence was largely responsible for the 1920 edition, but he so much as says in his Introduction that it was so well known that it was just "Doughty" to Arabists. He probably did a lot of popularize it as travel / adventure literature for the broader audience, as his own work would be. And he reminded people that Doughty was still alive (after being himself surprised), since as so often happens with classic works, he was assumed to be long since dead.

I have read some criticism that Doughty wrote in an arch, cod-period style, unnecessarily flowery. I do find him a little heavy going in this respect,at least in the two-volume edition I have.

Hat - what do you think of this aspect ?

I love it, but I recognize it's a minority taste. I wouldn't call it "arch," though; the recovery of old words and usages was in the air in the late 19th century -- cf. the writers discussed in this post.