Herbert Edward Pretyman

author

Herbert Edward Pretyman

1863–1891

An army officer with a taste for exploration, he left behind a vivid journal of a 1891 journey into the Kittar Mountains between the Nile and the Red Sea. Published after his early death, it captures both the hardship of travel and the curiosity of a close observer.

1 Audiobook

Journal of Herbert Edward Pretyman written during his expedition to the Kittar Mountains, between Kenneh (on the Nile) and the Red Sea, 1891

Journal of Herbert Edward Pretyman written during his expedition to the Kittar Mountains, between Kenneh (on the Nile) and the Red Sea, 1891

by Herbert Edward Pretyman

About the author

Born in 1863, Herbert Edward Pretyman was a lieutenant in the Grenadier Guards whose name is remembered through the journal he kept during an expedition to the Kittar Mountains in 1891. His writing records a journey through a little-known stretch of country between Kenneh on the Nile and the Red Sea, combining travel narrative with first-hand observation.

The book was published privately in November 1892 after his death, with a prefatory note by his father, Frederic Pretyman. That note makes clear that the journal was printed as a memorial as well as a record of exploration, preserving the voice of a young officer whose life ended unexpectedly soon after the expedition.

What makes Pretyman interesting to modern listeners is the directness of his account. The journal feels immediate and personal, and it is also tied to a set of photographs described in the original edition as among the first taken in the Kittar Mountains.