During 1976 the University of Pretoria presented an exhibition of a collection of brush and ink drawings by Walter Battiss in the Van Wouw House, Rupert Street, Pretoria, as a tribute to Battiss's 70th birth year. These sketches represented a number of works from the artist's sketchbook which he had made while travelling in the Hadhramaut.

It was Battiss's dream one day to publish a book about his travels in Southern Arabia to share with us the thrills of his Arabian nights - and days. And although he did not fulfill this dream, he did convey to us his exceptional attraction for the desert by means of his drawings. He once said:

"Who wants to talk of a lovesickness for the desert that must be thought of and felt without words, with silences for nouns and breathing for verbs."

So it remains for us to present this book of sketches and reproductions of oil paintings which resulted from his visit as a silent dedication to him and to the desert he loved so much.