Power of attorney, given by Blunt to Faris Khouri, for the purpose of selling his house and garden in Damascus.

350 x 220 mm. 2 ff. Printed document completed in manuscript. Together with a typed letter to Blunt and a signed receipt for a check. The traveller and poet Wilfrid Scawen Blunt signs a printed power of attorney during an attempt to sell his Damascus residence in the final years of his life. Faris Khouri, his Damascus-based lawyer, is given the task of selling "my house and garden situate in the Mejdel Kassab quarter of Damascus aforesaid and formerly in the occupation of Deeb son of Ahmed late Cavass at the Consulate and now occupied and used [.] as a school at the best price he can obtain for the same and to give receipts for the purchase money and remit the purchase money to me". - With a receipt for a cheque paid to Glyn & Co., signed by Blunt, and a TLS from the Reparation Claims Department (Board of Trade), sent to Blunt requesting the status of his Damascus home and asking whether it was "interfered with or requisitioned by the Turkish Authorities" during the First World War. - Blunt had a long personal and professional interest in Syria as well as Egypt, where he had often lived, cultivated a large stable of Arabian racehorses, and occasionally became famous for his political stances, which were largely anti-imperialist and in favour of home rule. - A hint of wear, altogether in good condition.