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Scarce and Interesting 19th Century Review on the Following Book
Author: Lieut. Alexander Burnes.
Title: Travels into Bokhara; being the Account of Journey
from India to Caboul, Tartary, and Persia: also Narrative of a Voyage on
the Indus, from the Sea to Lahore, &c. &c., in the years 1831, 32 and 33. - (A Review)
Publisher: London: The Quarterly Review, 1834.
Notes: A contemporary critique of Burnes' now classic account,
published in 1834, comprising also commentary on the political climate of the time.
This review in itself serves as a captivating succinct chronicle of the pioneering
journey, dispersed with quotes from the author's first-hand passages.
Sir Alexander Burnes (1805-1841) was a daring British officer in the
intelligence division, who studied Asian languages while in India.
Burnes penetrated further into the storied kingdoms along the
Oxus than any Englishman before him. In 1832 he left Lahore in Afghan dress and traveled
by way of Peshawar and Kabul across the Hindu Kush to Balkh and from there by
Bukhara, Asterabad, and Tehran to Bushire. On his return to London following what
had been a successful mission to then relatively unknown
countries, Burnes was given a hero's welcome and was honored with an audience
with King William IV. He also received the Royal Geographical Society's Gold Medal.
His book won instant acclaim; indeed, Peter Hopkirk states that 900 copies were
sold on the first day. The book remains a classic in Central Asia travel narratives.
In 1839 he was appointed political resident at Kabul, where he was assassinated
two years later.
"Burnes was of the India's Company Service and after a successful mission to
the Court of Lahore, during which he mapped the course of the Indus, he proposed
to go further and cross Central Asia from the Indus to the Caspian. Burnes did not
travel as an accredited agent of the government as it was considered too risky,
but he did travel with papers stating that he was an officer returning home on leave.
The book is thus an account of a famous journey written by an early spy. He visited
Kabul where he met Joseph Wolff who had been travelling in the region disguised
as a Moslem to preach Christianity to the Jews. Thence he proceeded via Balkh to
Bokhara, and on to the Oxus, Marv and Khorasan. Volume III describes in some detail
the geography of each of the regions he passed through." (Ghani)
A rare and fascatinating item to pair with the collector's
copy of Burnes' "Travels into Bokhara"!
Condition:
40 pages. Book review. Two pages with unobtrusive stamps to margins, otherwise in
excellent condition. These are the original pages printed in 1834,
attractively bound booklet style in modern blue paper covers with label.
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