Burnes, Alexander

FIRST EDITION, 3 volumes, 8vo (212 x 128 mm.), (vol.1) [vi], ix-xxii, [ii], 356pp.; (vol.2) xvi, 474pp.; (vol.3) [vi], ix-xx, 308pp., half-title in vol.2, 8 plates [5 engraved, 3 lithographed (of which 1 folding)], contemporary half calf, gilt and blindstamped spine, dark red label, marbled boards, plates slightly spotted

With: Map of Central Asia, comprising Bokhara, Cabool, Persia, the River Indus, & Countries Eastward of it. London: J. Arrowsmith, 1834, (555 x 756mm.), engraved hand-coloured map, dissected and laid down on linen in the original green cloth covers with printed label bearing title as above (220 x 126 mm.), binding neatly rebacked

Ghani p.60; cf. Wilson p.35 (refers to later edition); Yakushi (1994) B632a

A very good copy
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Following a successful expedition up the Indus at the age of 26, Burnes obtained permission for an expedition to Kabul and Bokhara. The British government was becoming increasingly concerned to assess Russian encroachment in the area and thus in 1832 he travelled to Kabul, ruled by Dost Mohammed, and passed over the Hindu Kush to Balkh, where he found the graves of Trebeck, Moorcroft and Guthrie. By way of the Oxus, and the desert crossing he finally reached Bokhara where he received a welcome from the vizier Koosh Begee (though not the Emir). After one month there he returned by way of Merv, to the Persian Gulf and finally Bombay. Sent to London to report on his findings, he received a hero's welcome, an audience with the King and was awarded the gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society. ''John Murray... was quick to acquire Burnes's account of his journey... It was rushed through the press so as to steal a march on Arthur Conolly's book, which appeared a few months later, and Moorcroft's long-delayed posthumous work... [It] brought to the reader for the first time the romance, mystery and excitement of Central Asia. It was to prove an immediate bestseller, 900 copies being sold on the first day'' (Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game, p.151).

Very rare separately issued map to illustrate the first edition of the Travels (see author's note on the List of Plates leaf in vol.1). The map was not printed in time for the first printing of the book; a reduced version of it was included in the second edition.