We guarantee the authenticity and completeness of all items (unless otherwise described), and are happy to provide a certificate to this effect. All items can be assumed to be in good condition, with any defects being described in our description.
We guarantee the authenticity and completeness of all items (unless otherwise described), and are happy to provide a certificate to this effect. All items can be assumed to be in good condition, with any defects being described in our description.
They say that good things come in threes and for booksellers it doesn’t get much better than buying three 19th-century Calcutta-printed books on the Northwest Frontier.
The phrase ‘The Northwest Frontier’ sounds so bland, but it belies its strategic importance in the Great Game played out between Great Britain and Russia for control of Central Asia and ultimately India. It describes the border region between Afghanistan and present-day Pakistan, dominated by the vast peaks of the Hindu Kush and ruled by powerful tribes who even now bow to no government. It was seen as the gateway to India; to be defended by the British whatever the cost.
William Hough, a Major in the Bengal Infantry, in A Narrative of the March and Operations of the Army of the Indus, Calcutta (1840), describes the successful British campaign in the First Afghan War to restore Shah Shujah to the throne of Afghanistan. This move was in response to the perceived threat, supposedly backed by Russia, of Zaman Shah invading India via the Northwest Frontier and kicking the British out of India. A scarce book, with Library Hub giving BL and Oxford only, the present copy is further distinguished by the author’s presentation inscription to Colonel Sir Claude Martine Wade, the go-between for Britain and Shah Shujah.
In 1877, Major John Biddulph was appointed political resident at Gilgit. Gilgit was seen as central to the British defence of India from Russian interests. Whilst there Biddulph forged an alliance with the Dogra tribe and later with Aman Ul-Huk in Chitral, thus providing an effective buffer against incursions into India from the West. During his stay he gathered material for his book, Tribes of the Hindoo Koosh, Calcutta (1880). This is the standard reference work on the tribes of the area at the end of the nineteenth century and includes genealogical tables. This Calcutta edition is rare, and our copy is additionally desirable being in the original cloth and with an inscription from the author.
Saving the best to last, Colonel Sir William Lockhart’s The Gilgit Mission, 1885-86, published in 1889, a ‘Strictly Confidential’ report, never available for purchase, must be not only one of the rarest books on the region (only 2 copies located world-wide), but also one of the most important. A sizeable book of over 450 pages, with more than 100 mainly photographic plates, it had two purposes. One was to act as a straightforward exploration expedition, penetrating areas previously unknown to Europeans, but more importantly to develop relations with Aman Ul-Huk and other notables to shore up Britain’s defences along the Northwest Frontier.
It is a wonderful work in every respect and even though this copy has lost one of its folding maps, it still provides a rare opportunity to acquire a cornerstone book, and one that we might not see again for a long time. Amongst the previous owners this copy is Lieutenant-Colonel Yate, himself an author of two classic works on Central Asia; a nice touch.
Shapero Rare Books is an internationally renowned dealer in London, specialising in antiquarian & rare books and works on paper, with particular expertise in fine illustrated books from the 15th to the 20th century, travel & voyages, natural history, modern firsts, rare children’s books, guidebooks, Hebraica & Judaica, Eastern European, and Islamica.
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Inscribed presentation copy. Abbott was an officer in the Bengal Artillery and was sent on a political mission by the British envoy in Harat to the...
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Finely bound. A finely bound copy of a Great Game classic. Unfortunately, Wolff arrived too late to save Stoddart and Conolly; they died in the pri...
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Rare. Translated from the original Persian by Assad Yacoub Kayat. An account of the residence in England, and journey there from Syria and the sub...
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An excellent history of Russian attempts to gain access to India via Central Asia.First edition. 8vo, iv, 295 pp., folding colour map, 20 pages' a...
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The rare first edition. Unfortunately, Wolff arrived too late to save Stoddart and Conolly; they died in the prison of the Emir of Bokhara. Also in...
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Originally published in a small Bombay edition. A thrilling account of the capture of Ghazni; the pursuit over rough terrain of Dost Mohammed Khan...
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The author, the British vice-consul at Kertch on the Black Sea, enjoyed considerable sport on the Crimean peninsula and in the Caucasus Mountains ...
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A British doctor, Gray served as surgeon to Abdur Rahman Khan, ruler of Afghanistan from 1880 to 1901. He was one of a number of men recruited in...
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The author, the British vice-consul at Ketch on the Black Sea, enjoyed considerable sport on the Crimean peninsula and in the Caucasus Mountains -...
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The author and his hunting companion J.V. Phelps journeyed from Srinagar to Leh, through Yarkand and into the Tekkes Valley collecting Altai Wapit...
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In anticipation of the approaching London Antiquarian book fairs, this May, we are spotlighting rare African exploration works. Featured, are four first editions, with inscriptions linking them to historical figures, enhancing their collectability.
Join us as we journey through time to discover some of the rarest books in the world. The following texts have shown an extraordinary ability to survive, with some books having survived the ravages of flood and fire, and others counting only a single surviving copy.
The public perception of the East India Company, an organisation which was to become one of Britain's most notorious colonial ventures, was mediated by a collective of artists. Diplomatic wrangling, imperial posturing, trade and warfare became the subjects of a significant artistic movement, aimed at depicting and dissecting the Company’s involvement in the political and social life of the period.
The woods and rivers, hills and hollows of fiction constitute some of our earliest and most beloved memories: from the Hundred Acre Wood to the home of Mr. McGregor. Join us this Easter as we travel through the imaginary places and winding roads of children’s literature.
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