Letters from India;

The first English edition of this scarce account of Jacquemont's journey through India, told through a series of letters. Jacquemont's journal, and extensive illustrations and botanical discoveries, would only be published a decade later.

Jacquemont (1801-1832) explored the Western Himalayas including the Tibetan plateau, the Punjab and Kashmir, discovering several hundred new species. He became seriously ill in the mountains but succeeded in reaching Simla. After recovering he made a short visit to Ladakh and returned to Simla in the autumn and thence to Lahore where he met Ranjit Singh. He is said to have been the first European after Bernier to visit Kashmir, where he arrived early in 1831, and spent five months studying plants and animals. In spite of his illness returning, he visited Ladakh. In February 1832 he returned to Simla and Delhi and went to Bombay intending to return to France but died before he could make the return.

First English edition; 2 vols, 8vo (22.5 x 14.5 cm); lithographed portrait frontispiece, large folding lithographed map by J. Netherclift, bookplate to pastedowns, discreet withdrawn library stamps to verso of titles and through text; contemporary half-calf, marbled boards, gilt spine in five compartments with gilt green morocco lettering pieces, all edges speckled red, a little rubbed, a very good copy; [iv], xxxix, 409; [iv], 378 pp.