Correspondence Respecting the Relations between the British Government and that of Afghanistan

A collection of fifteen works of government correspondence and dispatches charting the British relationship with Afghanistan, and by extension Russia, from 1863 to 1881, culminating in the Second Anglo-Afghan War. The 'Central Asian Question', the Great Game, saw its denouement play out in the Second Second Anglo-Afghan War and following boundary negotiations in the 1880s and 90s.

The letters and despatches contained in these works contain an enormous amount of detail about the politics, economics, and diplomacy of Britain and Afghanistan in this period, in particular the war years of 1879-1881. Important figures such as James Bruce, Sir Henry Rawlinson, John Lawrence, Henry Marion Durand, Lord Mayo, Robert Napier, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Granville Leveson-Gower, and Spencer Cavendish all penned or put their name to the letters and despatches in these volumes and reveal the attitudes of the British government at the time. What perhaps stands out the most is the fragility of the British temperament in regards to either real or imagined Russian influence in Afghanistan and the constant shuffling of Amirs in a vain attempt to turn Afghanistan into a puppet state. Although the military actions of the Second Anglo-Afghan War were considered successful by the British Government, deposing Yaqub Khan and his brother Ayub Khan from the throne, it was also vastly expensive, to the tune of nearly 20 million pounds, and did not result in any territorial gains or subjugation of the region.

The owner who bound the first volume titled the spine 'Afghanistan Betrayed by Lord Beaconsfield to Russia'. This is a strong statement considering Afghanistan preserved its independence and status as a buffer zone following the evacuation of Kandahar and Afghanistan by the British Army. It is an even stronger statement given that the trigger of the conflict, Britain's retaliation to Afghanistan hospitality to Russian envoys, is widely understood to have been the Viceroy of India Lord Lytton's doing and in direct opposition to orders from Disraeli himself. Perhaps the accusation speaks most to the accentuated fears around Russia and the decline of the influence of the British Empire.

First editions; two volumes containing fifteen works, 4to (33 x 21.5 cm); bookplates to pastedowns, a occasional small chips to upper margin otherwise internally fine; first volume in half red morocco, cloth boards, gilt lettering to flat spine, minor wear to extremities but otherwise a very good copy; second volume in half blue calf, cloth boards, gilt spine with gilt morocco lettering piece, all edges gilt, slight wear a little chipping to head and foot of spine, shelf mark to spine, otherwise a very good copy; vi, 266; [ii], 27; 17; 37; 6; 9; 87; 14; 8; 31; [4]; 14; iv, 107; 87; v, 165pp.