being the account of a journey from Teheran across the Turkoman Desert on the eastern shore of the Caspian to Khiva, Bokhara, and Samarcand performed in the year 1863.
London, John Murray, 1864
Vambery's important Silk Road narrative of a journey through the Caspian to Khiva, Bokhara, and Samarkand.
In 1861, with a grant of 1,000 florins from the academy Vambery set out on his travels, 'his major intention being to make a study of the Turco-Tatar dialects of Central Asia.' Disguised as a Sunni dervish under the name Resit Effendi, he travelled across the Caspian, through the Kara Kum desert to Khiva, where he had two audiences with the khan. Crossing bandit-infested territory, Vambery reached Bokhara where he remained for three weeks, avoiding detection by the suspicious Emir despite a lengthy 'interrogation,' and leaving laden with gifts.
From Samarkand he passed through Kerki to Herat 'which he found in ruins after a recent Afghan attack,' and where he had an interview with the new ruler, the 16-year-old son of the Afghan king. He reached Tehran in January 1864 having joined a caravan of pilgrims en route to Mashhad and travelled directly to London where he was treated as a celebrity, the first European to have undertaken such an expedition.
First edition. 8vo, xvii, 443 pp., 12 wood-engraved plates, folding map at end; Original green cloth gilt, large bookplate to pastedown, a very good copy.
Ghani 381.
In 1861, with a grant of 1,000 florins from the academy Vambery set out on his travels, 'his major intention being to make a study of the Turco-Tatar dialects of Central Asia.' Disguised as a Sunni dervish under the name Resit Effendi, he travelled across the Caspian, through the Kara Kum desert to Khiva, where he had two audiences with the khan. Crossing bandit-infested territory, Vambery reached Bokhara where he remained for three weeks, avoiding detection by the suspicious Emir despite a lengthy 'interrogation,' and leaving laden with gifts.
From Samarkand he passed through Kerki to Herat 'which he found in ruins after a recent Afghan attack,' and where he had an interview with the new ruler, the 16-year-old son of the Afghan king. He reached Tehran in January 1864 having joined a caravan of pilgrims en route to Mashhad and travelled directly to London where he was treated as a celebrity, the first European to have undertaken such an expedition.
First edition. 8vo, xvii, 443 pp., 12 wood-engraved plates, folding map at end; Original green cloth gilt, large bookplate to pastedown, a very good copy.
Ghani 381.
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