LOT Old Heritage Auctions  /  2008 Feb Grand Format Book & Manuscript #682  / 

56516

Alexander Burnes. Cabool: 1842

Currency:USD Category:Books / Antiquarian & Collectible Start Price:600.00 USD Estimated At:500.00 - 750.00 USD
Alexander Burnes. Cabool: 1842
<B>Alexander Burnes. </B></I><B><I>Cabool: Being a Personal Narrative of a Journey to, and Residence in that City in the Years 1836, 7, and 8</B></I></B></I><B>. </B></I> London: John Murray, 1842.<BR><BR>First edition. Octavo. xii, 398, 8 pages of advertisements. Twelve engravings, most with tissue guards.<BR><BR>Green cloth covers with gilt spine. Light wear to edges, professionally repaired. Slight browning with foxing on plates. Very good tight copy.<BR><BR>Lieutenant Colonel Sir Alexander Burnes (1805-1841) worked as an interpreter and political agent for the East India Company. He was an accomplished linguist so he was able to don native dress and travel through Peshawar and Kabul. He also crossed the Afghanistan's Hindu Kush Mountains and visited Bokhara, Astrabad and Teheran. In 1836 he undertook a political mission to Dost Mahommed Khan at Kabul. He advised the British viceroy to support Dost Mahommed on the throne of Kabul, but the viceroy reinstated Shah Shuja, thus leading up to the disasters of the First Anglo-Afghan War. On the restoration of Shah Shuja in 1839, Burnes became regular political agent at Kabul, and remained there until his assassination in 1841, during the heat of an insurrection. The calmness with which he continued at his post long after the imminence of his danger was apparent, and the ferocity with which he fought after the murder of his political assistant, killing six assailants in the process, won him an heroic reputation. This is a narrative of his labors in Afghanistan.<BR><BR><BR><b>Shipping:</b> Books & Catalogs (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.heritageauctions.com/common/shipping.php">view shipping information</a>)
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