Lot 102
Burnes, Alexander
Travels into Bokhara
Auction: India in Ink: The Library of Dr Raj Krishna | 01 October 2026 from 10am | Lots 79 to 208
Description
being the Account of a Journey from India to Cabool, Tartary, and Persia; also, Narrative of a Voyage on the Indus, from the Sea to Lahore. London: John Murray, 1834. First edition, 3 volumes, 8vo, contemporary tan half calf, 8 engraved or lithographic plates (including frontispiece, on india paper, mounted, as issued), spine-labels perished, free endpapers of each volume and half-title of volume 2 excised, volume 1 title-page with small marginal repair, spotting to plates, contemporary ownership inscriptions to front pastedowns and title-pages (3)
Provenance
INDIA IN INK: THE LIBRARY OF DR RAJ KRISHNA
Footnote
First edition of this classic Great Game travel narrative. 'In January 1832 Burnes set out from Ludhiana … [He] reached Bukhara in June and then travelled across the Turkoman desert to Mashhad, on to the Caspian Sea, down to Tehran, and finally back by sea to Bombay. The journey took thirteen months and so captured the public's imagination that Burnes was welcomed back to England in 1833 as a hero … In 1834 he published an officially sanctioned account of his journey … The book, Travels into Bokhara … was an instant success, selling 900 copies on the first day. It is noteworthy for the freshness and acuteness of its descriptions and, given the times, the relatively cosmopolitan outlook of its author' (ODNB). According to the list of plates, the map was issued separately.