Alexander Burnes, Travels into Bokhara, three volumes, second edition London, John Murray, 1835 pp. 328 (vol. I), pp. 304 (vol. II), pp. 384 (vol. III), 9 plates in total throughout the three volumes (two double-page, two folding), including frontispiece portrait of Burnes after Daniel Maclise (vol. II), lacking map of Central Asia (vol. I), ownership inscriptions of Lawrence Moude [?], leather boards, spines rebacked with gilt titles and compartments 168 x 110 mm.(3) Footnotes: The full title is Travels into Bokhara, Containing the Narrative of a Voyage on the Indus from the sea to Lahore, with Presents from the King of Great Britain; and an Account of a Journey from India to Cabool, Tartary, and Persia. Sir Alexander Burnes ('Bokhara Burnes'), British traveller, explorer, writer and participant in the 'Great Game' in Central Asia and the borders of India, was born in 1805. He joined the Bombay Infantry in 1821. He devoted himself to the study of local languages and was, while still an ensign, selected for the post of regimental interpreter. In 1829, he was transferred to the Political Department as Assistant to the Political Resident in Kutch. In 1831, he travelled to Lahore in charge of English horses including a team of carthorses, four mares and a stallion, sent by the King of England as presents for Maharajah Ranjit Singh. The actual objective of Burnes' mission was to survey the River Indus and assess the power and resources of the Amirs of Sindh, then being threatened by the Maharajah. In October of that year, Burnes organised the first meeting of Maharaja Ranjit Singh with a serving commander of British forces in India, Lord William Bentinck, the Governor-General. The event was marked by the Maharaja's open display of the Koh-i-Noor, which he presented for free inspection to the British attendees. (The jewel would of course eventually come into the possession of the British Royal Family and was later set in Queen Alexandra's crown). As with other European visitors (such as Emily Eden), it was Ranjit Singh himself who seems to have made the greatest impression. Burnes described Maharajah Ranjit Singh's habits and government, his passion for his horses, troops and horse artillery, and dancing girls. In January 1832, he visited Lahore again to solicit facilities from the Maharajah for travel through the Punjab to Afghanistan, Central Asia, Balkh and Bokhara. Afghanistan, however, and the routes between North India and central Asia were the key to the 'Great Game', in which the southward ambitions of Tsarist Russia threatened to collide with the British northward-looking desire to protect India, primarily, and by extension Persia. In 1831, travelling in disguise, Burnes surveyed the route through Kabul to Bokhara - and hence to Central Asia and the borders of Russia - and produced the first detailed accounts of Afghan politics. In the following years his travels continued through Afghanistan across the Hindu Kush to Bukhara (in what now is modern Uzbekistan) and Persia. The narrative which Burnes published on his visit to England in 1834 added immensely to contemporary knowledge of these countries and was one of the most popular books of its time. The first edition earned the author £800, an enormous sum in those days. Much feted, his services were recognised not only by the Royal Geographical Society of London, but also the French Geographical Society. Burnes was also elected a Fellow of the Royal Society the same year. Soon after his return to India in 1835 he was appointed to the court of Sindh to secure a treaty for the navigation of the Indus. In the following year he undertook a political mission to Dost Mohammed Khan in Kabul. This was to be the road to his own end, and the start of years of disastrous British interventions in Afghanistan. On the restoration of Shah Shuja in 1839, Burnes became Political Agent at Kabul, and was knighted by Queen Victoria on 6 August 1839. A posthumous account of Burnes' later adventures was published in 1842 under the title of Travels into Bokhara, being an Account of a Journey from India to Cabool (recently republished). Shah Shuja was a British puppet, and Burnes regarded him as the wrong man for the job. Shah Shuja was loathed by the Afghan people, and so were the British. There was a breakdown of order in Kabul, partly brought about by high taxation and food prices, but mainly by this antagonism. Burnes and a group of British officers became the focus of the anger of a mob of Afghans. One officer was shot dead, another hacked to death. Burnes (said to have tied a black cloth around his face so he could not see where the blows came from) walked into the crowd and was beaten to death. This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: • • Zero rated for VAT, no VAT will be added to the Hammer Price or the Buyer's Premium. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing