Soldier and Traveller: Memoirs of Alexander Gardner, Colonel of Artillery in the Service of Maharajah Ranjit Singh, edited by Major Hugh Pearse William Blackwood & Sons, Edinburgh, 1898 pp. xxxiv, 359, two portraits (one of Gardner, one of General Allard) and two maps, bookplate of John Wormald, cloth 227 x 160 mm. Footnotes: Colonel Alexander Haughton Campbell Gardner (1785-1877), known as 'Gordana Sahib', served under first Maharajah Ranjit Singh, and later Maharajah Gulab Singh of Kashmir. He was described by one Victorian traveller as 'undoubtedly the most singular character I have ever met'. He was famously photographed by Samuel Bourne in 1864, wearing a tartan-plaid costume made locally: the image is reproduced as the frontispiece to this volume. After a colourful military career, moving from Ireland to Russia, Central Asia and Afghanistan, he was put in command of the artillery of Sultan Muhamamd Khan Barakzai, who was a dependent of the Sikhs. In 1832 he went to Lahore, met Ranjit Singh and was transferred into his artillery corps. He was an eyewitness to the internecine strife which followed the death of Ranjit Singh, with his own life in danger. He was expelled from Lahore after the First Anglo-Sikh War and began to serve in Kashmir. 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