MOORCROFT (William) - TREBECK (George). - Lot 84

MOORCROFT (William) - TREBECK (George). Travels in the Himalayan provinces of Hindustan and the Panjab; in Ladakh and Kashmir; in Peshawar, Kabul, Kunduz, and Bokhara. London: John Murray, 1841. - 2 volumes in-8, 218 x 138: frontispiece, lvi, 459 pp., 1 map; frontispiece, viii, 508 pp., 12 pp. of cat. Havana half-chagrin, boards to which the original percaline boards have been glued, smooth ornate spine, untrimmed (modern binding). Rare first edition. "William Moorcroft (1767-1825) was a veterinary surgeon who, after practicing for a time in London, was hired in 1807 by the East India Company to manage its horse breeding operation. He arrived in India in 1808 and took charge of the company's breeding operations in Pusa, Bengal. In 1811 and 1812, he undertook voyages to the northwest in search of bigger and better breeding horses than those he had been able to find in India. In July 1812, he crossed the Himalayas to become one of the first Europeans to enter Tibet by this route. By this time, his interests had expanded from the supply of horses to the opening of trade links between Central Asia and Britain, and the projection of British influence beyond northwestern British India to counter what he saw as a growing Russian presence in the region. In May 1819, Moorcroft received permission from the East India Company to travel to Bukhara (in present-day Uzbekistan). He reached the city in February 1825 after a journey of over five years that took him through Ladakh, Kashmir, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Afghanistan via the Khyber Pass, and on to Kabul and Kunduz to his final destination. He began his return journey to India in July 1825, but died of fever in Balkh, Afghanistan, on August 27. Travels in the Himalayan Provinces of Hindustan and the Panjab is Moorcroft's account of his journey from 1819 to 1825. It was edited and published posthumously by Horace Wilson, Professor of Sanskrit at Oxford University and Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society, from Moorcroft's voluminous notebooks and correspondence. The first volume is entirely devoted to Moorcroft's journey and residence in Ladakh. The second volume completes the account of Moorcroft's stay in Ladakh and relates his journey to Kashmir, Kabul and Bukhara" (Library of Congress website). The edition is illustrated with two fine frontispiece lithographs based on drawings by George Trebeck, a young Englishman who accompanied Moorcroft on his journey and recorded geographical details measured in steps combined with compass bearings, and a fold-out map of Central Asia compiled and drawn by London cartographer John Arrowsmith, based mainly on George Trebeck's field notes. Copy in modern binding, to the boards of which the original percaline boards have been glued. It is complete with the publisher's catalog at the end of the second volume. Spines very slightly faded. A few rare freckles, russet stains in the inner margin of the frontispiece of the first volume and wetness in a corner of the frontispiece of the second volume. Tears not missing from some folds of the fold-out map. Provenance: Royal Institute of Great Britain stamp on titles.