great game (13 Ergebnisse)

Zustand: Good. Most items will be dispatched the same or the next working day. A copy that has been read but remains in clean condition. All of the pages are intact and the cover is intact and the spine may show signs of wear. The book may have minor markings which are not specifically mentioned. Minor shelfwear. No jacket with clear contents.

Cloth. Zustand: Fine. Zustand des Schutzumschlags: fine. First American edition of Flashman in the Great Game by George MacDonald Fraser, the fifth novel in the Flashman series. (illustrator). First American Edition. Octavo, 340pp. Yellow cloth spine, title stamped in red on spine. Top edge dyed red. First edition statement on copyright page. Solid and clean text block, a fine example. In the publisher's fine dust jacket, $8.95 retail price on front flap, a bright example. George MacDonald Fraser (1925-2008) based the idea of Flashman on the original character created by Thomas Hughes in Tom Brown's School Days, published in 1857. The Flashman character was a fictionalized look at the 19th century British Army, but Fraser was always praised for his historical accuracy in portraying real world events. By the time of his death in 2008, Fraser published twelve Flashman novels, including: Flashman (1969), Royal Flash (1970), Flash for Freedom! (1971), Flashman at the Charge (1973), Flashman in the Great Game (1975), Flashman's Lady (1977), Flashman and the Redskins (1982), Flashman and the Dragon (1985), Flashman and the Mountain of Light (1990), Flashman and the Angel of the Lord (1994), Flashman and the Tiger (1999) and Flashman on the March (2005).

Disbound report (from the Annual Report for the Smithsonian Institution): pp 265-277, 8 black and white photographic plates, 22.5 x 14.7 cms, front leaf loose, age-toning and inner edge a trifle marked but otherwise in very good condition. Sir Francis Younghusband (1863-1942) returned to a hero's welcome following his Tibet "Expedition" of 1903-4, which was, in reality a militarized diplomatic mission driven by geopolitical anxiety (the Great Game) and was marked by dramatic clashes and some 2,700 Tibetan casualties. This report was originally read at the Royal Geographical Society in London in February 1905 (here reprinted from a Smithsonian Annual Report of the same year) and was widely reviewed. One such appearing in "Nature" belied the military truths: "[Younghusband] was also able to touch briefly upon some of the results obtained by the scientific experts who accompanied the mission, as well as by the survey party under Captains Rawling and Ryder, which in the late autumn did excellent work along the whole course of the Upper Brahmaputra, proving definitely that no peaks higher than Everest exist on this flank of the Himalayas.".

Cloth. Zustand: Near fine. Zustand des Schutzumschlags: very good. First edition of Flashman in the Great Game by George MacDonald Fraser, the fifth novel in the Flashman series. (illustrator). First Edition. Octavo, 336pp. Red cloth, title stamped in silver on spine. First edition statement on copyright page. Solid and clean text block, a fine example. In the publisher's dust jacket, retail price on front flap, chip to top edge of rear panel, toning to spine, a bright example. George MacDonald Fraser (1925-2008) based the idea of Flashman on the original character created by Thomas Hughes in Tom Brown's School Days, published in 1857. The Flashman character was a fictionalized look at the 19th century British Army, but Fraser was always praised for his historical accuracy in portraying real world events. By the time of his death in 2008, Fraser published twelve Flashman novels, including: Flashman (1969), Royal Flash (1970), Flash for Freedom! (1971), Flashman at the Charge (1973), Flashman in the Great Game (1975), Flashman's Lady (1977), Flashman and the Redskins (1982), Flashman and the Dragon (1985), Flashman and the Mountain of Light (1990), Flashman and the Angel of the Lord (1994), Flashman and the Tiger (1999) and Flashman on the March (2005).

New Edition. Coloured folding map (tipped in at rear), 79 full page and text illustrations by A. D. McCormick, xx + 658pp, original decorated polished red cloth, spine gilt-lettered, 24 x 15.5 cms, front free endpaper browned, neat inscription of a previous owner to the front pastedown, manuscript short index tipped in by a previous owner at rear, boards bumped and stained and spine a little sunned, but a good complete copy. A distinguished soldier, diplomat and Anglo-Indian administrator, Sir George Scott Robertson (1852?1916), journeyed in Kafiristan in 1890-91 living for a year among the "wild" hillmen. The Kafirs? polytheistic religion and customs were rapidly disappearing by the time Robertson visited and his work served as one of the most important eyewitness accounts of the pre-Islamic cultures of the Hindu Kush and as valuable historical record of a culture that was quickly being assimilated into the broader Afghan Islamic state. It is one of the last detailed accounts of the Kafir people before they were forced into Islam or eradicated by Afghan forces. Robertson?s book also provides important historical context for understanding the political dynamics of the Great Game. His observations of the Kafirs? resistance to the Afghan Amir and his concerns about the potential spread of Islam in the region highlight the intersection of politics, culture, and religion in Central Asia during the 19th century. The profuse illustrations, are after sketches and watercolours by Arthur David McCormick who was artist on Sir Martin Conway's expedition to the Karakoram subrange of the Himalayas and in 1895 on Clinton T. Dent's expedition to the Caucasus Mountains.

A pair of engraved maps, 39.1 x 41.6 cms, 41.1 x 34.5 cms (sheet), sealed edge tears to the right outer margins on each sheet (without loss), the left margins have been re-enforced with washi, some age-toning, but both maps in very good condition. Highly detailed regional maps of the Northwest Frontier. Map 107 details the Five Rivers of the Punjab, Sindh, and Kashmir and Map 107 A is specialized supplemental sheet, broadening the scope to map out the rugged mountain passes, military routes, and tribal territories of Afghanistan stretching toward Kabul and Kandahar, part of a regional survey published by SDUK. Strategically important maps published at the outbreak of the First Anglo-Afghan War and in the wake of regional border struggles marking the Great Game.

A carefully assembled collection of material connected to players in the "great game", including Colonel Stoddart and Captain Arthur Conolly, both famously beheaded at Bukhara, Major Henry Rawlinson, the political agent at Kandahar, and Captain Sir Alexander "Bukhara" Burns. The material, mounted on album leaves with accompanying newspaper clippings and other ephemera, is tied together by Connolly and Stoddart's dramatic death. Sent on a mission to secure an agreement of friendship between Britain and the Emir of Bukhara, in 1838 Stoddart was arrested by the emir on charges of spying and imprisoned. Conolly, the intelligence agent credited with coining the term "great game" in an 1840 letter to Rawlinson, arrived in Bukhara in late 1841 to negotiate his compatriot's release. Both men were killed in June 1842 and became household names back home. In the first two letters, Burns, writing about a year before he was killed by a mob in Kabul, shares his views with Rawlinson on the latest moves in the "great game". He writes of Stoddart's (short-lived) release from prison and of the importance of Conolly's current intelligence-gathering in Central Asia. Shah Shuja "is surrounded by a parcel of harpies", and Burns advises caution about the use of British troops to prop up the Shah's rule: "Nothing contributes so much to lower the King's power as the employment of our troops against Afghans & I would avoid it if possible." As for Lord Auckland, the governor-general "does not have great faith in the sincerity of Russia in abandoning her Khiva designs but it gives us time." The third letter, from Conolly to Rawlinson, discusses local news and offers a lighter-hearted window onto the life of a political agent far from home. He has swapped the diplomatic chessboard for the card table: "We miss you very much - especially at whist", the previous night's rubber being "stale and flat, but not unprofitable, for I won 9 rupees." This letter is mounted with a page of Stoddart's notes on taking navigational bearings, which Stoddart gave to Rawlinson before departing for Central Asia in 1837. The final piece touches on the wider appeal of the Stoddart-Conolly story. Writing to the Cornish baronet Sir Hugh Molesworth almost two decades later, Dr Joseph Wolff mentions his second expedition to Bokhara, mounted to ascertain the fate of the two men, and how the profits from the two editions of his best-selling Narrative of a mission to Bokhara (1845) were sufficient to finance a parsonage and schoolhouse in his living. a) Sir Alexander Burns to Major Henry Rawlinson, 21 December 1840, Kabul. ALS, bifolium, written across all sides. b) Sir Alexander Burns to Major Henry Rawlinson, 20 January 1841, Kabul. ALS, bifolium, written across all sides. c) Captain Arthur Conolly to Major Henry Rawlinson, 1840, Kabul. ALS, bifolium and single sheet, written across 5 sides, addressed on final side, remains of wax seal. d) Colonel Stoddart's autograph notes on taking navigational bearings, single sheet, written one side. Endorsed on verso by Rawlinson, "Given to me by Col. Stoddart on his departure for Bokhara in 1837. H. Rawlinson"; later note to the same effect, but in a different hand, below. e) Revd Dr Joseph Wolff to Revd Sir Hugh H. Molesworth, 31 August 1859, Taunton, Somerset. ALS, bifolium, written across 3 sides. 4 autograph letters and single sheet of notes, totalling 17 sides of manuscript, tipped to or mounted on stubs to card album leaves (370 x 265 mm), with laid-down material (11 newspaper clippings, 2 printed illustrations, sheet of manuscript), later brief captions in manuscript. Letters and sheet of notes generally well preserved, staining and creasing as expected, stubs occasionally just touching text but no loss to sense: a very good collection.

Second edition, significantly improved from the first edition (1877) to incorporate the latest military intelligence from field surveys. This magisterial work of "great game" cartography was presented at Russia's Tashkent military headquarters to the daring French explorer Stanislas Benoist-Méchin, during his epic 1881-3 overland journey from Beijing to Europe. We have traced no other copies. A presentation inscription on the verso of the map reads, in French, "To Mr Baron Benoist-Méchin, from Generals Kouropatkine and Levaschew, October 1882, Tashkent." Benoist-Méchin (1854-1923) began travelling the world as a young man and then served as the French cultural attaché in Tokyo, 1880-1. In 1881, he decided to return to Europe via the daring route through Central Asia. Leaving Beijing on 15 September with his regular travelling companion, Comte Humbert Adrien de Mailly-Chalon (1853-1921), he journeyed through Manchuria and across Russian Siberia. In 1882, having reached Kashgar, they received permission to cross Russian Turkestan, spending six weeks in Tashkent as the honoured guests of General Mikhail Tchernayev, the architect of Russian's expansion across Central Asia, General Aleksey Nikolayevich Kuropatkin (1848-1925), and the aforementioned General Levaschov (likely the artillery officer Vladimir Levaschov, 1834-1898). After reaching Samarkand, they travelled in extreme cold through Bukhara and via Khiva to Tehran, reaching Moscow in October 1883, where they were accorded a hero's welcome. Their descriptions of this feat of exploration were published in 1885 in the Bulletin de la Société de géographie. This map was made for the use of the Russian military high command in St Petersburg and in the Turkestan Military District, which had been established in the 1860s amid the occupation of Tashkent and Bokhara, and dates from a period (following the Second Anglo-Afghan War and the Battle of Geok Tepe) when tensions were at their height. It encompasses almost the entire playing surface of the "great game", extending east-west from Xinjiang and Tibet to the Caspian Sea and Afghanistan and north-south from Siberia to northern India. Unparalleled in terms of accuracy and detail, it names every city, town, and village, and the legend has entries for such features as fortifications, railways, mail and caravan roads, and mines. Spot heights are given in feet, and deserts are marked with a light red pattern. It is much improved on the first edition, which had only 48 panels and did not extend as far south. Chromolithograph map (195 x 200 cm), dissected onto 64 sections and mounted on linen as issued, laid-down printed slip stating "corrected up to 1881", small folding tab at right edge. Folding away to 28.5 x 28 cm. Housed in green quarter morocco solander box with chemise by the Chelsea Bindery. Map surface generally clean and bright,a few stains, toning and soiling at edges, small repair at top-left edge, verso foxed and with couple of areas of linen reinforcement: very good.

Very good. Folds into its original paper boards, to which it remains attached. Size 29.25 x 25 Inches. An intriguing c. 1900 by Paul Langhans map of Central and South Asia, focusing on Afghanistan. It coincided with the last stage of the 'Great Game' competition between Russia and Great Britain, whose military forces throughout the region are meticulously cataloged. A Closer Look This map covers from the southern Russian Empire to Sri Lanka, focusing on Persia and Afghanistan. Territories (empires, emirates, khanates, Indian Princely States) are color-shaded and clarified in the legend at bottom-right, though the borders and exact sovereignty over some was not so clear cut, especially in the mountainous regions (Himalayas and Pamirs) where imperial claims butted up against one another. Throughout, the location of fortifications and troops are recorded in detail. Roads and railways of military significance are traced in red, while telegraph lines are traced in blue. Red overprint adds explanation and records areas of military significance not immediately relevant from the map itself, such as the summer capital of the British Raj at Simla and the maritime routes and ports that could be used for troop transport. Famine areas ( hungergebiete ) are also noted; there were, unfortunately, many of these in the late 19th century, particularly in western India, generally owing to drought caused by the failure of summer monsoons. Three inset maps appear: a large one at bottom-left that focuses more closely on Afghanistan and records troops and fortifications, including those of the Emirate of Afghanistan, noting, in particular, the British military campaigns against the border tribes of North-West India in 1895 - 1898; a smaller inset at top-right displaying Eurasia with major railways, telegraph lines, and the year of imperial acquisition of various territories noted; and a smaller inset below that displaying southwestern Germany at the same scale as the main map for comparison. The End of the 'Great Game' 'The Great Game' was a diplomatic confrontation between the British and Russian Empires over Afghanistan and other territories in Central and Southern Asia. There is considerable debate as to when the Great Game began, but it was most likely the 1813 Treaty of Gulistan between Russia and Persia, which ended the Russo-Persian War (1804 - 1813), opened Persia to further Russian intervention and set Russian and British regional interests at odds. The conflict, related to wider animosity between Russia and Britain, revolved around Afghanistan, which, while lacking significant resources of its own, was strategically situated. For its part, Russia feared Britain was making commercial and military inroads into Central Asia, an area increasingly coming under the control of St. Petersburg. Britain, conversely, feared Russia intended to challenge its predominance in India, 'the jewel in the crown' of British Asia. The escalating tensions led to several wars and proxy wars: The First Anglo-Afghan War (1839 - 1842), the First Anglo-Sikh War (1845 - 1846), the Second Anglo-Sikh War (1848 - 1849), and the Second Anglo-Afghan War (1878 - 1880), along with the Russian annexations of Khiva, Bukhara, and Kokand. Then, as now, Afghanistan proved a grinding stone upon which the world's great empires diminished themselves, none achieving a definitive victory despite committing staggering resources. Regarding the attitude of Afghans toward the British and Russians, the general assumption of the British was that 'Some will fight for us, some against us, but all will fight.' The Great Game 'ended' on September 10, 1895, with the signing of the Pamir Boundary Commission Protocols, which stabilized the border between Afghanistan and the Russian Empire. Although the British maintained significant influence in the foreign policy decisions of the Emirate of Afghanistan, the country's internal affairs remained exactly that (at this time, the amir Abdur Rahman Khan.

A rare opportunity to acquire three exceptionally impressive and uncommon maps, together forming the finest contemporary cartographic overview of the Great Game's central theatre. Spanning from the Mediterranean to Afghanistan and from the Caspian to Sir Baniyas Island, they present a striking synoptic view of the region at a moment of intense strategic interest. All three share the same provenance, each bearing the distinguished bookplate of the officers' mess library of the 85th Foot, later part of The King's Light Infantry. Likely acquired as a group by an officer attuned to imperial affairs in the run-up to, or immediate aftermath of, the 1907 Anglo-Russian Convention, they reflect the period's effort, as Hopkirk notes, to resolve regional rivalries and curb Germany's eastward ambitions. The Persia map is a landmark Survey of India production and the most comprehensive rendering of the region then available, incorporating the latest British and Russian surveys and reconnoitres. Only 300 copies of this August 1904 issue were printed, and institutional locations are limited to the British Library, Deutsche Nationalbibliothek, and Sächsische Landesbibliothek. The impressive wall map of Afghanistan (June 1901), produced under Strahan and Gore and executed at the Frontier Drawing Office under Colonel R. A. Wahab, is equally rare, with copies recorded only at the British Library, Wisconsin, and the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek. Its authority rests on extensive British and Russian sources, including work by Robertson, Trotter, Sykes, Ney Elias, and the Afghan Boundary Commission. These maps exemplify the Survey of India's exacting standards during the era of photozincographic production, when officers were required to vet every detail under magnification. Kiepert's map of the Ottoman Empire complements the two Survey of India sheets, representing the best contemporary mapping of a region Britain could not itself survey. Kiepert, one of the foremost scholarly cartographers of the 19th century, travelled widely in Ottoman territories, producing clear and remarkably accurate maps that remain valuable records of the period. This map is comparatively well represented institutionally, with around 17 holdings recorded in Europe, the US, and the UK. Kourosh Ahmadi, Islands and International Politics in the Persian Gulf: Abu Musa and the Tunbs in Strategic Perspective, 2008; Kyle J. Gardner, The Frontier Complex: Geopolitics and the Making of the Indo-China Border, 1846-1962, 2021; Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game: On Secret Service in High Asia, 1992. Persia: scale 1:1,013,760, six-sheet coloured map divided into four linen-backed quadrants, each measuring approx. 976 x 963 mm, when assembled measuring 1952 x 1926 mm (North West, North East, South West, South East), each backed with Nonpareil pattern marbled paper, each section dissected into 20; Afghanistan: scale 1:1,013,760, coloured map dissected into 45 sections, linen backed, measuring approx. 1035 x 1640 mm; Turkey: scale 1:1,500,000, coloured map dissected into 65 sections, linen backed, measuring approx. 1016 x 1700 mm; together with the "Apercu general", measuring 412 x 570 mm, showing the administrative division of the same area, intended to accompany the map; dissected into 10 sections, linen backed. Each map housed in the original dull purple morocco-grain cloth case, Stanford's printed label to front. Cases a little worn with some loss of fabric, light toning to maps otherwise in excellent condition. Cases a little worn with some loss of fabric, occasional light toning to maps, otherwise in excellent condition.

Good. Some wear and loss along fold lines and at fold intersections. Size 59 x 80 Inches. This is a fascinating 1879 map of Central Asia, divided into four large folding sheets, produced by G.W.E. Atkinson, a British Survey of India expert on Tibet, the Himalayas, and Central Asia. It was produced at the height of the 'Great Game' and intended for use by the government and military of British India. This map provides unique insight into the collaborative process of Russian and British surveyors operating in Central Asia despite ongoing political conflict. A Closer Look The map is divided into four sheets, each roughly 29 x 40 inches: the first (top-left) includes the Caspian and Aral Seas and takes in Khiva, Bukhara, and Samarkand in the western part of modern Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan; the second (top-right) includes Lake Balkhash, the Tianshan mountains, and the western part of Eastern Turkestan (also known as Chinese Turkestan or Xinjiang), taking in Turkestan (Turkistan), Kuldja (Ghulja), Jizzakh, and the settlements in the western parts of the Tarim Basin (Kashgar, Yarkand, Aksu, and Kuchar); the third (bottom-left) covers much of Persia and the western half of Afghanistan as well as part of Baluchistan; and the fourth (bottom-right) ranges from the eastern half of Afghanistan, through the northern portion of British India, the Hindu Kush and Pamir Mountains, and to the western part of the Himalayas and Tibet. Sources - An Imperial Exchange The number of sources drawn on attest to the importance of the accuracy of this map. In particular, the Survey of India used Russian [Army] Topographical Department maps to compile their own maps, and the Russians likewise used British maps to improve theirs. In fact, despite the competition between the imperial superpowers, cartographers and explorers from both sides were quite ready to exchange information, motivated by a shared interest in improving geographical knowledge. Accurate geographical knowledge was an important factor in preventing a wider conflict. A series of agreements between the Russians and British beginning in 1873 defined the region's borders and helped develop a buffer zone between British and Russian spheres. But - Back to Conflict Still, Russian expansion and British finagling of local rulers made for rapid territorial changes. Also, at this time, Qing China had just reconquered Eastern Turkestan (Xinjiang) after a series of large revolts, and in the following decades, would seek to dissuade British and Russian adventurism in Xinjiang and Tibet. Russia's Conquest of Central Asia Russian contacts with Central Asia predated this map by many centuries, and Russian national identity is largely rooted in the relationship with the steppe and interaction (trade, warfare, etc.) with steppe-dwelling peoples. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Russian Empire established a series of border forts that roughly followed the edge of the forested land before reaching the steppe, concurrent with the present-day border between the Russian Federation and Kazakhstan. Occasional forays into the steppes were attempted, but conquering those territories in any meaningful sense remained elusive. Using the latest military, communication, and transportation technology, the Russian Empire focused intently in the mid-19th century on subjugating Central Asia. Although the region had lost some of its wealth and luster from the height of the Silk Road, it was still home to powerful states that held their own in skirmishes with neighboring empires in the 18th and early 19th centuries. The Russians encountered difficulties controlling the region, starting with a disastrous 1839 attack on Khiva. (Khiva was eventually conquered in 1873). Rather than military strategy or technology, the main obstacle for the Russians was supplying troops so far from the Russian heartland in a region with minimal infrastructure. Getting supplies to the main staging area at Orenburg was difficult enough, but then th.

Very good. Slight toning due to fold metric. Size 37.5 x 42.25 Inches. This is an impressive, large-scale 1873 Russian-language map of central Asia during the Great Game, compiled by the Imperial Russian Topographic Depot for the 1873 Invasion of Khiva, with manuscript annotations detailing a British spy's travels. A Closer Look Coverage extends from the Black Sea to Nepal and from the Persian Gulf to the Bay of Bengal. The area covered includes the Caspian and Aral Seas, the Persian Gulf, and the modern-day Central Asian nations of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Iran, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan, as well as parts of Russia, China, and northern India. As such, the map captures the peak of Russian expansionism in Central Asia, highlighting the region that became Russian Turkestan and later Soviet Central Asia. A Spy's Voyage in Manuscript The map chronicles a voyage in red and brown manuscript from Saratov (???????) to Bukhara, Samarkand, and Tashkent, with a detour to the Amu Darya or Oxus River. Based on the manuscript notes, which are in English, we can assume that the traveler was a native English speaker but well-connected with Russian authorities and likely fluent in Russian. Distances between points are marked in Versts, a now obsolete Russian measurement roughly equivalent to a kilometer. Our mysterious traveler began his voyage in 1870 at Saratov, the last stop on the Ryazan-Ural Railroad. From Saratov, he traveled south, hitting the north shore of the Caspian Sea near Astrakhan before orienting southeast, skirting the western shore of the Aral Sea. From that point, he followed the Amu Darya River, bypassed Russian-controlled Khiva, and headed for Bukhara instead. He moved eastward from Bukhara to Samarkand, took a southernly detour to the Amu Darya, and reached the river near Termez, at the border with British-controlled Afghanistan, before he returned to his route and headed east to Samarkand and from thence northeast to Jizzakh and Tashkent. We have been unable to correlate this journey with any known voyage, but very few English speakers traveled through this region in the 1870s. The voyage marked here somewhat (but not exactly) matches the travels of Eugene Schuyler (1840 - 1890). Schuyler was an American diplomat serving in the American legation at Saint Petersburg. He received a special dispensation from Russian authorities to visit newly conquered Central Asia. His 8-month voyage caused a sensation in Europe and America, documenting a world near-unknown to anyone except Russians, Persians, and the indigenous population for the first time. Accounts of Schuyler's travels were published by the National Geographic Society, but he also issued a long confidential report for the U.S. Department of State. The only other major 1870s voyage to this area by an English speaker was undertaken by American New York Herald reporter Januarius Aloysius MacGahan (1844 - 1878), who heard about the invasion of Khiva in St. Petersburg and, evading Russian authorities, crossed the deserts east of the Aral Sea in time to witness the fall of Khiva - during which he was embedded with Russian forces and sanctioned by the Russian General, Kaufmann. While the voyage depicted here is not that of Schuyler or MacGahan, the significance of both voyages underscores just how little known and visited this region was for English speakers. Instead of a well-publicized and sanctioned voyage like Schuyler's, or intrepid reporting like MacGahan, the travels marked here are of a more clandestine nature, representing British spycraft following the Russian seizure of Khiva in 1873 - which also led to the publication of this map, a major revision and advancement over the 1863 first edition. This explains why the traveler steered clear of Khiva, which would otherwise have been a natural stop. Spycraft also explains the curious detour to the Amu Darya River en route from Bukhara to Samarkand - the traveler was meeting with British agents.

pp. [681]-686. In excellent condition, disbound from the annual volume with the stitching retained.