ELPHINSTONE, Montstuart. - Lot 214

ELPHINSTONE, Montstuart. An account of the Kingdom of Caubul and its dependencies, in Persia, Tartary, and India; comprising a view of the Afghaun Nation and a history of the Dooraunee monarchy. New and revised edition. London, Richard Bentley, 1839. 2 volumes in-8. (3)-XXIX-422 pp. and (2)- XII-440 pp. 2 lithographic frontispieces, one folding map and one plate. Contemporary half-green calf, spine finely decorated with numerous gilt or blind roulettes, filleting and blind stamping in the taste of the period, double blind filleting on the boards, marbled edges (some foxing, binding slightly rubbed). Second edition in its attractive contemporary English binding. In octavo format, the first quarto edition was also published in London in 1815. Illustrated with a large, black-engraved folding map in canvas, bound in fine in Volume I, A Map of History of Caboul; two color lithographed frontispieces depicting Dooraunee in costume and arms, and a plate (Tope of Maunikyaula, 1839). Appointed to the civil service of the British East India Company, Mountstuart Elphinstone (1779-1859) arrived in Calcutta in 1796, where he held a number of administrative posts. In 1808, he was sent on a diplomatic mission to the court of Kabul to forge an alliance with the Afghans against Napoleon's plans for Persia. Forced to spend several months in Peshawar, he gathered valuable information on the country and its inhabitants from merchants and travelers, which he passed on to the Company and then published in 1815 in his famous Account of the Kingdom of Caubul, the definitive work on Afghanistan and the Durran monarchy. Abbey Travel, 504. Brunet, II, 966. [Persia - Afghanistan - India]