KRAFFT, Hugues. - Lot 243

KRAFFT, Hugues. Through Russian Turkestan. Paris, Hachette et Cie, 1902. Large in-4. (3)-VII-228-(2) pp. 70 plates and one folding map. Publisher's eggplant chagrin for the spine and almond green for the boards, smooth spine decorated with a lemon chagrin medallion with title in gilt lettering and two gilt irons with oriental decoration, cold-stamped fillets framing the boards decorated with three gilt irons with oriental decoration, red and ochre moiré silk endpapers, gilt head. In marbled slipcase (spine slightly oiled, some minor spotting, a few very discreet, unimportant brown spots). Only edition. Small number of copies printed on fine papier coquille. A fine copy. Important work devoted to the Muslim kingdoms of Central Asia that came under Russian rule during the XIXᵉ century (Samarkand, Bukhara, Khiva), covering territories in the present-day republics of Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. The illustration is made up of 265 engravings, including 70 photographic reproductions in heliogravure, in black under captioned serpents, as well as numerous engravings in the text printed in phototype from the author's own plates. A large color fold-out map completes the set. A French traveler and photographer, Hugues Krafft (1853-1935), son of Baron Wilhelm Krafft, undertook a long tour of Russian Turkestan between October 1898 and June 1899, during which he explored and documented regions then little known to the Western public. Cordier, Sinica, IV, 2869. [Central Asia].