ATKINSON, James (1780-1852)

Sketches in Afghaunistan

London: Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans, Henry Graves & Company and W.H.Allen & Co., 1 July 1842. Folio. (21 3/4 x 17 3/4 inches). Deluxe hand-coloured issue on card. 2pp. letterpress explanatory text. Lithographed calligraphic dedication to the Marquis Wellesley, hand-coloured lithographed pictorial title, 25 hand-coloured lithographed plates by Charles and Louis Hague after James Atkinson, mounted to original thick, ruled cards as issued, after Atkinson, drawn on stone by Louis and Charles Haghe, printed by Day & Haghe. Original half dark green morocco portfolio and green cloth, upper board lettered gilt. Within a modern green cloth clamshell box. [Together with:] ATKINSON, James (1780-1852). The Expedition Into Afghanistan: Notes and Sketches Descriptive of the Country, Contained in a Personal Narrative During the Campaign of 1839 & 1840, up to the surrender of Dost Mahomed Khan. London: W. H. Allen, 1842. 8vo. Half-title, lithographic map, advertisement slip for John Walker's Map of Affghanistan inserted before Chapter I, 12 pages of publisher's adverts at rear. Original blind-stamped cloth gilt.

Rare deluxe edition of the series of views of Afghanistan, issued in response to Sir George Pollock's expedition of 1842. This copy accompanied by the rare text volume.

James Atkinson, an accomplished scholar, spent over forty-two years in India. "In 1838 he was appointed superintending surgeon to the army of the Indus, and accompanied it on its march to Kabul; but was relieved in the ordinary course of routine shortly after the surrender of Dost Mohammad, and, returning to Bengal in 1841, escaped the fate which awaited the army of occupation." (DNB). His sketches made during his service as superintending surgeon were worked up by Louis and Charles Haghe and published in July 1842. This work and the accompanying text were published when British interest in Afghanistan was at a peak: following a rising in Kabul in November 1841 and the disastrous loss of the British army in the Khyber Pass in January 1842, Major-General George Pollock was given the task of leading an expedition 'for the relief of Sale and his troops at Jalálábád' (DNB). The lithographs were published in July 1842. By that time, the news that Pollock had succeeded would have reached Britain. Pollock went on to rescue the captives held in Kabul and returned to India in triumph late in 1842.

Abbey Travel II, 508; Colas 173; Tooley 73.

Item #42566

Price: $27,500.00