Le Tibet Inconnu
BONVALOT, Gabriel.
Across Thibet, being a translation of ‘De Paris au Tonking à travers le Tibet inconnu’ … with illustrations from photographs taken by Prince Henry of Orleans. Translated by C.B. Pitman.
New York, Cassell Publishing Company, 1892.
4to, pp. xiii, [1 (blank)], 417, [1 (blank)]; with folding coloured map in pocket at front, illustrated throughout; small tears (without loss) to folds of map; a very good partly unopened copy in original grey pictorial cloth, lettering and vignettes to spine and upper cover; some wear to spine ends and corners, a few light marks; small ex libris to rear pastedown.
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Across Thibet, being a translation of ‘De Paris au Tonking à travers le Tibet inconnu’ … with illustrations from photographs taken by Prince Henry of Orleans. Translated by C.B. Pitman.
Second edition (first 1891) relating the extraordinary Central Asian journey of Bonvalot (1853-1933) in the company of Prince Henri d’Orléans and the Belgian missionary Constant de Decken.
‘Starting out from Moscow, Bonvalot’s expedition entered Chinese Turkestan at the border town of Kuldja … The three men and their retinue then followed the southern Silk Road via Yarkland … then in December 1889 struck south into Altyn Tagh … where they suffered cruel winds, blizzards and sub-zero temperatures … Having no guide, Bonvalot decided to follow an old pilgrim route which crosses Tibet from north to south … and was marked only by camel droppings and the skeletons of yaks from earlier caravans. In February 1890, by now in a desperate condition, the party encountered its first Tibetans, but Bonvalot’s attempts to steal horses for a forced ride to Lhasa did nothing more than arouse the attention of the Tibetan authorities … just 150 kilometres from the capital, the expedition was intercepted by a large force of Tibetans … After many negotiations … the party was allowed to make its way eastwards to Tatsien-lu … from where it proceeded through Yunnan to finish its journey at the port of Hai Phong’ (Howgego B57). For their exploits, Bonvalot and Orléans were awarded the gold medal of the Société de Géographie.
Yakushi B220b.
