YOUNGHUSBAND, Francis Edward, Sir.
The heart of a continent: a narrative of travels in Manchuria, across the Gobi desert, through the Himalayas, the Pamirs, and Chitral, 1884-1894 ...
London, John Murray, 1896.
8vo, pp. xvii, [3], 409, [1]; with 4 folding maps (1 in pocket at rear) and 18 plates; closed tear at head of p. 55 (repaired), closed tear to first map (repaired), some tears to folds of map at end (without loss); overall very good in original green cloth, gilt-lettered spine, upper cover decorated and lettered in gilt, decorative endpapers; neatly rebacked with spine laid down, some wear to extremities and rubbing to boards; ‘Fred R. Manthey Jr’ inked to front pastedown with bookplate of Richard Sale.
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The heart of a continent: a narrative of travels in Manchuria, across the Gobi desert, through the Himalayas, the Pamirs, and Chitral, 1884-1894 ...
First edition. In 1886 Younghusband (1863-1942) ‘accompanied a seven-month expedition to Manchuria. In Peking (Beijing) in March 1887 he met his superior Colonel Mark Sever Bell, and the two men obtained leave to return to India by separate land routes. Younghusband, alone with hired guides, spent seven months crossing the Gobi Desert to Hami, and over the Himalaya via Kashgar and the Muztagh Pass to Kashmir. The crossing of this 19,000 foot pass was a rite of passage which heightened his sense of being a lone Englishman carrying “England’s mission” into new territory ... On returning to London in April 1888 Younghusband lectured to the Royal Geographical Society; he was elected their youngest fellow, and awarded the founder’s medal in 1890. In 1889–91 he consolidated his role as a trekking arm of empire in the border zones of British India, Russia, China, and Afghanistan, and recorded these journeys in The Heart of a Continent (1896)’ (ODNB).
