Months Persia by Stack, First Edition (2 results)

Cloth. Condition: Near Very Good. First Edition. Volume 2 only. Book measures 19.5x13.5.cm. iv,319pp, 3 folding maps. Bound in original publishers greenish cloth, decorative band, gilt lettering. Cloth lightly rubbed, marked, some minor abrasion wear, lean on spine. Binding in good clean condition. Internally, many pages unopened, some minor spotting. Pages and maps in very good clean condition. A nice copy. Size: 8vo.

First US edition, published in the same year as the British. This work is "a detailed account in the form of a diary of travels in Persia in 1881 by a member of the Bengal Civil Service returning home after eight years of service in India, in the company of one 'Sayyed Ali a native of Tehran'" (Ghani). Stack set out from Bareilly in the North-West Provinces in January 1881, travelled across India by train, and thence to the Persian Gulf on the British India Steam Navigation Company ship Rajputana, making landfall at Muscat and crossing from there to Ormuz. This work contains chapters on some general observations on geography, the land-revenue system, "the Present Condition of Persia", and hints for future travellers. "There are some interesting accounts of discussions with tribal leaders. The author also has a good eye for the countryside and there are some excellent descriptions" (Ghani). The US edition was bound from sheets printed in London, with a cancel title page. Ghani, Cyrus: Iran and the West, pp. 349-50; Wilson, p. 214. 2 vols, octavo. Folding map frontispieces, 5 folding maps (3 colour). Original blue diapered cloth, spines lettered in gilt, ruled and decorated in black, bevelled boards, green coated endpapers, edges untrimmed. Bookplate of Edna C. DeVoy (18801968) from Minneapolis to verso of front free endpapers. Cloth lightly marked, spine ends and tips with a little wear, leaves largely unopened. A very good copy indeed.