A Summer Ride through Western Tibet.

DUNCAN, Jane E.

Published by London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1906

About this Item

First edition, signed and inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "Jane E. Duncan, 2nd April 1906. This volume was lent to Prince Edward of Wales on the 2nd of April, 1906, and returned on the 4th of that month". The prince perhaps enjoyed the read: the Royal Collection Trust holds another copy, which was formally presented to Edward on 17 July of the same year. Jane Duncan (1848-1909) was a Scottish explorer whose account is "full of delight. Finding herself in Srinagar in April 1904 with the summer approaching, she decided to take to the hills. She made to Leg, full of the joys of travelling alone, and then on to explore Ladakh and Baltistan or 'Little Tibet'. She relished all she saw. She was so exhilarated by the clear air and the abandonment of her side-saddle (she chose most daringly to ride astride, like men) that when she chanced upon Ella Christie one day - both treating their meeting in the emptiest corner of Asia as the most natural thing in the world - she chose not to accompany her but to carry on alone. For half a year her home was an eighty-pound 'Cabul' tent, with brass bedstead and separate 'bathroom', guarded by a favourite Indian servant, an ex-batman to Sir Francis Younghusband" (Robinson). SRobinson, pp. 43; Yakushi D171. Octavo. With tissue-guarded half-tone frontispiece and 39 plates, folding colour route map, illustrations in text. Original green cloth, spine lettered in gilt, covers panelled in blind, edges untrimmed. Light rubbing and marking to cloth, map toned where sometime incorrectly refolded, stub tear not crossing neatline repaired with tape: a very good copy.

Seller Inventory # 176773

Bibliographic Details

• Title: A Summer Ride through Western Tibet.
• Publisher: London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1906
• Edition: 1st Edition