Lot 114: ATKINSON, James (1780-1852). Sketches in Afghaunistan. London: Longman, Brown, Green and Longman, Henry Graves & Company, and W.H. Allen, 1 July 1842.

ATKINSON, James (1780-1852). Sketches in Afghaunistan. London: Longman, Brown, Green and Longman, Henry Graves & Company, and W.H. Allen, 1 July 1842.

2υo (522 x 362 mm). Hand-colored tinted lithographic title, lithographic dedication leaf, one leaf of descriptive text printed in blue, and 25 hand-colored tinted lithographic plates by Louis and Charles Haghe. Contemporary green morocco decorated in gilt, blind and black (rebacked preserving orginal spine). Provenance: Edward Smith Stanley, 13th Earl of Derby (1775-1851; armorial bookplate, manuscript library location and shelf-mark for Knowsley Hall).

FIRST EDITION. THE EARL OF DERBY'S COPY of this important work. Atkinson, a doctor by training and an accomplished Persian scholar, had accompanied the army of the Indus on its march to Kabul and returned to Bengal in 1841 before the massacre of the army of occupation. These illustrations were to accompany his narrative of the journey into what was then a little-known country. Abbey Travel 508; Colas 173; Lipperheide Ld 31; Tooley 73.