Author: Przhevalsky, Nikolay.
Title: Ot Kul'dzhi za Tyan'-Shan' i na Lob-Nor [in:] Izvestiya imperatorskago russkago geograficheskago obshchestva.Tome XIII. 1877. [From Kulja beyond the Tien Shan and to Lob Nor (in:) Proceedings of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society: volume 13, 1877.],
Description: Saint Petersburg, Bezobrazoff and Comp., 1878. V,202,460 pp. 5 fold. lithographed maps. 1 folded lithographed diagram. Rebound in modern buckram with gilt title. 8vo. - Minimal shelfwear, paper slightly age-toned; 19th century institutional label on title-page, 19th century library-stamps in the upper-right margin of some of the pages; bookplate of A.I. Ward on first endpaper, overall a attractive and solid copy.* Very rare, contains the true first editon of N. Przhevalksky's travel-account to central-Asia: From Kulja beyond the Tien Shan and to Lob Nor. Text in Russian. Part I: Activities; Part II: Proceedings. Includes on pages 264-328: From Kulja, Across Tian-Shan to Lb-Nor by N.M. (Nikolai Mikhailovich Przheval'skii also known as Nikolay Przhevalsky / Prschewalski / Prjevalski (published in English 2 years later) with a 60 x 43 cm. colored folding map; Przheval'skii was the first European explorer to reach Kara Kshun, a marshy lake in the Tarim Basis which he equated with Lob Nor (Wandering Lake) which ignited a controversy with the German explorer Ferdinand von Richthofen. Traveling through East Turkestan through the Tian Shan, Przhevalsky visited what he believed to be Qinghai Lake, which had reportedly not been visited by any European since Marco Polo. The expedition consisted of ten men, twenty-four camels, four horses, three tonnes of baggage and a budget of 25,000 rubles, but the expedition was beset by disease and poor quality camels. In September 1877, the caravan was refurbished with better camels and horses, 72,000 rounds of ammunition and large quantities of brandy, tea and Turkish delight and set out for Lhasa, but did not reach its goal. The account of this expedition was published for a general audience in 1879 (in English and Russian), but the real first edition of this narative was published in this article. Other linen-backed maps include: North-Eastern Persia, the mountains north of Yakut region (Yakutsk) between the Lena and the Ianoyu, Map of the waterflow of the Obi and Enisia Rivers, and a colored Zoological Map of the non-tropical region in parts of Asia and Africa. From the collection of the late Dr. Wim van Spengen.

Keywords: Ethnography Asia China Etnografie Azië