[Great Game] Turkistan: Notes of a Journey in Russian Turkistan, Khokand, Bukhara, and Kuldja [two volumes complete] by Schuyler, Eugene - 1887

New York: Scribner, Armstrong & Co., 1887. Book. Very Good. Hardcover. Monumental. A Classic on the Subject. ------------ First Edition published the preceding year. Publisher's original cloth pictorially stamped in black and gilt. 2 volumes. [complete] 8vo; xii, 411 + [4] ad ; viii, [2] , 463 pp. Illustrated with 20 wood-engraved plates including the frontispieces; engravings in the text; 3 folding color maps. 22 by 13.75 cm 8 by 4.75 inches, Bindings are tight and square. Text clean, light even toning. Moderate shelf handling wear. Some wear and rubbing, spine bumped and frayed; internal foxing and toning, tears to maps, bookplates of previous owner on front pastedowns, many pages uncut; overall very good. ----------- Schuyler, Secretary of the American Legation at St. Petersburgh, travelled extensively in Russian Central Asia and gives a detailed description of the regions through which he travelled, including the economic, political and religious and social conditions. An American diplomat, explorer, author, and scholar who was one of the first foreigners invited by the Russian government to see Russia's newly conquered territories in Central Asia. ----------- He gathered extensive geographical information and wrote accounts of his travels for the National Geographic Society and a lengthy confidential report for the U.S. Department of State. He was critical of Russian treatment of the Tartars but otherwise saw the Russian presence in Central Asia as benign. ------------ Turkistan: Notes of a Journey in Russian Turkistan, Khokand, Bukhara, and Kuldja is Schuyler's two-volume account of his travels. Volume one begins on the Russian steppe and the Volga River before proceeding to Central Asia proper, with chapters on the Syr Darya, Tashkent, Muslim life in Tashkent, bazaars and trade, Samarkand, the Zarafshan Valley, and Hodjent (present-day Khujand, Tajikistan) and Kurama (a mountain range in present-day Tajikistan and Uzbekistan). ------------- Volume two completes the geographic survey of the region with chapters on Khokand, Bukhara, Issyk Kul (in present-day Kyrgyzstan) and Semiretch (present-day Semirech'e, Kazakhstan), and Kuldja (in present-day China), and concludes with chapters on Russian administration, Russian foreign policy in Asia, and the Khivan campaign of 1873, in which Russia conquered the Khivan khanate. ----------- Both volumes contain appendices with supplemental materials and translations of primary documents, for example, at the end of volume one, a summary of early Chinese and medieval European travelers to Central Asia and the accounts of their voyages. Published in 1876 in the United States and Britain, the book includes illustrations, three maps, and a detailed index. [WDL] ----------- 'The chief aim of my journey in Central Asia was to study the political and social condition of the regions which had been recently annexed by Russia, as well as to compare the state of the inhabitants under Russian rule with that of those still living under the despotism of the Khans.' [Preface] ------------- Subjects: 19th Century Travel, Exploration; Chinese Turkistan; Russian Turkistan; Colonialization; Great Game (Asia); Foreign Relations ----------- REF: Yakushi S234-b; World Digital Library; Cordier v4 2815 .