News from Tartary: A Journey from Peking to Kashmir

Thirty Bedford Square, London: Jonathan Cape, 1945. Stated Sixteenth Impression, October 1945. Sienna full-cloth boards, yellow stamped cover script and spine titles, light shelf wear. Front board features the author's name in characters meaning Fu Lei-Ming or 'learned engraver on stone'. Pages near fine; no writing. Sienna top-stain. Features a dozen photos on smooth plates and a fine folding map of Eastern Asia, section along route taken, and vertical scale of monumental topography. Bind fine; hinges intact. Scarce original wrapper, moderate wear, fox, corners slightly clipped; unclipped 10s. 6d. net, protected in new clear sleeve. Wrapper adhesive to top, bottom back edges as reinforcement. Review blurbs at back panel for Peter Fleming titles "Brazilian Adventure" and "One's Company". News from Tartary: A Journey from Peking to Kashmir, first published in 1936, is a landmark work of real-life adventures by Peter Fleming describing his journey through time, space, and the political milieu of Turkestan. This region or empire known as Tartary stretching below Siberia from Turkey through to India is historically known as Grand Tartary and was essentially excised from history in the nineteenth century. Fleming, brother of Ian Fleming 007 lore, is more than a travel writer. He was a seeker and adventurer describing a riding tour from Peking to India in 1930's Asia. Fleming reflects on enduring the seven month journey across 3,700 miles of desert and upland through towering mountains, ice and sand, hunger and thirst. Fleming's political and cultural insights are considerable. The volume's entertainment value immense as it arouses great fury and much pleasure. An epic adventure of immense depth, yet easily digestible. Peter Fleming's account of this seven-month journey across Central Asia, while a special correspondent for The Times of London, has become a work of reference for the early twentieth century and prior. A classic tale of travel and travail. Printed in Great Britain at the Alden Press, Oxford. Illustrations printed by John Swain and Son, High Barnet. Detailed index. 384 pages. Insured post.. First Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good/Very Good. 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" Tall.