Immense distances covered
LESDAIN, Count Jacques Bouly de. From Pekin to Sikkim. Through the Ordos, the Gobi Desert and Tibet. London: John Murray. 1908.
8vo. Original cloth, ornamented in gilt and black, lettered in gilt; pp. xii, 301, [3], folding map with author's route in red, plates after photographs, spine a little faded, a little offsetting to and from endpapers, very light spotting here and there, ownership inscription to title-page; still an attractive copy.
First edition in English of a travelogue covering an immense distance, deserts and high altitude. To criss-cross inner Mongolia alone was quite an undertaking. The Comte and Comtesse de Lesdain (she was just 19 years old) had chosen this journey as their wedding tour in 1904. In Mongolia they explored the Confederation of Ordo, which was believed to hide Genghis Khan's tomb.
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