OLIPHANT, Laurence. The Trans-Caucasian Campaign of the Turkish Army under Omer Pasha. A Personal Narrative. London: William Blackwood and Sons. 1856.
8vo. Uncut and largely unopened in the original publisher's green cloth, spine lettered in gilt, ornamented in blind, front cover with gilt-stamped portrait, rear cover with Turkish banner blind-stamped on lower cover; pp. [2, advertisements], xxvii, 234, 16 (advertisements); 4 tinted lithographic plates with tissue guards present, one folding plan, one large folding map, wood-engraved portrait on title; spine with restorations, large folding map with repairs; light spotting to the lithographs and a little toning to title, from Newburgh Public Subscription Library with their contempoarary bookplate and stamps to versos of plates.
First edition of an important eye-witness account by a staff member of the Ottoman army of this episode of the Crimean War located in a pretty inaccessible region.
With the outbreak of the Crimean War, the Turks under Omer Pasha mounted a campaign against the Russians in 'Trans-Caucasia.' Oliphant, who had in 1855 published a pamphlet called "The Trans-Caucasian Provinces the proper Field of Operation for a Christian Army," was invited by the Duke of Newcastle to visit the Circassian coast. Shortly thereafter he joined Omer Pasha's army and was present at the battle of Ingour fought between the Turks and Russians. The present work offers an account of the battle, and the Turkish victory, which was rendered futile by the fall of Kars.
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