MALLESON, G. B.

£1,500 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

Herat: The Granary and Garden of Central Asia. First edition, Lord Rawlinson's copy, of this study arguing that Herat, with its potential to once again be the commercial powerhouse of Central Asia, holds the key to the stability of British rule in India. The author believes Britain should put an end to Afghan control of the city and seize it as part of the "great game."Colonel George Bruce Malleson (1825-1898) served in India from 1842 until his retirement, at the honorary rank of major-general, in 1877, and saw action during the Second Anglo-Burmese War. "Malleson had been a frequent contributor to the Calcutta Review since 1857, and was also a correspondent of The Times. After he retired he devoted himself to writing, mainly military history, especially Indian. He had a broad grasp, great industry, and a vigorous and picturesque style, but was apt to be a strong partisan. He did much to draw attention to Russian expansion in central Asia and its potential threat to British rule in India" (ODNB).This copy has the book label of Henry, 1st Baron Rawlinson (1864-1925), the son of the political agent and orientalist Henry Creswicke Rawlinson (1810-1895), the latter a professional associate of Malleson through their involvement in the "great game." Occasional pencilled comments, querying or disagreeing with the text with question marks or a pithy "no", are perhaps in Creswicke Rawlinson's hand. Rawlinson the younger served under Kitchener, in South Africa, and in France during th

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