MORRIS, Charles John.

£750 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

Handbooks for the Indian Army: Gurkhas. Second Morris edition, revised by the author and the future commander-in-chief of the Nepalese armed forces, Sir Kaiser Shumsher Jang Bahadur Rana (1892-1964). The first part covers the history, geography, and ethnography of Nepal and the second part is devoted to the Gurkhas, outlining their history, recruitment, and pay. It was printed in a short run of only 500 copies.This work forms part of a "series of official handbooks which... cover the geographical, religious and cultural aspects [of the members of the Indian Army]. They were intended for the instruction of young officers and as a wide-ranging authoritative source of reference" (Perkins). The Morris editions were based on the work of Captain Eden Vansittart, whose Notes on Gurkhas (first published in 1890) gave rise to a large number of updated handbooks over the following 75 years. The first Morris edition of the Gurkha hanbook was released in 1933.Charles John Morris (1896-1982) joined the 3rd Gurkhas after serving in the First World War and then travelled widely through Nepal. He became known as an expert on both the country and the Gurkhas, obtaining royal permission to travel to western Nepal in 1931 despite bans on foreign visitors.

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.