TURNER, Samuel.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

An Account of an Embassy to the Court of the Teshoo Lama, in Tibet; First edition. Turner's remained the only account of Tibet available to English speakers for three quarters of a century, until the publication of the journals of George Bogle and Thomas Manning in 1876. This "sober account of carefully observed conditions in Tibet and Bhutan, their forms of government, religious customs, trade, and topography, has stood the test of time and remained a source of great value" (ODNB).Turner (1759-1802) served in the army of the East India Company, receiving his cadetship in 1780 and rising to regimental captain in 1799. Launched in 1783, his Tibet mission aimed to further Warren Hastings's ambitions to extend trade across the Himalayas. Turner was ideally suited to the task, possessing the necessary sensitivity and manners to impress the Panchen Lama. The plates, which provide a superb visual record of the region, include an engraving after Warren Hastings's Yak, George Stubbs's painting of a bull sent to Hastings in Britain by Turner.French, German, and Italian editions followed publication in English, giving Turner's book a considerable impact on the European imagination.

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