Flashman and the mountain of light : from the Flashman papers, 1845-46 / edited and arranged by George MacDonald Fraser

London : Collins, 1990. First Edition. Hardback. Fine copy in the original gilt-blocked cloth with tipped-in folding frontis to front free endpaper. Remains particularly well-preserved overall; tight, bright, clean and strong.; 8vo 8"" - 9"" tall; 367 pages; Physical description. : 367 p. ; 22 cm. Subject: Flashman, Harry Paget (Fictitious character) - Fiction. Soldiers - History - 19th century - Fiction. Sikh War, 1845-1846 - Fiction. Series: Fraser, George MacDonald, 1925-2008. Flashman papers ; v. 9. Summary: Harry Flashman: the unrepentant bully of Tom Brown's schooldays, now with a Victoria Cross, has three main talents -- horsemanship, facility with foreign languages and fornication. A reluctant military hero, Flashman plays a key part in most of the defining military campaigns of the 19th century, despite trying his utmost to escape them all. With the mighty Sikh Khalsa, the finest army ever seen in Asia, poised to invade India and sweep Britannia's ill-guarded empire into the sea, every able-bodied man was needed to defend the frontier -- and one at least had his answer ready when the Call of Duty came: 'I'll swim in blood first! ' Alas, though, for poor Flashman, there was no avoiding the terrors of secret service in the debauched and intrigue-ridden Court of the Punjab, the attentions of its beautiful nymphomaniac Maharani (not that he minded that, really), the horrors of its torture chambers or the baleful influence of the Mountain of Light.