Search Results: Authors starting with C from John Randall (Books of Asia)

London: His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1899. First edition, pp.xxiii, 357. [C.-9131] A very good copy bound in later buckram. Lightly frayed original wrappers bound in. Some pencil annotation.

Trevoux: Par La Compagnie, 1741. Nouvelle edition, augmentée d'une table des matieres, 12mo, pp.[ii], 512. A very good crisp copy bound in later full speckled calf, spine gilt, all edges red. The last few pages of the table of contents are bound out of order but all are present. The new edition of Choisy's account of his journey to Thailand with Chevalier de Chaumont, the first French ambassador for King Louis XIV, first published in 1687. François Timoléon, abbé de Choisy (1644-1724) was famous in his youth for being cross-dressed by his mother for the amusement of Louis XIV and his court. Madame de La Fayette convinced him to continue his use of women's clothes and make-up into adulthood, gaining a reputation for using androgyny to cause scandal at court, especially as he was an ordained priest. Modern historians have cast doubt over the extent of this reputation, suggesting it more likely that these were rumours invented by his opponents. Alexandre,… Read More

Berlin , 1922-28. Five volumes folio, in total 293 pages, 167 plates, 51 in colour, 259 illustrations, 61 maps and plans. Ergebnisse der Kgl. Preussischen Turfan Expeditionen. A very good set in original boards, neatly rebacked in calf to original style. Volume I with minor library marks. This set lacks Volume IV, Atlas zu den Wandmalereien, published in 1924 and Volume VII, Neue Bildwerke, 1933. There were four German expeditions to Turkestan between 1902 and 1914. The first, led by Grunwedel, worked at several sites in the Turfan Oasis in 1902-03, notably Karakhoja (or Khocho), Sengim and Murtuk. Forty-four crates of the finds, clay and wood figures, woodcuts, manuscripts and wall-paintings, were despatched to Berlin. The second expedition, 1904-05, was led by von Le Coq. He spent three months methodically investigating Karakhoja before moving his attention to the temple complexes of Sengim, Bezeklik and Toyok. In August he moved to Komul (Hami). Grunwedel returned for the third expedition,… Read More

London: G.G. and J. Robinson, 1789. First edition, 4to, pp.[vi], 327, [1, directions to the binder]. With a folding map and 6 engraved plates, 1 of which folding. A very good copy in contemporary speckled calf, neatly recased. Faint rubbing to extremities, light foxing to first few leaves. A couple notes to margins by a previous owner. A fascinating account by Elizabeth Craven (1750-1828), a leading lady of her day, made up of letters to her then illicit partner Charles Alexander, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1736-1806). Craven was a controversial figure: at the age of 16 she had been forced to marry William Craven, 6th Baron Craven. Both were open about the numerous affairs they had with different partners and their dislike for each other. They split permanently, while still married, when Elizabeth was just 29 and already mother of seven children. It was not long after that she and Alexander started their relationship, but they could only marry in 1791 after William Craven died. These letters… Read More

Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1952-59. First edition. Two volumes, folio (46 x 36 cm), pp.xxvi, 290, 125 plates, 173 illustrations and plans, large folding map in 2 sheets; pp.xxiv, 300, 127 plates, 151 illustrations and plans. Volume I is 175 of 550 copies, Volume II is 107 of 550 copies. A fine set in original cloth, with rather torn and frayed dust-jackets. These volumes "remain essential instruments of knowledge in the field of early Islamic art and architecture... and the best that the field can offer to others" in Oleg Grabar's assessment in Muqarnas (Vol. 8, 1991, p.1), words which remain as true today as then. Grabar noted too that this edition, with the volumes "in their imperially gigantic original form" was physically unequalled by subsequent abridgements and revisions. Creswell's magnum opus has attracted criticism for its pose of scientific neutrality but its depth of detail and documentation remains unmatched. The first volume covers: The Rise of the… Read More

London: John Murray, 1853. Second edition, with the author's last corrections and additions, pp.xliii, 473, 2 maps, 1 partially hand coloured and folding, the other coloured in outline, genealogical chart. A very good copy in original cloth, spine title in gilt. Spine faded, and with minor wear to head and foot. Joseph Davey Cunningham (1812-1851) sailed for India in 1832 after graduating with distinction from Addiscombe. In 1837 he was appointed assistant to Colonel Wade, political agent at Ludhiana. He was present at the meeting of Lord Ellenborough, Dost Muhammad and the Sikhs at Ferozpur in 1842. During the Sikh wars he served under Napier, Gough, and as aide-de-camp to Hardinge, the Governor-General, at the battle of Sobraon. After the war he was appointed Political Agent at Bhopal where he was commended by Hardinge "you have.. by your energy and promptitude, fully justified the favourable opinion I entertain of your abilities and character." He wrote this book in Bhopal, but on… Read More