An Account of an Embassy to the Court of the Teshoo Lama in Tibet Containing a Narrative of a Journey Through Bootan and Part of Tibet, Turner, Capt. Samuel. Sub-title: To which are added, views taken on the spot by Lieutenant Samuel Davis and observations botanical, mineralogical, and medicinal by Mr. Robert Saunders. Introduction by Hugh Richardson. Published by Manjusri Publishing House, New Delhi, 1971. Reprint of 1800 Edition. Limited Edition of 1000 copies. 4to – over 9¾” – 12″ tall; xxviii, 473pp. with 13 plates, Appendix. Blue pebbled leather boards with gilt titles, top edge blue, blue endpapers. Ordre des Architects du Quebec stamp to pastedown and contents are otherwise fine without markings, tears or folds. Blue top outer edge has some bleeding not affecting pages; outer edge has very light dusting. Boards are tight and square without rubbing.
In 1786, Samuel Turner (1759 1802), an army officer in the East India Company, was appointed leader of a mission to encourage open trade routes in northern India. His journal, offering first-hand descriptions of these countries, remained the only such English-language work for more than half a century. Assisted by the botanist and surgeon Robert Saunders and the surveyor and illustrator Samuel Davis, Turner interweaves geographical and scientific observations with descriptions of social and religious customs; the vivid account of his reception by the infant Panchen Lama is of particular note.
