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Bronisław Grąbczewski, Kashgar: The Land and Its People [1924]
Title: Kashgar. The Land and Its People. A Journey to Central Asia. With a portrait of the author, 65 illustrations, and a map (The Travels of Gen. Br. Grąbczewski, Vol. I).
Author: Bronisław Grąbczewski (1855–1926) [Polish traveler, topographer, and ethnographer in Russian service; lieutenant general; one of the most distinguished scholars of Central Asia].
Publisher: Warsaw, Gebethner and Wolff.
Year of publication: [1924].
Format: 25 cm.
Volume: 246 pp. + fold-out map.
Binding: Half-cloth publisher’s binding.
This volume opens the three-part series “The Travels of Gen. Br. Grąbczewski,” published by Gebethner and Wolff in 1924–1925. The subsequent volumes are “Through the Pamirs and the Hindu Kush to the Sources of the Indus River” (1924) and “In the Deserts of Raskemu and Tibet” (1925). “Kashgar” describes the first expedition led independently by Grąbczewski. In 1885, as a special envoy to the governor of Fergana, he inspected the boundary markers along the Russian-Chinese border. After completing his task, he set off into the interior of Kashgaria, which at that time belonged to China. Passing through Yangihisar and Yarkand, he reached the oases of Guma and Khotan on the edge of the Taklamakan Desert. An official report on this journey, including a map based on the author’s own topographic photographs and plans of the fortresses he visited, was published in 1886 in a print run of only one hundred pieces, intended for military staffs and scientific societies. The Imperial Russian Geographical Society awarded the author a silver medal for the results of the expedition. A Polish book, written nearly forty years later, made this account available to a wide readership. It combines topographical observations with a vivid description of the country’s customs, agriculture, natural resources, and historical monuments. As late as 1924, Wacław Massalski reviewed the volume in *Tygodnik Ilustrowany* (No. 17) in an article titled “In the Depths of Asia.”
Bronisław Stanisław Eligiusz Grąbczewski was born on January 15/27, 1855, in Kownatowo in the Telsze County of Samogitia. His father, Ludwik, a trusted aide to the “Whites” during the January Uprising, was exiled to Siberia. At his own request, Bronisław transferred to service in Turkestan and became one of the leading figures in the Russian-British rivalry over Central Asia, known as the Great Game. He led expeditions in Kashgar, the Pamir Mountains, the Hindu Kush, Tibet, and Afghanistan. Later, he served as governor of Astrakhan. In 1920, he settled in Warsaw, worked at the State Meteorological Institute, and in 1922 became a corresponding member of the Polish Geographical Society. Based on his surviving manuscripts, he prepared three volumes of his travel writings for publication. He died on February 27, 1926, and was laid to rest at Powązki Cemetery. His private collections and archives were destroyed in a fire during the Warsaw Uprising. An abridged edition of the trilogy, edited by M. Fleszar, was published in 1958. A reprint of the first edition was published in 2010 under the title “Travels in Central Asia 1885–1890.”
Provenance: on the title page, there is an ownership signature reading “M. Wędarowicz”; on the first page, there is an inventory label with the number 79. The identity of the owner remains unknown. The piece bears no institutional stamps from the postwar period.
This is the first edition of the opening volume of the classic Polish travel trilogy. The piece retains its original publisher’s binding and includes a complete fold-out map. A must-have for collectors of travel literature and Oriental studies, researchers of the history of Polish explorers in Asia, and enthusiasts of vintage insert maps.
The text block is compact and mechanically stable; the original stitching is intact, and the pages are even. The paper shows natural acid discoloration, a few foxing spots, and minor soiling on the margins from past reading; there are no missing pages and no damage affecting readability. The fold-out map is preserved without tears at the folds; the volume is complete. Original half-cloth publisher’s binding in good condition: spine with slight darkening, gilt title and initial clear, cardboard endpapers clean, with minimal edge wear.
Catalog ID: 10098x1-25-A-X
Reserve
Time, Location
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Title: Kashgar. The Land and Its People. A Journey to Central Asia. With a portrait of the author, 65 illustrations, and a map (The Travels of Gen. Br. Grąbczewski, Vol. I).
Author: Bronisław Grąbczewski (1855–1926) [Polish traveler, topographer, and ethnographer in Russian service; lieutenant general; one of the most distinguished scholars of Central Asia].
Publisher: Warsaw, Gebethner and Wolff.
Year of publication: [1924].
Format: 25 cm.
Volume: 246 pp. + fold-out map.
Binding: Half-cloth publisher’s binding.
This volume opens the three-part series “The Travels of Gen. Br. Grąbczewski,” published by Gebethner and Wolff in 1924–1925. The subsequent volumes are “Through the Pamirs and the Hindu Kush to the Sources of the Indus River” (1924) and “In the Deserts of Raskemu and Tibet” (1925). “Kashgar” describes the first expedition led independently by Grąbczewski. In 1885, as a special envoy to the governor of Fergana, he inspected the boundary markers along the Russian-Chinese border. After completing his task, he set off into the interior of Kashgaria, which at that time belonged to China. Passing through Yangihisar and Yarkand, he reached the oases of Guma and Khotan on the edge of the Taklamakan Desert. An official report on this journey, including a map based on the author’s own topographic photographs and plans of the fortresses he visited, was published in 1886 in a print run of only one hundred pieces, intended for military staffs and scientific societies. The Imperial Russian Geographical Society awarded the author a silver medal for the results of the expedition. A Polish book, written nearly forty years later, made this account available to a wide readership. It combines topographical observations with a vivid description of the country’s customs, agriculture, natural resources, and historical monuments. As late as 1924, Wacław Massalski reviewed the volume in *Tygodnik Ilustrowany* (No. 17) in an article titled “In the Depths of Asia.”
Bronisław Stanisław Eligiusz Grąbczewski was born on January 15/27, 1855, in Kownatowo in the Telsze County of Samogitia. His father, Ludwik, a trusted aide to the “Whites” during the January Uprising, was exiled to Siberia. At his own request, Bronisław transferred to service in Turkestan and became one of the leading figures in the Russian-British rivalry over Central Asia, known as the Great Game. He led expeditions in Kashgar, the Pamir Mountains, the Hindu Kush, Tibet, and Afghanistan. Later, he served as governor of Astrakhan. In 1920, he settled in Warsaw, worked at the State Meteorological Institute, and in 1922 became a corresponding member of the Polish Geographical Society. Based on his surviving manuscripts, he prepared three volumes of his travel writings for publication. He died on February 27, 1926, and was laid to rest at Powązki Cemetery. His private collections and archives were destroyed in a fire during the Warsaw Uprising. An abridged edition of the trilogy, edited by M. Fleszar, was published in 1958. A reprint of the first edition was published in 2010 under the title “Travels in Central Asia 1885–1890.”
Provenance: on the title page, there is an ownership signature reading “M. Wędarowicz”; on the first page, there is an inventory label with the number 79. The identity of the owner remains unknown. The piece bears no institutional stamps from the postwar period.
This is the first edition of the opening volume of the classic Polish travel trilogy. The piece retains its original publisher’s binding and includes a complete fold-out map. A must-have for collectors of travel literature and Oriental studies, researchers of the history of Polish explorers in Asia, and enthusiasts of vintage insert maps.
The text block is compact and mechanically stable; the original stitching is intact, and the pages are even. The paper shows natural acid discoloration, a few foxing spots, and minor soiling on the margins from past reading; there are no missing pages and no damage affecting readability. The fold-out map is preserved without tears at the folds; the volume is complete. Original half-cloth publisher’s binding in good condition: spine with slight darkening, gilt title and initial clear, cardboard endpapers clean, with minimal edge wear.
Catalog ID: 10098x1-25-A-X
Reserve
Time, Location
Auction House
