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In the Forbidden Land. an Account of a Journey in Tibet. Capture by the Tibetan Authorities, Imprisonment, Torture, and Ultimate Release.
TWO VOLUMES IN ONE, published by Time-Life Books, Classics of Exploration, 1985, facsimile reprint of the 1898 edition, index, 585 pages, gilt fore-edging, marbled effect to endpapers; large, folding map before index; numerous plates; silk marker. condition; as new.
This is a very linear and very readable account of the authors journey into Tibet which was forbidden just because. The account given here of the land, the places, the terrain seems to match out. I have myself checked places mentioned here on a pre-1900 AD tibet map and the places like Gyanema Khar and Gartok (no longer marked on Google maps) are present on this old map.
About the writing, the style is interesting and fluid. It changes between informative and intriguing as per the requirement. In places where the author explains the customs and traditions, hierarchies of the Shokas or Tibetans, he is richly informed, mildly opinionated and presents a stark picture. In other places, where he recounts his trials and tribulations and the indecisive nature of his torturers, his style varies between gripping, sombre, funny and tragic. He knows how to hold the tension, even for a reportage like this, and the incidents recounted in such sequence provide you just enough incentive to keep on reading.
Great ethnography and great narration. Also, great photographs and paintings.
This book is part of the Classics of Exploration Library . The books in the library have been out of print for decades, and therefore not accessible to the public. Now brought back into print after many decades, the material have been copied in facsimile from the original editions, with each title meticulously hand curated.
The book is as close as possible to the original work.