Das, Sarat Chandra (1849-1917) Narrative of a Journey to Lhasa.
Calcutta: Bengal Secretariat Press, 1885.
Extremely scarce first edition, tall quarto; re-bound in modern wrappers with a printed label to front panel (lacking colored folding map, first 30 pages with tiny, closed tears repaired with tape, scattered, marginal short tears throughout, sporadic toning); 13 x 8 in.
Born in Eastern Bengal, Das, a civil engineer, was recruited as a spy for the British government circa 1880 to enter and gather information about Tibet's ancient city of Lhasa. Das was an ideal candidate, since he had been teaching at a boarding school on the India-Tibet border since 1874 and had gradually acquired a personal interest in Tibetan language and culture. Since the 17th century, Lhasa had been closed to any Western visitor and thus developed a fantastic reputation in the minds of many fascinated Western scholars and politicians. The British seizure of India and adjacent regions made Lhasa an important target for exploration. The British hoped to survey Lhasa and possibly expand the empire. They sent Das on his first mission in 1879. Traveling in disguise, Das collected extensive previously unknown information about the city and absconded with many manuscripts for later study in India. When he returned in 1881, he compiled the present narrative, which was kept under wraps until 1885. This rarely offered true first edition was printed in a small edition of only about 100 copies before it was revised and reprinted by American explorer W.W. Rockhill in 1902. Two years later, the British entered the city of Lhasa and expanded into Tibet. (For more see Samanth Subramanian's New York Times article "The Indian Spy Who Fell for Tibet," March 16, 2016.)
