asia travel

Hardcover. London, Jonathan Cape, 1st, 1958, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover, 384 pages, b&w illustrations including map. Clean, tight copy in a worn dust jacket. The story of Russian and British agents and the so-called Great Game between the two nations in Turkestan. "Maclean tells the dramatic stories of some of these agents and of some other travellers, official and unofficial, military and civilian, who in the course of a hundred years, on one errand or another, penetrated the Khanates of Central Asia".

Hardcover. NY, Harper & Brothers, 1st, 1957, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 205 pages. Hardcover. Color and b/w illustrations throughout. Decorated endpapers. Some tanning from age to edges, otherwise pages clean. Cover boards bound in blue, marbled cloth, red quarter cloth (some fading at spine, fraying at top and bottom). Binding tight, spine straight. In great shape for its age. Clarke explores a reef and the people of southern Sri Lanka. No dust jacket.

Hardcover. London, George Routledge & Sons, 1st, 1933, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, brick-red cloth, gilt lettering on spine. 382 pages, 24 b&w plates, fold-out map in rear, short tear at crease. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Aperture, 1st, 1998, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 168 pages. A native of Kazakhstan, Ljalja Kuznetsova traversed the expanses of the Central Asian steppe to photograph the gypsies, or Roma people, whose mysterious comings and goings have fascinated her since she was a child. Shaking the Dust of Ages: Gypsies and Wanderers of the Central Asian Steppe is the first book devoted to these pictures, for which Kuznetsova won the Mother Jones Leica Medal of Excellence and the Paris Grand Prix for Photography.Kuznetsova's photographs present rare, intimate portraits of gypsies-- whose freedom from the ties of civilization is reflected in the wild winds and unlimited vistas of the steppe landscape. As Kuznetsova traveled through Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and the Ukraine, the gypsies continually inspired her. She found in them a people without frontiers, living independent of politics, religious dispute, or social class. Though their presence on the steppe is becoming a thing of the past, Kuznetsova's cast of characters and their world seem timeless in these images.

Softcover. Tokyo, Bijutsu Shuppan-Sha, 1st, 1989, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 111 pages. Japanese photographer on the road from Xi'an to Kashi and back again. Color throughout.

Softcover. New York, Aperture, 1st, 2001, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover. In original shrink wrap, spotless and tight. Poet, scholar, philosopher, and master of Vajrayana (Tibetan) Buddhism, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche led a life of profound dedication to spiritual enlightenment and teaching. During the final fourteen years of his life his personal assistant was Matthieu Ricard. Together they traveled throughout Tibet, Bhutan, India, and Nepal, returning to the places of Khyentse Rinpoche's youth: his birthplace in Eastern Tibet; the monastery of Shechen which he had entered at the age of eleven; and the retreats where he spent years in meditation and study. At every stop on his journey, Khyentse Rinpoche was welcomed with elaborate ceremonies and outpourings of devotion. Ricard's deeply personal photographs of this journey are enhanced by a biographical narrative that is interspersed with extensive passages from the writings and teachings of Khyentse Rinpoche. Together, these images and texts form an inspiring portrait of one of the great spiritual leaders and teachers of our time. Many masters of Tibetan Buddhism studied with Khyentse Rinpoche, including His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who regarded him as his principal instructor in the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism.

Hardcover. NY, Rizzoli, 1st, 1990, Book: Very Good, Hardcover, 191 pages. Hardcover. Dust jacket unclipped. Color illustrations throughout. Ginn, a New Zealander who spent three years traveling through the regions covered here, depicts in photographs and explains in brief captions dance traditions in her own country, Australia, the Solomon Islands, India, Burma, Thailand, Nepal and Indonesia. Dust jacket has a touch of moisture damage to back. Otherwise clean inside and out. DOMESTIC SHIPPING ONLY.

Hardcover. Crowood Press, 1st, 2008, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 222 pages., color plates. This impressive work encompasses history, anthropology, and an expert exposition of textile arts from this region where textiles may denote group identity and may represent a large portion of a family's wealth. The author draws upon both published information and her own extensive travels in the area, describing practices and techniques that she observed in use in situ. She illustrates cultural and historical patterns in costume, often with the aid of temple paintings, sculpture, and historic photographs to supplement current images. Her descriptions of techniques, for example of weaving, are admirably balanced -- detailed enough to inform while presented with sufficient general information for a non-specialist reader. The illustrative material is good, often her own or her son's photographs, that shows the labor-intensive processes and world-class skills as well as the resulting spectacular museum pieces.

Hardcover. London, William Collins, 1st, 2020, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 342 pages, color photos. In 1976 James Crowden left his career in the British army and travelled to Ladakh in the Northern Himalaya, one of the most remote parts of the world. The Frozen River is his extraordinary account of the time he spent there, living alongside the Zangskari people, before the arrival of roads and mass tourism. James immerses himself in the Zangskari way of life, where meditation and week-long mountain festivals go hand in hand, and silence and solitude are the hallmarks of existence. When butter traders invite James on their journey down the frozen river Leh, he soon realises that this way of living, unchanged for centuries, comes with a very human cost. In lyrical prose, James captures a crucial moment in time for this Himalayan community. A moment in which their Buddhist practices and traditions are in flux, and the economic pull of a world beyond their valley is increasingly difficult to ignore.

Hardcover. New York, Thames & Hudson, 1st, 2001-12-01, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover. Like new in publishers shrink-wrap. Contains 136 illustrations, 126 in color. A collection of photographs of the ancient and spiritual lands of Indochina: Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia taken during a lifetime of traveling and living there by Tim Page. They provide an account of a deeply religious society whose age-old Buddhist principles have endured to this day. The book also represents a personal passage for Page himself, drawing a line beneath the loss of many friends and colleagues in the Vietnam War.

Hardcover. New York, Thames & Hudson, 1st, 2001-12-01, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover. Like new in publishers shrink-wrap. Contains 136 illustrations, 126 in color. A collection of photographs of the ancient and spiritual lands of Indochina: Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia taken during a lifetime of traveling and living there by Tim Page. They provide an account of a deeply religious society whose age-old Buddhist principles have endured to this day. The book also represents a personal passage for Page himself, drawing a line beneath the loss of many friends and colleagues in the Vietnam War.

Hardcover. NY, John Day, 1st US, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover in a lightly edgeworn, price-clipped dust jacket. Another in the author's popular series of early-mid-20th-century travel guides from an Asian perspective, this one representing his first trip across the Atlantic where he brings New York City to life with 120+ of his own pen-and-ink drawings & 17 full-color plates, created using traditional Chinese technique & media, painting on both absorbent paper & sometimes silk. His observations on the life and scenery of America are as oblique and charming as ever, while his experiences round Times Square, along Fifth Avenue, in Chinatown, Greenwich Village, the Bowery, and Harlem are depicted with the postwar charm that would soon be lost forever. In 281 pages with map endpapers, this is the First American Edition (no date in book, but research places it at 1950).

Hardcover. Boston, Little Brown & Company, 1st, 2001, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, 408 pages, b&w illustrations. Imperial Green Jade, also known as jadeite, is one of the rarest stones in the world. This volume combines original historical research, a travelogue, and investigative journalism to tell the secret history of jadeite. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Boston, Houghton Mifflin , 1st, 1970, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover, 286 pages, endpaper maps, 60 b&w and color illustrations by Eric Hosking. Dust jacket has edgewear and chipping. Book is very good, tight, clean.

Hardcover. NY, Frederick A. Praeger , 1st, 1966, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: Fair, Hardcover in a worn, chipped dust jacket. 303 pages, b&w illustrations, maps. Eight years after the Russian capture of Tashkent in 1865, Schuyler, then American consul in St. Petersburg, set out to tour Russia's newly acquired dominions. Traveling entirely by road under primitive conditions, he managed in the space of 18 months to traverse the Steppe Region and record his observations of the Muslim people. Name, date on front fly leaf, no other markings.

Hardcover. NY, W. W. Norton, 1st, 1991, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 254 pages. Red phono disc of Tuvan throat singing still attached. As a stamp-collecting boy always fascinated by remote places, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman was particularly taken by the diamond-shaped stamps from a place called Tannu Tuva deep within Outer Mongolia. He hoped, someday, to travel there. In 1977, Feynman and his sidekick - fellow drummer and geography enthusiast Ralph Leighton - set out to make arrangements to visit Tuva, doing noble and hilarious battle with Soviet red tape, befriending quite a few Tuvans, and discovering the wonders of Tuvan throat-singing. Their Byzantine attempts to reach Tannu Tuva would span a decade, interrupted by Feynman's appointment to the committee investigating the Challenger disaster, and his tragic struggle with the cancer that finally killed him. Tuva or Bust! chronicles the deepening friendship of two zany, brilliant strategists whose love of the absurd will delight and instruct. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Hartford, Canfield and Robins, 1st, 1836, Book: Fair, Dust Jacket: None, 610 pages. Hardcover with brown leather covers. Heavy soil and wear to the leather. Moderate foxing throughout. Black and white illustrations/engraved plates. Iceland to New Zealand, including the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa. Water stain to first 40 pages, about one sixth of page. Previous owner's signature on front fly leaf. Sound binding.

Hardcover. New Delhi, India, Lustre Press, Roli Books, 1st, 2008, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 160 pages. Hardcover with dust jacket. Very clean, unmarked copy still in publishers shrink-wrap. Stunningly photographed, this album offers a rarely seen view of the snow-clad peaks, mysterious lakes, massive glaciers, and fascinating people of the Himalayas.

Hardcover. Boston, Bulfinch, 1st, 2001, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 204 pages. Combines photography with the writings of a Pulitzer Prize-winning author to create a portrait of contemporary Vietnam healed from the war and replete with lush landscapes, customs, villages, traditions, and cities.

Hardcover. NY, Stewart Tabori & Chang , 1st, 1996, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 232 pages. Ortner's astonishing photographs portray his love and devotion for the Asian countries he has traversed over a 20-year period. This grand tour of spiritual lands includes natural and architectural sites in Nepal, India, Cambodia, Java, and Bali. The artist's fascination with majestic mountains and remote temples is beautifully captured throughout the book. In his best work, he portrays bizarre Hindu and Buddhist statuary and the faces of disheveled religious mendicants.