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  3. Cambridge Library Collection - Travel and Exploration in Asia

This collection of travel narratives, mainly from the nineteenth century, records the impressions of Europeans who visited China, Japan, South and South-East Asia. Some came as missionaries, others as members of trade or diplomatic missions or as colonial administrators. Some were straightforward tourists and one or two arrived as prisoners or shipwrecked sailors. Such accounts of travellers' experiences in exotic locations were eagerly received by European readers.

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96 results in Cambridge Library Collection - Travel and Exploration in Asia

Page 1 of 5

Nine Years in Nipon
  • Sketches of Japanese Life and Manners
  • Henry Faulds
  • Published online:
    05 June 2016
    Print publication:
    02 July 2015
    First published in:
    1885
  • The Scottish doctor Henry Faulds (1843–1930) is best remembered for his role in the history of fingerprinting. His strong religious faith had first led him to missionary work in India and then, from 1874, in Japan. He worked there as a surgeon in the mission hospital at Tsukiji, near Tokyo, where he also established a medical school and a school for the blind. It was his discovery of the impressions of thumbprints on ancient Japanese pottery which led to his development of a fingerprinting system and his championing of it as a forensic tool. The present work, part-travelogue, part-journal, was first published in 1885. It remains an engaging account of Japanese life, customs, geography and natural history, interwoven with discussions of topics such as education, language, and the future of the country. There are characterful line drawings throughout. Faulds' Dactylography (1912) is also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection.

A Voyage to Cochinchina, in the Years 1792 and 1793
  • Containing a General View of the Valuable Productions and the Political Importance of This Flourishing Kingdom
  • John Barrow
  • Published online:
    05 June 2016
    Print publication:
    27 April 2015
  • A staunch supporter of exploration, Sir John Barrow (1764–1848) backed expeditions to Africa, Australia, the Arctic and the Antarctic during his forty-year tenure as Second Secretary to the Admiralty. In his early career, he served as an aide to the diplomat Lord Macartney, joining him on his 1792–4 embassy to China, and during his later governorship of the Cape of Good Hope. Barrow was a prolific author, setting new standards of detail and accuracy for travel writing. In this 1806 account, he recounts the embassy's journey to Cochinchina (now Vietnam) via Brazil and Java. In one of the first illustrated accounts of the country in English, Barrow applies his boundless curiosity and elegant style to history, politics, local customs, and the flora and fauna. His autobiography and several other volumes of his travel writing are also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection.

Lhasa and its Mysteries
  • With a Record of the Expedition of 1903–1904
  • L. Austine Waddell
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    12 March 2015
    First published in:
    1905
  • A successful officer in the colonial Indian Medical Service, Glasgow-educated Laurence Austine Waddell (1854–1938) was fascinated by the landscapes and cultures of Darjeeling and Tibet, studied local languages, and spent his leisure time researching and writing on Tibetan topics. His earlier books The Buddhism of Tibet (1895) and Among the Himalayas (1899) are also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection. Waddell had attempted to enter Lhasa (then closed to foreigners) in disguise in 1892, but did not succeed until he accompanied the controversial British expedition to Tibet in 1903–4; he describes his arrival there as 'the realisation of a vivid and long-cherished dream'. His eyewitness account of how the 'peaceful mission' became an 'invasion' occupies the first half of this 1905 publication. The later chapters vividly portray the city and its inhabitants. The book includes more than a hundred of Waddell's own photographs, as well as maps and line drawings.

Account of a Voyage of Discovery to the West Coast of Corea, and the Great Loo-Choo Island
  • With an Appendix, Containing Charts, and Various Hydrographical and Scientific Notices and a Vocabulary of the Loo-Choo Language
  • Basil Hall
  • Assisted by H. J. Clifford
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    01 January 2015
    First published in:
    1818
  • A naval officer and man of science, Basil Hall (1788–1844) commanded the brig HMS Lyra as part of Lord Amherst's 1816 embassy to the Qing court in China. While Amherst was engaged on his ultimately abortive venture, the mission's ships visited the west coast of Korea, and then travelled to the island of Okinawa (then known as the Great Loo-Choo Island), where they stayed for several weeks. Little was known about these regions in Britain, and this illustrated account of the journey offered many insights. As well as providing nautical data, such as surveys, soundings and meteorological observations, Hall also comments on geography and culture. A substantial vocabulary and primer on the Okinawan language, compiled by fellow naval officer H. J. Clifford, is included in the appendix. Hall's narratives of his later travels to both North and South America are also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection.

Letters from India
  • Volume 2
  • Emily Eden
  • Edited by Eleanor Eden
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    21 August 2014
    First published in:
    1872
  • Emily Eden's childhood prepared her well for her role as companion to her brother, the Governor-General of India. Outwardly all that a minor aristocrat should be, the observant and sharp-tongued Eden (1797–1869) never censored her letters for the sake of diplomacy. This two-volume collection of letters, edited by her niece Eleanor Eden, was published posthumously in 1872 after the success of her 1866 collection, Up the Country (also reissued in this series). In Volume 2, which also contains several letters from Emily's sister Frances (1801–49), the round of engagements, days in an opulent houseboat, and biting observations on Anglo-Indian society, continue, but the generally cheerful tone begins to darken: 'It is very odd that no letters whatever have come from Cabul for three weeks, but the reports are all favourable' she notes, at the outset of the disastrous Anglo-Afghan War, which led to her brother's dismissal from India.

Among the Himalayas
  • L. Austine Waddell
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    05 March 2015
    First published in:
    1899
  • Laurence Austine Waddell (1854–1938) spent twenty-five years as a medical officer in the colonial Indian Medical Service. Fascinated by the landscapes and cultures of Darjeeling and Tibet, and inspired by reports from British spies surveying the remote Himalayan valleys, Waddell studied local languages, and spent his leisure time researching and writing on Tibetan topics. His books The Buddhism of Tibet (1895) and Lhasa and its Mysteries (1905) are also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection. This 1899 publication, illustrated with photographs and drawings, claims to describe 'the grandest part of the grandest mountains in the world', for the first time since Hooker (whose 1854 Himalayan Journals are also reissued), and anticipates today's trekking industry. Waddell's colourful account of jungles, snakes, glaciers, yaks, dizzying mountain ridges, rickety bamboo bridges, tribal peoples and unfamiliar food aims to 'bring home to the reader a whiff of the bracing breezes of the Himalayas'.

Letters from India
  • Volume 1
  • Emily Eden
  • Edited by Eleanor Eden
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    21 August 2014
    First published in:
    1872
  • Emily Eden's childhood prepared her well for her role as companion to her brother, the Governor-General of India. Outwardly all that a minor aristocrat should be, the observant and sharp-tongued Eden (1797–1869) never censored her letters for the sake of diplomacy. This two-volume collection of letters, edited by her niece Eleanor Eden, was published posthumously in 1872 after the success of her 1866 collection, Up the Country (also reissued in this series). Volume 1 begins in England, with an account of preparations (including lessons in Hindi) for the voyage and subsequent seven-year stay in India, about which Emily was originally apprehensive. In spite of suffering from the heat (and from considerable boredom at her formal duties as Lord Auckland's hostess) she produces a series of light-hearted and engaging letters to friends and family, from 'At Sea, Nowhere in Particular' to the Governor-General's palatial residence in Calcutta.

The History of Kamtschatka, and the Kurilski Islands, with the Countries Adjacent
  • Stepan Petrovich Krasheninnikov
  • Translated by James Grieve
  • Published online:
    05 February 2015
    Print publication:
    20 November 2014
    First published in:
    1764
  • James Grieve (1703–63), physician to Catherine the Great of Russia, and translator of this book, published posthumously in English in 1764, apologises in his 'Advertisement' for the crudeness and rambling nature of Stepan Krasheninnikov's original work, which nevertheless contains 'many very useful remarks, greatly contributing to the improvement of the trade, geography, and natural history, of the country he describes'. In 1755, Krasheninnikov (1711–55) had published his account of an expedition to Kamchatka between 1733 and 1743, under Vitus Bering, to increase knowledge of regions to the east, in particular whether a sea route to North America could be established. Krasheninnikov was to serve as a naturalist on the expedition, but he also took a keen interest in the geography, history and people of the lands he passed through. His narrative is a fascinating and detailed account of a huge area virtually unknown to the western world.

Things Japanese
  • Being Notes on Various Subjects Connected with Japan
  • Basil Hall Chamberlain
  • Published online:
    05 January 2015
    Print publication:
    17 July 2014
    First published in:
    1890
  • Basil Hall Chamberlain (1850–1935) first encountered Japan on a journey intended to promote the recovery of his health: he had suffered a nervous breakdown while working for Barings Bank. In May 1873, he arrived in Yokohama, and was immediately fascinated by traditional Japanese culture. The drive for modernisation had created a need for teachers of English, and Chamberlain was taken on as a tutor in the naval academy, at the same time studying the Japanese language to such good effect that in 1886 he was made professor of Japanese and philology of the Imperial University (later Tokyo University). This book, first published in 1890, and going into six editions over the next fifty years, is in the form of an encyclopaedia, with topics from 'abacus' to 'zoology'. It gives an affectionate account of aspects of Japanese culture which Chamberlain realised were disappearing under the relentless impact of Western influence.

Cabool
  • Being a Personal Narrative of a Journey to, and Residence in that City, in the Years 1836, 7, and 8
  • Alexander Burnes
  • Published online:
    05 January 2015
    Print publication:
    06 November 2014
    First published in:
    1842
  • In the long and often disastrous history of British entanglement in Afghanistan, the name of Alexander Burnes (1805–41) deserves to be remembered. Aged sixteen, he went to India to take up a post in the army, and speedily learned both Hindustani and Persian. His skills led him to political work, and he himself proposed a covert expedition to Bukhara, to survey the country and to observe the expansionist activities of the Russians in central Asia. (Burnes' 1834 account of this journey is also reissued in this series.) In 1836, he was sent to Kabul, and became involved in the British plan to replace Dost Muhammad Khan with Shah Shuja (which he personally thought a mistake). The British became a focus of increasing local discontent, and in November 1841 Burnes was murdered in Kabul by a mob. This account of his stay in the city was published posthumously in 1842.

A Voyage to the East Indies
  • Containing an Account of the Manners, Customs, etc of the Natives, with a Geographical Description of the Country
  • Paolino da San Bartholomaeo
  • Edited by John Reinhold Forster
  • Translated by William Johnston
  • Published online:
    18 December 2014
    Print publication:
    24 July 2014
    First published in:
    1800
  • After a six-month voyage, the Carmelite missionary Paolino da San Bartolomeo (1748–1806) arrived in Malabar in India towards the end of July 1776. Later acclaimed as an orientalist, he was among the first to note the relationship between Sanskrit and European languages, and the present work gives a valuable account of the geography and culture he observed over the course of thirteen years. Returning to Rome in 1789, he wrote many books under the patronage of Cardinal Stefano Borgia, including one of the first works on Sanskrit grammar. Here he uses his impressive knowledge of Indian dialects to revise the accepted spelling and pronunciation of a number of cities and natural features. The book also contains observations on the religion, history, botany and laws of eighteenth-century India. First published in Italian in 1796, the work was soon translated into German, from which William Johnston produced this English translation in 1800.

Narrative of a Journey Overland from England, by the Continent of Europe, Egypt, and the Red Sea, to India
  • Including a Residence There, and Voyage Home, in the Years 1825, 26, 27, and 28
  • Volume 1
  • Anne Katharine Curteis Elwood
  • Published online:
    05 September 2014
    Print publication:
    21 October 2010
    First published in:
    1830
  • Described by The Morning Post as exhibiting 'facilities of observation never before possessed by a European lady', Anne Katharine Elwood was the ideal narrator for an exotic and exciting travel journal. The first woman to travel overland to India, she acquired a reputation as a pioneer even before her diary was published. When it first appeared in 1830 this work attracted much praise from critics and the general public alike. Elwood's account introduces readers to locations, cultures and sights as diverse as the duomo of Turin, a picnic at the Pyramids, and the 'the private lives of Mahometan and Hindoo Ladies'. It was recommended by one critic as 'the most amusing book of travels we have read for a long time'. Volume 1 takes readers from England to Bombay via France, Italy, Malta and Egypt. For more information on this author, see http://orlando.cambridge.org/public/svPeople?person_id=elwoan

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
  • Samuel Turner
  • Illustrated by Samuel Davis
  • Assisted by Robert Saunders
  • Published online:
    05 March 2014
    Print publication:
    27 June 2013
    First published in:
    1800
  • In 1783, at the opportunity presented by a new Panchen (or Teshoo) Lama, Bengal governor-general Warren Hastings sent a deputation to Tibet and Bhutan in the hope of promoting British-Indian trade across the Himalayas. Samuel Turner (1759–1802), an army officer in the East India Company, was appointed leader of the mission. His journal, offering first-hand descriptions of these countries, was originally published in 1800 and 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. The introduction sketches the history of Bengal–Bhutan relations and George Bogle's prior mission, while later sections deal with Tibet and the influence of China. This was and remains an invaluable account of eighteenth-century diplomacy.

Mount Omi and Beyond
  • A Record of Travel on the Thibetan Border
  • Archibald John Little
  • Published online:
    05 March 2014
    Print publication:
    30 September 2010
    First published in:
    1901
  • Mount Omi and Beyond is Archibald John Little's account of his travels in the Szechuan province of China. His journey took him from Chongqing to Mount Omi and the Tibetan border. Little professed to add nothing to the records of geographical exploration through his work, but aimed simply to provide a 'picture of China as it exists far removed from Western influence'. Little compares this part of China with Europe in the middle ages – in the colourful dress of the people, the absence of technology, and lack of communication with the outside world. He believed that this was a world nearing its end, as Western influences were reaching the Chinese ports through trade. Published in London in 1901, it contains a 'Sketch Map of Northern and Central Szechuan' and fifteen black and white photographs. Several other books by Little and by his intrepid wife are also reissued in this series.

Rambles in Japan
  • The Land of the Rising Sun
  • Henry Baker Tristram
  • Published online:
    05 March 2014
    Print publication:
    26 April 2012
    First published in:
    1895
  • Clergyman and ornithologist H. B. Tristram (1822–1906), was an early supporter of Darwin's evolutionary theories - in his 1859 paper 'On the Ornithology of North Africa' - who became both a Fellow of the Royal Society and canon residentiary of Durham; he was also the Church Missionary Society's representative in the county for forty years. This 1895 volume, the last of many travel narratives he published, is an account of a sojourn in Japan, visiting his daughter Katherine, then headmistress of the Society's school for girls in Osaka. As well as describing the country's minority Christian communities, Tristram's highly readable narrative covers Japanese customs, industries, shrines and ornithology, with excursus on both native wild birds and local practices for taming them. It illustrates the author's ongoing interest in both religion and the natural sciences, as well as illuminating cultural contact between Britain and Japan in this formative period.

Travels in Kashmir and the Panjab
  • Containing a Particular Account of the Government and Character of the Sikhs
  • Karl Alexander von Hügel
  • Edited and translated by T. B. Jervis
  • Published online:
    05 November 2013
    Print publication:
    20 September 2012
    First published in:
    1845
  • Written by Austrian baron Karl Alexander Anselm von Hügel (1795–1870), this travelogue was one of the first western books published on the Kashmir region. Von Hügel, who worked as a soldier, diplomat, botanist, explorer and ethnologist at various stages in his life, embarked on a trip to India in the 1830s as part of an extensive world tour. His account of his time in Kashmir and the Punjab was first published in German as a four-volume edition from 1840. He aimed to 'lift the veil' on Kashmir in an attempt to resolve the contentious reputation among Europeans of this unfamiliar region, and the book serves as a thorough guide to its history, geography, climate, culture and politics. This English translation and abridgement was prepared by Thomas Best Jervis (1796–1857) and published in 1845. Also included in this reissue is a biography that the author's son, Anatole von Hügel, privately published in 1903.

A Seaman's Narrative of his Adventures during a Captivity among Chinese Pirates on the Coast of Cochin-China
  • And Afterwards during a Journey on Foot across that Country in the Years 1857–8
  • Edward Brown
  • Published online:
    05 October 2013
    Print publication:
    02 August 2012
    First published in:
    1861
  • During the time of the Second Opium War between Britain and China (1856–60), sailor Edward Brown (about whom little is known) was discharged from a trading vessel in Hong Kong. He was then offered the opportunity to captain a Chinese-crewed ship bound for Wai-how on the west coast, though he was warned that it was a risky enterprise because of the ongoing hostilities. Soon his ship was chased by Chinese pirates and Brown was taken captive for many months in Cochin-China (southern Vietnam). Published in 1861, this engaging account of his captivity, attempts at escape, and eventual return to his livelihood as a mate on a trading ship is told in a lively style, and gives a first-hand account of both a turbulent time in one of the world's most dangerous seas, and the different people and customs he encountered in the course of his enforced time on land.

Travels in India
  • Volume 1
  • Jean-Baptiste Tavernier
  • Translated by Valentine Ball
  • Published online:
    05 October 2013
    Print publication:
    10 May 2012
    First published in:
    1889
  • In 1676, Jean-Baptiste Tavernier (1605–89), French merchant, traveller and pioneer of trade with India, published an account of his journey through India. This two-volume translation, published in 1889 by Irish geologist Valentine Ball (1843–94), includes a biographical sketch of the author, notes and appendices. Tavernier begins his tale with the declaration that 'I came into this world to travel.' As well as most of Europe, he visited large areas of Turkey, Persia and India (where he acquired the great gem, now known as the Hope Diamond, which he sold to Louis XIV), and sailed to Java. In Volume 1, Tavernier sets out from Isfahan to Agra and Delhi; he then supplies a historical and political description of the empire of Shah Jahan and his successors. An appendix provides details about the values of coins, weights and measures mentioned by Tavernier in the original work.

Travels in India
  • Volume 2
  • Jean-Baptiste Tavernier
  • Translated by Valentine Ball
  • Published online:
    05 October 2013
    Print publication:
    10 May 2012
    First published in:
    1889
  • In 1676, Jean-Baptiste Tavernier (1605–89), French merchant, traveller and pioneer of trade with India, published an account of his journey through India. This two-volume translation, published in 1889 by Irish geologist Valentine Ball (1843–94), includes a biographical sketch of the author, notes and appendices. Tavernier begins his tale with the declaration that 'I came into this world to travel.' As well as most of Europe, he visited large areas of Turkey, Persia and India (where he acquired the great gem, now known as the Hope Diamond, which he sold to Louis XIV), and sailed to Java. Volume 2 continues his history of India, and describes Hindi and Muslim religious practices; Tavernier then continues to the Dutch territories in the East Indies and returns home on a Dutch ship via St Helena. Tavernier's interest in the details of everything he saw makes this work a fascinating read.

Our Visit to Hindostán, Kashmir and Ladakh
  • Harriet Murray Aynsley
  • Published online:
    05 August 2013
    Print publication:
    13 December 2012
    First published in:
    1879
  • Published in 1879, this work is a first-hand account by a female traveller in nineteenth-century India. Broad in its scope and empirical in its presentation, the book is formed from descriptions of the travels of Harriet Murray Aynsley (1827?–98) and her husband in northern and central India over three years. Originally intended for the private interest of family and friends, the text remains clear, accessible and engaging to the general reader. Travelling from Bombay to Hyderabad through myriad cities and villages, including Delhi, Varanasi, Jaipur and Lucknow, Aynsley records her observations on native life, including descriptions of festivals, industry, clothing, domestic practices, food and famine, politics and religion. She vividly describes the architecture and landscapes of the places she visits, incorporating atmospheric anecdotes of her experiences. The book also contains much historical background, based on careful research, which puts the author's personal impressions into a broader context.

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