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George Henderson and Allan octavian hume, Lahore to Yarkand: Incidents of the Route and Natural History of the Countries Traversed by the Expedition of 1870, under T. D. Forsyth, Esq., C.B., London: L. Reeve & Co., 1873

xx, 370 pp. With 26 heliotype images on 16 leaves, 32 hand-coloured lithographic plates after Keulemans, 6 additional hand-coloured botanical plates, an additional folding colour map and 3 charts (2 coloured) depicting flora, fauna, ethnographic scenes, and landscapes based on original sketches by the authors and specimens collected during the journey; brown leather binding with a small “LR” monogram (for Lovell Reeve) or a stylised emblem, printed in gilt and blind-stamped, on the front cover along with gilt text at the spine. Housed in a custom brown quarter-leather and marbled paper-covered slipcase, gilt-ruled with floral corner tools and a gilt-lettered spine.
10.5 x 7.25 in (27 x 18.5 cm)

SCIENCE AND STRATEGY ON THE SILK ROAD: HENDERSON & HUME’S LAHORE TO YARKAND, 1873

Lahore to Yarkand is the official narrative of the British scientific and political expedition led by T. D. Forsyth through the western Himalayas and into Chinese Turkestan (present-day Xinjiang) in 1870. Compiled by George Henderson, the expedition’s medical officer, and Allan Octavian Hume, then secretary to the Government of India’s Revenue and Agricultural Department and later a founder of the Indian National Congress, this volume blends narrative travelogue with systematic natural history.

Conceived at the intersection of imperial diplomacy and scientific curiosity, the Forsyth Mission aimed to establish trade relations with Kashgar and survey a region that was then geopolitically significant in the context of the ‘Great Game’. Henderson’s detailed observations on geography, ethnography, and high-altitude travel are complemented by Hume’s extensive zoological annotations and natural history appendices, drawn from specimens collected during the journey.

The illustrations are of particular note: five of the plates are hand-coloured lithographs of birds, based on native drawings commissioned by Hume. These, along with the other tinted and monochrome plates—depicting scenery, costumes, and architecture—offer a rich visual archive of trans-Himalayan culture and biodiversity. The folding map traces the route from Lahore through Leh, the Karakoram Pass, to Yarkand, and remains one of the earliest British cartographic records of this terrain.

This volume occupies a key place in the history of British exploration in Central Asia, both for its scientific content and its documentation of an important phase in Anglo-Chinese frontier diplomacy. It is also among the few works to combine first-hand political travel narrative with formal ornithological reporting—foreshadowing Hume’s later work as a foundational figure in Indian ornithology.

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