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[MARQUESS CURZON of KEDLESTON] KING, PETER - Edited by : : TRAVELS WITH A SUPERIOR PERSON

LONDON.SIDGWICK & JACKSON,1985.

ISBN 0283992948.

UK,Qrto HB+dw/dj,illustrated,1st edn.FINE/FINE. No ownership inscrptn,but price-clip to dw/dj. Bright,crisp,clean,glossy colour illustrated dw/dj; with negligible shelf-wear and creasing to edges and corners - no nicks or tears present. Top+fore-edges bright and generally clean; contents bright,tight and near pristine also - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corners - possibly an unread copy? Publisher's bright, clean,sharp-cornered,original plain tan cloth boards with bright,crisp,blocked gilt letters to spine/backstrip,immaculate contemporary map-illustrated endpapers.Tiny knock/dent to upper board's bottom edge,towards spine/backstrip's joint.UK,Qrto HB+dw/dj,illustrated,1st edn, 8-191pp [paginated] includes Elizabeth Longford Introduction,Editor's Note,Curzon's Introduction to his 'Tales of Travel',26 extracts/chapters, profuse (90) contemporary sepia photographs throughout the text and the book - most from Curzon's own collection,some from the R.G.S,a few from a couple of other people's collections; plus [unpaginated] half-title+title pages,colour subject caricature portrait (by SPY) illustrated frntis and Contents+Illustration lists/tables. In his introduction to his book of reminiscences,'Tales of Travel' (1923),Curzon wrote: 'It gave me greater pleasure to be awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society for exploration and research than it did to become a Minister of the Crown.' After india, travel was his greatest love.Before he was thirty years old he had been twice round the world,supporting himself by writing for The Times. No traveller of the period had a prose style to match that of Curzon,nor did they have his wit. It is these qualities,coupled with Curzon's fascinating experiences in remote and exotic places,that make 'Travels with a Superior Person' both the quintessence of late-Victorian travel-writing and a delight for modern readers. Here we have the pick of Curzon the traveller, extracted from his 'Russian in Central Asia' (1889),'Tales of Travel' (1923), and 'Leaves from a Viceroy's Note-book' (1926). We have brief anecdotes: Curzon pilfering a top hat in Teheran; impersonating a judge in Milan; or showing the Prince of Wales a naughty picture from Annam.We have rich and poetic descriptive writing: on Japanese Wrestling; the magnificence of the Nile; Greece in the 1880's; and other sublime subjects.We also have Curzon's full and remarkable account of his journey by train in 1888 from London to Samarkand via Berlin,St Petersburg,Moscow,the Caspian Sea,the Oxus,and Bokhara (described here as 'the most interesting city in the world') and on by road to Tashkent. In 'Tales with a Superior Person' the reader is transported by Curzon's superb powers of description,his humour,and the poetry of his flawless prose.The book is also a companion volume to 'A Viceroy's India' (1984) also by Peter King,that contains the best of Curzon's writing on India. Please contact seller,for correct shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page! N.B. ALL buyers please note,stocks' actual shipping/P+p costs are adjusted and any difference is refunded,after order's receipt and before the order's despatch,especially if the item(s) are offered either P+p included/FREE. ** N.B. US/Canada customers please be aware: Standard US AIRMAIL to these destinations can now,in some cases,cost more than the price of the book! If speed is not of the essence,then Economy rate is recommended - at approx. anything from a 1/3rd to 1/2 of the standard US AIR quote/rate - sometimes arriving sooner than the 42 days - but not always. **

UK,Qrto HB+dw/dj,illustrated,1st edn.
Not SIGNED.

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