Boulger’s scarce work on invasions of India, 1879

[Boulger, Demetrius]: INVASIONS OF INDIA FROM CENTRAL ASIA. Richard Bentley and Son [London] 1879 1st edition 8vo.

xvi,344pp. Original red cloth gilt and blind stamped, spine faded and a little repaired at head and tail, front hinge neatly split along paper hinges and tapes between half title and title page and those two pages carelessly cut along top edge leaving a small part of the title page margin with the previous page, internally the paper a little dusty but not a bad copy of a now rather scarce work. There are no previous ownership markings. The work is divided into three sections of which the last fits ill with the title. Part one deals with The Turkish Invasion of India, under Sultan Baber, in 1525 (Usbegs, Kabul & Khyber, Peshawar to Delhi, Turks as rulers of Delhi, death of Baber, Noor Mahal, Aurungzeb). Part two is The Persian Invasion of India, under Nadir Shah, in 1739 (court of the Great Moghul, Paniput, sacking of Delhi, rise of British power 1756). Part three is The English Invasion of Kabul, in 1839 (Captain Burnes visit to Kabul, Dost Mohammed, passage of the Bolan, march to Ghuznee, storming Ghuznee, flight of Dost Mohammad, English entry into Kabul, reversals, murder of Burnes, Macaughton and Elphinstone, retreat, massacre of British army).   The last section about the First AfghanWar would have had a  particularly topical relevance when the book was published during the  2nd Afghan War.  dec22/1