THE HIMALAYAN LETTERS OF GYPSY DAVIE AND LADY BA; Written on pilgrimage to the high quiet places among the simple people of an old folk tale. With maps. Decorations by the Ballad Singer
Cambridge: W. Heffner & Sons Ltd, 1927. First Edition. 8vo, pp. xii, 280; pictorial endpapers, 4 folding maps; original pictorial green cloth stamped in black and white, A very good, sound and clean copy. Item #60681
Robert Lemoyne Barrett (Gypsy Davy) and his wife Katharine Ruth Barrtett (Lady BA) travelled in 1923-1924 from Srinager through Baltistan and Karakoram into Ladakh"The text is a series of letters detailing a journey through the Himalayan region in Asia and relating some of the folktales told by local villagers. Among the other interesting oral histories and tidbits related by the author, there is a tale recounted from the perspective of villagers in the Himalayas about British explorer and military man Francis Younghusband who crossed the treacherous mountain range and uncharted desert territories as a young man" (National Book Auctions). Barrett who founded the Association of American Geographers and traveled through the Canadian Rockies and later financed an expedition into the Himalayas. Contains a 5-page Caravan Vocabulary, "Urdu words we taught our village men, with a few Ladakhi and Turki words which we all use commonly.
Price: $175.00