Captain Samuel Turner: 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 Bibliotheca Himalayica, Serie 1, Volume 4.

Manjusri (Mañjusri), New Delhi (Indien), 1971, 473 Seiten mit vereinzelten Bildern und Falttafeln. Gebunden Leinen.

Reprint der Originalausgabe von 1800 - Limited Edition of 1000 Copies (Nr. 482) - "The purpose of Bibliotheca Himalayica is to make available works on the civilizations and nature of central asia and the Himalayas." - with an introduction by Hugh Richardson "In 1783 Captain Samuel Turner of the East India Company's army was commissioned by Warren Hastings, to whom he was related, as envoy to Tashilhunpo in Tibet on the occasion of the discovery of an infant successor to the Third Panchen Lama who had died in 1780. On his return after a year's absence he continued his military career in India until the end of the century when he retired to England and, in 1800, published his "Account of an Embassy to the Court of the Teshoo Lama in Tibet-" Hitherto the popular idea of that country had been mainly based on hearsay scraps of fact and fable. Now Turner provided the first eyewitness account generally available to English readers. It was received with interest and was soon translated into French. Not that Turner was the first European to enter Tibet. His visit followed up the successful mission of George Bogle whom Hastings had sent to Tashilhunpo in 1774. Bogle, like his friend the Third Panchen Lama, died prematurely in 1780 but his lively diary was not published until 1876. Before him there had been, from the beginning of the seventeenth century onwards, a little stream of visitors, mainly Jesuit and Capuchim missionaries, but their information did not become widely known until quite recently. Turner's work therefore remained for over half a century the locus classicus on Tibet. The age in which he lived demanded a "philosophic" approach and the examination of phenomena, however strange and curious, with a sober scientific eye. The age also imposed on him an elegant, rather elevated prose style. From behind that formal facade, little of Turner's personality emerges. One can see that he had those essentials for dealings with Tibetans, patience and tact, and that he was able to get on with people of different ways; but compared with the warmth and gaiety of Bogle, his manner seems, perhaps, a little condescending. What is abundantly clear is that he had a mind trained to enquire and observe accurately and to record his findings with balanced judgement. In his principal task of reporting on political and commercial matters, he describes competently what he saw of conditions in Bhutan, the relationship between Tashilhunpo and Lhasa, and the all-important relationship between Tibet and China; and he gives a careful list of the articles imported and exported by Tibetans ...".