The Great Game, a coinage credited to the British officer Arthur Conolly (1807–42), refers to the nineteenth-century rivalry between Britain and Russia as each power sought supremacy in Central Asia. In a climate of tension and suspicion that the Russians might attempt to invade India via Afghanistan, Conolly, returning from sick leave in England, embarked in 1829 on an expedition through the region. His narrative provides observations on the various Asiatic peoples he encountered, including the social, religious and political aspects of their cultures. He describes also the many dangers he had to deal with, requiring him to assume a series of false identities. The risks that Conolly faced were underscored some years later, when he was captured and executed in Bukhara. Volume 1 recounts the first part of his journey, from St Petersburg, through the Caucasus, via Tiflis and Tehran, towards Herat.

The Great Game, a coinage credited to the British officer Arthur Conolly (1807–42), refers to the nineteenth-century rivalry between Britain and Russia as each power sought supremacy in Central Asia. In a climate of tension and suspicion that the Russians might attempt to invade India via Afghanistan, Conolly, returning from sick leave in England, embarked in 1829 on an expedition through the region. His narrative provides observations on the various Asiatic peoples he encountered, including the social, religious and political aspects of their cultures. He describes also the many dangers he had to deal with, requiring him to assume a series of false identities. The risks that Conolly faced were underscored some years later, when he was captured and executed in Bukhara. Volume 2 recounts the time Conolly spent in Afghanistan. Included also are appendices addressing the possible overland invasion of India as well as the history of Afghanistan.

Born in Franconia, the son of a rabbi, Joseph Wolff (1795–1862) was baptised in 1812. Educated in Hebrew, Greek and Latin, he later studied Arabic, Syriac and Aramaic in Vienna, and Christian theology in Rome before being expelled from the city for his heretical views. He came to England, became a member of the Church of England, and then embarked on his missionary work. Though he met with limited evangelical success, the books he went on to publish made him well known at home. Reissued here is his 1835 account of travels in the early 1830s through the Middle East and Asia, during which he experienced robbery and disease, journeyed through the Himalayas, and was hosted by numerous royal courts. This tale, exotic and extraordinary, is a remarkable source for those interested in nineteenth-century orientalism and Christian missionary zeal.

Akbar the Great (1542–1605) is often regarded as the Mughal Empire's most accomplished ruler. This document on the workings of his empire was produced by Akbar's vizier, Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak (1551–1602). Between 1783 and 1786, the scholar Francis Gladwin (1744/5–1812) produced an English translation from the original Persian. Reissued here is the two-volume edition that appeared in 1800. As the work's dedicatee and Governor-General of Bengal, Warren Hastings had seen the translation as illuminating the Mughal Empire's 'original constitution' and believed it would educate and inform Britain's colonial administrators. Gladwin's text would not be superseded for many decades, and it testifies to the quality of his scholarship and the contemporary concerns of the East India Company. Volume 1 explains the workings of the royal household and military offices, including details of the mint, treasury and harem, as well as building regulations.

Born in Franconia, the son of a rabbi, Joseph Wolff (1795–1862) was baptised in 1812, moved to England in 1819, and became a Christian missionary. He travelled widely in the Near East, Middle East and Central Asia, enduring shipwreck, robbery and disease. His Researches and Missionary Labours among the Jews, Mohammedans, and Other Sects (1835) and the miscellaneous Travels and Adventures (1861) are also reissued in this series. First published in 1845 and reissued here in the revised second edition of that year, this work records Wolff's journey to the Emirate of Bukhara (in present-day Uzbekistan) to investigate the disappearance of two British officers. Volume 1 begins with chapters covering Wolff's background and previous travels, before focusing on his mission to find the missing men, his initial investigations in Persia, and his arrival in Bukhara, noting details of the people and culture.

Born in Franconia, the son of a rabbi, Joseph Wolff (1795–1862) was baptised in 1812, moved to England in 1819, and became a Christian missionary. He travelled widely in the Near East, Middle East and Central Asia, enduring shipwreck, robbery and disease. His Researches and Missionary Labours among the Jews, Mohammedans, and Other Sects (1835) and the miscellaneous Travels and Adventures (1861) are also reissued in this series. First published in 1845 and reissued here in the revised second edition of that year, this work records Wolff's journey to the Emirate of Bukhara (in present-day Uzbekistan) to investigate the disappearance of two British officers. In Volume 2, Wolff offers further observations on the region's culture, religion and military history. He discovers that the missing men had been executed by one of the Emir's subordinates, Abdul Samut Khan, who also attempted to kill Wolff, though he narrowly escaped.

This 1937 work is framed as a maritime history as distinct from an economic history, and was highly acclaimed on first publication. Parkinson's focus is the activities of the East India Company in India and the East Indies between 1793 and 1815. Although a scholarly work, firmly founded on primary sources, it presents a potentially dry subject in a vivid and lively way which is extremely readable. Rather than narrating the history of the East India Company, Parkinson provides a series of descriptions of how it operated, the goods it traded, and the experiences of employees or passengers who sailed east. He reminds the modern reader of how fundamental the prevailing winds were to the trade routes, and the great discomforts of long sea voyages. This is a fascinating story of the realities of British economic involvement in India and the Far East during a key period of consolidation.

Like many British authors of books about India before independence, William Harrison Moreland (1868–1938) had worked as a civil servant in the subcontinent. He spent twenty-five years in the North-West Provinces, and for twelve years he was Director of Land Records and Agriculture. He was committed to improving the agricultural system of the region, and even established an agricultural college in Kanpur. After he retired, he decided to examine old land and revenue records, resulting in this work, which was published in 1929. Starting in the thirteenth century, the book gives a historical context to the changing land use and revenue practices in India. Moreland also examines the role of religious law and the influence of successive regimes and rulers on the development of agrarian practices as well as on the lives and work of India's peasantry.

Soldier and military historian L. W. Shakespear (1860–1933), published this book on the north-eastern frontier of India and its tribes in 1914. He had served in the Assam Military Police Force, and this book, which is illustrated with photographs taken by the author, is 'an attempt to produce something useful and readable at least for those who care about that little known but very interesting corner of India'. The work begins with a review of the archaeology and history of the area, and is particularly concerned with the ethnography of the various border tribes, such as the Kachari, Ahom and Naga. The small beginnings, in 1823, of the tea industry, which still forms an important part of the region's economy, are described, and the work ends with a consideration of the strategic importance of the area, in the context of a widely expected 'awakening' and modernisation of China.

This 1912 book by Angus Hamilton (1874–1913), a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, is an account of the British military expeditions to quell uprisings among remote tribes in north-eastern India in 1911–12. Famous for his earlier books on Afghanistan, the problems of the Middle East, and Somaliland, Hamilton gives a full account of the various phases of the 'Abor expedition' which resulted in a crushing defeat of the local tribes. The book begins with a survey of the geography of the area, and a description of the Abor people, explaining the turbulent background to the murder in March 1911 of two British officials. A highly detailed and illustrated account then follows of the murders, and of the punitive response of the government in Delhi, which sent an expedition both to bring the area back under control and also to carry out geographical surveys of a relatively unknown area.

This work, reprinted from the 1901 Census of India Series in 1902, examines the growth of the great Indian port city, giving contemporary statistics as well as recounting its long history before and during British rule (the East India Company had begun trading there in the 1660s). The editor, Stephen Meredyth Edwardes (1873–1927), was a civil servant based in Bombay. Using sources from travellers' accounts to official documents, this work tells the story of Bombay, 'one of the most splendid of Imperial Cities', as Edwardes describes it. Starting in prehistoric times, he discusses the topography of the city, its prosperity through trade and its early rulers, before moving on to the significance of Hinduism and Islam, the arrival of the Portuguese and finally the establishment of British rule. Illustrated with maps and photographs, this work gives a vivid history of the development of one of India's most important cities.

An English geographer of great distinction, Sir Thomas Hungerford Holdich (1843–1929) is best remembered as Superintendent of Frontier Surveys in British India. He served on a number of boundary commissions including the one on Afghanistan that settled the country's border with British India in 1884–6. He was also invited by the governments of Argentina and Chile in 1892 to define their boundary along the Andes Mountains. Holdich wrote and lectured extensively on geographical issues in the later part of his life. In 1887 his work on the Afghan frontier received the Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society (of which he was President from 1917 to 1919). This work of 1901 describes the geography and border disputes of the north-west frontier, including the Second Anglo-Afghan War, in which Holdich himself fought. The book also contains illustrations, and an appendix that provides a short history of Afghanistan.

Sir Henry Bartle Edward Frere (1815–84) was recognised as one of the ablest colonial administrators of his generation. His service in British India, where he rose to serve on the Supreme Council, was distinguished by his promotion of municipal institutions and his inclusion of the Indian people. In this respect he was ahead of his time. At the outbreak of the Indian Rebellion of 1857, his actions helped limit the spread of the uprising. As Governor of the Cape Colony in South Africa he was directed to confederate the disparate territories there into a single nation, but this mission was marred by his unilateral decision to wage war on the Zulus. In 1894, John Martineau (1834–1910) published this sympathetic two-volume biography. Volume 1 covers Frere's ascent in India from a lowly civil servant to one of its most influential rulers.

Sir Henry Bartle Edward Frere (1815–84) was recognised as one of the ablest colonial administrators of his generation. His service in British India, where he rose to serve on the Supreme Council, was distinguished by his promotion of municipal institutions and his inclusion of the Indian people. In this respect he was ahead of his time. At the outbreak of the Indian Rebellion of 1857, his actions helped limit the spread of the uprising. As Governor of the Cape Colony in South Africa he was directed to confederate the disparate territories there into a single nation, but this mission was marred by his unilateral decision to wage war on the Zulus. In 1894, John Martineau (1834–1910) published this sympathetic two-volume biography. Volume 2 covers Frere's successful attempt to halt the Zanzibar slave trade as well as his service in South Africa, from which he returned home in disgrace.

In this 1895 survey of the life and works of James Rennell (1742–1830), the geographer and historian Clements R. Markham (1830–1916) describes him as 'the greatest geographer that Great Britain has yet produced'. The book was published in the 'Century Science Series', which narrated the lives and works of exemplars in each area of science, and Markham goes on to explain why Rennell should be the chosen representative of geography. 'He was an explorer both by sea and land, a map compiler, a physical geographer, a critical and comparative geographer, and a hydrographer.' Rennell is probably best remembered for the surveys of western Asia (also reissued in this series) in which he attempted to match modern to classical sites, but his professional career was spent as an army surveyor in India and Africa. Markham's account of Rennell's life concludes with an examination of his geographical legacy.

This two-volume work by Alexander Rogers (1825–1911), a retired officer of the Bombay Civil Service, first published in 1892, describes the land revenues of the Bombay Presidency (the province which at its greatest extent encompassed much of West and Central India) and also gives a history of the rise and progress of the British administration in the region. The work is organised into eighteen sections, each bearing the name of the Collectorate described therein. It provides an overview of the changes in land revenue administration which culminated in the Bombay Revenue Survey Settlements. Using government records as its sources, the book is meticulously researched and is illustrated with tables, charts and maps. Volume 2 provides descriptions of the land revenue system of a further ten Collectorates (Ratnagiri, Nasik, Sholapur, Puna, Ahmadnagar, Bijapur, Sattara, Belgam, Dharvar, Kanara), and achieves the author's aim of providing an up-to-date survey of the province.

This two-volume work by Alexander Rogers (1825–1911), a retired officer of the Bombay Civil Service, first published in 1892, describes the land revenues of the Bombay Presidency (the province which at its greatest extent encompassed much of West and Central India) and also gives a history of the rise and progress of the British administration in the region. The work is organised into eighteen sections, each bearing the name of the Collectorate described therein. It provides an overview of the changes in land revenue administration which culminated in the Bombay Revenue Survey Settlements. Using government records as its sources, the book is meticulously researched and is illustrated with tables, charts and maps. Volume 1 begins with a general sketch of the condition of the Bombay Presidency; Rogers then provides detailed descriptions of the land revenue system of eight Collectorates (Ahmadabad, Kheda, Panch Mahals, Bhauch, Surat, Thana, Colaba and Khandesh).

Flora Annie Steel and Grace Gardiner's classic work of Anglo-Indian household life was first published in 1888 and went through ten editions thanks to its great utility. Tailored specifically for the British community in India, the book covers household hints, domestic finances and house management, a glossary of common domestic terms, and a variety of recipes. For readers today, it provides a valuable insight into life in British India, as well as revealing contemporary attitudes to the native Indian people. Steel and Gardiner were witty and well-travelled women of lively intelligence, and the book makes entertaining and accessible, if highly opinionated, reading. Topics covered include the care of domestic and farm animals, clothing and dressmaking, practical cooking tips, camp and missionary life, and how to cope with the idiosyncrasies of the Indian servant. For more information on Steel, see http://orlando.cambridge.org/public/svPeople?person_id=steefl

Translated and annotated by orientalist Edward Sachau (1845–1930), this 1887–8 two-volume work is the account by Muslim polymath and traveller Alberuni (973–1048) of Indian political and social life in the medieval period. Sachau published the manuscript in Arabic in 1885–6, at the same time working on an English translation. Alberuni, born in Chorasmia, south of the Aral Sea, was one of the leading scholars of his day. He accompanied the Afghan ruler Mahmud on his invasion of India in the early eleventh century, and remained there for thirteen years, making a detailed study of Indian life and culture, and in particular studying the Hindu religion. Alberuni claims that his work is not polemical in nature, but a simple historical record of facts, and he commends the learning of the Hindus in philosophy, mathematics and astronomy. Volume 1 discusses Hindu beliefs, the caste system and the calendar.

Translated and annotated by orientalist Edward Sachau (1845–1930), this 1887–8 two-volume work is the account by Muslim polymath and traveller Alberuni (973–1048) of Indian political and social life in the medieval period. Sachau published the manuscript in Arabic in 1885–6, at the same time working on an English translation. Alberuni, born in Chorasmia, south of the Aral Sea, was one of the leading scholars of his day. He accompanied the Afghan ruler Mahmud on his invasion of India in the early eleventh century, and remained there for thirteen years, making a detailed study of Indian life and culture, and in particular studying the Hindu religion. Alberuni claims that his work is not polemical in nature, but a simple historical record of facts, and he commends the learning of the Hindus in philosophy, mathematics and astronomy. Volume 2 discusses among other subjects astronomy, religion, ritual and law.