[BRITISH INDIA / MECCA / AFGHANISTAN] Hindistan ve Svat ve Afganistan [sic. Efganistan] seyahatnamesi. [i.e. Travels into India through Swat and Afghanistan]

AHMED HAMDI [SIRVÂNÎ], (Reis-i Encümen-i Teftîs ve Mu'ayene, Turkish diplomat, traveler), (1831-1890), Mahmud Bey Matbaasi, Istanbul, [AH 1300] = 1882. Original Ottoman cloth bdg. Cr. 8vo. (20 x 14 cm). In Ottoman script (Old Turkish with Arabic letters). 293 p., 17 b/w plates and 1 folding map, and 1 folding linguistic table (including alphabets used in India such as Sanskrit, Brahmi, Devanagari and their pronunciations in Latin and Arabic alphabets). Slightly loosed spine, skillfully repaired a part of the spine, fading and chipped on the board's extremities, slight stains on the plates. Overall a good copy.Extremely rare (with a map and the plate at the end of the book) first edition of this eye-witness travel account of the Indo-Islamic culture during the British Raj in the late 19th century, by the Hamidian period Turkish ambassador and scholar Sirvanî (1831-1890), who had written and translated three geographical books as well.Sirvânî completed his travel memoirs on his return fr