Mountain Panoramas from the Pamirs and Kwen Lun.
Year: 1908
Edition: First edition
Publisher: London, The Royal Geographical Society
Category: Asia
Modern blue cloth with new endpapers, folio, half title page , title page, pp. v- x, (1), 12 - 36. The titles in gilt on the frontboard and the spine. 23 panorama photos on 13 sheets plus a folding map in colour.
The title on the frontboard identical with the one on the title page. The original cloth had a slightly deviating title, which read:
RGS logo / Mountain Panoramas / from the / Pamirs and Kwen Lun /
with introduction and descriptions / by / Dr. Stein
A few flaws which have all been restored professionally, viz.: two small tears in half title page, one small tear in the title page and two panoramas reinforced on one fold.
In the Bulletin of the American Geographical Society, vol. 47, No. 1, p. 63-64, William Herbert Hobbs writes:
“During his survey of the Pamirs and the range of the Kwen Lun, Dr. Stein
prepared a large number of panoramas with the photo-theodolite, a method
especially adapted to the representation upon the map of these excessively lofty
and inaccessible mountains. The Council of the Royal Geographical Society
has here undertaken the expensive task of reproducing these somewhat remark-
able panoramas, Mr. H. W. Simpson, of the Society’s office, having taken in
charge the technical side and managed it with great success. The concise anno-
tations necessary to the elucidation of the panoramas have been prepared by
Dr. Stein himself. In these views, one looks out from high vantage points over
plateaus ranging in general level from 10,000 to 15,000 feet and upon peaks
which push up nearly 10,000 feet higher. To geographers, and especially phy-
siographers, the views are of interest in revealing the peculiar surface of the
vast loess deposits which are everywhere found about the rim of the plateau,
and which are opened up by numerous narrow canyons. Panorama VII B,
taken from the west foot of Wakhjir Pass and looking to the south and South-
west, presents a very valuable view over the glaciers and their moraines.”
And in the Annales de Géographie Année 1909, Volume 18, Numéro 101, p. 189 L. Raveneau has written the following entry:
" 637.- STEIN (.M. AUREL). Mountain Panoramas from the Pamirs and
Kwen Lun. Photographed and annotated by -. [La couverture porte :
Mountain Panoramas... With Introduction and Descriptions by-.] [R. G. S.
Extra Publications.] London, The Royal Gepgraphical Society ; Edw. Stanford,
1908. In-4, x + 36 p. ; 24 panoramas depliants en 13 pl., 1 pl. carte
à 1 : 1 500 000. 1 £. (réduit à 7 sh. 6 d. pour les membres de la R. G. S.).
Au cours de son fructueux voyage de 1900-1901 (voir XVIIe Bibl. 1907, no 56),
Mr Stein prit un très grand nombre de vues au photo-théodolite pour compléter par
la photogrammétrie les levés topographiques de son « surveyor » Ram Singh. Les
plus beaux et les plus typiques de ces panoramas sont reproduits ici. Un texte sobre
et précis les commente. Mr Stein ayant, au cours de sa dernière exploration
(1906-1908; voir A. de G., XVIII, 15 janvier 1909, p. 87-88), visité à nouveau
quelques-uns des points représentés ici, a enrichi ces pages de comparaisons instruc-
tives entre l’état que présentait le même site, à quelques années d’intervalle. – Les
14 premiers panoramas (pan. I-VI) se rapportent à la partie du Kouen-Loun
située au Sud de Khotan; les 10 autres (pan. VII-IX), à la partie du Pamir
comprise entre la passe de Ouakjir et le lac Kara-koul. Sur la carte (repro-
duction de celle du G. J.; voir XIIe Bibl. 1902, no 575 C), des chiffres romains
en rouge ont été ajoutés, qui renvoient aux photographies. – Cette remarquable
collection présente un intérêt inappréciable pour l’étude du relief de la Haute Asie :
sierras du Kouen-loun, aux pentes recouvertes de loess ou curieusement érodées ;
large couloirs du Pamir, bordés de moraines et dominés par de lours massifs
neigeux, etc."
Rare, with only six copies all together in ABPC and RBH/AE since 1977.
Yakushi (1994) S715
Click on a picture to enlarge.
