Obituaries: Lady Delia Pilcher

The New York-born journalist and travel writer Francis Nichols (1879-1904) is best known for his travels through early 20^th-century China. However, his attempt in 1903-4 to travel through Tibet to Lhasa ahead of the Younghusband Mission, and thus to become the first westerner to reach the city, has been forgotten, partly on account of his death in the field and the loss of his diary. From new research in recently-catalogued documents and letters in the archives of the American Geographical Society (AGS), the author has compiled an account of Nichols’ mission to Lhasa, including the support he received from US backers, including the AGS, his travels in China, Tibet and India, and his relations with Younghusband and the British. Although Nichols was unable to reach Lhasa, the author observes that he should be credited as the first American to travel from India into the Chumbi valley in southern Tibet and across the Tibetan plateau from Phari to the town of Gyantse, 120 miles south-west of Lhasa.     

A description of Gilan and Baku in 1874

General

Great Britain and the Origins of the Pacific War: A Study of British Policy in East Asia 1937–1941. By Peter Lowe. Clarendon Press, Oxford University Press, 1977. Pp. 318. Bibliog. Index. Appendices. £8.50.

Middle East

The Arabs. By Peter Mansfield. Allen Lane (Penguin Books Ltd.), London, 1976. Pp. 570. Index. £8.50.

The Ottoman Centuries: The Rise and Fall of the Turkish Empire. By Lord Kinross. Jonathan Cape, London 1977. Pp. 638. Maps. Illus. Bibliog. Index. £10.00.

Iran: An Economic Profile. By Jahangir Amuzegar. The Middle East Institute. Washington, D.C., 1977. Pp. 280. Bibliog. Index. $12.95.

Arabic and Islamic Garland: Historical, Educational and Literary Studies. Presented to Abdul‐Latif Tibawi by Colleagues, Friends and Students. The Islamic Cultural Centre, London. Pp. 239. Biog. Bibliog. £8.00.

The World of Islam: A Handbook for Teachers. By Richard Tames. Published by the Extramural Division, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, 1977. Pp. 229. Pref. Appendices. £2.00.

Diary of a Journey across Arabia. By G. Forster Sadleir. Falcon Press, Naples, Italy. Oleander Press, New York and Cambridge, England 1977. Pp. 161. Map. £8.00. Text taken from the original edition compiled by M. Houghton from the records of the Bombay Government and printed at the Byculla Press, Bombay, in 1866. The present reprint is preceded by a biographical note, pp. 16, by F. M. Edwards, taken from the Journal of the Royal Central Asian Society Vol. 44 (1957) by permission of the Royal Society for Asian Affairs.

South Asia

The Indian Political Parties: An Historical Analysis of Political Behaviour up to 1947. By B. B. Misra. Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta, Madras, Oxford University Press, 1976, London, 1977. Pp. 665. Bibliog. Index. £11.50.

Gandhi and Civil Disobedience: The Mahatma in Indian Politics 1928–34. By Judith M. Brown. Cambridge University Press 1977. Pp. xix + 414. £15.50.

Documents on Political Thought in Modern India: Vol. II. By A. Appadorai. Oxford University Press, Bom bay 1976, New York, London, 1977. Pp. 892. Index. £14.00.

Development Planning in Bangladesh. A Study in Political Economy. By Nurul Islam. C. Hurst and Company, London 1977. Pp. 267. Preface. Introd. Index. £8.50.

My Years in an Indian Prison. By Mary Tyler. London, Victor Gollancz, 1977. Pp. 191. Illus. £5.20.

The Raj, the Indian Mutiny and the Kingdom of Oudh, 1801–1859. By John Pemble. London, The Harvester Press Ltd. 1977. Pp. 303. Index. Bibliog. Illus. £10.95.

The Origins of Evil in Hindu Mythology. By Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty. Berkeley, Los Angeles and London, University of California Press, 1977. Pp. 411. Bibliog. Index. £11.25.

Indian Asia. By Philip Rawson. Elsevier‐Phaidon Press, 1977. Pp. 152. Illus. Gloss. Index. £4.50.

A New History of India. By Stanley Wolpert. London, Oxford University Press, 1977. Pp. 471. Maps. Preface. Bibliog. Index. £9.75.

Old Bungalows in Bangalore, South India. By Janet Pott in collaboration with Elizabeth Staley and Romola Chatterjee. Published by the author and available from 56 Addison Avenue, London W.11, 1977. Pp. 72. 85 photographs and illustrations. Measured drawings by John Sambrook. £3.50.

The Road to India. Guide to the Overland Routes to the East. By John Prendergast. John Murray, London, 1977. Pp. 206. Index. Map. £5.95.

India. By James Elliott. Batsford, London, 1977. Pp. 238. Map. Bibliog. Index. Illus. £4.95.

USSR

The Kingdom of Georgia. Notes of Travel in a Land of Women, Wine and Song. To which are appended Historical, Literary, and Political Sketches, Specimens of the National Music and a Compendious Bibliography. By Oliver Wardrop. London, Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, and Rivington. 1888. Reprinted 1977. London, Luzac. Pp. 202. Bibliog. Map. Illus. £8.50.

Central Asia

Great Britain and Chinese, Russian and Japanese Interests in Sinkiang, 1918–1934. By Lars‐Erik Nyman. Lund Studies in International History, 8. Esselte Studium Stockholm, 1977, Pp. 165. Maps. No price given.

Afghanistan. By Louis Dupree. Princeton University Press, 1973. Pp. xxiv + 760. Maps. Illus. Bibliog. Index. £19.95.

South‐east Asia

Southeast Asia and China ‐ the End of Containment. By Edwin W. Martin. Boulder, Colorado (Westview Press for Center for International Studies, Georgetown University), 1977. Pp. 114. Map. Introd. Appendix. Notes. $11.25.

Southeast Asia in International Politics, 1941–1956. By Evelyn Colbert. Ithaca &; London, Cornell University Press, 1977. Pp. 372. Introd. Bibliog. Index. £13.15.

Power Struggle in South‐East Asia. By Oey Hong Lee. Inter Documentation Company Ag., Zug, Switzerland, and London, 1976. Pp. 614. Bibliog. Index. Documentary appendices on microfiche. S.fr. 128.

The Huk Rebellion: A Study of Peasant Revolt in the Philippines. By Benedict J. Kerkvliet. Berkeley and London, University of California Press, 1977. Pp. 305. Tables and Maps. Preface. Gloss. Bibliog. Index. £12.00.

The District. A Study in Decentralization in West Malaysia. By J. H. Beaglehole. London, Oxford University Press, 1976. Hull Monographs on South‐East Asia 6. Pp. 117. Map. Bibliog. Index. £3.00 (soft cover).

Indonesia. By Donald W. Fryer and James C. Jackson. “Nations of the Modern World” series. Ernest Benn Ltd. London, and Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado, 1977. Pp. 284. Glossary. Bibliog. Illus. Index. $24.

Far east

China and the World since 1949. The impact of Independence, Modernity and Revolution. By Wang Gungwu. London and Basingstoke, Macmillan Press, 1977. Pp. 190. Preface. Introd. Notes. Bibliog. £5.95 (cloth) £2.95 (paper).

Mao Tse‐tung in the Scales of History. Edited by Dick Wilson. London, Cambridge University Press for the Contemporary China Institute Publications, 1977. Pp. xii + 331. £10.50 (hardback) £3.50 (paper).

A Memoir of Revolutionary China 1924–1941. By Ruth V. Hemenway. The University of Massachusetts Press, 1977. Pp. 216. Illus. Introd. Notes. $12.50.

Japan in the Muromachi Age. Edited by John W. Hall and Toyoda (Takeshi). University of California Press, Berkeley, Los Angeles and London, 1977. Pp. xviii + 358. Gloss. Index. Illus. Maps. £13.15 (cloth). £3.70 (paper).

Yukio Mishima on Hagakure: The Samurai Ethic in Modern Japan. Translated by Katharine Sparling. Souvenir Press, London 1977 (first published Basic Books, New York, 1977). Illus. Pp. 166. £4.95.