SCHUYLER, Eugene. Turkistan. Notes of a Journey In Russian Turkistan, Khokand, Bukhara, and Kuldja.
New York: Scribner, Armstrong & Co., 1877. In two volumes. Second U.S. edition.
Tall 8vo., orig. green cloth with a pictorial gilt decoration on the upper covers, xii, 411; viii, 463pp.
Some light wear to the spine ends o/w a very nice set.
Eugene Schuyler [1840-1890] American diplomat & scholar into a prominent New York state family, he enjoyed every cultural, social and political advantage. He graduated from Yale and then Columbia law school and began to practice in 1863. Schuyler's interest in languages caused him to apply for a diplomatic posting and in 1867 he was appointed Counsel to Moscow. During the succeeding nine years he served in a variety of posts including Revel, Saint Petersburg and Constantinople. While he held the latter post he wrote a influential report documenting Turkish atrocities in Bulgaria. In 1880 he became the first American diplomatic representative to Rumania. He eventually returned to the United States and lectured at Cornell and Johns Hopkins. The above work was first published in 1876 and was critical of the Russian administration in the East. It also provides an account of his travels in Central Asia, with chapters on Tashkent, Samarkand, the Syr, Darya, etc. $650 CAD