Buy this book on-line

COLEMAN, A. P: : A SPECIAL CORPS - The Beginnings of Gorkha Service with the British

UK.BISHOP AUCKLAND,DURHAM.THE PENTLAND PRESS LTD.,1999.

ISBN 1858226060.

UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.FINE+/FINE.No owner inscrptn and no price-clip to dw/dj. Bright,crisp,clean,glossy,dark green background with montage'd monochrome+ colour thumbnail detail repeated from main monochrome photograph,illustrated front panel of dw/dj with sand coloured lettering to front,spine/backstrip,rear panel plain dark green; with negligible shelf-wear,bumping,creasing to edges and corners - no nicks,tears or splits present.Top+fore-edges bright and clean without blemish; contents bright,tight, clean,solid and sound - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corners,appears unread,apart from my own collation. Publisher's bright.crisp,clean,sharp-cornered,original plain black cloth boards with bright,crisp,blocked gilt letters to spine/ backstrip and immaculate plain white endpapers.UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn, xiv-xxxiiipp+4-317pp [paginated] includes an introductory Commendation (by Major General D.G.T. Horsford,CBE,DSO.) a foreword (Professor Rodney Needham,All Souls College,Oxford),author preface, acknowledgements,a glossary.Pts I-III comprising 3,4 and 4 chapters and an epilogue respectively,4 colour portrait reproductions,b/w illustration reproductions,9 b/w regional maps,tables of figures - all unpaginated,appendices (A - I),a bibliography,abbreviations list/table,notes and references,an index; plus [unpaginated] half-title+title pages, a dedication,contents+appendices list/ table,colour plates+b/w illustrations lists/tables,with 9 b/w regional maps Tables list and individual Pts separator pages. A superb and extensively researched subject,much of its early history previously unpublished and will be an excellent addition to the canon of British military history,and particularly of the Gorkha's service; recruitment and history within the British Army. The military qualities and exploits of Gorkha soldiers have received much well justified attention; however,the beginnings and early evolution of Gorkha service with the british have not.Ths superb work traces the early recruitment of Gorkhas into the East India Company's Bengal Army is based on sound research and documentary evidence,a significant part of which has so far,been unpublished.It is one of those rare and lovely things,a scholarly work that is eminently readable. The work centres on the friendship of two Highland Scots: David Ochterlony,an army officer with a penchant for diplomacy,and William Fraser,a civil servant with a hankering for military command.Both were involved in the Anglo-Nepal war of 1814- 1816.Ochterlony,commanding an army division in te Cis-Sutlej Hills,employed the skills of Gorkhas and other hillmen captured from the Nepalese Army.Impressed by their military discipline and efficiency,he took the opportunity of his enforced caapitulation of the Nepalese Western Army at Malaun in 1815 to enlist some 4,700,of whom perhaps 1500 were Gorkhas,into the Bengal army. Increasing unrest among Indian troops in the regular Bengal Army led by Hodgson,the Resident in Katmandu,and successive Commanders-in-Chief,to press for the recruitment of Gorkhas as a stabilising force.Until 1850,they were thwarted by the lingering doubts of Governments in London and Calcutta,by the East India Company's call for fimancial retrenchment and by the intransigence of the Nepalese authorities. Thereafter,however,the growing reputation of the Gorkha battalions in the Bengal Army during the early decades of their existence,and their importance to the changing role of the Army in North India were considerable.This is their story. Please contact seller,for correct shipping/P+p quotes - a heavier tome, nearly 1KG unpackaged - particularly ALL overseas customers - BEFORE ordering through the order page! ** N.B. ALL buyers please note,stocks' actual shipping/P+p costs are adjusted and any difference is refunded,after order's receipt and before the order's despatch, especially if the item(s) are offered either P+p included or FREE. That offer available UK only,unless indicated otherwise. ** This item offered P+p included. Available UK only. ** ** N.B. US customers please be aware: US Standard AIRMAIL postage from UK to USA can now cost more than the price of the book! If speed is not of the essence,then Economy rate is recommended - at approx. anything from a 1/3rd to 1/2 of the standard US AIR quote/rate - sometimes arriving sooner than the 42 days - but not always.

UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.
Not SIGNED.

Bibliophile Bookbase for antiquarian books, maps and prints.