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First edition, first impression, of this account of the famous explorer's 1930-1 trip to Northern Burma and Tibet in the company of John David Gathorne-Hardy (1900-1978), the fourth Earl of Cranbrook and a prominent collector of birds and mammals. Setting out from the vicinity of Katha in November 1930, Kingdon-Ward (1885-1958) and Cranbrook headed northwards to Myitkyina and onward past Fort Hertz through the valleys of the Adung and Nam Tamai. Crossing the Tibetan border in September 1932, they reached the nearby village of Jité before retracing their steps to Myitkyina. In addition to its engaging narrative style characteristic of Kingdon-Ward's oeuvre, the present account includes two important appendices: the first listing the zoological specimens collected by the two men in the Upper Irrawaddy; and the second detailing those plants introduced into cultivation in the UK from seeds collected by Kingdon-Ward during the 1930-1 expedition and his 1926 journey to the Seinghku Valley. After participating in the zoological Bedford expedition, Kingdon-Ward, described by his biographer as "the last of the great plant hunters", began working for the prominent nursery Bees of Chester in 1911, journeying to China the same year in search of botanical rarities. In the following decades, he undertook many other expeditions to Asia, often in uncharted regions, and developed a "sure eye for flowers of garden potential" (ODNB). In these inhospitable climes, he overcame a multitude of adversities including "arthritis, bouts of deep depression, porters who were surly or drunk or absconded, the loss of his spectacles, impalement on a bamboo spike (in 1937), and (in 1950) one of the worst earthquakes on record" (ibid.). In 1930, Kingdon-Ward was awarded the Founder's Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society, cementing his reputation as one of the leading botanical adventurers of his day. Troelstra, pp. 238-245; Yakushi K80. Charles Lyte, Frank Kingdon-Ward: The Last of the Great Plant Hunters, 1989. Octavo. Half-tone frontispiece showing bridge-building in the gorge of Po-Yigrong, 11 similar plates, 2 folding route maps. Original red cloth, spine lettered in gilt with publisher's device in gilt at foot, top edge red, fore edge trimmed, bottom edge untrimmed. With pictorial dust jacket. Recent ballpoint annotation to list of books by the same author on half-title verso. Cloth and gilt bright with a few scuffs and slight sunning at spine ends, occasional foxing and offsetting internally, else clean. A very good copy indeed in the very good jacket, unclipped, with sunning to spine, light soiling, and some chips and small closed tears at the folds. Seller Inventory # 157461
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