SAND-BURIED RUINS OF KHOTAN. Personal Narrative of a Journey of Archaeological & Geographical Exploration in Chinese Turkestan

London: Hurst and Blackett, 1904. Early printing. With a large folding map and 135 illustrations. 8vo, original sienna polished cloth gilt lettered and pictorially decorated in black and yellow on the spine and decorated and lettered in black and yellow on the upper cover. xv, 503. A fresh and desirable copy of this scarce and important work, pages 13-28 with either a chip or neat repair along the bottom margin not effecting the text in any way, head and tail of spine slightly rubbed and with a small chip. VERY SCARCE AND IMPORTANT WORK BY STEIN. In 1900-1901 Stein excavated several ruined sites in the Taklamakan Desert around Khotan, publishing his experiences in SAND-BURIED RUINS OF KHOTAN. This would be the first of two expeditions which would lead to his being awarded the Founder's Gold Medal by the Royal Geographic Society.
The rare account of Stein’s first great Central Asian expedition. Stein followed in the footsteps of Sven Hedin, who in 1893 had found unexplored ruins at the oasis of Khotan, along the southern edge of the great Taklamakan desert in Chinese Turkestan. Hedin was unable to undertake any systematic examination of the site,but Stein convinced the Indian Government under Lord Curzon to supply and fund his archaeological and geographical expedition in 1900-01.
Stein’s excavations became the first scientific survey of the spread of Buddhism out of India and into greater Asia.