Tucci, Giuseppe / [Edwards, Lovett trans.].

Nepal – The Discovery of the Malla. Translated from the Italian by Lovett Edwards.

London, George Allen & Unwin, 1962. 12.5 cm x 19 cm. 96 pages. 60 illustrations. Map near front. Hardcover [publisher’s original green cloth] with lettering on spine. Vignette on front board. Very good+ condition with only minor signs of external wear. Interior bright and clean.

Includes, for example, the following chapters: From Kathmandu to Tukcha / Near the Tibertan Frontiers / The Discovery of the Malla etc.

Book is a brief account of a journey in one of the lesser known areas of Nepal. Nepal, Tucci tells us, “has jealously kept herself closed to outsiders for centuries past, and only a short while ago half-opened her gates to the adventurous spirit of the climbers who gather there from all parts of the world to lower the pride of her magnificent peaks.” The author’s aim is different however: that of revealing and preserving, at least insofar as the record of photography may preserve, the remnants of the civilizations which have succeeded on another in the Himalayan area, and of reconstructing the complex events of the peoples who forma bridge between the Indian subcontinent and Central Asia.” Remarkable photographs – both in monochrome and in colour- by Francesca Bonardi offer the reader a glimpse of what the author referred to as “terra incognita.” His exploration is not just that of the physical or the geographic: “exploration is above all the revelation of human life…to explore also means to descend into the depths of the past, to retrace with the aid of science and imagination the road of time and to restore to the light the events of the past, to make them once more alive, to justify them and find once more in them the eternal human values.”
The empire of Malla, once reigning over western Nepal and western Tibet was rediscovered and brought back to life by Tucc. “Temples, ruins, inscriptions and chronicles came suddenly upon me as if for many centuries they had been awaiting the propitious moment to reveal to me the events of an empire which for three centuries had held sway over a country larger than Italy. That is the real subject of this book” (pp.7-11)

• Keywords: Asia · Asian history · Buddhism · Buddhist · Buddhist Art · Exploration · Explorations · History · History & Archaeology · India · Library & Collection Building · Mountaineering – Collection · Mountaineering – Rare · Mountaineers · Mountains · Nepal · Photograph · Photographers · Religion · Religion and Culture · Tibet · Travel · Travel and Adventure · Travel Journal · Travel Photography · Travellers · Travelling Authors · Travels
• Language: English
• Inventory Number: 120096AB