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[Afghanistan]. Indian Army General Staff. For official use only. Field notes. Afghanistan. General Staff, India. 1st edition, 1913.

€ 6,500.00

Almost unobtainably rare: the first edition of a military field guide to Afghanistan, published on behalf of the General Staff in India for practical field use by their officers. "For official use only" is stated on the binding and title-page; the covers, apparently produced before completion of the book, retain the originally planned release date "1912".

The guide is divided into ten chapters, covering Afghanistan's geography, climate, ethnography, history, armed forces, fortified towns, communications, resources, administration, and languages, with relevant appendices. The folding maps show the principal routes through the rugged country.

Issued on the eve of the First World War and only a few years before the renewed Afghan crisis of 1919, this hefty but still pocket-sized booklet belongs to the intelligence and operational literature generated by the British Indian military establishment for service on the north-western frontier, where portable summaries of topography, communications, tribal conditions, and military experience were essential working tools. Such manuals were intended as instruments of command, movement, and preparation, and their utilitarian character naturally worked against survival. A single copy is known in research libraries (in the British Library Reference Collection).