First edition 2 maps (1 large folding), 13 hand-coloured aquatint costume plates and 1 uncoloured aquatint view, occasional light foxing and offsetting, contemporary half calf, rebacked, marbled sides and edges, an excellent copy. Scarce work with fine colour plates. the first detailed account of Afghanistan by a western observer. Elphinstone collected important information on the geography, government, languages, manners and customs, education, religion, and tribes of the country. As the global struggle between Britain and Napoleonic France came to a climax, the Indian authorities under the governor-general, Lord Minto, became increasingly concerned that a hostile alliance of Persia, Afghanistan, and the newly powerful Punjab, under the Sikh ruler Ranjit Singh, might coalesce on the northern frontiers of British India.