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(CENTRAL ASIA)
Expédition Citroën Centre-Asie.
IIIème Mission G.-M. Haardt. Audouin-Dubreuil.
Publisher: N.p. [Paris]: Desfossés-Néogravure, [1933]
Stock code: 52324
Price: £1,250 Currency Conversion
First and only edition, uncommon - just two copies on OCLC - pictorial souvenir of the Third Citroën Expedition, the legendary Croisiere Jaune. Essentially a promotional exercise organized by Georges-Marie Haardt, Director General of Citroën, to promote the company's "Autochenilles," half-tracks fitted with Kergresse's tracks at the rear, & a very fetching road-roller attachment at the front. The "Pamir" party with Haardt and French explorer Audouin-Dubreuil set out from Beirut with the intention of following the Silk Road to Peking, the "Chine" group were to meet them having departed from Tientsin. Russia withdrew permission to cross Turkmenistan at the last minute, so two of the vehicles were manhandled north into the Karakoram, crossing the close-to 14,000 ft Burzil Pass to Mishgar where they were finally halted by the terrain. The party proceeded on camels and horses to Kashgar. They met the others and, despite arrest, bandits, rebels, and crashing through ice at a river crossing, went on to Peking in the "Chine" group vehicles, arriving in February, 1932. The success of the expedition was marred by Haardt's death from pneumonia at Hong Kong in March, in his biography of Citroën John Reynolds describes the expedition as; "an unforgettable example of the human capacity to conquer adversity." Wonderful images of peoples and places in Afghanistan, the Pamirs, Hindu Kush, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Sinkiang, Kazakhstan and Mongolia.
Landscape quarto (258 × 210 mm). Original black plush over gold card wraps, title gilt to the upper panel with red "chop" seal on-lay. Route map and 62 sepia illustrations from photographs on 22 leaves. Just a little rubbed on the wraps, but overall very good.
