Travel accounts online

Historical books online

• Ibn Battuta Travels in Asia and Africa 1325-1354 Translated and selected by H A R Gibb, Lecturer in Arabic, University of London. Third impression 1953, 1929 first edition Archive.org, Digital Library of India Collection. Includes India.
• "Early Fifteenth Century Travels in the East: Nicolò de' Conti of Venice". From the 1579 translation by John Frampton, with notes by Kennon Breazeale. SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research Vol 2, No 2 Autumn 2004. Archive.org. "Editorial Introduction to Nicolò de' Conti'€s Account" by Kennon Breazeale from the same SOAS Bulletin. Archive.org

Frampton’s 1579 book The Most Noble and Famous Travels of Marcus Paulus… was republished in 1929 as The Most Noble and Famous Travels of Marco Polo, together with the travels of Nicolò de' Conti, edited by N M Penzer. "The Travels of Nicolò de' Conti in the East" page 124 and Appendix I, page 259 2nd edition 1937 (enlarged). Archive.org

An account of Nicolo de’ Conti is found in Chapters IX and and X of Pero Tafur: Travels and adventures 1435-1439 translated and edited with an introduction by Malcolm Letts. 1926 from page 84 with Notes page 241 Archive.org

‪India in the Fifteenth Century‬: ‪Being a Collection of Narratives of Voyages to India ... from Latin, Persian, Russian and Italian Sources ... Translated Into English‬ edited by Richard Henry Major 1857. Printed for the Hakluyt Society. Google Books. Also available on Archive.org. The Travels of Abd-Er-Razzak; Nicolo Conti, translated from the original of Poggio Bracciolini, papal secretary, with notes, by J.W. Jones; Athanasius Nikitin, a native of Twer; Hieronimo di Santo Stefano, a Genoese.

• The Travels of Ludovico di Varthema in Egypt, Syria, Arabia Deserta and Arabia Felix, in Persia, India, and Ethiopia, A.D. 1503 to 1508 Translated by John Winter Jones and edited by George Percy Badger. Printed for the Hakluyt Society 1863 Archive.org. The author was born in Bologna, c 1470.
  • "The Itinerary of Ludovico Di Varthema of Bologna from 1502 To 1508" Extracts relating to Burma. Edited for the SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research Volume 2, No 2, 2004, pages 119-129 by Michael W. Charney. Archive.org.
• A Description of the Coasts of East Africa and Malabar in the Beginning of the Sixteenth Century by Duarte Barbosa, a Portuguese. Translated from an early Spanish manuscript in the Barcelona library with notes and a preface by Henry E. J. Stanley. 1866 Google Books
• The voyages and adventures of Ferdinand Mendez Pinto ... during his travels for the space of one and twenty years in the kingdoms of Ethiopia, China, Tartaria, Cauchin-China, Calaminham, Siam, Pegu, Japan, and a great part of the East-Indies. Done into English by H C [Henry Cogan] 1663 edition, 2nd edition, corrected and amended 1663 First Portuguese edition 1614.

The voyages and adventures of Ferdinand Mendez Pinto, the Portuguese (done into English by Henry Cogan) with an Introduction by Arminius Vambery. A volume in The Adventure Series. Abridged and Illustrated edition 1891, Popular edition 1897 All Archive.org.

The Travels of Mendes Pinto Edited and translated by Rebecca D Catz 1989. Archive.org Books to Borrow/Lending Library

Fernão Mendes Pinto Wikipedia. He made three voyage 1537-1558.

• The travels and adventures of the Turkish Admiral Sidi Ali Reis in India, Afghanistan, Central Asia, and Persia, during the years 1553-1556 Translated from the Turkish by A Vambery 1899 Archive.org
• The Voyage of John Huyghen van Linschoten to the East Indies. The First Book. Printed for the Hakluyt Society 1885.

Originally published in 1596 as Itinerario: Voyage ofte schipvaert van Jan Huygen van Linschoten naer Oost ofte Portugaels Indien, 1579-1592 , with first English translation in 1598, John Huighen van Linschoten his Discours of Voyages into ye Easte & West Indies, deuided into foure books. Jan Huyghen van Linschoten Wikipedia.

The 1885 edition is edited from the First Book. Vol I edited by the late Arthur Coke Burnell of the Madras Civil Service. Vol. II edited by P A Tiele. Archive.org, mirror from PAHAR Mountains of Central Asia Digital Dataset.

1598 English edition Translated from the Dutch by William Phillip. Library of Congress.

• Ralph Fitch, England's Pioneer to India and Burma. His Companions and Contemporaries. With his Remarkable Narrative Told in his Own Words by J. Horton Ryley. 1899 Archive.org. Fitch was active 1583-1606.
• Early Travels in India, 1583-1619 edited by William Foster 1921 Archive.org. Accounts of seven travellers. Contents
• The First Englishmen in India. Letters and Narratives of sundry Elizabethans... by J Courtenay Locke 1930 Archive.org. Contents. Part of the series The Broadway Travellers.
• Voyages of Sir James Lancaster to Brazil and the East Indies 1591-1603 by William Foster 1940. Archive.org version, mirror from Digital Library of India.
• Early Travels in India, being reprints of rare and curious narratives of old travellers in India, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. First Series, comprising "Purchas's Pilgrimage" and the "Travels of Van Linschoten". 1864 Archive.org

Hakluytus posthumus, or, Purchas his Pilgrimes: contayning a history of the world in sea voyages and lande travells by Englishmen and others by Samuel Purchas 1905 reprint, original 1625 Archive.org. Volume II, Contents. Volume III, Contents. Volume IV, Contents. Volume V, Contents. Other volumes: Archive.org

• The Journal of John Jourdain, 1608-1617 : describing his experiences in Arabia, India, and the Malay Archipelago edited by William Foster. Printed for the Hakluyt Society . Second Series, Volume XVI. 1905 Archive.org. The author was in the service of the East India Company.
• Peter Floris His Voyage to the East Indies in the Globe 1611-1615 edited by W H Moreland. Printed for the Hakluyt Society Second Series No LXXIV 1934. Originally translated from a manuscript in Dutch.
• The Embassy of Sir Thomas Roe to the Court of the Great Mogul, 1615-1619, as narrated in his journal and correspondence. Edited by William Foster 1899. Volume I, Volume II. Additional files with probable better images but missing some pages, Volume I, Volume II. All Archive.org. Printed for the Hakluyt Society (Second Series, No 1 and No 2)
• Travels in India in the Seventeenth Century by Sir Thomas Roe and Dr John Fryer. Reprinted from the Calcutta Weekly Englishman 1873 Hathi Trust Digital Library. Archive.org version, mirror from Digital Library of India.
• The travels of Pietro della Valle in India : from the old English translation of 1664, edited by Edward Grey (late Bengal Civil Service) 1892 Archive.org Volume I, Volume II. Pietro della Valle arrived in India 10 February 1623 at Surat, embarking from Goa 16 November 1624.
• The Travels of John Albert de Mandelslo (a gentleman belonging to the Embassay) from Persia, into the East-Indies page 317, the second part of The voyages and travells of the ambassadors sent by Frederick, Duke of Holstein, to the great Duke of Muscovy and the King of Persia… by Adam Olearius, 2nd edition 1669 (first published 1662) Archive.org

Mandelsloʼs travels in Western India (A.D.1638-9) by M.S. Commissariat 1931. Archive.org, mirror from the collection of the Archaeological Survey of India at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts.

• The Six Voyages of John Baptista Tavernier, a noble man of France now living, through Turky into Persia and the East-Indies, finished in the year 1670... 1678 Archive.org.

A collection of several relations & treatises singular and curious of John Baptista Tavernier, Baron of Aubonne, not printed among his first six voyages 1680 Archive.org

Travels in India by John Baptista Tavernier, Baron of Aubonne. Translated from the original French edition of 1676 by V Ball (Valentine), Director of the Science and Art Museum, Dublin. 1889. Volume I, Volume II Archive.org.

2nd edition: Volume I and Volume II (one digital file) 1925, edited by William Crooke, late of Indian Civil Service. Archive.org. This edition includes revisions made by Dr Ball prior to his death in 1895, but not published.

• The travels of Richard Bell (and John Campbell) in the East Indies, Persia, and Palestine. 1654-1670, edited by Sir R.C. Temple. Printed as a book 1908, originally available as seven extracts from The Indian Antiquary 1906-1908. Part, or all of this account is also available in a subscription website Adam Matthew Digital database Empire Online under the title The Travels of Richard Bell, gun founder to the Great Mughals travelling in India and the Middle East, 1654-1669, description including topics.

1906 pages 131-142, pages 168-178, pages 203-210; 1907 pages 98-105, pages 125-134, pages 173-179; 1908 pages 156-170 The Indian Antiquary. Archive.org.

• Travels in the Mogul Empire, A.D. 1656-1668 by Francois Bernier. 1826 edition, translated by Irving Brock Volume I, Volume II Google Books. 1891 edition, revised by Archibald Constable. Archive.org. 1916 edition, revised by Vincent A Smith. Archive.org.
• A Geographical Account of Countries Round the Bay of Bengal, 1669 to 1679 by Thomas Bowrey. Edited by Lt-Col Sir Richard Carnac Temple 1905. Printed for the Hakluyt Society (Second Series, No 12). With illustrations. Archive.org. 1993 reprint edition Archive.org. HathiTrust Digital Library version, where it is possible to rotate the Plates.
• A ‪voyage to the East-Indies: giving an account of the isles of Madagascar, and Mascareigne, of Suratte, the coast of Malabar, of Goa, Gameron, Ormus, and the coast of Brasil, with the religion, manners and customs of the inhabitants, &c. as also a Treatise, of the distempers peculiar to the eastern countries‬ by Monsieur Dellon, M.D. Translated from the French. 1698 Google Books . First published in French 1685. Archive.org version Same file but different coloured pages may be easier to read. 1699 French reprint Archive.org

An Account of the Inquisition at Goa, in India. Translated from the French of M. Dellon 1819 Archive.org. Translated from a copy printed in Paris in 1687. The events happened in 1674. Dellon, a physician spent some time in North Malabar and was operating out of the French factory in Tellicherry for five years after which he left the French services. Six months later, he was in jail In Daman (Damaun)

• The Travels of the Abbe Carre in India and the Near East, 1672 to 1674. Tr. from the ms. journal of his travels in the India Office by Lady Fawcett and ed. by Sir Charles Fawcett with the assistance of Sir Richard Burn. In three volumes (Works issued by the Hakluyt Society. 2nd series ; No. 95-97) 1947-48. Volume I From France through Syria, Iraq, and the Persian Gulf to Surat, Goa, and Bijapur... Archive.org version, mirror from Digital Library of India. Original title includes alternative spelling Abbé Carré. (Volume II is From Bijapur to Madras and St. Thomé. Account of the capture of Trincomalee Bay and St. Thomé by De la Haye and of the siege of St. Thomé by the Golconda army and hostilities with the Dutch. Volume III Return journey to France).Translation of Le courier de l'Orient.
• A new account of East-India and Persia : : in eight letters being nine years travels, begun 1672 and finished 1681 by John Fryer 1698 London. Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek. Includes Bombaim [Bombay], Surat. Goa. Includes, facing p114 drawings of the Areca Nut or Betele nut, and other plants. Google Books edition which appears to contain some, but not all illustrations.

A later edition, edited, with notes and an introduction, by William Crooke, formerly of the Bengal Civil Service, in three volumes, printed for the Hakluyt Society, (Second Series, 2/19, 2/20 and 2/39) 1909-1915. Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3 Archive.org, mirrors from Digital Library of India. Additional digital files may be available.

• India in the seventeenth century, as depicted by European travellers by JN Das Gupta 1916 Archive.org
• The Travels of Monsieur de Thevenot into the Levant. In three parts Viz. Into. I. Turkey. II. Persia. III. The East-Indies by Jean de Thévenot [1633-1667], published 1687. File 1, File 1, "The Third Part"; File 2 File 2, "The Third Part" Archive.org

Transcribed version lib.umich.edu

Indian Records Series. Indian travels of Thevenot and Careri : being the third part of the travels of Jean de Thevenot into the Levant and the third part of a voyage round the world by John Francis Gemelli Careri edited by Surendranath Sen 1949. Contains many Notes at the back of the book. 1949 edition, Reprint edition 2011 Archive.org

Jean de Thévenot 1633-1667 Wikipedia.

• ‪ A Voyage to Suratt: In the Year, 1689‬ by John Ovington. Chaplain to his Majesty. 1696 Google Books

A Voyage to Surat in the Year 1689 by John Ovington, edited by H G Rawlinson, with commentary, 1929. Archive.org, mirror from Digital Library of India. Some words may be missing due to the scanning. 1994 reprint of the 1929 edition Archive.org.

• Storia do Mogor; or, Mogul India 1653-1708 by Niccolao Manucci, Venetian, translated by William Irvine, Bengal Civil Service (retired) 1907. Part of Indian Texts Series Volume I, Volume II, Volume III, Volume IV. Archive.org.

A Pepys of Mongul India, 1653-1708 : being an abridged edition of the "Storia do Mogor" of Niccolao Manucci 1913 Archive.org.

• A Collection of Voyages and Travels: Some Now First Printed from Original Manuscripts... : Volume IV which contains A Voyage round the World in Six parts viz, Turky; Persia; India; China; the Philippine Islands; New Spain by Dr John Francis Gemelli Careri Written originally in Italian, translated into English. 1704 edition including "Part III Indostan", page 256 Google Books. The author was in India in 1695. Third edition, 1744 including "Part III Indostan" page 186. Archive.org. Note: missing first page of the Preface.

Indian Travels of Careri c page 154 Indian Records Series. Indian travels of Thevenot and Careri : being the third part of the travels of Jean de Thevenot into the Levant and the third part of a voyage round the world by John Francis Gemelli Careri edited by Surendranath Sen 1949. Archive.org.

Giovanni Francesco Gemelli Careri Wikipedia.

• A voyage to and from the island of Borneo, in the East Indies : with a description of the said island … Also a description of the islands of Canary, Cape Verd, Java, Madura; of the streights of Bally, the Cape of Good Hope, the Hottentots, the island of St. Helena, Ascension etc by Captain Daniel Beeckman 1718. Google Books. Also available South East Asia Visions Cornell University Library, but note digital file may be very slow to open. The first chapter states he was in the service of the East India Company. He sailed from England October 1713.
• Early Jesuit Travellers in Central Asia (1603-1721) by C Wessels 1924. Archive.org, collection of the Archaeological Survey of India at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts.
• A New Account of the East Indies, being the observations and remarks of Capt. Alexander Hamilton, who spent his time there from the year 1688 to 1723. Trading and travelling, by sea and land, to most of the countries and islands of commerce and navigation, between the Cape of Good-Hope, and the Island of Japon 1727 Volume I, Volume II Google Books. Modern reprint of Volume I, 1739 edition, Modern reprint of Volume II 1739 edition, both Archive.org, from Digital Library of India
• Travels Into Muscovy, Persia, and Part of the East Indies by M. Cornelius Le Bruyn 1737 Volume 1, Volume 2 Archive.org
• A Voyage to China and the East Indies by Peter (Pehr) Osbeck. Translated from the German by John Reinhold Forster 1771. Volume I, Volume II Archive.org. A voyage commencing in 1750, when he was the chaplain on a Swedish East India Company ship, the Prins Carl (Prince Charles). German title Reise nach Ostindien und China (1762). Originally written in Swedish Dagbok öfwer en ostindisk Resa åren 1750, 1751, 1752 (1757). Pehr Osbeck Wikipedia.

In addition, Volume II of the this title contains the following

A Voyage to Suratte, China &c by Olof Toreen, Chaplain of the Gothic Lion East Indiaman, page 153 Volume II. A voyage from 1st April 1750 to 26th June 1752.

A Short Account of the Chinese Husbandry by Captain Charles Gustavus Eckeberg, page 267 Volume II. Carl Gustaf Ekeberg Wikipedia.

• A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Arranged in Systematic Order: Forming a Complete History of the Origin and Progress of Navigation, Discovery, and Commerce, by Sea and Land, from the Earliest Ages to the Present Time‬ by Robert Kerr 1824 editions, first published c 1811. Volumes VI, VII, VIII, IX have the majority of the content relating to India, other volumes listed have less relevant content, (while volumes not listed to do appear to have any relevant content). Google Books, Archive.org, and Hathi Trust Digital Library. Volume I, Contents.Volume II, Contents. Volume VI, Contents. Volume VII, Contents. Volume VIII 1813 edition Contents, Volume VIII 1824. Volume IX Contents.Volume XI, Contents. Vol XVII, Contents (Includes of a voyage including Macao and Canton). Volume XVIII A Summary volume titled Historical Sketch by William Stevenson
• Early English Adventurers in the East by Arnold Wright 1917 Archive.org
• Early English Travellers In India by Ram Chandra Prasad 1965. Archive.org version, mirror from Digital Library of India.
• Letters from the Island of Teneriffe, Brazil, the Cape of Good Hope, and the East Indies by Mrs. Kindersley 1777 Archive.org. The letters from India commence with Letter 18 in Pondicherry June 1765 and conclude with letter 67 from Calcutta in 1768. Jemima Kindersley, (1741-1809). Wife of Lieutenant Nathaniel Kindersley (1732–1769) of the Royal Artillery and later, from 27 July 1764, Captain in the East India Company's Bengal Artillery. Jemima Kindersley Wikipedia.
• Travels, in various parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, during a series of thirty years and upwards by John MacDonald, 1790. Google Books. Pages 154-278 cover the time the author (born 1741) spent In India as a servant c late 1760s/early 1770s. Republished in 1927 under the title Memoirs of an eighteenth-century footman, John Macdonald : Travels (1745-1779). A transcription ECCO-TPC umich.edu.
• Journal of a Voyage from India to Siam and Malacca in 1779 by Dr J G Koenig. Journal Of The Straits Branch Of The Royal Asiatic Society No. 26, January 1894 and No.27, October 1894. Archive.org (in one digital volume). Translated from his manuscripts in German and Danish in nineteen volumes at the British Museum. Koenig came to India in 1768 where he acted as doctor to the Danish Missionaries at Tranquebar and afterwards was appointed Naturalist to the Nabob of Arcot.

Pages 58-192 No.26 January 1894 which ends "Here ends the first part of Vol.2"; "Continuation Vol 13, from page 43" pages 193-201, No.26 January 1894; Continuation Vol 2, from page 1 page 57-133 No.27, October 1894.

• A voyage in the Indian Ocean and to Bengal, undertaken in the years 1789 and 1790. Containing an account of the Sechelles Islands and Trincomale ... To which is added, a voyage in the Red Sea. Including a description of Mocha, and of the trade of the Arabs of Yemen ... by L de Grandpré, an officer in the French Army. 1803. Volume I, Volume II. Also published with a slightly different title. Archive.org
• Oriental Repertory by Alexander Dalrymple Volume 1 1793 and Volume 2 1808. The two volumes contain many tracts on the history, industries, etc. of India, China, and Indo-China, including travel, journeys etc first published at irregular intervals, in eight "numbers," from April 1791 to April 1797
  • Oriental Repertory, Volume 1 by Alexander Dalrymple 1793 Archive.org.
    • Table of Contents; General Index of Places including List of Synonimes; General Index of Things; General Index of Persons
  • Oriental Repertory, Volume 2 Archive.org version, mirror from Digital Library of India.

Table of Contents, computer pages 28-31; General index of Persons commencing part O-Z computer pages 632-633; General Index of Things A-Z computer pages 634-637.

For more details of the author, see List of Indian Civil Servants

• Further India: being the story of exploration from the earliest times in Burma, Malaya, Siam and Indo-China by Hugh Clifford 1904 with Orographical Map and Political Map of Farther India and Index Archive.org
• Selections from the Travels and Journals Preserved in the Bombay Secretariat Contents Edited by George W. Forrest, C.I.E., ex-Director of Records, Government of India. 1906 Archive.org
• Voyages and travels to India, Ceylon, the Red Sea, Abyssinia, and Egypt, in the years 1802, 1803, 1804, 1805, and 1806 by George, Viscount Valentia 1809 Archive.org. Volume I, Volume II, Volume III
• Journal of a Voyage in 1811 and 1812 to Madras and China returning by the Cape of Good Hope and St. Helena; In the H. C. S. the Hope, Capt. James Pendergrass by James Wathen 1814. With Coloured Prints from drawings by the author. Archive.org
• Travels in India Ceylon and Borneo by Captain Basil Hall RN, FRS. Selected and edited by Professor H G Rawlinson 1931 Archive.org. Selected from Fragments of Voyages and Travels (in nine volumes). Captain Hall was appointed to the East India Station, Royal Navy in 1812. Basil Hall Wikipedia.
• Soldier and traveller; memoirs of Alexander Gardner, Colonel of Artillery in the service of Maharaja Ranjit Singh [1785-1877] edited by Major Hugh Pearse 1898 Archive.org. "The fantastic adventures of the tartan-turbaned colonel" by William Dalrymple 13 May 2017 The Spectator. His first journey in the wilds of Central Asia started in January 1819.
• Letters from India : describing a journey in the British dominions of India, Tibet, Lahore, and Cashmere, during the years 1828, 1829, 1830, 1831, undertaken by order of the French government by Victor Jacquemont, Museum of Natural History, Paris. Volume I, Volume II Archive.org
• ‪The Travels of Rabbi David D'Beth Hillel: From Jerusalem, Through Arabia, Koordistan, Part of Persia, and India to Madras‬ by Rabbi David D'Beth Hillel 1832 Google Books
• Tours in Upper India and in Parts of the Himalaya Mountains: With Accounts of the Courts of the Native Princes ‬ by Major Archer, late Aid-De-Camp to Lord Combermere 1833 Google Books Volume I, Volume II
• Wanderings of a Pilgrim in Search of the Picturesque: During Four-and-twenty Years in the East With Revelations of Life in the Zenana by Fanny Parkes [Parks] (sometimes seen as Fanny Parkes Parlby). Volume I, Volume II 1850 Archive.org. She came to India in 1822 with her husband Charles Crawford Parks, a civil servant, appointed a Writer in 1816. "Lady of the Raj" by William Dalrymple 10 June 2007 The Guardian. "Fanny Parks (1794-1875): her ‘Grand Moving Diorama of Hindostan’, her Museum, and her Cabinet of Curiosities" by Joanna Goldsworthy. Case study from East India Company At Home, 1757-1857.
• The Adventures of a Lady in Tartary, Thibet, China, and Kashmir. ... With an account of the Journey from the Punjab to Bombay overland. ... Also an account of the Mahableshwur and Neilgherry Mountains, etc. by Mrs Hervey 1853. The Himalayan part of the journey took place March, 1850 to October, 1851. In three volumes:

Volume I, Volume II, Volume III Google Books

Volume I, Volume II, Volume III British Library Digital Collection. Images can be rotated.

Some sources give her names as Eleanor Louisa, Mrs Thomas Kibble. However, another source gives her as Julia Harvey, born 1825, the daughter of William Morton an engineer and his wife Juliana. There was a marriage in Cawnpore 10 September 1845 of Julian Susan Morton , age 20, to Edward Harvey, Captain 10th Light Cavalry. He appears to be still alive in the late 1850s, so if this identification was correct, she did not undertake the journey due to widowhood. The Morton identification is confirmed in the 7 August 2022 article Juliana Hervey, née Morton (1825-1905): A Brief Biography by Phoebe Caldwell. victorianweb.org

• Wall-Street to Cashmere‬: ‪A Journal of Five Years in Asia, Africa and Europe‬ by John B Ireland 1859 Google Books ”With nearly one hundred illustrations, from sketches made on the spot by the author” Archive.org version Some individual pages may be clearer. The author arrived in India in January 1853 and departed April 1854, with a journey to Ceylon, Java and Singapore in the middle . He was an American lawyer John Busteed Ireland 1823- 1913
• Jottings of an invalid in search of health, comprising a run through British India and a visit to Singapore and Java : a series of letters reprinted from the "Times of India" by Tom Cringle. [Author: William Walker, see Preface] 1865. Archive.org, Asiatic Society of Mumbai, Granth Sanjeevani Collection. Also available in the British Library Digital Collection. The letters are dated September 1863 to January 1865.
• Travels of a Pioneer of Commerce in Pigtail and Petticoats; or, An Overland Journey from China towards India by T T Cooper, late Agent for the Chamber of Commerce at Calcutta 1871 Archive.org. Contains a map.
• The Roof of the World : being a narrative of a journey over the high plateau of Tibet to the Russian frontier and the Oxus sources on Pamir by Lieutenant-Colonel T E Gordon, Honorary Aide-De-Camp to the Viceroy of India, lately attached to the Special Mission to Kashghar 1876 Archive.org

A varied life: a record of military and civil service, of sport and of travel in India, Central Asia and Persia 1849 -1902 by Gen. Sir Thomas Edward Gordon. 1906 Archive.org. Also see Iran for another book by this author.

• Diary in Ceylon & India, 1878-9 by Viscount Hinchingbrook [Edward George Henry Montagu, Earl of Sandwich]. 1879 Archive.org
• Jungle Life in India : or, The Journeys and Journals of an Indian Geologist by V Ball Geological Survey of India 1880 Archive.org
• The River of Golden Sand: being the Narrative of a Journey through China and Eastern Tibet to Burmah by Captain William Gill R. E. Volume I 1880, Volume II 1880 Condensed [memorial] edition 1883 Archive.org
• A Winter in India by W E Baxter MP 1882 Archive.org
• Journal of a Lady's Travels Round the World. With Illustrations from sketches by the author by F D Bridges 1883

British Library version with illustrations; Archive.org version. Lacks illustrations

• In the Himalayas and on the Indian Plains by C F [Constance Frederica] Gordon Cumming, with Illustrations 1884 Archive.org. Some parts of the book were first published in 1876 in From the Hebrides to the Himalayas.
• A Parson's Holiday : being an account of a tour in India, Burma, and Ceylon, in the winter of 1882-83 by W Osborn B Allen 1885 Archive.org
• Reconnoitring Central Asia: Pioneering Adventures in the region lying between Russia and India by Charles Marvin 3rd edition 1886, first published 1884. Archive.org. British Library Digital Collection. 1884 with rotatable images. Each chapter is about a different explorer.
• Eighteen Hundred Miles On A Burmese Tat through Burmah, Siam and the Eastern Shan States by Lieutenant G J Younghusband, Queen’s Own Corps of Guides. 1995 reprint edition, originally published 1888. Archive.org
• From the Caves and Jungles of Hindostan Translated from the Russian of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky. Reprinted 1908 (originally published 1892) Archive.org
• My Indian Reminisences [sic] by Dr Paul Deussen, Professor at the University of Kiel. Translated by A King. Also published as My Indian Reminiscences. Stated to be reprint of 1893 edition, but English translation probably c 1912. German edition Erinnerungen an Indien 1904, which contains illustrations, absent from the English edition. Both Archive.org. The Sanskrit Professor travelled in India in the winter of 1892-93.
• Where three empires meet : a narrative of recent travel in Kashmir, Western Tibet, Gilgit, and the adjoining countries by E F Knight. New Edition 1894 (first published March 1893) Archive.org.
  • With a Map
• Through the Buffer State : a record of recent travels through Borneo, Siam and Cambodia by Surgeon-Major John MacGregor, Indian Medical Service. 1896 Archive.org.
• Following the Equator : a Journey Around the World by Mark Twain 1897 Archive.org. From Chapter XXXVII, page 331 the author travels from Sydney to India, via Ceylon. Contents
• From Tonkin to India by the sources of the Irawadi, January '95-January '96 by Prince Henri D’Orleans, translated by Hamley Bent. Illustrated by G Vuillier 1898. Map Includes Upper Burma and Assam. Archive.org
• From the Himalayas to the Equator; letters, sketches. and addresses, giving some account of a tour in India and Malaysia by Cyrus D Foss , one of the Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 1899 Archive.org. With images. FamilySearch Digital book, where the images have been [correctly] rotated. May be slow to load.
• Innermost Asia : travel & sport in the Pamirs by Ralph P Cobbold (late 60th Rifles) 1900 Archive.org
• A collection of photographs from India Illustrated: Being a Collection of Pictures of the Cities of Bombay, Calcutta and Madras, Together with a Selection of the Most Interesting Buildings and Scenes throughout India, published by Bennett, Coleman, & Co., publishers of the English language newspaper Times of India, c 1905. University of Houston Digital Library.
• India through the stereoscope : a journey through Hindustan by James Ricalton 1907. Archive.org [He travelled in 1901-1903].This book was sold with a collection of photographs which could be viewed through a stereoscope. Stereographs copyrighted 1903. Examples, including from flickr.com and the British Library: No. 28 'Ekka' with passenger and baggage, coming from Cashmere (Kashmir) to Murree, No 30. Before Christ Church, at Simla, No. 35 Inflated bullock skin boat, or dreas, at the side of the river Sutlej, enlargeable. No 75. Curiously rigged camel-waggons, Delhi, No. 80 The great Durbar procession, Delhi, India enlargeable. No 87. Palace of the Winds, Jeypore, India. A collection of these photographs reprinted 1923-1931 jstor.org from the Rotman collection from Smith College Northampton, MA, USA.
• Sport and Travel in the Far East by J C Grew 1910 Archive.org. The travel occurred in 1902-1903. Joseph Grew Wikipedia. He became an American diplomat, and from 1932-1941 was Ambassador to Japan.
• Wayside India by Maud Power 1907. With coloured illustrations. Archive.org, Granth Sanjeevani Collection. Brief mention of the book and author waterfordmuseum.ie
• A Winter in India : light impressions of its cities, peoples, and customs by Archibald B. Spens ; with 95 illustrations. 1914. Hathi Trust Digital Library.
• In Farthest Burma: The record of an arduous journey of exploration and research through the unknown frontier territory of Burma and Tibet by Captain F Kingdon Ward, late Indian Army Reserve of Officers, attached 1/116th Mahrattas. 1921 Archive.org. With a Map. The journey took place in 1914.
• Jesting Pilate : an Intellectual Holiday by Aldous Huxley 1926. Archive.org. Reprinted as Jesting Pilate : the Diary of a Journey 1957 Archive.org Books to Borrow/Lending Library, and as Jesting Pilate: Travels Through India, Burma, Malaya, Japan, China, and America (1991).
• The Gentleman In The Parlour by W Somerset Maugham 1930 Archive.org, Digital Library of India Collection. Full title: The Gentleman in the Parlour : a record of a journey from Rangoon to Haiphong. "The story of several trips: One up the Irrawady river to Mandalay in Burma, then a trek across the Shan mountains into what was then Siam, after that down the Mekong to Saigon and up then up coast to Hue in Vietnam".
• The Old Burma Road 1945. Archive.org version, mirror from Digital Library of India. Full title: The Old Burma Road. A journey on foot and muleback. From the diary, notes and reminiscences of Doctor N. Bradley. The author spent many years in China as a medical missionary. This is an account of a journey taken in March, 1930 on the granite slab road along which, 650 years earlier, Marco Polo had ridden with his escort of Kublai Khan's horsemen from Yunnan-Fu to Bhamo.
• India: Land Of The Black Pagoda by Lowell Thomas 1931 Archive.org, Public Library of India Collection.
• From Siam to Suez by James Saxon Childers 1932 Archive.org. The author travelled to Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Burma and India.
• Where China Meets Burma. : Life and Travel in the Burma-China Border Lands by Beatrix Metford 1935. Link to a pdf download PAHAR Mountains of Central Asia Digital Dataset. (If download does not display, located in Books/Tibet And China). A description of the book elsewhere indicates the author accompanied her husband, who was a British official. They lived for several years in the Shan States, Burma and then in Yunnan, southern China. From elsewhere, it appears she was the second wife of Stanley Wyatt-Smith of Britain's China Consular Service.
• Pedalling Through The Afghan Wilds. Being the Experiences of K.J. Kharas, R.D. Ghandhi, and R.D. Shroff 1935. Link to a pdf download PAHAR Mountains of Central Asia Digital Dataset.

Across The Highways Of The World by K J Kharas, R D Gandhi, R D Shroff. Second edition 1941, first published 1939. Archive.org, Public Library of India Collection.

• Foot-loose in India: Adventures of a News Chaser from Khyber's Grim Gash of Death to the Tiger Jungles of Bengal and the Burmese Battle Ground of the Black Cobra by Gordon Sinclair 1933 Archive.org. Travels by a Canadian journalist in India in 1932 for five months.

Khyber Caravan: Through Kashmir, Waziristan, Afghanistan, Baluchistan and Northern India by Gordon Sinclair 1936. Archive.org. Also available PAHAR Mountains of Central Asia Digital Dataset. If download button does not display, locate in Books/Indian Subcontinent/1936.

"Chapter 13 Footloose in India" page 129 Signposts to Adventure by Gordon Sinclair 1947 Archive.org Books to Borrow/Lending Library.

• India of the Rajahs by Major S E G Ponder 1940 Archive.org, Public Library of India Collection.
• Far East by Cecil Beaton 1945. Archive.org Books to Borrow/Lending Library version with better photographs, Archive.org version. Well known photographer. During WW2 he worked for the UK Ministry of Information, which sent him to India, Burma and China 1943-1944 for six months (he was in China in 1944), as a war photographer.
• Also see China - Historical books online - Journeys, and Central Asia

The Overland Route to and from India

• Medieval Routes To India: Baghdad To Delhi by HC Verma 1960. Full title: Medieval Routes to India: Baghdad to Delhi. A study of trade and military routes. Archive.org version, mirror from Digital Library of India.
• The diary of William Hedges, Esq. (afterwards Sir William Hedges), during his agency in Bengal : as well as on his voyage out and return overland (1681-1697). Volume I, Volume II, Volume III Archive.org. Transcribed by R Barlow, with additional material by Colonel Henry Yule. Printed for the Hakluyt Society Volumes 74, 75, 78, 1887-88-89.
• The Desert Route to India : being the journals of four travellers by the great desert caravan route between Aleppo and Basra, 1745-1751 edited by Douglas Carruthers 1929. Archive.org. Accounts by William Beawes, Gayland Roberts, Bartholomew Plaisted, John Carmichael. Issued by the Hakluyt Society Second Series No. LXIII [63] 1928. 2nd file Archive.org.

“Remarks and Occurrences in a Journey from Aleppo to Bassora by way of the Desert" by William Beawes, Esqr 1745 from The Desert Route to India by Douglas Carruthers from Sylvia Volk’s Page of Asia, now archived

“Account of a Journey from Basra to Aleppo in 1748” by Gaylard Roberts from The Desert Route to India by Douglas Carruthers from Sylvia Volk’s Page of Asia, now archived

Sample pages from The Desert Route to India edited by Douglas Carruthers 1929. Google Books.

• A Journal from Calcutta, by sea, to Busserah: from thence across the Great Desart to Aleppo; and from thence to Marseilles, and through France, to England, in... 1750 by Mr Bartholomew Plaisted, in the East India Company’s Service. To which are added, directions by Capt. E. Elliot, for passing over the Little Desart from Busserah, etc. And A Journal of the Proceedings of the Doddington East-Indiaman, till she was unfortunately wrecked on the East Coast of Africa etc Second Edition 1758 Google Books. Archive.org version.
• "A Journal from Aleppo, over the Desert to Basserah, October 21, 1771" by Mr Carmichael, the appendix to A voyage to the East Indies: Volume 1 by John Henry Grose 1772. Google Books. Mr Carmichael had been dismissed from the East India Company and was refused a passage to India on board any of the Company's ships. This book commences with a description of a sea voyage to Bombay in 1750
• ‪Observations on the Passage to India, Through Egypt: Also by Vienna Through Constantinople to Aleppo, and from Thence by Bagdad and Directly Across the Great Desert to Bassora : With Occasional Remarks on the Adjacent Countries, an Account of the Different Stages, and Sketches of the Several Routes on Four Copper Plates‬ by James Capper. Third edition with Alterations and Additions 1785 Google Books. 1783 edition Google Books
• A Journey Over Land to India, Partly by a Route Never Gone Before by Any European: In a Series of Letters to His Son. Comprehending His Shipwreck and Imprisonment with Hyder Alli, and His Subsequent Negociations and Transactions in the East by Donald Campbell, who formerly commanded a regiment of Cavalry in the service of His Highness the Nabab of the Carnatic. 1796 Archive.org, K.K. Venugopal Collection. 1807 Google Books edition with Contents pages at back of book. Campbell set out for India in May 1781. In 1784 he travelled to China, on the way back to England, arriving mid 1785.
• A Journal, with occasional remarks, made on a trip from Aleppo to Bussora, across the Grand Desart of Arabia by Henry Abbott. Printed at Calcutta 1789. Google Books. A trip in 1784.
• Travels in Asia and Africa: Including a Journey from Scanderoon to Aleppo, and Over the Desert to Bagdad and Bussora, a Voyage from Bussora to Bombay, and Along the Western Coast of India, a Voyage from Bombay to Mocha and Suez in the Red Sea, and a Journey from Suez to Cairo and Rosetta, in Egypt‬ by the late Abraham Parsons [died 1785] 1808 Google Books
• A Journey From Bengal To England: Through The Northern Part Of India, Kashmire, Afghanistan, And Persia And Into Russia By The Caspian-Sea by George Forster in the Civil Service of the Honourable The East- India Company 1798 Volume I, Volume II Google Books

Article about the author "Man who sailed up the ganges and died in Nagpur" by Shishir Arya Sep 27 2019 The Times of India, Nagpur City. George Forster spent his last years at Nagpur as the East India Company’s envoy at the Bhonsla king’s court from 1788 to 1791, where he died at the age of 39, reportedly of fever.

• A Voyage up the Persian Gulf, and a Journey Overland from India to England, in 1817 by Lieutenant William Heude of the Madras Military Establishment 1819 Archive.org
• Journal of a route across India, through Egypt, to England, in the latter end of the year 1817, and the beginning of 1818 by George Augustus Frederick Fitzclarence (1st Earl of Munster) 1819 Google Books.
• ‪Travels from India to England‬, comprehending a visit to the Burman Empire and a journey through Persia, Asia Minor, European Turkey etc in the year 1825-26 by James Edward Alexander, Lieut, late HM’s 13th Light Dragoons. 1827 Google Books‬. Also available Qatar Digital Library where the illustrations have been correctly rotated, the latter file digitised from British Library: Printed Collections, IOL.1947.b.134
• Narrative of a Journey from Calcutta to Europe, by Way of Egypt, in the years 1827 and 1828 by Mrs Charles Lushington [Sarah] 2nd edition 1829. Google Books. Archive.org mirror version. "Sarah Lushington" from British Travel Writing. The author, born 1789, travelled with her husband, Charles Lushington, and the "powerful administrator, traveller, and orientalist Mountstuart Elphinstone".
• Narrative of a Journey Overland from England by the Continent of Europe, Egypt and the Red Sea to India, including a residence there and voyage home, in the years 1825, 26, 27, and 28 by Mrs Colonel Elwood [Anne Katharine] 1830. Volume I, Volume II. Google Books. HathiTrust Digital Library versions, where images can be rotated. Biographical details, British Travel Writing website indicates she was born 1796 and married Charles Elwood 1824.
• Journey to the North of India: Overland from England, Through Russia, Persia, and Affghaunistan by Lieut. Arthur Conolly 1834. 2nd edition revised 1838 Volume I 1834, Volume II 1834; Volume I, 1838, Volume II 1838 Google Books
• Adventures During a Journey Overland to India: By Way of Egypt, Syria, and the Holy Land by Major Skinner 31st Reg. 1836. Volume I, Volume II Google Books
• England to Calcutta by the Overland Route in 1845 by Frederick Walter Simms, late Consulting Engineer to the Government of India, edited by his son. 1878 Archive.org, mirror from Central Secretariat Library, Government of India. The trip took a total of 46 days, by ship to Alexandria, by canal boat and small steam boat to Cairo, across the desert to Suez, and then by ship.
• The Ocean & the Desert by A Madras Officer, stated to be the late Major General Albert Henry Andrew Hervey 1846. Google Books. Two Volumes in one. Volume II commences following page 271. By ship from Bombay to Suez, on the "Hindustan", a large steam ship, (but with crowded accomodation), sightseeing in Egypt, by ship to Italy with sightseeing there, etc.
• Through Asiatic Turkey. Narrative of a Journey from Bombay to the Bosphorus by Grattan Geary, Editor of The Times of India 1878 Volume I, Volume II Volume II, from page 90 only, but illustrations may be better, Another file, Volume II Archive.org, including books from the Digital Library of India Collection.
• Six Months in Persia by Edward Stack, Bengal Civil Service. 1882. Volume I, Volume II. A journey from India to England commencing January 1881. Archive.org.
• With Star and Crescent : a full and authentic account of a recent journey with a caravan from Bombay to Constantinople, comprising a description of the country, the people, and interesting adventures with the natives by A Locher 1891. With illustrations based on the author's sketches. Archive.org. First published 1888. 1890 edition available FamilySearch Digital Library where some of the images have been (correctly) rotated. You need to be signed in to FamilySearch to view the book.
• A Ride to India across Persia and Baluchistan by Harry de Windt 1891 Archive.org.
• Through Turkish Arabia : a journey from the Mediterranean to Bombay by the Euphrates and Tigris valleys and the Persian Gulf by H Swainson Cowper 1894 Archive.org
• Sport and politics under an eastern sky by [Lawrence Zetland] the Earl of Ronaldsay 1902 Archive.org. Part II "From Simla to London by Land, via Quetta, Nushki, Sistan, Meshed, and the Caspian".
• The Short Cut to India, the record of a journey along the route of the Baghdad Railway by David Fraser 1909 Archive.org
• Overland to India by Sven Hedin 1910 Volume I, Volume II Archive.org
• By Car to India by Major F A Forbes -Leith. 1925 Archive.org, K.K. Venugopal Collection. The trip commenced in England late April 1924.
• “Flight to India” [in 1930] page 547The Way of a Transgressor by Negley Farson 1936 Archive.org Lending Library. 2nd file Archive.org. The India chapters continue to page 591. Negley Farson Wikipedia. The author was then an American foreign correspondent, one of the most renowned of his day.
• Chariots of the Air by Harold Keates Hales 1936. Archive.org. A series of Parts, mirror from STOU Digital Repository Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University, Thailand. Note, STOU website has been noticed to be unavailable at times. Possibly may be open only during "office hours". Description of a business and sightseeing trip mainly by plane from England to the East Indies and back, possibly in 1933.
• The Overland Route From India by Stanley Jepson 1938. Archive.org version, mirror from Digital Library of India.
• Over Khyber to the Caspian Sea by Ruth Ahlsand 1944. Published by Thackers Bombay. Link to a pdf download PAHAR Mountains of Central Asia Digital Dataset. Archive.org mirror version. The Norwegian authoress and her husband followed the trail of the Peacock Throne, which was looted from Delhi and taken to Teheran in 1739. It is thus a different kind of travel book, tracing the path and the history of this Throne and touching on characters and events.

Bibliography

• A Reference Guide To The Literature Of Travel Volume One: The Old World by Edward Godfrey Cox 1948 reprint edition, originally published 1935. Archive.org. Included chapters East Indies, Far East etc

Volume Two: The New World 1950/1938. Note: missing at least pages 417-428 “Military Expeditions”.

Volume Two: The New World 1950/1938 [All pages] Archive.org Lending Library

(Volume Three: Great Britain) Archive.org.