first edition, F.M.Bailey's copy with 2 A.Ls.s. (

Bailey (F.M.).- [Bethell (Leonard Arthur)], "Forepoint Severn". The Blind Road, first edition, F.M.Bailey's copy with 2 A.Ls.s. (2pp. & 14pp) and 1 T.L.s. (4pp.) to him from the author dated 1932 & 1936 loosely inserted, also 2 T.Ls.s. from Sir Frederick O'Connor dated 1943 to Bailey concerning the book, the author's identity and China's ambitions regarding Tibet, and carbon copy of A.L.s. from Bailey to ? Linklater concerning the Panchen Lama whom he knew "intimately" and his role in this book, half-title, foxed, original cloth, dust-jacket, rubbed, 8vo, Edinburgh & London, 1938.

***F.M.Bailey (1882-1967), explorer and naturalist, was a member of Younghusband's mission to Lhasa in 1904. He made several journeys of exploration on the N.E.Frontier of India, spied on the Russians in Tashkent (and for them, in search of himself) and became political officer in Sikkim, befriending the Dalai Lama, resident in Kashmir and finally minister in Nepal. He also discovered the blue poppy.Bailey was the model for Drummond in this fictional tale of a search for a route from India through the North-Eastern Himalayas to China. The letters from Bethell identify him as the author and reminisce about his and Bailey's experiences together on Younghusband's mission to Lhasa in 1904 and subsequently. His final letter requests that Bailey should read his typescript and mark anything concerning himself of which he does not approve or wish printed. The book finishes with a remarkable tribute to Bailey, "One of the finest men, I truly think, God ever put into broken boot-leather."Sir Frederick O'Connor had also been present on the Younghusband mission..