Bellew, Henry Walter The races of Afghanistan, being a brief account of the principal nations inhabiting that country. Calcutta Thacker, Spink, and Co. 1880
First edition pp.124, 38 (publishers adverts). A very good copy in original cloth, gilt. Rear free end-paper partially seperated. Ownership signature of Jack Scorgie, Kabul, 1926.

A detailed description of the history and characteristics of the various tribes in Afghanistan, buffer state between the Russian and British Indian Empires. Surgeon-Major Bellew's facility with languages and long service on the frontier gave him a knowledge of the Afghan peoples unrivalled in his day. He had served on Lumsden's mission to Kandahar in 1857 before becoming Civil Surgeon of Peshawar. He went with Pollock to Seistan, with Forsyth to Kashgar and Yarkand, and was Chief Political Officer at Kabul during the 2nd Afghan War. His opinions are expressed in a very forthright manner e.g. the Afridi is "the faithless of the faithless … a wily, mistrusting, wolfish and willful savage", contrasting with the Tajiks "in intelligence, sobriety, industry, and fidelity to just masters, they surpass all the other inhabitants of the country". The last sequence comprises a detailed list of Indian publications by Messrs. Thacker, Spink & Co., Calcutta, dated May 1880 (law, history, oriental works, etc).