Peter Fleming, brother of ” James Bond” author Ian Fleming, was one of the greatest adventurers & travel writers of the 20th century & author of several classic & bestselling books. This is the first paperback edition. It presents an exciting adventure that could never be made today
- it will appeal to all interested in the region. When in 1934 at the age of twenty-seven, Peter Fleming set out for the Far East, his ultimate goal was to return from China to India overland
- a journey he later described in the classic ” News from Tartary”. On his outward journey Fleming travelled through regions which remain some of the most remote & least-visited in Asia & which, soon after his journey, became closed entirely to westerners. From Moscow, through the Caucasus to the Caspian, on to Samarkand & Tashkent, skirting the edge of Outer Mongolia to Vladivostok & winding his way down to Peking, Fleming tells of people encountered, places explored & of ways of life that have since been lost through revolution, war & the passage of time. Along the way he kept a diary that he never intended to publish & that lay forgotten `in the box-room` of his mind for fifteen years.” To Peking” is an unassuming classic of travel literature. Subtle yet sparkling with intelligence & humour, simple yet beautifully told, it illuminates a world that travellers
- armchair or otherwise
- can only dream of today.