Aurel Stein 
was a man who obsessed about Alexander’s expedition in India, and as a consequence became the trailblazer in the rediscovery of the Silk Road at the turn of the 19th and 20th century.
Explorer, archaeologist, ethnographer, geographer, linguist, map-maker, Stein was born in Budapest in 1862 but later moved to England and became a citizen in 1904.
He was Sven Hedin‘s major competitor in the exploration of Central Asia and the Silk Route, and was probably also a spy in those areas in which British and Russians played the Great Game.
He discovered an unprecedented wealth of documents in Dunhuang (including the world’s oldest printed text), and also the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas.
He died in 1942, at the age of 80, and is buried in Kabul, Afghanistan.
His production of works was enormous – maps, photos, articles and books, the latter often aimed at the general public.
What follows is a very small selection found in the Internet Archive.
1904 – Sand-buried Ruins of Khotan
1912 – Ruins Of Desert Cathay
1929 – On Alexander Track To The Indus
1933 – On Ancient Central Asian Tracks
1949 – Old Routes Of Western Iran
I think I mentioned in the past how much I like Leigh Brackett’s stories.
The Karavansara Free Library does Sven Hedin, and it’s quite a feat.
We started the Karavansara Free Library with a few titles from Rosita Forbes, and now we follow up with another woman I find absolutely fascinating: Emily Hahn.
… and as a little extra, there’s two more volumes in the Gutenberg Project, Emily Hahn’s first two books.
