New York, Harper, 1927, 1st Am edition. 310 pp, photos. One of the best known books on Tibet. Mdme. David-Neel snuck into Lhasa in 1917 disguised as a beggar/pilgrim, she lived there for two months in 1923-4, and returned to France.  Slight edge rubbing, but no soiling, no foxing, small old owner's name on inside endpaper. Two versions of the first edition are seen. This one is solid maroon cloth with a paper spine label, Fine condition. 

 

Born in Paris in 1868, French explorer Alexandra David-Neel was not your average 19th-century woman. Well-versed in Sanskrit and Buddhist philosophy, she eschewed drawing rooms and polite society for the vagabond life of a traveler and explorer. In 1923, at the age of 55, she undertook a daring journey into the heart of the Himalayas and a land at the top of the world: Tibet. Disguised as a pilgrim, she entered the forbidden city of Lhasa--the first European woman to do so -- after 13 years spent wandering remote routes through China and Tibet.