On the Shores of the Caspian: Commerce and Culture in Nineteenth Century Persia

Sketches on the Shores of the Caspian is the product of the author's journey through the Caspian region as part of an expedition headed by his cousin James Brant, the British Consul at Erzeroum. Holmes provides a wonderfully intimate portrait of the country. Written in a very accessible style it nonetheless provides a wealth of detail on the towns, the climate, trade, military, people and culture as well as valuable information on the Russian presence in the region at the time. This very scarce volume is here published with a new Introduction by leading scholar of Asia, Morris Rossabi, Professor of Inner Asian History, Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University and Distinguished Professor of History, Queens College, The City University of New York.

Sir William Richard Holmes (1822-82) was born in Northern Ireland in 1822. In 1841 he was appointed to the consulate at Erzeroum in Turkey, in 1846 he became Vice Consul at Samsoon, and by 1860 was British Consul in Bosnia. He was part of the commission that settled the boundary with Herzegovina and was knighted in 1877.