James ATKINSON

James Atkinson's stunning views of nineteenth century Afghanistan are strangely familiar to the modern eye, there are a few views of the cities such as Kandahar and Kabul, costumes and village scenes, but many of them show lines of troops and travellers winding their way across wild landscapes and through tortuous passes. The lithographs suggest that then, as now Afghanistan was a land of spectacular, but harsh terrain that did not easily welcome foreigners.
The views were worked up by David Roberts' lithographers, Louis and James Haghe from sketches made by the Persian scholar and doctor James Atkinson, during his service as superintending surgeon to Sir George Pollock's expedition to Kabul in 1838. "In 1838 Atkinson was appointed superintending surgeon to the army of the Indus, and accompanied it on its march to Kabul; but was relieved in the ordinary course of routine shortly after the surrender of Dost Mohammad, and, returning to Bengal in 1841, escaped the fate which awaited the army of occupation." (DNB). He was appointed a member of the medical board in India in 1845 and retired in 1847.
The lithographs were published in July 1842, along with a volume of related, but separately published, text by Atkinson. This work was published when British interest in Afghanistan was at a peak: following a rising in Kabul in November 1841 and the disastrous annihilation of the British army in the Khyber Pass in January 1842, Major-General George Pollock was given the task of leading an expedition 'for the relief of Sale and his troops at Jalálábád' (DNB). By the time the present work was published the news that Pollock had succeeded would have reached Britain. Pollock went on to rescue the captives held in Kabul and returned to India in triumph late in 1842.'

Abbey Travel II, 508; DNB.

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