Major D McCallum, "The Discovery and Development of the New Land Route to the East"

26 x b/w glass slides, used to illustrate a lecture to the Central Asian Society, 14 November, 1925. For the lecture text, see Major D McCallum, "The Discovery and Development of the New Land Route to the East," Journal of the Central Asian Society, XII (1925), pp. 43-67. Copy negatives and low contrast 'postcard' prints made.

The lecture begins (p. 44): "A little over a year ago, Mr C E S Palmer, then His Majesty's Consul in Damascus, began making enquiries and investigations with a view to finding a quick route from Damascus to Baghdad over which mechanically-propelled vehicles could cross the desert. From various shooting expeditions into the desert it was known that, for part of the way at any rate, this Syrian Desert was feasible for light motor transport. The question to be solved was whether it were possible to cross the desert from west to east by motor-car."

See also, for a lecture by the same speaker about another journey by "mechanically-propelled vehicle," McCallum, "Impressions of Indo-China," Journal of the Central Asian Society, XVI (1929), pp. 163-80. The lecture begins (p. 163): "In 1925, when my wife and I were bound with my regiment for North China, it occurred to us how much more pleasant it would be to do the return journey homeward by motor rather than again face the doubtful pleasures of a long journey in a troopship. Also, being keen members of the Central Asian Society, we might profitably seize the opportunity of returning home overland to visit Central Asia."

Access is restricted to the copy prints.