Themenkreise

Bailey, Colonel. Mission To Tashkent. London, The Folio Society, 1999. 16 cm x 24 cm. XVII, 269 pages with illustrations. Original hardcover with slipcase. Excellent condition with only minor signs of external wear. Includes for example the following contents: - Persia to Kashgar / Kashgar to Tashkent / The Bee-farm / Tashkent Affairs / Accross the Murghab / Frontier Skirmish etc. Colonel F. M. Bailey, whose extraordinary adventures are told here, was long accused by Moscow of being a British master spy sent in 1918 to overthrow the Bolsheviks in Central Asia. As a result, he had, many years after his death, an almost legendary reputation there-that of half-hero, half-villain. In this remarkable book he tells of the perilous game of cat-and-mouse, lasting sixteen months, which he played with the Bolshevik secret police: the dreaded Cheka. At one point, using a false identity, he actually joined their ranks, who unsuspectingly sent him to Bokhara to arrest himself. Told with almost breathtaking understatement by Bailey, this narrative offers remarkable insight into British secret intelligence work during the Great Game. (Amazon)