John Alfred Gray was a practising London doctor in 1888 when he was approached by Sir Salter Payne who had returned from Kabul on the orders of the Amir to procure an English surgeon. During intervals in his professional work at the Court, Gray recorded his daily experiences and events in the Afghanistan of the period. Much of his writing is compiled from the regular letters which he sent to his fiancee in England providing the work with a freshness and spontaneity showing Gray coming to know Afghanistan, the country and the people. Through the course of the book the story of Gray's life in Afghanistan unfolds, but it is no merely a commentary of a visit, rather an evaluation of a country in flux and its powerful monarch, Amir Abdurrahman. Gray's position brought him into contact with the rich and the poor, lowly dwellings and palaces, slaves and royalty. His book gives a vivid first-hand account of the Afghan nation in the late nineteenth century, as observed by an impressionable outsider.

Title: At the Court of the Ameer. A narrative.Publisher: British Library, Historical Print EditionsThe British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. It is one of the world's largest research libraries holding over 150 million items in all known languages and formats: books, journals, newspapers, sound recordings, patents, maps, stamps, prints and much more. Its collections include around 14 million books, along with substantial additional collections of manuscripts and historical items dating back as far as 300 BC.The GENERAL HISTORICAL collection includes books from the British Library digitised by Microsoft. This varied collection includes material that gives readers a 19th century view of the world. Topics include health, education, economics, agriculture, environment, technology, culture, politics, labour and industry, mining, penal policy, and social order. ++++The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition identification: ++++ British Library Gray, John Alfred; 1895. xvi. 523 p.; 8 . RL 131