A Book History of Mountstuart Elphinstone’s

This chapter examines Mountstuart Elphinstone's "An Account of the Kingdom of Caubul" (AKC) from a book history perspective. The general concerns are the para-narrative elements of the text, including the footnotes, appendices and visuals. The specific foci are the map and the epistemological positioning of the Pashto language, and Afghan populations in relation to one another and in relation to the polity described in AKC. Elphinstone's published map is compared to the archived map produced by Lieutenant John Macartney, and situated within a larger set of maps reflecting the increasing cartographic consciousness of a global imperial public. The epistemological positioning of Pashto at the cultural core of the Afghan nation is interrogated through the compendium of Pashto poetry ascribed to Ahmad Shah Abdali, and the structural location of attention to the Pashto language in AKC. The essay's conclusion addresses visuals beyond the map in AKC, including the ethnographic portraiture and archeological sketch of a Buddhist monument.