In the Forbidden Land is Arnold Henry Savage Landor’s vivid account of his ill-fated 1897 expedition into Tibet, a country then closed to foreigners. Travelling in disguise toward the sacred regions around Lhasa, the British explorer and artist was captured by Tibetan authorities, imprisoned, tortured, and very nearly executed before his eventual release and escape.
Written in a brisk, confessional style and originally illustrated from the author’s own sketches, the narrative blends geography, ethnography, and personal ordeal. Landor describes the people, customs, and forbidding landscapes of the high plateau while recounting the cruelty of his captors. Controversial in its day for its self-dramatising tone, the book remains a striking record of late-Victorian exploration and the European fascination with a sealed-off Tibet.