Afghanistan has always been a challenging land for foreign invaders. James Atkinson was a superintending surgeon with the British army when it advanced on Kabul in 1841. The British were engaged in a long-running rivalry with the Russians to control the area between Russia and their colony in India. Neither ever had much success, the Afghans being an independence-minded people who knew the difficult land far better than any foreign invaders. Atkinson's book, Sketches in Afghanistan, includes 25 tinted plates of the country from this brief period of British control. Fortunately for Atkinson, he returned to Bengal in 1841, avoiding the terrible fate of thousands of British and Indian occupiers the following year. £3,750 (US $7,662).

Lady Florentina Sale was not so fortunate as Atkinson to escape before the disastrous British retreat, and yet she was quite lucky to be one of the very few to survive. Her husband, Sir Robert Henry Sale, was off defending Jalalabad when the British were forced by rebellious Afghans to abandon Kabul. This signaled one of the most horrific of retreats ever experienced by the British. Poorly equipped and supplied, some 15,000 British, about a third from the military, primarily Indian units, and 10,000 civilians, including many women and children, marched over the frozen, snowy passes of Afghanistan in the dead of winter. Their destination was Jalalabad, 90 miles away. However, most succumbed to the bitter cold, huge snowdrifts, and constant attack by Afghans better suited for the treacherous conditions. Of the 15,000 who retreated from Kabul, only one, Dr. William Brydon, is known to have made it Jalalabad. Other than Dr. Brydon, the only survivors were a few of the Indians who hid in caves, and a few civilians taken prisoner by the Afghans and later freed. Among the latter was Lady Sale, who managed to keep a diary of her experiences. This became the basis for her account published in 1843, A journal of the disasters in Affghanistan, 1841-2. Item 163. £950 (US $1,941).

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