We are delighted to announce the forthcoming publication of The Silk Road: A Living History which will be published later this year.
The book will present 150 photographs taken by Christopher Wilton-Steer primarily on an overland journey from London to Beijing in 2019.
Travelling by car, bus, train, ferry, horse and camel, Christopher covered 40,000km across 16 countries documenting some of the varied people, places and cultures found across Eurasia.
By traveling over land, Christopher hoped to understand more about the similarities between different cultures and learn more about what connects them.
The purpose was to develop an outdoor exhibition that would allow visitors to travel the Silk Road through photographs. In 2022, the first of these was shown in King’s Cross, London. This was followed by another in 2022 in Toronto.
The Book
Like the exhibition, the book aims to celebrate the diversity of cultural expressions found along the Silk Road; highlight examples of how historical practices, rituals and customs live on today; and also reveal some of the connections between what appear at first glance to be very different cultures.
It also seeks to engender interest and understanding between distant cultures and challenge perceptions of less well-known and understood parts of the world.
Photographs from Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, India, China and elsewhere feature and will be accompanied by some of my travel writing as well as a preface by a well-known Silk Road historian.
The book will be published by Hemeria, a French publisher who specialise in high quality photography books.
Although some details may change, the below summarises the intent for print production and delivery:
– Size: 24x29cm
– Images: 150 photographs
– Pages: 208
– Cover: Case bound with cloth spine
– Language: English or in French
– Available for pre-order: From mid-April
– Shipping: late August/early September.
– Cost: €45 + delivery. Discounts for higher volume purchases.
If you are interested in buying a book; bulk orders; hosting a talk with the author or would like to learn more, please get in touch.
Support disadvantaged communities
All the author’s royalties for this book will be donated to the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF).
Established in 1967, AKF works with disadvantaged communities in Africa, Asia and the Middle East to address the root causes of poverty, improve the quality of life and build a future where we can all thrive together.
The Silk Road
The Silk Road, the name given to the numerous trading routes that connected China and the West, was first established during the days of the Roman Empire.
For several centuries it facilitated the exchange of goods, ideas, religions and technologies across 1000s of miles, shaping and changing the world as we know it.
While it lost its prominence to new maritime trade routes by the 1600s, its legacy still endures. China’s ‘Belt and Road Initiative’, the $900 billion double trade corridor to reopen channels between China and the West, can be seen as its 21st century successor.
