78/ 951 Barzini, L. and Borghese, Prince. Peking-Paris im Automobil. Eine Wettfahrt durch Asien und Europa in sechzig Tagen. Leipsic, F.A. Brockhaus, 1908, 1st ed., (6),558p., 1 fold. map, 168 plates/ ills., orig. giltlettered and pict. cl.

- Spine sl. foxed. A fine copy.

= The report of a group of motor car enthusiasts who, in 1907, took it upon themselves to show the possibilities of the car. Together with the London Daily Telegraph and the French newspaper Le Matin, they announced the greatest car race in human history: a two-month, 8.000 mile race through China, Mongolia and the Siberian Steppes: Peking to Paris. Five cars (3 French, 1 Dutch and 1 Italian) were to compete in this extraordinary international competition. The Italian Prince Scipione Borghese won the race in an Itala car. When the race was over, there was little doubt that its organizers had achieved their goal. The world was in love with the "automobil". Luigi Barzini, an Italian journalist, published his account on the race just months after the rally. Peking to Paris, an instant bestseller, was translated into 13 languages and various editions.