The earliest book of photographs devoted to this area, this was the result of a series of photographs made by Captain Melville Clarke, 1st Infantry, of his travels to the borders of Tibet through northern India. His photographs of Kashmir were first seen at, and praised by, the Bengal Photographic Society in 1862, the same year that the book was published.

Subjects comprise the architecture and topography of the region including a view of Simla; studies of rope and twig bridges across wide stretches of river; hill-top villages; the Bara Lacha passes; 'Rukchin, a Bhoti encampment'; 'Geya, A Thibetan Village' and a relic house at Geya; the city of Leh, capital of Ladakh; Lamayuru, the principal monastery of Ladakh; a figure of the Goddess Moolva carved from rock near 'Wukka'; and several views of Srinagar including the Shah Hamadan Mosque, the Shalimar Gardens, the lake, bridges and the resident's barge; a distant view of Sopur; the ruins of Martand; the city of 'Rajouree'; the fort of Baramula; 'An old imperial Caravanserai at Saidabad, Cashmere'; and 'Bhimbur, the boundary of Cashmere'.