Oriental Field Sports being a complete, detailed, and accurate description of the wild sports of the East and exhibiting, in a novel and interesting manner, the natural history of the elephant, the rhinoceros, the tiger... and other undomesticated animals.. by WILLIAMSON, Thomas (1758-1817) and Samuel HOWITT (1765-1822) - 1807

London: Edward Orme, 1807. Oblong folio. (18 3/8 x 23 inches). Pictorial title rendered in stencil, printed title leaf, dedication leaf, preface on pp. i-ii, 150 pp., plus plate list. 40 hand-coloured aquatint plates after Howitt. Early half maroon straight-grained morocco over pebbled cloth boards, spine in seven compartments with semi-raised bands, decorative roll tools in gilt on each band, lettered direct in the second and fourth compartments First edition of the finest book ever published on Indian sport and one of the great colour-plate books of the period. Williamson served in a British regiment in Bengal and was an avid sportsman while there. After being recalled to England, "Williamson's knowledge of wild life and Oriental sports had come to the notice of the Orme family" (Rohatgi & Parlett). The Orme's contracted with celebrated painter Samuel Howitt to prepare finished watercolours based on Williamson's original sketches during his time in India, and published the work, originally in 20 parts, between 1805 and 1807. The result was "the most beautiful book on Indian sport in existence" (Schwerdt). The work, however, is not merely a sporting book. As Williamson writes in the Preface, the work "is offered to the public as depicting the Manners, Customs, Scenery, and Costume of a territory now intimately blended with the British Empire, and of such importance to its welfare, as to annex a certain degree of consequence to every publications, that either exhibits, or professes to impart, a knowledge of whatever may hitherto have been concealed, or that remains unfolded to our view." The plates, engraved by H. Merke or J. and Vivares Hamble, display the best of early 19th century colour aquatint. Howitt and Williamson's images are vivid depictions of both the chase and the Indian scenery. Of particular note are the four plates treating elephants, described by Williamson as possessing "the energy of the horse, the sagacity of the dog, and a large portion of the monkey's cunning." The eleven plates devoted to the tiger are each riveting. The work was published to great acclaim. An 1807 issue of The Monthly Review declared: "Much entertainment for the eye, and much information for the mind will be found in this very splendid volume." The Review continues by lamenting the high cost of the work: "Twenty guineas may be a trifle in Nabob's pocket: but Nabobs are not numerous in England; and we should suppose that the sale of such a work as this cannot be very widely diffused." This no doubt contributed to the work's present-day rarity. This copy is an early issue, with pre-publication watermarks and Tooley's first state of plate XXXI (with the plate captioned "Hunting Jackalls"). The early issues of the work, generally subscriber's copies, are bound from the original parts and contain "the finest impressions of the plates" (Tooley). Subsequent editions, i.e. the second edition of 1808 and the quarto edition of 1819, are considered by Tooley as "inferior." Abbey Travel II, 427; Mellon, Books on the Horse and Horsemanship 88; Nissen ZBI 4416; Rohatgi & Parlett, pp. 252-254; Schwerdt II, 297; Tooley 508; India Observed 93.