Search Results: INDIA from John Randall (Books of Asia)

Madras: printed at the Christian Knowledge Society's Press, 1852, 1854. First editions, two works bound in one. Small 4to, 25 x 17 cm; pp.[iv, half-title and advertisements], xvi, 1303, [1, blank]; [iv, half-title and advertisements], xxviii, 131, [1, blank]. With contemporary advertisements. A very good set bound in modern half speckled calf over marbled boards. Spine label and compartments in gilt. Appendix of the first volume has 'APPENDIX' faintly printed on fore-edge. Discreet binders ticket to rear end-paper. Half-title of first volume spotted with 1cm tear to upper inner margin. Single wormhole to outer margin pp.75-131 of second volume, not affecting text. The first Telugu-English dictionary by Charles Philip Brown (1798-1884), still considered the standard English study of the classical language. Brown, also known as Andhrabhashoddhaaraka or " saviour of Telugu", was the also the first to translate works of Telugu literature, such as The Verses of Vemana (1829), into… Read More

Madras: printed for the editor at the Christian Knowledge Society's Press., 1867. First edition, pp.xii, 288. Text in German, despite the English title. A very good copy bound in contemporary or slightly later half cloth, marbled boards, spine gilt. Bartholomaeus Ziegenbalg (1682 -1719), a Dane based in Tranquebar, is believed to have been the first Protestant missionary in India. He wrote the present work in 1713, intending it as a handbook for his colleagues. The manuscript was sent to Europe for publication but was not well received and criticised by his fellow missionaries, such as A.H. Francke (1663–1727) who had been responsible for Ziegenbalg's appointment, for spreading pagan beliefs in Europe rather than helping missionary aims. Thus the dogma and modus operandi of missionaries was forged, not in aiming to understand other beliefs but in the conviction of the superiority of Christianity. COPAC shows only 1 copy, in BL.

London: John Murray, 1853. Second edition, with the author's last corrections and additions, pp.xliii, 473, 2 maps, 1 partially hand coloured and folding, the other coloured in outline, genealogical chart. A very good copy in original cloth, spine title in gilt. Spine faded, and with minor wear to head and foot. Joseph Davey Cunningham (1812-1851) sailed for India in 1832 after graduating with distinction from Addiscombe. In 1837 he was appointed assistant to Colonel Wade, political agent at Ludhiana. He was present at the meeting of Lord Ellenborough, Dost Muhammad and the Sikhs at Ferozpur in 1842. During the Sikh wars he served under Napier, Gough, and as aide-de-camp to Hardinge, the Governor-General, at the battle of Sobraon. After the war he was appointed Political Agent at Bhopal where he was commended by Hardinge "you have.. by your energy and promptitude, fully justified the favourable opinion I entertain of your abilities and character." He wrote this book in Bhopal, but on… Read More

London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green., 1826. First edition, 4to, pp.lxix, 432, errata leaf, folding map. Added engraved portrait of Babur at first page after prelims. A very good copy in contemporary marbled boards, rebacked and recornered to style. Title page and map are foxed. Otherwise clean.

Calcutta: [His Highness the ruler of Bhopal], 1940. First edition, three volumes, large folio, pp.xxv, 396, xxxii, i,[70], i,[71], 141 plates. This set weighs approximately 25 kg and may incur additional shipping charges. A very good set in original cloth. Spines professionally repaired, edges a little rubbed. A fully illustrated description of the famous group of Buddhist monuments at Sanchi with their wealth of figural and decorative sculpture.

Bombay: printed at the Government Central Press, 1908. First edition, small 4to (25 x 18 cm), pp.xii, 340, [2], 19 plates including frontis. A very good copy in original cloth, gilt. Professionally re-backed with original spine preserved. Corners and spine lightly bumped. Michael Kennedy (1859-1932) was the Deputy-Inspector General of Police, Railways and Criminal Investigation in the Bombay Presidency at the time he wrote this publication, and later became the Inspector-General of Police. He joined his brothers as a Companion of the Order of the Star of India in 1911, and retired in 1915 after thirty-two years service and earning three medals including the King's Police Medal. He compiled these notes as a practical aid for identification by police officers in India. Each criminal group is described in great detail, encompassing those within Bombay and those outside that infiltrate into Bombay. Kennedy identifies their areas of operation, type of criminal activity etc., but also more cultural… Read More

Calcutta: Fort William, 1803. First edition. 4to (32 x 19 cm), pp.[ii], [ii, contemporary manuscript contents], 102, [ii], 28, [2], 12*, 126, [1], [1, blank], [1, errata], [1, blank], with 5 large folding plans, all with contemporary hand colour, 4 signed "F. Dormieux Sculp. Calcutta 1803". A very good copy in contemporary speckled calf, gilt. The leather somewhat worn, particularly at the spine, with small areas of loss, but still handsome. A handful of contemporary manuscript corrections and annotations to text. The account of the first part of the Second Anglo-Maratha War (1803-1805) written by Richard Wellesley (1760-1842), then Governor-General of Bengal, in large part to trumpet British military success against the Maratha Confederacy, and promote his vision for British dominion in India. This depended on a network of subsidiary treaties and alliances with Indian states, such as the Treaty of Bassein, concluded between the Maratha Peshwa of Poona and the East India Company on 31… Read More

Allahabad: A.H. Wheeler, [1888]. Presumed first edition, second or third issue, pp.[viii], 114, vii [publishers adverts]. A good used copy, front section loose, but still held by stitching. Both wrappers worn and frayed. Text clean. This scarce early issue of the first edition has the apostrophe before "Rickshaw" in the title on front wrapper, and full stops after the A. and H. of publishers name. Livingstone 40

Calcutta: printed by A.H. Hubbard, at the Hindoostanee Press, 1810. First edition, an extract from Asiatick Researches, Volume 11. 4to (27 x 22 cm), pp.[ii], (197)-292. A very good copy professionally bound in yellow morocco, with title page supplied. The first substantive published account of the Sikh nation. John Malcolm began to assemble materials for his history while serving with British forces in the Punjab in 1805, noting that "English writers, none of them had possessed more than very general information regarding this extraordinary race..." Malcolm made his own observations and notes in the Punjab, and acquired a number of Sikh manuscripts. When he returned to Calcutta, he interviewed a Sikh on his religion, and acquired a number of English translations of Sikh religious and historical texts from John Leyden. The demands of Malcolm's duties prevented him from compiling a full history, but his briefer text effectively glosses the period from the birth of Guru Nanak in 1469… Read More

London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1904. First edition, pp.xxiv, 380, folding map, 202 illustrations (mostly plates). A very good copy in original gilt decorated cloth, top edge gilt. Slightly rubbed and bumped, cloth shows light soiling from age, edges lightly foxed. Map has a repaired 3cm tear at join, affecting only border. An account of the visit of husband and wife to archaeological and artistic remains through large parts of India, including the Punjab, Madras, Orissa, Bengal, Mysore, Hyderebad, and Rajputana, via bicycle, including important locations such as the Ajanta caves and Bhuvaneswara. The illustrations are black and white photos, of which 192 were taken by the authors themselves. The work is not academic but a first hand account of a journey, and thus includes numerous observations about wildlife, peoples, and ways of life alongside the temples and wall paintings. Fanny Bullock Workman (1859–1925) and William Hunter Workman (1847–1937) were American explorers and mountaineers who… Read More

Bonn: H.B. Konig, 1838. First edition, pp.284. German text. A very good copy in paper covered boards, gilt leather spine label. Light rubbing and bumping to boards and spine, slight foxing scattered throughout. One of the earliest attempts to decipher Bactrian script using Bactrian, Indo-Greek and Indo-Scythian coins with Kharoshthi legend inscriptions. The author disagrees with the theories of, among others, Masson, Prinsep and Grotefend, and firmly propounds his own ideas. Christian Lassen (1800-1876), a German Indologist, understood a dozen languages including Sanskrit, Pali, and Arabic. His annotated edition of the Hitopadesa (1831), edited in conjunction with August Wilhelm von Schlegel, was the first critical study of Sanskrit literature. He was also the first to decipher Brahmi scipt in 1836, and one of the first to attempt to decipher Bactrian.