The following publications have been brought out under the project 'Archives in India Historical Reprints' with a Public-Private Partnership initiative.
1. Indian Travels of Jean De Thevenot & Gemelli Careri
The seventeenth century found many European travellers in India. They came from diverse countries by diverse routes on diverse missions; some in quest of trade, others in search of a career, and yet others, a small minority, to seek diversion in new countries among new peoples with strange manners and novel customs. To this rare company belonged Jean de Thevenot and Giovanni Francesco Gemelli Careri.
Neither greed nor cupidity not even their country's interest but natural curiosity brought them to the east and with uncommon fidelity they recorded what they saw and heard.
The most valuable part of Thevenot and Careri's travels, as indeed of all other travelers, is where they record their personal experiences and write of the roads they traversed, the town they visited, the men they met, the things they saw, the amenities they enjoyed, the discomforts they suffered and the difficulties they encountered.
However, in assessing the historical merit of Thevenot and Careri's travels we should always bear in mind the principle that no authority can be more reliable than the sources referred and consulted. As a contemporary source of Indian history both the travelers will always remain indispensable.
Indian Travels of Jean De Thevenot (1666-1667) &
Gemelli Careri (1695-1696) 1200.00
2. Narrative of A Journey Overland from England to India
This Travelogue is a narrative of a journey overland from England by the continent of Europe, Egypt, and the Red Sea to India including a residency there, and voyage home in the years 1825-1828 in the form of letters written by Mrs. Colonel Elwood to her sister Mrs. Elphinstone. In submitting the following letters to the public, the writer is acting upon the suggestions of those on whose judgment she has a firmer reliance than on her own, and who are of opinion, that they may possibly be deemed not wholly uninteresting at this peculiar time, when India, and the over-land communication with that country, are topics of such general conversation. The author has given a true and faithful description of what she saw and felt, in the very peculiar circumstances in which she occasionally found herself; and this account of adventures of the first and only female who has hitherto ventured over-land from England to India, may at least prove not wholly unacceptable to the fair part of the reading community.
Narrative of A Journey Overland from 1800.00
England to India (Set of 2 Volumes)
3. A Narrative of a Journey Overland from Caunpoor to the Boorendo Pass in the Himalaya Mountain.
The narrative of Journey is divided in to two volumes, one by Major Sir William Lloyd and the second one is by Captain Alexander Gerard. Volume-I of the travelogue is a narrative of journey from Caunpoor to Koteghur by Naan and Jeytuk to the Palains, Volume-II narrates the journey from the Snowy Passes of Himalayas to Shatool, Nawur, Sooran, Rampoor, Kooloo, Nirtnugur, Kotgurh where the Himalayan tour ends. An annexure to the present travelogue is the letter from the late J. G. Gerard, detailing a visit to the Shatool and Boorendo Passes, for the purpose of determining the line of perpetual snow on the southern face of
the Himalaya was written upon the spot, and contains facts and results of much importance upon the Isothermal lines of the Himalaya mountains. The present narrative combines instruction with amusement.
A Narrative of a Journey Overland from Caunpoor to the Boorendo Pass in the Himalaya Mountain 1500.00
(Set of 2 Volumes)
4. Imperial India: An Artist Journal 1876-1877
The author Val C. Princep, an exceptional artist had received, somewhat unexpectedly, a commission in the month of October, 1876 to paint a picture for the Indian Government, as a present to Her Majesty the Queen on the occasion of the assumption of the title of Empress of India. He began his journey from England to India early in November 1876 to explore a country artistically unknown to him. He had the advantage of belonging to what is called an Indian family, since he was born in Calcutta, although he left the place at an early age. After his arrival in India, the author had travelled from Calcutta to Delhi and determined to keep a journal and submitted same to the readers.
The reader will find many sketches mentioned in the journals which have been found impossible to reproduce among the illustrations. The exigencies of the publishers had necessitated the author to make a selection from the original journal for reproduction in the present form. In this publication, the author has brought thirty-four sketches of natives - mostly rajahs - and nearly fifty landscape studies and twenty four woodcuts. The author had made a selection of those which he found most interesting to the general public.
Imperial India: An Artist Journal 1876-1877 1250.00
(The above publications are available with Asian Educational Services,
6A Shahpur Jat, New Delhi - 110 049 Tell. : +91 11-26491586, 26494059
Fax: 011-26494946
email: aes@aes.ind.in)
5. The Military operations at Cabul
In the 1880s, Afghanistan's state-building problems were dramatically aggravated by the intervention of two new imperialist powers, the British Empire and Czarist Russia. The British saw the Hindu Kush Mountains of Afghanistan as a natural barrier, one that would protect the lucrative Indian subcontinent from invasion. The Military Operations at Cabul provides a first-hand account of British Army operations in Cabul duThis publication provides a first-hand account of British Army operation in Cabul during 1842, when Afghanistan rose up on revolt against its ruler and the British forces in the city. The book provides an insightful account of what happened in the city during this period, followed by a brief relation of the retreat, when Afghan tribal forces decimated the British Army and their followers.
The author also provides an interesting narrative of his time as a prisoner, when he and his family was captured by Akbar Khan, an Afghan Prince and Emir. During nearly nine months in captivity, Eyre kept a diary describing his experiences, illustrated by the sketches of other officers and ladies. The manuscript was smuggled out to a friend in British India and was then published in England as The Military Operations at Cabul in 1843.
The Military operations at Cabul 750.00
6. To Balk, Bokhara and Herat
Fascinatingly, the image of bleak country, tribal warlords, harsh justice, and an ungovernable people that emerges from Mohan Lal's account of the region has continuity in present times. Whether this continuity is because of Orientalist discourse, the games that western and expansionist powers have been playing in the region since the beginning of the nineteenth century, the fierce independence of the warlords who have never submitted to any overarching authority, or a combination of the latter two factors continues to intrigue observers.
Munshi Mohan Lal is an early product of the 'civilizing mission of the British in India. Employed as Persian Secretary by Lieutenant Alexander Burnes, British envoy, during his travels through Afghanistan and Central Asia, Mohan Lal carried a personal diary of his travels as he had been encouraged to do by his British teacher. However, his diary records not merely strategic transactions but also ethnographic and geographical details of the remote and harsh terrain he was travelling. It also provides information regarding observations on the Bamian idols and the description of the trade of the region. His recollections are tied up with a progressively important aspect of British imperialism - the enterprise of gathering and recording knowledge about the land and the peoples it seeks to rule or control.
To Balk, Bokhar a and Herat 775.00
(The above publications are available with Three Rivers Publishers,2nd Floor, 6 Eastern Avenue, Maharani Bagh, New Delhi 110 065)
7. Nawab Sultan Jahan Begam: An Account of My Life
The publication entitled, Akhtar Iqbal (The Star of Prosperity) in Urdu, carries the story down to the end of the twelfth year of the reign of Nawab Sultan Jahan Begam. The author has endeavoured to give a faithful picture of the general conditions of life in the-then Bhopal, and the manner and character of its administration. In fact, the present volume including the other two volumes
named Gohur-i-Iqbal (The Pearl of Prosperity) and Taj-ul-Iqbal (The Crown of Prosperity) covers a period of over two hundred years, and they thus form a complete record of the origin and history of the Bhopal State, and the gradual development, from reign to reign, of its resources and administrative organizations.
The literal translation of the original text was carried out by Mr. B. Ghoshal, an accomplished Urdu and Persian Scholar and it is translated to English by C. H. Payne.
Nawab Sultan Jahan Begam: An Account of My Life 395.00
(This publication is available with Niyogi Books, D-78, Okhla Industrial area,
Phase-I, New Delhi-110 020, INDIA Tel: +91 11-26816301, 49327000
Fax: +91 11-26810483, 26813830
email: niyogibooks@gmail.com)
8. A Descriptive Catalogue of Sanskrit Manuscripts
This catalogue of Sanskrit manuscripts lists codices which were transferred from the personal library of H.H. the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir. It contains unknown text as well as ancient versions of known text in the Sharda script. This royal collection edited by Prof. Lokesh Chandra encompasses Vedic text, Smrti, Dharmasastra, Itihasa, Purana, Philosophy, Grammar, Lexicography, Drama, Poetry, Poetics, Astrology, Ritual, Medicine, Polity, Tantras, Martial Arts, etc.
A Descriptive Catalogue of Sanskrit Manuscripts 1500.00
(This publication is available with Aditya Prakashan, 2/18, Ansari Road, New Delhi-110 002 Email: contact@adityaprakashan.com)