 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
TOD, James (1782-1835)
Annals and Antiquities of Rajast’han, or the Central and Western Rajpoot States of India
London: publishe by Smith, Elder , & Co. and Calkin & Budd, 1829-1832. 2 volumes, 4to (11 7/8 x 10 3/8 inches). 3 letterpress tables (1 folding). 50 plates, plans and maps by Edward Finden and others after Captain Waugh, Ghafasi and others (including: 1 folding engraved map, hand-coloured in outline, 28 engraved plates after Waugh [1 folding], 11 engraved plates after Ghafasi, 3 lithographs [1 folding, 2 drawn on stone by Louis Haghe and on india paper mounted]). Expertly bound to style in light brown half morocco over contemporary marbled paper-covered boards, spines in six compartments with raised bands, red morocco lettering-piece in the second compartment, black morocco in the third, comb-marbled endpapers, t.e.g.
First edition of this valuable early study of the history, beliefs and topography of Rajasthan in north west India
The author went to India as a cadet in the Bengal army of the British East India Company in 1799. He commanded the escort attached to the resident with Sindhia from 1812 to 1817. In the latter year he was in charge of the Intelligence Department which largely contributed to the break up of the Maratha Confederacy in the Third Anglo-Maratha War, and was of great assistance in the campaign in Rajputana. In 1818 he was appointed political agent for the states of western Rajputana, where he conciliated the chieftains and settled their mutual feuds ... While resident in Rajputana, Tod collected materials for his Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, a work of great importance for South Asian scholars. At the dawn of the archaeological and historical study of India, Tod presents the contemporary geography and a detailed history of Rajputana along with the history of the Rajput clans who ruled most of the area at that time. Tod's work drew on local archives, Rajput traditional sources, and monuments such as the Edicts of Asoka found at Junagadh ...[He] returned to England in 1823 with a wealth of material for his fundamental study of Rajast'han's historical development. The work is ornamented with a fine series of plates, the majority of which are from drawings by a local artist whose name is given as Ghafsi, or Major Waugh, a friend and kinsman of the author who died just before the work was published. The work was much appreciated in the region at the time, to the extent that the ruler of Udaipur renamed a village in Tod's honour: Barsawada became "Todgarh" (or Tods fort) - a name that it still bears today.
|
#20388 $7,500.00 
|
© 2002-2005 Donald A. Heald
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
