Indian Drawings

a) Ananda Kentish Coomaraswmay, Indian Drawings: Volume I, London: India Society, 1910

vii, 32 text pages, 29 monochrome illustrations with captioned tissue guards; cloth backed boards
11.4 x 8.8 x 0.7 in (29 x 22.5 x 2 cm)

This copy is numbered 187 out of a limited-edition of 400 copies.

With a foreword by the author. Contains 29 black-and-white plates ranging from the late sixteenth century to the late nineteenth century, with the majority being from the seventeenth. Also, 25 black-and-white figures are included throughout the text. A small sheet of an addendum precedes the prints, with another sheet laid-in of addenda and corrigenda.

b) Ananda Kentish Coomaraswmay, Indian Drawings: Second Series, Chiefly Rajput (Volume II) , London: India Society, 1912

34 text pages, 26 monochrome illustrations; cloth backed boards
11.4 x 8.8 x 0.6 in (29 x 22.5 x 1.6 cm)

This copy is numbered 216 out of a limited-edition of 405 copies

This volume is divided into chapters, with the first being an introduction by the author, followed by 11 paper stencils, description of the drawings, and Rajput portraits. Contains 16 black-and-white figures throughout the text, which is followed by 26 black and white plates with captioned tissue guards. Also contains addenda and corrigenda to the first and second series.

Coomaraswamy was a Ceylonese philosopher and metaphysician, as well as a pioneering historian and philosopher of Indian art, particularly art history and symbolism, and an early interpreter of Indian culture to the West. In particular, he is described as "the ground-breaking theorist who was largely responsible for introducing ancient Indian art to the West." (Wikipedia)

He wrote catalogues for the Museum of Fine Arts and published his History of Indian and Indonesian Art in 1927. In 1933 Coomaraswamy's title at the Museum of Fine Arts changed from curator to Fellow for Research in Indian, Persian, and Mohammedan Art. Bibliographic reference: Creswell 998.

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