Tree and Serpent Worship: Illustrations of Mythology and Art in India in the First and Fourth Centuries after Christ: from the sculptures of the Buddhist topes at Sanchi and Amravati

James Fergusson, Tree and Serpent Worship: Illustrations of Mythology and Art in India in the First and Fourth Centuries after Christ: from the sculptures of the Buddhist topes at Sanchi and Amravati, London: India Museum: India Office (W. H. Allen & Co.), 1873 (first published in 1868), Second Edition, revised, corrected and in great part re-written.

pp. xvi; 274 pages and extra numbered pages 270a-270b. "Postscript” slip tipped in facing p. x., including frontispiece after a drawing of the northern gateway at Sanchi by Lt-Col. Maisey; 1 double-page colour lithograph plan of the Amravati 'stupa'; 1 tinted lithographic map of Amravati. Plus 98 plates on 76 leaves carrying 14 mounted albumen prints by James Waterhouse; 38 albumen prints by W. H. Griggs; 20 tinted lithographic plates and 25 uncoloured lithographic plates. Black and white wood engravings in the text.

Publisher's red half hard-grain morocco on green sand-grained cloth, title gilt to the spine, large Naga Raja disk gilt to the upper board, top edge gilt, marbled end papers.
13.5 x 11 in (34.4 x 27.9 cm)

An important early photographically-illustrated work on the mythology and beliefs represented in the Indian Buddhist architecture.

James Fergusson [1808-1886] was a Scottish-born architectural historian, mainly remembered for his interest in Indian historical architecture and antiquities.

James Waterhouse [1842–1922] was a British photographer and Indian Army officer who headed the Photographic Department of the Survey of India. See “The Waterhouse Albums” edited by John Falconer, published by Alkazi Foundation in 2009.

Both the 1868 and 1873 editions together amounted to 500 copies according to Ray Desmond's The India Museum 1801-1879, p. 115

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