India of the Rajahs

Louis Rousselet, India of the Rajahs, Milan: Franco Maria Ricci, 1985

pp. xii, 269 with 34 tipped-in plates including 14 reproductions of Patna paintings [9 of them folding] and 18 photographs by Bourne & Shepherd of Maharajahs and their Durbars reproduced in sepia PLUS 72 exquisite colour plates on art paper of traditional Indian court costumes [saris, ghagras or skirts, kurtas, zaridozi work, slippers, caps etc] to go with the essay on Indian costumes printed in Italy on sky-blue handmade paper; exquisitely bound in black cloth with a colour plate of a Rajah pasted on cover and title embossed in gilt on cover and spine.
12 x 12 in (30 x 30 cm)

A fabulously handsome and lavish limited-edition volume luxuriously produced. This is Copy No. 1088 of a limited edition of 5,000 copies.

The text consists of:
Foreword by Diana Vreeland.
Introduction by Stephen Jamail.

Indian Court Costumes by Philippa Scott - pp. 3-88 including 72 colour plates PLUS tipped-in Portrait of King Ghazi-ud-din Haidar [of Lucknow], c. 1820, by Robert Home [9.5 x 6 inches] PLUS tipped-in portrait of a Rajah of Patiala, c.1875, based on a painted photograph [9.75 X 7.5 inches].

India of Rajahs by Louis Rousselet, being extracts from his massive travelogue of the 1860s, originally published in the 1870s in France and Britain. These extracts relate to chapters on Baroda, Goojerat, Country of the Bheels, Court of the Maharana of Oudeypoor, Jeypore, Amber and Lake Sambher, Ulwur, Agra, Imperial Durbar at Agra, Bhurtpore, Gwalior and the Court of Bhopal.

This section includes 32 tipped-in plates as follows:

14 of Patna Paintings by Sewak Ram, c. 1805, from the collection of the 2nd Earl of Caledon. The first 9 of them are folding and measure 18 x 11 inches and the remaining 5 are 9 x 6 inches.

There are also 18 tipped-in reproductions in sepia tone of Maharajas and their Durbars taken by Bourne & Shepherd. These are Untitled but the recognisable images include portraits of the Maharaja of Nepal, another of him with his consort, Maharajas of Kashmir, Baroda, Rewah, Begum of Bhopal, some Sikh Rajahs and their Durbars, Bahawalpur Durbar with Ruler and the heir apparent, and Portraits of the Rajahs of Central India, Gujarat and the Northwest Frontier.

This lot is offered at NO RESERVE

This lot will be shipped in "as is" condition. For further details, please refer to the images of individual lots as reference for the condition of each book.