SET OF THREE BOOKS ON RAJA RAVI VARMA

a) E MJ Venniyoor, Raja Ravi Varma, Trivandrum: Director, Museums and Zoos and Art Gallery, 1981

pp. vii, 82 + 50 plates; original hardback bound in green silk with gilt title on cover
11 x 9 in (27.9 x 22.8 cm)

Previous owner's lovely book plate on front endpaper.

b) Krishna Chaitanya, Ravi Varma: Contemporary Indian Art Series, New Delhi: Lalit Kala Akademi, 1960

pp. 39 including 21 plates [9 in colour]; stiff cards with dustjacket
7 x 4.5 in (17.7 x 11.4 cm)

c) S N Joshi, Raja Ravi Varma: Namaankit Chitre [Famous Pictures], Poona: Printed at the Chitra-Shala Steam Press, 1925

Ravi Varma's portrait followed by 5-page biography, 1-page list of plates and 87 paintings reproduced on as many pages with detailed descriptions; rebound stiff cards with cover showing 'Birth of Shakuntala'.
9.5 x 6.5 in (24.1 x 16.5 cm)

Half-tone reprints of the renowned pictures of the Late Raja Ravi Varma (With a short sketch of his life, and description in Marathi of every picture).

Chitrashala Press had been operating in Poona since 1878 printing god prints. This book, which also had a Hindi and English edition published simultaneously, is in the nature of a catalogue of the Chitrashala Press stock and may have been prompted by a desire to benefit from the interest generated in India's past among the Indian populace following the publicity about Delhi Durbar of 1911.

This was only the second book published about an Indian artist, the first also being on Ravi Varma, his biography published in Allahabad in 1903 when he was alive.

(Set of three)

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.