Set of 5 books by Verrier Elwin

a) Verrier Elwin, Leaves from the Jungle: Life in a Gond village, London: John Murray, 1936, first edition

243 pages including 17 black and white plates; original publisher's green cloth boards without dust-wrapper
22.2 x 14.5 x 3 cm

This book is a vivid and detailed account of his experiences living in a Gond village in central India in the 1930s. The Gonds are an indigenous people who live primarily in the forested regions of central India, and Elwin's book provides a unique and intimate look at their culture and way of life.

b) Verrier Elwin, The Baiga, London: John Murray, 1939

550 pages with 20 line illustrations and 3 maps plus over 50 pages of black and white plates; original publisher's maroon cloth boards without dust-wrapper
23 x 16 x 4.5 cm

'The Baiga are a small aboriginal tribe who inhabit the eastern ranges of the Satpura Mountains in central India. Their traditional occupations are hunting, shifting cultivation and the practice of divination and magic. Verrier Elwin's book is the result of six years' intimate contact with this ancient, remarkable and delightful people' (dustwrapper blurb).

c) Verrier Elwin, Tribal Myths of Orissa: Specimens of the Oral Literature of Middle India, Bombay: Goeffrey Cumberlege, Oxford University Press, 1954, first edition

lv + 698 pages; orange cloth binding without dust-wrappers
21.8 x 15 x 4.5 cm

d) Verrier Elwin, The Agaria, London: Oxford University Press, 1942

xxxvi + 292 pages with 44 line illustrations and 5 maps plus over 36 pages of black and white plates; original publisher's cloth boards with pictorial dust-wrappers
22 x 14 x 4.5 cm

e) Verrier Elwin, The Tribal Art of Middle India, [Madras]: Geoffrey Cumberlege Oxford University Press, 1951. First edition

214 pages; original publisher's yellow cloth boards without dust-wrappers
25 x 19 x 2 cm

Harry Verrier Holman Elwin (29 August 1902 - 22 February 1964) was a British-born Indian anthropologist, ethnologist and tribal activist, who began his career in India as a Christian missionary. He first abandoned the clergy, to work with Mahatma Gandhi and the Indian National Congress, then converted to Hinduism in 1935 after staying in a Gandhian ashram, and split with the nationalists over what he felt was an overhasty process of transformation and assimilation for the tribals. Verrier Elwin is best known for his early work with the Baigas and Gonds of Orissa and Madhya Pradesh in central India, and he married a 13 year old member of one of the communities he studied. He later also worked on the tribals of several North East Indian states especially North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) and settled in Shillong, the hill capital of Meghalaya.

In time he became an authority on Indian tribal lifestyle and culture, particularly on the Gondi people. He served as the deputy director of the Anthropological Survey of India upon its formation in 1945. Post-independence, he took up Indian citizenship. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru appointed him as an adviser on tribal affairs for north-eastern India, and later he was Anthropological Adviser to the Government of NEFA (now Arunachal Pradesh). His philosophy towards the north-east was partially responsible for its disconnect from the modern world.

The Government of India awarded him the third highest civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan in 1961. His autobiography, The Tribal World of Verrier Elwin won him the 1965 Sahitya Akademi Award in English Language, given by the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters.

(Set of five)