Set of Four Books on the Raj

a) Christopher Alan Bayly, The Raj: India and the British 1600-1947, London: National Portrait Gallery Publications, 1990

432 pages with essays, numerous colour & other illustrations, commentaries on exhibits, maps, glossary of Indian terms, bibliography, and index of exhibits; colour-illustrated card wrappers.
11 x 8.5 in (27.94 x 21.59 cm)

Published for the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery (Winter 1990-1), The Raj: India and the British, 1600-1947, this catalogue examines the relationship between British and Indian society over the whole period of British presence in India, from the founding of the East India Company in 1660 to the withdrawal of the British and Partition in 1947. It depicts the wealth, productivity and complex civilisation of the India of the great Mughals and shows how Europeans, including the English, were drawn to its shores, seeking the privilege of trading in its fine muslins, printed cottons and spices. The English East India Company had long insisted on sovereignty within its commercial bases on Indian soil, and a significant body of opinion argued for more secure territorial holdings in the subcontinent. The catalogue attempts to illustrate and analyse the history of India and the British for over 300 years with more than 500 illustrations of the weapons, fabrics, coinage, books, drawings, paintings, prints, sculpture, manuscripts, miniatures, jewellery and maps featured in the exhibition. The book is an illustrated history of India and a contribution both to Indian history and to an understanding of the European experience of colonialism.

b) Pratapaditya Pal and Vidya Dehejia, From Merchants to Emperors: British Artists and India, 1757-1930, New York and London: Cornell University Press, 1986

231 pages; hardbound with dust jacket
12 x 8.5 in (30.48 x 21.59 cm)

This volume is a tour de force that will inform and enchant anyone interested in the British experience in India. Based on a series of lectures the authors delivered at the Pierpont Morgan Library in connection with an exhibit for the Festival of India, presented at the Morgan Library, New York, 1 May - 31 July 1986, and Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 9 September 1986 - 4 January 1987. The text enticingly portrays the British fascination with visual representations of India. The 223 illustrations include drawings, watercolours, photographs, prints, and sketchbooks; 120 of them come from the Paul F Walter Collection in New York, the rest from a dozen public and private collections. An excellent choice for academic and large public libraries.

c) Mildred Archer and Toby Falk, India Revealed: The Art and Adventures of James and William Fraser 1801-35, London and New York: Cassell, 1989

144 pages with 67 colour and 93 black and white illustrations; hardback with dust jacket

This enlightening work on the art and travels of Scottish travel writers James and William Fraser is presented in a stylish first edition. Featuring numerous color images, the text is comprehensively illustrated. Examining the diaries and papers of the Fraser brothers, James Baillie, a Scottish travel writer and artist who illustrated and wrote about Asia Minor, Iran, Kurdistan, and India, and William Fraser, a British India civil servant who served as an agent to the Governor General of India and Commissioner of the Delhi Territory. Written by Mildred Archer, an English art historian who specialized in the art of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in British India, and Toby Falk, a British author and historian.

d) Evgenia Vanina and Irina Chelysheva, Prince Alexei Saltykov’s Journeys Across India, St. Petersburg: State Russian Museum, 2012

204 pages. Massive volume full of plates and English translation of Soltykoff’s journals; hardback with dust jacket
Not published commercially. Printed in Italy in a limited edition of 2000 copies only.
12 x 12.2 in (30 x 30.5 cm)

(Set of four)