A history of the Boondelas

Calcutta : printed at the Baptist Mission Press, Circular Road; and published by the Asiatic Lithographic Company, Park Street, 1828. Quarto, publisher's papered boards, original title label to spine, book owner's label to front pastedown, large folding lithographic Map of Bundelkhund with original hand colouring, lithographed vignette view to title page View of the Breach of the N. W. Gateway of Ujeegurh [i.e. Ajaigarh], pp. vii; [blank], 174; (4), four full page tinted lithographed plates by J. Bennet printed chine collé View at Chatturpore ...; A view of the Mausoleum of Raja Chatter Saul, near Chatturpore in Boondelkhund; Another view of the ruins of the palace of Raja Chatter Saul at Chatturpore in Boondelkhund; View of the East Face of the Fort of Ujeeghur; double page lithographed plate A view of the Fort of Kalinjur, large folding Genealogical Tree or Pedigree of the Descendants of Raja Chatter Saul; two full page plans Plan of the Fort of Ujeegurg and Kalinjur, occasional light foxing, a fine copy. A rare history of the Bundela Rajput clan of central India documenting their rule from 1600 - 1812, and in particular the reign of Maharaja Chhatrasal (1649–1731), who successfully resisted Mughal dominion in the 17th and 18th centuries, to establish an independent kingdom in the Bundelkhand region, now encompassing parts of modern-day Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. It is a translation by Wredenhall Robert Pogson of the eighteenth century work, Chatra Prakas (The Splendor of Chatrasal) written in the dialict Braj Bhasha by the court poet Lal Kavi in around 1727. The list of subscribers consists of 135 names, and the print run for this edition would probably not have numbered much more than a couple of hundred copies. It incorporates some of the first lithographs made in India. Exceedingly rare in the trade, the only example we can locate sold was by Saffron Art in India in 2024, which could not be exported from that country. Provenance : Clive Coates, Helperby, his bookplate to from pastedown, inscribed by him on the front free endpaper. Coates has annotated in pencil it was acquired from Edinburgh bookseller John Grant by English bookseller Stanley Crowe on 3 January, 1944.