Emily Eden

EMILY EDEN (1797-1869)
Portraits of the Princes & Peoples of India. London: J. Dickinson & Son, 1844.
2° (514 x 362mm). Lithographic title, 27 lithographic plates on 24 leaves by Lowes Dickinson after Eden, printed by Charles Hullmandel, interleaved letterpress captions. (Some light scattered spotting, mostly in margins, light wear and short tear to margin of plate 12, small faint dampstain in the gutter of the lower margin.) Diced purple half-morocco and cloth sides, upper cover blocked in gilt 'Hon. E. Eden's /India' with an integral vignette illustration of a snake coiled around an egg (rebacked, preserving the original label, label repaired, cloth lightly faded, corners bumped and rubbed).
FIRST EDITION of Eden's important work. Emily Eden, daughter of William Eden, first baron Auckland, accompanied her brother, George, Lord Auckland (1784-1849) to India where he served as Governor-General from 1835-1842. Eden's fine portraits and descriptions record the Indian rulers, and often their families, with whom Lord Auckland met during his term of office. They include the Maharaja Sher-Singh, ruler of the Punjab, Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the Raja of Nahun, the Raja of Patiala, and Raja Hira Singh, son of the Prime Minister of the Punjab. Fanny Parks, travelling in India between 1822 and 1845, found Eden's sketches from this period to be 'most spirited and masterly.' The richness and splendour of these Indian figures and their entourages are deftly captured, particularly in the plates relating to the bejewelled horses from the Maharaja's stable, and the elephants, dogs, hawks and hunting leopards sent to accompany Lord Auckland by the King of Oudh. Not in Abbey.