Lot 125
Muhammad Akbar 'Ali Khan
[Illustrated biographical dictionary of Indian rulers]
Auction: India in Ink: The Library of Dr Raj Krishna | 01 October 2026 from 10am | Lots 79 to 208
Description
c.1878. 8vo (23.6 x 13.6cm), green velvet covers with metal clasps and catches, rebacked, 12 1-16 21-148 129-144 185-364 pp., text lithographically printed throughout with Hindi and Urdu in parallel columns or on facing pages, with captions and occasional paragraphs in English, extra-illustrated with 68 portrait photographs of Indian princes and other rulers (albumen prints, 12 of paintings, the rest apparently from life, various shapes and dimensions, pasted over existing lithographic portraits, pages occasionally left blank), including the Maharajas of Kashmir, Jaipur, Udaipur, Patiala (as a child), Mysore (as a child) Jaisalmer, Gwalior, Kapurthala, Faridkot, Benares, and other states, the Rajas of Orchha, Bijapur, Travancore, etc., the Nawab of Murshidabad, Salar Jung I (chief minister to the Nizam of Hyderabad), Duleep Singh, the Begum of Bhopal, and non-Indian rulers including the Sultan of Muscat, the Sultan of Zanzibar, and more.; with 6 further albumen-print photographs of Delhi monuments (one loose). The text apparently bound without the title-page, and with extensive lacunae in pagination suggesting incompleteness, paper browned, pp. 123-4 torn, occasional chips and tears elsewhere
Provenance
INDIA IN INK: THE LIBRARY OF DR RAJ KRISHNA
Footnote
The introduction to this work contains two testimonials from British colonial officials, printed in English, one of which identifies the author as wakil (agent) to the Maharajah of Banswara in Rajputana.