Lot 137
Mitra, Rajendralal
Buddha Gaya
Auction: India in Ink: The Library of Dr Raj Krishna | 01 October 2026 from 10am | Lots 79 to 208
Description
The Hermitage of Sakya Muni. Published under Orders of the Government of Bengal. Calcutta: Bengal Secretariat Press, 1878. First edition, 4to (31 x 23.5cm), original green cloth over bevelled boards, spine and front board lettered in gilt, marbled edges, xiii [3] 257 pp., 51 plates (including lithographs, autotypes from photographs, mounted on card, and one albumen-print photograph, also mounted, binding slightly shaken, wear to spine-ends and tips, a few card mounts with shallow chips to upper fore corners
Provenance
INDIA IN INK: THE LIBRARY OF DR RAJ KRISHNA
Royal Society of Arts (ink-stamp to title-page and front free endpaper; disposal stamp to front free endpaper).
Footnote
The first dedicated survey of the temple complex at Bodh Gaya, one of the holiest sites in Buddhism, situated in what is now the Indian state of Bihar. Produced by the leading Indian scholar Rajendralal Mitra (1821-1898) at the instigation of the Government of Bengal in response to rumours of a restoration project proposed by King Mindon of Burma, the work is rare in commerce, with the last copy identified in auction records appearing in 1949. Mitra was appointed president of the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1885.