Lot 148
![[Grant, Colesworthey]](https://media.app.artisio.co/media/104cbde6-0d38-43cb-9e0f-bb721ef57bcf/inventory/c8732740-ac60-4d37-a892-65bd5bb0d108/b613e6e8-b56f-4538-a26f-e3031b7dcd29/0001_ieLcDQ_original.jpg)
[Grant, Colesworthey]
A Series of Miscellaneous Rough Sketches of Oriental Heads
Auction: India in Ink: The Library of Dr Raj Krishna | 01 October 2026 from 10am | Lots 79 to 208
Description
Calcutta: W. Thacker & Co., c.1845. First edition, presentation copy, inscribed ‘F. Blinne Esqre with the artist’s kind regards' on the title-page, 4to, contemporary half roan with patterned cloth sides (probably an Indian binding), lithographic vignette title-page on green paper, 25 lithographic plates (a few on india paper, mounted), one leaf of facsimiles of the signatures of Sindh notables, genealogical plate, 10 pp. letterpress text (caption-title ‘The Umeers of Sindh’), spotting;
Ibid. An Anglo-Indian Domestic Sketch. A Letter from an artist in India to his Mother in England. Calcutta: W. Thacker & Co., 1849. First edition, 4to, original cloth, [10] 147 9 pp., frontispiece, lithographic map to rear, illustrations in text, front cover slightly marked;
Ibid. [Plates from Lithographic Sketches of the Public Characters of Calcutta]. [Calcutta: W. Thacker & Co.], c.1850. 4to, contemporary cloth, rebacked, leather corners, 100 lithographic portrait plates of British notables in Calcutta, many on india paper, mounted, contemporary foliation, substantial losses to a few plates (e.g. [2], [12] and [89]), general browning, staining, repairs and pencil or ink markings, shallow erosion to lower margins;
with 3 others similar including The Delhi Sketch Book, Delhi: Delhi Gazette Press, 1854 (vol. 5 only, contemporary cloth, 4to, 142 pp., lithographic plates and text-illustrations, ex libris ownership inscription and book-label of Clive Coates of Helperby, loose in binding) (6)
Provenance
INDIA IN INK: THE LIBRARY OF DR RAJ KRISHNA
Footnote
No other copy of A Series of Miscellaneous Rough Sketches of Oriental Heads traced in auction records. Two copies traced in UK institutional libraries, both at the British Library, one of which possibly a ghost; the catalogued BL copy contains 65 plates and additional text-leaves not found in the present copy. The portraits are remarkable for depicting in a realistic style named members and representative types of the native lower and middle classes of India and its hinterland, including Java, Burma and Afghanistan.