Dixon, Charles George
Sketch of Mairwara
£2,772
Auction: 19 September 2024 from 10:00 BST
Description
giving a Brief Account of the Origin and Habits of the Mairs; their Subjugation by a British Force; their Civilisation, and Conversion into an Industrious Peasantry; with Descriptions of Various Works of Irrigation in Mairwara and Ajmeer, constructed to facilitate the Operations of Agriculture, and Guard the Districts against Drought and Famine. London: Smith, Elder, and Co., 1850. First edition, 4to (27.2 x 21cm), contemporary green half morocco, vi 241 pp., 9 tinted lithographic plates, 20 lithographic maps and plans, nearly all double-page or folding, and including one folding area map on linen printed in colours, ink-stamp of Steel & Broomfield of Cannon Street (presumably the binder) to front free endpaper, ex Manchester Public Free Libraries with shelfmark and arms gilt to spine, library plate and shelfmark label to front pastedown, and blind stamps to plates, maps and plans and text-leaves, small hole in Z4, bound without advertisement leaf [Abbey Travel 475]
Footnote
Very rare: according to Abbey, citing the English Catalogue, ‘the work was privately printed, and Smith, Elder may therefor only have published it on Dixon’s behalf'. ‘The tract of country known by the name of Mairwara forms a portion of the Arabala chain of hills, running from Goozerat to within a few miles of Dehli. It is bounded by Ajmeer to the north, and separates Meywar on the east from Marwar on the west: to the south are the hill possessions of Meywar’ (p. 1).