India
Collection of letters and documents, 20th century
Estimate: £500 - £800
Auction: 18 June 2025 from 10:00 BST
Description
Victor Hope, 2nd Marquess of Linlithgow (1887-1952). Typed letter signed as Viceroy of India to the Maharaja of Gondal, 1940, 1 p., on the establishment of a medical college in Delhi;
Doreen Hope, Marchioness of Linlithgow (1886-1965). Typed letter signed as Vicereine of India to the Maharaja of Gondal, 1943, ‘This letter contains a last request to Your Highness before my departure from India’, on the establishment of a ‘central institution in Kathiawar for the treatment of tuberculosis’, 2 pp.;
[Indian Independence]. Blank instrument of accession to the Dominion of India, 1947, printed document with blank spaces left for signatures of an acceding prince, single foolscap bifolium printed on 3 sides, with 2 related blank documents ('Agreement between the State of _ and the Dominion of India', and ‘Instrument of Accession’, the latter authorising ‘the Dominio of India to exercise all the said powers and jurisdiction in relation to the said taluka/estate in such manner and through such agency or agencies as that Dominion may from time to time determine’), and a cyclostyled memorandum from the Secretary to the Regional Commissioner, W. I. and G. S. Region, Rajkot, 8 October 1947 (2 foolscap leaves, on relations between Indian states and the Dominion of India following the ‘lapse of paramountcy’;
[Government of India]. ‘Memorandum on Some Dangers of Plural Representation of Indian States in the Proposed Upper Chamber of the All-India Federal Legislature’ [drop-head title], 1932, 2 copies, printed, foolscap, 40 pp., wire-stitched marked ‘for private circulation only’ and ‘private and confidential' in red types at head of first leaf, first copy dated 30 July 1932, the second dated 6 August 1932, both copies with different settings of the index on first leaf and presumably containing differences in text, outer leaves detached or detaching;
Ganga Singh, Maharaja of Bikaner (1880-1943). Two printed memoranda on arranging a banquet for the visit to India of the Prince of Wales (the future Edward VIII), June and July 1920, each a single foolscap sheet with embossed crest at head, the first with two carbons of a response from the Maharaja Malavendra of Nabha, initialled in red pencil, with a corrected draft, the second with a curtly-phrased carbon response similarly initialled;
[Kathiawar]. Printed letter from the princes of Kathiawar to Sir George Sydenham Clarke, Governor of Bombay, c.1910, single foolscap bifolium, 3 pp., on customs arrangements at Viramgam ('we hope Government will consider whether there is sufficient justification for subjecting the many non-maritime States … to the vexation incidental to the perpetuation of the preventive cordon …'), and the management of railways in Kathiawar, old repair to head of first leaf;
[Jammu and Kashmir]. A Handbook of Jammu and Kashmir State. Jammu: Ranbir Government Press, 1944. 8vo, 60 pp., original wrappers, ink-stain to front wrapper;
[Ratlam]. Ratlam. The Premier Rathore State of Central India and its Ruler. Indore: Narayan Das Tandon, c.1935. 4to, original wrappers, unpaginated, photographic illustrations throughout;
and others: chromolithographic address from the people of Dharampur to the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir commemorating his visit, 1923; 'Memorandum of instructions prescribed for dress at the Investiture to be held at “The Viceroy's House”, New Delhi', 1939, printed, 4 ff.; ‘Programme of Ceremonies to be observed at the presentation to His Highness the Thakor Saheb of Bhavnagar’; autograph letter on Indian Office stationery, 1910;
‘Summary of the existing policy regarding tours and visits abroad of Ruling Princes and Chiefs’, c.1920, printed document, 2 foolscap leaves, string-tied at upper inner corner; The Sphere, Indian Princes Number, 1938 (folio, original wrappers, contents working loose) (1 folder)