Mecca—Sultan Jahan, Begum of Bhopal | The Story of a Pilgrimage to Hijaz, [and 2 other works], in 4 volumes, 1909-1922

Mecca—Sultan Jahan, Begum of Bhopal

Two signed first editions and one other work in 4 volumes, comprising:

i) The Story of a Pilgrimage to Hijaz.Calcutta: Thacker, Spink & Co., 1909

FIRST EDITION, 8vo (212 x 139mm.), SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR ON TITLE, 29 photographic plates, publisher's blue cloth gilt, green patterned endpapers, browned at extremities, bumped at head and tail of spine, spine slightly sunned

ii) An Account of My Life: by Her Highness Nawab Sultan Jahan Begam G.C.S.I. G.C.I.E., G.B.E., C.I., Ruler of Bhopal. Translated by Major Arbus Samad Khan, B.A., Political Secretary to the Begam. Bombay: The Times Press, 1922

2 volumes, 8vo (213 x 142mm.), SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR, photographic frontispieces in each volume, 90 further photographic illustrations, publisher's gilt-lettered blue cloth, dust-jacket for volume one only, frontispiece in volume one becoming detached, some foxing, dust-jacket frayed at extremities and discoloured at spine;

iii) Al Hijab, or Why Purdah is Necessary. Calcutta: Thacker, Spink & Co., 1922 12mo (182 x 126mm.), 212pp., publisher's maroon cloth, spine and upper cover lettered in black, light spotting at extremities, spine slightly sunned, extremities rubbed

A RARE ACCOUNT OF THE PILGRIMAGE TO MECCA FROM A FEMALE PERSPECTIVE. Three works by Sultan Jahan, Begum of Bhopal (1858-1930), who is notable for her extensive reforms of education, taxation, the army, the police, the judiciary, jails, agriculture, and public works during her 25-year-long reign as Nawab of Bhopal (1901-1906), as the only surviving child of Nawab Begum Sultan Shah Jahan and her husband General HH Nasir ud-Daula, Nawab Baqi Muhammad Khan Bahadur (1823–1867). Her output as an author was prolific, and she wrote on a number of topics.

This lot includes The Story of a Pilgrimage to Hijaz, a richly descriptive work, narrating the Begum's Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina, undertaken in 1903. The photographic plates supplement the intimate and philosophical text, showing the Fort of Mecca, Mount Arafat and Jamia Masjid, as well as portraits including the young Sahibzada Mohamed Hamidullah Khan Bahadur.

PROVENANCE:

"L.I. Blackley, | from the Begam of Bhopal, March 1926", inscription and notes in pencil to front endpapers; Bhopal Education Department, library stamps to prelims of Pilgrimage and Story of My Life