James Forbes | Oriental Memoirs, 1813, 4 volumes, first edition, brown half morocco

From the Library of Clayre and Jay Michael Haft

James Forbes

Oriental Memoirs: Selected and Abridged From A Series Of Family Letters Written During Seventeen Years Residence in India, London: Printed for the Author by T. Bensley, Published by White, Cochrane, and Co., 1813

FIRST EDITION, 4 volumes, 4to (314 x 258mm.) half-titles, engraved frontispiece, 93 engraved or lithographed plates, 29 hand-coloured, plate list and errata leaf at end of volume 4, twentieth-century brown half morocco over cloth boards, black endpapers, top edge gilt, others uncut, bookseller's label of A. J. Combridge, Bombay, uncoloured plates somewhat spotted, vol 1 pp.111-113 tear at lower margin, vol 3 p.125 torn at fore-edge

As a writer for the British East India Company, James Forbes first travelled to India in 1765, and remained there until 1784. Fascinated by Indian life, as well the country's flora, fauna, and striking architecture, he reputedly filled 52,000 manuscript pages with his notes. In 1781 he visited the Taj Mahal, and became one of the first Europeans to draw it. After returning to England and marrying, Forbes toured continental Europe extensively, until he returned to England once more to write Oriental Memoirs.

LITERATURE:

Abbey, Travel 436; Anker 148; Fine Bird Books 75; Nissen ZBI 1409; Sitwell 96; Wood 345