THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDERINDOPHILES · BIBLIOPHILES · ICONOPHILES Return home ↗

The printed collection

Browse the Library

Landmark books through which India was translated, classified, studied and imagined. Search freely, or refine the collection by author, subject and date.

47catalogued works
and growing

Search title, author, date, edition or keywordAuthorSubjectArrange by

47 works

Original cloth binding of Robert Sewell's The Analytical History of India

View record ↗

1870 · First edition

The Analytical History of India

From the Earliest Times to the Abolition of the Honourable East India Company in 1858

Robert Sewell

HistoryEmpire & East India Company

Available

Decorated publisher's binding of The Armies of India

View record ↗

1911 · First edition

The Armies of India

A. C. Lovett and G. F. MacMunn

Military

Available

Title page of Asiatick Researches, Calcutta, 1788

View record ↗

1788 · First volume

Asiatick Researches

Volume I

The Asiatic Society

Scholarship & Oriental StudiesHistory & Antiquities

On request

Decorated binding of Oscar Wilde's The Ballad of Reading Gaol

View record ↗

1928 · Illustrated edition · Edition statement in preparation

The Ballad of Reading Gaol

Oscar Wilde

LiteraturePoetry

Available

Original cloth binding of M. S. Randhawa's Basohli Painting

View record ↗

1959 · First edition

Basohli Painting

A study of the early Pahari school of Indian miniature painting

M. S. Randhawa

Art & ArchitectureIllustrated BooksScholarship & Oriental Studies

Available

Collection photograph of Bengal Peasant Life

View record ↗

1880 · New edition

Bengal Peasant Life

Being a New Edition of Govinda Samanta; or, The History of a Bengal Raiyat

Lal Behari Day

LiteratureHistory & AntiquitiesRegional Languages

Available

Title page of the first French edition of the Bhagavad Gita, Paris, 1787

View record ↗

1787 · First French edition

Le Bhaguat-Geeta, ou Dialogues de Kreeshna et d’Arjoon

Abbé Jean-Pierre Parraud · after Charles Wilkins

Religion & PhilosophySanskrit & TranslationEnlightenment

Available

Title page of Charles Wilkins's 1785 Bhagvat-Geeta

View record ↗

1785 · First English edition

The Bhagvat-Geeta

Charles Wilkins

Religion & PhilosophySanskrit & Translation

On request

Black leather gilt binding of Stephen Jay Gould's Bully for Brontosaurus

View record ↗

Date unrecorded · Personally signed leather-bound first edition

Bully for Brontosaurus

Reflections in Natural History

Stephen Jay Gould

Natural History & Science

Available

Title page of Nathaniel Brassey Halhed's A Code of Gentoo Laws

View record ↗

1776 · First edition

A Code of Gentoo Laws

Nathaniel Brassey Halhed

Law & GovernanceReligion & Philosophy

On request

Gilt-decorated binding of Rabindranath Tagore's The Crescent Moon

View record ↗

1918 · Early Macmillan edition

The Crescent Moon

Rabindranath Tagore

LiteratureTagoreIllustrated Books

Available

Decorated publisher's cloth binding of George Francklin Atkinson's Curry and Rice

View record ↗

1859 · First edition

Curry & Rice

George Francklin Atkinson

IndiaRajIllustrated Books

Available

Black leather gilt binding of James D. Watson's The Double Helix

View record ↗

Date unrecorded · Signed numbered special edition · No. 807 of 2,000

The Double Helix

James D. Watson

Science

Available

Collection photograph of Exploration in Tibet

View record ↗

1950 · Second edition

Exploration in Tibet

With an Introduction by Syama Prasad Mookerjee and a Foreword by S. P. Chatterjee

Swami Pranavananda

Travel & ExplorationMaps & GeographyReligion & Philosophy

Available

Title page of William Roxburgh's 1832 Flora Indica

View record ↗

1832 · First complete edition

Flora Indica

William Roxburgh

Natural History & ScienceBotany

On request

Richly gilt publisher's binding of Folk-Tales of Bengal by Lal Behari Day, illustrated by Warwick Goble

View record ↗

1912 · Illustrated edition · Edition statement in preparation

Folk-Tales of Bengal

Lal Behari Day · Illustrated by Warwick Goble

FolkloreBengalIllustrated Books

Available

The first two volumes of Hume and Marshall's The Game Birds of India, Burmah, and Ceylon in their leather bindings

View record ↗

1879 · First edition · Issued 1879–1881

The Game Birds of India, Burmah and Ceylon

With Their Habits, Haunts, &c.

Allan Octavian Hume and Charles Henry Tilson Marshall

Natural History & ScienceIllustrated BooksHistory & Antiquities

Available

Decorated cloth binding of Glimpses of India

View record ↗

Date unrecorded · Deluxe photographic edition · Details in preparation

Glimpses of India

Author attribution in preparation

PhotographyIndiaIllustrated Books

Available

The complete four-volume set of Great Men and Famous Women, 1894

View record ↗

1894 · First edition · Complete four-volume issue

Great Men and Famous Women

A Series of Pen and Pencil Sketches

Edited by Charles F. Horne

BiographyIllustrated BooksWorld History

On request

Title page of Charles Wilkins's 1787 Heetopades

View record ↗

1787 · First English edition

The Heetopades of Veeshnoo-Sarma

Charles Wilkins

LiteratureSanskrit & Translation

On request

Publisher's gilt cloth binding of Hindu Literature by Elizabeth A. Reed

View record ↗

1891 · First edition

Hindu Literature; or, The Ancient Books of India

Elizabeth A. Reed

Religion

Available

Original blue cloth binding of Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies by Abbé Dubois

View record ↗

1906 · Third edition

Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies

Abbé J. A. Dubois · Translated and edited by Henry K. Beauchamp

Anthropology & EthnographyReligion & PhilosophyHinduism

On request

Gilt decorated publisher's binding of India and Tibet by Francis Younghusband

View record ↗

1910 · First edition · Same-month reprint

India and Tibet

Sir Francis Younghusband

HistoryTravel & ExplorationEmpire & East India Company

Available

Collection photograph of India: A Pageant of Prints

View record ↗

1989 · First edition

India: A Pageant of Prints

A survey of India through historical prints

Pauline Rohatgi and Pheroza Godrej, editors

Art & ArchitectureIllustrated BooksHistory & Antiquities

Available

Collection photograph of The Indian Empire

View record ↗

1858 · First edition · Volume I

The Indian Empire

History, Topography, Geology, Climate, Population and the Indian Mutiny · Volume I

Robert Montgomery Martin

Empire & East India CompanyHistory & AntiquitiesMaps & Geography

Available

Three-volume set of The Indian Empire by R. Montgomery Martin

View record ↗

1858 · First edition · Complete in three volumes

The Indian Empire

History, Topography, Geology, Climate, Population, Chief Cities and Provinces

R. Montgomery Martin · With views described by Emma Roberts

HistoryTravel & ExplorationIllustrated Books

On request

Decorated publisher's binding of E. B. Havell's Indian Sculpture and Painting

View record ↗

1908 · First edition

Indian Sculpture and Painting

E. B. Havell

Art History

Available

Gilt spines of the two-volume first edition of Reginald Heber's Journey through the Upper Provinces of India

View record ↗

1828 · First edition

A Journey through the Upper Provinces of India

Reginald Heber

Travel & ExplorationReligion & Missionary History

On request

Three-quarter view of the binding of the privately printed 1883 Kama Sutra

View record ↗

1883 · Privately printed · One of 250

The Kama Sutra

Richard F. Burton

LiteratureReligion & PhilosophyPrivate Press

On request

Elaborately decorated publisher's binding of Kashmir by Francis Younghusband

View record ↗

1909 · First edition

Kashmir

Francis Younghusband

Travel

Available

Engraved portrait and title page of John Fryer's 1698 account

View record ↗

1698 · First edition

A New Account of East-India and Persia

John Fryer

Travel & ExplorationEmpire & East India Company

On request

Original decorated cloth binding of Mary Frere's Old Deccan Days

View record ↗

1868 · First edition

Old Deccan Days; or, Hindoo Fairy Legends Current in Southern India

Mary Frere

Literature / Folklore

Available

Dust jacket of Karl Khandalavala's Pahari Miniature Painting

View record ↗

1958 · First edition

Pahāri Miniature Painting

Karl Khandalavala

Indian Art

Available

Collection photograph of Ragamala Painting

View record ↗

1973 · First edition

Ragamala Painting

A Study of the Indian Musical Modes in Pictorial Form

Klaus Ebeling

Art & ArchitectureIllustrated BooksScholarship & Oriental Studies

Available

Original gilt cloth binding of Ananda Coomaraswamy's Rajput Painting

View record ↗

1916 · First edition

Rajput Painting

Two volumes: Text & Plates

Ananda K. Coomaraswamy

Indian Art

Available

Title page of the Leopold B. Hill Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám illustrated by Abanindranath Tagore

View record ↗

Date unrecorded · Leopold B. Hill illustrated edition · Circa 1910s–1920s

Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám

Edward FitzGerald · Illustrated by Abanindranath Tagore

PoetryPersian LiteratureIndian Art

Available

Black folding portfolio with gilt title for the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam illustrated by M. K. Sett

View record ↗

Date unrecorded · Scarce loose-sheet portfolio issue

Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám

Edward FitzGerald · Illustrated by M. K. Sett

PoetryPersian LiteratureIndian Art

Available

Fine later leather binding of Sir William Jones's Sacontalá

View record ↗

1792 · First English edition

Sacontalá

Sir William Jones

LiteratureSanskrit & Translation

On request

Two-volume set of F. Max Müller's Selected Essays on Language, Mythology and Religion

View record ↗

1881 · First collected edition

Selected Essays on Language, Mythology and Religion

In two volumes

F. Max Müller

Scholarship & Oriental StudiesReligion & PhilosophyLanguage

Available

THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDERSelections From the MahábhárataPhotography forthcomingView record ↗

1842 · Edition statement in preparation

Selections From the Mahábhárata

Selections From the Mahábhárata

Francis Johnson

Religion & PhilosophyLiteratureScholarship & Oriental Studies

Available

The complete two-volume first English edition of Bal Gangadhar Tilak's Gita Rahasya, showing the gilt bindings and spines

View record ↗

1935 · First English edition · Two volumes

Śrimad Bhagavadgītā Rahasya or Karma-Yoga-Śāstra

The first English edition · Complete in two volumes

Bal Gangadhar Tilak

Religion & PhilosophyPolitics & NationalismSanskrit & Translation

Available

Title page of the first edition of William Hodges's Travels in India

View record ↗

1793 · First edition

Travels in India

William Hodges

Travel & ExplorationArt & Architecture

On request

Three-quarter view of the green cloth binding of The Valley of Flowers

View record ↗

Date unrecorded · First edition

The Valley of Flowers

F. S. Smythe

Mountaineering

Available

Two-volume binding of Fanny Parkes's Wanderings of a Pilgrim

View record ↗

1850 · First edition

Wanderings of a Pilgrim, In Search of the Picturesque. During Four and Twenty Years in the East; with Revelations of Life in the Zenana

Fanny Parks

Travel & ExplorationLiteratureEmpire & East India Company

On request

View record ↗

1850 · First edition

Wanderings of a Pilgrim

Fanny Parkes

Travel

Available

Red cloth binding of With Kelly to Chitral

View record ↗

Date unrecorded · First edition

With Kelly to Chitral

Author verification pending

Military

In Collection

Gilt spine of Oriental Literature, volume III, in The World's Great Classics

View record ↗

1899 · Colonial Press edition · Volume details in preparation

The World’s Great Classics

Various authors

ReferenceClassicsDecorative Bindings

Available