Sketch of the Sikhs;

presentation copy from the author's brother

Inscribed 'Presented by/ Rear Admiral/ Sir Pulteney Malcolm'. Sir Pulteney Malcolm (1768–1838), brother of John Malcolm (1769-1833), was made a rear-admiral on 4 December 1813. In he 1816–17 commanded the blockade at the St Helena station so that Napoleon could not escape, and was Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet from 1828 to 1831.

One of the great early works dedicated wholly to understanding the Sikhs. Malcolm was with the British army in the Punjab in 1805: while there he collected material on the history, manners, and religion of the Sikhs. He adds in his preface that he managed to obtain a copy of the Adi-Grant'h and also some historical tracts, which he had explained to him by a Sikh priest of the Nirmala order on his return to Calcutta. The publisher in his advertisement commends the work as a short and clear account of a people of singular religion and manners, with whose history the European reader was little acquainted at this time. Malcolm rose to become Governor of Bombay in 1827.

First edition; 8vo (25 x 16.5 cm); presentation inscription to first blank; later half calf, marbled boards, spine in six compartments with gilt red morocco lettering piece, paper flaw to first blank, else a fine copy; iv, 200 pp.