Shigurf Namah-I-Velaët;

translator's copy

The translator's copy of this account of the first visit by an Indian to Europe in the Early Modern period. Inscription reads 'Jmes Alexander / Allan Rask (?) / Stirling'. Despite the inscription being later, with Alexander only buying his house in Allan, Stirling, in 1853, it is certainly his copy, as the house was immediately sold on his death.

Upon transferring to the British Army in 1825, James Edward Alexander (1803-1885) found himself as aide-de-camp to Colonel Kinneir, Envoy Extraordinary to the Court of Teheran. He earned the Persian order of the Lion and Sun for his involvement in the War of 1826 between Persia and Russia, and would receive the Turkish order of the Crescent for his presence during the Russo-Turkish War of 1829. Much later in his life he would secure the transfer of Cleopatra's needle to London.

Shaikh Mirza Muhammad I'tisam ad-Din Panchnuri (1730-1800) spent most of his career in Bengal working for various British diplomats and dignitaries. In 1765 Shah Alam II offered I'tisam the title of Mirza if he accompanied Captain Archibald Swinton to England to deliver a tribute. In the end he never delivered the tribute of the Emperor but spent three years travelling to France and England, assisting Swinton and his friend Sir William Jones in various translations, before returning to Bengal. He provided an invaluable record at how the Late Mughal culture saw and understood the West.

First edition; 8vo (22 x 14 cm); dual language in English & Arabic, translator's ownership inscription to first blank, hand-coloured frontispiece portrait by Hullmandel; original green moire cloth, gilt morocco lettering piece to spine, professional restoration to spine, a fine copy; xv, 221, [2, errata], 197, 6, [1, ad.] pp.

Ghani p190.