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India: Pictorial, Descriptive, and Historical, from the Earliest Times to the Present
London: Henry G. Bohn, 1854.
Dimensions: Approx. 7 × 4½ inches.
An attractive mid-19th-century illustrated historical volume exploring the history, geography, people, religions, customs, architecture, and culture of India.
Published as part of Bohn's Illustrated Library, the book features numerous illustrations throughout, along with an engraved frontispiece map of India.
Fine Victorian Leather Binding
Beautifully bound in full calf leather, featuring gilt-decorated covers with school crests, an elaborately gilt-tooled spine, raised bands, all-gilt page edges, and colorful marbled endpapers.
The decorative binding makes this volume particularly appealing to collectors of Victorian fine bindings and antique illustrated books.
Historical Provenance – Fauconberge School, 1864
The volume retains its original school prize presentation label from Fauconberge School, Beccles, England, dated Midsummer 1864.
The handwritten presentation records an award for Classics and Mathematics in the III Form, presented to a named student.
The label also bears the name of Rev. Alfred Octavius Hartley, M.A., headmaster of Fauconberge School during this period.
The school's lion crest and motto, To Encourage Learning, appear on the presentation label, complementing the decorative gilt school crests on the leather covers.
This documented 19th-century school provenance adds historical interest and distinguishes the volume from ordinary copies of the same volume exhibiting moderate age-related wear.
Both front and rear boards remain attached. The leather binding shows rubbing, scuffing, and wear along the exterior joints, spine ends, corners, and board edges. The gilt decorations remain attractive.
The engraved frontispiece map exhibits substantial brown staining and discoloration. Additional pronounced brown staining is present on pages 284–285.
Scattered light spotting, occasional foxing, and age-related toning are present throughout the interior.
The original school prize label shows some age-related discoloration and spotting but remains clearly legible.
Please carefully examine all photographs for additional details regarding the binding, illustrations, interior, and overall condition. Photographs show the actual book being offered.
An attractive example of Victorian school prize binding with documented 1864 provenance, combining decorative leather craftsmanship with an illustrated historical account of India.
