BELNOS, SOPHIE CHARLOTTE
TWENTY FOUR PLATES ILLUSTRATIVE OF HINDOO AND EUROPEAN MANNERS IN BENGAL
First EditionYear: 1832
Size: 43 x 31.5 cm (16.9 x 12.4 inches)
Published by: Smith and Elder & James Carpenter.
No. of Illustrations: 24 Handcoloured Illustrations
Small Folio, Pictorial lithographic title, descriptive text in English and French, with preface and subscribers letters (one from the Royal Asiatic Society and other from Raja Rammohun Roy) in English only, and 24 hand-coloured Lithograph Plates by A. Colin.
BINDING: Later 19th century half-moroccan dark-green leather over pinkish-brown moire cloth, handsome marble matching paper. Leather title label with title in gilt on front cover, Spine with gilt ruling in each.
Fine Condition.
The drawings are colored with an exact knowledge of the costume and exterior appearance of the Natives. A superb and rare lithographic album on India including a frontispiece and 24 plates coloured at the time. One of most beautiful hand colored Lithograph on 19th century India.
Native - born Mrs S. C. Belnos was the wife of Jean Jacques Belnos, a portrait artist who achieved considerable success in the field of lithography and who is also the printer of this work. In the Preface to her album of the above title she states "A native of the country, some pecularities of whose customs I have attempted to depict, from early childhood I was a curious and interested spectator of every object and event characteristic of native opinions and manners in Bengal". Every plate is executed from sketches after nature, which I made chiefly during my pedestrian excursions in the interior of the country, on the banks of the Ganges, where the restraints which confine respectable Europeans to the Palkee are laid aside, and they can enjoy in uninterrupted freedom the contemplation of the various scenes presented by the country, and its inhabitants to their view - (foreword).
She toured the North West provinces and eastwards with her husband and as a result wrote a valuable work illustrated with pen and pencil drawings on the forms of Brahmanical worship and ceremonies of Hindu worship with title 'The Sundhya Or The Daily Prayers Of The Brahmins'. Considered to be a remarkable account of India of the time.
Provenance : Collection of a Gentleman
Excellent Condition
| Nickname | Amount(Rs) | Type | Date & Time(IST) | |
| 1 | anon0262 | 1485000.00 | Regular | 26-03-2025 07:03:22 PM IST |