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Captain W R Pogson, A History of the Boondelas, Calcutta: Printed at the Baptist Mission Press and Published by the Asiatic Lithographic Company, 1828

pp. vii, 174 + 2-page list of Subscribers’ Names [135 copies] + 1-page Emendata [i.e. list of corrections in the text]. The title-page has a vignette captioned ‘View of the Breach of the N. W. Gateway of Ujeegurh’ [i.e. Ajaigarh]. Complete with 6 full-page lithographic plates [1 of them double-page] and 3 maps [Bundelkhund, Fort of Ujeegurh and Kalinjur] of which 1 is folding, and 1 folding genealogical table; contemporary half-leather binding with marbled boards and endpapers. All edges gilt. Gift slip to Armstrong College pasted inside front cover.
28 x 23 x 1.5 cm

The edition may not have been more than 200 copies considering Bundelkhand was a remote region at the time the book was published, of which the subscribers’ list accounts for 135 copies.

An English translation of Chatraprakasha ("The splendor of Chatrasal"), a medieval Hindi biography authored by Lal Kavi and detailing the life of the Bundela chieftain Chatrasal in the 17th century, who gained notoriety for his resolute resistance against Mughal dominion. The Bundelas, a Rajput tribe, governed over a number of states in the area that is now considered Bundelkhand in Central India.

This book exemplifies the intriguing amalgamation of two printing technologies - lithography and typography - along with two presses, which were employed in Calcutta during the early 19th century to inexpensively produce the first illustrated books produced in India. Lithography was introduced in Calcutta in 1826 by the Asiatic Lithographic Company and this book was issued by them only two years after that.

Born in Sutton, Surrey, on 1 July 1787, and baptized on 30 July, Wredenhall Robert Pogson was the fourth child of Bedingfield Pogson of Edwardstone, Suffolk, and Elizabeth Philadelphia Pearce, his wife, whom he wed in London in 1780. Wredenhall commenced his military career on March 17, 1805, having enlisted as a cadet in 1803. Prior to 1840, when he enlisted in the 47th Native Infantry, he marched through several regiments before attaining the rank of lieutenant colonel and commanding officer. In October 1824, Indian sepoys from his regiment mutinied over unfulfilled conditions and broken promises. While Pogson acknowledged their legitimate concerns, he was the officer who issued the ultimate order for the executions of eleven men following the suppression of the mutiny. His intervention saved the life of a twelfth man whose identity was in dispute; as a result, the condemned individual's sentence was commuted. In his Memoir of the Mutiny at Barackpore (Serampore 1833), he provided a detailed account of this incident. During 1825-6, he was also present during the siege and subsequent capture of Bhurtpoor (Bharatpur, Rajasthan). In his capacity as Captain W R Pogson, he authored several translations and an erudite historical work concerning the Rajas: A History of the Boondelas (1828), the present lot; a Narrative During A Tour to Cateegaon (Serampore 1831). As an accomplished linguist, he provided interpretation services for the Court of Enquiry in Cawnpore in 1813.

Wredenhall Robert Pogson [1787 – 1843] died in Sikraud, Benares, on 6 Aug. 1843 after 38 years of service in India. He was buried by the roadside as he had requested in his will. His family, friends, and fellow officers of the 47th Regiment erected a monument to him at Cantonment, Benares (near boundary pillar 18).

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