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Ernest Rhys, Rabindranath Tagore: A Biographical Study, London & New York: Macmillan, 1925. First edition

xvi, 157 pp., including 8 full-page black-and-white portraits and photographs of Tagore and key associates, interspersed in the text; original blue cloth with dust jacket, gilt title to spine
7.5 x 5 in (19 × 13 cm)

SIGNED BY RABINDRANATH TAGORE ON THE TITLE PAGE.

RABINDRANATH TAGORE SIGNS HIS OWN LIFE: A RARE AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF RHYS’S 1925 BIOGRAPHY

A rare and significant association copy of Ernest Rhys’ early English-language biography of the Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, boldly signed by the subject himself in ink above the printed title. This first edition, published in London in 1925, offers a contemporary portrait of Tagore’s life, literary accomplishments, and philosophical ideals, written by the Welsh editor and poet Ernest Rhys—founder of the Everyman’s Library series and an admirer of Tagore’s fusion of Eastern and Western thought.

The printed dedication is to Hilde Schuster and the late Alfred Schuster, “who died for his country”, followed by a quote from the Bhagavad Gita, reflecting the spiritual undercurrents that resonated through both Tagore’s and Rhys’ writings.

Ernest Rhys’s Rabindranath Tagore: A Biographical Study is not merely an early biography—it is a testimonial work in the fullest sense: part tribute, part interpretation, and part philosophical engagement. It captures the moment when Tagore’s thought was translated, circulated, and framed for a European public grappling with the disillusionments of modernity and open to new spiritual and poetic horizons. In the context of Anglo-Indian literary history, it stands as an elegant and enduring monument to cultural dialogue, mutual respect, and global literary modernism in its formative stage.

Signed copies of Tagore’s works—particularly biographical volumes not authored by him—are exceptionally uncommon, and this example captures a remarkable confluence of author, subject, and contemporary readership. This copy is highly sought after by collectors of signed literary works, as well as those interested in Nobel Prize authors and Indian literary heritage.