Important Notice

More Images

Henry Thoby Prinsep, A Narrative of the Political and Military Transactions of British India: Under the Administration of the Marquess of Hastings, 1813 to 1818, London: John Murray, 1820. First edition.

pp. xix, [1] (errata), 533, [1] (blank); complete with a folding engraved frontispiece map titled "“A Map of the Seat of War in India, 1817:-18. Compiled and drawn for the use of the commander in Chiefs Office fort William, Bengal, and published by permission" by Sidney Hall; contemporary full polished calf, spine with five compartments separated by double gilt fillets, direct gilt lettering to spine; red silk ribbon marker retained.
11.25 x 9 x 1.25 in (28.5 x 23 x 3.5 cm)

PRINSEP’S BLUEPRINT OF EMPIRE: THE POLITICAL AND MILITARY EXPANSION OF BRITISH INDIA UNDER HASTINGS, WITH FOLDING CAMPAIGN MAP

A foundational work of Anglo-Indian political historiography, this first edition of A Narrative of the Political and Military Transactions of British India was authored by Henry Thoby Prinsep, a high-ranking Bengal Civil Servant and later member of the India Council. It chronicles, in lucid and strategic prose, the major events of British India's expansionist phase under Lord Moira, later the Marquess of Hastings, who served as Governor-General from 1813 to 1823.

This work is one of the earliest serious political narratives produced by a Company official. In it, Prinsep offers a detailed and semi-official account of the Anglo-Nepalese War (1814–16), the Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817–18), the establishment of subsidiary alliances, the reduction of Pindari raiders, the absorption of central India into the colonial fold, and the early entrenchment of British military infrastructure and diplomacy.

The book is not merely a chronicle of campaigns but a blueprint of imperial strategy, interweaving intelligence reports, correspondence, and state papers—often with minimal editorialising, giving it the air of an official dispatch. Its tone is that of cool administrative authority, aimed at informing both Westminster and the senior echelons of company governance in India.

The large folding map, engraved by Sidney Hall, is a significant visual element. It outlines the changing territorial control of British India, showing cantonments, river routes, hill tracts, and strategic road links—an indispensable aid for understanding the text’s geopolitical framing.

Today, Prinsep’s Narrative is considered a key early example of colonial historiography—documenting how war, treaty, and cartography combined to underpin the ideological and physical expansion of British India. It also serves as an invaluable primary source for the military history of the subcontinent during a crucial transitional period between conquest and formal governance.

NON-EXPORTABLE