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Captain Thomas Williamson and Samuel Howitt, Oriental field sports; being a complete, detailed, and accurate description of the wild sports of the East; and exhibiting, in a novel and interesting manner, the natural history of the elephant, the rhinoceros, the tiger, the leopard, the bear, the deer, the buffalo, the wolf, the wild hog, the jackall, the wild dog, the civet, and other domesticated animals; as likewise the different species of feathered game, fishes, and serpents; the whole interspersed with a variety of original, authentic, and curious anecdotes......, London: Edward Orme, 1907

Collated complete with a hand-coloured frontispiece depicting a reclining Bengal tiger beneath a palm, pages [vi], ii, 146, [4] and a complete suite of 40 fine hand-coloured aquatint plates, drawn by Samuel Howitt after original sketches by Captain Thomas Williamson and engraved by H. Merke, Vivares, and others, printed by T Bensley; original full dark green morocco binding with elaborate blind tooling to spine and boards and gilt-stamped title to spine: WILD SPORTS OF THE EAST. Housed in solander box.

LIST OF PLATES IN ENGLISH AND FRENCH
1. (Frontispiece) Hunters going out in the morning (Les chasseurs partant pour la chasse du matin) / 2. Beating sugar cane for a hog (Battage de la canne à sucre pour chasser le sanglier) / 3. The Chase after a Hog (La poursuite du sanglier) / 4. Hog-Hunters meeting by surprise a Tigress & her Cubs (Les chasseurs rencontrent, à l’improviste, une tigresse et ses petits) / 5. The Hog at Bay (Sanglier en fuite retranché) / 6. The Dead Hog (Sanglier abattu) / 7. The Return from Hog-Hunting (Retour de la chasse au sanglier) / 8. Driving Elephants into a Keddah (Conduite des éléphants dans un keddah) / 9. Decoy Elephants catching a Male (Éléphants leurres attrapant un mâle) / 10. Decoy Elephants leaving the Male fastened to a tree (Éléphants leurres abandonnant le mâle attaché à un arbre) / 11. A Rhinoceros hunted by Elephants ( Rhinocéros chassé par des éléphants) / 12. A Tiger prowling through a village (Tigre rôdant dans un village) / 13. Shooting a Tiger from a Platform (Tir sur un tigre depuis une plateforme) / 14. A Tiger seizing a Bullock in a pass (Tigre saisissant un bœuf dans un col) / 15. Driving a Tiger out of a Jungle (Poussée d’un tigre hors de la jungle) /16. Chasing a Tiger across a river (Chasse d’un tigre à travers une rivière) / 17. The Tiger at Bay (Tigre retranché) / 18. A Tiger springing upon an Elephant (Tigre bondissant sur un éléphant) / 19. The Dead Tiger (Tigre abattu) / 20. Shooters coming by surprise upon a Tiger (Tireurs surprenant un tigre) / 21. A Tiger hunted by Wild Dogs (Tigre chassé par chiens sauvages) / 22. A Tiger killed by a poisoned arrow (Tigre tué par une flèche empoisonnée) / 23. Shooting a Leopard in a Tree (Tir sur un léopard perché dans un arbre) / 24. Exhibition of a Battle between a Buffalo and a Tiger (Scène représentant un combat entre un buffle et un tigre) / 25. The Buffalo at Bay (Buffle retranché) / 26. Peacock-shooting (Tir au paon) / 27. Shooting at the Edge of a Jungle (Tir en bordure de la jungle) / 28. Driving a Bear out of Sugar Cane (Conduite d’un ours hors de la canne à sucre) / 29. Death of the Bear (Mort de l’ours) / 30. Hunting a Civet Cat (Chasse d’un civette) / 31. Hunting Jackals ( Chasse de chacals) / 32. Chase after a Wolf (Poursuite d’un loup) / 33. The Common Wolf Trap (Piège à loups traditionnel) / 34. Smoking Wolves from their Earths (Extermination des loups dans leurs tanières) / 35. The Ganges breaking its banks; fishing, etc. (Crue du Gange, pêche, etc.) / 36. Killing Game in Boats (C Chasse au gibier depuis des bateaux) / 37. Dooreahs (Dog Keepers) leading out Dogs (Dooreahs (soigneurs de chiens) menant les chiens) / 38. Syces (Grooms) leading out Horses (Syces (palefreniers) menant les chevaux) / 39. Hunting a Hog Deer (Chasse au cerf sanglier) / 40. The Hog Deer at Bay (Cerf sanglier retranché)

TIGERS, ELEPHANTS AND EMPIRE: A LANDMARK IN COLONIAL SPORTING ILLUSTRATION - WILLIAMSON AND HOWITT’S ICONIC ORIENTAL FIELD SPORTS, DELUXE FOLIO EDITION (1907)

This is the desirable large oblong folio edition of Wild Sports of the East?—one of the most iconic and visually commanding colour plate books on British India. First issued between 1805 and 1810 by Edward Orme, this volume is a triumph of Regency-era book production, uniting British sporting tradition with imperial spectacle.

The 40 hand-coloured aquatints illustrate the exoticised hunting practices, wildlife, and native customs encountered by Captain Thomas Williamson during his 20-year service with the Bengal Army and offer panoramic and often dramatic depictions of hunting and natural history scenes in Bengal and northern India: tiger and boar hunts, elephant chases, crocodile snaring, rhinoceros trapping, and falconry.

Although based on the field sketches of Captain Thomas Williamson, the plates were redrawn with artistic flourish, vividness and anatomical finesse by his cousin Samuel Howitt, a well-known English painter, illustrator and etcher of animals, hunting, horse racing and landscape scenes.

Often regarded as the finest sporting book on India, Oriental Field Sports offered British readers a romanticised and thrilling window into the subcontinent, reinforcing a vision of empire as both exotic and conquerable.

Executed on a grand visual scale, this large-format edition was intended for aristocratic libraries and military patrons. It served not only as a testament to the dangers and adventures of colonial life but also as a powerful artefact of imperial pageantry. The rich aquatinting and dramatic narrative composition contribute to the enduring fame of this work, which remains unsurpassed in its genre.

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