“A JUST PORTRAIT OF THE ENCHANTING FEATURES OF INDIA”: WITH 24 LARGE SPLENDID HAND-COLORED VIEWS OF INDIAN SCENERY

(INDIA) FORREST, Lieutenant-Colonel [Charles Ramus]. A Picturesque Tour along the Rivers Ganges and Jumna in India: Consisting of Twenty-four Highly Finished and Coloured Views… from Original Drawings Made on the Spot. London: R. Ackermann, 1824. Large quarto (10-1/2 by 13 inches), late 19th-century three-quarter red morocco gilt, elaborately gilt-decorated spine, raised bands, marbled boards and endpapers, all edges gilt. $20,000.

First edition of this renowned India color-plate book, boasting 24 splendidly hand-colored aquatint views after original drawings by Forrest and large folding map showing the Ganges and the Jumna, handsomely bound by J. Adams.

A spectacular series of views made by Forrest during a voyage along the Ganges and its tributary the Jumna, including plates of Benares, Allahabad, Lucknow, Delhi and the Taj Mahal in Agra. With folding engraved map, hand-colored vignette title page and vignette tailpiece, and 122-page history of India. Plates watermarked 1825; Abbey notes watermarks of 1824. Tooley 227. Abbey, Travel 441.

Occasional inoffensive foxing, usual light offsetting. Attractive binding with expert restoration to joints and extremities. A near-fine copy of an impressive production.