The Private Life of an Eastern King: compiled for a member of the household of his late Majesty, Nussir-u-Deen, King of Oude. By William Knighton. New edition, revised, 8vo, viii, 296p, 7 leaves of plates, illustrations, London, G.Routledge, 1856.
Full-page inserted plates in yellow and black drawn by Harrison Weir and engraved by the Brothers Dalziel (mostly concerning tiger hunting and other royal amusements). Original grained red cloth, blindstamped with decorations, gilt-stamped with a portrait of the King on the front, elaborately gilt on the spine. A little wear to extremities, but generally very good indeed.
The writer William Knighton (c.1824-1900) spent much of his career in Sri Lanka and India. First published by Hope in 1855, this is an account of the court of the notorious Indian King Nussir-u-Deen (1803-37), written from the viewpoint and using the testimony of an anonymous British member of the King's retinue. Richly descriptive, it is an intimate potrait of a hedonistic and rightly paranoid sovereign.
