Les Hindous, ou description de leurs Moeurs, coutumes, Cérémonies, etc.

Dessinés d'apres nature dans Le Bengale, et représentés en 252 planches par F. Balthazard Solvyns, Paris, 1808

Folio, half-leather, title pasted. Text in French and English, pages not numbered; with 49 coppers, of which 7 are double-paged, all beautifully handcoloured. This is the first part of 4 parts in total. This work appeared in separate issues, without title page. The wrapping of one of the issues serves as a title page here. Solvyns' Hindous shows an extraordinary portrait of life in Bangladesh at the end of the 18th cy in a wonderful series of engravings, printed under the supervision of the idiosyncratic author and shows customs, professions, celebrations and scenes from the Bengal people's daily life. Artistically, this work was very successful, but it was financially disastrous. Extremely rare.