McConnell Fine Books - Antiquarian Books and Fine and Original Leather Bindings

Large 8vo (8½" tall). Full crushed dark blue morocco binding by Zaehnsdorf. Magnificently bound with gilt raised bands, very fine panels, titles, wide dentelles and all edges. The boards have very ornate, dense, 'oriental' rolls, corner and centre tooling. Watered silk endpapers. A bookplate has been removed from the front pastedown.

A lavishly produced edition of this classic Hindu text, in an opulent Zaehnsdorf binding. The translation has richly coloured oriental- style borders and fine engraved plates. Stephen Austin of Hertford was printer to the East India College, established by the East India Company in 1805 at Haileybury outside Hertford. He began to print and publish oriental books using wood-engraving rather than chromolithography for his lavish decorations, sometimes with four or five colours. "The interesting point is that Austin was able to achieve by letterpress effects which were normally only attempted by colour lithography." Moran, Stephen Austin's of Hertford, 1968.