8vo. vi, 234 pp., [5, index], 40 pp., (A Catalogue of Oriental Manuscripts in the Persic, Arabic and Sanskerrit Languages) with separate title-page at end), engraved folding portrait frontispiece, 1 folding map, contemporary full calf, rebacked, speckled edges, edges slightly rubbed, book plate of Thomas Drake Tyrwhitt verso front cover, otherwise copy clean and in very good condition, A. Millar, London, second edition, 1742.

Synopsis

First Edition of “the first book in English treating of Nãdir Shãh, ‘the scourge of God’. It is important not only as a firsthand contribution to the history of contemporary events [Nãdir Shãh invaded India in 1737-38], but also for the number of original documents which it alone has preserved.” (DNB) Fraser collected materials for his account during his first stay in India, 1730-40 (he returned as a factor for the East India Company, 1743-49). He managed to acquire some 200 manuscripts in the Persian, Arabic, and Sanskrit languages, a catalogue of which is appended here, with separate title (pp. 40). His collection of Sanskrit manuscripts was the first of that kind ever brought to Europe, although individual manuscripts had reached England and France even earlier. The entire collection eventually came to reside at the Bodleian Library at Oxford University.