8vo. Volume I: viii, 382 pp., steel engraved frontispiece / Volume II: viii, 477 pp., steel engraved frontispiece, contemporary cloth, rebacked with new endpapers, retaining original spine, previous owner’s bookplate verso front covers, occasional light spotting, pages 275-286 of volume 2 loose, small tear to top corner of last fly leaf of volume 1, otherwise set in good condition, Richard Bentley, London, first edition, 1840.

Synopsis

The work includes “a very interesting account of events after Fath Ali Shah’s death, the succession of Mohammad Shah and the intrigues of and claims by his rivals”. Fraser was a Scottish travel writer and artist who illustrated and wrote about Asia Minor and India. Some of his watercolours, made in the picturesque style, represent early views of India and Persia. In early 1813 James set sail for India, hoping to set up a trade business in Calcutta to help pay off the family debts. In January 1815 he went to join his brother William (assassinated in 1835 possibly at the behest of Shams-ud-Din, Nawab of Firozpur who believed that William prevented him from inheriting title and wealth) who was posted in Delhi. His brother was a writer to the East India Company. His work in Delhi dealt with land survey and settlement and involved being out in the field and meeting people. In 1816 Fraser joined a partner in the shipping business. He also took more interest in art and worked with professional artists William Havell (1782–1857) and George Chinnery (1744–1852). In 1826 he published Views of Calcutta and its Environs. He then travelled west to Bombay and then accompanied the East India Company officer Dr Andrew Jukes to Persia, sailing to Bushahr and then to Tehran and finally reached London in 1823. Jukes died on the way at Esfahan in 1821. During this journey he sketched and kept a diary and this was finally published as Narrative of a Journey into Khorasan in the Years 1821 and 1822 (1825) and Travels and Adventures in the Persian Provinces of the Southern Banks of the Caspian Sea (1826).
Bibliographic references: Schwab 202; Ghani 142.