German Enlightenment looks at India: the complete run of a rare journal

Bergk, J. A. / Hänsel, K. / Baumgärtner, F. G. (eds.). Asiatisches Magazin oder Nachrichten von den Sitten und Gebräuchen, den Wissenschaften und Künsten, den Handwerken und Gewerben, der Denkart und der Religion der Asiaten, von den Thieren, den Pflanzen, den Mineralien, dem Boden und dem Clima von Asien.

$2,793.00

The rare, complete run of this attractively illustrated periodical, including the often-missing third volume and all 53 plates. The journal boasts lively descriptions of India, Ceylon, the Coromandel Coast, Bengal, Java, Benin and Cochinchina, with a brief account of Jaffa in Syria.

Prepared for a European audience unfamiliar with Indian ways of life, the "Asian Magazine" portrays the Far East as a land of wonders, describing fakirs, hookahs, snake charming, flying fox shooting and tiger hunting with elephants, and Hindu traditions involving self-inflicted pain, as well as the Gajan harvest festival and Sannyasi rituals. Further subjects include the Indian flora and fauna, uniforms and costumes, craftmanship (particularly the Indian weaving loom), musical instruments, and notable landmarks, such as the sultans' tomb in Srirangapatnam, the colossal sarcophagus near Castel Rosso, the Tiruchirappalli rock fort with the choultry inside, and the Qutb Minar complex in Delhi. Further, the magazine features cylindrical Arab huts in Zeta near Jaffa and a view of the port of Calcutta (this the single non-coloured plate).

Most of the engravings are after François-Balthazar Solvyns, a native of Antwerp who set sail for India in 1790, arriving in Calcutta the following year. Having undertaken a commission in 1792 for Alexander Kyd, the Surveyor-General in Calcutta, in which he provided illustrations for a report written for the East India Company on Kyd's expedition to Penang and the Andaman Islands, Solvyns noticed the keen interest shown by the British in Indian costumes and ways of life. This led him to produce his comprehensive work on India, "A Collection of Two Hundred and Fifty Coloured Etchings descriptive of the Manners, Customs, and Dress of the Hindoos" (Calcutta, 1799).