The Indian Mogul Empire

(Valentyn, François). Beknopte historie, van het Mogolsche keyzerryk, en de zuydelyke aangrensende ryken.

Auf Anfrage

First edition of a history of the Mogul Empire and its southern possessions. The foreword notes that the anonymous author based his account of northern India partly on François Valentijn's history of the Dutch East Indies, "Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indiën" (1724-26), but that he made many additions and corrections. For the southern regions, however, he turned to natives familiar with their antiquities ("ervarene inlanders in hare oudheden"). The addenda leaf, loosely inserted at the end of this copy, is often lacking. The woodcut circles, on pp. 33, 36 and 39 represent seals of the Mogul rulers Eurangzeeb, Prince Mohamed Azem and finally Mahomed Sjah (1719-48), each with two concentric circles and 11 or 13 smaller circles in between, with the ruler's name in the centre and his predecessors numbered in the surrounding circles. The book includes information on the Moguls' relations with the Persians, Afghans and others and comments on the silk trade.

The Mogul Empire was an imperial power that ruled most of the Indian subcontinent from the early 16th to the mid-19th century. At the height of its power, around 1700, it controlled most of the subcontinent and parts of what is now Afghanistan. After 1725 the empire declined rapidly.

This was Renhard's most ambitious work as printer to the VOC at Batavia. It is mostly well printed from freshly cast type and gives an excellent overview of the printing office's materials, primarily 17th-century Dutch roman and italic types, showing the considerable expansion of the stock of the press in the preceding years.