The first gazetteer of India

Hamilton, Walter. The East India Gazetteer. Containing particular descriptions of the empires, kingdoms, principalities, provinces, cities, towns, districts, fortresses, harbours, rivers, lakes, etc. of Hindostan, and the adjacent countries, India beyond the Ganges, and the Eastern Archipelago [...].

€ 1,250.00

First edition of the first gazetteer of India: an authoritative and encyclopedic geographical and cultural description of British India widely used among East India Company officers and administrators, inaugurating a type of work that would have many successors. A second edition, in two volumes, appeared in 1828.

Walter Hamilton (1774-1828) was the younger brother of Alexander "Sanskrit" Hamilton, probably the foremost British orientalist of the early 19th century. In 1791 Walter joined Alexander in India as a cadet in the Bengal Army, "but promptly resigned the service to engage in private trade" (ODNB). Returning to Britain ten years later, he became a merchant in Liverpool but kept up a house in London where he conducted research in the East India Company library and, along with Alexander, was a founding member of the Royal Asiatic Society.