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Asiaticus: in two parts. Part the first. Ecclesiatical, chronological, and historical sketches respecting Bengal. Part the second. The Epitaphs in the different burial grounds in and about Calcutta. by Asiaticus [John Hawkesworth] - [1803]

by Asiaticus [John Hawkesworth]

Asiaticus: in two parts.  Part the first. Ecclesiatical, chronological, and historical sketches respecting Bengal. Part the second. The Epitaphs in the different burial grounds in and about Calcutta. by Asiaticus [John Hawkesworth] - [1803]

Asiaticus: in two parts. Part the first. Ecclesiatical, chronological, and historical sketches respecting Bengal. Part the second. The Epitaphs in the different burial grounds in and about Calcutta.

by Asiaticus [John Hawkesworth]

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  • Hardcover
[Calcutta]: [printed at the Telegraph Press], [1803]. 8vo (19.5 x 12.5 cm), pp.[2, dedication], [2, contents], [2, subscribers] 58; [2], 1-2, 5-6, 9-80, [4, index], 81-82, folding chart. With printed Greek and Persian text. A very good copy bound in early 20th-century blue morocco, spine gilt with raised bands. Edges rubbed. Bound without title and M2 (i.e. pp.69-70) from the first part, and A2 (pp.3-4) and A4 (pp.7-8) from the second part. An intriguing compilation assembled by an old Calcutta hand, divided into two more or less equal parts. The first is a set of pocket histories, ranging from accounts of the Greek, Portuguese, and Armenian communities in Calcutta, to a biographical note on Claude Martin (1735-1800), which praises his generosity and reproduces the relevant sections of his will. The last two pages, not present here, contain a table of annual European mortality in Calcutta. The second part comprises a remarkable survey of the epitaphs in European cemeteries in and around the city, as well as a handful from Serampore and Chinsurah. Among the epitaphs transcribed are those of George Bogle, who led the first British embassy to Tibet, the eminent orientalist William Jones, and Charles Pleydell, Superintendent of Police, Calcutta. Hawkesworth annotates a number of the epitaphs, giving his opinion of the deceased, and noting their accomplishments. A significant proportion of the deceased are European women. The final two pages of the second part provide Persian transcriptions and English translations for three monumental inscriptions at Gour (Gaur or Gauda), the sometime capital of the Sultans of Bengal, credited to Henry Creighton (1764-1807), who produced the first comprehensive survey of the ruins. The folding chart at the rear transcribes the Persian inscriptions of a number of medieval coins found in Bengal, probably by Creighton. John Hawkesworth, a trader, late of Sultanpore is described as the author of the present work and The East Indian Chronologist (Calcutta, 1801) in a brief obituary published in the Calcutta Gazette on 14 June, 1804. For a more detailed discussion of the author's identity, see pp.155-156 in Bengal past and present, Volume 32, Part I, July-September 1926. Hawkesworth remains a remarkable cipher, given that he clearly possessed serious scholarly interests and moved in elevated Calcutta circles. The subscribers' list for Asiaticus includes the Marquis of Wellesley, Henry Colebrooke, and N. B. Edmonstone, among others. COPAC records copies at the British Library (second part only), Glasgow, and Oxford (lacking the index and pp.81-82). WorldCat adds one copy, at the Bibliothèque Municipale, Lyon.
  • Bookseller John Randall (Books of Asia) GB (GB)
  • Book Condition Used
  • Quantity Available 1
  • Binding Hardcover
  • Publisher [printed at the Telegraph Press]
  • Place of Publication [Calcutta]
  • Date Published [1803]
  • Keywords Calcutta|