A vocabulary of English and Teloogoo words: to which are added a collection of familiar dialogues, and the first rudiments of grammar. by Nicholas, I[nnocent] - 1832

Madras: I. Nicholas, 1832. Early edition. 4to, 27 x 20 cm; pp.[iv], 171, [1, blank]. List of subscribers tipped-in after table of contents. Printed in English and Telugu. Contemporary Indian tree calf; corners and bottom of lower board with crude, early repairs, re-backed and re-cased, endpapers renewed; occasional marginalia; trimmed, marginalia affected; a few small paper repairs, final leaves with a handful of worm-tracks and stains. The first English to Telugu vocabulary, combined with a grammar, and accompanied by sample dialogues, compiled for the use of Telugu-speakers by Innocent Nicholas, whose name suggests that he may have been an Indian convert to Christianity. The vocabulary is comprehensive and arranged by themes – heaven and the elements, man and parts of the human body, diseases, degrees of kindred, mind and faculties, food and drink, apparel, and so on, to a remarkable degree of specificity. The dialogues are less comprehensive but similarly divided into themes, of which the last two sections on Christianity and a gentleman and his tailor are the longest. Nicholas published a stated fifth edition in 1840. Only three of five editions are recorded (1820, 1832, and 1840) in a handful of copies. The present edition could conceivably be the second, third, or fourth edition – it is, in any case, an early edition of a very rare work. The subscriber's list in the present copy comprises 38 individuals, all Indian, for 40 copies, suggesting a minuscule print run, which would explain both the number of editions and the comparative rarity of all editions. Oxford only.