010056.i.4

Imprint: Calcutta: printed by G. H. Rouse, Baptist Mission Press. 1874.

Octavo, half-leather binding, brown cloth boards, crown stamped in gilt on upper board, measuring 245 x 170 mm; [2], 58 pp., lacking map; with 50 albumen print views of Lucknow architecture lightly tipped-in and mounted one to a page (recto only), with letterpress caption labels pasted below each image. At least one of the photographs (print 5), and probably others, date back to the 1860s. The text supplies more detailed historical accounts of each of the buildings illustrated. As the introduction makes clear, the buildings selected for inclusion were clearly chosen to capitalize on the increasing number of tourists visiting Lucknow to inspect sites associated with the mutiny of 1857-58, attracted by a heady amalgam of picturesque ruin, visions of oriental opulence and decadence and fascination with the bloody events of a decade and a half before: Ruins, ancient and modern, bearing marks of oriental splendour and extravagance; the relics of Monarchies now passed away: prostrate columns, broken arches, colonnades, fountains, statues, shattered and shot-battered walls, scathed monuments, telling of the horrors of war, rebellion and siege; neglected gardens and roofless, dismantled palaces, fast falling into decay, are all objects of interest and curiosity to the tourist, the antiquary, the historian, the archaeologist and the lover of art. The city of Lucknow, the capital of Oudh, abounds with objects of this description in all the intense sublimity of ruin, and evincing the stern decrees of fate that have thus destined them to destruction, and that, but for the present volume, would have ruthlessly consigned them to everlasting oblivion. The thrilling historical or traditionary narratives that from time to time have been published, and the glowing descriptions that have been given by travellers, have, since railway communication became available, had the effect of considerably increasing the number of visitors; the want of an 'Illustrated Album,' that should also act as a guide, being consequently felt, the present volume has been prepared, at great expense, and profusely illustrated, to supply that want, and the projectors hope that it will succeed in fostering the spirit of enquiry...It has already been remarked that, to the general traveller or tourist, the work will prove of great interest; it may be added that, to some, it will be of inestimable value; but to the friends and relations of the survivors, and to the survivors themselves, of the terrible rebellion of 1857-58...this work will not prove an intellectual treat alone...To the survivors of that Garrison, this Album will bear a sacred interest, and many a tear will fall at the contemplation of some well-remembered spot, over which a sort of holy radiance will appear to linger as the book is sorrowfully closed. The volume may be preserved, for transmission to posterity, as a memorial of the dangers passed and the hardships suffered by the glorious Garrison of Lucknow...' To this end, rather than lengthy historical accounts, the author puts his trust in 'the silent eloquence of modern illustration aided by photography, which, with talismanic powers, appeals to the senses of old and young of all nations and tongues...'Another copy at APAC Photo 988.