Khan, Mirza Abu Taleb; The Travels of Mirza Abu Taleb Khan in Asia, Africa, and Europe, during the years 1799, 1800, 1801, 1802, and 1803. Written by himself in the Persian language. Translated by Charles Stewart, Esq., M.A.S., Professor of Oriental Languages in the Hon.East India Company's College, Herts. Ist edition, 2 volumes, London, Longman, Hurst, Rees and Orme 1810. Octavo, vol. 1, pp. viii, 16, 320, frontispiece portait of author. Vol. 2, pp. 418. In contemporary half calf over marbled boards. gilt spine titles, moderate foxing throughout, light rubbing to binding corners, edges, very good. Very rare.

Mirza Abu Taleb Khan, (1752-1806) is the best-known of the early Indian travel writers on the West. This prominenece is due to Charles Stewart's translation of his original Persian "Musier Taleby fy Bulad Affrenjy" ('The Travels of Taleb in the Regions of Europe'). Khan read thousands of historical treatises and wrote an abstract titled in Persian Lubbu-s Siyar wa Jahan-numa ('The Essence of Biographies and the World-Reflecting Mirror'). He also wrote 'several other treatises, a Biography of the Poets, ancient and modern', and a substantial amount of poetry. On Asaf-ud-dowlah's accession to the throne of Oudh, Abu Taleb was appointed an Amildar, a post that combined administrative, military and revenue functions. He later became an assistant for three years to Colonel Alexander Hannay, Collector of Gorruckpur. Later he was instrumental in routing rebel zamindars led by Bulbudder Singh. In 1787 he travelled to Calcutta to appeal to Lord Cornwallis on his poor treatment by new political forces. but it was seven years before Abu Taleb's treatment could be addressed. At this point came a proposal from a Scottish friend, Captain David Richardson, who was planning a trip home and invited Abu Taleb to accompany him. Richardson promised to teach him English during the voyage and to bear all his expenses. Abu Taleb accepted the invitation, and embarked in early1799. The first European port of call was Cork in Ireland. On the overland journey to Dublin he was struck as much by the beauty and lushness of the countryside as he was by the poverty of the peasants, which he found to be greater than that of their Indian counterparts. Eventually Abu Taleb reached London in 1800, and for the next two and a half years led a life devoted almost entirely to leisure. He sums up his experiences here: 'I may perhaps be accused of personal vanity, by saying that my society was courted, and that my wit and repartees, with some impromptu applications of Oriental poetry, were the subject of conversation in the politest circles. I freely confess that during my residence in England I was so exhilarated by the coolness of the climate and so devoid of all care that I followed the advise of our immortal poet Hafiz, and gave myself up to love and gaiety'. Besides the nobility, Abu Taleb also cultivated the friendship of numerous personages eminent in the arts and in trade and industry. Abu Taleb's comparisons of east and west are of particular interest, as they reveal a mind capable of methodical and sustained argument. Interestingly, to give just one example, he argues that appearances to the contrary, Indian women enjoyed greater freedom than Englishwomen. Instead of returning the way he had come, Abu Taleb decided to take the largely overland route through France, Italy, Turkey and present-day Iraq. He set off from London in 1802, with a letter of introduction from Lord Pelham, a minister in the British government, and finally arrived in Calcutta on 4 August the following year. A third of the Travels is taken up by the account of the return journey, and reveal the same sharp critical powers that he showed in dealing with England. His observations in France convinced him that the French would 'never gain the superiority over the English'. On his return to India Abu Taleb obtained an appointment as Aamil of a district in Bundelkand, a position he occupied till his death in 1806. Historians will continually refer to his records of cultural interaction and the book will remain a classic piece of travel literature.