Hi All Can anyone give some leads on this book I’ve inherited. Indian Fables, From the Sanscrit of the Hitopadesa I’ve been searching online for a while now. All I can work out is that its quite unique and was printed in the second half of 19C, circa 1850-1870. Also, is it worth something?
Looks like you have the same book as the eBay link in a different, fancier binding - yours is silk, rather than ordinary book cloth. More delicate, but prettier. There may also have been leather or vellum versions. Or not. I note that the eBay one as well as yours have armorial bookplates, meaning they were bought by families of wealth & privilege, and likely quite expensive in their day. Jisc (the British library union catalogue) shows two listings, one dated 1862 and the other 1865?, which may be where the eBay lister got their date. https://discover.libraryhub.jisc.ac...lace=&isn=&date=&subject=&map-scale=&keyword= Only three copies in libraries in England; Worldcat shows another 7: https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=ti:indian+fables+au:iacomb&qt=advanced&dblist=638 So it's relatively scarce. I've seen a few of this kind of colorfully chromolithographed books from the period - they are collectible, but condition is quite important. I'd watch that eBay copy to see if it sells- yours would be worth more than that one IF it were in better condition, but as it is, probably somewhat less. How soon it sells will give you clue how much demand there is at the moment.
