Researches on the Tenets and Doctrines of the Jeynes and Boodhists; Conjectured to Be the Brachmanes of Ancient India. In Which Is Introduced a Discussion on the Worship of the Serpent in Various Countries of the World
London: John Rodwell, 1827. Good. Item #14709
London: John Rodwell, 1827. First Edition. Large quarto; later half brown morocco over cloth, gilt-lettered spine, new endpapers; vi,[2],213pp. Moderate scuffing along leather spine margins, textblock a bit brittle and toned, fairly extensive and erudite marginalia to first half of text in a 20th-century hand, lacking all six plates. A Good copy only.
Treatise by the English army officer and orientalist William Francklin (1763-1839), published two years following his retirement from the Bengal Native Infantry. Francklin had spent much of the year 1786 residing in Persia and is perhaps best known for his "Observations Made on a Tour from Bengal to Persia" (1788).
This copy sadly lacking all plates (though instructions to the binder is present). Of special note, however, are the notes in the margins by a 20th century reader deeply at odds with Francklin's assertions. In response to the author's statement "By Sanchoniatho it is affirmed, that the mothers were of that abandoned class of women who in those days without shame prostituted themselves to any man they met; which shows the increasing depravity of mankind" (p. 4), to which the reader has commented "It seems more than doubtful if this has any reference to any moral depravity in man at all." On another occasion the annotator has written "I cannot see this, perhaps our mental or spiritual vision is defective" (p. 11); and again, "I think this utterly and miserably unphilosophical" (p. 17).
Price: $250.00