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[TRAVEL & EXPLORATION - INDIA] WILLIAM BOLTSBiblio.com

Stato civile politico e commerciante del Regno di Bengala. sl se 1780

1780réf. 15First Rare edition in Italian of William Bolts Historical political and cultural treatise on Bengal Bolts William. Stato civile politico e commerciante del Regno di Bengala ovvero Storia delle conquiste e dell'amministrazione della compagnia inglese in quelle contrade che vengono a formare i tomi 19. e 20. in seguito della Storia filosofica e politica dell'abate Rainal. Tomo primo -secondo. sl se 1780. 8vo 180 x 120 mm modern quarter calf binding boards enriched by handcoloured paper vol 1: pp. 2 199 1 signature pigreco1 A-L8 M12. M12v blank vol 2: pp. 2 208 2 signature π¹ A-Nâ¸ χ¹; at the end folded map "Carta di Bengala . formata secondo il piano preso su i luoghi da W. Bolts" signed "Bart.o Nerici sc. Lucae" Big folded Map of Bengal Rare First Edition in Italian of William Bolts most important work on denunciation of the activities of the East India Company in the Indian region of Bengal published for the First Time in 1772 under the title "Considerations on India Affairs" and formed by two volumes. Vol 1 is dedicated to an excursus on history and costumes of Bengal while in the second he attacked the administration of the East India Company in Bengal; and in particular he complained of the arbitrary power exercised by the authorities and of his own deportation. The observations and experiences he records still offer a unique resource for scholars inquiring into the nature of Company rule in Bengal. William Bolts 1738–1808 was a Dutch-born British merchant active in India. He began his career as an employee of the East India Company and subsequently became an independent merchant. He is best known today for his 1772 book Considerations on India Affairs translated in French in 1775 and in Italian in 1780 which detailed the administration of the East India Company in Bengal which began shortly after their victory at Plassey in 1757. Throughout his life Bolts continued to propose and execute various trading ventures on his own behalf and in conjunction with various commercial and governmental partners. The ventures of individual traders like Bolts did much to spur governments and large corporations into the expansion of their own interests. Condition: Very good copy printed on strong paper. Provenance: I. Ownership stamp "Colonnello Oro Vincenzo S- Angelo Le Fratte Anno 1923" at title page last page of each volume and on verso of map

BIBLIOPATHOS FINE ARTS · Italie1 200,00 €

[WW2] [MILITARIA] [INDIA]Biblio.com

A Collection of 114 images from a U.S. Army PFC Stationed in Assam India 1943-45

1945réf. 819981945. Varying sizes and formats the majority being 8cm x 5.5cm with some larger format images being no larger than 12cm x 8.5cm. The majority in Very Good condition or better with a couple of images having some abrasions to verso some marginal creasing and in one instance a triangle of loss to the border. A compact and informative group of images the majority with detailed verso captions from an American serviceman a long way from home. One of the most strategically important but now somewhat marginalized initiatives of the later stages of WW2 was the vitally important China-Burma-India resupply route. A phenomenal effort was made to ensure seamless movement of troops and materials in defiance of the ebb and flow of Japanese occupations and blockades throughout the theater of war between 1943 and 1945. Originally allied forces held control of what came to be called "Stilwell Road" running from Ledo through to Kunming in China via Burma this ground route proved subject to a number of issues not least of which was Japanese aggression so an initiative was developed to allow the air transport of vital resources between the rapidly constructed Dinjan airfield in Assam where our G.I. is stationed and the distribution points in China and Burma. This important piece of military and indeed civilian co-ordination was carried out by a number of units; initially the India Air Task Force the majority of which became the U.S. Tenth Air Force with additional allied units ranging from British RAF to the legendary China National Aviation Corporation CNAC. This collection includes an image of Captain Enos Claire Kirkpatrick of the CNAC captioned "One swell fellow" which is notable mainly for his participation in the gradual evolution of the CNAC into the Civil Air Transport and subsequently into the CIA backed Air America for whom Kirkpatrick flew support missions to Dien Bien Phu and a number of other conflict torn South East Asian destinations before his retirement in 1966. Very much a 'cowboy' operation during WW2 with a number of the CNAC pilots being ex- Flying Tigers it later became a more streamlined and well supplied arm of U.S. military intelligence. CNAC was also distinctive for being made up of U.S. and Chinese pilots and crew flying together performing 38000 missions between 1942-1945. A number of other units operated out of Assam during this period including the 443rd Troop Carrier Group the 44th Service group represented in this collection the 3rd Combat Cargo Group and the 1080th QM Quartermaster Company. Which unit our GI belonged to or was seconded to is unclear the situation at Dinjan seems to have been fairly fluid and informal with the risky and rather impetuous nature of running missions "Over The Hump" as the Himalaya crossing was referred to lending itself to some fairly esoteric variations on traditional military roles and conventions. An unofficial grouping of images with many of the photos seeming to have been sent to a sweetheart back home with brief explanations of the content. There are numerous depictions of things that would naturally fascinate a U.S. serviceman positioned in Northern India: the Nimtollah burning ghats temples the Calcutta racetrack street scenes in Assam and Calcutta snake charmers beggars small reminders of home like the Red Cross "Donut Bebe" who ran a truck offering donuts and coffee every other day on base the building of a company bar and rec room the eccentric 1st Lieutenant various Fakirs C-47 transport planes flying low over the river and the day-to-day of base life. Also present in the captions are some observations on Indian culture ranging from the complimentary to the mystified; our PFC clearly and unsurprisingly had no grasp of India's caste system and few reference points for the complex social structures through which he wandered looking for excitement and distraction. An additional point on this largely forgotten wartime effort is that it inadvertently assured U.S. domination of the post-war international airline industry with a large number of the decommissioned transports subsequently being sold off and refitted for civilian air use. unknown