CLIVE FARAHAR Catalogue 60

THE RAMAYANA
151. TAMIL MANUSCRIPT. Finely written Manuscript in Tamil of part of a prose version, in
popular language, of the great Hindu epic the Ramayana, [Southern India], late 18th or early
19th c. on both sides of 205 palm leaves approx. 1½” x 18¼”, 7 or 8 lines to a side, numbered
in Tamil 283-499 but lacking leaves 331, 454-459, 461, 463-464, 481 and 498, each secured by
two holes to the string and wooden stake between the wooden boards, a few leaves chipped or
with tiny worm holes with loss of a few letters, but generally in very good condition, [40022]
£1,250
In a fine hand, skilfully ‘etched’ with a sharp stylus, and then inked with vegetable dye. (For uninked
lettering, see f. 354v, abandoned after 1½ lines, presumably on realising an error).
The leaves are from the latter part of Part 3 (‘Aaranyakaandam’, ‘the Forest Trek’) and from the first
part of Part 4 (‘Kishkindhaakaandam’, starting at leaf 422, see the part title in the margin), out of the
seven parts of the epic. Rama spent 10 years in the forest on his way to recover Sita, his bride-to-be,
and then in Part 4 came to Kishkinda, peopled by a giant monkey race. There he helped to depose Vali,
once a great ruler but now consumed with jealousy.
The original epic, in 24,000 stanzas, was composed in Sanskrit by Valmiki. Traditionally ascribed to
1500 B.C., it may be of the 4th c. B.C. Its stories are known all over India. They are read for many
reasons, as scripture, for their philosophy of life, and for sheer adventure, coupled with scenes of tender
affection, ideals of justice, and descriptions of landscape. The Tamil version by Kamban, in 10,500
stanzas, of the 11th c. A.D., is a work of art in its own right, and from it descend the prose versions such
as the present.
We are grateful to Mrs Nalini Persad of the British Library and to Kalyanasundara Gurukkal for help
in preparing this note.
152. THOMSON (James) The Castle of Indolence: An Allegorical Poem. Written in Imitation of
Spenser, A. Millar, London 1748 ii + 82 pp. + advertisement and explanation leaf 2 pp. 4to.
modern wrappers, printed label on front cover, [12561] £350
153. TIMKOWSKI (George) Travels of the Russian Mission through Mongolia to China, and
Residence in Peking in the Years 1820-1821, with Corrections and Notes by Julius Von
Klaproth, 1827 folding map, folding plan of Peking, frontis, some occasional spotting, large
red chinese library stamp or chop mark on verso of titles and blind stamp of Norman Soong, 2
vols, ix + 468 pp. iv + 496 pp.modern hf. calf, [11313] £750
154. TORREND (J.) A Comparative Grammar of the South-African Bantu Languages, Zanzibar,
Mozambique, the Zambesi, Kafirland, Benguela, Angola, the Congo, the Ogowe, the
Cameroons, the Lake Region, etc. London, 1891 map, roy.8vo, original cloth, some slight
wear, label on upper cover, [CF8042] £125
The author gives in the introduction a History of the Origin of the Bantu, and in the appendicies
Ethnographical Notes, dictated by natives, in Tonga [Matabeleland], On the Rotse and On the
Karanga. He also devotes a whole section to Specimens of Kafir Folk Lore
155. TOUSSAINT (A.) & H.Adolphe. Bibliography of Mauritius (1502-1954) Covering the
Printed Record, Manuscripts, Archivalia and Cartographic Material, Port Louis, 1956 sm.4to,
original printed wrapper, [12689] £100
8865 entries.
156. [UPTON (John)] A New Canto of Spencer’s Fairy Queen. Now first Published, G. Hawkins,
London, 1747 iv + 28 pp. 4to. modern paper wrapper, printed label on upper cover, [12563]
£500
The British Library credits this to Rev. John Upton, Prebendary of Rochester, the Spenser Scholar, who
brought out his own edition of The Faerie Queen in 1758, but qualifying the entry with a question mark.