Indian Folklore.

Calcutta: Sanyal & Co.,, 1904. First edition of this uncommon collection of folktales, retold in English for both a local and European audience. The work was immediately popular, and a second expanded edition was published in 1906. This is an early example of the move to record local traditional tales in India by Indian natives. Ram Satya Mukharji was "a government official in Tamluk (Bengal) who published stories he remembered from his childhood" and those he had actively collected since (Prasad, p. 7). Most of these, as far as Mukharji was aware, "were never put in print before" and his object was "an attempt at a wider circulation of these popular tales" at an accessible price (preface). "During the British period, the first phase of folklore collecting was started by the British rulers of India, though the purpose behind it was political and administrative... collecting folklore was part of a larger imperialist project" (Sircar, unpaginated). For some local collectors, however, folklore created a sense of cultural pride: "imbued with a nationalistic spirit, they saw in folklore a long continuing cultural heritage" (ibid.) and scholars have suggested that the growing interest in folklore at this time can be seen as part of a burgeoning nationalist movement. Octavo. Original pale green moiré-effect cloth, frames blocked in blind to covers, front cover lettered in gilt, black-coated endpapers. Engraved head- and tailpieces. Spine gently toned, cloth a little soiled, extremities rubbed and bumped, contents clean and bright, a very good copy. Leela Prasad, The Audacious Raconteur, Sovereignty and Storytelling in Colonial India, 2020; Sanjay Sircar, Fantasy Fictions from the Bengal Renaissance, 2018.