Wanderings of a Pilgrim, in Search of the Picturesque , During Four-And-twenty Years in the East; with Revelations of Life in the Zenana by Parks, Fanny - 1850

London: Pelham Richardson, 1850. Two volumes. Thick 4to, period 3/4 vellum and marbled boards; gilt-decorated red leather labels, a little chipped, lacking the W from Wanderings in the label on the first volume. Some spotting on the uncolored plates and a few spots on some colored plates. Still a very attractive set, with the folding lithograph of the Himalayas present in an end pocket. Fifty lithograph plates by herself, her friends and Indian artists, of which 19 are colored, chromolithographed or tinted. An engaging and readable travel memoir of the period, written by the wife of a writer for the East India Company, chiefly about India although two plates deal with African subjects.She sailed without her husband up the Jumna River to Agra and up the Ganges to Fatehgarh and spent nearly a year in the Himalayas. Speaking fluent Hindustani, she studied and sketched the people, plant, animal and insect life. References: ODNB: "Reviewers noted the accuracy, detail and range of observation- as well as the unusual character of the authoress." Abbey, Travel, 476. Vellum and Boards. Near Fine. Illus. by Fanny Parks and Others. Thick 4to.